If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
Policy / Politique
The fee for tournament organizers advertising on ChessTalk is $20/event or $100/yearly unlimited for the year.
Les frais d'inscription des organisateurs de tournoi sur ChessTalk sont de 20 $/événement ou de 100 $/année illimitée.
You can etransfer to Henry Lam at chesstalkforum at gmail dot com
Transfér à Henry Lam à chesstalkforum@gmail.com
Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
General Guidelines
---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
Some Basics
1. Under Board "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQs) there are 3 sections dealing with General Forum Usage, User Profile Features, and Reading and Posting Messages. These deal with everything from Avatars to Your Notifications. Most general technical questions are covered there. Here is a link to the FAQs. https://forum.chesstalk.com/help
2. Consider using the SEARCH button if you are looking for information. You may find your question has already been answered in a previous thread.
3. If you've looked for an answer to a question, and not found one, then you should consider asking your question in a new thread. For example, there have already been questions and discussion regarding: how to do chess diagrams (FENs); crosstables that line up properly; and the numerous little “glitches” that every new site will have.
4. Read pinned or sticky threads, like this one, if they look important. This applies especially to newcomers.
5. Read the thread you're posting in before you post. There are a variety of ways to look at a thread. These are covered under “Display Modes”.
6. Thread titles: please provide some details in your thread title. This is useful for a number of reasons. It helps ChessTalk members to quickly skim the threads. It prevents duplication of threads. And so on.
7. Unnecessary thread proliferation (e.g., deliberately creating a new thread that duplicates existing discussion) is discouraged. Look to see if a thread on your topic may have already been started and, if so, consider adding your contribution to the pre-existing thread. However, starting new threads to explore side-issues that are not relevant to the original subject is strongly encouraged. A single thread on the Canadian Open, with hundreds of posts on multiple sub-topics, is no better than a dozen threads on the Open covering only a few topics. Use your good judgment when starting a new thread.
8. If and/or when sub-forums are created, please make sure to create threads in the proper place.
Debate
9. Give an opinion and back it up with a reason. Throwaway comments such as "Game X pwnz because my friend and I think so!" could be considered pointless at best, and inflammatory at worst.
10. Try to give your own opinions, not simply those copied and pasted from reviews or opinions of your friends.
Unacceptable behavior and warnings
11. In registering here at ChessTalk please note that the same or similar rules apply here as applied at the previous Boardhost message board. In particular, the following content is not permitted to appear in any messages:
* Racism
* Hatred
* Harassment
* Adult content
* Obscene material
* Nudity or pornography
* Material that infringes intellectual property or other proprietary rights of any party
* Material the posting of which is tortious or violates a contractual or fiduciary obligation you or we owe to another party
* Piracy, hacking, viruses, worms, or warez
* Spam
* Any illegal content
* unapproved Commercial banner advertisements or revenue-generating links
* Any link to or any images from a site containing any material outlined in these restrictions
* Any material deemed offensive or inappropriate by the Board staff
12. Users are welcome to challenge other points of view and opinions, but should do so respectfully. Personal attacks on others will not be tolerated. Posts and threads with unacceptable content can be closed or deleted altogether. Furthermore, a range of sanctions are possible - from a simple warning to a temporary or even a permanent banning from ChessTalk.
Helping to Moderate
13. 'Report' links (an exclamation mark inside a triangle) can be found in many places throughout the board. These links allow users to alert the board staff to anything which is offensive, objectionable or illegal. Please consider using this feature if the need arises.
Advice for free
14. You should exercise the same caution with Private Messages as you would with any public posting.
Neil Sullivan has an impressive collection. I have several hundred, plus many volumes of bound magazines (e.g. almost all the Chess Lifes/Reviews since the start (1933), all the CFC and FQE magazines, most issues of "Chess" from the start (late 1930's) to the 1980's, etc.).
According to GM Mr. Kevin Spragett, largest private collection of chess books in Canada belongs to Mr. Roman Pelts (Thornhill,Ontario), with estimated number of over 1,000 and keeps growing.
