Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

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Roger de Coverly
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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Roger de Coverly » Sat Jul 10, 2021 9:07 am

Geoff Chandler wrote:
Sat Jul 10, 2021 12:33 am
Tartakowers best Games and 500 Master Games with Du Mont are Dover although the latter
and possibly the former started as Bells as did '100 Soviet Chess Miniatures'.
When Bell gave up chess publishing, Dover seem to have taken over a number of their titles. Alekhine's books of best games are amongst them.

These days it's Raymond's Harding Simpole publisher that picks up a number of otherwise discontinued books

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Sat Jul 10, 2021 9:24 am

The Dover books I have/had tended to be good ones. Some of Irving Chernev's works among them (such as Practical Chess Endings). Wasn't aware until Paul mentioned it that some might not be that good. As for print and production quality, the Dover books I have used good paper and binding. Not as long-lasting as the best out there, but better than most modern paperbacks.

Who do people think are the best current chess publishers?

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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Geoff Chandler » Sat Jul 10, 2021 10:42 am

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:
Sat Jul 10, 2021 9:24 am
Who do people think are the best current chess publishers?
Quality Chess books, although I only have a few (about 10) , are good.

They do a lot of opening books (last count 93) but opening books is where the market is.

https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/sections/1/opening/

I treat my opening books very badly, I scribble in the margins, highlight traps (sound, unsound and potential),
and take a red crayon to cross out the busted lines.
(I use crayons because where I am at the moment I am not allowed anything sharp like pens or pencils.)
But it would be a sin to deface a Quality Chess Book. These are works of art. I fear dropping one in case it shatters.

To counter the opening books Q.C. have 83 titles on improvement.

https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/sections/2/improvement/

I've rarely seen a Q.C. book in the 2nd hand shops. Picked up 'Mayhem in the Morra' and a few other Q.C's. from charity shops
It is mainly Batsford Books one sees usually in the sports section, but look around. I've found chess books in the kids
section, reference section, non fiction and on shelves dedicated to computers.

Gambit Books: here is a link to their complete list.

http://www.gambitbooks.com/Completebooks.html

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Sat Jul 10, 2021 7:08 pm

Thanks Geoff. Agree absolutely about Quality Chess.

http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/

Gambit Books are good, but I am sure there are others as well.

http://gambitbooks.com/

Is it McFarland that do the expensive chess history books?

https://mcfarlandbooks.com/shop/games-hobbies/chess/

What do you think about the New In Chess output?

https://www.newinchess.com/new-in-chess-books

There are a lot of (many small) chess publishers out there.

On a quick look, I noticed 'Russell Enterprises' (not heard of them before):

https://www.russell-enterprises.com/

And maybe a newer one is 'Thinkers Publishing':

https://thinkerspublishing.com/

Also Chess Stars Publishing.

http://www.chess-stars.com/

Elk and Ruby as well:

https://www.elkandruby.com/

For completeness, here is where Batsford is today:

https://www.pavilionbooks.com/imprints/batsford/

An overview from a blog of some chess publishers:

https://www.chessopolis.com/publishers-of-chess-books/

From which I see I forgot Everyman Chess:

https://everymanchess.com/

And the publishers of Informant:

https://sahovski.com/Bestsellers-c107442017

I wonder if anyone has ever attempted a history of chess publishing? I'd be genuinely interested in reading about that sort of thing.

(Sorry for taking this off-topic, maybe the Dover posts onwards could be split into a new topic?)

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JustinHorton
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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by JustinHorton » Sat Jul 10, 2021 8:08 pm

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:
Sat Jul 10, 2021 7:08 pm
What do you think about the New In Chess output
Their books can be hard to read because the layout is clumsy.
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Sat Jul 10, 2021 9:19 pm

Thanks, Justin. Can I ask who the best chess publishers are in Spain (or indeed other countries if you and others have views on that)?

I have some 'Edition Olms' chess books, and I think they are Swiss (the books are in English, but often also in German, the ones I have include Korchnoi's Best Games [2 volumes] and a German-language edition opening book I bought for a laugh one time when on holiday in Germany).

https://www.edition-olms.com/chess/

Not sure whether some of these publishers in other countries are original output or translations/reprints of works originally published by others.

What do people think of 'online chess publishing' as exemplified by 'Chess Publishing.com'?

https://www.chesspublishing.com/content/

Chessbase magazine and DVDs might be another niche area, but not sure if they do any books.

