CHESS ARTISTS

Just sent out issue #127 of THE CHESS REPORTS... the penultimate one. A number of articles were included such as the Alekhine Chatard Attack games of Viktor Korchnoi and a few of my own. It seems, to me anyway, that Korchnoi was not particularly adept at handling the White or the Black side of this scary system and I suspect his "bluff" kept many at bay for years.

The cover features a piece of art done years before, for me, by Jay Christenson of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It shows a riverboat gambler chess player with his squeeze, looking perilously over his shoulder and the distracted opponent wondering if he was losing, was it his turn to move, or just plain "Gulp!" The whole picture was featured in my book The Chess Assassin's Business Manual, but it was only in black and white. There are only a few copies of that book left and the price has been raised to $32.50.

Actually, this was an artist's depiction of a real-life situation which happened to a friend of mine, former Texas state chess champ Bill Wheeler. He told me about it in 1972 when we were both in Iceland for the Spassky-Fischer match. The "victim" was Wheeler himself but I believe he did win the game. I thought it particularly "cute" that Jason stuck a "spare Knight" in the gambler's hatband, just in case. And I loved the Snidely Whiplash touch.

Now and again I see good art like this in chess, but not too often. T-shirts are particularly "rank," and I am not referring to the rows on the chessboard. In all these years us chessplayers have gotten what we could afford to pay. When a money making opportunity comes around it is rife with amateurs, rip off artists, and that SMALL percentage of people who are really talented and can produce the goods. But when I have seen t-shirts at chess events I NEVER have seen a rush to buy out the vendor. Not too pound my chest too loudly, but I usually sell out the few times I have done it. I have no more Fischer t-shirts, nor any of the other ones.

In 2010 at the Last Chess Clinic I meant to set aside a t-shirt for myself, and set one aside, but someone grabbed it and without knowing it was mine, I sold it to them! I will have to do better if I do that in the future, put the stuff UNDER the table. It was a madhouse at the sales table.

I am hoping to have some more fun at Red Wing in Minnesota this July. Found out after my event the US Open starts the next day! Isn't that unbelievable? It's so hard to pick a date. I purposely stayed away from the first week in August and they moved it to the end of July. Thanks Orlando. Don't you guys have Mickey Mouse? I've been to Orlando in July and it is a BAD time to be there!! If you don't know what HOT means, I pity you.

I will be producing a set of CDs for The Chess Reports in PDF form. While the regular retail is about $550 this set will be 60+% OFF! So stay tuned. If you have a GOLD CARD you can save even more.

bob@thinkerspressinc.com

ANOTHER CHESS BLOG

Robert Newshutz is, I believe, from Minnesota. He said he would publicize the Chess Soiree to take place in Red Wing, MN with GM Alex Yermolinsky.

His blog is: http://newshutzchess.blogspot.com

Similar to where this Blogpost is coming from, Google.

Tonight and tomorrow I will be putting touches (finishing ones) on the first real Announcement publicizing this event. I hope you folks will read it in the spirit in which it is written: To get you to come to a fine event, have a good time, and learn something along the way.

I plan to discuss the subject of PLANNING which is so poorly covered in chess and to which I have been its victim more than once. Purdy's ghost will have a few words to add also.

GM Yermolinsky will be discerning with us the value of GM Viktor Moskalenko's new work, Revolutionize Your Chess. This was originally going to be part of the Las Vegas Chess Book Camp, but for various reasons, that has been reworked.

It's $189 for two days. There are discounts, but you have to MOVE on it.

More details coming, but why wait--plunge in, the water will be fine.

Contact: bob@thinkerspressinc.com

MASS MAILING PROBLEM SOLVED!

But now answering single emails has provided another unneeded twist.

I got dozens of kind folks telling me they got the bulk email sending, but now when I try to answer them, I am told my outgoing server isn't up to snuff. So I am still poking around.

The "problem" with the original batch sending appeared to be the 1.8 Mb file I was sending. Contacting the program developers, they said I could send files up to 15 Mb in size. Maybe, but not this time. So I removed some pages and it worked. Took all evening and night, but it worked.

So while I wish everyone a HAPPY EASTER, there are still some things to take care of. See you when I see you. And to think, the thought of ditching my cell phone had occurred to me too.

Belt tightening is the order of the day as it appears more hiring is being done (a paradox?). Sounds crazy but that's what I am experiencing. April, as I said in an earlier emailing, really bites the Big One.

So this year it will be important for me to more closely watch April for 2012.

Maybe I'll get out today and "smell the roses."

MANUAL/MECHANICAL LABOR ALMOST ALWAYS WORKS

We have been in the age of advanced technology for some time and it doesn't always work. I "heard" from an engineer I went to school with, in electronics, before 2000, about "cloud computing." So I can imagine others knew about this too and it is NO recent phenomenon. My skepticism has been borne out with Amazon's servers being, essentially, down for several days.

I think what is most incomprehensible to me is that "technocrats" NEVER seem to realize there will come a time when "stuff doesn't work as planned." Especially the stuff which is guaranteed to work such as the "paperless office" I heard about in the mid-80s at a conference I was at. I didn't believe that one either--it has gotten worse! Who is serving this KoolAid? And why are they drinking it themselves?

I want software to work ON my desktop. It has, for many years. I can't trust "cloud computing" to store my stuff AND to get good access to what I need NOW (it will always be slower). I don't trust the gatewatchers and I certainly don't believe cell towers will always work. But the technocrats do. Amazingly, they are totally befuddled by this problem and "what went wrong!" Are these folks living in a dream world? Answer: YES.

