I know, I know. First, it's an ad. Second, it's about something on paper. PAPER for god's sake. (Some of you kids out there might need to look that up in Wikipedia.) But I'll be honest, I've loved New In Chess ever since I sold a kidney to get my first subscription years ago. Kidding, guys! To answer their slogan, it really is that good. It's even in color now. And they have conceded to the pixel world enough to put all the games in each issue up for download on their website. Sneaky Dutchies.
New in Chess has subscribers in 97 different countries. In New In Chess 2006 # 6 this is what they received:
- Columnist Garry Kasparov on top players and their "who cares?" attititude
- Tourney reports from Dresden, Taiyuan, Dortmund, Biel, Foros, and Philadelphia
- An opening surprise against the Najdorf Sicilian
- Parimarjan Negi: Grandmaster at 13
- Jonathan Rowson on a fine new book which helped him to look at the entire board
- Columnist Hans Ree on chess and Nazis
- And, as always, the best games annotated by the players themselves. The last issue contained game analyses by Kramnik, Svidler, Leko, Ivanchuk, Adams, Radjabov, Mamedyarov, Harikrishna, Carlsen, Rublevsky, and many others
Is New In Chess really as good as they say? Find out for yourself!
Or if you are already brainwashed convinced you can subscribe here. You still have time to get the next issues with their on-site reports on the Kramnik-Topalov match. The ad doesn't mention it, but the long interviews by editor Dirk Jan Ten Geuzendam (don't call him DJ!) are usually worth the price of the issue. Depending on how many kidneys you have left.
noone want's to comment on this one?
Well, then: *comment*
An excellent magazine. I particularly like being able to download all games, and then play through them while reading the NIC annotations.
I've subscribed to NIC for over a year now, and just signed up for three more years. You don't need extra kidneys...just get rid of your cable or satellite tv and you'll have more than enough money (and lots more time) for NIC. :-)
Superb! It's like getting a well annotated and up to date chess book every six and a half weeks. Pictures and color are great. Numerous articles, biographies, interviews, and reviews etc. "Simply the best, better than all the rest."
An excellent mag and well worth the money- easily sufficient material for most players.
On the site, which is well worth browsing, you will also find several sample magazine and yearbook articles in pdf format (in English and German). They will give you a good idea of the quality of the writing.
Also the SOS game of the month is always worth a look, - you Americans will like the Nakamura Qh5 games.
So Mig, do you expect to use the 'Kidneys' tag often?
Not as often as "stale nachos" :o))
'Not as often as "stale nachos"'
LOL
I would love to subscribe and get into NIC, but not until they get rid of that ridiculous opening classification system and go w/the rest of the world and ECO.
The ECO system needs a revamp, too. Opening theory has expanded so much that they need a A-Z classification now, rather than A-E.
Rejoice! Since we switched to full color printing in 2005, New In Chess does give the ECO. So noyb can subscribe immediately.
I wonder how much Mig got paid ;).
NIC is a pretty good mag though... it's probably the only mag I'd pay money for- much better than the UK 'Chess'. In fact, people have paid money and given me NIC before and it's a good read. At least there's some original writing there.
*BTW... I've not been paid to say that! But if someone from NIC wants to say thanks for the free publicity or give me a free copy I'll be happy*
;).
Well I'll be darned! I'll sign-up ASAP then! Color me impressed!
BTW I'd also pay for, and have in the past, Kingpin.
Unpaid endorsement: New In Chess is hands-down the best chess magazine I've ever read.
What I like most are the timely annotated games by the world's top players-- like Informator except with real commentary instead of just variations and symbols.
NIC is really, really good. I agree with Mig concerning Dirk J.T.G.'s interviews. I *would* buy it for them alone. (Well, okay, GK's column clinches the deal.)
(Usual disclaimer: no financial interest in NIC, just a paying subscriber.)
nic : chesslife :: sacred scripture : used toilet paper
evilsamurai- "nic : chesslife :: sacred scripture : used toilet paper"
Personally I feel that Chess Life has improved somewhat recently, but ideally I would like to see Chess Life emulate New In Chess-- except with a focus on US events and games annotated by the top US players.
NIC: Also, when the players annotate their games, they often introduce their sense of humour. Makes the GMs so much more interesting (e.g. Peter Leko's latest annotations gave me a couple of chuckles). Plus they provide such insight into why they opened the way they did, what their thoughts were ("I had already spent 46 minutes without having the faintest idea of what my next move going to be!"...I felt so much better upon hearing that from a top GM), and why they chose the moves when they did (I think it was Topalov(?) who chose weaker moves because he knew his opponent would not be able to deal as well with the resulting positions).
Also a good move on NIC's part was putting in the ECO codes. Thanks.
No, not paid to say this...just a subscriber who finally returned to home base to find the past 3 issues waiting for him, and has been in chess heaven catching up on his reading and his games.
I heard that paper once grew on trees, but I don't see how that could possibly be true.
To test the water i bought one copy of NIC, althoug it is quite expensive but its worth the wait and the money i spent on the mag.. and one more thing the people of NIC are gracious people, 2 years ago i had an argument regarding the delay in the arrival of Mark Dvoretksy's book ... which they admitted that they made a mistake by not sending the book via airmail as agreed... they made amends and sent me free copies of NIC MAG!...
since then i stopped subscribing to Playboy! and spent my hard earned money to chess
I agree NIC is a great mag ,I subscibed from 1989 to 1997 and then returned to NIC this year. The reports and game analysis are great . But arn't there just too many diagrams? I may have missed something in the past 10 years like how to avoid publishing games filled with computer generated anotations.I do miss Timmans endgame analysis and not so much like the SOS openings.