THE FRENCH DEFENSE

Tomorrow I should have another brochure going out to my customers and potential customers on the French Defense. 3 different sets!

1. Rustam Kasimdzhanov... taking White's side. Brilliant analyses. Three ChessBase DVDs.

2. Andrew Martin. Three Foxy videos. DVDs.

3. Simon Williams. Two GingerGM videos. DVDs.

Each one has its advantages. All different materials for each. If you play the French or are thinking of doing so... I highly recommend them. Don't overlook Kasimdhzanov's stuff to make Black look bad.

Pricing announced tomorrow.

BTW, I've noticed several people are asking me to set aside items to be picked up at the Chess Clinic. Generally I don't like doing this because I have been on the short end when a few screwball characters would end up not showing or picking up the goods--therefore not paying--therefore not selling to someone else.

I will give it another shot. Let me know what you would like.

Thanks.

bob@thinkerspressinc.com

PS: Clarion Hotel. 563-391-1230.

A ROUND UP OF VARIOUS FULFILLED PROJECTS

Except for the daily blog when you don't hear from me it is because I am working on a "must get done" project.

1. Yesterday it was sending out a SALE sheet on Gambit books. I gave it, this time, a two week response time for you to save money (over Amazon.com) and to prove some points--do deadlines work? Reason I ask is that someone asked me why I created such short time frames? Answer: It is a Call to Action. The stats show that if you can't get people energized by the weekend, you won't get them energized or spending period (few exceptions). If I do not make sales, I am toast. This lengthened Time Period of two weeks, has so far, not worked at all but to prove it I will have to wait two weeks won't I?

2. Today I sent out brochure #11 on the Last Chess Clinic to rouse some more people from their slumber. I also visited Mo Brady's to find out if they could seat close to 50 people after the event is over, at 7 p.m. on Saturday. I'll be calling Rita, the manager, tomorrow.

3. Sent off a lot of returned toner cartridges to HP today for ecological reasons. At $100 a pop, it gets serious.

4. Last week I was working heavily on the Index for Purdy's My Search for Chess Perfection. It will be 20 pages!!! Three columns. Plus an extra chapter which was inadvertently excluded from the 2006 edition. It will be about 420 pages and be priced at $39.95. I still have clean up to do. Every printer who knows me wants to bid on this book!

5. The interior of Lasker: Ultimate Streetfighter is finished, but I need to whip together the cover. This goes FREE to Clinic attendees. I could probably do it in two hours but by the time the evening rolls around I am beat! This book series will also be used in what will be termed a "Continuity Program," which will be explained soon enough.

6. My other personal project, The Critical Secret for Success, alternately called Chess Secrets, is close to being finished. It started out with a goal of 100 pages and is now 175 with probably 5 more to go and no index planned. Also, to add on, a workbook called The Critical Secret for Success Clipboard. In both cases these two dynamite books will save you a HUGE chunk if bought AT the Chess Clinic. Information will be emailed out on all these projects.

7. Review copies and sales sheets will be going out on Andrew Tocher's new book, In Your Face Chess Novelties.

There's been a lot of other stuff such as dealing with the hotel, ordering supplies and so forth. Am setting YOU up for a good time. Tonight, I need to get bills paid and order more stuff.

bob@thinkerspressinc.com

7. I guess I've been sitting on my butt!

DOES ANYONE KNOW IF...

A chessbook has been published with problems which are not solvable by chess engines? Tell me, I would like to purchase it (well, it depends on who the publisher is).

Two issues ago in Chess EXTRAS I published, I believe, 4 such problems. Yes, they had solutions, but only in one case did a "chess engine" solve it. The problem with ALL chess engines is that sometimes they get locked into an idea like a bulldog chewing on your pant leg and they won't let go!

They were provided by GM Karsten Mueller. The one problem which was "solved" took more than 24 hours the others weren't close. How do you know when an "engine" can solve it? If you know the "solution" and you give the position a little rope (a "push") then the engine will often (not always) find it, eventually. If they get off the track from the first move, it will take them years (sometimes) to find the move because unless you have a computer which has terabytes of RAM it can't push and sort nor cajole. You end up with a board with pieces and no clear indication of what to do. This "horizon" type of effect has at this point meant that computers are not gods, though some people think they are.

Yes, those "unsolvable" positions were solved with HUMAN brains because they "intuited" what had to be done in order to "try something else."

