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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.

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   offramp has kibitzed 25224 times to chessgames   [more...]
   Jan-17-26 Tata Steel Masters (2026) (replies)
 
offramp: Round 1: Me: v The Real World. 0-1👉= 0-1👉= 1-0👉1-0✅ =👉1-0 =👉=✅ =👉=✅ 0-1👉1-0. My results have changed. Gukesh drew,
 
   Jan-17-26 offramp chessforum
 
offramp: Round 1: Me: v The Real World. 0-1👉= 0-1👉= 1-0👉1-0✅ =👉1-0 =👉=✅ =👉=✅ 0-1👉1-0. My results have changed. Gukesh drew,
 
   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 78 OF 86 ·  Later Kibitzing>
May-19-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I saw the <trailer> for <SNOW WHITE> (2025).

Straight off the bean I <HATE> AI. AI is really really cheap.
I have spotted that 90% of adverts on telly are all AI.
It is so <CHEAP>.

I am not joking when I say that AI adverts make me feel a <A BIT SICK>.

The trailers are terrible. A total disaster.

There is, to begin with, the name <Snow White>.

In the original story she was (spookily) white. I mean the original Grimm story.

Here is my biggest kvetch:
<<AI> is the cheapest way of making film. It is even cheaper than bloody CGI!!
SO HOW DOES A DISNEY FILM COST $300,000,000??>
>

May-22-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I am fed up with characters with eyepatches in films.

I am watching <STREET FIGHTER> (1994), and the one-eyed guy turns up right at the start.

May-22-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Any Americans here?

I know that there are supermarkets on both sides of the Atlantic, but <HERE>, in Europe, we bag up our own shopping. We've all always done that.

In the USA, are things changing? I suppose most places in the USA (like here) are installing self-checkouts.

May-22-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: <offramp> When I lived in California (bring your own bag to store), customers bag their own purchase. However, this only applies to grocery stores, not Target, Wal-mart, Best Buy, etc...

In Nevada, where I live now; the cashier or a helper will bag for you. And I reuse the free plastic bags as trash bags.

Self-checks are available, sometimes when store is under staffed, only self-checkouts are open. (Usually 6 stations per store)

A lot of stores are removing these self-service kiosks, because of theft and under scanning.

May-22-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <WannaBe>, it's great to hear from you. What you posted is strange to hear how different things are different form Europe to USA.

Plastic bag use plummeted in the UK. People use use reusable bags.

In movies it boggles my mind that <everyone> bringing their shopping from their car to their house use flimsy paper bags that gave no handles - in movies the bags <always> fall to the floor and a human of the opposite sex gives assistance.

May-22-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: The following noises are worrying.

Squashing and crunching

Screams

Rockfalls

Howitzers

That is all.

May-23-25  stone free or die: Splat!

Meanwhile, elsewhere on <CG>:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=982...

May-23-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Today, the second day of the first Test, England v Zimbabwe at Nottingham.

My old friend Abigail Gwelo died two years ago, and she was aged 51, I think. She was Zimbabwean.

Her birthday was 21st May, so I thought about her when this Test started.

In Irish families death is treated very flippantly: if someone has died, then forget about it. When Abigail died I tried to forget her.

A human's life is like a huge Polish sausage eaten in different places, and trying to re-assemble that sausage.

May-23-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <stone free or die: Splat! Meanwhile, elsewhere on <CG>:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=982...>

What a strange song! I really liked it, but why didn't he end the song? A <fade out> is always a bit lazy.

May-23-25  stone free or die: Must have been something else going on under the table:

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

May-23-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: https://en.chessbase.com/portals/al...

Both players speak simultaneously:

<"You are unbelievably stupid!">

May-26-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp:
<The guest judge is <<Narendra Damodardas Modi> ❝𝗜 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮❞>, Prime Minister of India 🧡🤍💚.>

He is <indisposed> ATM, cos he got an assassination attempt the poor git, but he will judge the Compo from his deathbed.

May-26-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: The neighbours say that I am drinking too much.

Actually, not the <next> neighbours, the ones after the ones after.

May-27-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp:
<The guest judge is <Narendra Damodardas Modi> ❝𝗜 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮❞, Prime Minister of India 🧡🤍💚.>

He is on his death bed.

<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.">

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

"I remember that game against Akobian LOL Wesley was defaulted LOL. I'll give that 76/100.

<Retireborn:

" ...And then offramp wanted to know why Caruana has a Jew fro.">

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

"In India we do not allow jewfros, but I have seen <BARTON FINK> fifteen times. I love that scene where Barton gets kicked in his testickalls.
I award this 81/100."