Some more chess publishers listed here:

http://www.schackportalen.nu/English/eforlag.htm

I'd forgotten about Moravian Chess:

https://www.moravian-chess.cz/

And Chess Digest - I can't find a website for them, are they still around?

Of course, the list of chess publishers that have gone out of business or merged or being taken over or had their book list purchased by someone else, could get quite long...

Apparently, Russian Chess House is a major publisher in Russia, but there must be others!

http://www.chessm.com/

That looks like quite a nice publishing list.

BTW, if Tim Harding or other chess historians are reading along, I am sure I read somewhere that someone had attempted to estimate how many chess books had been published in the last few hundred years, and who the major publishers were. It would be possible, I am assuming, to get a full impression from a library catalogue or major collection such as at the British Library or the collection in the Hague.

https://www.kb.nl/en/resources-research ... collection

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-cul ... -54792335/

From that second article, also the 'John Griswold White' collection in Cleveland, see this description by Tim Harding:

http://ohchess.org/Files/OCA%20Articles ... ection.pdf

Have segued into chess history, but not sure where the dividing line would be drawn if writing a history of chess publishing - when would you move from 'history' to 'modern' chess publishing?

One more link, to what seems to be a portal for e-books from different publishers:

https://forwardchess.com/

The ones there not mentioned previously here are:

Chess Evolution
Mongoose Press
Metropolitan Chess
(British Chess Magazine) - [do they do books?]
La Casa Del Ajedrez

https://chess-evolution.com/product-cat ... ess-books/
https://mongoosepress.com/
https://metrochessla.com/landing.html
https://www.lacasadelajedrez.com/

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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by John Upham » Sat Jul 10, 2021 10:03 pm

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:
Sat Jul 10, 2021 9:19 pm

(British Chess Magazine) - [do they do books?]
Prior to being acquired in September 2001 by Stephen Lowe and Shaun Taulbut BCM had a rich history of publishing which appears to have dried up in the early 1980s. The richness was especially true during the Reilly years.

(John Saunders might like to write more on this.)

One of my first activities when joining in 2010 (during the time of Steve Giddins) was to build a new web site and enlarge the totally inadequate Wiki page to include as many publications as I could find.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_C ... blications


Here you will find listed the BCM Quarterlies and the BCM Classic Reprints

Following that period it was only the magazine and the bound volumes.

The current owners finally gave up on BVs at the end of 2014 and didn't both to produce an Index for 2015. This broke a continuous run of many years.

A sad end.

For some traditional subscribers the lack of an index and BVs was a signal that the end was nigh.
British Chess News : britishchessnews.com
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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Paul McKeown » Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:56 pm

JustinHorton wrote:
Fri Jul 09, 2021 6:27 pm
Paul McKeown wrote:
Fri Jul 09, 2021 6:19 pm
I cannot think of a single memorably good book by Dover.
Dunno about memorably good, but I always liked Pachman's Decisive Games In Chess History, and should maybe have paid more attention to Renaud and Kahn's Art of The Checkmate. Oh, there was also Botvinnik's One Hundred Selected Games, which is probably not a classic but occupied lots of my time as a kid.

Checking my bookshelves I find Coles' Dynamic Chess, which I think was a well-considered book in its day, and some well-known old tournament books - Alekhine on New York 1924 and Nottingham 1936, and of course Bronstein on Zurich 1953.
And how many of those have been abridged to take out the parts which distinguish the works from the ordinary?

For years I heard how wonderful people found Bronstein's 200 Open Games, but having the Dover edition I was unconvinced. A few years ago, a friend was telling me a particular variation in the King's Gambit given by Bronstein in 200 Open Games, and I couldn't understand what he was talking about. Comparing the Batsford edition, though, which my friend owned, with the Dover edition all became clear. The Dover edition had been butchered, with much of what distinguished Bronstein's book removed, including this key variation.

I understand the Dover edition of Zurich 1953 was also castrated, removing much of what was good in the original, although I haven't seen it for myself. Indeed I have been told that this has happened many of the supposed classics of chess literature which ended up sadly reprinted by Dover, which it would seem became something of a "Reader's Digest" of chess books.
Geoff Chandler wrote:
Sat Jul 10, 2021 12:33 am
Tartakowers best Games and 500 Master Games with Du Mont are Dover although the latter
and possibly the former started as Bells as did '100 Soviet Chess Miniatures'.
I think Bells split the Tartakowers Best Games into two hardbacks, Dover joined them together.

