Rampant Chess By Geoff Chandler & Keith Ruxton
200 Pages Published in 2008
I promised Greenpawn that I would read the book and give it a review.
I bought the book from Chess 4 Less ( a USA book seller), and it arrived very quickly.
This excellent book gives a game collection played by many talented players from Scotland. Covered are 13 International Masters and Grandmasters (!). The beginning of each chapter has a nice interview with the masters on how they learned to play, who influenced them, what chess and non-chess books they enjoy, and other things.
Next, come the games. And what games they are!
First let me give an account of the annotations.
One of my favorite movies as a youngster (and possibly still) was Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein. In one movie, you had two funny comedians, Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, Wolf Man, and even a cameo by The Inivisible Man. In the end it was funny and quite enjoyable. That's what this book is to me.
Abbott And Costello Meet Grandmaster Chess. 🙂
Sorry Geoff (Although Ruxton is almost to funny himself to be the serious one in the duo.)
You get two very fun and enjoyable authors (with many funny jokes) that take a practical everyman look at great chess games played by the who's who of Scottish chess.
All joking aside, it isn't just one liner after one liner. There are some good common sense annotations to the games. You don't get 20 moves of analysis with cold textless symbols followed by +-. You get two great players that have a feel for what is going on and trying to explain it. They also have a (Chernev quality) of being able to explain things that even the most unbooked amateur can understand.
The annotations are good and practical.
That is not to say that even a skilled veteran can't get something from the annotations.
Now to the games
Everything is here from fierce attacks on the king, to super complicated sacrifices, to exploiting the slightest of endgame advantages. These games are not only from timed chess games, but also from correspondence tournaments !!! The correspondence games are of a particularly high quality, considering all the time and effort that was put into them.
I believe that studying the game collections of great players can only improve your chess. This is no exception (here are a few names GM Aagard, GM Motwani, IM Dearing, GM Rowson) !!!
What else ?
You also get to learn a few new chess terms like jigging (surely a greenpawn invention). 🙂
My favorite games
I got a lot of enjoyment out of the Two Knights Defense game against Smyslov. ( I know that sounds odd. There were tons of tactics flying left and right in most of the games, and I took a liking to one of the more positional ones !!! )
Byrson's Goring Gambits were very nice too. (As was the chapter on Motwani).
It's really hard to pick. There really are a lot of great games (with many different flavors).
Anyone who wants to improve by studying master games should give this a try. The annotations make it much easier and more enjoyable to play through the games than a book with just bare computer analysis (which is becoming the norm). Sometimes even books with text by strong players can be a bit confusing (because they are on such a high level that there explanations fly right over the reader's head). That is certainly not a problem with this book. The annotations are great for ALL levels.
What about the non-chess specialist?
Much enjoyment can be derived from playing through these games even if you are not out to conquer the chess world. Some players just like to see a good game every now and then. This book surely fits the bill for that too.
My rating 8 / 10.
(9/10 is reserved for the all time classics that have influenced generation after generation. 10/10 is only for my personal favorites among those. Not many)
Originally posted by paulbuchmanfromficsjigging is a term usually referred to when one is doing traditional Scottish Ceiligh dance (fast and furious) and sometimes with regard to a certain illegal fishing setup, one can only guess at how chandlers has artfully employed it with regard to chess. i just purchased the aforementioned book to see if any of my own masterpieces were included, ahem!
Rampant Chess By Geoff Chandler & Keith Ruxton
200 Pages Published in 2008
I promised Greenpawn that I would read the book and give it a review.
I bought the book from Chess 4 Less ( a USA book seller), and it arrived very quickly.
This excellent book gives a game collection played by many talented players from Scotland. Covered ar tion after generation. 10/10 is only for my personal favorites among those. Not many)
Originally posted by robbie carrobieI find it hard to believe that Greenpawn fishes without dynamite. 🙂
jigging is a term usually referred to when one is doing traditional Scottish Ceiligh dance (fast and furious) and sometimes with regard to a certain illegal fishing setup, one can only guess at how chandlers has artfully employed it with regard to chess. i just purchased the aforementioned book to see if any of my own masterpieces were included!
As for dancing, he employs many gambit variations with Mrs.Greenpawn's feet.
Originally posted by paulbuchmanfromficsLOL, i find it hard to believe he plays chess without a stick of dynamite less he gets into some unsound position when it may just come in handy, as for Mrs Greenpawn, one can but sympathize with the poor lady.
I find it hard to believe that Greenpawn fishes without dynamite. 🙂
As for dancing, he employs many gambit variations with Mrs.Greenpawn's feet.
ps. wait till i get at least a little better before attempting rematch, don't want the chess equivalent of a putty cat playing with a half dead mouse!
Originally posted by robbie carrobieHe He ... The trick is to poison the cat and arm the mouse with a heavy arsenal.
LOL, i find it hard to believe he plays chess without a stick of dynamite less he gets into some unsound position when it may just come in handy, as for Mrs Greenpawn, one can but sympathize with the poor lady.
ps. wait till i get at least a little better before attempting rematch, don't want the chess equivalent of a putty cat playing with a half dead mouse!
I had an idea for a chess book.
Let's see if old Greenpawn is reading this thread.
If he is, I will share it with him. 🙂
Hi - Nice reveiw -thanks.
THe Scotsman (Scotlands National Newspaper) published a good
review today. Glad to see all that effort seems to have worked.
Jigging/tacking both sides waiting for the other to cede an important
square.
A word I use when talking chess. It's made up.
Thanks again Paul.
Originally posted by greenpawn34how long have you resided in the land of the brave my friend and have never jigged to a strathspey reel or jigged the dashing white sergeant in some maddened Ceiligh dance, anyhow when my book arrives you said you would sign it, so dont make me drive over to sandy bells bar in the windy city and have you do it there and then, i want a legible signature!
