User Profile: offramp

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offramp
Member since Aug-16-03 · Last seen Jan-15-26

Some chess books that I think are outstanding:
1. <Fundamental Chess Endgames>, by Müller & Lamprecht, reprinted 2020. 400pp+, £25.
2. <Secrets of Practical Chess>, by Dr Nunn. 256pp (the USUAL 256pp!, i.e. the usual 2^8). £20.
3. <Capablanca's Best Chess Endings>, Irving Chernev's best work. 300pp. £15.
4. <107 Great Chess Battles 1939-1945>, written by Alexander Alekhine, but edited by Edward Winter. 256pp, £15.
5 (a) <Petrosian Year by Year Volume 1 (1942-1962)>, and - Karolyi & Gyozalyan, 484pp.
(b) <Petrosian Year by Year Volume 2 (1963-1984)> - Karolyi & Gyozalyan, 516pp.
They are £34 each. I bought one, then a few months later, the other volume.
They are available in Kindle format!

6. <The Queen's Gambit Accepted: A Sharp and Sound Response to 1. d4> by Chris Ward.
Ward wrote a superb book about the QGD, many years ago. I think this is useful for a book about the QGA. A total antidote to 1. d4, 2. c4.
And now some total clinkers. NOT those well-known garbage chess books.
The following are really bad chess books.
1. <Capablanca: A Compendium of Games, Notes, Articles, Correspondence, Illustrations and Other Rare Archival Materials on the Cuban Chess Genius Jose Raul Capablanca, 1888-1942> by Edward Winter. 360pp. c. £35. The title is the best thing.
2. <Larsen: Move by Move> - Cyrus Lakdawala
Paperback, 488pp.
3. <Emanuel Lasker Volumes 1, 2 & 3 - Forster, Negele & Tischbierek>. £55 each.
This book is unbelievably boring and tedious. Just look through it, then forget about it.
AT THIS SAME TIME a totally superb book has just come out: <Emanuel Lasker All Games Volume 1 & 2: 1889-1940 (2 books)>, £55 for two books:
Volume 1 covers the time Lasker became World Champion and played matches against Steinitz (twice for the World Championship), Bird and Blackburne amongst others. He also took part several famous tournaments including Hastings 1895, St Petersburg 1895-96 and Nuremberg 1896.
Volume 2 covers the time Lasker played matches against Marshall, Tarrasch, Janowski, Schlechter and Capablanca for the World Championship. He also took part several famous tournaments including St Petersburg 1914, New York 1924, Moscow 1935 & 1936 and Nottingham 1936.
Hardbacks, 388 and 342 pages, Russian Chess House. A real bargain.
4. <Pal Benko : My Life, Games and Compositions>, £140. Who is the most famous chess player out of Benko and Fischer? Who published the most plush, most opulent book? Benko.
.....
Here are another 7 books:

<He received a letter from his bookseller, informing him that only seven copies had been sold, and concluding with a polite request for the balance.
Scythrop <[SKI-throp]> did not despair. <Seven copies,> he thought, <have been sold. Seven is a mystical number, and the omen is good. Let me find the seven purchasers of my seven copies, and they shall be the seven golden candlesticks with which I will illuminate the world.>.>

>> Click here to see offramp's game collections.

   Current net-worth: 1,436 chessbucks
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   offramp has kibitzed 25197 times to chessgames [more...]

   Jan-15-26 Julien Song

offramp: Sitrep: the match starts in 1 hour.

   Jan-15-26 Tata Steel Masters (2026)

offramp: This tournament is going to be one of the best <EVER>. I suddenly had an idea that the World Champion, <Gukesh>, would win it. I think he is going to fully show his huge mettle. I think that he really has gird up his loins to show the Indians, and the whole world, that ...

   Jan-15-26 Giri vs Niemann, 2025

offramp: Giri said... <"Before the game I visualized a victory against Niemann. There's this technique.... I saw myself win. Then I went a bit too far and I started thinking about who would be in my team for the Candidates' - and that's when I realized I had gone too far."

   Jan-15-26 offramp chessforum

offramp: <𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗥𝗔𝗠𝗣 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗔 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗟 𝗠𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗧 is taking place HERE from 14:00, 17th January 2026 to 1st February 2026. ...

