Worst Chess Book (Review) Ever

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Brendan O'Gorman
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Re: Worst Chess Book (Review) Ever

Post by Brendan O'Gorman » Thu Dec 01, 2016 5:50 pm

Ian Marks does some sensible book reviews on the Chess Scotland website: http://www.chessscotland.com/news/?p=255

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Worst Chess Book (Review) Ever

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Thu Dec 01, 2016 6:22 pm

Richard Thursby wrote:
Neil Graham wrote:Tony Miles once reviewed Eric Schiller's book Unorthodox Chess Openings in two words: "Utter crap," which is about as concise a review of a bad chess book as you can get.
That's quite surprising given the opening he used to defeat Anatoly Karpov in the European Team Championship in Skara in 1980!
I don't think his "review" primarily damned the book in question because of its intrinsic subject matter, more how it was presented ;)

BTW one definitely recalls Schiller once virtually conceding that he was in the business of producing potboilers, but pleading that this was his only way of making a living from chess (the clear inference being that actually good chess books wouldn't sell nearly as well) Thoughts?
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)

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JustinHorton
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Re: Worst Chess Book (Review) Ever

Post by JustinHorton » Thu Dec 01, 2016 6:54 pm

John Upham wrote:A fresh candidate for the title of "Worst Chess Book Ever" has appeared
It would have to compete with Andres Hortillosa's "Improve Your Chess At Any Age" which is by a country mile the worst chess book I've ever read.
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

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Paolo Casaschi
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Re: Worst Chess Book (Review) Ever

Post by Paolo Casaschi » Thu Dec 01, 2016 7:19 pm

Richard Thursby wrote:
Neil Graham wrote:Tony Miles once reviewed Eric Schiller's book Unorthodox Chess Openings in two words: "Utter crap," which is about as concise a review of a bad chess book as you can get.
That's quite surprising given the opening he used to defeat Anatoly Karpov in the European Team Championship in Skara in 1980!
He clearly commented about the book rather than the openings.

Brian Towers
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Re: Worst Chess Book (Review) Ever

Post by Brian Towers » Fri Dec 02, 2016 7:15 pm

Matt Mackenzie wrote:BTW one definitely recalls Schiller once virtually conceding that he was in the business of producing potboilers, but pleading that this was his only way of making a living from chess (the clear inference being that actually good chess books wouldn't sell nearly as well) Thoughts?
Thoughts? Well, your inference is nonsense as 2 seconds thought would tell you. The point is that writing a really good book is very hard work. The justification for churning out potboilers is that it takes 10 times as much work to produce a really good book as a potboiler so even if on average each potboiler only makes you 20% of what a really good book would you are still quids in.

This simple principle also explains why so few accountants chuck it in to try and become movie stars.
Ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now.

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JustinHorton
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Re: Worst Chess Book (Review) Ever

Post by JustinHorton » Sat Dec 03, 2016 11:37 am

I hope an accountant would not use numbers quite so casually.
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

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Jon Tait
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Re: Worst Chess Book (Review) Ever

Post by Jon Tait » Wed Jan 04, 2017 9:38 am

Jon Tait wrote:I used to like some of the reviews at ChessCafe. But you can't see those now unless you pay for a subscription and who wants to do that?

Otherwise, Sean Marsh's long reviews for Chess Monthly are probably the only ones I look at nowadays.
Just discovered this chess review blog:
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/

His reviews seem pretty good. :)
blog inspired by Bronstein's book, but using my own games: http://200opengames.blogspot.co.uk/

Mark Ashley
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Re: Worst Chess Book (Review) Ever

Post by Mark Ashley » Wed Jan 04, 2017 6:35 pm

Jon Tait wrote:
Jon Tait wrote:I used to like some of the reviews at ChessCafe. But you can't see those now unless you pay for a subscription and who wants to do that?

Otherwise, Sean Marsh's long reviews for Chess Monthly are probably the only ones I look at nowadays.
Just discovered this chess review blog:
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/

His reviews seem pretty good. :)
Probably one of the only english language review blog/sites still going :( Thankfully its always worth a read! :D


Niall Doran
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Re: Worst Chess Book (Review) Ever

Post by Niall Doran » Thu Jan 12, 2017 6:02 pm

That's a genius review!

MSoszynski
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Re: Worst Chess Book (Review) Ever

Post by MSoszynski » Fri Feb 16, 2018 1:54 pm

Worst review of a chess book on Amazon:
"Beware - it is a bloody chess book !"
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-re ... 1886846073

David Robertson

Re: Worst Chess Book (Review) Ever

Post by David Robertson » Fri Feb 16, 2018 2:32 pm

Good find.

But were you looking for Leininger's Killing Suki Flood. Because, having read the opening page or two, I have news for you - Dostoyevsky, it ain't

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