We will publish paperback editions of Attack&Defence and Endgame Play in my Grandmaster Preparation series on Wednesday next week.
We will print a German edition of the first volume in the Judit Polgar Teaches Chess series as soon as we get the cover fixed. This is harder than it should be, but hopefully it will work out soon.
Finally, I am happy to announce what I am working on at the moment. I am helping a good friend write a book on the way he understands chess. And boy does he understand chess:
We have written some of the chapters already and have the raw material for all but the last chapter. I am very very happy with it. Actually, I am ecstatic. I hope you guys will support this project too.
AWESOME!!!!
Great news Jacob!
Wow, I will buy this one blindly – great!!
But why won’t there be exercises? Theory without praxis?
@LE BRUIT QUI COURT
Huh?! Have you already read an excerpt?
Besides a great author, this will be your best Cover yet
Damn. This is amazing. Cannot find the words.
I think we have enough exercise books coming out. I will definitely do some more down the line…
Yeah. That’s quality chess!
Wow, that’s a high-impact cover. Am curious to see the spine.
Excellent news. I think the combination of a top, top, top player and Jacob should work well – the best games collection of Boris that Olms put out was I recall a bit dry (I guess it was a poor translation from Russian).
OMG! Wonderful news. The only announcement that could surpass it would be a book written by Ivanchuk.
Wow! This is definitely big news. And huge kudos to Quality Chess for getting people like that to write books for them.
He won a game recently with black against Nakamura where his picees swarmed around the white kind in the endgame. Hoping that game is in there with his thoughts.
@Michael Bartlett
If you want Boris winning with black against Nakamura, there is quite a selection :-). There will not be a lot of games in the book, instead they will be annotated in a way that makes them really easy to understand.
Yes. That should be the next aim.
Great news Gelfand is one of my heroes!
This is the game.
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1721429
Included or not, I cannot wait to read the book.
Boris Gelfand has named Rubinstein as his favourite player, and once said, “what I like in chess … comes from Akiba.” I wonder if he will expand on this in his book??
Where would this book be estimated in the aforementioned publishing schedule?
Fantastic shot! Wow! You are really amazingly surprising company! It would be everyone’s dream to have this book! GM Boris Gelfand has shown his class when he was playing WC match against Anand. I am looking forward to this book! Just to agree with some guys – the cover is really nice! Congratulations on getting some BIG GUNS like Boris! I would not be so much surprised if new few years half of the TOP TEN players would decide to release a book in your great company! 🙂
Oh my God!
Darn! Another book I must buy. 😉
Wow someone is complaining about a Gelfand book’s content and it isn’t published yet.
@Harold Scott
In great detail
Exciting news. 🙂
What’s the target audience for Gelfand’s book?
@Tomasz Chessthinker
I see a new series coming, next book in the series: Tactical Decision Making in Chess by Shirov 🙂
@Andre
Everyone, obviously. I think most players over 1300 will be able to read it and make sense of it.
I still wait for the holy grail – Positional Decision Making in Chess by Karpov. Hopefully this becomes a series.
But who will write the preface/intro to Gelfand’s book?! 😉
@Seth
Me!
There should be a Rubinstein’s collected games annotated by someone like Gelfand, since he considers himself a student, in a manner of speaking. I know there is a biography, but the games don’t all have very deep notes or verbal explanations. He is sort of neglected in English chess literature.
There is a 2 volume collection of Rubenstein game with substantial number of annotated games by IM John Donaldson and IM Nikolay Minev published by Russell Enterprises. Of course they are not as extensively annotated as Karpov’s endgames by IM Tibor Karolyi. But then not everyone is a fan of the extensive annotations by Karolyi’s. Don’t get me wrong, I like it but it is very heavy and slow going. There are different approaches to learning appropriate for different times. To get an overview of games but with some guidance, then I think Donaldson and Minev’s games are sufficient. For a really thorough study of endgames, then yes, Karolyi’s Karpov games is a candidate. At the end of the day, it is horses for courses and different times in one’s life.
I would rather have Gelfand explain his own thinking in his own games than him explaining Rubenstein’s games.
Thanks Jacob for getting this. I may have to buy the book! and add to my already rather extensive collection of chess books which I am never ring to finish reading and working through. sigh!
@weng siow
What about both :-).
Hear, hear!!!
