English Chess Forum

Hi all - I'm selling my chess library (attached) - including several BCM magazines. All offers considered. Please contact me via the forum or brendanbrown@btinternet.com with offers and enquiries. Bulk purchases welcomed. I'm currently at Hinckley/Daventry for the 4NCL - go Manticores!!! Regards, Br...

Nice to see on Channel 4's "Goggle Box" that William Hartston has been awarded the GM title.

I've played Bird's Opening quite a lot over the last few years. The surprise value has certainly helped my results. Would be interested to hear experiences people have had playing or facing this opening. If you are looking to take up this opening then I certainly recommend Timothy Taylor's book, alt...

There are a couple of books I have that discuss the negotiations for the match that never was between Morphy and Staunton:- Psychology of a Chess Player (Reuben Fine) The Genius of Paul Morphy (Chris Ward) Fine says Morphy made repeated declarations that he was not a professional. In Ward's book, it...

Wasn't Morphy's offer of marriage turned down with the words:-
"You're only a mere chessplayer!"

I think Staunton also chided him for being a "chess professional" to some extent.

Was anybody else in the audience back in 1995 when Tony Miles beat Vladimir Kramnik during the PCA Intel Rapid Chess Grand Prix? I remember Tony spinning round to acknowledge our wild applause (by chess spectator standards) - and nearly knocking over a certain Raymond Keene in the process! That day ...

I think we have a bigger problem with Thermos flasks and weak lemon drinks, which causes much damage to the general image of chess players.

In these times of austerity don't you understand we have to keep the landlord happy so we don't lose the room.

Save our chess - buy another pint!

I've just read the text of Early day motion 2158. Wasn't something similar passed (or debated at least) about 10 years ago during the campaign to get chess recognised as a sport? Might write to my MP (Nigel Evans - one of the 3 Deputy Speakers) as he has more influence these days. I think a push to ...

Indeed, from a chess purist's point of view, Brendan's thoughts may be endorsed by us all - Bill Hartston musing about some highly technical aspect of chess while a long and absorbing battle of wills plays out before our eyes - sounds great. In fact, Bill's great skill was explaining things in a ma...

I'd love to see the Master Game back. That programme was truly ground breaking and I haven't seen chess presented better anywhere since. William Hartston is also the best presenter. They got audiences in the millions. And PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE:- * No "Top Gear" style stunts * No re-branding to make c...

Maybe the "powers that be" got confused and thought the president should not be endorsing a single chess opening over others.

FIDE had problems back then (Soviet Bloc influence) although I wish chess had a president of the calibre of Max Euwe today. I don't think Fischer's demands were any more unfair than those of Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine. Botvinnik had his right to a rematch of course, which FIDE later g...

Hi all - my first post! I had a nice trip to Settle in the Yorkshire Dales the other weekend and found some rare chess items in Pages Book Shop. These were:- The Master Game & The Master Game Book Two (BBC) Second Piatigorsky Cup (DOVER) Does anyone know if the BBC did a 3rd Book? Has anyone else co...