THREE NEW TITLES FOR WHICH I NEED YOUR HELP

Since 1971 I have seen a lot books, and every so often an author comes forth with a book designed for beginners or young people. I know that most of these authors will disagree with me, but usually the buyers don't. Most of these books do not manage to engage their intended reader (I won't go into the reasons now).

How and why do fathers and mothers teach their kids' chess? Then there are brothers and sisters, friends, and video games which "train" too.

But, it seems publishers don't give up. I aim to give only facts, not cast aspersions. I would like to know what readers of this Blog think (I'm sure that surprises some of you). All the following titles will be produced by New in Chess from February through May of this year. I do not intend to stock these books unless my customers want them... so here is your chance to vote.

First: Mastering Positional Chess by 14 year old Junior World Champion, Daniel Naroditsky (a USA kid). NIC is going all out to promote this. The parents get involved in the Introduction and it is claimed that Daniel is a "born writer." It's designed for "club players." Book will retail at $23.95. My question: are there enough aspiring chess prodigies (and their parents) out there to support this publication by buying it? And what about the rest of you?This is supposed to be a "practical lessons" book. It's mentioned that he is the youngest chess author ever (I am not sure what that means to the rest of us. Maybe when he gets older it will matter. What does one do with a room full of prodigies?)

Second: Bobby Fischer for beginners by Renzo Verwer. Apparently the focus is that it is "for everyone interested in human drama." Many of us are. Points are: youth in Brooklyn, his career, his conflicts, his girlfriends, and his "tragic" death in Iceland in 2008. The $16.95 paperback will have photos and illustrative moments with an extra emphasis on some of his chess moves (does this mean that the "game of the century" will be wheeled out again? Because of the "taste" for Fischer news it's my contention that if you can write reasonably well about a subject such as Fischer, there should be more authors getting published. Myself I have no current intentions to publish anything on Fischer. I did it once and lost money.

Third: Checkmate for Children by Kevin Stark. Having taught elementary school children with another instructor some years back (early 90s), like the author, I do believe that getting kids/beginners to understand how important the subject of checkmate is -- is huge. It's a high hurdle... the concept that you "don't take the King." This book has as a selling point: the big market of children's chess books ! Really? Why isn't everyone working on that?

I am fascinated by the "marketing copy" being written for these books. Not the way I would write it, but I would also like to know and see how successful these books will be. Some years ago Murray Chandler did a couple books for Gambit which turned out to be very popular. They were a cut above the average, especially How to Beat Your Dad at Chess.

I am sure many of you who read this Blog have many other important things to do, but just take a couple minutes and tell me what you personally think. Maybe I've been barking up the wrong tree.

ROBEY AND GROSS

These two men just won a quarter-finals stage in the WCF championship levels in Las Vegas. I know who Gross is as I featured him in an interview with Lawrence Totaro for my Squares magazine a few years back. He's about 74 now and closing in on Korchnoi's 79!

For those who don't remember, Ron Gross was a good "friend" of Robert Fischer and a pretty strong chess player. He was a friend of Fischer's (despite his being Jewish!) until he commented on Fischer, which was a no-no when Fischer was alive. Bobby was trusting until you broke one of "his" rules. Your rules didn't count. We all need friends but Fischer, being in his insular world, appeared not to care in the long run. Yet, anyone who is that "chess smart" does brood, though it's not always for the better. Brooding will include the reflecting upon past misdeeds by others and an unwillingness to see the rest of us as human.

Who will win to face the WCF champion (who I think is Stan Vaughn)? Of course I don't know. Stan wants the prize money... he's always been looking for the "brass ring," as I suppose many of us have. He works hard sending out news announcements and pumping up the volume but it reminds me of a movie when no one cares about people getting wiped out. It's important to create a relationship with the watcher of the movie so you can feel sadness when they get creamed. Empathy.

The WCF is an alternative chess federation with their own rating system (how he has the time to do all this is the real mystery). If ever there seems to be rating inflation (at least if you use the Elo methods), the WCF has them,

As to Squares, I still have issues 1-8 available. I have seen them sell on eBay for $70-80. Why I don't know when anyone can buy them from me for $30, shipping included. Issue #8 is the scarce one and when it is gone I most likely will toss the rest of them out. (Mailing them singly, even as marketing pieces, is expensive.) Glossy paper. Letter sized. Lots of fotos. Stories and articles by a huge variety of people--some who have since gone on to greater things.

