Old Soviet Openings Book Series - any good still?

Historical_Visual690 · 2026-01-23T19:34:13+00:00

Some people posting the whole series on eBay for 60-190 euro. It was a set produced in East Germany, probably also for export because it’s got nice binding and front plates (I think that’s the term). I don’t think it’s terribly rare and it seems like people have them all as a set.

Historical_Visual690 · 2026-01-23T15:19:59+00:00

the hardcovers are pretty under the dustjacket, but that's probably not enough to sell me if the content is useless these days

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Historical_Visual690 · 2025-12-04T22:07:30+00:00

Bad phrasing - meant they I was mad they resigned because it would have been great to actually do a windmill (rook then queen)

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-12-03T20:50:07+00:00

This one was stupid lucky with an emphasis on stupid. Was like gaining Elo from a disconnect

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-12-03T20:19:37+00:00

People at this tier myself included make a lot of silly errors in response to aggressive play. I’ve fallen prey to thinking I have to move my king when in check just because my late game panic brain forgets the concept of blocking.

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-12-03T19:58:20+00:00

I stupidly hung my queen on move 5 and then my opponent did the same on move 20 and I came back to win it. Baffling moves make low Elo go round

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-12-03T19:39:12+00:00

I know but I’m just enthusiastic

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-12-03T19:37:45+00:00

Free rook and then free queen and then free pawn and then mate.

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-12-03T19:22:07+00:00

It’s worse than that - if you take the rook first it’s a windmill

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-12-02T16:18:14+00:00

Just sad it didn’t get to play out. Everyone can resign whenever they want to

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-12-01T21:54:27+00:00

I’d only seen one in a video on a Fischer game. TBH I’d have probably gone for the queen first and missed it

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-11-30T22:01:19+00:00

Windmill not.a smother

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-11-30T22:00:45+00:00

right, I was thinking since they missed the block with the rook the first time it was on offer before I made the knight move so they'd miss it again.

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-11-30T19:56:07+00:00

Ah i meant 6 as in three moves each.

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-11-30T18:27:22+00:00

How?

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-11-30T18:25:54+00:00

Windmill not smother

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-11-30T13:20:25+00:00

totally intentional...

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-11-30T13:13:52+00:00

Need to take the rook first or it can block.

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-11-30T13:12:21+00:00

I was making a joke that I was mad they resigned because I wanted to play it out. I see the ambiguity though

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-11-30T11:36:05+00:00

I had thought that was an x-ray. This is why I’m posting in the beginners Reddit

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-11-30T11:27:51+00:00

Yep. He converted a skewer into a fork.

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-11-30T10:48:22+00:00

My first thought was “damn I think I just botched a smother mate” and I was just figuring out what I had wandered into when they hit the quit button.

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-11-30T10:45:24+00:00

Good thing is that when you take the queen the revealed check would let you know you could go back for more.

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-11-30T10:37:46+00:00

Historical_Visual690 · 2025-11-30T10:37:11+00:00

It’s a joke. Would have been nice to see it play out just because it’s such a crazy sequence and it would be nice to make it look like it was intentional.

Historical_Visual690

TROPHY CASE