People Behind the 'International Chess Auctions'

by GM Alexander Baburin

It is not easy to deal with somebody you do not know personally, at least in the beginning. To help to overcome this problem, we created this page with our short resumes and a few references from chess collectors.

Jim Hayes. Born in 1943, Jim lives in Kilkenny, Ireland. He has been involved in collecting and researching all aspects of chess literature and memorabilia for over 40 years. He inherited his love of chess books from his father who introduced him to collecting by giving him his own small though select library when he was 14 years old. Since then he has traveled extensively throughout the world, never missing an opportunity to add to his own knowledge of all aspects chess bibliography. He stopped collecting in the late 1990s. His other passion is poetry. In 2004 Jim won a prestigious Espy award for Light Verse.

Alexander Baburin. I was born in 1967 in Gorky, Russia. I have been living in Dublin, Ireland since 1993. I am a professional chess player, coach, journalist, author and publisher. My Internet projects include free chess newsletter called 'Coffee Break Chess' and daily electronic newspaper 'Chess Today'. I was always interested in chess literature. In 1995 I became a book dealer (specializing in Russian chess literature). Over the years I developed good rapport with many collectors and dealers world-wide. I have been supplying books (mainly in Russian) to the Royal Dutch Library in Hague and to the Cleveland Public Library in USA.

Reference 1. "It has been a great pleasure for the Royal Library in The Hague to work with Alexander Baburin. His bibliographical descriptions are very thorough and his catalogues a joy to go through. Baburin's service is excellent in all ways, which is very important for a library as ours since many departments are involved in the process of ordering books." Henriette Reerink, Acting Curator, Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana, Royal Library, The Hague.

Reference 2. "I have 'electronically' known GM Baburin for about two years, and not only has he proven to be a strong Grandmaster and excellent author, but also a most reliable book dealer - a rare combination indeed. I can only wish him a well deserved success in his new auction site, and hope that he will be coming with more rarities (I still have some more in my wish list!)." Eduardo Bauzá Mercére, (New York, USA).

Reference 3. "I have been dealing with Alex Baburin for several years and have been very pleased with the selection offered by Alex and with his excellent and prompt service. His catalogues are very detailed and a joy to read." Michael D. Sharpe (Canada).

Reference 4. "I am happy to recommend Alexander Baburin as a man with whom it is a pleasure to do business with. His honesty is impeccable, and he treats his customers like family. Once, an uninsured order of mine was lost in the mail, and Alexander made up for the lost order even though he was under no obligation to do so. He is a Grandmaster of chess and of customer relations." Richard Reich, MD (Madison, USA)

Reference 5. "For more than ten years I have regularly dealt with Jim Hayes of Kilkenny in buying, selling and exchanging chess books and chess literature. Substantial sums of money have often been involved. During all that time there has never been a dispute about payment and all amounts due to me have been paid in full when requested." Clive Farmer (Devon, UK).

These references were given in 2000.