chess extras

Last week, I received the first edition of a new publication named "Chess Extras." This 40 page potpourri of chess anecdotes, photographs, stories, games, and reviews comes from the ever-fertile mind of Bob Long, chess entrepreneur extraordinaire. Bob plans to create six of these publications per year, sent by e-mail, for the cost of $75 ($70 for "Gold Card" holders like myself). I know already that the most obvious criticism of this new publication will be the price ($12.50 per issue), but if the remaining issues for 2009 are as interesting as the first one, it's worth considering this as a "luxury" purchase for the interested chess player.

I've known Bob for a few years now, and I am familiar with how much effort he puts into any of the products he develops, whether it be a chess clinic, a book he publishes, a DVD he creates, or a publication he edits. I am known to favor small business owners over large corporations (ask my barber, who abandoned the chair rental world of working in a shop for 13 years to start his own "salon") and thus I will occasionally splurge some $ on this kind of fledgling effort.

What I was looking for in "Chess Extras" was something that I could read for relaxationm and pleasure before bedtime. I've been advised by at least two GM's that solving a few tactical puzzles before bed each night will improve my sight of the board. Good advice, I think, except that this awakens my mind rather than allowing me to relax and enjoy. "Chess Extras" is fun reading, with all kinds of little chess tidbits and historical facts interspered.

The first issue has topics that range from Part One of Bob's reflections on Fischer-Larsen, Denver, 1971 to observations about chess magazines to why the media don't do a very good job of promoting chess (most media types have no clue about the game). There are a few games in the publication, some very good book reviews, some of Bob's thoughts about thinking deeply (one of my problem areas in chess), and "instructions" to reviewers on how to properly review Bob's book "The Chess Assassin's Business Manual," which readers of this blog know already that I recommend. Because I am attracted to just about anything chess-related, I had a great time reading and re-reading the 40 pages that consititute issue #1. I like dry wit and laconic observations, and there are plenty of those to be found, too. Whether one agrees with Bob or not, he's always willing to speak his mind with candor.

There are a few little typos in the first issue, and some potential readers may be put off by the price, but I'm looking forward to the next issue. "Chess Extras" in my view is a grab bag of fun chess stuff, a good piece of yang to the yin of "The Chess Reports."