WHITE SHOCKERS READY SET GO!

The movies have been made. I was amazed that a lot of it has come back to me. But, I need to create a "theme" and perhaps a music intro. If I am on the ball tomorrow, it will be done Tuesday. The stuff is amazingly good. I'll tell you more about the surprise Killer Stuff once it is done.

These things always make me nervous because it seems like you can proof, you can check, etc. and there is always some concern about getting something wrong. This looks good and if everything works well, I will burn 1 of each and play them before sending out. Of course I am getting blue in the face looking and hearing them, but I WILL be trying some of these out though in advance I can't tell you which ones in case we run into each other!...LOL

Prices were published and you can check the PDF I sent out on DVDs. The deadline for great prices on the silver discs is June 16th I believe and a few have taken advantage, but not too many. I know I sold them to people on my lists, but these prices are absurdly LOW as I try to go mainstream.

Call me if you want and tell me which items you would like: 563-271-6657.

Back to the salt mines. I tried to miss my self-imposed deadline of May (recently) but because I am not much of a calendar guy, I thought May 31st was Tuesday! My todo list had 28 items on it this morning for this week. I've only gotten 5-6 done!

bob@thinkerspressinc.com

QUICK WINS USING THE RIGHT TOOLS

Years ago I had a chess colleague named Tom. Tom had an incredible memory. Tom was also a B.S.-er par excellence, finagler, and cheap as can be. But the memory thing was mostly tied to traps. In fact, Irving Chernev's Winning Chess Traps. 300 traps of all kinds. Some of them probably not worth publishing but 300 was the number, sort of like 1001 or 101.

For some reason people can't afford even a $2.95 book, which was what that book sold for at the time. Tom did buy that book, memorized most of the traps in there, especially stuff related to the Bishop's Opening or the Giuoco Piano (Italian Game for young people).

It sounds ridiculous but I saw instances where his opponents walked right into them, first foot forward, then the whole body, the hokey pokey with no taking of body parts out!

You would think, wouldn't you, that if you saw someone sacking their Q you might be suspicious. The problem is, in a few cases, by sacking his Q, Tom was usually already up a piece. When they took the Q he would deliver mate. None of these traps were particularly sneaky, they just worked that way.

I don't remember any of his victims coming to me and asking, "Do you know where he got that idea?" Nah, they just prayed they wouldn't do it again.

In 1998, for Gambit, Steve Giddins wrote 101 Chess Opening Traps. These are said to be "deadly." They must be because this book has been reprinted 3 more times! These are old and new. Lest you think only unknowns lose in this collection, you better have another look. Most games appear to be less than 20 moves. This book retails for $14.95. The G&L CHESS price is $12.75 and the Gold Card price is $11.25. It's hard to beat.

Next up is John Nunn's 101 Chess Miniatures. I mentioned this one in The Chess Reports recently and subscriber Chris Kim told me the book has been added to, title changed, and price raised. But it's only 24 more games. Th 101 book is $19.95 retail even though it is a 1999 book (but these games are timeless). The revised and larger book is $29.95 and titled Grandmaster Secrets: Winning Quickly at Chess. I suggest, don't SPEND your money! I like Nunn's writing skills but I really am tired of everything coming out of Gambit as a "Secret." None of us play like Gandmasters so why is he writing this book for us, or, is it for us? Gambit has been doing a lot of "retread" work too. When I see something like this my first thought is that the author not only wants to update what he did, but to correct problems with what originally happened--caused by the rush to publish.

The G&L CHESS price is $16.95 and the Gold Card price is $14.95.

You can buy BOTH of these from G&H CHESS at the following prices:

$25.75 + $4.25 shipping or $30.00 total.

For the Gold Card the 2-book price would be $24.95 + $4.05 for shipping or $29.00. There is power in owning a Gold Card. I can ship right away.

I hope all of you have a great Memorial Day Weekend. Don't forget the visit the graves site of those who have been important to you. It always brings me back to reality.

I won't be writing on Monday.

bob@thinkerspressinc.com

THE DEFINITIVE TP DVDs

It's late afternoon and I am still working on my DVD Experience Salesheet, or, how to get some really great stuff for cheap. I don't prefer that road to be honest. But I had someone change big order numbers on me and I got stuck with a lot of "silver" DVDs (no printing on them). So I am selling them at greaaaat price reductions... will email out the details, and then maybe take a nap. This writing has been going on all day.

I think, to promote a really good story, along with beneficial results for everyone, takes time and thought. Maybe you will prove me right. I hope to get the new PDF out within the next couple hours.

Thanks for tuning in... Don't forget the Endgame sale which ceases at midnight tomorrow.

PS: New in Chess has just published a number of chess books for kids which I do not intend to stock. I hope they do well. For me, they are hard to market. From everything I have seen in the past from publishers for the younger set, it seems to me that when I was that age, I probably wouldn't have appreciated it much. But that could just be me. Are books such as this not sophisticated enough or just plain dumbed down. Maybe you can tell me.

bob@thinkerspressinc.com

CREDIT CARD INFO

Customers have been sending me Credit Card info since the late 1980s, with no glitches.

Some are brave and send by email, some call, some write (few).

But, it's 2010 and I see a number of these numbers about ready to expire. So if yours is one and you will be using the same credit card number, just update me with your expiration date AND 3-digit security number on the back.

