Quality Chess Blog

Today, the final day of November, is also the final day at work of our friend and colleague Colin McNab, who has decided to take early retirement to enjoy a well-deserved life of leisure. Colin has worked with us for 12 years and 1 day, mainly as an editor and proofreader. His contribution will be much missed at QC and we wish him well.

Colin is a FIDE Grandmaster, Scottish Champion on 5 occasions, 1992 Commonwealth Champion, and was part of the British team that won the World Championship of Problem Solving. These skills were not stretched on Colin’s very first day of proofreading files for QC, when he spotted an overlooked mate-in-one.

The photo above shows Colin receiving a small memento from QC. To save you zooming in, the plaque on the trophy says “Quality Chess – Employee of the Month – December 2022”.

For shops or customers, best not to email Colin in future.

Dear readers, we know many of you are collecting our books. Thank you!
We have recently discovered 5 brand-new copies of “Tiger’s Modern”. In case someone wants a copy, please email us a salesgroup at qualitychess.co.uk and we will send a copy along with your next order.

Currently there are 7 of Yusupov’s award-winning series available on Chesstempo. With the rest of the series to follow soon.

I mention this now because it’s a frequent question I receive from readers in email: “Is Yusupov’s series available as some sort of e-book?” Well, yes it is, at Chesstempo. Of course there are various other titles also available there, so feel free to click through and have a look.

Congratulations to Jan Markos and David Navara for winning the FIDE Award for the best book published in 2021! The Secret Ingredient impressed the jury of three respected Grandmasters: Antoaneta Stefanova, Thomas Luther, and Boris Gelfand. You can read the full announcement on the FIDE website here, along with details of the runners-up and other special mentions.

To briefly quote the judges “The search for ‘The Secret Ingredient’ to success, both in life and chess, is what this great book tries to answer. Following the advice given in this book will make each player stronger and each coach more focused on the tasks and challenges we face in life.”

We are proud that one of our favourite instructive books has also been voted as FIDE’s favourite book. Jan Markos of course has a winning history – his previous book Under the Surface was the English Chess Federation’s Book of the Year. But enough of my boasting – for now.