@Nikos
I would like to know: is there a reason why you didn`t investigate 9…Bc5 variation after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. cxd4 Qb6 8. O-O Nxd4 9. Nbd2
@Jacob Aagaard
Wonderful!! I am very interested in Boris’ style and what has influenced him!!
My coach GM Lars Bo Hansen has suggested a detailed study of Rubinstein’s Games. So I think a book by Boris would be a nice compliment after such a study. Even though Donaldson and Minev have done a wonderful job with their two-volume work on Rubinstein, it is very inspiring to read the thoughts from a top GM like Boris, why he was influenced by Akiba, and see why we would all benefit from a study of the Great Masters!!
I know there is a fairly widely quoted statement that carefully studying (which is another can of worms) Rubinstein games equals a significant ELO boost. I do have the first volume of Donaldon/Minev but I thought that the analysis for some games was from current newspapers and magazines. Which doesn’t necessarily mean bad but at best means a bit uneven.
@John Johnson
Don’t forget Learn from the Legends (finally coming in hardcover!!), which also contains some fine analysis on Rubinstein endgames!
Nice! A must buy! 🙂
Jacob,
In order to maximize learning process I have transferred all learning positions and exercises from first 3 Yusupov’s books (Tigersprung auf 1500 Band 1-3) into chessbase file.
There are cca 1300 positions, and only is indicated who is to move. I excluded openings.
So these positions are meant to be played against engine. All of them.
What do you think about this training method?
@LE BRUIT QUI COURT
He thinks that chessbase file must be destroyed! 🙂
Sounds absolutelly great!! I can’t think in a better player to talk about positional play than gelfand
@LE BRUIT QUI COURT
Garry is right. You need to keep this file on your machine only, or you are violating copyright and causing pain to a very nice man. Besides this, it is a good way to train.
@Jacob Aagaard
No problemos, amigo 🙂
@Jacob Aagaard
Just for curiosity…creating such a file is already a violation of copyright or if you don’t distribute it it’s ok? Because we all have friends…that have friends of friends…
@garryk
But Jacob has also 222 positions from Dvoretsky’s book “Endgame Manual” in chessbase format, not spekaing about training material from various books.
Besides I bought the books, and can do with them what I want for my private purposes 🙂
@Ray
I automatically buy everything Marin authors; so I have had that one for a while. But thanks for the head up! I won’t wail about how badly I want to see a new Marin book.
@LE BRUIT QUI COURT
I know, in your house you can do what you want, but I was curious to understand the legislation. Let me do an example. I prepare this chessbase file for my own purpose with the books I’ve bought. A friend of mine, who also have bought the books, asks to me the file in order to save his time. It’s illegal to give him? I suppose yes, but he also owns the book so he can prepare the file himself. But if I give to him the file, he can give to others saying – I haven’t done it myself, so it’s not my fault if it was done. So by friendly transfers we have this illegal file in the wild. Where is the chain to be stopped? Just my curiosity, probably a lawyer is required to explain these things properly.
@LE BRUIT QUI COURT
So Jacob secretly prepares illegal chessbase files to harm his competitors! Jacob, can you please lend me your chessbase files? I’ll give you back in few minutes! 🙂
@garryk
The positions are not copyrighted, but the order and collection of them is. As is all comments and analysis (though if generated by an engine, they are not).
The moment you distribute the files to others you are doing what people are doing when they share films or music online. Dead illegal and very damaging to those who created it.
Is it illegal to create your own files and keep them to yourself? I am not sure. But the main point I would go by here is: if you do something that leads to someone else not getting paid for his work, you are a scumbag. If you share it with a friend, he will share it with a friend and so on. This is why Everyman’s books are all online in PDF form. You only need one person to feel no allegiance and it is everywhere. We do not put our authors and friends in that position; and you cannot find a nice looking PDF of our books online.
@garryk
It is possible to allocate a password code to open a pdf document or even perhaps use an e-mail address that is particular to a person. Anytime the pdf document has to be opened, the code is typed in. Now, if the pdf document is on more than one electronic device, then there should be a system to identify the misuse of the document as in illegal distribution and block its usage…
As a filmmaker I am glad to hear Jacob’s tough stance on piracy. I feel the same way and my industry (low budget indies) is all but dead now thanks to entitled people downloading films illegally.
@garryk
It is interesting because at least for music or films you are allowed to make a private copy if you have the original one. So, I suppose that you can legally have this chessbase file and even share this file with other people that also has the original book.
