The big freeze hits Glasgow

With temperatures of -21.6 in Scotland it is clear that Winter has hit our small nation hard, not to speak of the Quality Chess office. We have several times struggled to find our way home. On Tuesday Jacob spent 15 minutes in a queue of 52 people (and time to count it) to buy his ticket home. Wednesday he was wise enough to buy it at 1pm. However, at 5.28 pm, when he was at the platform, all trains going West out of Glasgow were cancelled. He went to the ticket booth to get a refund, but was there (after waiting 10 min. in the queue) told that the train was at the platform. He ran down. The train doors were closed. Ran all the way up to the driver (50 metres?). The driver looked at him and took off. Back up to the booth. Wait in line? Not a chance, jumped the queue. Was refused a refund as the ticket had been purchased more than one hour previously! Thought about killing someone when a superior stepped in and authorised the refund. Went for the bus, never showed. A later one did. 10 km in 150 min. Can’t you walk this faster?

Oh yeah, and the office is bloody cold too.

46 thoughts on “The big freeze hits Glasgow”

  1. Is that Andrew in the photo? It’s proper cold in Newcastle as well (-7). Hopefully the printer is working properly now?

  2. Hi there! Like hundreds of 1d4 enthusiasts I am anxiously awaiating volume 2 of 1d4 Grandmaster Repertoire. How is the publishing date of January 27th looking now? Thank you for your fantastic books! Troy

  3. It will be pushed 2-3 weeks. We are fighting hard to make it two. We have some problems over the New Year, which also pushed the two Attacking Manuals to the 20th of January. So, we hope for the 9th of February, but I will update on this soon.

  4. Jacob,I want you to know I like very much the way you are writing on chess.
    I would like to know what is your next book about?
    also,when the publishing date of “grandmaster repertoire 4 the english opening vol.2?

  5. My next book is the Attacking Manual 2 – coming out next week.
    Marin is finishing the English at the moment. I think 2-3 months is a realistic time frame for when we can publish this material.

  6. Hi there! What are the chances of you converting your opening books to ebook format(chesss base compatable) like Everyman Chess has with their “starting out” series?

  7. Hi there! Wondering if you have plans to convert any of your books to ebook ( Chess Base) format ( especially opening books)) like Everyman Chess has done with selected books of theirs? Thanks!

  8. Tough to get the books published when it’s soooo cold. In Southern California it’s
    been in the 70s (F) for the past week. Stll can’t wait for GM repertoire II and the attacking manuals. I’m looking forward to replacing my typo-filled first edition of volume 1.

  9. No plans of e-books at the moment. I think there is too much illegal copying of digital property. Obviously Everyman sees different angles than us, but their business model is not exactly the same as ours.

    Another reason is that we actually thnk that the book form is vastly superior to these electronic files. We love books, it is that simple. Take these ChessBase DVD’s, of which i did a few. They are lovely in their own way, but a four hour DVD does not have more content than twenty pages in a book. Sure a digital file will have far more material, infinite potential, but the presentation of the material would be weaker, and it would not be something you would really read.

    Personally I prefer to read opening books and make my own files – it does not actually take that long. And my files are often better than the books, as they fit my needs perfectly.

    About AM1: yes, I screwed it up completely – but the 2nd edition is immaculate; and the second volume is really an accomplishment, I think. However, I assume that the critics will not like them; I am too controversial an author, for some reason.

  10. Jacob Aagaard :
    It will be pushed 2-3 weeks. We are fighting hard to make it two. We have some problems over the New Year, which also pushed the two Attacking Manuals to the 20th of January. So, we hope for the 9th of February, but I will update on this soon.

    Not again…

  11. I feel quite bad for Jacob and John sometimes with this blog. They leave all the threads open for comment, and keep everyone quite updated on their progress, what’s happening with their authors, and they’re kind enough to give out updated publishing schedules and free e-books, even if the dates are somewhat off.

    This unfortunately leaves them open to complaints about publishing, about books that they’re not making, etc…

    It’s just a couple of guys who are working to make awesome chess books! Cut them some slack! When the book comes out, it comes out. Nothing is certain in book publishing and chess.

  12. Jacob Aagaard :
    Take these ChessBase DVD’s, of which i did a few. They are lovely in their own way, but a four hour DVD does not have more content than twenty pages in a book.

    Though it might be true I believe that ChessBase DVD has different purpose than the book. So we can’t compare them in such way.

    You can watch DVD passively in case you’re tired but still want to make some step in chess. After watching for instance DVD about certain opening you can play it next day. You get good feeling of it but surely you won’t know big amount of theory which exists nowadays 😉 The understanding is most important but at some point you can’t go further without well analysed variations.

    I like ChessBase DVD’s but of course it has to be said that if we’re talking about books I love those from Quality Chess the most!!!

  13. John said some weeks back that Everyman (as an example) are probably thought of as more prompt with their delivery, as well as more reliable. However, we usually have an opening book out 3-9 weeks after having received the final manuscript. While, I have seen Everyman books published in late 2009 that had no 2009 games in them. Only the date put under the author’s foreword was recent, and I suspect, edited.

