But also a little curious.
Good, Ray's book got the push. Great news. Excellent.
Still, one wonders - what did Chess and Bridge think the book was going to be like? Did they think there was any chance in the world that it was going to be anything other than a cut-and-paste job?
Course they didn't. They knew what Ray is like because everybody knows what Ray is like. They must have known, before they received the book towards the end of 2018, that it was going to be precisely the sort of thing than which "our customers deserve better" halfway through January of 2019.
So - unless the proprietor, having previously thought Ray was some kind of reputable character, suddenly read Olimpiu's review and it opened the doors of perception - what's brought this on now?
It does seem rather curious. After all, in terms of problems, instant book #50 seems to be much the same as Instant books #49, #48, #47 etc.
ReplyDeleteIs this some kind of three way lovers (voters) tiff?
--theblueweasel--totallyred
You might think that, I couldn't possibly etc
ReplyDeleteAlso, what about all the other tat Ray's produced? Is any of it (still) on sale at Chess and Bridge?
ReplyDeleteI don't think there's anything else by RDK currently on sale at Chess & Bridge.
ReplyDeleteEven in secondhand? (I seem to recall getting my copy there, some time ago, of Becoming A Grandmaster - which itself is full of copy-and-paste, as we did not call it back in 1977.)
ReplyDeleteThis search comes up with 3
ReplyDeletehttps://shop.chess.co.uk/SearchResults.asp?Search=keene
The supposedly withdrawn recent Everyman book and a couple of old books on Staunton and the Deep Blue match.
RdC
Are there any books that you would recommend? I've been playing since five (so 20+ years) and am at a pretty decent level - I beat all of my friends and usually win on the few occasions I play online - but have never had any formal training or ever joined a chess club. Have just read the occasional Wikipedia article on various openings or studying lines by playing against a high-level computer.
ReplyDeleteI would like to start to play and study seriously, but the number of books is bewildering and some are apparently awful... Thanks!
I'm not sure this is the right place to ask - have you tried the forums at, for instance, Reddit chess or chess.com?
ReplyDeleteNo, I haven't tried them - that's a better idea, thanks. Was just asking here because it seemed you were quite familiar with the literature, in case you had any ideas off the top of your head.
ReplyDeleteTo anonymous on 21 Jan @ 13:51. Maybe try books by Jeremy Silman, The Mammoth Book of Chess (Burgess), The World's Greatest Chess Games (Burgess, Nunn & Emms), some games collections such as My 60 Memorable Games (Fischer), some tactic trainers (not sure what to recommend but likely you can find some decent ones online which are free)... But, most of all, I would suggest finding a chess club so that you can talk to people about chess and play more competitively.
ReplyDelete