Quality Chess Blog

I have rarely seen a piece trapped so nicely as in this little game I just played on PlayChess with Black.

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. g3 Nc6 6. Bg2 Nf6 7. O-O Be7 8. Nc3 O-O 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Na4 Be7 11. Be3 Bg4 12. Rc1 Re8 13. Re1 Rc8 14. Bc5 Bxc5 15. Nxc5 Qb6 16. Qb3 Bxf3 17. Bxf3 Nd4 18. Qxb6 axb6 19. Nxb7 Rb8 20. Nd6 Red8
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A few weeks ago we finally sent Grandmaster Repertoire 10 – The Tarrasch Defence to the printer. They will finish printing it on Friday and we will have it on the way to everybody about a week thereafter, with the 12th being the day they are posted from Glasgow. You can find the excerpt here.

At the moment we are finishing Chess Evolution 5/2011 – the November issue. Printing will start on Thursday and will take about 10 working days. With close to 50 topical games, 24 puzzles and a nice article by Etienne Bacrot, this will be a terrific issue.

After this we will spread from all five working on the same project to doing a bit each. Colin will continue the work on Mihai Suba’s Positional Chess Sacrifices. Andrew will work on The Alterman Gambit Guide – Black Gambits 2, as well as help Jacob and Lubomir Ftacnik with Grandmaster Repertoire 6 – The Sicilian Defence 2nd edition. But before Jacob will be ready for this, he needs to finish Martin Weteschnik’s book Chess Tactics from Scratch, which is a totally reworked 2nd edition of the modern classic Understanding Chess Tactics, which is now hard to get hold of. But don’t worry, the second edition will be worth the wait. John will help Jacob, and in turn Jacob will help with John’s nemesis, The King’s Gambit, which would have been out a long time ago, had we not been so busy publishing other people’s books.

In the horizon we also have the last two volumes of Artur Yusupov’s monumental series (forever placing him among the great chess instructors of all time, we think), Jacob’s suicide mission with five volumes of Grandmaster Repertoire with 1.e4 for White, Grandmaster Repertoire – Beating the 1.d4 deviations (basically where White does not play c2-c4) by Boris Avrukh, Soviet Middlegame Technique by Romanovsky and at least a few complete surprises…

Here is the updated (but as always COMPLETELY UNRELIABLE) publishing schedule:

The long road leading to Grandmaster Repertoire 10 – The Tarrasch Defence seems to be coming to an end. The boys will upload the book tomorrow or maybe even today. Meanwhile I have been testing the lines in the European Team Championship in Greece. So far two draws, against strong opposition. As I have managed to win both of my white games, this has been a great success. Today awaits Armenia and either Akopian or Sargissian. Chances are the Tarrasch – and especially my memory – will be seriously tested.

Update from Scotland: We reckon Jacob has White against Akopian. Live games can be watched here.

Today I saw NIC Yearbook 100 for the first time. It had some very interesting stuff and is far beyond what you normally can expect from this aging publication. Even if you have been wondering in the past why you bought one of them, please do get this one.

Interesting for us is the article by Glenn Flear on 23 interesting opening books from the last decade or so. I was a bit surprised that there was no space for Rogozenko’s THE SVESHNIKOV SICILIAN RELOADED or John Cox’ THE BERLIN WALL, especially as there was space for some books I don’t rate highly (no, I will not comment on that part). However, most enjoyable Glenn did credit Boris Avrukh with the most influencial opening book in what I figure must be this millennium for GRANDMASTER REPERTOIRE1-  1.d4 VOLUME ONE.

So, I was wondering: what are your top 3s? Please speak freely; we shall not judge you – unless John Shaw: THE KING’S GAMBIT is on your list, in which case we shall put our considerable resources into tracking you down and donating you a 400 page draft for internal use…

Anyway, back to the studio. My top 3 opening books in the 21st century is:

1. Avrukh: GM1 – 1.d4 Vol 1

2. Marin: GM3 – 1.c4 vol 1

3. Hillarp-Persson: Tiger’s Modern

I honestly stood in front of our considerable selection of opening books, and did not find a book from another company I liked as much as our 10 best books. The main reason is probably that I have considerable influence on how our books look, so they are made the way I like it, but I also genuinely think that at their time, these three books were something special. I look forward to hear other people’s opinions. I know that John would probably go Marin, Avrukh, Hillarp-Persson, but keep the same list :-).

