ONE bonus of attending the British Chess Championships is that there are usually perks to be had.
For those without easy access to the Chess & Bridge shop in London, it must have been pleasing to see the company's well-stocked bookstall, especially in these days of decreasing bookstall-attendance at congresses.
There were even generic chess T-shirts for sale, although none, alas, themed for the championships.
That being the case, and despite the interesting books on prominent display (DVDs were not so easy to view, so I gave them a miss), I resisted the temptation to buy - something of a personal best for me.
However, I did not come away emptyhanded. As well as picking up a free old copy of Chess magazine, I also took out a free three-month subscription.
I used to be an avid magazine buyer - at various times I subscribed to Chess, BCM, Chess Life, New In Chess and Inside Chess, and I still have every copy of Chess Circuit and Weekend Chess.
But the internet destroyed much of the magazines' usefulness for me - their "news" sections tended to be so out-of-date that they could have been more properly renamed "olds."
There were always parts of most magazines that simply held no interest for me - stamp collecting, problems, "humorous" cartoons and hagiographic interviews being leading culprits.
What I really wanted was instruction, which I felt was sometimes in short supply, and
informative reviews of the latest books and DVDs.
My three-month subscription to Chess will give me a fair chance to see how things stand today.
The first issue of my subscription - "Volume 84 No.5 August 2019" - arrived while I was in the Czech Republic.
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| August Chess … the cover features 20-year-old Russian GM Aleksandra Goryachkina |
The magazine, which has a cover price of £4.95, has a thin feel to it but consists of 60 glossy pages with plenty of colour photos (something that can be taken for granted today, but was not the case only a short time ago).
CONTENTS
Editorial Executive editor Malcom Pein's take on the current state of chess, including detailed notes to two Giri games and his opinion on the Igors Rausis cheating scandal (Pein wants a life ban).
60 Seconds Q&A with IM Adam Hunt, who includes his Chess Strategy: Move By Move as among "the three best chess books."
Havana Good Time! Five games and two positions from the Capablanca Memorial.
Is Magnus Beatable? Two Carlsen draws and one position from Zagreb.
Find The Winning Moves 24 game positions.
Getting Hackneyed Two games with notes, one game with just a single annotation and a position - all from Hackney's most-recent season in the Middlesex League.
Readers' Letters Featuring a Paul Littlewood brevity with one note, and information about Vera Menchik.
The Rise of Aleksandra One game and one position from the Women's Candidates.
How Good Is Your Chess? GM Daniel King with another game from the Women's Candidates.
Vera Menchik: Challenging The Status Quo One game and one position, but mostly a recap of the life of the first women's world champion, marking the 75th anniversary of her death.
Trends In The Chess Openings The Réti was the most popular opening in June among GMs and IMs, according to a chart credited to Hiarcs 14 via TWIC.
A New Initiative One game and two positions from a rapid tournament in Stockton-on-Tees.
Women's Chess Month A view from Hammersmith chess club.
Growing Up A Wood Interview with the son of Chess magazine founder BH Wood.
Never Mind The Grandmasters Carl Portman details how he beat a player graded 83.
Studies With Stephenson Three studies.
Pattern Recognition Matthew Lunn on the dangers of relying on pattern recognition.
Playing Chess Below Canterbury Cathedral James Essinger describes, with edited extracts, his new partially-chess-themed novel.
Overseas News Seven short reports, including British involvement in the St Louis Summer Classic.
Home News Ten short reports, plus a Forthcoming Events diary.
Solutions To Find The Winning Moves.
This Month's New Releases Long reviews of books on the Sicilian Taimanov and Emanuel Lasker. Brief mentions of five other books, one DVD and two magazines.
A Little Bird Just Told Me Chess tweets.
Saunders On Chess John Saunders' take on the current state of chess.
In addition there are adverts for new publications and upcoming tournaments, so all-in-all quite a lot to get through.