Further, there are services like Apple service “Itunnes match” allow you to have all your music in the cloud, and if you upload a song (it doesn’t matter the quality or even where you get it!!), they idetify and change it for a HQ version, so you can listen it when ever you want, because they assume that you have and upload the original one.
So as Jacob says, it is up to you not being a scumbag…
@Fer
Not that simple, there are clearly a lot of gray areas. Are you allowed to change a product and give it to others? Definitely not! The “artist” has a right for the product to stay as intended. If you make a personal version (altered) you are in the clear, if you share it with others, you are distorting the artists intention. This is a breach of copyright. The whole thing is a minefield :-).
@Jacob Aagaard
First, I know that this is a very sensitive issue for you since you work very hard doing what you do and therefore, naturally, you’re strong adversary of copy-writing material
Second, YES you can find nice PDF-files of almost any recent chess book including those of Quality Chess
With that out of the way I’d like to share some thoughts with you:
I kind of disagree with labelling people using copy-righted material as scumbags. It’s all about how you use it. I myself have bought quite a few books from Quality Chess (at least 10) and have been very happy with my purchases. This, however, has not stopped me from procuring pdf-files of QC-books and I don’t think has makes me a scumbag. Why? I can honestly say that I don’t believe I have bought any fewer books just because I had the corresponding pdf-files. All the books that I really wanted I bought regardless, sometimes after checking the pdf-file and sometimes before (I knew I had to have it). There has been 1 instance where I was kind of skeptical prior to purchase so I downloaded the pdf-file. My concerns were confirmed so I ended up NOT bying the book. So maybe, just maybe, I have bought one less QC book on that account that I otherwise would have, but on the other hand I can say I’m a super happy QC-customer that wouldn’t hesitate buying books in the future, even if I can find the book online, as long as the book meets my high expectations.
When you attempt to legislate intentions…. many cans many worms.
@Jacob Aagaard
In Germany it is allowed to work of copyrighted material if you quote it correctly and it is clearly more original work of the new author.
B.e. when I prepare a lesson as trainer for the youth I give the source(s) on the sheet of paper where the diagram(s) are printed and mostly I show the book and let them look into it. In my head is the hope that one or two of the young people are interested enough to work over the books and buy them or lend them in the local library.
Giving away positions of a whole book in a file has probably not this effect. So it’s not good for the author and probably neither for the trainer to do this.
The problem with strict anti-piracy measures is always that at some point the paying customers are suffering. Right now that’s probably not an issue for chess books. But in ten years the possibilities the electronic format offers, may be so tremendous, that sticking to ink and paper (as anti-piracy measure) would be a huge letdown. And once you go electronic, I think piracy cannot be avoided.
But maybe when that day comes, all QC-books will have to be prefunded, kickstarter style.
@Phille
You are right, we are coming to a point were paying customers have sometimes less rights than piracy downloaders. Maybe I’m a dreamer but I buy books mostly as personal support to the author. I’d buy the books I bought even if I had all of them in pdf, and sometimes this is just the case. Pdf are for everyday working and for travel ease, books are for the pleasure to read and for the commitment to the author. Who is satisfied with an illegal pdf is or too poor to buy the book (99% it’s not the case) or disrespectful of himself and the author.
@Phille
If sticking to ink and paper is what it takes to allow good writers to keep on writing good books and actually earn some money with it, I’m perfectly fine with ink and paper! Not all new things are necessarily better 🙂
I have the same point of view as garryk, i.e. even than I know where I can find good chess books or magazines pdf versions, I love to buy books or subscriptions because I understand that, otherwise, the products (e.g. Quality Chess books or New in Chess magazines) that I love could disappear and I don’t wish so.
Any hope of having the Grandmaster Preparation series in German?
This is wonderful news!
From and extraordinary player we can expect and extraordinary book!
Jacob,
You have an excellent author under your flag!
Congratulations 🙂
http://www.chessdom.com/gm-victor-mikhalevsky-is-new-champion-of-israel/
I was thinking about piracy problem since 1990. It is quite complex problem, but the most painful and hard to understand to me… is the approach of the people. If an author want to SELL his book and the publisher has the same idea – they should cooperate to convince all the people who WANTS to buy the books – to do this. I am not sure what are the obstacles, but there are MANY simple (?!) solutions to this problem. One of them is to REWARD the legal users. How? For example – at every printed book you are giving a hidden code. After that when LEGAL user buy a book – he simply write the code into the website. And he can LEGALLY download a PDF file with the book. And if it is not a good solution – he may get a nice bonus (for example: an electronic file with the chapter or examples – not present in the book).
