Word! A lovely presentation!
Purdy occupies most spots on my "Desert Island Chessbooks list"
The Best Chess Writer You Never Heard Of
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lovely!
You said it perfectly: Purdy's Guide to Good Chess is pure wisdom. It is straightforward with no cumbersome ramblings. And about every page there is a sentence that makes me have an "Ah Ha!" and a new light comes on.
I have only had his book a week or so and I look forward each day to reading it. Each page is a gem.
What other books of his have you read?
stwils
i will have to buy this book. what a sales talk! good selling technique, i admire.
"Search for Chess Perfection" is a must-have. "Explosive Chess" is missing in my collection but will be re-issued next year. Right Bob?
My Christmas present to myself! I just ordered a used copy of Purdy's "The Search for Chess Perfection!" I was lucky to find one for $28. I'm in the Christmas spirit for sure!
Now farbror, tell me about "Explosive Chess."
stwils
Lucky You! Explosive Chess is a collection of three(?) Purdy books with annotations of WC games.
i've got a few books from the hard-to-find author pandolfini. i scored with a Schiller book on Openings at a yard sale. i'm looking to get a rare Chernev book that looks at each move to replace the one that was destroyed by the bear that shares a cave with me.
This may be off topic, but what a beautiful baby you have eating your chess books!
stwils
I'd never heard of him, so I looked him up on Wikipedia. Apparently he died of a heart attack while playing over the board, and his last words were:- "I have a win, but it will take some time...."
Cool.
stwils wrote:
You said it perfectly: Purdy's Guide to Good Chess is pure wisdom. It is straightforward with no cumbersome ramblings. And about every page there is a sentence that makes me have an "Ah Ha!" and a new light comes on.
I have only had his book a week or so and I look forward each day to reading it. Each page is a gem.
What other books of his have you read?
stwils
I currently have four of Purdy's books --
Guide to Good Chess -- A timeless classic
CJS Purdy's Fine Art of Chess Annotation and Other Thoughts, Vols I, 2 and 3
These three volumes contain mostly annotated games, as well as reprints of various articles he wrote over the years for his chess magazine.
A number of games from the 1960 World Championship Match between Tal and Botvinnik are analyzed in Vols 1 and 2, and it is especially instructive and entertaining to compare Purdy's comments with the notes by Tal himself in his classic book on the match.
Tal was famous for his wit as a chess journalist, but his book on the championship is often very restrained, perhaps out of respect for his great opponant. Purdy just calls a spade a spade and a blunder a blunder. Great fun!
As I like to tell anyone who will listen, CJS Purdy is the best chess writer you've never heard of.
You've never heard of him because OTB he was a relatively little known Australian IM from the 50s who suffered from chronic time trouble, likely because he disliked memorizing, or as he put it "swotting down" openings. Take away the clock, however, and he was the best player in the world -- winner of the first World Correspondence Championship.
His 'Guide to Good Chess', as 140 pages, is, page for page, the best source of pure undistilled chess wisdom I've ever read (and I've read a LOT of chess books -- not that you'd know if from my play
).
His language is a little quirky ('biffs' 'smites'), but that just makes his observations more memorable. The 10 general rules for endgame play in the Guide are among the most useful things I ever learned. When you find yourself unexpectedly out of the book in an opening, his four tests of where to put your pieces can point you in the right direction immediately.
Although he gives very useful and succinct rules and principles, Purdy constantly reminds the reader, "But -- this is where mosts books fail to warn the student-- before you go looking for a plan make sure there is no good combination available, i.e. a forcing line of play starting with a threat. You do much more with a combination than with a plan; therefore, at every move, in every game you play, see first if there is a sound combination on the board."
That is perhaps the single most useful line of chess advice for anyone under Master strength, IMHO.
Purdy's chess writing includes no fluff, no self promotion, no excess verbage. What he does better than anyone is get to the point.
Here's a nice bonus, Purdy is CHEAP! Most of his books are available in good quality editions from Thinker's Press for about $10 US. It's the best chess investment you'll ever make!
Any other Purdy fans out there?