I am aware of at least three collections that are above the 1,000 book mark in Toronto alone (I am not counting the Pelts' collection). If one counts a year of a magazine as a book, one has > 5,000 books. It's an odd thing, but, there are many collections of which no one is aware! Collectors do not always make their collections known. I believe there are two complete runs of BCM in Toronto and another almost complete, so there are three collections with > 100 books on BCM alone. Nor am I referring to any library collection.
Neil is correct. I would bet there are many, many collections that exceed 100 books.
When I took up chess (in the early 1960s) there were not a lot of books around and not enough money in my pocket to buy them. But over the next 40 years, when I did not have the time to play or study chess, I sublimated by picking up around 100 books, including the ECO, the Informants, games collections by Alekhine, Tartakower, etc. Then I decided that enough was enough and I gave them all away to my son's alma mater.
Sure enough, an old friend dropped by a few weeks later and we played a few games and I was hooked again. My library, version two, now has about 500 books and DVDs and is still growing. I have even read some of them.:D
I guess the optimum size depends on what you want to do with them. For the serious tournament player, expert or better, the focus is probably largely on technical opening and ending tomes plus games collections and could be substantial. For the club player, the how-to books have pride of place, including anything by Jeremy Silman. Personally, I am torn. I enjoy chess too much to spend all my precious time studying technique. Instead, I revel in readable books, including commentary (e.g. Sosonko) and even fiction.
Neil Sullivan has an impressive collection. I have several hundred, plus many volumes of bound magazines (e.g. almost all the Chess Lifes/Reviews since the start (1933), all the CFC and FQE magazines, most issues of "Chess" from the start (late 1930's) to the 1980's, etc.).
I've started giving my magazines away. The ones I used for theory. I'm starting to wind down my playing. Haven't started on the books yet but will probably only keep the theory on what I normally play.
I've started giving my magazines away. The ones I used for theory. I'm starting to wind down my playing. Haven't started on the books yet but will probably only keep the theory on what I normally play.
I can't believe no one has pointed out the obvious here. If you've got this bad boy, then you don't need 999 more to keep him company. What are people thinking?
You're so right, Neil. I made the mistake of buying Reinfeld's Chess Mastery by Question & Answer around 1965 and then found out that I had to buy more than 300 books just to make up for the deficiencies in "Q&A." :(
"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." - Aesop
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." - Plato
"If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination." - Thomas De Quincey
You're so right, Neil. I made the mistake of buying Reinfeld's Chess Mastery by Question & Answer around 1965 and then found out that I had to buy more than 300 books just to make up for the deficiencies in "Q&A." :(
On a related note, a couple of years ago my brother-in-law was looking for a good introductory book on chess (he had what turned out to be a terminal case of cancer and was looking at learning the rudiments at least...) and I resisted the urge to 'dump' all my old Reinfeld books (yes plural) on him. Instead, I threw them out and looked at "Chess for Dummies".
It was surprisingly decent and far better for a beginner than I thought it would be. I apologized for the title, but he really enjoyed learning a little bit about the game before he passed... After he learned a little bit about how chess is played, I introduced him to (easy) mate-in-2 or (even easier) mate-in-3 and he really enjoyed trying to solve them! In fact, he had what he considered a "great" moment when he finally solved a mate in 3 without having to resort to moving pieces all over the place!
Yeah your are most likely right but it would be interesting to see who has the largest collection, I would assume it would most likely be over 1000.:)
I probably have a bit more than that, though a very few are of the Fred Reinfeld variety purchased when I was about 12 years of age. Its been about six months or a year since I last counted them. I don't count magazines in that number.
Then they are obviously clueless or lying... if everyone stops buying it they'll have to stop because they won't have the money to print it.
I seem to recall something like that happening here in Canada
Well, I doubt they were lying. They told me that the majority of their sales are still in selling paper books.
In Canada, they lost much of their market after the CFC got out of book sales directly, going to amazon. While their sales in North America have taken a dip, sales in Europe are still pretty strong.
I don't think they are clueless either. They have diversified and still have a healthy market. But I guess time will tell anyway.
While their sales in North America have taken a dip, sales in Europe are still pretty strong. They have diversified and still have a healthy market. But I guess time will tell anyway.
Chess Informant could restore its market if it restored the publication to its former size and content. Here is my blog entry on the subject:
Tweet
Comment