It is ONLY my opinion – I think it is a WAY better to reward legal customers than to fight against those who cannot and/or do not want to BUY the book(s). Anyway I love QC company and all the team – because YOU are at the right track. I support you as much as I can (I buy just 6-8 books, but better this then none).
I have noticed a simple thing about piracy. If the product is digital it is possible to replicate the quality. If it is on paper, you can scan them in and get a poor quality copy. People will be constantly reminded of the fact that they are triefs when using it; which will deter 95% of people using them. It is comparable to some of the studies in Freakanomics on honesty.
A PDF would kill this.
I would love to do kindles, but at a max price of $9.99, we just cannot effort it. It is possible that we will do iBooks at some point, but at the moment it makes sense to just roll with Forward Chess.
@Jacob Aagaard
I hate Amazon – they say they are doing this on behalf of their customers, who want low prices, but in reality they are just killing variety. I think it’s ridiculous to set a maximum price of 9.99 for an e-book.
@Ray
If they said max 70 percent of the paper version, it would be ok. Actually I think apple are even worse…
An online chess platform that would create a digital offering that evolves through time would be a nice solution.
The problem is that the chess audience is not big enough to support high quality chess material.
Not to mention that chess books on openings get dated very fast.
I wrote 8 chess books; they are all copied illegally on the net; some sites even charge money (!) for downloading my books. there is nothing I can do about it.
I’m not sure people care so much if their copy is neat and looking good, or it is not. In this age and era they might not even understand they are doing something wrong. Youngsters tend to take it for granted that knowledge is free for all.
I take it as a true miracle that QC and others are still in business. For every paying customer there might be two or three that have the book’s content without paying.
Fantastic! The clock is ticking for its release.
Will buy it…God willing.
Would you publish these 2 new instructional books by Dvoretsky? http://www.jussupow.de/30703.html at the bottom of the page.
@FM To Be
Of course we would, but Mark has a good relationship with Russell and publishes his books through them. I have a very good personal relationship with Mark and I have to say that he has helped me immensely over the years, but I cannot see that we will ever publish his books…
@Jacob Aagaard
I turn 30 this year and can think of no better present to treat myself to than a Boris signed copy of this book. Would that be at all possible?
You are right my friend. I know how hard is to write a good chess book. I am aware that most books are “floating” over the Internet and you can get it free. I do not accept showing no respect to the author who created the book.
Unfortunately you are right that “modern people” do not accept nor understand what is the core of creating the books. However please take a look at my perspective (I do not claim I am right, but I feel that it may be good point to discuss things). Let’s assume there are 10.000 people interested at one of chess book (no matter their title, target customers, price, language, etc.) and divide them into two groups.
There are two group of people (who wants to have a book – no matter what form):
1) Those want (and accept!) to pay for the book (1000 people)
2) Those do not want (and do not accept) to pay for the book (9000 people).
Most often the second group would not pay for the book – because their (modern) values are different then those of authors and/or publishers (I take the case that the author and publisher want to get money for their work). And as far as I know there is quite big group of people who just collect books and do not use them. They may have 100.000 chess books (in electronic form), but they simply have not time nor motivation to read them (not to mention, to study them). Would they be able to pay for all of these books? Definitely NOT. Do they have any REAL benefits of having these books? Most probably NOT. That group of people do not care of having any real benefits of the books – no matter if they would be offered them for FREE (no, I am not kidding). Should we (authors and publishers) fight against those “collectioners”? I do not think so. It is a waste of time and energy.
And now – let’s look at the first group: the people (chess players, coaches, amateurs, tournament players, etc.) who want to have chess books as they USE them and have REAL benefits from possesing the books! Why? Because they usem them to prepare themselves or their students (pupils) to play better chess. Should we worry and encourage about these group to show respect to the author and publisher for their work? Absolutelly YES. This group is willing to PAY real money, but they should know how to do this (in a most efficient way – as the author and publisher could be rewared for their work). If there would be a proper attitude towards such a loyal customers – I STRONGLY believe – such a group is going to expand. Why? Because if now the ratio is 1:9 (1000 loyal customers vs 9000 collectioners), we – the chess community (not just authors and publishers!) should make every kind of effort to CHANGE this ratio into the opposite one! What would it be if we could have 9:1 ratio? Would it be so painful for authors and publishers as nowadays? I do not believe it!