GETTING SET UP AND RUNNING

One person told me they couldn't comment on my Blog. Anyone else having trouble with this? (contact me at bob@thinkerspressinc.com) Do you have to be a member of Blogspot to comment? Seems I saw that somewhere. Or maybe be a member of my BLOG? I know in the past there's has been an occasional problem with "whackos" leaving really insane comments. (Look at the Washington Post comments sometimes. It is proof there are zombies among us. George R. take note.)

Two reviews of new books made the pages of The Chess Reports today for the Friday edition. Henry Miskaryan's Armenian Chess in the XXI Century and IM Igor Khmelnitsky's You vs. Bobby Fischer in his Chess Exam series.

Tony Boron gave me a tip on a control to "time" when I want to release the Blog. Thanks Tony, I found it (probably the only triangle flippy I hadn't looked at!).

It was nice to hear from Jerry Nash who was a USCF scholastic consultant. Jerry is top drawer plus he knows all the workings of dealing with FIDE. He's looking for more consulting work and if you know of something, get in touch with me and I'll pass it on. He's spent a lot of time in the Education field so schools looking for help on that should get with Jerry.

Is Chess Life PC (politically correct)? You bet. They fired the columnist online who wrote about "chess problems" because someone raised the issue of some "racial" remark. It was actually a pretty good pun but you have these people who sit around with nothing to do except b&m about stuff. I wonder if I was the editor of content how I would have handled it? Hmmm. I suspect I would have written a letter to the correspondent and told him to "get a life." Then the higher up PC-wimps would have fired me. So I would have to have in my contract, "can't fire me for not being PC unless the firer admits they are a PC-wimp. This month a letter was published about female exploitation using Lev Alburt as the pinup boy (which he has been on a number of his own book covers!). The problem is, Chess Life is still perceived as a family chess magazine, whatever that means. Some dude was worried about younger kids seeing that issue, which, they don't get anyway unless perhaps their bigger brothers gets the regular one!

Howard Goldowsky tells me that Mongoose Press will be publishing some chess fiction including a story of Sherlock Holmes. When it is an actuality I will tell you more about it.

There's been a redesign of The Chess Reports. Subscription price for semester 8 is $50 for 13 issues.

More to be said but I have some other things to work on.

RATINGS: FISCHER VS KASPAROV

Once again there is another article on the ChessBase website to advance the hypothesis that Garry Kasparov was the greatest chess player of all time. Maybe he is the "greatest chess player of all time who had the help of seconds and banks of computer engines and databases from ChessBase." Despite all that assistance his Elo, at its highest, was only 2851! Garry did this in 1999.

Fischer on the other hand had an Elo of 2785 after his match with Spassky in 1972, a difference of 66 points and 27 years. In the interim many have suggested there has been considerable rating inflation. Today there are 30 people (at their maximum rating) who are rated at or over 2731, a difference of 120 points between Kasparov's highest and 2731. Fischer was rated at 2785 which was 120 points (or so) higher than his nearest competitor, Spassky! And Fischer lost a few rating points for not beating Spassky even worse! (Kasparov's nearest max. rating competitor, Topalov, was 2813, a difference of 38 points.) Elo's system is really about comparative "relative" performances.

What's more, Fischer's disdain for seconds, and there being no computers available then, seriously puts into question that Kasparov was the best player of all time--I think objectively, Kasparov knows this and why he writes so deferentially about him.

The next thing we know someone will write that Kasparov was stronger than Paul Morphy, whom many had previously regarded as close to "unbelievable." Why this unprovable emphasis on who is/was the best? I think there is a better question: If you were a grandmaster and your family's life was on the line, who would you fear more as an opponent, for one game, an alive Fischer (1972) without a computer or seconds, or Kasparov (1999) without a computer or seconds?

WORLD CHESS FEDERATION

Some of you may be aware of the emails coming out of Las Vegas concerning Stan Vaughn's version of the world chess championship (he calls it the real world championship). He's sniping at FIDE (who doesn't?) keeping Grandmasters from playing in this event by, in effect, disowning them.

That doesn't explain why the lower-rated GMs aren't playing. A decent, lower end GM could carve himself up a large pile of change and not give a crap what FIDE thinks for the rest of his life. Somewhere around $6 million bucks worth of prizes. It's being hosted at the Riviera where many other events of a chess nature have been held in the past, usually the National Open.

