The internet is measured in dog-years.

When I first got wired, about 1997, there wasn't all that much offered on the web in comparison to today. But one name that was ubiquious in chess on the internet was that of Bill Wall.

I wish I knew enough about Mr. Wall to write a fitting tribute because I feel he deserves it, but I'll have to run with what little bit I do know.

First is his web site which has been there, seemingly forever. It seems to touch almost every facet of chess, from openings to history. But Mr. Wall has always been generous with not only supplying us with information, but with allowing folks to take whatever he has supplied and use it as desired. His chess timeline, a deceptively massive piece of work, has been copied and reproduced online so many times - sometimes giving credit, sometimes not. And though I've seen some of his histories of the masters published elsewhere verbatim, I know they've been most frquently used as a solid base of many people's chess knowledge. Bill Wall is the embodiment of what has been always good about the internet.

I've found Major Wall's contributions in old pages from Lisa Powell's Bits and Pieces, the newletter 'from the former IECC, the original Internet Email Chess Club.

But Bill Wall is also a chess author. I don't know how many books he's written but here's a few I found at Amazon:

Grob?s Attack
Larsens Opening
Orangutan - 1.b4
Owen?s Defense
500 Queen's Gambit Miniatures
500 Ruy Lopez Miniatures
Five Hundred Sicilian Defense Miniatures
500 Sicilian Miniatures, Collection II
500 Queen's Gambit: Miniatures
500 Queen's Gambit: Miniatures, Collection II
500 Scotch Miniatures
500 Indian Miniatures
Five Hundred Pirc Miniatures
700 Opening Traps

Visit Bill Wall's Chess Page

Here's Bill Wall's 29 books 

Here's Mr. Wall's extensive chess biography