TODAY

I am trying a new David vs. Goliath experiment in chess pricing. If you have not received a 5-page listing by this evening, send me your email address (and first and last name) and I will fire one to you... it's a SALE on Gambit's chess books. I hope you participate. I am trying to FIND a method of reaching chess players so that they will shell out some "I want to buy X" money. So my offerings are more dynamic than others who I swear never watch a DVD or read a book. Ever. They know zero about their products. There are many colleagues in this business (unfortunately) and all the time I find them to be weak players and who KNOW nothing about what they are selling. I wish I could describe them, with name, but then they would fire the employee or the employee's boss! Or go after me because they can't think of anything constructive.

I do not buy chess books from Amazon, ever. They list and depict books I have never heard of, books which haven't come close to being available yet, booka from idiot publishers, take your money and of course, make you wait. But it is WORSE than that. Recently I was looking for a particular business book and in one case it had one author on the cover and the other case it looked like the same book but it was edited by a different author but the same cover!! I wanted to make sure I got the "latest" book (edition). There was no descriptive copy to read. Other sellers created the same problem by having different editions, covers, etc. I did a lot of "thinking," chose what I thought "might" be the right one and ordered it. Thank God I got the right one, finally. It's too damn much "work" for them because on many book sales they are willing to lose money in order to get you to buy an electric razor, a computer, or something else. I can't talk more about it, it makes me crazy.

IN THE MEANTIME I RECEIVED, AS SUGGESTED...

new DVDs created by Simon Williams, the English GM who has done one on the Killer Dutch and one on the Killer French (2 vols.). I will be watching these over the next couple days. I've already been told they are great and I did watch a part of one online. So I am having high hopes. After all, the Dutch is a natural against QP openings and the French is so under-rated it isn't even funny! The French is sound, it is the player with the black pieces who isn't. How often have you heard of Korchnoi losing with the French? In fact, in the 1978 match in Manila, Korchnoi stymied, mightily, Karpov's French Tarrasch while no one else could.

Come to the Chess Clinic! Need details? Write me.

bob@thinkerspressinc.com

PRICE REDUCTION FOR CHESS CLINIC IS NOT HAPPENING

My friend Patti speculated that some are waiting to close to the last minute to see if I will offer a price reduction on the Last Chess Clinic to quickly fill it up. She said she spent $85 on a concert ticket and when the event wasn't sold out, the remaining tickets were offered at $40. She thought it was unfair. They wouldn't give her a price reduction on the ticket she had already bought--it was in the fine print "they said."

NOPE. I never do that. It IS unfair. I never drop the price of an event after people have already paid good money in good faith. What would they do the next time? Wait.

When I have sold at big chess events (including a US Open) I noted there were some people hanging around without saying anything. I asked them if there was something wrong. One guy said, "We are waiting for the last minute sale." I said, "What sale?" (Knowing full well what they were talking about.) They told me the names of 2-3 others who try to unload what they have at the last minute so they don't have to pack up and unpack when they get home (laziness knows no bounds). I said, "if you see something you want, you better get it now, because I don't do that." For years my best sales, especially in Wisconsin, were the "night before." I had regular clients who would stop by my room, cash or checkbooks in hand (or credit cards) and walk out with armloads of stuff before the "others" got there. In effect, they determined whether I would have a good weekend. The "last-minute" fellows missed out on all that. No leftovers.

The economics of selling off the left overs at the last minute, wasn't sound and it didn't build ONE iota of trust--necessary for any good relationship. There are more ingredients to a successful sale than just price, even today in these weird times.

So, 38 "tickets" have been sold, there are TWELVE left. $139 through Oct. 16th, $125 if you have a Gold Card. $150 at the door (if I am not SOLD OUT!)

bob@thinkerspressinc.com

ADAM FORD IS #38 FOR THE CHESS CLINIC

I misnumbered the other day--so Adam Ford, a farmer in Illinois, is joining us as #38 (instead of #39). I called Adam to congratulate him for making a decision and a commitment! Thanks Adam. Now I want to thank Ron Suarez, our prize winner of the free pass to next year's event. Ron referred Adam to me and he got Adam to sign up (Ron forwarded my promotional materials to Adam). Once Adam cleared a previous obligation from his calendar, IT WAS ON TO the chess clinic. I love this kind of commitment. Many of you made the commitment too, now 38 of you. So Ron gets a REFERRAL prize.

He is going to have a great time and I would like the rest of you to welcome him too. I'd like to welcome YOU if you have yet to sign up.

