Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

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Geoff Chandler
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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Geoff Chandler » Mon Jul 05, 2021 6:57 pm

Think the best Batsford book, and they were quite a few good ones, was Keres, Practical Endings.
Got everything I needed to know from there.

Very close second, Fischer Games by Wade and O'Connell - open randomly and play over a game.
The chances are you will run across a mini masterpiece.

The Modern Defence and The Pirc Defence often referred to each other, you had to get them both.

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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Roger de Coverly » Mon Jul 05, 2021 8:16 pm

John Upham wrote:
Mon Jul 05, 2021 6:41 pm
The Sicilian Flank Game (Najdorf Variation) by A. O'Kelly de Galway was published in 1969 and has an ISBN of 0 7134 0351 9
I'm not sure why the name Sicilian Flank Game was chosen. I don't think it was used elsewhere, either before or since. In practice, Fischer's book of games was used as the study text of how to play the Najdorf and how to play against it.

Regarding books on endings, there was also the Smyslov and Levenfish work on Rook endings. On collections of games, wasn't Bronstein's collection of 200 Open Games (defined as 1. e4 e5) also a Batsford publication?

It was a time when every serious or would be serious player had a bookcase line up of white Batsfords.

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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Nick Ivell » Mon Jul 05, 2021 8:24 pm

I periodically play through all of Fischer's games from the great book already mentioned.

Talking of playing against the Najdorf, how about Geller - Fischer, Stockholm 1962? A game no one talks about.

Bobby was positionally outplayed - a rare occurrence - but he managed to scrape a draw.

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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by John Upham » Mon Jul 05, 2021 8:27 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Mon Jul 05, 2021 8:16 pm
John Upham wrote:
Mon Jul 05, 2021 6:41 pm
The Sicilian Flank Game (Najdorf Variation) by A. O'Kelly de Galway was published in 1969 and has an ISBN of 0 7134 0351 9
I'm not sure why the name Sicilian Flank Game was chosen. I don't think it was used elsewhere, either before or since. In practice, Fischer's book of games was used as the study text of how to play the Najdorf and how to play against it.
I recall this being explained to me as being something to do with sales in the US market.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the US market as young Americans and their parents might be unsure as to what a Philosopher was. Sorcerer is more Disney like and therefore more marketable.

However, I can't rationalise "Flank Game" suggesting 5...a6 more clearly than Najdorf. Perhaps Leonard can explain?
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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Paul Cooksey » Mon Jul 05, 2021 8:53 pm

Published slightly before my time, but I read a few as library books.

There is a clear winner for the best one, if I can trust a google image search. The translation of Levenfish and Smyslov's Rook Endings was in the series.

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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by John Upham » Mon Jul 05, 2021 9:13 pm

Paul Cooksey wrote:
Mon Jul 05, 2021 8:53 pm
Published slightly before my time, but I read a few as library books.

There is a clear winner for the best one, if I can trust a google image search. The translation of Levenfish and Smyslov's Rook Endings was in the series.
A great book but it was not an original BT Batsford. It was first published in the Soviet Union in 1971.

It was translated by Philip J. Booth.
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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by JustinHorton » Mon Jul 05, 2021 10:29 pm

A swift and unreliable count suggests I have ten of these, among them A Contemporary Approach To The Middle Game the purpose of which has always eluded me.
Geoff Chandler wrote:
Mon Jul 05, 2021 6:57 pm
Very close second, Fischer Games by Wade and O'Connell - open randomly and play over a game.
Would likely be my choice for best, but alas I have the paperback.
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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Phil Neatherway » Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:24 am

I have 'Alexander Alekhine' and 'Think Like a Grandmaster' by Kotov.

Any offers?

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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by MartinCarpenter » Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:31 am

Tim Harding wrote:
Mon Jul 05, 2021 4:24 pm
John Moles's first book on the Winawer main lines was indeed a work of immense scholarship, but I'm not sure how much of the second volume was his writing (as opposed to research) because by then he was launched on his academic career, had left Oxford and had got married.
That second book is absolutely fascinating as well of course - it has all sorts of things in it, including a bunch of games with Petrosian going Bf8, b6, Bb7 etc.

Although maybe I've got a soft spot for them because they were in the local library when I was at school.

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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by John Upham » Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:59 am

Phil Neatherway wrote:
Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:24 am
I have 'Alexander Alekhine' and 'Think Like a Grandmaster' by Kotov.

Any offers?
Both of these would sell easily on eBay for sure, especially hardback versions.
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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Geoff Chandler » Tue Jul 06, 2021 10:29 am

Just counted my Batsfords, 49. So today I'll hawk the 2nd hand shops to get my half century.

