The sky's cloudy. I've made a good sized dent in the manual for my new camera, and I've not looked at a chessboard for a while. The time is ripe to crack open a chess book.
G. H. D. Gossip's 1891 book "Theory of the Chess Openings" (2nd edition) is pictured above. Mr. Gossip appears to have had strong negative feelings toward H. E. Bird, apparently stemming from Bird's failure to make any mention of the first edition of "Theory of the Chess Openings".
Bird's name can be found here and there in the footnotes of this book, but it's always accompanied by negative comments. For example, on page 178 we find: "Bird, as usual, gives this inferior contiunation . . . "
The magnetic chess set pictured above is over twenty years old and remains one of my favorite and most used sets. It's very convenient to use anywhere. In the style of the fictional TV character Adrian Monk, I now have two 'back-up' sets of similar style. One is identical except the darker pieces are black instead of brown. The other consists of an identical board and pieces placed in an oak (instead of plastic) case. One can never have too many chess sets!
Which book should I crack open? My study plan calls for devoting attention to all phases of the game. I have bookmarks in eleven books. I think I'll start the day with page one of a book on openings. Earlier I had started somewhere in the middle of the book and read over one hundred pages - encountering numerous errors in the effort. Since I want to gain at least some familiarity with all major opening systems I might as well systematically work through the entire book - a few times.
Competing in tournaments still seems a long way off for me. I'll probably make better progress studying if I completely ignore competitive chess, at least for a while. I've (still) not begun to play on any of the Internet chess servers.
Meanwhile, chess study may serve to keep my mind reasonably healthy. I read somewhere that physical excercise along with mental activity (such as chess) can prevent or drastically reduce the onset of alzheimer's disease, etc. So, with no further delay, I'll publish this post and renew my studies.
