Ken Whyld
Kenneth Whyld (6 March 1926 – 11 July 2003) was a British chess author and researcher, best known as the co-author (with David Hooper) of The Oxford Companion to Chess, a single-volume chess reference work in English. Whyld was a strong amateur chess player, taking part in the British Chess Championship in 1956 and winning the county championship of Nottinghamshire. He subsequently made his living in information technology while writing books on chess and researching its history.
Also recorded as Kenneth Whyld
Ken Whyld
- Born
- 6 March 1926
- Birthplace
- Nottingham, England
- Died
- 11 July 2003
- Nationality
- United Kingdom · United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Occupation
- chess player · writer
- Languages
- English
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Kenneth Whyld (6 March 1926 – 11 July 2003) was a British chess author and researcher, best known as the co-author (with David Hooper) of The Oxford Companion to Chess, a single-volume chess reference work in English. Whyld was a strong amateur chess player, taking part in the British Chess Championship in 1956 and winning the county championship of Nottinghamshire. He subsequently made his living in information technology while writing books on chess and researching its history.
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Biography
Biography
He also researched more esoteric subjects, resulting in works such as Alekhine Nazi Articles (2002) on articles in favour of the Nazi Party supposedly written by world chess champion Alexander Alekhine, and the bibliographies Fake Automata in Chess (1994) and Chess Columns: A List (2002). A number of chess historians, including Dale Brandreth, Frank Skoff and Edward Winter, all of whom had close contact with Whyld, came to question his reliability and bona fides on certain issues. Shortly after Whyld's death, the Ken Whyld Association was established with the aim of compiling a comprehensive chess bibliography in database form and promoting chess history. Whyld's library was later sold to the Musée Suisse du Jeu, located on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland (as reported in number 152 of EG).
Key facts
Key facts
• Country — England • Born — 6 March 1926 • Birthplace — Nottingham, England • Died — 11 July 2003
Identity
Identity
Ken Whyld is recorded as chess player and writer.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1926
Ken Whyld born.
2003
Ken Whyld died.
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The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Ken Whyld, revision 1257075412 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
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- “Ken Whyld”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
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- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1738681: Ken Whyld
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
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