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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.>.>

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

Chessgames.com Full Member
   Current net-worth: 1,436 chessbucks
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   offramp has kibitzed 25214 times to chessgames   [more...]
   Jan-17-26 Tata Steel Masters (2026)
 
offramp: [DIAGRAM] 14...Nxc5?
 
   Jan-17-26 offramp chessforum
 
offramp: Does anyone else think that Wayne Rooney looks like a Lego character?
 
   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 (replies)
 
offramp: Someone asked, "What the dickens??" The answer is "No."
 
   Jan-15-26 S Rosenthal vs Count Isouard, 1871 (replies)
 
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 (replies)
 
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 (replies)
 
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.
 
(replies) indicates a reply to the comment.

Ye Olde Offrampe Predicktions

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 77 OF 86 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Apr-26-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: On the telly, scheduled on a few minutes is <ANOTHER> recent remake of the bloody <The Secret Garden>.

That stupid, plotless piece of dross is <CONSTANTLY> remade - there must be a hundred film versions of that book.

I have never ever seen any version, thankfully.

Apr-26-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: User: OhioChessFan, I had heard <never> the theory about the "coffin". It is very clever, but it doesn't really <HELP>.

I heard the song recently on YouTube sung by <Joan Baez>. She sounded great!

Whatever happened in the song, <SHE> committed a <murder>. That is pretty rare.

Apr-26-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I can imagine a BBC board meeting.

Let's do another Dr Who.

Or we could redo the Sherlock Holmes books again.

How about Robin Hood?

I know! The Secret Garden!

Apr-27-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Instructions for use and care of vegetable oil cookware

Vegetable oil cast iron cookware is the most difficult to maintain in the cast iron cookware family, but it is also the most fun. It needs to be boiled before use: try to cook oil-rich ingredients in the early stage of use, and try not to cook starch-rich ingredients. After a period of "maintenance", you can cook as you like. The steel will become more and more oily with long-term use. If it is well maintained, the effect is better than a non-stick pan, and delicious food can be easily obtained.

1. First, clean the pot with warm water and a soft brush. Do not use tools such as steel wool for the first cleaning. Open the pot immediately after cleaning, otherwise it will easily rust. , adjust the heat to low, then

2. Place the cleaned pot on a heat source to dry, prepare some pork fat with skin, put the fat into the pot and rub the pot with the fat, rubbing every inch of it, and take it out when the fat is dry.

3. Pour out the remaining oil, rinse the pot with hot water, repeat the second step three to four times, and finally wash the pot and put it on the fire to dry it.

, add two drops of vegetable oil, and dry over low heat. (Fat oil can also be replaced with vegetable oil) The above is done. The cast iron pot that has been used for a long time and has become astringent can be maintained in this way. If you take good care of it, the cast iron pot can be used for 20 years or even longer.

Please pay special attention to the following during use:

1. If any black debris falls off during the initial cleaning and use, it is only the carbonized vegetable oil layer and does not contain any harmful substances, so there is no need to worry.

2. If the rust is caused by improper use or maintenance, clean the rust on the pot and reopen it to restore it to its original state.

3. Try not to use detergent when cleaning to avoid damaging the oil film. The best way is to use hot water and a soft brush to clean it very dry.

net.

4. Cast iron cookware can be cooked on an induction cooker, but please do not dry-cook it at high heat.

Apr-29-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: What do <OTTERS> do? They make <DAMS>.

Hence the word Gotterdammerung.

Apr-29-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I am studying the books of <<EZRA> & NEHEMIAH> & <ROOK ENDINGS>>.
Apr-29-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp:
<CHAMIPONS WHAT I KNEW>

Fischer was such a god, but he was a huge let down. 1972 the magazines spoke about Fischer playing a WC match every year or two....🤣.

Kasparov was a great player...but he has gone down in my estimation, and Kramnik has gone up way up!

I admire Carlsen for how he was totally bored about WC matches. He plays Rapid and Blitz games, even Bullets. He has a sense of fun, like Petrosian and Spassky.

I am hoping that Gukesh will still be WC in 2035.

May-03-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Cost Rican Spheres
Stonehenge
Great Pyramid
Easter Island statues
Sphinx at Giza
Great Wall of China
Angkor Wat.

I am looking for models of these Wonders on EBay.

May-06-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: ATM my favourite advert. So funny!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EF...

My Claim Group TVC.
The guy puts his head through the door and says,
"Salam alekum!!"

It is so crazy!!

May-09-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Wiki says,

<"He is a fan of the <Chicago White Sox> of Major League Baseball, and he attended a White Sox home game at the 2005 World Series.
While living in Peru, he became a supporter of <Alianza Lima>, one of Peru's most prominent football clubs.">

I will <try to> watch Alianza Lima in the next season, or I can see their results.

The woman upstairs is Chilean! I bet that she is peeved that Chile has missed out. (Those popes have Argentinian and Peruvian connections.)

May-11-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I bought a cookery book from EBay. I looked at the first recipe and I saw that all the measurements were in imperial. Yawn.

In the UK we have used metric for all measurements since 1970. Except for miles.

If the recipe asks for 60 miles of spaghetti, you have to use imperial.

May-11-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I watch a lot of telly on TVTP, which is a channel with loads of black & white programmes.

I was watching the <Beverley Hillbillies>.

It was given the rating of <PG>: parental guidance.

In fact, I have never seen a <U> programme on <TVTP>. Even those films from the Children's Film Foundation...they are all <PG>.

I am going to add <Caution: mild peril> to my introductions to chess games. It seems that modern people <cannot> bear <mild peril> in films. They turn off.

May-13-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Why isn't the title Alice Through the Mirror?
May-13-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp:
It is time for <CAPTION COMPETITION #12>!!

https://en.chessbase.com/portals/al...