Please take notice as this is my opinion and I REALLY know how lazy and “modern” are people
in present (digital) era. However if WE – as the chess community – show postivite approach for authors and publishers (as the EXCELLENT case is Quality Chess! yes, I am deadly serious and appreciate the team very much!)… other “collectors” could see that they could act in a different way.
BTW. One of the most crazy idea I have discovered (to try out as it may be good source of real info) is to publish ONE book (it does not have to be a world’s best book) and give people the full possibility to pay for this one (I am in an electronic form)… as low as they wish to! For example: we have a good book called “ABC” by a respected author “DEF” and you can download this book only from OFFICIAL website. The price is set as 14.99 EURO, but you can pay much less if you decide. The lowest possible price to pay for the book is set at 1.99 Euro. However if anyone selects the option of “his price” – below the recommened one – he would be forced to READ one page of explanation – related to the EFFORT, energy, time and whole process of producing such book. And if the customer read the info (let’s say after 15-20 minutes*) – he may be able to pay HIS price (and get a full valuable book). This way we could see how many people are loyal customers, how many of them are able to pay recommended price and what % of dividents are gained from “your price” customers decision.
* – as many people would like to “trick” the info – just wait the time and after that – click for payment – you could give “next page” (process) as some SIMPLE questions related to the “info page” (for example – how many hours was devoted to edit the book, what was the price of priniting 1000 volumes of the book, etc.).
Of course I do not mean – every books should be sell with this model (in real acceptable world and honest agreement between loyal customers and publishers – yes!), but one out of 10 or 20 books (and not just greatest hits, but those at least good quality ones). I must confess that I have bought a few books at such model and I was more then happy.
BTW. My chess books are available to download for free (no charge) too, but I do not care about it – as I did not write these books to earn real money. Althought I must state that appreciate every chess writer who creates a book – and all of them should be rewarded for their dedication and final work.
@someone
This is very sad. If a solution isn’t found it will be increasingly difficult to sell quality content (not only chess related). Not selling pdf in my opinion is not a solution, a lot of people is satisfied even by bad quality scans. I don’t see a solution and this makes me sad. I miss the days when computer didn’t exist and books were the only source of information available.
I usually check (online) pdf files first, and if it interests me I buy the book at the chess store.
I remember reading about cinema revenue going down when mediafire was censured from the internet. The logic behind that was that people used to watch online and then if they liked it, watch it in the cinema and/or recommend it to friends.
@grinding_tolya
I think an excerpt should be enough to evaluate a book. Perhaps a longer excerpt could help.
@garryk
Just as trailers aren’t always representing the quality of a film, the same thing happens with books.
What this business is needs is a Steam-like service. Then it would be viable to have massive sales with 75% discount on 2 years old books.
@grinding_tolya
I understand your point…but you can’t see a film before deciding to…see that film! So you have to decide to buy a film based on a trailer, some reviews, some opinions of friends and so on. I agree a longer excerpt may be useful (in a 500 pages book you can give away a 30 pages excerpt instead of a 10 pages without problem).
I must say, I really doubt that people feel this way. I would rather expect that people feel less like thieves if they just get a poor copy. After all they can tell themselves that it is nowhere near the quality of the original product and that they will buy the original product later. Like an extended excerpt.
If you steal a copy that is virtually indistinguishable from the original, there is no fooling yourself.
How does this 9.99 threshold work? I just looked up the book I’m currently reading, Sosonko’s The World Champions I Knew, and it’s 17.99 on amazon.com.
@Phille
If you go over $9.99 you only get 35% of the sale; if you are $9.99 you get 70%. On top of this, Amazon will only pay 35% on sales from some countries. The latter is easier to stomach, but the first is a sort of cohesion that I find appalling and it does not fit with our products.
Sorry, but I’m not understanding the math here. If you price it at $9.99 you get 70% or $6.99.
But, if you price it at $17.99, as in the example, you only get 35% or $6.30. Why then would you price your book at more than $9.99 unless it was also more than $20?