Ever notice in the movies how everything works perfectly for scientists and governmental spy agencies (CIA, NSA, etc.)? That's "movieworld." In real life these systems are down WAAAY too often. And one agency will not "database" with another. Nightmare on ELM street.

I've been using my Bulk email server for several years and around renewal time it always craps out. Because of this I was told they would use my credit card every month to avoid this in the future. Here it is, April again, and it's happened! Only this time, they tell me it is MY problem. Funny, I used their servers last week and this last Monday when sending out the Purdy Chess Chronicles. Naturally, I've made no changes in my settings... why would I putz with something that worked?

Outages are a business nightmare.

And as this stuff happens ON or NEAR a weekend (Friday), no one is available to really offer help.

So... until this gets straightened out, I am sending messages about catalogs and such from my MAIL server. Customer and friend Calvin Hori just mentioned to me he GOT my sending of a few moments ago. I really do appreciate this kind of cooperation.

So if I send you something and you have already got it, it means your name is on two different (or more) lists. When the Bulk Email program is working again, it deletes duplicates (same email address)... thus if you get something from me more than once, it is also possible I have two different email addresses from you.

In the meantime, I am attempting to keep my business viable. If you need help or have questions, just contact:

bob@thinkerspressinc.com

You can also request the newest catalog supplement. It IS ready.

Thanks.

TESTIMONIAL

"The mail was just delivered and the new Lasker book (#6) has arrived. I just wanted to let you know that I think it's beautifully done. I haven’t read it yet but just the quality and presentation are wonderful.

Thank you for the work you put into this...it shows immediately. Congratulations."

Ira Schoenwald

I can't add anything to this!

-------

Am having problems with my Bulk Mail Program and Email program today so I will be sending some out manually.

If you don't get one, for whaever reason, pleas request.

Bob

bob@thinkerspressinc.com

S.C.O.R.E. -- OPENINGS FOR THE MOMENT

Thinkers' Press, inc. has instituted SCORE and it is explained in the 12 page (or so) brochure (which also sells some things) which will be emailed to customers and some potential customers either tonight or tomorrow.

IM Andrew Martin and FM Charlie Storey will be on board and I am hoping to get a GM to help part-time too.

Back to work.

But you can always contact me at: bob@thinkerspressinc.com

PS: The 12-pager will also have MORE details on the Red Wing Chess Event.

A COUPLE "NEWS" BITS

Yesterday I was informed of another attendee at the Chess Soiree at the end of July (29-30)--coming from Tennessee, originally from Florida. A very interesting history. One thing I would enjoy attendees doing is to send me a brief C.V. (life resume) if they are coming. WHY? Because it is amazing how "in common" we people are. If I share with someone a background in mathematics, magic, or typography, for example, I often run into others of a similar strain and sometimes lifelong friendships develop. While one "might" think the world can be very "secretive," I have discovered that one can develop "secretive" friendships too--commonality matters. At these events I see old friends, make new ones, and I have registered guests OFTEN tell me they met so and so and he is a "cool guy" and it would never have happened if they hadn't come together. This "party" is meant to be "intimate" and not a huge crowd--I can run other events for that. I do recommend you get your Country Inn reservations in too, maybe even before contacting me, if you want the $100/nite rate. (651-388-9000, The Chess Group). A block of 20 has been saved for us. If we get less than that, the room rate goes to $119.95.

Am still working on an encompassing brochure to get YOU to come. As to reasons why you can't make it: I am sorry you can't. Another friend, a master sergeant buddy, who was also a drill instructor, told me that in his job, "one excuse was as good as any other," and of course, that's right. The other day I was 5 minutes late meeting someone, and I am rarely ever late. I gave up a stupid excuse, "Traffic." While it was true, everyone was out on the road that day, I should have started sooner, as I usually do. I apologized to her, she forgave me, still, she was gracious while I was "late." I deserved a half hour of "jail time."

A new supplemental chess catalog, for May? I am working on one. How is it different from anything Amazon or anyone else does? Simple. Yes, simple: I give you real information. But I have added a new twist to show you I have really looked through the item: I give you the author's sense of what he is writing. For example, in Gary Lane's newest (Prepare to Attack), and in my opinion, best book, he writes a little about HOW opening choices are made. The Sicilian Dragon is often chosen by juniors because it has a "cool name." He himself came to learn the Advance French when he was younger because he looked for the "shortest" line of the French Defense in the day when MCO (Modern Chess Openings) was recommended. Often it is as simple as that! He said he still plays it from time to time. And in that same book he shows a game where he, as White, is on the receiving end of the Latvian Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5) which he refers to as a Reversed King's Gambit. The game is a very tense struggle (2006), but after 19-20 moves Black is all tied up and resigns with his kingside pieces still in their places on the backrow, and the black K being bound and gagged on the queenside at a7!!

As I mention on my new products page, THIS current crop of Everyman Chess books is the best I have seen since the Kasparov series. I am sure we have GM John Emms to thank for this.

The catalog PDF is FREE upon request. I just need your full name and email address. It won't be ready for a few days.

Lastly, yesterday I mailed out the sixth issue of Lasker and His Contemporaries #6 in a crush proof stay-flat mailer. And all single copies went out First Class mail. This is just another enhancement of services from Thinkers' Press and G&L CHESS. Hope you who ordered it get yours soon. Copies are now available for $34.95 + $4.00 for S&H. 72 pages, letter size, printed. Slick cover. Lots of topics.

Tell your friends, if you have any (an old joke), about this Blog if you don't mind.

Contact: bob@thinkerspressinc.com -- serving chess enthusiasts worldwide.