new book - Australian Chess Brilliancies

[Sheroff]

Hi - Just a quick note to say I'm writing/publishing a new book entitled "Australian Chess Brilliancies: Creative Attacking Chess Down Under" which is 95% complete and should be out in May. It has about thirty of the very best brilliancies ever produced by Australian players. If anyone has any last minute game inclusions for the book, please email me within the next couple of weeks, as I'm going to the printer soon (just waiting on Solomon to crank 2 or 3 of his best games my way).

Kevin Casey (former editor of Queensland Chess magazine)

Cheers everybody!!

[JaK]

Sounds very interesting! I wish you all the best! I hope you have checked the related threads of this Forum. They contain a wealth of material!

[eclectic]

come to think of it what happened to jgb's oeuvre based on much the same thing?

[Davidflude]

Originally Posted by Sheroff

Hi - Just a quick note to say I'm writing/publishing a new book entitled "Australian Chess Brilliancies: Creative Attacking Chess Down Under" which is 95% complete and should be out in May. It has about thirty of the very best brilliancies ever produced by Australian players. If anyone has any last minute game inclusions for the book, please email me within the next couple of weeks, as I'm going to the printer soon (just waiting on Solomon to crank 2 or 3 of his best games my way).

Kevin Casey (former editor of Queensland Chess magazine)

Cheers everybody!!

1) are you including any correspondence games?

2) are you publishing on demand?

[Sheroff]

(1) I have no correspondence games in the book at present, but didn't specifically rule them out. I have excluded Allegro, Rapid and Blitz games. I do have one of CJS Purdy's over-the-board games (a loss actually), and do give his correspondence record a brief mention.

(2) No, this book is not published-on-demand (if I understand the term correctly). It is published normally, like the past three books I've written, all of which have been bestsellers here in Australia (one won a literary award). The demand for chess books is very specific and limited, so I'll probably start with around 1500 copies and see how it goes from there. I have contacts in the states, including GM Yasser Seirawan (an old mate from my Seattle days) and others, as I suspect much of the demand will be from overseas.

I am vaguely aware of Bonning's effort to produce a historical record of best Aussie games, though Australian Chess Brilliancies is different in crucial ways - it is sacrificial, tactical brilliancies only (just sparkling attacking chess!!), no positional masterpieces or endgame gems. I have been brutal in the game selection process (no unsoundness, no dubious defense, just the finest brilliancies ever produced by Aussies). The games date from 1974 to 2009, and include not just the well known masterpieces but some little known games as well. I have had generous input from Rogers, Smerdon, West, Solomon, Goldsmith and many others (Rogers has already proofread my annotations of his own included games).

My book is not a huge tome - only about a hundred pages, with about thirty games, plus some introductory 'sample' brilliancies and some end matter with a couple more brilliancies. Quality not quantity was my aim. I want it to not just be entertaining (which is certainly is), but also an appropriate record of the wealth of attacking chess in Australia in past decades. Though I won't get into specifics of which games are in there (that would spoil the surprise!) I can say that players include the previously-mentioned, plus Hjorth, Johansen, Sztern, Zhao, Depasquale, Leskiewicz, Stawski, Lane (only his games since 2001, when he emigrated here) and many others.

Cheers! Kevin Casey

[Rincewind]

Originally Posted by Sheroff

My book is not a huge tome - only about a hundred pages, with about thirty games, plus some introductory 'sample' brilliancies and some end matter with a couple more brilliancies. Quality not quantity was my aim. I want it to not just be entertaining (which is certainly is), but also an appropriate record of the wealth of attacking chess in Australia in past decades. Though I won't get into specifics of which games are in there (that would spoil the surprise!) I can say that players include the previously-mentioned, plus Hjorth, Johansen, Sztern, Zhao, Depasquale, Leskiewicz, Stawski, Lane (only his games since 2001, when he emigrated here) and many others.

Sounds good. I look forward to its publication. Best of luck with it!

[Captain Underpants]

Originally Posted by Rincewind

Sounds good. I look forward to its publication. Best of luck with it!

Ditto. RRP? Format? Distribution?

[Sheroff]

Price will be $19.95, it's softcover (peperback), and I'm still working on distribution. Available direct from myself, through various Australian chess clubs, probably through Australian Chess Enterprises in Sydney plus a few other obvious avenues. Overseas, I've got a few things in the pipeline for distribution. Whether it will be available in general bookstores (Dymock's, Angus & Robinson etc.) is not yet determined.

Cheers, Kevin Casey

PS Sorry about doubling up on the Threads in the forum. I'm a newbie to Chess Chat.

[Captain Underpants]

Originally Posted by Sheroff

Price will be $19.95, it's softcover (peperback), and I'm still working on distribution.

Right. Well I'll have one. I reckon it'll go well and so it should.

[Saragossa]

Sweet Aussie chess books always seem good. On of my Fav's is aus chess into the 80's and a guide to attacking chess.

[Sheroff]

Hi all -

I am pleased to announce that my new book "Australian Chess Brilliancies" has just been published, and is now available to all keen Aussie attacking players. The book is 96 pages, and contains twenty-nine sparkling sacrificial attacking games in the main section, plus about two dozen extra supplementary games and positions scattered throughout the book. It features the very finest attacking chess played by Aussies in the past 30-40 years. Each and every game is an absolute gem!

Reviews will be appearing on the excellent The Closet Grandmaster and ChessExpress blog sites, as well as in numerous overseas locales, including British Chess Magazine, Scottish Chess, Jeremy Silman's website, and plenty of others (I promise to let you all know when and where as they all come out).

Getting your copy of Australian Chess Brilliancies is quite easy, and very fast. Just send $19.95 plus $3.00 postage and handling ($22.95 total) to Kimberley Publications, PO Box 6095, Upper Mount Gravatt, QLD 4122. You can pay by cheque or Australian Post money order. You can also pay by credit card, but only through PayPal (what all the ebay folks use).
My email address is kimpub@bigpond.net.au if you need it.

If you want the book autographed, just let me know what you'd like me to write (if you want something specific or it's a gift for someone else), and I'll be happy to put a personalised scribble in it for you).

I hope to get a photo of the book up on Chess Chat tomorrow...

Cheers everbody! It's an exciting moment in Australian chess!!!!! Get 'em while they last - this first print run won't last long! Get in early.

Kevin Casey
Kimberley Publications

[Captain Underpants]

Well done on your achievement. I'm in for my copy as promised. The cheque, dude, is in the mail

[Sheroff]

Hi - Here's an image of the front cover of Australian Chess Brilliancies. Hopefully it all works!

[Watto]

Our copy arrived today. It looks great. Looking forward to playing through it.

It would be great if one of the moderators could combine the (three?) threads on this book into one.

[done - mod]

Thanks Kevin.

[Sheroff]

Here's an ORDER FORM that you can just print out and use to order your copy of the book.

Cheers
Kevin Casey