   Jan-15-26 Dickson

offramp: Someone asked, "What the dickens??" The answer is "No."

   Jan-15-26 S Rosenthal vs Count Isouard, 1871

offramp: "Is You Is or Is You Ain't Isouard?"

   Jan-14-26 Keymer vs Carlsen, 2023

offramp: Keymer Rouge.

   Jan-14-26 Garry Kasparov

offramp: <Petrosianic>. I dislike stories about the 3rd Reich... Kasparov was expounding about Molotov and Stalin and the Germans. I could have followed the details but I <hate> checking WWII facts on Google because you get sucked into a whirlwind of right-wing horror. So I am ...

   Jan-14-26 J Puccini vs J P Gomez, 2015

offramp: Good pun and a good game. The final move is hard-to-spot! I was expecting some hay-maker final blow, but it is a quiet move. In fact, that last move, 19. Qd2, could be a <CREEPING MOVE>. Creeping moves can only made by queens; Spassky specialised in them.

   Jan-13-26 C Gilberg vs Dickson, 1866

offramp: That's a great pun, and the game has a really good ending! BTW, Sally Simpson, instead of referencing the Washington Bridge, would you be interested in buying the Brooklyn Bridge?

indicates a reply to the comment.

Ye Olde Offrampe Predicktions

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 53 OF 86 · Later Kibitzing>
Nov-10-18		morfishine: CAPTION COMPETITION #7 6 snowmen are walking in a park and come across a man playing chess with a dog They exclaim "What a clever dog!" to which the man replied "He isn't that clever, I'm up 3 games to 1"

Nov-10-18		thegoodanarchist: Here is my OFFICIAL caption submission: "Oh, these snowmen? They're my seconds!"

Nov-10-18		thegoodanarchist: <CARUANA is going to win today.> You are zero for two in your WC match predictions, according to my count.

Nov-10-18		offramp: <thegoodanarchist: <CARUANA is going to win today.> You are zero for two in your WC match predictions, according to my count.> It is worse than that. I have also tanked at chessbookie and the <OCF> prediction contest.

Nov-11-18		offramp: I was thinking about some of the best and worst World Championship matches (excluding tie-breaks). Length is not very important, because one of my favourites is Lasker - Schlechter World Championship Match (1910) which was only 10 games. And another favourite is Karpov - Korchnoi World Championship (1978) which was 32 games. Here are two of the biggest stinkers: Kasparov - Anand World Championship Match (1995) & Anand - Gelfand World Chess Championship (2012) which were both just a long parade of very short draws. A good match was the second longest of all: Capablanca - Alekhine World Championship Match (1927) but at the time I think people thought it was awful. The best of the matches played by Karpov & Kasparov was Kasparov - Karpov World Championship Match (1990) which was fascinating all the way through. In fact that might be the best WC match of all time. Their worst match was Kasparov - Karpov World Championship Match (1987) which was very dull except for the final two games. I think the current match is going to be brilliant. For one thing, I don't think we will ever see a WC match with a rating difference of just <2 Elo points>, 2835-2833.

Nov-11-18		Jonathan Sarfati: <offramp:> Those are all reasonable assessments. Lasker–Schlechter has long been underrated, but there was accurate fighting chess all the way. Capablanca himself annotated the games and thought highly of them. <visayanbraindoctor> has made thoughtful comments on the games too.

Nov-12-18		offramp: KAWICK KAWIZZ What do George Steven Botterill. Mikhail Botvinnik, bot-flies and Botany Bay have in common?

Nov-12-18		offramp: <It is easy to be wise. Just think of something stupid then say the opposite.> ***** < I took Albert Pierrepoint to see Hangmen Also Die and he left ashen-faced.>

Nov-13-18		morfishine: <offramp> They're all bots

Nov-13-18		offramp: <morfishine: <offramp> They're all bots> Correct! Two points. Only one is a Russian Bot.

Nov-13-18		offramp: Some of Fischer's brilliant notes: A Reinhard vs Fischer, 1963 (kibitz #4)

Nov-14-18		offramp: What is this hee hee hee rubbish? <SugarDom: OH, I just found out that the kibitz was done by my friend Count. Sorry Count, I don't think your post makes any sense. hehehe> http://images6.fanpop.com/image/pho...

