BOOKS

A list of books that have been written by club members

Books List

The books listed here have all been written by club members

Indian Openings

Third Edition published in 2018 (now out of print).

This book catalogues games I played with Indian Openings (from 1972 to 2017). Openings included are:

Catalan Opening
Nimzo-Indian Defence
Queen's Indian Defence
Bogo-Indian Defence
King's Indian Defence
Grunfeld Defence
Old Indian Defence
Benoni Defence
Benko Gambit

As before, this book has been written to try and avoid repeating the same mistakes! By cataloguing my games, against the ‘book’ lines (shown in BOLD), you can see where either I or my opponent varied, and the consequences.

As can be seen, I have included all book lines, but only in detail where it relates to a game that I have played. Also, I hope to give an insight of a typical club strength player (over this period my grade has gone up from 137 up to 186 and back down to 172).

The games mostly come from league games, congresses and inter-club tournaments, and therefore include games with/without quickplay finishes, quickplay including time handicap games, but no lightning games.

Double Queen Pawn Openings

Third Edition published 2017 (now out of print).

This book catalogues games I played with Double Queen pawn openings (in this edition from 1972 to 2016) against the ‘book’ lines (shown in BOLD). You can see where either I or my opponent varied, and the consequences.

Openings included are:

Queen's Gambit Declined
Tarrasch Defence
Queen's Gambit Accepted
Semi-Slav Defence
Slav Defence
Chigorin's Defence
Veresov's Attack
Colle System
Reversed Stonewall
Blackmar-Diemer Gambit
and Irregular Opening starting with 1. d4 d5

As can be seen, I have included all book lines, but only in detail where it relates to a game that I have played. Also, I hope to give an insight of a typical club strength player (over this period my grade has gone from 137 up to 186 and back down to 174). The games mostly come from league games, congresses and inter-club tournaments, and therefore include games with/without quickplay finishes, quickplay including time handicap games, but no lightning games.

Sicilian Defence

Third Edition published 2016 (now out of print).

This book catalogues games I played with the Sicilian Defence (in this edition from 1971 to 2015) against the ‘book’ lines (shown in BOLD), you can see where either I or my opponent varied, and the consequences.

Variations covered include:
Najdorf Variation, Dragon Variation, Scheveningen Variation, Four Knights' Variation, Sicilian Counter Attack, Taimanov Variation, Paulsen Variation, Classical Sicilian, Sveshnikov Variation, Open Lines, 3.Bb5, Closed Variation, 2.c3, f4 Attack, and Unusual Second Moves.

As can be seen, I have included all book lines, but only in detail where it relates to a game that I have played. Also, I hope to give an insight of a typical club strength player (over this period my grade has gone from 137 up to 186 and back down to 176). The games mostly come from league games, congresses & inter-club tournaments, and therefore include games with/without quickplay finishes, quickplay including time handicap games, but no lightning games.

Kings Pawn Openings (excluding the Sicilian Defence)

Second Edition published 2015 (now out of print).

This book covers King Pawn openings (excluding Sicilian Defence) that I have played between 1971 and 2012, namely:

King's Gambit, Giuoco Piano, Two Knights Defence, Hungarian Defence, Ruy Lopez, Scotch Game,

Four Knights' Game, Three Knights' Game, Ponziani's Opening, Petrov's Defence, Philidor's Defence,

Vienna Game, Bishop's Opening, Alekhine's Defence, Caro-Kann Defence, French Defence,
Pirc Defence, Robatsch Defence, Centre Counter Defence, Nimzowitsch Defence, Owen's Defence, and Irregular.

I have written this book to try and avoid repeating the same mistakes! By cataloguing my games, against the ‘book’ lines (shown in BOLD), you can see where either I, or my opponent, varied and the consequences. As can be seen, I have included all book lines, but only in detail where it relates to a game that I have played.

Also, I hope to give an insight of a typical club strength player (over this period my grade has gone from 137 up to 186).

The games mostly come from league games, congresses & inter-club tournaments, and therefore include games with/without quickplay finishes, quickplay including time handicap games, but no lightning games.

My First 40 Years

First Edition published 2013 (now out of print).

This book has been written to try and avoid repeating the same mistakes! By cataloguing all my games (in this edition from 1971 to 2011), against the ‘book’ lines (shown in BOLD), you can see where either I or my opponent varied, and the consequences. As can be seen, I have included all book lines, but only in detail where it relates to a game that I have played.

Also, I hope to give an insight of a typical club strength player (over this period my grade has gone from 137 up to 178 and back down to 167).

The games mostly come from league games, congresses & inter-club tournaments, and therefore include games with/without quickplay finishes, quickplay including time handicap games, but no lightning games.

Miscellaneous Openings

First Edition published 2012 (now out of print).

This book covers miscellaneous openings I have played, but not included within my previous books, namely:

Ware Opening, Larsen's Opening, Sokolosky Opening, Queen's Knight Attack, Budapest Defence, Torre's Attack, Dutch Defence, Irregular Opening starting with 1. d4, Bird's Opening, Reti Opening, King's Indian Attack, Irregular Opening starting with 1. Nf3, The Van't Kruijs and King's Fianchetto Opening.

As before, this book has been written to try and avoid repeating the same mistakes! By cataloguing my games (in this edition from 1972 to 2010), against the ‘book’ lines (shown in BOLD), you can see where either I or my opponent varied, and the consequences. As can be seen, I have included all book lines, but only in detail where it relates to a game that I have played.

Also, I hope to give an insight of a typical club strength player (over this period my grade has gone from 137 up to 178 and back down to 169).

The English Opening

Second Edition published 2012 (now out of print).

This book catalogues games I played with the English Opening (from 1971 to 2000) along with the 'book' lines.

Variations covered include:
Four Knights' Variation, Carls's "Bremen" System, Closed Variation, Nimzo- or Queen's Indian Type Defences, Indian-English Type Defences, King's Indian English, Grunfeld English, 2.Nf3 b6 or e6, Symmetrical Four Knights' Variation, Hedgehog Defence, Rubinstein/Botvinnik Variation, and Ultra Symmetrical Variation

You can see where either I or my opponent varied, and the consequences. Also, I hope to give an insight of a typical club strength player (over this period my grade has gone from 137 up to 178 and back down to 165).

Hard Wood

My 50 Memorable Games

This book was written by Steve C Mills in November 1996 and is a collection of his most memorable fifty games (now out of print).

"All fifty games in this collection are a bit special to me, even the loss against Rob Springett. I came away from most of these games thinking I'd played brilliantly. One thing that this book makes clear is that my play has improved significantly over the years. Going though the games it was noticeable how much better I have had to play over the years for a game to be worth writing up. Some of the earlier games in this book are awful, with victory being attributable to my opponents' blunder rather than my brilliant play.

In a catalogue that sells motivating photos, the one that caught my eye was one with the caption 'Whoever said that it's not the winning or losing that's important was probable a loser'. If you wanted to sum up my attitude to chess in just a few words that would be it. In this book I've given this attitude a name. It's Hard Wood. The attitude of a loser in the catalogue is Soft Wood. I have nothing against Soft Wood players, despite any impression that this book may give you. They're not second rate people but they are second rate chess players and they're easy picking for the likes of me"