Everyone is skittish I think. The American Chess Federation has been fighting the USCF for ages about who has the right to do whatever. I've noted that master friends John Blackstone and Ron Gross have played in parts of this "championship" event. Stan has so many rounds, quarter-finals, and different names for each phase (Robert Fischer, Sammy Reshevsky, Reuben Fine...) that I have lost interest. The ChessBase web site doesn't take this event as seriously as I know Stan wishes they would.

I suspect the sponsors will pay unless Stan finds a way to make this big show go into default mode. (Stan is the current world chess federation champion, almost by proclamation.) I know Stan, he's approached me about a couple things. I fell for the first one in Las Vegas. It was a mountain resort 30-60 miles out of town. I was told 300 people were expected to arrive and I would be the only dealer. Well, I was the only reseller but there were only 64 players! (Someone forgot to mention that the American Open was being held simultaneously in Santa Monica!)

That was a long trip out there and back! I sold $3,500 worth of stuff, which wasn't terrible, but my mind was thinking of a larger number since it takes 2 days to get out there and 2 to get back. A lot of packing and I brought along another person to help out. And I lost a week fo work back home. In other words, not profitable.

Bob Karch was the TD and when a problem did arise, no one could get him away from the slot machine he was winning on (I was there, I saw it dumping out the money!). Mike Brooks was there and so was Dmitry Gurevich. I think Walter Browne too and you can guess that none of them bought anything from me. The taxi ride from the airport was so expensive that Mike had to borrow some dollars from me to eat! He paid me back when he got home as I knew he would.

I was glad to get back home to my girlfriend. One little joke however. I saw a guy there who I recognized as running for Sheriff back in my home county of Scott in Iowa. He had, on his arm, this beautiful babe (if I ever saw one). I walked up to him (he was in the sales area) and you could tell he was visibly surprised when I asked about the "sheriff's race." I then asked, "So what brings you here?" He stumbled for a second, recovered, and said, with the girl hanging on his arm, "I'm working undercover." I couldn't resist as I replied, "I bet."

YOU WORRY ME WATSON!

I saw a brilliant performance of Sherlock Holmes (the movie) by Robert Downey Jr. See it. Forget that "I'll wait 'til it comes to DVD" procrastination line. Downey expresses an athleticism we all could use--it keeps the brain pumping. Imagine working on this movie while also working on Iron Man 2.

You might recall, if you are a Holmesian buff like I used to be, Holmes didn't have anything nice to say about chess, remarking that it was "The mark of a scheming mind!" (He's right!)

However, for today, I would like you to carry out this thought while you are busy in the coming week. If you were writing a script where Sherlock (or Mycroft, his smarter brother!) is involved in playing chess (thinking of course of Downey playing the role since Jeremy Brett is no longer with us), what would you write? Would you include Moriarty or a new foe? And if you were getting a chess advisor (don't be fooled, some of these advisors are idiots, and sometimes the producer is the biggest idiot) for Downey (assuming he doesn't play chess), who would you tag for that spot?

One final comment about Holmes. I've seen a few movie reviewers question Holmes' fighting/action capabilities (as were apparent in the movie). Once again we have journalists who know nothing writing about something they should leave alone. As a matter of fact, in one of the Holmes' stories he dukes it out with a guy in a bar--and levels him like a pancake.

Though there are only a few copies left of Bob Basalla's Chess at the Movies, I am reminded how he regales us with lots of the inanities of filming chess for the movies. The book was a monster 422 letter-sized pages! 500 copies were sold!

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You might recall in 2002 I had raconteur and full-time genius Raymond Smullyan at the 3rd Chess Festival. Though he doesn't consider himself a chess player he is full of fun and mind games including one puzzle about chess which was a tremendous display of deduction. It was published in his book The Chess Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, which set him on the road to a fabulous series of books about logic. Thinkers' Press, inc. (me) published his autobiography, Some Interesting Memories A Paradoxical Life (ret. $15.95). Ray is still writing even though he is approaching 90!

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Heard from Staunton chess set designer and manufacturer Frank Camaratta Jr. yesterday. He sold his House of Staunton business some time ago but he has a company called House of Staunton Antiques. He is also preparing a book on the Staunton pieces and its predecessors. He said the project has ballooned out of scale and he is discovering how much a person doesn't really know once you apply yourself to a heady project (any project). I can empathize. I suggested cutting the work into two volumes.

The word "Antiques" intrigued me because about 15 years ago I introduced a chess catalog called something like Antiquarian Chess. There were a number of people who wrote and asked me what "antiquarian" meant and I am sure some of them didn't purchase anything until they found out! Aren't there dictionaries available anymore? Isn't the word an obvious take-off of "antique?" Maybe that's the problem, the word antique--it might only be associated with the word "grandpa."

