fluffy wrote on 02/03/22 at 13:44:05:


Do you know for sure that Thinkers stole the "Modernized" brand from Metropolitan Chess? From memory Metropolitan produced 3 or 4 books under this brand then stopped producing books. Perhaps there was some agreement reached around the use of Modernized, the chess publishing community is pretty small and they all seem to know each other.

Maybe you could switch from DC to Marvel as The Punisher?
You'll have to contact Tony to add a new avatar between paintingbird and redcreature

Keano wrote on 02/01/22 at 11:22:47:


It's definitely not just you.

The Berlin seems a strange choice for the amateur player, or is it just me?

It doesn't bother me. I used the word offensive in a third person sense, as in what Chessable might find offensive. I think Punished would make a better series title than say Modernized.

TopNotch wrote on 01/31/22 at 22:33:31:

Hah! So you offer a more offensive synonym, and when they object you "tone it down" to the one you wanted all along.

https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/punish
try "mutilate"

I like Punishing the Provocateurs. Perhaps even better just Punish the Provocateurs. That's probably because I like to provoke myself.

The Gambiteers Worst Nightmare is a bad one - it's not refutation that's feared, but dull, dry, too equal positions like the Capablanca Defense against the Danish/Göring.

TopNotch wrote on 01/31/22 at 01:03:35:


Below are a few title ideas I've been tossing around:

• Dismantling the Dodgy and the Dubious: 1. e4 edition

 

• Fun but Flawed! - 1. e4 edition

• Punishing the Provocateurs - 1. e4

• Punishing Annoying Chess Openings - 1. e4

• A Gambiteers Worst Nightmare - 1. e4

• Spoiling their Fun - 1. e4 edition

• All Gambits are not Created = 1. e4 edition

• Busting Trendy Gambits the EZ Way: 1. e4

 

• Tricky Openings Exposed and Disposed of: 1. e4 edition

I'm hoping the forum lets me know if they find any of the above titles interesting and would consider them to have appeal to a wide-ranging chess audience.

pirx wrote on 01/30/22 at 19:01:55:


I like how you are thinking, but that doesn't quite capture the spirit of the course. It is more like our opponents are trying to shock and awe us and not the other way around! 

1.e4 - shock-test your repertoire?

TopNotch wrote on 01/01/22 at 01:31:22:



fluffy wrote on 01/01/22 at 17:30:52:


A small update, chessable has requested a name change for the course, Taking out the Trash, considering the title a bit too -- let's say provocative, that's not the word they used but at least the project is still a go, and on the upside, I will no longer have to compensate Fluffy with royalties.  

Ideas for a softer gentler title are welcome, "Crushing Wet Lettuce" perhaps. (Only the Brits might catch that joke) 

Regards,
Tops 

Incidentally 5...Qe7 was given in MCO-15 (De Firmian), saying that it "is okay."

an ordinary chessplayer wrote on 01/02/22 at 02:50:16:


thanks AB

Bibs wrote on 01/01/22 at 23:11:41:

2...f5 being a crappy move we should not be surprised if the ugly 5...Qe7 is harder to meet.

4.Ng1 is by Buecker. It's covered in these forums, as the search "4.Ng1 Latvian" will reveal.

TopNotch wrote on 01/01/22 at 17:00:21:


Happily, it’s much easier than that.

4...Nf6
5.d3!

It’s not a King’s Gambit, as we have this lever. The pawn wants to be one step further back. 

If ...5... exd3 then 6.Bxd3 and it’s tricky to regain the pawn on f5

Usually black plays 5... d5 here. Well, I say usually, in my 3 games anyhow, as there’s little here that is ‘usual’. White exchanges on e4, exchanges on e4, exchanges on d8, and plays to win the e4 pawn, castling q-side. Ne2-g3, Bc4 White says ‘it’s easier for me to play, you are a wild gambit player trying to hold a grim position, you are unhappy here, I’m better, I’ll duly squash you’. 

Before databases, I have never actually looked it up. Maybe I/we should...

Story behind this. FM and author Graham Burgess was showing this to someone between games, at an event about 30 years ago. Somewhere West Country maybe, UK? I was a kid then. Ambling around, I saw something happening, lurked, watched, learned. So, respect and credit to Burgess. Dunno where he got it from, have never spoken to the chap. 