This afternoon I was talking to a store owner (art store). He was depressed about business being slow and I could certainly sympathize with him. His first line of defense was to tell me he had been in business 33 years--which as most of you probably know me by now, means almost nothing to me. The question is: what good stuff did you do during the bad times (as well as the good)? I was giving him some free information. Still, I asked for his name and address and email addy--which he doesn't have (he had another excuse for that one). This guy is headed for a disappearance unless he changes his ways. He is NOT making a commitment to getting things to work. He is continuing to do what he's always done and the results are WORSE! When you play chess are your results getting worse? Or level? Come to the LAST CHESS CLINIC to stop that.

One person told me he came to the clinic last year and his playing ability now is like it was before. But he thinks he will get better by doing nothing. Does that make sense? Of course not. I have given this fellow lots of good advice, at no charge, in the past year and due to what appears to be an impulsive nature, he continues doing what he was doing last year, and getting beat up time and again. Of course he is not getting better even though, for a while, he was. Many habits are hard to break... and deep down, sometimes that reason is simply because NEW ways don't feel comfortable like the "old stuff" did. So what happens? The same old results!

In every endeavor where GOOD or IMPROVEMENT is the primary focus, every effort MUST be made to change from the old methods which aren't working, drop the old friends who are hurting you, and program yourself into a new you. Most people can't do this for long for ONE simple reason: they do not WANT what others have, badly enough! If you don't care whether you win or lose, you know which results you will get because lip service means nothing unless you put your feet to the fire.

On the other hand many of us know people who don't know how to have FUN at chess and the Clinic provides that too. This fellow I am referring to asked no questions last year that I remember. It starts with curiosity BEFORE passion.

Andrew Martin has forwarded me a TACTICS pdf! I will be sending it out to those who register for the clinic-- one week BEFORE the clinic starts. He said, "They can warm up." There's some good ones. You get this free for coming, otherwise, it is not for sale. This IS NOT the other stuff he is also supplying which I will be giving you! Andrew told me he was excited about so many people coming and he wants to do his share to show HIS commitment to those who attend.

By the way, someone said I forgot to mention the times of the Friday night event. That's not the case. I think for the first 6 or so promotions I sent out they were all on the back page! Apparently I sent too much information for him to want to read anything but the cover and a couple extra pages. This is NOT a "curious minds want to know" attitude. Once again, Friday night is 7-9 pm (or longer), and Saturday is 10-6 pm (but I will be opening about 9 a.m.) Saturday evening we will probably be meeting at Mo Brady's around the corner.

Advance information will be sent out 1-2 weeks before the event, so watch your email box.

Contact me any time by phone: 563-271-6657. Clarion Hotel (563-391-130) for registration at 5202 N. Brady St., Davenport, IA 52803. Oct. 22-23. $139 by October 16th. $150 at the door, $125 if you own a Gold Card.

bob@thinkerspressinc.com

THE ZHANGS FATHER AND SON #36 AND #37

Yuzhou Zhang and his son Jiahua live in the Iowa City area but his family is from Shanghai. Fellow attendee Ron Nurmi (Des Moines) saw the Zhangs in a recent Chicago chess event and talked up the Clinic. Now it is a realty! This is how it is done. I know a few others who are talking to their friends this weekend.

If you haven't registered NOW is the time !!! The rate of registrations are speeding up. A mystery to me but I admit, I love it. Andrew loves it too.

One person told me I hadn't published the times on Friday. But I had, look on the page with the Order Form... I must've done about 6 of those. We are installing, among our attendees, an optometrist at our clinic who will "check" eyes. That could be another attendee, Dr. Ron Suarez who won the big prize AND is an eye doctor!

ANOTHER THING

We should be getting Simon Williams new DVDs on the Killer Dutch and 2 volumes of the Killer French. Maybe today or Monday. I saw a preview of one and Williams does a spectacularly good job. You will want them. Pricing and that kind of data very soon.

Look forward to additional sign ups. The black and silver Gift Bags showed up two days ago. Exactly, 50 of them! No more.

TWELVE SEATS LEFT.

bob@thinkerspressinc.com

TIME TO SELL SOMETHING

The crunch of bills to pay every month is what keeps most business marketers occupied. Even though I am a one man operation it is no different here at G&L CHESS. I have a stack of ideas, plans and purposes to employ that would be much easier if I had at least one more person here but at the moment it is hard to afford myself.

But, less than ten years ago I had staff and I could spend 75% of my time putting together catalogs, creating events, working on books, and the rest of my time traveling to tournament sites to sell. Rita and Nate handled stocking shelves, packing, going to the post office and answering the phone and web orders. Now I do all of that except for the traveling to events part. People have asked why I don't do that any more and the answer is simple: It's hard to make any impportant money and at the same time give up the weekend where I can work on something more meaningful and profitable.

