Whoever doesn't like romantic chess, doesn't like chess.
 Whoever is not moved, whoever is not exalted by, for example, de Labourdonnais and his game of the three pawns in the seventh, by the game of Morphy in the opera, by the immortal and the evergreen of Anderssen or by the weightless rook ( do not search, the baptism is mine) of Steinitz in Hastings, cannot, in my opinion, be a true chess player.
 In the present work Álvaro Bermejo del Barrio, a true chess player through and through, brings together this collection of photographs he has taken on a safari through the savannah of 19th century chess. And he does it with the careful taste of a lover of beauty and the precise chess knowledge of an experienced player. And above all with the unconditional love that every chess player must have for our goddess Caissa. Thus the author of the anthology gives us a map to walk through those hundred years in which chess becomes popular and lays its foundations both organizationally and theoretically-scientifically, where the one who has remained as a nominal reference in the popular heritage is Wilhelm Steinitz and his The Modern Chess Instructor, although the question is more complex.
 On the other hand, the 19th century is the century that lays the foundations of the modern era by recording, publishing and commenting on all the games of a match; the century of the birth of the first chess column in a newspaper, of the creation of the first chess magazine, of the first clubs dedicated exclusively to our game, of the first international tournament, of the institution of the title of world champion (again our Steinitz) and of the valuation of the time for reflection as a key competitive element.
 The vineyard is good and winemaker Bermejo has been up to the task. The result: a wine list that does not matter which page you open; it offers a glass of tempting bouquet. So, dear readers, I leave you in the hands of Álvaro Bermejo del Barrio to begin your visit to the centenary winery of the 19th century and have no qualms and no measure, get drunk with as much talent as you did in the cellars of that golden century.
 Jose Luis Torrego
 Madrid, March 2024.