The first Hastings international chess tournament games collection was published in England in 1895, not long after the competition took place. The participants themselves commentated the games. The second games collection appeared a year later, in Germany. The author, Emil Schallopp, a well-known master and chess journalist, used analysis published in the English tournament book extensively, as well as in European chess periodicals. This book includes Schallopp’s commentary. Of course, many of E.Schallopp’s evaluations, especially as pertains to the opening, have been disproved by modern theory. Nevertheless, the Russian Chess House left most of his commentary untouched, viewing it as a tribute to the epoch and believing it has great value in terms of chess history. In certain cases, analysis published by Schallopp’s successors and drastically reevaluating many key positions is provided. A few games have been commentated by S. Tarrash, G.Y. Levenfish and P.A.Romanovsky.

The round overviews were written by B.Trubitsyn (rounds I-X and XVII-XXI) and B.I.Belensky (rounds XI-XVI). B.Trubitsyn also compiled the informational sources and wrote one of the introductory articles.