i have volume 112. it's pretty decent.
Anybody here read Chess Informant "recently"?
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Apr 30, 2013
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#3
It's okay - additional articles are some thematic analysis + opening analysis + old games. You should pick one and see if you find it stimulating.
Apr 30, 2013
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#4
I haven't seen any recent Informants but before you buy anything you might want to check out http://chessbase-shop.com/en/categories/50 and http://www.newinchess.com/Magazine/Default.aspx?PageID=100
I subscribed to New In Chess (NIC) magazine years ago and was very impressed. I stopped subscribing because I didn't have time to read it and I already have lots of unread chess books in my libray. I also have ChessBase magazine (on DVD) #s 113-115 that came with some other software and it also looks like it's well worth the money - if you have the money and the time to read it.
Apr 30, 2013
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#5
Thanks everyone. I'll have to browse an informant when I go to the Chicago Open in 3 1/2 weeks. If I find anybody with a NIC magazine, I'll have to look at one and see how good they are. I do have ChessBase magazine, numbers 141 thru 146. I got quite a bit out of the 6 part Winawer video for White (I play 1.d4, but I do usually respond to 1...e6 with 2.e4, transposing to the French), and some interesting games were found, but I couldn't really maximize the potential as I do about 75% of my studying over the board rather than on a computer, and killing every tree in the forest is also somewhat annoying. Trying to maintain all that paper is impossible, and so if you want to go back to an article or game and go thru things you think you missed the first time you have to re-print.
As for NIC Magazine, I'll have to see what is included in one issue to see if it would be of interest. I can tell you that Chess Life (The USCF's magazine) is "Utter Cr*p". Coverage of tournaments is months late and minimal. You get maybe 6 to 8 games (maybe 1 or 2 annotated) across a 60-page magazine. And then you get a whole bunch of advertising. Reading Chess Life magazine has the feel of reading a porn magazine from the 1990s. For every pic, there were 4 pages of 1-900 numbers advertised (or 1-800 numbers that lead to 1-900 numbers). Not a good ratio!
Apr 30, 2013
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#6
ThrillerFan wrote:
I can tell you that Chess Life (The USCF's magazine) is "Utter Cr*p". Coverage of tournaments is months late and minimal. You get maybe 6 to 8 games (maybe 1 or 2 annotated) across a 60-page magazine. And then you get a whole bunch of advertising. Reading Chess Life magazine has the feel of reading a porn magazine from the 1990s. For every pic, there were 4 pages of 1-900 numbers advertised (or 1-800 numbers that lead to 1-900 numbers). Not a good ratio!
I'm a lifetime member and told them to stop sending it many years ago and haven't missed it at all.
Apr 30, 2013
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#7
Not as good as it used to be (because fewer authors are sending them stuff now), but still quite decent if you like annotated games.
Apr 30, 2013
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#8
Natalia_Pogonina, are you referring to New in Chess Magazine, or Chess Informant?
I was curious if anybody here has read Chess Informant in the last year or so? I've seen all this advertising of new columns, one of which done by Kasparov himself, and all sorts of other gadgets they claim. I also hear it's been moved from 3 to 4 times a year. If anybody has read volume 113 or later, can you answer a couple of questions?
1) Is it better than the early 2000s? I have volumes 89, 90, 91, and 96.
2) What are these new "sections"? Volumes 89 thru 91 (the one time I did a 1-year subscription), it was a brief article in the beginning dealing with the best of the previous issue, then about 300 symbol-annotated games, then a few problems (Combinations, Endings, etc), and lastly statistical data from recent tournaments. What's different than that today?
3) Would you recommend today's format of informant for someone that's 2100? When I read the older format back when I was about 1900, I found myself asking more questions than finding answers with the analysis.