Dear Quality Chess Reader,

In the long gap since our previous newsletter we have kept busy editing and publishing books. We also managed to move office; our fancy computers survived the trip, so we’ll call the move a success and forget the logistical chaos.

Our recent books include:

Boris Avrukh’s two volumes on the Grünfeld: Grandmaster Repertoire 8 and Grandmaster Repertoire 9. Avrukh’s previous books on 1.d4 were universally praised, so his latest efforts were highly anticipated. We believe Boris has at least matched and perhaps exceeded his earlier standard. See what you think.

Tibor Karolyi also has a new two-volume series. Karpov’s Strategic Wins 1 – The Making of a Champion and Karpov’s Strategic Wins 2 – The Prime Years. The reviews have been ecstatic.

The Grandmaster Battle Manual by Vassilios Kotronias is a profound exploration and explanation of the lessons the Greek GM has learned in his years as a professional player.

Tactimania by GM Glenn Flear is a fun and original puzzle book. The manga-style art on the cover and throughout seems to have misled some into thinking it’s a book for children. Not so. It’s for all those who want to test their tactical mettle. If you enjoy Japanese-style art, then that’s just a bonus.

Since it has been a while since our last missive, we have a bumper collection of games and analysis in pdf or pgn format. The pdf stretches to 50 pages, so it’s really a small book. There is so much analysis that it is tough to pick a highlight, but perhaps many will be interested in GM Boris Avrukh’s analysis of Giri-Swinkels, a recent game that is relevant to Boris’s Grünfeld repertoire.

Regards,
John Shaw
Chief Editor
Quality Chess

As some of you will have noticed – our website has been somewhat broken – making it impossible to buy stuff. Not a great business model. Blame the webmaster and play ignorant is my tactic :-).

On the 30th we will move office from the current location just opposite Glasgow Central to five blocks up the road. The area is nicer, the place is bigger, the building nicer, the price lower and the company owning it gone into administration; causing all sorts of logistical problems!

Obviously we are going nuts – but everything should be on track now. Hope so – I just spent 1000 pounds in IKEA for new office furniture, including a big corner desk for yours truly.

John is working away on the King’s Gambit book. We are now optimistically putting a date on publication, although our confidence in it is low. Too low to put it in the webshop. We don’t think the King’s Gambit is the best way to play after 1.e4 e5, but these days anyone is struggling to find a good way to play. At least we have some interesting stuff to say; new concepts and a good deal of new ideas for both sides. We don’t promise an advantage – but we do promise publication!

The same is the case with the Tarrasch book. We are far – we have completed all analysis. I perform a final check in the writing phase, but that is about it. There are so many new ideas and concepts in this book, that we think it will move the theory forward by years. Chess is far from exhausted.

Finally, here is the wild guess about publication dates for the next few books:

These weeks we are finishing a few books, all ready about the same time. The following books are all but done:

Tactimania (pdf excerpt)

Grandmaster Battle Manual (pdf excerpt)

Grandmaster Repertoire 8 – The Grunfeld Defence (pdf excerpt)

Grossmeister Repertoire 5 – Die Englisch Eroffnungen (pdf excerpt)

My apologies for spelling mistakes and missing umlauts. I am simply to ill to care. I have gone to work the last three days with fever, to ensure that these books are coming out. And I am not the only one. I hear coughing all around me throughout the day. John claims his brain is melted, and is probably right on the money, as he claimed he had finished Chapter 6 of Grandmaster Battle Manual a week ago, but in reality had only typed in the page numbers for Chapter 5 twice!

A combination of such insidents means that this is a likely publishing schedule for the next few months.

At times we have to admit to great limitations when it comes to planning. We believed that Grandmaster Repertoire 8 – The Grunfeld Defence was going to be 550 pages – but as we are getting closer to finishing the book, we have realised that 700 pages is more likely.

We cannot do this; it is too much.

We have thus decided to split the book into two volumes. We will have Grandmaster Repertoire 8: The Grunfeld Defence Volume 1 and Grandmaster Repertoire 9: The Grunfeld Defence Volume 2. We have lowered the price, but overall it will of course be more expensive. We are sorry about this, but nothing else makes sense.

Those who have already ordered the book on our website will of course receive both volumes at no additional charge, or they can contact us demanding a refund. However, we hope these customers will see this as a bonus – two books for the price of one.

One knock-on effect of this change is we have to renumber the book previously known as GM9. It is now Grandmaster Repertoire 10: The Tarrasch Defence.