<OhioChessFan:

"THAT'S the name of the tournament? I was hoping for a year's supply of Superbeets!">

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

"Very amusing and enlightening. I award this 85/100.

<WannaBe:

"Are your islands interested in becoming 51st or 52nd state? I know someone you can get in touch with".>

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

"Have you met Duncan Trump? The president? He is a funny guy. You're all right! 72/100."

<offramp:

"Any Americans here?">

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

"Not the best offering. I'll give it 55/100."

<stone free or die:

"Splat!">

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

"Splat! I like its temerity. I award it 71/100."

<stone free or die:

"Must have been something else going on under the table!">

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

"How many of these do you have? I'll award this 90/100."

<THAT'S IT.>

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

"Therefore I name <stone free or die> as the winner. He can now send me the single step to my address in Kolkata.
Best wishes to all! Niemaster!!"

<WELL DONE TO ALL OF YOU!>

I intend to have another caption competition in a week.

May-27-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: https://en.chessbase.com/portals/al...

"A smiling Humpy Koneru leaves the playing hall and is met by fans | Photo: Michal Walusza".

May-27-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: User: stone free or die was the winner. Yay!

He has won a single wheelchair-enabled step.

It's on its way!!

May-28-25  stone free or die:

< Honored members of Off The Ramp Society, distinguished guests,
ladies and gentlemen: What is there
for me to say? Everything wise and
witty has long since been said - by
minds more mature and talents far
greater than mine. For me to thank
you as equals would be presumptuous
- I am an apprentice in the Theater
and have much to learn from you
all. I can say only that I am proud
and happy and that I regard this
great honor not so much as an award
for what I have achieved, but as a
standard to hold against what I
have yet to accomplish.

>

May-28-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Here is one old piece of advice.

I would come home after a night drinking, and I'd be STARVING. The obvious thing is to start DEEP FAT FRYING at 1am.

Another idea was to start slicing onions, while you have forgotten why you wanted to slice some onions.

Both of those are <BAD IDEAS>.

May-28-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  Dionysius1: That's a really pretty piece of Wallace Stevens you quote in your profile.

It looks good on the page, and it sounds good out loud.

I thought I understood the first line. But since I don't get the rest of it, maybe I don't understand THAT much.

It reminds me of "Wovon Mann nicht sprechen kann, daruber muss Mann schweigen" (Wittgenstein). I go through periods of thinking that's really deep, and then I don't get the point of saying it at all (no irony intended).

Now "If a lion could speak we could not understand him" . That appeals to me, and it's later Wittgenstein, when he'd pretty much renounced the Tractatus.

I hadn't thought of Wittgenstein as a poet before, but maybe...

Thanks for the space to ramble.

May-29-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I have never said a <rosary>. But I do <own> a rosary. It is incredibly tedious. It is a task only for widows.

If you are intending to say the rosary you will immediately meet a DEAD END. Do you know the er <Apostles' Creed> Weren't they in Rocky III?

The best idea is to substitute the words to <One Nation Under A Groove> by Funkapolitan.

Then, it's an <Our Father> followed by <<TEN> Hail Marys>. Phew!...Then you do 4 more of those (1xOF + 10xHMs).

That's a spicy meatball!

May-29-25  stone free or die: <It is a task only for widows.>

It's said Pope Francais said a rosary everyday. That's two saids in one!

<<The Popes and the Rosary>

This May [2020], during the month dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pope Francis has invited the faithful to renew their love for the Most Holy Rosary, a prayer fully immersed in the Gospel.>

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/...

May-30-25  thegoodanarchist: <offramp: I am fed up with characters with eyepatches in films.>

Then don't watch <Breakfast at Tiffany's>

Actually, <do> watch it. I enjoyed the film quite a lot. And there is just one eye patch scene, iirc.

May-30-25  thegoodanarchist: <offramp: I have never said a <rosary>. But I do <own> a rosary. It is incredibly tedious. It is a task only for widows.>

No sir! It is a great means of salvation.

Multiple Popes have warned us of the danger of Freemasonry. Please, sir, repent and be baptized into the Holy Catholic Church.

May-30-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <Ipsum cerebrum meum ad tectorium sellotapaverunt.>
May-31-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <thegoodanarchist: <offramp: I am fed up with characters with eyepatches in films.> Then don't watch <Breakfast at Tiffany's>

Actually, <do> watch it. I enjoyed the film quite a lot. And there is just one eye patch scene, iirc.>

I have never watched <BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S>.

I <have> seen the brilliant scenes with Mickey Rooney as the japanese-type. They are really funny.

The book is by Truman Capote. Groucho Marx said, in an interview, that Capote was a big fruit. I don't know what that means.

I'll have a look at YouTube to watch out for the eye-patch scenes.

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