Do any of you read Cecil Purdy?

I never see his name mentioned. Yet his book Play Good Chess is so filled with wisdom and it was one of the books that helped me most.

The other book of his I have is The Search for Chess Perfection.

Wise, sensible, wonderful books. Yet I never see his name in the forums.

Why?

Grit

Originally posted by grit
I never see his name mentioned. Yet his book Play Good Chess is so filled with wisdom and it was one of the books that helped me most.

The other book of his I have is The Search for Chess Perfection.

Wise, sensible, wonderful books. Yet I never see his name in the forums.

Why?

Grit

he is mentioned from time to time, i myself have both these books, most excellent, i especially liked the section in guide to good chess on the individual pieces and the aspects we need to think about before we deploy them.

Click on 'Search Forums' type in 'Purdy' and there you go.

Originally posted by grit
I never see his name mentioned. Yet his book Play Good Chess is so filled with wisdom and it was one of the books that helped me most.

The other book of his I have is The Search for Chess Perfection.

Wise, sensible, wonderful books. Yet I never see his name in the forums.

Why?

Grit

I thought the Guide to Good Chess (GTGC) is a very good introductory book. (It doesn't discuss tactics much, though, so you need other books too. ) I'd like to read it a second time, but that hasn't happened yet. Maybe one of the reasons why it isn't mentioned much is because it's out of print and not easy to find.

I'm embarrassed to say that although I'm sitting on a copy of The Search, I haven't read it yet. (Will I now be drummed out of the Purdy fan club? ) Seems there's always another book that's tempting me more. I'm currently going through some book written by a couple of insane guys, uh, Chandler and Ruxton. Rampant Chess. I don't know if I'm learning anything, but I don't care, it's loads of fun. (Kudos, Geoff and Keith! )

BTW, I noticed that Thinkers' Press has released a new Purdy book. Unfortunately, it's a retread. Titled "The Chess Gospel According to John" (Cecil John Seddon Purdy, get it? ) It contains Purdy's GTGC and three chapters from The Search. So if you already have both of these books, the new one is completely redundant. The one advantage of the new book is that if you're having a hard time finding the out-of-print GTGC, you could simply buy the new Gospel book instead.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
Click on 'Search Forums' type in 'Purdy' and there you go.

I tried that and got 'no posts available'.

I've mentioned Purdy here.
I read some of his articles and am now reading "The search ... II".
I advise Purdy to all amateurs and clubplayers.

Reasons why he may not be mentioned often:
-it's old
-he was more known for his corr chess which has less esteem than OTB.For instance,who has read "The Chess Analyst"?Or even heard of it?
-he wrote for clubplayers
-he expressed some views that some people class as rubbish without taking the time to really look into them
-nowadays there are so goddamn many chessbooks

toet.

Originally posted by sonhouse
I tried that and got 'no posts available'.

try the "search content" box

Originally posted by Mad Rook
try the "search content" box

Yes - I should have made that clear.

Sounds you did a 'Search by Author' and looked for Purdy
posting in the RHP forums..... 🙂

Good job nobody on here is called Purdy else you would have read his
posts and thought I was nuts.

Very good books.

My only grumble is that the publishers appear to be pulling a flanker
by spreading all the good stuff over 3/4 books and making it so you
need to buy the lot.

They have the opening index from one book listed in another
and often you get pointed from one book to another.
They have even padded out one book with his son's games.

One book full of his annotations & thoughts, another book with
his games and notes would have done it. A couple of classics.

Edit 1:
Thanks Mad Rook, sure you will learn something even if it's don't
trust analysis you read in books. 🙂
The bad news is according to feedback we have received.
You will not be able to read another chess book again without finding them
a bit dull.

Did have RHP mentioned at one stage but we eventually pulled it.
(can't remember why) It was going in on that bit where I say Chess
Forums are an outlet for nutcases . 😉

Yes ive read the book, "Guide to good chess" by c.j.s Purdy.
Its a good book.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
Yes - I should have made that clear.

Sounds you did a 'Search by Author' and looked for Purdy
posting in the RHP forums..... 🙂

Good job nobody on here is called Purdy else you would have read his
posts and thought I was nuts.

Very good books.

My only grumble is that the publishers appear to be pulling a flanker
by spreading all the good ...[text shortened]... why) It was going in on that bit where I say Chess
Forums are an outlet for nutcases . 😉

Yeah, content search showed a bunch of Purdy content. Does anyone know what his peak OTB rating was?

Originally posted by sonhouse
Yeah, content search showed a bunch of Purdy content. Does anyone know what his peak OTB rating was?

He was an Australian IM and a correspondence GM. Chessmetrics has his peak rating at 2346 in June 1980. (Not sure exactly how they calculate that. Maybe the site explains it, idk.) What I find amazing about that is that his rating would have peaked at the age of 73, around the time of his death.

I hope you're not going to turn up your nose at his puny rating. 😉

Purdy was an IM,a corr GM,several times OTB Australian champion and the first corr world champion.
I think it's safe to assume he knew something about the game regardles of the number behind his name.

More importantly,he knew how to explain it!

toet.

From what I understand, Purdy's OTB rating suffered a bit from time issues.

Nevermind that. His writings have inspired many,many chess players .

Grit

True Grit.