I do want to investigate iBooks at some point, as this is the closest to the PDF format there is; and iPads are becoming common. But I have to check how hard it is to crack it as well… For now Forward Chess is what makes most sense to me. Maybe it is not the best platform at the moment, but rather than this rush to create 27 platforms, I like that FC has tried to bring many publishers on board and try to improve slowly.
Good morning, will Forward Chess be available on the Kindle Fire any time soon, or do you think that Amazon will block it as it may be seen as direct competition to their Kindle ebooks?
This question should be put to the FC people on their site. I assume the answer is “not”.
@Jacob Aagaard
for removing the apple’s DRM (copy protection) there is a free tool called Requiem
@Jacob Aagaard
Will the “Bad Bishop Book” start as a Paberback? No Hardcover?
Paperback of course!
@Thomas
“The Secret Life of Bad Bishops” will be paperback only. And in Forward Chess ebook soon also.
@John Shaw
A pity!
You are moving away from the universal publication of hardback editions?
@Igor
Go figure. 30 seconds and I find a pdf manual for thieves online…
@Paul
It was never universal, there has been occasional exceptions always.
@Jacob Aagaard
As yes, I think I understand it perhaps does not make huge sense here – it is one of your smaller books page wise. But still looking forward to it tremendously.
With Kotronias’ Svesh book showing up on the home page, are we to believe we’re getting that one soon? Please say yes!
@TonyRo
Hi Tony,
A definite ‘yes’ on that. End of July or very start of August, depending on how quickly the printing goes. And the same for Negi and Lund.
Excerpts on all three books should be up tomorrow.
So two GM Repertoires included in a triple publication within one month, should be good. It seems that both are quite extensive, i.e. 500-600 pages.
@Gilchrist is a Legend
GM 1.e4 is 600 pages. Lund 192. Sveshnikov 448 I think, but I do not know :-). Legoland was great by the way!
Does anyone have any idea what are the odds of actually getting a Sveshnikov on the board? It seems that nowadays white players are rarely willing to enter it (playing e.g. 3.Bb5 or the anti-Sveshnikov 3.Nc3), not even at GM level. I would love to play the Sveshnikov if I had a reasonable chance of getting it on the board, but things being as they are it strikes me as a rather unpractical choice considering the amount of sharp theory to be learned. It seems a bit similar to the Marshall Gambit in this respect, which you also almost never get on the board. Or am I being too pessimistic here? Are there any Sveshnikov players out there who have different experiences?
@Ray
I used to get it 75% of the time. I would go into it with White more than 50% of the time. If it forces White into 3.Bb5 I am happy, I would have to say.
Also, you can consider the 2…e6 move order (3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bf4 e5 8.Bg5) where the only serious alternatives are 3.c3, which you have to consider anyway, and 6.Nxc6, which is a serious move.
@Jacob Aagaard
Thanks, that’s actually not half as bad as I thought! As for the move order, 2…e6 is indeed an interesting move order. After 3.c3 black can transpose to an Advance French, which we know is good for black 🙂 I guess Kotronias will not deal with this alternative move order, since that would have meant another 100 pages extra 🙂
@Ray
3…Nf6 is my choice, but suit yourself!
@Ray
I can tell you from my experience (Kalashnikov for the last 4 years, Svesh for the years prior to that) that you’ll get the Rossolimo about 33-50% of the time you play 2…Nc6. It seems to be more popular to play 3.Bb5 vs. 2…Nc6 than 3.Bb5+ against 2…d6, but such is life. I can also tell you that once you learn how to fight against the Rossolimo and you find a system you like, you won’t be as annoyed to see it OTB.
Lastly, if you play the Sveshnikov, at least 3.Nc3 can be met by 3…Nf6, when some players will play 4.d4. If you only play the Kalashnikov, you have to play 3…e5, which is fine, or 3…d6!?, intending 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e5, but this is imprecise, as against all White knight moves but 6.Nb5, Black has prematurely hemmed in his dark-squared bishop.
@Jacob and Tony: many thanks for your helpful replies!
@TonyRo
But Black should still be equal though? I cannot see Nde2 create real problems for Black :-). …Nc6 is more useful than …a6 if White does not go to b5!?
