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| Oct-29-09 | | TheFocus: <parisattack> I think that your list is complete. On the other hand, Yasser Seirawan's "No Regrets" about the 1992 Fischer - Spassky match was the best of those printed. |
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| Oct-29-09 | | parisattack: Thank You! I have Seirawan's book but have never spent time with it...Fischer did show moments of genius in the rematch...what a shame, what a lose to chess. I am hoping to have a draft of my Fischer-Spassky En Masse book online soon after the holidays for review and comment. Big project, just not enough time in a day for everything. |
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| Oct-29-09 | | TheFocus: I know what you mean. I have a dozen chess projects on-going. Just do a little bit each day and eventually it will be done. Am looking forward to your En Masse project. |
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Oct-29-09
 | | Phony Benoni: Besides the Fischer book, Euwe also wrote a similar review of the players at AVRO 1938, titled <Meet the Masters>. If I recall correctly, Kmoch wrote the section about Euwe. |
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| Oct-29-09 | | TheFocus: <Phony Benoni:> <Besides the Fischer book, Euwe also wrote a similar review of the players at AVRO 1938, titled <Meet the Masters>. If I recall correctly, Kmoch wrote the section about Euwe.> Yes, that is another good Euwe book that I have. |
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| Oct-30-09 | | parisattack: Excellent little tome! Another one quite similar is Stahlberg's Chess and Chess Masters. |
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Oct-30-09
 | | FSR: <parisattack> ... Euwe will always be remembered well for so graciously giving Alekhine a speedy rematch, not trying to hold on to it for years...that is rare. True, but I think I have read that the match conditions required Euwe, in the event that he won, to give Alekhine a rematch for the title. If only Capablanca had had better lawyers . . . . No doubt there are a lot of players who could have beaten Euwe - most of the other players in AVRO 1938, and maybe even old man Lasker, who was +3=0-0 against Euwe. Recall that Lasker at Moscow 1935, at age 66, went undefeated, crushing Capablanca, and finishing just 1/2 point behind joint winners Botvinnik and Flohr. |
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Oct-30-09
| | FSR: People don't realize what a chess god Lasker was. He was World Champion for 27 years, far longer than anyone else. (I don't count Steinitz's after-the-fact announcement that he'd really been World Champion since 1866, but forgot to tell anyone.) Alekhine beat Lasker only once (at Nottingham 1936, when Lasker was 67) while losing thrice. http://bit.ly/1IIsDs Similarly, Capablanca, although of course he did win their 1921 match, did not finish ahead of Lasker in a tournament until 1936 (Moscow and Nottingham). Despite being 20 years Capablanca's senior, Lasker finished ahead of him at all of their four prior tournaments (St. Petersburg 1914, New York 1924, Moscow 1935, and Moscow 1936). Chessmetrics ranks Lasker #1 in the world for 292 months between June 1890 and December 1926(!) http://bit.ly/1GVRCR |
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| Oct-30-09 | | parisattack: <Recall that Lasker at Moscow 1935, at age 66, went undefeated, crushing Capablanca, and finishing just 1/2 point behind joint winners Botvinnik and Flohr.> The 'fighters' seem to have longer careers...Korchnoi also comes to mind. I assume their lust for play is stronger and they are more intuitive thinkers. The top players in the game of Go are often quite old partly because it is not as calculation-intensive. |
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Oct-30-09
| | Phony Benoni: Reshevsky would be another fighter with a long career. But I have trouble of thinking of Lasker as having a "lust" for play, since he would take five or ten years off from competition and return only when he needed to make a living. And Lasker mellowed in his final years. Fine beat him once, and recounted later that Lasker smiled and said, "Young man, you play well!" I cannot imagine Korchnoi or Reshevsky doing that. |
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| Oct-30-09 | | TheFocus: <Phony Benoni> <And Lasker mellowed in his final years. Fine beat him once, and recounted later that Lasker smiled and said, "Young man, you play well!" I cannot imagine Korchnoi or Reshevsky doing that.> Korchnoi would have probably have swept the pieces off the board and angrily stomped off, yelling, "You beat me, but you don't even know chess well enough to know HOW you beat me." |
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Oct-31-09
| | FSR: I agree with Phony Benoni. I can't see how Lasker had a lust for chess. Incidentally, I made a mistake in my prior post - the last two tournaments where Lasker finished ahead of Capablanca were Moscow 1925 and Moscow 1935. |
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Nov-02-09
| | FSR: I haven't seen anyone comment here on IM Richard Foster's amazing biography of Amos Burn - perhaps the greatest chess biography ever. It's 972 8.5 x 11 pages long, with analysis, crosstables, photos, every imaginable index, etc. Forster says he spent three years writing it, and I believe him. See the reviews (one by me) at http://bit.ly/2F3dz4. Among other things, Forster unearths the greatest move of all time: 33...Qg4!!! in E MacDonald vs Burn, 1910 I recently got the book from a guy on eBay for $55, which is an incredible steal. I wish Forster would take another three years and write the definitive book on Fischer's games. |
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| Nov-02-09 | | parisattack: McFarland has published a number of books on chess players past - some famous some not so famous. I just received the one on Kashdan and am anxious to spend some time with it. The one on Burns is super, ditto the one on Fine. You got a good price since I think McFarland wants $85.00 for it from their website! |