    We received the final files just before christmas for GM2. It will be out in February, a delay of seven weeks, three of them being the printer, four of them being us editing a 500 page book delivered in slightly disorganised ChessBase files, written in the authors third language. Trust me, we are getting the books out as fast as we can :-).

  14. Maybe the way the term Schedule is being used causes so much confusion. If QC would use more common and modern insights when defining project schedules then confusion may diminish.

  15. The quality of Quality Chess books is already extremely high. The only New Year resolution QC need are to be more on schedule.

  16. You cannot do all three of these:

    * Predict when titles will be out in advance
    * Publish the material when it is up-to-date
    * keep your schedule

    We choose to be lax on the schedule – but because of the constant whining, I am considering just to focus on publishing and give no answers to when we publish the books at all. I am certainly not going to risk sitting on books for 3-6 months (or 12-15 as some competitors), just to keep a schedule…

  17. Mr Aagard,

    It is just a few loonies raving. Best ignore the rantings of Nik, Nick, Nic and crew. (Is Jim Davidson in the house?)

    Look forward to the books whenever they come out. No rush. Quality over rushing. Have been hugely impressed so far, particularly Avrukh I and Marin I.

  18. TBH Jacob I’m surprised how patient you have been.A Schedule is not a deadline.I have a number of your titles and am very impressed by the quality of both production and content.I am also looking forward to some of your new titles and if they happen to take a few weeks longer to come out so be it. Many factors are out of your control.The way some people on here gripe I wonder if they realise it is in your best interests to publish material as soon as it is completed.

    As a suggestion you could possibly amend your schedule to 1st Quarter, 2nd Quarter etc so that way people get an idea of whats coming and roughly when.Then when you have a definite date you could announce that.Maybe that will get some of the moaners off your back.

    Finally a very big thank you for publishing some really quality chess books !

  19. @Jockie Wilson

    As a Scot, I have to ask: are you Jocky Wilson, the former darts World Champion? I am guessing not, as you would probably not misspell your own nickname as “Jockie”. Still, I need to know…

  20. We shall indeed consider exactly how to pass on information about our titles.

    I do have a little update on GM2. It will be available the 17th Feb in Europe, I think, but only two months later in the US. It is really quite unfortunate, but it is about the dates when the boat goes, and it does once a month…

    However, I hope the USCF will carry it, and thus have it from 20th Feb or so.

  21. I agree, quality books that are not rushed is much more important than sticking to a deadline. It is really a compliment to the quality of the books QC have written so far that we are all so eager to obtian the upcoming titles.

  22. Nick is correct (And please, I am not him, nor do I know him.) that the eagerness to receive the published books are due to the high propensity of Quality Chess to produce such high quality works. The whining is not random childish banter, but it can get frustrating sometimes when one thinks a title will be released in a month, and being told it is delayed some more weeks. It starts to seem tantalising, because as time passes, the schedule delays more, similar to one ancient Greek tale of the thirsty man who is allowed to get very close to water, only to get pushed several metres back each time he gets extremely close to the water, and has to start all over again.

  23. I share your frustration, but I have to underline that we are doing what we can.

    I have no reason to think the 17th feb as fantasy. As far as I can see we are on track.

  24. 27th January

    One of my goals for next week is to update the coming soon section of the website – but I fear it will be a goal only. However, that one I want up!

  25. Is it too soon to give an estimate on how many pages the GM Rep Caro-Kann will have?

    Also, please ignore the schedule criticisms.

  26. Are there bigger differences between the german edition of Jusupovs Boost Up Your chess and your edition, except that the connection to rating groups has been left out?
    Especially, are the opening suggestions identical, for example the Colle-Zukertort
    in the 2100-volume?
    Thanks,
    and, again, ignore the criticisms on schedule…
    Werner

  27. Yes, Chess4less and hopefully USCF will have our coming books as quickly as the shops in Europe.

    I have no idea how long the Caro-Kann book will be, maybe 300+ pages. Lars is talking about finishing it in March, which means an April/May publication.

    The rating groups given by Yusupov are simply incorrect, so we removed them. There are exercises in the u1500 books that I have to really work to solve. The recommendations are the same, only the presentation is better.

  28. It will be interesting to see how Ftacnik will handle 6. Bg5 in the Najdorf. The only plausible responses seem to be the Poisoned Pawn, which has suffered a beating in the past few years, and the Old Main Line, where White also has found some strong ideas.

  29. I am interested in how he handles all the lines…..not played Sicilian for a few yrs but will be tempted by this book I think.

  30. @John Shaw

    Mr Shaw,
    No, I am not Jocky Wilson, but a tribute darter. Different spelling for legal reasons and to avoid booking confusion. Available for kids parties, darts events and Ladies Only nights.
    Used to do a Vlad Epishin tribute too (similar girth), but was only limited demand, so now just darting.

    Jockie

  31. The Marin book is a bit up in the air at the moment, I cannot give projections about anything at the moment.

    It usually takes 4-6 weeks from publication to Amazon.co.uk have our books, sometimes less, sometimes more. Because of the way they work, they get the books last. They are not important to us, to be honest.

  32. Hello Jacob, may I ask you please to update your coming soon section and to include Yusupov’s book there, so i can place my order for Avrukh 2 and Yusupov at once. Thanks in advance.

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