thanks to all

I have found that I learn more from watching chess videos than I do reading theory books. Try this link. 

http://www.youtube.com/user/SeanGGodley#play/user/40CF1E25F1CC133B/0/TScSGC3lnO8

This guy knows his stuff, and he goes over some really good games. 

I recommend you join the CHESS HISTORY group here on the website. They list and describe one master every day including his victories, time of death and birth, and sometimes they show a game or two and what they contributed to chess. Cool group that posts every day.

Beats me, DJ.  They were the product of different times.  It'd be like comparing a superman like Emil Zatopek who won the 5000m, 10000m and the marathon at Helsinki in 1952, with Kenya's Martin Lel who won this year's London Marathon in 2h5'15" -- almost 18 minutes faster.

There's one thing I will say though:  while Fischer, in his prime, beat everything the world threw at him, Capa was the first man since Ruy Lopez to defeat the Devil in a game of chess ... and the game was played in Cuba, not Georgia!

It's an old story I heard about thirty years ago.  I've been searching the web for it without success so I'll probably have to try and re-write it from memory.  (Keep an eye on Dozy's blog for a day or two and I'll see what I can do.)

Bat girl is great!  I will try history group   But book store is my next move.  Any opions on a fischer capaplanca match?  If you could get Fischer to agree on rules

The books I've enjoyed most (perhaps apart from a few individual biographies) are Kasparov's "My Great Predecessors" series.  They're full of information, anecdotes, games and analysis.  The downside?  They're expensive.

But there's a great deal of free stuff on chess.com that will get you started.  Why not join the Chess History Group where you can learn (and contribute). 

Or you could read practically anything by Batgirl whose contributions on chess history are prolific and authoritative.  In fact, they're so prolific that she provided an index to her articles which you might find helpful.

Of  course, if you really wanted to know where chess originated you might be interested in some original research I did myself which reveals that all the chess historians have been wrong!