Three New Excerpts

On April 24 we will publish three new books in hardcover. Turbo-Charge Your Tactics 1 and Turbo-Charge Your Tactics 2 are of course sister volumes, by GM Oleksiyenko and IM Grabinsky. You can read an excerpt of Turbo 1 here and an excerpt of Turbo 2 here. I was one of the proofreaders, and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I can promise they are full of amazing chess. These books will be both good for your chess and fun to read.

The third book on April 24 will be 1000 Chess Problems by Yakov Vladimirov. You can read an excerpt here. I will outsource the verdict on this book to the World Champion of Endgame Studies Composing: “1000 Chess Problems is excellent and the commentary to the solutions has just the right mix of education and entertainment. The book can be opened on any random page and you will be sure to find pure gold from the treasuries of chess compositions.” – Steffen Nielsen 

31 thoughts on “Three New Excerpts”

  1. Hi and happy Springtime to all QC staff

    Never got a reply to a previous request so could I pretty please got some indication on which if your upcoming books will be published on Chessable? Sadly it was too late for Endgame Labyrinths which I already bought in book form when I would have much preferred it in the Chessable format but would like to not make the same mistake.
    It’s the tactics type books such as the two about to be published and the Woodpecker and Vladimiirov problems book where I’d choose the electronic format and probably the Magic Moves book too. The Spassky and Lisitin books I’m quite happy in traditional paper format. Any indication would be good such as not sure or a definite no or yes as I’m holding off buying till I know a little more after getting burned last time.
    Many thanks🙏…think the current Coming Soon section looks strong 😊

    1. Hi John Ross,
      There are a few books that I can say for sure they will not be on Chessable: “Magic Moves” by Konopka, “1000 Chess Problems” by Vladimirov, both Lisitsin books – they will not be on Chessable.

      But I would certainly expect both Woodpecker books to be on Chessable.

      1. John

        Appreciate the reply and thanks for the clay on some of the books. How does it work with the decisions as far as Chessable or not? Is it the author’s choice, your choice or both? Good to know I can buy the Vladimiirov book safe that it won’t be published on Chessable but how about the two Turbo books? I’m holding off buying them until I know? Endgame Labyrinths was published on Chessable 5 months later than the paper copies….only you know when the decision to publish in both formats or not is made and if you’re unable to tell me as it’s a trade secret it would be good to know so I’ll presume that if I don’t get a reply. The info is interesting about the magic moves and woodpecker books but that isn’t being published in a few days time unlike the Turbo books and both books are definitely getting purchased…I just want to choose how I spend my money to support QC and it’s authors.

    1. Hi Arvin,
      We are publishing some opening books, but not as many as we used to. Our focus these days is more on chess improvement.

      And to Stefan on a similar topic: I am not sure we are ready yet to give details about other opening books (other than the 2 anti-1.d4 books by Renier Castellanos). I like to have some idea that a book will certainly exist, and some idea of timing (even if it’s just a year!) before I start announcing it. But I hope we will have another opening book to mention soon.

  2. Hi,

    I would like to ask if you could reveal any information on the opening books that are going to published besided the two repertoire books vs 1.d4.

    Greetings Stefan

  3. Real shame about lack of opening books.

    I think there are many QC could publish that they haven’t done yet. Pity!

    1. Jonathan O'Connor

      From talking to both chess publishers and chess book authors, I have learned the following:
      1. The end seller (amazon, London Chess Center, etc…) get 50% of the price. The other 50% goes to the publisher.
      2. The publisher has to pay the printer, pay for postage, pay royalties to the authors, plus hopefully, make a profit to stay in business.
      3. Authors often only get 5-10% of the book price per copy sold.

      If you publish on chessable, then you get 30-35%. That’s a big difference, and probably why you see more opening “books” coming out on chessable rather than in print.

      Lastly, there used to be a site where you could find photocopies of any chess book you care to mention. I don’t know if such a site still exists, but the fact that it is relatively easy to copy a book, means less sales.

      Copying chessable courses is a huge effort. Much harder than photocopying a book, and so again there will be more sales.

      I think in the next 10-20 years printed opening books will disappear. Of course, I would like some form of copyable e-book, only available to the owner. I presume some form of block chain technology will have to be used to do that. It’s an interesting problem.

