offramp Member since Aug-16-03 · Last seen Jan-17-26 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.>.>

Current net-worth: 1,436 chessbucks [what is this?]

offramp has kibitzed 25205 times to chessgames   [more...]

Jan-16-26 Tata Steel Masters (2026)    offramp: <Freelance Assassin>, in Giri's last major tournament I predicted that would end up no where. I lambasted him. I face-planted because Giri won that tournament easily. SO NOW I have made a volte-face, whatever that is. I believe that <GIRI> will win this Tata Masters. ...      Jan-16-26 offramp chessforum   offramp: Here's a good DVD Database: <ChessBase '26 Premium-Package Expand Your Chess Horizons Only available as download - Most computers no longer have DVD drives and the amount of data is now so large that it can no longer be stored on a DVD. After your purchase you will receive ...      Jan-16-26 M Schekachikhin vs C Dolgun, 2024   offramp: The Caissa Hotel is on the Aegean Sea, in Ayvalik, Turkey. This game is very interesting all the way through, right from 4...Qh4!      Jan-15-26 Julien Song   offramp: The first game is dead level. I reckon Song will win this match easily.      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 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.

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Ye Olde Offrampe Predicktions

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 70 OF 86 ·  Later Kibitzing> Sep-24-24    Troller: < offramp: The top 6 were: 1. IND 2. USA 3. UZB 4. CHN 5. SERBIA 6. ARM.> I think I had 4 of these, IND-USA-CHN-SRB. Do I collect my prize here or will it be shipped to my home address? Sep-24-24    offramp: Hello, User: Troller! I have already sent your prize to Calgary Post Office 665 8TH ST SW, CALGARY AB T2P 0V0. Go and pick it up, you don't need ID or anything. It's a surprise special prize! A book! The front cover has a lovely big picture of Peter Leko. Sep-25-24    offramp: India won the Olympiad. Well done!🥇 How did they get on at the real-life, grown-up world: at the Paris Olympics?🤔 India finished 71st out of the 91 countries. They won 1 silver and 5 bronzes. No golds. Here is the table: 🥇0 🥈1 🥉5 But what about the biggest sports event of them all? Football World Cup!!⚽🏆 India has never qualified for the finals. In fact, India is currently ranked 126th, just below Sierra Leone (but above Niger). The Indians will have to put on a bit of a spurt to win the World Cup in 2028. Sep-25-24    offramp: <offramp: I think Ding Liren will win game 1 versus Gukesh.> I have changed my mind <slightly>. Ding Liren will win game 1 or 2: he will have 1.5 points out of the 2 available points. THAT should be clear! Sep-26-24    Troller: <It's a surprise special prize! A book! The front cover has a lovely big picture of Peter Leko.> I must admit I was a bit skeptical but I picked it up anyway - and it turns out there is a centerfold with the Polgar sisters! Sep-26-24    offramp: From <The Cheap Detective> (1978). <...It is a thousand candles that will burn for every brave soldier that marches to the steps of the drums of liberty, so that tyranny will never trample the spirit of freedom in the hearts of men, throughout a world thrown into darkness and despair. ...It is despots and tyrants who run our rivers red with the colours of a hundred trampled flags that unfurl in the winds of liberty, blowing over centuries of deprivation where men who have known treachery and treason can still light torches in the caves of honour...> Sep-26-24    offramp: I'm glad you got the book, User: Troller! The title is <101 Best Games by Peter Leko> but it stops at game 74. I don't know why. I love that photo of Judit Polgar upside-down in a lift shaft. She looks very unhappy. Sep-26-24    Atterdag: Quite a quote you put on the Jerusalem page. Thanks for sharing this condensed, rich prose. Sep-26-24    Dionysius1: I will say this for you <offramp>. If you were half as funny as you seem to think you are, you'd be boring. Sep-27-24    offramp: User: Dionysius1 I thank you you for your good wishes. I post to amuse myself. I sometimes I troll people, but accidentally troll myself (I forget what I was saying). Recently, I trolled User: Troller but HE trolled me and I accidentally trolled myself while I <intentionally> trolled User: Troller. What a bunch of gits. Sep-27-24    offramp: In my life there have been some outstanding sportig moments. I remember Bouncing Boris win Wimbledon. What a great player. I saw the semi-finals in France. In the bar no one knew who the guy was, he was some German. ****** In 1981 I was feeling sad. I went down along Charing Cross Rd, to all the second-hand books shops. The last one was broadcasting Eng v Australia, from Leeds. I rushed home to see the end of the Test. Sep-27-24    offramp: https://x.com/WadimRosenstein/statu... Sep-28-24    Dionysius1: At The Langham! That is posh. Thanks for the link <offramp> Sep-29-24    Atterdag: Indeed, Boris Becker was a great player in his heydays. Sadly he fell into moral decay later in his life, barely escaping law-suits and imprisonment. But let's remember him for the zing he added to tennis when he emerged almost simultaneously with Steffi Graf. Oct-02-24    offramp: Korchnoi rediscovered a very good move, C Mayet vs von der Lasa, 1839. 1. d4 f5 2.h3! That is the kind of move that Carlsen makes. Oct-03-24    offramp: I don't really follow football very much. In June, did England bring "it" "home"? Oct-10-24    offramp: There's no light in my freezer. There's always one on my fridge. I was talking about that, to that Spanish geezer. ..... Oct-11-24    offramp: There's no light on in my freezer, But here's always one on my fridge. I was talking about that, to that Spanish geezer, The one that speaks that weird Basque language. Oct-14-24    offramp: / December 10th, 1983. Stuck at Totteridge & Whetstone station. No trains; frozen points down the line. Oct-15-24    offramp: Horrible mess. Guilty feelings of the ruin of that Hugo Boss suit. Four great rings, gold, I left them on his fingers. And the size of that corpse! How could I get it into the boot? That is the event, the memory that lingers. Oct-17-24    offramp: Very sad news from Surrey, Sutton. An old drunk guy stabbed by a boy in a hoodie. Looked like Bill Oddie the twitcher, the Goodie. Oct-17-24    offramp: Very sad news from Surrey, Sutton. An old drunk guy stabbed by a boy in a hoodie. Left face down and stinky and as dead as mutton. Looked like Bill Oddie the twitcher, the Goodie. Oct-19-24    offramp: News from the chess world, from the chess grandmaster Keith arkell. He complained about Reuben, Littlewood, especially Povah, Complained that the senior tournament is overly hierarchical. He was annoyed about his visa problems at Calais and Dover. He opined that senior chess has loss its sparkle. Malcolm Pein opines that the conversation is over! Shevchenko, Yoo, now Arkell... The world turned upside down my masters! All heading for some greener pastures. Oct-19-24    offramp: News from the Facebook world, from the chess grandmaster Keith Arkell. He complained about Reuben, Littlewood, especially Povah, Complained that the senior tournament is overly hierarchical. He was annoyed about his visa problems at Calais and Dover. He opined that senior chess has loss its sparkle. Malcolm Pein opines that that conversation is over! Shevchenko, Yoo, now Arkell... The world turned upside down my masters! All heading for some greener pastures. Oct-19-24    offramp: I used to like <abab> verses. They are, in fact the best. But I love having a go at a few Spenser verses.... They are <ababab> and then ended with a little joke: <abababcc>. The best, by miles, version is <Adonais by Shelley>... But the great Byron turned out 100s of these Spenserian verses. But it's tough to make them. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 86) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 70 OF 86 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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