Bill Cross who died in 2001 played for Dudley in the 1980's and 1990's. His son, Robert, who lived in Halesowen before emigrating to Australia, donated his father's chess library to halesowen Chess Club, so that other local chess enthuisiasts could enjoy them. And what a collection! To borrow a book send an e-mail to the webmaster.
A photo of Bill from 1992 follows, together with a complete list of all the books.
| Author | Title | Date | Type | On-loan to? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abrahams | The Chess Mind | 1951 | Instruction | |
| Abrahams | The Pan book of Chess | 1965 | Instruction | |
| Alekhine | My Best Games of Chess 1908-1923 | 1927 | Collection | |
| Alekhine | Nottingham 1936 | 1937 | Tournament | |
| Alekhine | My Best Games of Chess 1924-1937 | 1939 | Collection | |
| Alexander | Alekhine's Best Games of Chess 1938-1945 | 1949 | Collection | |
| Alexander | Fischer v Spassky - Reykjavik 1972 | 1972 | Match | |
| Alexander | Penguin book of Chess Positions | 1973 | Puzzles | John Southcote |
| Barden | How to play the Endgame in chess | 1975 | Endings | Paul Evans |
| Barden & Harding | The Batsford's Guide to Chess Openings | 1976 | Openings | |
| Barden, Harston & Keene | The King's Indian Defence | 1969 | Openings | |
| Botterill & Keene | The Pirc Defence | 1973 | Openings | |
| Botvinnik | One Hundred Selected Games | 1949 | Collection | |
| Botvinnik | Botvinnik's Best Games 1947-1970 | 1972 | Collection | |
| Bouwmeester | Winning Chess Combinations | 1977 | Instruction | |
| Bronstein | 200 Open Games | 1970 | Collection | |
| Cafferty | Spassky's 100 Best Games | 1972 | Collection | |
| Capablanca | Chess Fundamentals | 1921 | Instruction | |
| Capablanca | Capablanca's last chess Lectures | 1967 | Instruction | |
| Chernev | The most instructive games of Chess ever played | 1966 | Collection | Dale Jackson |
| Clarke | Mikhail Tal's Best Games of Chess | 1961 | Collection | |
| Du Mont | The basis of Combination in Chess | 1938 | Instruction | |
| Euwe | From my games 1920-1937 | 1939 | Collection | |
| Euwe | Meet the Masters | 1940 | Collection | |
| Euwe | The Development of Chess Style | 1966 | Instruction | |
| Euwe & Hooper | A Guide to chess Endings | 1959 | Endings | Bob Grimes |
| Euwe & Kramer | The Middle Game | 1957 | Instruction | |
| Euwe & Meiden | The Road to Chess Mastery | 1968 | Instruction | |
| Fine | Basic Chess Endings | 1941 | Endings | |
| Fine | The ideas behind the Chess Openings | 1948 | Instruction | |
| Fine | The Psychology of the Chess Player | 1956 | Instruction | |
| Fischer | My 60 Memorable Games | 1969 | Collection | Dale Jackson |
| Gligoric | Fischer v Spassky - Match of the century | 1972 | Match | |
| Gligoric & Sokolov | The Sicilian Defence - Book One | 1970 | Openings | |
| Golombek | Capablanca's 100 Best Games of Chess | 1947 | Collection | |
| Golombek | The Game of Chess | 1954 | General | |
| Golombek | The Encyclopedia of Chess | 1977 | General | |
| Harding | Counter Gambits - Black to play and win | 1974 | Openings | |
| Hartston | The Benoni | 1969 | Openings | |
| Hay | King's Gambit | 1973 | Openings | |
| Hooper | Practical Chess Endgames | 1968 | Endings | |
| Hooper & Brandreth | The Unknown Capablanca | 1975 | Collection | |
| Horowitz | New Traps in the Chess Opening | 1964 | Openings | Mark Bethel |
| Horowitz | Chess Openings - Theory and Practice | 1965 | Openings | |
| Keene and Botterill | The Modern Defence | 1972 | Openings | |
| Keene | Aron Nimzowitsch: A Reappraisal | 1974 | Biography | |
| Keres & Kotov | The Art of the middlegame | 1964 | Instruction | |
| Kmoch | Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces | 1941 | Collection | |
| Korn | Modern Chess Openings 11 | 1972 | Openings | |
| Kotov | Think Like a Grandmaster | 1971 | Instruction | |
| Kotov | Alexander Alekhine | 1973 | Collection | |
| Kotov | Play like a Grandmaster | 1978 | Instruction | |
| Lasker (Ed) | Chess Secrets I learned from the Masters | 1951 | Instruction | |
| Lasker (Ed) | Modern Chess Strategy | 1961 | Instruction | |
| Lasker (Ed) | Chess | 1972 | General | |
| Lasker (Em) | Coomon Sense in Chess | 1917 | Collection | |
| Lasker (Em) | Lasker's manual of Chess | 1947 | Instruction | |
| Levenfish & Smyslov | Rook Endings | 1971 | Endings | |
| Levy | The Sicilian Dragon | 1972 | Openings | |
| Levy | How Fischer Plays Chess | 1975 | Instruction | |
| Levy | Play Chess Combinations and Sacrifices | 1980 | Instruction | Joyce Evans |
| Levy & Keene | How to play the Opening in chess | 1974 | Openings | |
| Levy & Keene | How to play the Opening in chess | 1974 | Openings | |
| Levy & O'Connell | How to play the Sicilian Defence | 1978 | Openings | |
| Marovic & Parma | An Opening Repertoire for Black | 1978 | Openings | |
| Marovic & Susic | King Pawn Openings | 1975 | Openings | Mark Bethel |
| Mason | The Principles of Chess | 1896 | Instruction | |
| Negyesy-Hegyi | Combination in chess | 1970 | Instruction | Stewart Fishburne |
| Nimzovich | Chess Praxis | 1936 | Collection | |
| Nimzowitsch | My System | 1929 | Instruction | |
| O'Kelly de Galway | The Sicilian Flank Game | 1969 | Openings | |
| Pachman | Queen's Gambit | 1964 | Openings | Mark Bethel |
| Pachman | Modern Chess Tactics | 1970 | Instruction | |
| Pachman | Attack and Defence in Modern Chess Tactics | 1973 | Instruction | |
| Reshevsky | The Fischer - Spassky Games | 1972 | Match | |
| Schonberg | Grandmasters of Chess | 1974 | History | |
| Sokolsky | The Modern Openings in Theory and Practice | 1972 | Instruction | |
| Soltis | Chess Mistakes - How to Detect and Avoid Them | 1975 | Instruction | Joyce Evans |
| Thimann | King's Gambit | 1974 | Openings | |
| Various | Kasparov v Karpov 1986 | 1986 | Match | |
| Vukovic | The Art of Attack in Chess | 1965 | Instruction | |
| Vukovic | The Art of Attack in Chess | 1965 | Instruction | |
| Vukovic | The Chess Sacrifice | 1968 | Instruction | Malcolm Hunt |
| Wade & O'Connell | The Games of Robert J Fischer | 1972 | Collection | |
| Wichmann & Wichmann | Chess Pieces from Antiquity to Modern Times | 1960 | General | |
| Yanofsky | Chess the Hard way! | 1953 | Collection | |
| Znosko-Borovsky | How not to play chess | 1949 | Instruction |