      1. Benjamin Fitch

        Not sure how many of us there are, but some people do like to spend some tiny portion of our waking lives not looking at a screen on an electronic device.

    2. Jonathan O'Connor

      Please note I have no knowledge of the rates Quality Chess pay their authors. I would also presume the rates may vary depending on the popularity or the ego of the author.

  4. I don’t see it as a lack of opening books – probably we will publish 4 opening books in 2024. The two books by Renier Castellanos about meeting 1.d4, with the Nimzo-Indian against 3.Nc3. And 2 other opening books we have not announced yet. 4 opening books in one year would be a lot by traditional Quality Chess standards.

    It’s just we are doing more chess-improvement books.

  5. Hi!

    Looking forward to all of these books. Will they be published on ForwardChess as well or only in book format?

    1. The Oleksiyenko/Grabinsky books will be. I would have to check with John, but I am 95% sure that we do not have the electronic rights to 1000 Chess Problems.

  6. Hello Quality Chess:

    Regarding the Vladimirov book – am I correct in presuming it is NOT a translation of his “1000 Chess Studies” from the below link?….

    https://www.amazon.com/1000-shakhmatnykh-etyudov-Yakov-Vladimirov/dp/5170168411/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.zaKJDA47stjX1PAhh8mECn3JKsh420r1GvMFgVBd6yzgXIw-kuKVl4NiccWRKLv58WTCXu2Gxcmdq6K9JlA9w7pEsZWZiuTVrY59xrj40Ic.-jbuZ6k5QS-3aef0ffCY4BcvNbnqjJMQRCetVxusq8A&qid=1712608171&sr=8-4

  7. hi Michael,

    It is tough to be sure as that link does not show content from the Russian-language book, but I believe you are correct that the Quality Chess Vladimirov book is different from the one at your link. The link book is of studies while the QC book is problems.

  8. I know Quality Chess is no longer really into the Tournament chess book scene (ala Zurich 1953) after having attempted it once before, but…I just wanted to say…this Candidates tournament has been so awesome to follow, that I would buy a hardcover book covering this event in a heartbeat. Easily one of the best tournaments in recent memory. It’s been an absolute blast and a real treat.

    1. I think Elk and Ruby tried one for the last candidates, or the previous one. It looked good, but have heard no one ever talk about it.

      1. Yes, they and Thinker’s publishing did book(s) on The 2020-21 Candidates Tournament. The Elk and Ruby one called “Eight good men”. I think it is very decent book, and have played through the games. Would be interested in book on the last candidates too.

  9. A. N. Burumcekci

    The last candidates tournament was different from the last two candidates and it deserves a tournament book. I know that it is a dying, if not already dead, genre but Reggio Emilia 2007/2008 and San Luis 2005 are amazing valuable to me in the sense that they are both historical and instructional books.

    1. I absolutely agree and this was a much more exciting candidates…if ever there was a candidates that deserved a book it is this one but sadly I think we are in the minority and it won’t make financial sense

      1. Agreed. This was one of the best candidates for quite a while and it would be good to see a QC book on the subject

      2. Not to mention that it might usher in the Age of Gukesh!

        Anyway. I’m greatly enjoying the three chess books just published. Already 50 puzzles into the Vladimirov book (only 950 left to go!) and 8 exercises into the Turbo-Charge book.

        1. Paul Brøndal

          I totally agree with you. Lovely puzzles in the first book; the mate-in-2 are really enjoyable. Super exciting Turbo-Charge books as well!

  10. Hello!
    I am very much interest in Aagaard’s A Matter of Middlegame Technique, since I really like the author’s writing. Could someone from the team tell what will be the tone of the book? How will it differ from other strategy and middlegame books?

    1. Hi Pfmo,

      I will aim for the tone to be similar. I have given myself the permission to do some smaller projects in-between the two books, to avoid getting killed by the project entirely.

      Jacob

    1. Hi Craig, definitely many more books this year. Right now we are concentrating on getting books to the printer, but soon we will update this blog, and our Coming Soon page, with more specific details, and excerpts.

  11. Er, so there’s no recent news on the chess publishing front of any interest to Quality Chess readers worth sharing? 😉

    1. You know, there might be a few things to mention. We’ll be commenting very soon. Busy times right now…

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