The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games

[Niall Doran]

I'm getting my Christmas wishlist sorted out, and this book might be on it. The only thing is that many of the comments on Amazon refer to the pages falling out after being used for only a short while, but these comments refer to older editions.
Can anyone tell me if this is the case with the latest edition? (Foreword by Anand and 125 games edition)

[Eamonn O'Molloy]

I've had the edition you're talking about for almost three years and haven't had any problems with pages falling out.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Eamonn.

Having the book for three years is not the same thing.
Have you opened it yet, have you read it, or are you like me
and I guess 99% of the other lads on here.
A house full of chess books and only a very very few actually read.

Hi Niall

I acually have gone through most of this book. No problem with the pages.
(I have a slight problem with the choice of games but there again if we
all listed our top twenty games on here none would match.)

Good book, all games collections are good books.

This is one to avoid for your Christmas wish list.

link deleted

If you want another good book, an inspiring book and want to
give you loved one a challenge, ask then to get you this.

http://www.redhotpawn.com/blog/blogread ... postid=125

[Matt Mackenzie]

Now that "bad book" does, indeed, look bad!

"FM David Watts"?? FM or otherwise, he does not have even a single game on chessgames.com

[Roger de Coverly]

"FM David Watts"?? FM or otherwise, he does not have even a single game on chessgames.com

There was a DJ Watts of Middlesex and later Cambridge University around twenty five to thirty years ago.

This is probably his FIDE record
http://ratings.fide.com/hist.phtml?event=401650

Not officially an FM. although his rating may have exceeded 2300 at some point.

He played in a couple of British Championships and the Lloyds Bank, so larger game collections have some of his games.

[Clive Blackburn]

David Watts does seem to have played a lot of the top British players in the 1980's.

http://www.365chess.com/players/David_Watts

[Geoff Chandler]

It may not be the same David Watts that played Ray Davies.

(or should that be Ray Davies playing 'David Watts'.)

[Richard James]

Ray Davies (of the Kinks) wrote a song called David Watts.

Read about it here and listen to it here.

This may or may not be relevant...

[Matt Mackenzie]

Also covered by the Jam - probably even less relevant, tbh

[Eamonn O'Molloy]

Hi Eamonn.

Having the book for three years is not the same thing.
Have you opened it yet, have you read it, or are you like me
and I guess 99% of the other lads on here.
A house full of chess books and only a very very few actually read.

Hi Niall

I acually have gone through most of this book. No problem with the pages.
(I have a slight problem with the choice of games but there again if we
all listed our top twenty games on here none would match.)

Good book, all games collections are good books.

This is one to avoid for your Christmas wish list.

http://www.chessville.com/GC/TheWorstEverChessBook.htm

If you want another good book, an inspiring book and want to
give you loved one a challenge, ask then to get you this.

http://www.redhotpawn.com/blog/blogread ... postid=125

Hi Geoff, well, I've read it but I haven't worked seriously on it, just played through a few games rather than them all. The binding seems of reasonable quality, in that the spine is considerably cracked, but the pages show no sign of falling out.

[Andrew Stone]

David Watts was a Pinner clubmate of mine. Our Dads ran Pinner which was one of the most successful junior chess clubs in Britain ever. Even today there are a lot of decent active players (graded between 160 and 210) from Pinner, which is just as important as helping make them good in the first place. Anyway David was a seriously good player who won British and Lloyds Bank junior titles. He gave up chess I think to do normal things like concentrating on his job and his family. He came out of retirement for one game to play in a Thames Valley match at Kingston for Pinner. After winning he then, as far as I know, went back into retirement. I have no recollection of why he turned up for that match, but obviously the excitement meant many years of recovery was/is needed before another return to the board! Met him again at a non-chess event several years ago. Seemed happy with life but no more chess plans.

[Geoff Chandler]

....and I wish I could be like David Watts.

I pulled the name from the Kinks song (favourite band no.2).
If I need a name I often resort to songs. In my grissly past I've
used Sally Simpson (The Who), Frankie Lee (Dylan) and.........Pawn McCartney.

[Arshad Ali]

Hi Geoff, well, I've read it but I haven't worked seriously on it, just played through a few games rather than them all. The binding seems of reasonable quality, in that the spine is considerably cracked, but the pages show no sign of falling out.

If you open the book out flat, the pages will fall out. But that's a problem with many paperbacks. The contents of the book are excellent -- the notes are the right mix of explanation and variations. Unfortunately the quality of the paper and perhaps also the binding aren't the best.

[David Watts]

Fame!! I’m the David Watts of Pinner, Middlesex and Cambridge University and I claim my £5.

Sadly, I was never an FM, not even unofficially, and equally sadly I never wrote the allegedly worst chess book in the world. I was a little on the young side to have been Ray Davies’ muse, but “David Watts” lent colour and interest to my early adolescence when The Jam covered it 10 years later.

Andrew - thank you for the very kind mini-bio! When they make the film of my life, you can be the screen writer; George Clooney's already booked up for the title role. I’m still in retirement, though I do a bit of coaching at my daughter’s school in Edmonton, which means (a) I can still remember how the pieces move (b) there’s more to Edmonton than gang-related killings.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi David Watts.

Wow! I've just got to get you fix up Elanor Rigby.

I knew there would be a David Watts chess player out there
but I've explained where it came from.

I too have kind of a famous logo.
My Dad wanted to call me George, a name my mother hated!
She was a big fan of Jeff Chandler so I'm Geoff Chandler.

I'm glad my Mum called me Geoff.........It's what everyone else calls me.

When I needed another name recently I used Ernie Stubbins

http://www.redhotpawn.com/blog/blogread ... postid=131

......is there a Ernie Stubbins out there?

Hi Niall

Did you get your book...have the pages fallen out yet?