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I'll probably take Sundays off from writing this blog though I must admit, so far I have enjoyed it. I recall, years ago, the blog and my catalog pages were getting millions of hits a year, but the orders weren't commensurate despite "everyone" telling me having a web site was the only way to go. This may blow up your pantaloons, but about 20-25% of my customers stubbornly refuse to get or use a computer and want me to send them paper catalogs. Unless they pay $10 for them (some do), "it won't happen;" too costly to print and mail anymore--and yet-- I can't include all the photographs I used to do because it makes the PDF huge--so you can count on an eventual web site.

NEW CHESS TIMES

I suppose I would be different than others if I didn't start out with "Happy New Year" as my header... so be it.

But it will be "new chess times" in 2010. Lawrence Totaro asked me what I thought about Magnus Carlsen and my answer was that he would eclipse Kasparov if he can stand the strain. I think Norwegians are good at standing the strain so we should see some exciting play from him in 2010. I can't imagine him being a second on Anand's team for the match against Topalov because he's going to be vying for that same position, probably sooner rather than later.

GM Karsten Mueller has given me some inside info on the DVD format of his new ChessBase study of tactics over the book format (I have it in stock, check my catalog). I'll watch the DVD first and then share with you. Karsten has been a friend for a long time and his honesty in all chess matters means a great deal to me.

Speaking of which (honesty) this blog is no one's shill except my own. That is, I don't represent Batsford, Gambit, NIC, etc. It's not that I am against doing that, but the big guys want free publicity because I get review copies now and then. A real review takes a lot of time, much more than the cost of the item being reviewed (over the years my comments were responsible for big sales for them, but alas, they show no appreciation). There is no guarantee that would translate into sales dollars simply because many chess aficionados are watching their wallets these days and are looking for real and commensurate value in their purchases. So, even though I do believe chess literature is better than ever, that doesn't mean every one of them will be a sales winner.

Let me digress for a second and tell you of a potential winner, Gambit's FCO--Fundamental Chess Openings by Paul van der Sterren. When I originally mentioned this book in my now common "one sheeter" marketing pages, the results were nothing much. Big book, reasonable price. But now that time has set in (and probably some reviews from others), and the new year came, I am almost out of them!

During all that period the only commentary I had about van der Sterren's book was in the pages of The Chess Reports. Even there I couldn't go into much depth, the book is too large. However, I keep it in the bathroom (!) along with a pencil. I make checkmarks (oooh, I can hear the anti-defacer league in full body armor) of bits I find helpful; starting to accumulate a lot of checkmarks and notes. It is NOT a book loaded with variations, but it IS a book loaded with cautions, history, and what the current "forces" believe concerning main lines + sideline info. Not every opening is detailed, but all the biggies are: Sicilian, French, English, Slavs, King's Indian, and probably 20 others. (You won't see 1 g4 or 1 f3. Here is what Paul says about these where "White really tries to shoot himself in the foot": "Out of loyalty to those unfortunates who have occasionally indulged in these strange moves in their youth, I shall not even give you the names of these 'openings.' ") Reminds me of Kasparov in Batsford Chess Openings.

While most covers of Gambit books are pretty lame, the typography on their covers is even worse; it reeks of making ONE decision: Helvetica, and sticking with that. The name of the author is done in red with a thick black outline against an orange-ish backdrop (something like a museum, therefore, very appropriate for this blog). Double ouch. But the book itself, though possessing the same look as all other Gambit books, has some great material and that's really what I want... but the cover makes it harder for me to sell. Interestingly enough, while GM van der Sterren has been a great chess player and surveyor of all he saw, his name is not a household one. I hope that doesn't mean much to you. Club players often do not know the names of chess guys outside their purview... a shame really. (I conducted a pictorial survey of this "thought experiment" at the recent Chess Clinic #5, and some of the answers were scary!)

Eventually I will have more to say about this $29.95 (retail) book. In the meantime, if you have the G&L chess catalog and are looking for a great pathfinder (and extraordinary savings), contact me while I still have some. (Sure, I can reorder more, but there is always that lag time... remember, we all want to start 2010 off with a butt-kicking bang. Once in a while a book is popular enough it has to be reprinted and thus another time lag.)

A toast to you and a welcome to the next decade! Set up those pieces and start your engines.

BOB