Someone asked how many chess books have Batsford printed. In October CHESS 1983 (by then Bob Wade had stood down
as Batsford chess consultant, RDK took over) Ray answering Edward Winters piece 'Problems in Chess Literature' tells
us at that time 133 were in print.

Mr Winter was complaining about the quality of British chess books, see CHESS August 1984 and it kicked off
the Winter - Keene fracas. In a nut shell, Mr. Winter was pleading that the publishers refrain from opening
books and produce books of a better quality.

I'll add here that to produce good quality chess books requires good quality writers putting in a lot of effort.
The skill and talent was there but not the market. The bottom line is opening books sell.

Winter's article was good and some may say overdue, but it was too long and tried to cover too much.
He had fired all his bolts in the first salvo and found himself answering to those that had missed.

Batsford came in for criticism and one joke saying BCO was released to mark Batsford 50th book on the Sicilian backfired.
(look no further than me for being an expert on jokes that backfire.)

Ray replied in October 1984 and managed to cherry pick bits of Winter's article where a 'fact' may be challenged.
(A well known trick picked up in the debating classes at Oxbridge. Find an error in any argument and gnaw on it like a bone.)

Ray informs us at the time Batsford had 13 titles covering the Sicilian not 50. Thus having established early in the piece
that Mr Winters 'facts' were wrong (it was a joke) he carried out a defence of Batsford carefully picking out bits where other
of Mr Winter's facts were questionable. They were not but by then the reader who had warned that Mr Winter's arguments
were 'severely weakened by factual inaccuracies' (the 50 Sicilian books) was left in no doubt Mr Winter had all his facts wrong.

So round one in what became the Keene - Winter ink wars went to Ray. Mr Winter won later rounds.
Two years later and readers are begging B.H. Wood to please stop publishing the letters between the two of them.

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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by John Upham » Tue Jul 06, 2021 11:01 am

I have 67 hardback white Batsfords and maybe 100+ softbacks.

I believe that there are around 550 Batsford chess books in total.

I intend to have all of the hardback white ones before too long.

The post Bob Wade books I am less bothered about and will probably sell.
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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Andrew Smith » Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:42 pm

Off the main subject, but I thought I would share a couple of memories : Like many of you, I knew Bob Wade very well. He lived in Blackheath and I lived in Lewisham, so as a junior/teenager, I was only a bus ride away. As has been said by others, he was most congenial host. Without even asking, he would disappear off from his lounge whilst I was playing 5-minute chess with some other guest, and he would make us all a meal ( usually fried pork chops) If anyone else turned up, he would do the same for them. On many occasions, Bob would ring me up and ask if I wanted to pop round and go for a game of snooker in the nearby Newbridge/Blackheath CIU Working Mens Club, which is still there. He once (and only once, because he learned from his mistakes!) asked me to help with the production of a Tony Miles book on the Sicilian Dragon ( I assume it was Batsford, in fact I don't recall ever seeing it in print, so maybe it was never finished). Bob asked me to prepare the diagrams ( I cant remember how I was doing it, but it was a manual process of some sort). I think I spent a few hours on it, without Bob's supervision, because he was always on the phone to chess players around the world. When he eventually came to check my work, he couldn't believe his eyes ! I had put the diagrams on each side of the paper - i didn't realise he needed to cut each one out and place it within the text of the book. So at least half of the diagrams were lost because they were on the other side of the same sheet of paper. Bob was not happy.....

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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Geoff Chandler » Tue Jul 06, 2021 2:13 pm

Hi Andrew,

A very amusing story, It may have been this book. Published 1980.

Image

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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Andrew Smith » Tue Jul 06, 2021 2:34 pm

I see earlier in this thread, there was talk of Hilary Thomas who I see, is now in prison. I knew him from his days of playing for Charlton Chess Club when I played for Lewisham - and the clubs were big rivals. My recollection is that he suddenly improved from about 150ish to about 200, and he was a dangerous, unpredictable attacking player. I recall that the 'International Chess' magazine that he produced 2 copies of, being the best magazine I had ever seen at the time. It was in colour (which was almost unique for a chess magazine) and had really interesting content/contributors. But he gave so many of those first 2 editions away free/complimentary ( mine were) it must have nearly bankrupted him. A real shame, because it was a great magazine. Then he suddenly disappeared, and no-one seemed to know where he had gone and he stopped playing chess. He never returned. He was a nice guy, but to me, because he was so fit, muscular and athletic, had a formidable physical presence and an aura/undercurrent of latent aggression that made me a little uneasy. I think whatever he did, he gave it 100%. Energetic and 'lets do it' type of guy. He sometimes popped into Bob Wade's when I was there. Bob rented part of a house off Alan Phillip's ex- wife. She had the bulk of the house, and it worked well. Things were good for Bob then but got difficult for him when Mrs Philip's eventually sold the house, and he had to rent a flat nearby.

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