Ray Keene has asked Randy Bauer to state which books are 'absolute crap',
specifically citing chapter and verse, and he will then reply. Phil Innes

How about Samurai Chess?
_
http://www.chesscenter.com/kingpin/K...ok_reviews.htm

How about Samurai Chess?
_
http://www.chesscenter.com/kingpin/K...ok_reviews.htm
_
By the way, what is the most recent Ray Keene
book to be reviewed favorably in New In Chess?

Phil Innes wrote:

"Ray Keene has asked Randy Bauer to state which books are 'absolute
crap',
specifically citing chapter and verse, and he will then reply."


Louis Blair responds:

"How about Samurai Chess?"
_
http://www.chesscenter.com/kingpin/K...ok_reviews.htm




Help bot notes that this review was by GM Tony Miles -- hardly
the target audience of that book. Miles was unable to learn much
from this "work", and yet he found not one single typo worthy of
mention; surely then, this must be Keene's greatest work!

Always keen of mind, Miles advises gluing the pages together
so that this masterpiece can sit on one's coffee table, its lustrous
cover glistening with beauty. Also good for holding open those
stubborn books which keep trying to close themselves while
being read; just place Keene's book over the bottom half of the
pages. After reading the top of one page, move Samaurai Chess
to cover the top portion.


Seriously, Miles observed a general lack of real content, but what
specific criticisms did he make which Keene might be able to
address? The review was as lightweight and shallow as its
subject. Such a review could, I expect, be written without having
actually read the book in question, but just skimming through it.


-- help bot

Help bot notes that this review was by GM Tony Miles -- hardly
the target audience of that book. Miles was unable to learn much
from this "work", and yet he found not one single typo worthy of
mention; surely then, this must be Keene's greatest work!


i have already explained samurai chess-it wd be useless for any strong chess
player-unless that person were thinking of broadening their horizons
to-say-go into business-or learn a new type of game.

at the time i wrote samurai chess i also decided to study the oriental games
of

go
shogi
and xiangqi

i was struck by how clumsy and unapproachable all the western texts were
which tried to explain these games.in samurai chess i therefore decided to
write a manual for general thought processes which used chess as a metaphor
and gave chess lessons from the absolute beginner stage in a way that could
be understood by the reader entirely new to the game. mlies clearly never
read the book-the only detailed comment he made in his review-as far as i
can recall-was to quote something from the dust jacket!

btw i can announce today that my new book on miles is out-here readers will
be able to see in detail what i thought of tony! www.hardingesimpole.co.uk

see publishers above

best wishes to all

ray



Always keen of mind, Miles advises gluing the pages together
so that this masterpiece can sit on one's coffee table, its lustrous
cover glistening with beauty. Also good for holding open those
stubborn books which keep trying to close themselves while
being read; just place Keene's book over the bottom half of the
pages. After reading the top of one page, move Samaurai Chess
to cover the top portion.


Seriously, Miles observed a general lack of real content, but what
specific criticisms did he make which Keene might be able to
address? The review was as lightweight and shallow as its
subject. Such a review could, I expect, be written without having
actually read the book in question, but just skimming through it.


-- help bot

"Louis Blair" wrote in message
ups.com...
How about Samurai Chess?
_
http://www.chesscenter.com/kingpin/K...ok_reviews.htm


samurai chess is not a chess book in the purest sense it is a book about
applying the lessons one can learn from chess to a wider sphere-it was co
written with the american business thinnker and lecturer michael gelb. by
necessity it contains some very elementary material for those who cannot
play chess at all and then proceeds quite quickly to more complex arguments,

it was used as the text book for the bank of liechtenstein business academy
run by the inventor of mind mapping tony buzan and the uk edition sold out
quite quickly.it was reprinted by walker books in the usa.

i am very proud of this book and i think it is aimed at a particular
market-the feedback from readers has been excellent-it is aimed at business
people who would like to take up chess and use it as a metaphor for
improving their general skills.from one lesson learn ten thousand-is the key
message of the book,

as to reviews in new in chess-why pick one outlet when there are
thousands?is it because the questioner happens to know the answer to that
question already? frankly i dont-when you hold the world record for chess
books written and published-as i do-you dont necessarily follow-or remember-
all the reviews. i do recall that my instant book on the 2004 world
championship between kramnik and leko was well received and fred friedel of
chess base informed me that it was jsut as good as the official book which
was co written by yusupov and came out much later.

ray

help bot wrote:
Phil Innes wrote:

"Ray Keene has asked Randy Bauer to state which books are 'absolute
crap',
specifically citing chapter and verse, and he will then reply."


Louis Blair responds:

"How about Samurai Chess?"
_
http://www.chesscenter.com/kingpin/K...ok_reviews.htm

Help bot notes that this review was by GM Tony Miles -- hardly
the target audience of that book. Miles was unable to learn much
from this "work", and yet he found not one single typo worthy of
mention; surely then, this must be Keene's greatest work!

In that review, Miles wrote:

"Raymondo, we learn, is 'the world's leading authority on chess
and mind sports'. Really? He is also the 'winner of 14 separate
British championship titles'. That's twelve more than are generally
known about."

Did Keene actually claim to have won the British Championship 14
times in "Samurai Chess"? Can anyone supply the actual text of what
Keene wrote?

Always keen of mind, Miles advises gluing the pages together
so that this masterpiece can sit on one's coffee table, its lustrous
cover glistening with beauty. Also good for holding open those
stubborn books which keep trying to close themselves while
being read; just place Keene's book over the bottom half of the
pages. After reading the top of one page, move Samaurai Chess
to cover the top portion.


Seriously, Miles observed a general lack of real content, but what
specific criticisms did he make which Keene might be able to
address? The review was as lightweight and shallow as its
subject. Such a review could, I expect, be written without having
actually read the book in question, but just skimming through it.


-- help bot

It is interesting that the only person not responding to Ray Keene's
challenge to Randy Bauer is Randy Bauer. //Phil Innes

Did Keene actually claim to have won the British Championship 14
times in "Samurai Chess"? Can anyone supply the actual text of what
Keene wrote?


the precise claim i made was that i had won 14 british championship
titles in seven different categories which is absolutely correct- it is
standard practice , for example, for wimbledon champions to count singles
doubles mixed doubles titles etc in their records, and this is also
common thruout many other sports. the same happens in chess where winners
of the veteran titles regularly count such accolades.

in fact overall i have won 22 national titles in various categories
including

british individual ,lightning, school, county, club, junior, university,
as well as dutch team etc etc

i know many chessplayers who have won junior individual and senior titles
and are very proud of their achievement-one friend even won the
correspondence championship too and inlcudes that in his list of
achievements.

another friend of mine peter lee has won the british championship plus other
sections and the british bridge championship also plus other sections-he
claims to have won more national titles than i have-but not all in one
game!!

ray

I found "Winning with the Nimzo-Indian" to be useless.

The figure of twenty-two seems very high. British Champion in 1971,
joint BCF Under 18 in 1964 are the two Miles was able to count. As a
player for Cambridge, Ray's team did great things, but does this add to
his total?

Looking through his book, the nearest we have to autobiography,
'Grandmaster Strategy', he lists winning an event in Johannesberg in
1973. What was that then?
Anyway, if he would be kind enough to supply a list of all 22, I will
be happy to check it.

James Pratt (Basingstoke!)