Chess Ads - Paul Masson

So many companies have used a chess theme in their advertising that it makes you wonder why chess organizers have so much trouble convincing those same companies to sponsor chess competitions. A few months ago I posted Chess Ads - Givenchy Ysatis, but I could have picked from many other attractive ads.

The longest running series of chess ads was undoubtedly the George Koltanowski solving tourneys sponsored by Paul Masson in the early 1960s. Here's a graphical overview.

Although I've guessed at some of the contest numbers and years, the captions should be substantially correct. I'll flag any errors if I discover them.

***

Later: Looks like I missed one. The description of this ad said, 'a great original vintage ad removed from a 1966 New Yorker magazine', placing it sixth in the sequence shown above.