Hi - Nice reveiw -thanks.
THe Scotsman (Scotlands National Newspaper) published a good
review today. Glad to see all that effort seems to have worked.
Jigging/tacking both sides waiting for the other to cede an important
square.
A word I use when talking chess. It's made up.
Thanks again Paul.
Originally posted by greenpawn34im having visitors from Portabello this coming Saturday, Wendy, Evelyn and lots of teenagers, Wendy's son, Richard, used to be in the chess club at school, he hardly ever plays chess and manages to give me a tanking almost every time! he can just about make out our Glaswegian with some of the more colloquial parts needing translation, hope to enjoy you're book pawn dude and perhaps one day we shall meet my trusty feer! regards robbie.
Hi Robbie
Lived in Edinburgh for 48 years (Scottish Mum - parents divorced).
If you ever come to the most beautiful and interesting city the world
I'll buy you pint in Bells and sign your book.
That goes for anyone else who happens along.
Gents - good review and I'm interested. But may I just clarify one thing...
I don't want to sound rude here, really I don't, but greenpawn is rated only just above me...and I would not consider myself anywhere near good enough to analyse GM and IM games to the extent that my analysis would be worthy of publishing.
To cut straight to the point, can you explain why I should trust and respect the analysis in this book? I'm sure there is an explanation - perhaps gp's RHP rating is not representative of his true strength, or perhaps his co-author is stronger and did most of the analysis. I'd just like to hear it.
Like I say. I don't want to sound disrespectful. Congrats on the publication of the book and - providing you can convince me re the questions above - I will seriously consider a purchase.
Originally posted by rja211077First, he still didn't stabilize his rating. Notice his graph, going up wihout tendecy to slow down, all consecutive wins. I see that he drew with Korch who is 2200+ here. As far as I know he is very strong and experienced OTB player too. And one doesn't have to be a GM to be a good teacher / analyst.
Gents - good review and I'm interested. But may I just clarify one thing...
I don't want to sound rude here, really I don't, but greenpawn is rated only just above me...and I would not consider myself anywhere near good enough to analyse GM and IM games to the extent that my analysis would be worthy of publishing.
To cut straight to the point, can yo viding you can convince me re the questions above - I will seriously consider a purchase.
Some of the best and well known chess teachers and writters are not GMs. Josh Waitzkin, Jeremy Silman, ( not to mention Bruce Pandolfini who published a ton of good chess books), yet generations of players can learn from their lessons.
Like in music, I know some professors on Music Academies, they don't all play their instrument fascinating but their methods are so superb that they have classes of laurates. Same for composers, then can make divine music and on other hand play their own music like crap.
If you can't play at 2500 level on your own, it doesn't mean that you can't be good at understanding and analyzing excellently high level games.
Originally posted by ivan2908I haven't read the book, but just wanted to add to this, Mr.Greenpawn has been a chess author (google "chandler's corner" ) for years, and he's been around the chess world for a very long time. I think tons of experience/knowledge + computer check (for tactics) could be well worth GM level analysis, even if the analyist is around master level.
First, he still didn't stabilize his rating. Notice his graph, going up wihout tendecy to slow down, all consecutive wins. I see that he drew with Korch who is 2200+ here. As far as I know he is very strong and experienced OTB player too. And one doesn't have to be a GM to be a good teacher / analyst.
Some of the best and well known chess teachers and w mean that you can't be good at understanding and analyzing excellently high level games.
I'm one of those people that believe a grandmaster's ability resides in his calculation and tactical skills. Every single 1600+ player knows concepts like bad bishop, queenside majority, king safety, octopus knight, isolated pawn, etc, but very few games at that level carry the beauty and accuracy of high level games.
Today I just watched a perfect example for this, played between Carlsen and Radjabov in Corus 2009. We all know the concept of doubled pawns, right? I wonder if we amateurs could employ this long tactical sequence to get that tiny, tiny endgame advantage with such accuracy. I'm referring to the sequence between moves 13 and 26:
So in short, I think with decent experience, time and tactical check by computer, writing a good book is more about pedagogical skills than chess rating.
If I were to make a choice between Karjakin (Super GM) and Josh Waitzkin (who was an IM and isn't even active now) as a chess coach, I would go with Waitzkin with no second thoughts.
I didn't even think to check out his graph/profile - I can see now he's clearly on the way up. I assumed he was a RHP veteran with a stabilised rating since he seems to know a lot of folk round here.
And yes, whilst I appreciate you don't have to be GM standard to be a good analyst / teacher, I think - based on my knowledge and my rating - 1870 is a little short - I certainly wouldn't trust my own analysis! But, like I say, I can see he's definitely on the way up. Like I said, I knew there'd be a reason, I just wanted to know what it was.
Thanks for the responses.
Originally posted by greenpawn34I just bought this book last weekend at The Lothian Chess Congress
Hi Robbie
Lived in Edinburgh for 48 years (Scottish Mum - parents divorced).
If you ever come to the most beautiful and interesting city the world
I'll buy you pint in Bells and sign your book.
That goes for anyone else who happens along.
in Edinburgh and Geoff kindly signed it for what a bargin book and a free pint too Now you dont get that from Amazon. not finished the book yet but what I have read its very good easy to understand and it needs to be for me, will need to hunt down Mr Ruxton for his scatching of pen to paper, is Geoff qualified to analyse answer is YES Geoff is a 2000+ player In the Scottish Chess league and has a lot of experiance and he has played chess with some of the best chess players in Scotland and as was sugested by Diskamyl check out Chandler Cornered (http://www.chessedinburgh.co.uk/chandler.php)
very instructive and funny with lots of interesting chess tit bits and much more so get the book and find out for yourself regards Jim Crawford Edinburgh Scotland