I can honestly say I played over every game in Tartakowers Best Games.
That book and Tarrasch best games by Reinfeld is another I completed. Two wonderful books.
I'll give you 500 Master Games of Chess, it is a good "dipping" volume. However, I would still like to be able to compare it with the original by Bell's.

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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Paul McKeown » Mon Jul 12, 2021 9:30 pm

Matt Mackenzie wrote:
Fri Jul 09, 2021 10:27 pm
No less a modern writer than John Nunn rates Chernev's best work, its certainly wrong to think of him as just a producer of "potboilers".
John Nunn wrote:
New In Chess, 3/2002, p. 98 wrote:When I was a young player, I read The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev which made chess seem extremely easy. However, I then read Alekhine’s Best Games of Chess, which made chess seem impossibly difficult. I eventually discovered that the truth lies somewhere between the two.
Is that what you refer to?

If it is, I am not sure that I would classify it exactly as praise.

Of course, Chernev was no Reinfeld, Schiller or Keene, shitting out any old rubbish in a few days of as little sweat as possible. He did write grammatically correct sentences, didn't pilfer shamelessly and his name hasn't gone down in infamy for analysis easily debunked by 1100 rated nine years olds. Mind you, though, he tended to avoid analysis altogether, as it was far too difficult a discipline. His golden writings do, however, seem to consist on the whole of the same old stories about Rubinstein and his fly and the like retold by countless others who wanted to write about chess without thinking of anything original at all.

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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Paul McKeown » Mon Jul 12, 2021 10:09 pm

Actually, most chess books are mediocre, or worse, regardless of the author.

That applies in particular to old ones. A few older books are of historical interest, providing basic facts of the history and development of chess. Of the rest, a few are blown up beyond their worth by nostalgia and the human yearning for the comfort of the cradle and a golden past.

The newer ones are redeemed by database technology, which manages to reproduce basic facts accurately, chess engines and tablebases which give analysis of positions which normally exceed human capacities, and word processor and desktop publishing software which accurately capture the author's words, remove orthographic and grammatical errors and even bad style, and which when used properly can standardise spelling of proper names and correctly output tables of content, indices and bibliographies.

Of the recent books, few stand out as original or interesting, even though they may have been competently written, edited and produced. The bulk are undistinguished and ephemeral.

If the 95% of chess books ever published, unoriginal and ephemeral with dodgy indices and bad analysis, were entirely lost, I doubt chess would be any worse off.

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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by Paul McKeown » Tue Jul 13, 2021 1:34 am

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:
Sat Jul 10, 2021 9:19 pm
I have some 'Edition Olms' chess books, and I think they are Swiss (the books are in English, but often also in German, the ones I have include Korchnoi's Best Games [2 volumes] and a German-language edition opening book I bought for a laugh one time when on holiday in Germany).

https://www.edition-olms.com/chess/
Edition Olms is an excellent publisher of the highest quality chess literature. They publish in German and English language. I believe that I have also seen some of their titles in Spanish, Russian and Italian as well. They mainly reprint, rather than publish original works. Nevertheless, their catalogue is well curated, with big hit titles, produced to the highest standards.

They are indeed a Swiss publisher, originally established in Zurich in 1977, but now based in Oetwill am See.
(https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edition_Olms)

Their catalogue can be searched at: https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?query=%2 ... mpleSearch

However, the Olms publishing family is German, rather than Swiss. They were first established in Hildesheim in 1886, were closed down by the Nazi government for publishing contrary to party doctrine, and re-established in late 1945 with the fall of the Third Reich.

(https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Olms_Verlag)

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Re: Best Bob Wade era Hardback Batsford book

Post by JustinHorton » Tue Jul 13, 2021 7:41 am

Paul McKeown wrote:
Mon Jul 12, 2021 10:09 pm
Actually, most chess books are mediocre, or worse, regardless of the author. ....Of the recent books, few stand out as original or interesting, even though they may have been competently written, edited and produced. The bulk are undistinguished and ephemeral.

If the 95% of chess books ever published, unoriginal and ephemeral with dodgy indices and bad analysis, were entirely lost, I doubt chess would be any worse off.
You wouldn't think this from the reviews though
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

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