Quality Chess Blog

Because of the slow progress on, and the extensive material for, THE ALTERMAN GAMBIT GUIDE – BLACK GAMBITS, we have decided to publish the book in two volumes. We just don’t want the readers to wait around for the second volume for another nine months, while the book is finished. So, we will publish it in two, slimmer and cheaper, volumes. The first will be available quite soon.

Obviously this has happened before with us – leading one planned 128 page book from Mihail Marin to be split twice, after one chapter turned out to be 480 pages in book form (GM3) and other 150 (half of GM4). Recently this also happened with the Grunfeld books by Avrukh, which were simply too thick as one volume, and are quite comprehensive as two.

We don’t want this to be a bad habit, but certainly it has happened a few times…

Not a new newsletter, yet. Instead at this pdf link you will find the same material in a more user-friendly layout. In fact, more like one of our books.

Also, a new version of the pgn. The only change in the pgn is making one of the puzzles slightly easier by giving the correct side to play (thanks to Adolfo for telling us).

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:

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.

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.

This is not all the books that we have planned to publish, but it is the ones I feel confident about saying something definite about at the moment.

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.