YOU MUST PROVIDE A HILARIOUS, WITTY punchline to that picture in six thousand words (or less).

[Any entries which might seem to be threats to murder or have sex with other members of chessgames.com will be excluded from the judging.]

The guest judge is <Narendra Damodardas Modi> ❝𝗜 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮❞, Prime Minister of India 🧡🤍💚.

The winner will receive a single wheelchair-enabled step♿♿. Therefore this heirloom will build week-by-week into a complete set of wheelchair-enabled steps AND if you reply within the next two and a half weeks, you may be eligible for 1% off my autobiography <FLYING SAUCERS ARE REAL!!! AND THE SVESHNIKOV B33> (two books together).

ALSO, every time you include the hashtag #potemkin, the Ukrainian 💙💙💛💛 government-in-exile will donate one 🇿inc kopek towards my campaign to make the Primorsky Stairs (aka the Potemkin Steps) fully wheelchair accessible.

So have a punt!
Winners will be announced at 5am on 25th May 2025.

May-13-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: Ferocious Ali: "Remember that game you lost against Akobian? Guess what, you have no scoresheet, you didn't record your moves, you lose!"

Wesley: "I'll kill you."

May-13-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  Retireborn: " ...and then offramp wanted to know why Caruana has a Jew fro"
May-13-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: "THAT'S the name of the tournament? I was hoping for a year's supply of Superbeets!"
May-13-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I was interested in one of these 250,000 Swedish islands.

I contacted the Swedish head office. I asked about my island.

"Yeah. Have one, any time. Have two Lol."

Now I own 2 European islands!

May-13-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: Are your islands interested in becoming 51st or 52nd state? I know someone you can get in touch with.
May-14-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I had a good idea: who would be part of the <CARRY ON 2nd XI>. The actors and actresses who were never in a Carry On film.

1. Tony Hancock (captain)
2. George Cole
3. Larry Grayson
4. Max Wall
5. Billy Dainty
6. Madeline Smith
7. Alexandra Bastedo
8. Hylda Baker
9. Deryck Guyler
10. Robin Askwith (wicket-keeper)
11. Diana Dors.

<HOWZAT!!!>

May-14-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I bought the DVD of <RADIO DAYS> (1987).

It has a director's commentary by Woody Allen.

At one point he argued with himself.

May-15-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <AI> has totally destroyed cinema. I have seen the trailer of <SNOW WHITE> (2025) and it looks 100% garbage, it's unwatchable.

Yesterday I saw an advert for <SHEARINGS>, a company that runs coaches. Their advert was 95% <AI>. I couldn't believe my eyes.

What is the point of a <MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE> film, where Tom Cruise pulls off a mask to reveal his real persona, a feat which is obviously impossible...

Film has been destroyed.

May-16-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I was thinking about Woody Allen's films.

I really liked <ZELIG> (1983) when it came out. I saw <some> of that film recently and it was bloody awful; the problem is with the 1980s CGI. Can you imagine how bad 1983's computer effects were terrible?

BUT WHAT ABOUT Woody Allen's movies in the 21st century?

Can you name one? No LOL!

May-19-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I found online this list of ingredients. It's for a straightforword recipe for

<Cauliflower & cabbage cheese>.

<Ingredients
1 cup cream
1/2 cup half and half
3/4 pound yellow onions, sliced into 1/4-inch crescents
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
4 ounces Beecher’s Marco Polo cheese, grated (about 1 cup)
Substitutions: Beecher’s Flagship cheese
1 pound green cabbage, cored and cut into 1-inch slices
1/2 pound cauliflower florets, no larger than 1 inch (about 1-1/2 cups)>

I have decided to annotate that⬆️ recipe:

<1/2 cup half and half>
A what??

<3/4 pound yellow onions, sliced into 1/4-inch crescents>
I have NEVER seen a yellow onion - no, wait, I saw one once in a fridge on <Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares>.
And what are these <pounds> and <inches>? Spaghetti is sold by the <mile>.

<1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon kosher salt>
I have a few types of salt. None of them is kosher. Perhaps I could get a similar <HALAL> salt from the corner shop.

I like the following one:
<4 ounces...>
ounc...Whats??
<...Beecher’s Marco Polo> who? <cheese, grated (about 1 cup)
Substitutions: Beecher’s>
WHO?? <Flagship cheese>
That doesn't help! I ain't never heard o' dem cheeseses.

Recipes can be hard to follow!

May-19-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I have said this before, a complete criticism of a work of art <solely> from the title!

<THE MARVELS> (2023)

[Remember, I don't know <anything> about this film - even the cast. I know that Marvel superheroes are involved, that is it.]

<I watched this movie from the <peanut gallery> because the cinema was totally packed.
Why do these people ruin the night out for normal humans? I was crying even during the adverts. Why oh why?? Next time I'll go to a showing at like 11:00 am on Wednesday.

The film was totally superb. I was dleighted all hte way through.
The opening scene showed us <GREEN ARROW> splitting an apple on the head of some nefarious villain. He was accompanied by <SILVER SURFER> who mopped up all the other crims.

A highlight of the film was the MARVEL BOLLYWOOD DANCE. <SUPERMAN> sang <The Song of a Shipwrecked Sailor who Drifted on a Life-raft for 10 Days Without Food or Water, Was Proclaimed a National Hero, Kissed by Beauty Queens, Made Rich Through Publicity, and Then Spurned by the Government and Forgotten for All Time>.
I was totally in tears. I had to ignore the <peanut gallery>.

At the end - and I don't want to give away the end - villain was sellotaped to a circus cannonball and propelled to the moon. That MUST mean there must be a sequel.

I am giving this great film
🌟🌟🌟🌟/6 stars. Those are <GLITTERING> stars!!


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