English Chess Forum

Averbakh's book was written for the educated Russian reader. The English edition is a fairly faithful translation, minus the poems. There are not enough notes, many English readers will struggle without guidance, as one can see from the abysmal standard of some of the write-ups available on the Inte...

... the rules, if they have to exist with draconian (match result affecting) penalties, should include a 'discretion' clause to allow the Controller to override for obviously honest mistakes. I concur. Those who have been active in London chess organisation know the principals, they will be confide...

I, personally, was incredibly lucky in being at Cambridge at the time the late Bob Wade, recently returned from an extensive stay in Moscow studying the Russian methods. This must have been about 1956. For the best part of a year, Bob, at that time a committed communist, I knew Bob in the 1950s, an...

I am in the middle of playing in the London Chess Classic, this post will be brief. It should be obvious to any competent reader of the ChessCafé review that its author is literate, thus when he wrote devastating sieges plural, that is exactly what he meant. He was wrong. There were a few raids on ...

It was in yesterday's print edition. Assuming the online version is the same, there isn't much there that hasn't been said before. According to http://www.londonchessclassic.com/schedules.htm Kasparov will be signing copies of his most recent book. Some of the side activities look inviting, although...

Bill Porter wrote:Am I missing something?

Yes, the entertainment provided by certain posters means they should be cut some slack.

... that the Times only contacted de Mooi and AF and made no effort at all to contact AM or LB for their comments. (The Press Complaints Commission) noted that there appeared to be a conflict of accounts as to whether the newspaper had taken specific steps to contact Ms Barnes before publication, w...

When is a finesse boring? When it is not understood. Most who have read of Soviet chess history will know of the Sports Committee. Its composition, size and name was subject to change; however, for the purposes of this post, this will be ignored. On page 129 of the English edition there is an accoun...

"Stewart" wrote to me, too. A curiosity is that the return path on the email is _______.______.co.uk, rather than the .com of the "sender".

Has Stewart's email account been compromised?

From memory, the first time credence was given to the intelligence reports in a way that made a significant difference was when Siberian troops were sent west, units such as the 32nd Rifle Division, which had been raised in Vladivostok, saw action near Lake Khasan and then fought a very sanguinary ...

What I meant was that there was no general policy of mass evacuation of civilians from cities (the transfer of the workforce when moving industries beyond the Urals notwithstanding) ... But how could there have been a general policy of mass evacuation of civilians ? Barbarossa came as a tactical an...

What a blithering glaikit numpty, a gallus chappie wha quotes frae Wikipedia and weens he's eiked oot something.

For anyone interested, I wrote a lengthy review of the book for my 'ChEx Bookshelf' column in the Oct/Nov ChessMoves (the ECF newsletter, available online to ECF members via the Federation's website). A perfectly respectable review, which must have taken some time to prepare, from what I can see. F...

Not having read this book myself yet, I strongly suspect that the reviewer has let his disappointment at finding no new revelations or information as regards Keres, Bronstein, Zürich-Neuhausen 1953, Curacao 1962 etc. colour his review. This is one interpretation, however, I consider it only a part...

Some are saddened when a word or expression slips the spelling it was moored to and sets out on a voyage to parts unknown. Old men mourn when reminded of the fate of mobile vulgus . Indeed, a good way to win a coin toss in some circumstances is to utter the imprecation mob , for the red mist rises. ...