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Nov-02-09
| | FSR: <parisattack> By definition, the book on Reuben Fine is a Fine biography, so I'm not surprised. Actually McFarland wants $95 for the Burn bio, so getting it for $40 less was quite a feat. Not as good as when I got a first edition of Staunton's Chess-Player's Handbook (1847) in a fine binding for about $155 (converted from pounds), but still a deal. |
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| Nov-02-09 | | TheFocus: Yes, the one on Burn is a great book. I actually traded some books with the author Richard Forster so I got it for free, minus the cost of the set I sent him in exchange. It was well worth the trade. |
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| Nov-02-09 | | parisattack: <FSR: <parisattack> By definition, the book on Reuben Fine is a Fine biography, so I'm not surprised. Actually McFarland wants $95 for the Burn bio, so getting it for $40 less was quite a feat. Not as good as when I got a first edition of Staunton's Chess-Player's Handbook (1847) in a fine binding for about $155 (converted from pounds), but still a deal.> The must go through their website mark-up prices when things are slow - like stamp dealers do! :) The antiquarian prices are holding very well, it seems. I saw a New Edition Philidor go for $700 at auction earlier in the year. Real book bargains harder to find these days. There used to be a few on eBay - I bought an Adam's Simple Chess for $10 once and an embossed version of the HB Tartakower 500 Games for $15. I remember when Al Buschke literally begged me to buy a gorgeous rebound Congress set - $150 - and I declined. 1970s. |
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Nov-02-09
| | FSR: Yes, once in a while one can get a really good deal on eBay, but not too often. I bought both the first edition Staunton and the Burn biography on eBay. The Staunton I was freakishly lucky on; I am still amazed. The economy being in such sorry shape definitely helps in that regard. Books are definitely selling for less than they were before the market crashed. |
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| Nov-02-09 | | parisattack: <FSR> I am not sure what the future holds for rare chess book prices... Between computers gradually whipping classical chess, Google books, databases, young people reading less - usng the Internet and just 'tweeting' if that is what it is called. Written word itself at risk, it almost seems. The 20 year horizon may not be very good. If I was 29 not 59 I would need to consider those factors before putting up hundreds of dollars for a 19th century chess book... the Boomer run of reliving our youth (comics, baseball cards) also probably closer to the end than the beginning - just like us Boomers. :) What are your thoughts? |
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Nov-03-09
| | FSR: Good question, to which I don't know the answer. I'm sure you've followed rare chess book prices a lot longer than I have. Certainly the availability of Google Books has been a factor for me personally. I've printed out several 19th-century books and taken them to the local Kinko's to get them "bound", for a total cost in paper, ink, and binding of $15 or so, instead of buying the original books for $100+. I also don't bother buying old Chess Review and Chess Life magazines since I bought the DVDs of them for $40 from USCF (which also take up much less space). I'm sure there will always be some people who want the physical books and are willing to pay for that, but I have no idea whether rare chess books make sense as an investment. |
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| Nov-03-09 | | parisattack: Thank you!
Google books perhaps the biggest threat to the hobby. Not too many players under 40 or so who are going to pay $150 for say a copy of Bird' History with both Google and POD papaerback availability. |
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Nov-03-09
| | FSR: Indeed. I have my Google Books/Kinko's-bound copies of Bird's "Chess History and Reminiscences" (1893) and Mrs. F. F. Rowland's "Pollock Memories" (1899) in front of me. And I'm 49. |
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| Nov-03-09 | | parisattack: <FSR: Indeed. I have my Google Books/Kinko's-bound copies of Bird's "Chess History and Reminiscences" (1893) and Mrs. F. F. Rowland's "Pollock Memories" (1899) in front of me. And I'm 49.> OK. Under 50. ;)
I haven't been ever able to warm to databases and the Google books don't appeal to me as yet. So at least someone still dumb enough to want the real-deal. |
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Nov-04-09
| | FSR: <parisattack . . . the Google books don't appeal to me as yet. So at least someone still dumb enough to want the real-deal.> Oh, I like the real deal too. It's a question of how much one can afford, especially if a less attractive but much less expensive alternative is at hand. And if the wife gets to the mail before I do, she doesn't like seeing expensive antiquarian books in the mail . . . . |
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| Nov-04-09 | | parisattack: <And if the wife gets to the mail before I do, she doesn't like seeing expensive antiquarian books in the mail . . . .> !!! I see you know the drill, as well,<FSR> I have some of my packages sent to my son's house, bribe him with a tank of gas. Wifey just walked in my office, saw the Amazon box for the new Fischer book by Muller (reviewed on my forum) and gave me a nice little lecture. Once I had five copies of the Philidor Tabular book. I was comparing them, planning on selling two. She asked me why I needed five copies of one old book. I will end the tale by only saying it was a mistake to tell her they were $300-$400 a throw books! Even heated garages are cold, uncomfortable. ;) |
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