Some are reluctant to give that 3-digit number and I don't know why, so I will explain. That number is more for me than it is for you. My electronic machine asks for it. If I don't have it, I just hit the "enter" button, and usually it goes through. But it seems to me, that when I input the security code it virtually always goes through.

These Security codes were printed on the back of the card when there was a spike in online CC # theft from huge lists of card numbers (and expire dates only, but which did not contain a security code). When someone tries to order something on the phone from me and they do not have that 3-digit code, I know they don't have the card in their hand! When I tell them "I can't process the card" they often end up having to actually GET a card. They're probably annoyed with me, but as you can guess, I get out my duck feathers.

So as I said, we've never had a CC # problem, except, yes, in New York City. It was a former employee of a major credit card company. Last I heard he had faced several firing squads and then 10 years in the electric chair.

P.S. Some people send me their credit card info in 4-8 digit chunks via email. This has worked too.

NOTE: Unfortunately, new books scheduled to be received today have yet to show. Sometimes I get them at 6 P.M.! Maybe tomorrow.

bob@thinkerspressinc.com

NEW BOOK TITLES ARE HERE

Skipped Wednesday, too much to do.

New in Chess Yearbook #94 came in today and autoship copies will be mailed out too. Looks really good.

Also Vol. 4 of Chess Opening Essentials is here and may be the best of the four! Reti, King's Indian Attack, lots on the English, and of course the BIZARRE moves such as h3, a4, f3, etc. And whatever was missing from vols. 1-3.

Tomorrow I expect Avrukh's Vol. 2 finally. And next week? Why we lose at chess.

Am finishing up the TPi DVD sets. Will be mentioned in issue #106 of The Chess Reports. which is ready for Friday along with a Gold Card ONLY sale. But it's only for 3 days!

bob@thinkerspressinc.com

WILLS AND UNLOADING CHESS STUFF

For years many knew that my company disposed of chess estates. Sometimes we bought and sometimes we sold on consignment. This was done for those who were alive and those who had passed away.

I don't do as much of that today, partly because of eBay (Amazon, B&N, etc.) and partly due to a decline in demand for used (or as I call them, "previously owned") items, books, magazines, souvenirs, equipment and DVDs--often because the items are WAY overpriced.

Used chess stuff is not THE chess niche because those places I just mentioned exhibit many prices which are totally unrealistic. For example, some time back someone paid $70+ for a set of 8 issues of SQUARES magazine(a TPi publication). Insane. I have about 100 sets at $30 each. Did the buyer contact me? No and he knew I existed! Strange but how can one make money when dealing with folks who don't know what they are doing and they have finely honed that skill? Someone informed me that Amazon was trying to sell Purdy's Chess Bits and… Obits for $160 as I had just told Amazon the day before it was out of print. What that told me was that there was a "leak" in Amazon AND that many of those "companies" who purport to sell things "no one else" has are owned or licensed/partnered by Amazon. When I reprinted the book (with no difference in the 1st or 2nd printing) Amazon has since ordered ONE copy of that book! So much for scarcity. The downside is that it makes other greedy people think such a book is worth that amount of money and they try to sell theirs for $5 less!

If one wants to make a LOT of $$$ all they have to do is find a great niche product and people who want to buy it. Isn't that the rub? What IS such a product and where does one find the people who want buy it? I KNOW one good chess niche but it is very expensive to carry it out. How does one find partners? Well, I wouldn't want those who are already doing such chess things to partner with me as I don't see their methods of handling it as being worthwhile or any good. They won't operate well for the long haul, it's all about their money NOW.

I still do sales by consignment but what I need is a complete descriptive list (title, author, publisher, year, condition in an email or on a CD--no more handwritten stuff--making a catalog takes long enough). And I have run into those who have bought highly discounted books and who want to re-offer them to me! Somehow if they think I am that stupid, then I might be stupid enough to not know HOW to PAY them! Everyone, it seems, has chess stuff to sell.

If you are doing estate planning you may choose to do business with me so it isn't a mess for your heirs. You can contact me at:

bob@thinkerspressinc.com

FISCHER AND ASPERGER'S SYNDROME --MORE

On Thursday last week in this Blog I suggested that after reading Masha Gessen's Perfect Rigor about Russian math genius Grigory Perelman that Robert Fischer had Asperger's Syndrome.

Well, blog reader Bob Woodworth sent a couple pages from Weekend Chess and the May 2008 issue featured an article by Kenny Harman titled "Could Bobby Fischer have been saved?" He too posits that Fischer had Asperger's Syndrome as a kid.

David Edmonds who was a co-author of Bobby Fischer Goes to War suggested the same thing. I had read about half that book but not the part(s) concerning his mental state. Harman also suggests that Fischer was a paranoid schizophrenic.

The part I found interesting was that ASD most likely helped Fischer to become world chess champion in 1972 because it "protected Bobby from the overwhelming stress that Spassky had to endure." Sounds quite reasonable. No I am not a doctor, and neither are most of you but when you compare the conditions (and explanations), a lot of soil has been turned over.

Thanks Bob Woodworth.

BTW, hot items of last week: Nigel Short DVD. Seirawan DVDs sold out, but still have plenty of the book.

bob@thinkerspressinc.com