In the late eighties and mid 90s people were thirsty for chess stuff. I could outsell any competitor if they were in the same room with me (or even in another room). It was variety and product knowledge. I still have that but the customers are not as plentiful and I don't do those gigs very much. What a drain hauling stuff around, then schlepping them back and restocking the shelves (in a way this is a joke because some stuff will sit around in piles until I get around to it).

So I am working on a new David and Goliath catalog. The last one did well because there was no profit for me to make! That is, that extra money needed to restock, buy new things, and pay for my expenses. But books sitting on the shelves don't make any money either. So that's in the pipeline to reduce some of the stuff I would ordinarily bring with me to a festive event such as the Chess Clinic. When sales of something drastically slows, it is time to get it out of here. That one sale in 12 months isn't worth hanging onto. That's why stores like Borders are basically selling on consignment. If it sits there they eventually send it back and nowadays sooner than ever.

WORD TO THE WISE

Seldom does a month go by where someone wants something and the publisher no longer has it. It wasn't bought when it was available and now some clown is trying to take an "ordinary" book and quintuple the price on eBay or Amazon and hope you are dumb enough to go for it. What many "buyers" don't realize is that those books seldom GO FOR $150, they are just asking for that much and often do not get it. Only that rare collector who has to have everything will go looking for it and knows enough to not pay $150 for it.

Years ago Drueke had their famous Players Choice sets, which over the years, I had sold a lot of. One thing I never liked that much about that set is that the weights in the bigger pieces often became "loose." But I had talked to one of the agents at Drueke and he told me they had 40 sets left and then there would be no more. I bought them all (this was not the first time Chessco did something like this). I think I sold them for $40 a set. Some people bought two. They all disappeared in that little tan colored box. A week later they were being listed on eBay for $160-180! As snow must fall in winter, I knew some of my buyers were trying to profit from their purchase in a big way. Yes, I never ran into even ONE person who paid that much for an attractive looking but flawed set. Someone told me that someone is still manufacturing a set like that for Drueke (or someone else, I would put nothing past "made in China" people). But I haven't seen them advertised and Drueke no longer sends their catalogs to me. I am too busy to ask for one.

CHESS INFORMANTS

I've started stocking the 107th issue and am willing to sell to those who want one at an attractive price. I also sell New in Chess Yearbooks (#96 will be here in a month or so). Unfortunately, as they got better in production quality, sales didn't increase for me and probably not for much anyone else but they were once a staple, a cash cow for those publishers. The material these days is better, more varied, and useful but people just don't want to pay high prices for a book that looks just like the last one. With a few exceptions, the thrill is not as present as it once was. However, a word to you that watch your money, my prices are quite reasonable and delivery is very good too. I no longer stock 2,500 different (yes, that's what I used to do) like I used to. It's less than 300 but it is a good three hundred. If you want to be put on my autoship lists for the newest Informants, I can do that for you. The price of each issue has a retail of $36 but to my regular buyers it has been dropped to $30.50. To Gold Card buyers it is even lower, $26.95, that's almost $10 off, making it more affordable.

If you want back issues let me know. I still like New in Chess Yearbooks better. The newest Informant has a Best Games section for Magnus Carlsen. Best games always have value and eye-opening surprise, so that's what's new here.

EXIGENCIES

When to email, when to mail, what time of day or night? What about weekends? There are supposed to be immutable "laws" for all these things but I have found that is quite doubtful. Some don't act right away anyhow and that's why for certain product announcements I have to place deadlines because in a week or two something else will be here demanding attention. The chess world doesn't have a "My System" every year, we have to sell staples in the meantime.

I have an idea for a chess scorebook that, based on past "performance" of prototypes, would sell in piles (No it is not a Monroi), and make everyone some extra cash (and not any 1-4% like these picayunish banks offer). I am looking for those who might be interested in backing such a venture with a much better than average return on their "investment" (ROI). It would be a relatively quick launch and sale. After that it would just be "business as usual" and probably sell for a long, long time. I'm not pushing this really hard since I had this idea 5-6 years ago! Sometimes they are the most "obvious" ideas born of necessity in a very practical way. I even have a tantalizing NAME for the product (this is something lots of "inventors" never come up with and are too cheap to pay someone who can do this to increase awareness). So if being involved in jazz like this is on your "event horizon," let me know. After all, the chess world isn't just about books or DVDs or chess sets. Drop me an email.

bob@thinkerspressinc.com