Quality Chess Blog

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:

Arne Moll at the ChessVibes site reviewed two books in one column: our Experts on the anti-Sicilian and Bologan’s The Rossolimo Sicilian. The comparison went in our favour with quotes such as: “If you want to have fun with the Anti-Sicilians, The Rossolimo Variation and Experts on the Anti-Sicilian provide excellent study material. My own preference is for the latter – it seems more objective, more diverse and more up to date.”

It’s a long review and well worth reading in full. Give it a scan and see if you disagree with Arne. Is Bologan too harshly dealt with for continually praising his old coach? Is our book excessively praised? Why am I asking stupid questions?

On the subject of reviews, in his Checkpoint column at ChessCafe, Carsten Hansen reviewed The Cutting Edge 2: Sicilian Najdorf 6.Be3. Once again, the whole review is worth reading. The quick summary is 5 stars out of a possible 6: Carsten loved the chess but objected to some of the language.