English Chess Forum

by Alan Ruffle, self-published by Amazon, paperback, 168 pages
Reviewed on 2 February 2020 (Review #19)

There are times that every chess player dreams of writing their own book and club player Alan Ruffle has shown the way forward by making it become reality. It is obviously easier for master players to secure a publishing contract but there is no reason why everyone can contemplate passing on their wisdom now that Amazon can publish on demand.
The idea is to give a few pointers to new and improving chess players but naturally the author cannot resist with a bit of a background story. Therefore, we hear about his parents and how he discovered the charm and passion of the game. There is some insight into how to improve and lots of common sense advice. The various illustrative games played by Ruffle indicate the pain and peril of the typical encounter and the occasional win to make it all worthwhile. As an ECF arbiter and coach he can draw upon his experiences in the field to give a few ideas on how best to teach people and occasionally shares the different viewpoint of the arbiter.
I think the book is a clear indication of the possibilities of self-publishing via Amazon. The diagrams could be slightly improved but otherwise I think most people could not spot the difference between this and a major chess publisher.
An entertaining view of the world of English club chess and coaching.

IM Gary Lane

Good review!

Well done to Alan Ruffle for writing this book.
An excellent review by Gary Lane.
As a result, I will be buying the book.

Alan Ruffle's 'The Chess Scene', is an easy-to-read autobiography detailing some of the nuances of what it means to be a chess player, and perhaps more interestingly, a chess organiser, teacher, and arbiter. The reader will gain a fuller understanding into what goes on in the background of chess tournaments, as well as some insight into the duties of an arbiter. The initial phase of the book focuses on Alan's early baptisms of fire in both chess and life, supported by some amusing anecdotes relating to his experiences of teaching chess in the classroom. I particularly enjoyed the inviting and gentle humorous tone of the book, which would be a pleasure for any chess player to lap up.

Marcus Gosling

The Chess Scene by Alan Ruffle has been a very welcome addition to my chess book collection.
All the other books I have are written or co written by Grandmasters or about Grandmasters so I found it refreshing and interesting to read about chess from a fellow club player's perspective. Interesting from the start with a few pages about Alan's history, how he learned chess and joined a local club as a junior. Alan clearly has a lot of experiencing in coaching chess to juniors and as someone who has also been involved in school chess, I found many helpful suggestions. A great summary of the chess scene in the UK and nice to play through the annotated games as well as read about a chess player travelling around the country in a campervan playing in many tournaments! I would recommend it.
John Wrench

The chess scene I thought was a nice book, full of information about how to run a junior chess club, whilst taking a light hearted look at some of Alan's adventures on the chess circuit, and a view of some of Alan's best games.

From myself David Blower.