I saw this in the bookstore yesterday and it was selling for less than $5...However, I did not get it-another descriptive shameful incident for me.

In the beginning of things (1960s-1970s) I bought from Al Buschke in New York. When I visited his offices in Greenwich Village it was like a kid-in-a-candy-store! I still have all his lists, about 500 pages. How would you like to buy a beautifully rebound complete set of the Congress books for $150? Today they are $2000 even assuming you can find them all. A Ne Edition Philidor for $40? Now, $600.

These days I buy most of mine now from collectors. I've been fortunate enough to get on good terms with some of the top collectors.

But there are many other good sources -

1) eBay. Prices can vary enormously and are typically too high. I saw a bidding war on a Dover paperback of Carlsbad 1929 (a $10-$15 book) that took prices to $129!

But not always - you can snag a bargain when things are slow; but you have to invest a lot of time trolling. I recently purchased O'Kelly's book on Petrosian (hardback) for $11.

2) Perhaps best all-around is www.abebooks.com. Again, you need to troll often as the bargains disappear fast. The list is extensive, many are embarrassingly overpriced. I've found some of the booksellers will bargain. A tip - if you see a bookseller with multiple chess items, check out their website...they may have a section devoted to chess.

3) GM Karal Mokry has some great stuff - but much of it is foreign. www.chessbookshop.com.

4) Dale Brandreth has been around forever it seems! I can only imagine what all he has in stock. He occasionally sends email lists - but the good items go almost instantaneously. His website lists only a fraction of his holdings. www.chessbookstore.com.

5) GM Alex Barburin holds auctions two or three times a year. Most of the bidders are European and they bid high; sometimes very high for the top items. www.gmsquare.com.

6) Some others - www.amazon.com, www.alibris.com. I also spend one saturday every six months or so to visit the local bookshops. I've snagged some good items from the Chess Life classifieds.

In the majority of cases (roughly <99,999999997%>*)

<chessbooks <aren't helpful <for your actual chess problem/position.>>>

Marfia, who is also from Michigan and an old friend of mine, was quite peeved by the timing of the McKay translation. He had been laboring over his for years, and just as its publication was announced McKay suddenly published theirs out of nowhere.

<"Henrique Mecking- Latin Chess Genius">

for some time now, and it seems to be easily available. However, I've been unable to find a single review on the Internet and I still have some doubts about the book's quality.

Is there anybody on CG who has read it and can tell me about its strengths an weaknesses?

I've also got some particular questions:

Somewhere I've read it contained 25 annotated games.

Is this figure correct?

If so, do you think this is as inappropriate as it sounds, given Mecking's lack of activity?

Does the book contain any photographs?

Are the Openings Report and the non-chessic material (is there something about Meckings personality, background etc.?) also interesting for those who basically know Mecking's career?

<"Henrique Mecking- Latin Chess Genius"> >

I think the publisher was Chessco/Thinker's Press? If so you might check their website for a review...if you can figure out how to navigate it.

The Google library doesn't organize the titles very well. I tried downloading some, but then you can't search the text. Therefore, I have organized the links into categories for easy access. Let me know if you find any other matches or tournaments.

Matches at Google Books: Game Collection: Chess Matches at Google Books

Benzol: <Paint My Dragon> <... speaking of openings, I've always wondered why no-one has written a book (or maybe they have?) for club players who have little or no time to learn any theory. I am aware of a few 'systems' out there where the opening moves can be played fairly robotically and provided the typical middlegame plans are understood, they can be a solid choice at club level and would be a godsend for people with busy lives. I would think a collection of these 'systemic' opening variations, complete with long term plans and sample games, would fill a book quite nicely...>

<Paint My Dragon> In 1957 Leonard Barden had a book called "A Guide to Chess Openings" published by Routledge and Kegan Paul. In 1976 it was revised as "The Batsford Guide to Chess Openings" in descriptive notation. After two more impressions in 1979 and 1982 it was revised again by both Leonard Barden and Tim Harding in 1987 and brought out in an algebraic edition. Its title at this stage was now "Openings For The Club Player" and again published by Batsford. I don't know what happened subsequently or whether it is still available. Hope this helps you.

(original post at Raymond Keene)

Paint My Dragon: Thanks <Benzol>. I don't recall the books you mentioned, so I'll keep an eye open for them to see if they fit the bill. For many years I used the Keene/Kasparov Batsford Chess Openings (BCO) and have since dipped into John Nunn's NCO and and Nick de Firmian's MCO. However, the point I was making is that these are mighty tomes, covering many thousands of variations that non-serious players can't hope to memorize, nor keep up with the novelties that occur on a daily basis. Hence, I thought there might be a market for a book that covers just those systems where a player can virtually 'go it alone' with a certain set up, regardless of his opponent's moves - another example is the Colle-Zukertort system (White moves only) d4, Nf3, e3, b2, Bb2, Bd3, Nbd2, 0-0 and White can now choose between different plans e.g. Ne5 followed by f4 plus Kingside attack, or play for c4 or e4 etc. Really, just a book of plans and sample positions for the few openings that are uniquely non-interacive during the early phase. You probably couldn't do it for more mainstream openings like the Sicilian, as the range of options hinge too much on the opponent's response - although the Closed Sicilian may be a possibility.

(original post at Raymond Keene)

SimonWebbsTiger: Paint My Dragon
I had an old copy of the Barden book mentioned. It was superb as (the evergreen!) Leonard suggested some various approaches, depending on styles. I think Ray and David Levy did something similar with two volumes published by Batsford, suggesting an attacking repotoire in one and a positional repotoire in the other. The big problem with these is, of course, they theory is out of date. I have been quite impressed by a few books I bought. e.g. One is "the Queen's Indian" by British GM John Emms (Everyman). It has explanations, tips and a modicum of theory woven into an illustrative game in each chapter. The other is "The Taimanov Sicilian" by US IM James Rizzitano (Gambit). Once again, essential lines and explanations are woven into an illustrative game per chp. These are part of a series from those publishers, "Starting Out" and "Chess Explained respectively, and great starts for learning an opening.