Nov-14-18		thegoodanarchist: <offramp> I assume you've seen this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVp... If not, you MUST watch it! You are famous!

Nov-15-18		offramp: <thegoodanarchist: <offramp> I assume you've seen this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVp... If not, you MUST watch it! You are famous!> Good grief! <thanks> very much for alerting me. I am amazed, and laughing like a neutron bomb, that someone should use one of my silly comments. I am glad he liked it! Your jaw must have dropped when you saw it!

Nov-15-18		offramp: "We're old friends, Jack and myself.We met at a street corner. I should tell you he'll deny this account. I was standing at a street corner. A car drew up. It was him. He asked me the way to Bolsover Street.\ I told him Bolsover Street was in the middle of an intricate one-way system. It was a one-way system easy enough to get into. The only trouble was that, once in, you couldn't get out. I told him his best bet, if he really wanted to get to Bolsover Street was to take the first left, first right, second right, third on the left, keep his eye open for a hardware shop, go right round the square, keeping to the inside lane, take the second Mews on the right and then stop. He will find himself facing a very tall office block, with a crescent courtyard. He can take advantage of this office block. He can go round the crescent come out the other way, follow the arrows, go past two sets of traffic lights and take the next left indicated by the first green filter he comes across. He's got the Post Office Tower in his vision the whole time. All he's got to do is to reverse into the underground car park, change gear, go straight on, and he'll find himself in Bolsover Street with no trouble at all. I did warn him, though, that he'll still be faced with the problem, having found Bolsover Street, of losing it. I told him I knew one or two people who'd been wandering up and down Bolsover Street for years. They'd wasted their bloody youth there. The people who live there, their faces are grey, they're in a state of despair, but nobody pays any attention, you see... Anyway, I told him that probably the best thing he could do was to forget the whole idea of getting to Bolsover Street. I remember saying to him: This trip you've got in mind, drop it, it could prove fatal. But he said he had to deliver a parcel. Anyway, I took all this trouble with him because he had a nice open face. He looked like a man who would always do good to others himself. Normally I wouldn’t give a ****. I should tell you he’ll deny this account. His story will be different."

Nov-15-18		thegoodanarchist: <Your jaw must have dropped when you saw it!> Indeed, I was pleasantly stunned.

Nov-15-18		offramp: Charles Dickens's novel <A Tale of Two Cities> was first serialised in two centre-of-England newspapers. It was in the Bicester Times and in the Worcester Times.

Nov-17-18		offramp: One of my favourite internet only games is https://geoguessr.com/. You are plonked down at a randomly chosen spot on google maps, and you have to guess where you are. I have got quite good at it and have some big scores. It is worth a quick look.

Nov-17-18		OhioChessFan: "Poor Edward Bray could <never> win the spot by the fireplace..."

Nov-18-18		offramp: In Sri Lanka, England has managed to win an overseas Test series for the first time in years. Ireland just about beat the All Blacks at rugby yesterday - for the second time ever.

Nov-18-18		offramp: Answer: Bamber Gascoigne and Jade Goody.

Nov-18-18		offramp: Which chess magazine does the Alt-Right read? Deutsches Woken-Schach.

Nov-18-18		Count Wedgemore: Why do the ayatollahs dislike chess so much? It reminds them of the Shahk of Iran.

Nov-18-18		offramp: One of St Wallace Stevens’s best. <Ariel was glad he had written his poems. They were of a remembered time Or of something seen that he liked. Other makings of the sun Were waste and welter And the ripe shrub writhed. His self and the sun were one And his poems, although makings of his self, Were no less makings of the sun. It was not important that they survive. What mattered was that they should bear Some lineament or character, Some affluence, if only half-perceived, In the poverty of their words, Of the planet of which they were part.>

Nov-18-18		offramp: <Count Wedgemore> what is odd is that “checkmate” comes from shah mat meaning the Shah is dead, so the Ayatollahs should have been delighted with chess. But they banned it. One of the few irrational things in Islam.

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