Wishing you happy days in 2022 y’all,

B

I covered various things. cannot even remember. It was a whole series. I saw it coming soon on chessable and even told the folks there, but they didn't even respond. It's not the end of the world, but it does not look original.
it's not as bad as when Thinker's Publishing hijacked the 'Modernized' series from Metropolitan and then published 100 books with the name. but still...
maybe just mention me in the into videos

fluffy wrote on 01/01/22 at 17:30:52:


Wow!! I guess I owe you [or Fluffy] royalties then. What trash did you cover if you don't mind my asking? 

Also what happened to 'Fluffy', did you forget your password?]

TopNotch wrote on 01/01/22 at 01:31:22:


funny, this was the exact name of the series I did on chesslecture.com years ago.

Jonathan Tait wrote on 01/01/22 at 12:06:38:


Hey JT happy new year!

After 9...Nf6 which is probably Black's best try and was recommended by Simon Williams in his Chessable course '1. e4 e5 Club Player's Dynamite' I went for 10. Bg5! which I consider even more testing than S P Sethuraman's 10. Bf3!? which is also interesting.

Unlike many of my fellow Chessable authors though, I don't leave my audience hanging with a premature assessment of "and white has excellent compensation" I demonstrate clearly why the compensation is so deadly and long-term. 

If I recall correctly GingerGM suggests meeting 10. Bg5 with d6, and stops there summarising in words rather than moves that Black should be able to eventually unravel and consolidate, but after 11. Re1! I wouldn't want to touch the black position with a barge pole. For full details contact chessable and ask them when the course will be released or better yet start a petition to expedite its release.

Not to toot my own horn, but the course is jam-packed with original analysis and powerful novelties (at least they were novelties when I submitted the course), not always aimed at refutation but the kind of easy to play nagging risk-free edge that drives gambiteers absolutely nuts. 

MNb wrote on 01/01/22 at 05:14:48:


Ideally, if anyone does, the book would have a stop sign plastered over a gorilla. 

Bringing to mind this amusing piece of music history:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ao9p3ou7-U

For any non-Brits who do not follow darts (is that anyone?!), that is a large picture of famed Scots darter Jocky Wilson on show in the video (*not* Jackie Wilson). A deliberate jest by the band, not an error by the show. 

btw, a good line that's easy to learn v Latvian is:

3.exf5 e4
4.Ng1(!)

Bibs wrote on 12/23/21 at 09:21:43:


RoleyPoley wrote on 12/24/21 at 16:48:22:


Thanks for the interest and support guys, it's just the one course for now, and for some unknown reason Chessable hasn't released it yet. The chessable content manager promised to keep me abreast of the course's status, but he went on holiday without updating me on anything and won't be back in the office until sometime in January I was told.

The course if it eventually gets released is entitled Taking out the Trash: 1.e4 edition, it is aimed primarily at casual and intermediate players who are tired of losing to rubbish like: 

• The Stafford Gambit

• The Nakhmanson Gambit

• The Hillbilly

• The Jerome

• The Norwegian Rat

• The Latvian Gambit

• The Elephant Gambit

• The Steinitz Scotch 4...Qh4 (or as I like to call it, The Mad Queen Variation) I think I managed to more or less close the book on this line, although no doubt Lev, Gutman would want to disagree.

In addition to the above, a slew of other chess streamer favorites also get put under the microscope. Some chessable members have criticized me claiming that many of the above oddities have already been covered in other courses on chessable, which may be true in some cases. Nevertheless, stopping your analysis on move 8 and declaring victory is not my definition of coverage, and that is what most authors have done when dealing with these so-called 'non-serious' lines, treating them more as an afterthought than anything else.

I decided that enough was enough and it was time for these dodgy but tricky offbeat lines to take center stage and receive the serious and thorough analytical smackdown they so richly deserve.  

To the entire ChessPub community, I wish you a happy and prosperous 2022!

Peace and love,
Toppy

Oh, per your comments there TopNotch, so it’s not just me noticing then. 

Btw, Mr T, I have enjoyed your comments over the years here. May one ask which courses are yours? I’ve bought lots already, so may already have been purchased!

I know it's new but has anybody seen this and can they recommend ?