When I looked at this variation a long time ago for my book, I thought that 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 d6!? 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e5!? 6.Nf5 might promise White a very small advantage (in any case, White scores well here in practice). And the way I decided to lay out my chapters, White’s 5th move alternatives in the Kalashnikov (5.Nxc6, 5.Nde2, 5.Nf3, 5.Nf5, etc…) fell write before 3.Nc3. I thought it might be very tedious and confusing for readers to study two chapters in a row that both branched at the same 5 alternative knight hops, but with different variations and positions following them. The line with 3…e5 is well worth knowing anyway if you plan to play the Sveshnikov/Kalashnikov for any reasonable period of time.
I like the excerpts very much, especially the Sweshnikow book. Hopefully they publish for the 28 July date with the Lund book. If I am not mistaken, from the excerpt, it looks as if after 9. Nd5 line, 11. c3 0-0 is the recommendation.
@Gilchrist is a Legend
We are aiming (hoping/trying) to have copies of Esben’s book ready for his lecture at Politiken Cup the 28th July. The book will be sent out to shops when the two other books are ready.
@Jacob Aagaard
Esben’s (Silas’??) book looks very good too, I hope it sells well. I particularly like the idea of including structures from the French……like his earlier book with the Scotch (and from memory the Catalan). I hope it does well.
All of the excerpts look amazing – I’m very excited for both Negi and Kotronias’ book. You can really tell that Kotronias loves what he does, which is contagious!
@TonyRo
I fully agree – he is one of my favourite chess writers since his brilliant book on the Advance Caro-Kann. I’m very happy that QC gives him the chance two write such an ambitious series as Kotronias on the KID!
@Jacob Aagaard
I had not known that Politiken sponsored the chess. Someday when I go back to København I could see how the chess is. I just ordered my copies of the books. It would be nice to read them, hopefully the printer agrees.
@Gilchrist is a Legend
They have sponsored Politiken Cup for decades.
@Jacob Aagaard
Would 25 June be a good guess for when the shipping to shops commences for the three books?
@Gilchrist is a Legend
I know we are slow, but 50 weeks from now is probably a bit pessimistic :-).
Maybe the 1st August. We have not yet heard the details from the printer…
@Jacob Aagaard
Great, in the middle of my holidays – I would have appreciated some better planning 🙂
@Ray
Why don’t you spend your holidays in Glasgow?
🙂 I prefer a sunny holiday 🙂
The excerpt on GM-repertoire is excellent as expected. The variations chosen are really dangerous for black. 14.h4!? in the end of the excerpt is not in Emanuels GM repertoire 15.
He had 14.0-0, so we see the duell Negi-Berg.
I can hardly wait to read the whole book.
@Jacob Aagaard
Sorry, I meant 25 July of course, but I only slept for 3 hours…
But it would be nice to read on the Sweshnikow. I wonder how theory has thence changed from the 2006 Rogozenko book.
@Jacob
When will the Polgar book be ready in german? By the way, is Negis book without am GM Rep number?The exwerpt doesnt have any, without a number it doesnt fit into the series.
@Gilchrist is a Legend
It’s a draw now 🙂
@chris
After 20 we have decided not to number them anymore.
German edition has finally gone to the printer after we got the cover fixed (the issue).
@Gilchrist is a Legend
What he wrote a book in 2006 on the Sveshnikov?? I should have known. That would be a violation of contract after he wrote one for us in 2005…
No numbers after 20? The several 1.e4 books seem to be a big problem. Sad to hear that. It will not look good in the bookshelf. 🙁
@Chris
Indeed! But if that’s the reason it could be solved by numbering the 1.e4 books e.g. 20a,b,c etc.
@Ray
We are using a/b to indicate 2nd editions.
@Jacob Aagaard
You can write the number on the first page. Please don’t stop numbering.
@Jacob Aagaard
No, I meant the 2006 Rogozenko book, and theory of that opening especially 9. Nd5.
@Jacob Aagaard
I forgot that it was 2005, and I did not sleep again. Now I confused myself… Anyway I cannot wait for ny hardcover of the GM18. Should be excellent.
@Gilchrist is a Legend
You’re changing your reportoire again or just collecting like me?
Jacob,
Did you read Hansen’s review on Grandmaster Repertoire 13 – The Open Spanish by Victor Mikhalevski?
To my mind this is one of the best GM Rep books! What do you think?
But when shall we get GM Rep for Black on Spanish Exchange and other 1.e4 lines?
@Ray
Perhaps the latter, but I have changed my repertoire to Grünfeld/Slav completely because of Awrukh’s books, and also 1. d4 because of Awrukh, so QC books seem to be my repertoire. It would still be nice to read GM18 though, perhaps in a month.
@Gilchrist is a Legend
I see, so you have roughly 20 openings in your reportoire 🙂
@LE BRUIT QUI COURT
I did and I agree that it is superb. The subject is a bit narrow, which is why it has not gained bigger attention. I love this book.
BTOG is under discussion, but will not come as early as you want it I am sure :-).
@Jacob Aagaard
Well, today I’m working on cheater dealing with Worral System. The lines for Black are truly at high level with full blooded fight.
But my pain are Open Games, even I own Kaufman’s “Repertoire” and Lysyj’s “The Open Games for Black”. By the way, in autumn New in Chess will launch Bologan’s “Black Weapons in the Open Games: How to Play for a Win if White Avoids the Ruy Lopez”.
My money goes of course on GM Rep Open Games, but I’ll buy Bologan’s also 🙂
If you like the Worrall Andrew Greet wrote an interesting book about it. I don’t guess that would be advertising a competitor exactly.
@John Johnson
It is. But it is not a transgression. It is a fair mention of an existing product in a normal discussion. It is telling people about something, rather than pushing them to buy it. We have never said you could not mention other publisher’s books here (we do ourselves regularly as well), but said that plugging them for the sake of plugging them is impolite. For example, Dreev has a new book out and no one has said: “Yeah, I love the new Dreev book” here. It would be a debate about a chess stars book that belongs on their site (they are our friends and collaborators in Forward Chess). Yes, we have at times mentioned their books (for good or bad), but it is our house, so we would like to be the ones initiating those discussions…
I suppose that 6 August is the date for GM18 and the Bishops book too, perhaps, as a treble publication?
The so called “Kozul variation” in the classical Sicilian was covered from whites perspective in “Cutting Edge 1”. Are there any plans for a book covering this or another variation against the Richter Rauzer from blacks perspective?
Classical Sicilian must be the most neglected opening in chess literature! Have asked May publishers they all say no plans!
@Nick
I agree. That is why I asked. I’m thinking about starting playing the classical Sicilian. There is too much theory in the Najdorf (which is my main defence against 1.e4), especially in the 6.Bg5 variation. The problem is that there is no good book on the classical Sicilian right now.
@Bebbe
Sounds like a new project for Kotronias, who has played the Classical in the past if I’m not mistaken. Should be easy to squeeze in between the two volumes on the Mar del Plata 🙂
@Ray
That would be the dream of course. I know he has played the Kozul variation and the variation 6.-e6 7.Qd2, Be7 quite a bit. But I think Kotronias have enough to do right now 🙂
@Bebbe
I think he should be challenged more, because he is becoming rather lazy 🙂
@Ray
He has essentially finished both volumes of Mar del Plata. Next up will be volume 4 and the Anti-Sicilians. I hope we will get the two volumes out in December latest. We also have Negi 2 and a lot of other stuff on the go.
@Jacob Aagaard
What will be the content of the next “Negi 2” book?
@Paul
Najdorf
@Jacob Aagaard
Any hint on what will be his choice?
@Bebbe
Nope!
@ Bebbe
My guess is Bg5, we will see.
Are any of the books in time to publish during the Politiken Cup? Also, it should be an interesting tournament–starts in several hours.
@Gilchrist is a Legend
Esben’s book will be there for his lecture Monday. Go early for greatest pleasure!
@Jacob Aagaard
Excellent–good old København. Also then the three books shall be transferred from “Coming Soon” to their respective categories soon? Good luck if you play.
@Gilchrist is a Legend
I will play the Olympiad; as will Andrew, Colin and John. Nikos will be there as well. Politiken has a tendency to be on top of Rebecca’s birthday, which makes it impossible to play.
Just wondering is 6 August the shipping of the websales or to the chess shops? Cannot wait for my hardback GM18 copy, have not received QC opening book for a while. In the mean time, seems as if København have quite some sunshine–almost 30 degrees sometimes. Not surprising if Stockholm are almost at 30 and Glasgow at 25…
@Gilchrist is a Legend
Our publishing dates are the dates the books arrive in the chess shops. A few websales could arrive before then.
We are having +20 here most days at the moment. I cannot remember a summer as nice as this in my time in Scotland.