In Reviews #107 and #108, I discussed the various types of ebooks and concentrated upon EPlus Books (), whose App e+Chess was the first of its type, placing the text of the book on one side of the screen and allowing the reader to tap the moves (or use a variety of arrows) to play through games and variations on a board on the opposite side of the screen. You can also look at a variation of your own choosing by tapping on the initial and then destination squares (this can't be saved to memory, however). Their trilogy of works by Nimzowitsch (with new translations by Robert Sherwood) is a great example of how brand new books can be created for this format. EPlus is a sophisticated App, with various unique editing functions and features. For example, Jeremy Silman's Complete Endgame Course, itself a classic, is accompanied by his audio commentary explaining basic concepts, and there are also numerous highlighted notes which stand out from the page to reinforce the lessons. I particularly like the ability to put in a sticky note when I've seen a comment I'd like to return to, for example, or when I've spotted a move not given by the book (perhaps an improvement on theory, for example, or simply a variation I'd like to check). Later I can come back to it, put it in a game, use an analytical program, and save it in a database on my main computer.
That's not to say traditional publishing is dead, of course: keep in mind the decades-old predictions about the demise of the printed book (and of paper itself) before assuming that printed chess books will disappear. In fact, I would say that the adoption of ebooks up to this point has been surprisingly slow. To some extent, that may be because the word hasn't gotten out. One simple attraction of using ebook Apps is that they are all free, i.e., it doesn't hurt to download and install any or all of them and then pick and choose among the ebooks that are offered. This also means that ebook companies will experience less destructive competition. The basic functions of all these Apps are the same, so if a company offers unique ebooks, it's not likely that the consumer will forego ignore a purchase just because the book he wants isn't on his favorite App. This also makes it easier for the reviewer; I can compare the features of this or that program, but the decisive factor for most readers will be whether he can get a particular ebook at an acceptable price. Because all of these Apps offer different books, none of them is yet in a position of taking over the market. Up to this point, moreover, chess ebook programs have mainly taken previously-published chess books and translated them to their particular format. That is, very little original material has been written exclusively for the Apps, something that may gradually change.
New in Chess Book and FilesAnother publisher-specific App is New in Chess Book and Files, which in collaboration with Eplus Books puts out ebook versions of new and classic New in Chess books, for example, Timman's Curacao 1962 , Vassily Ivanchuk's 100 Selected Games (by Kalinchenko), Sokolov's Winning Chess Middlegames, and Van Perlo's wonderful Endgame Tactics. Moskalenko's The Perfect Pirc-Modern is an opening theory book; I hope that we will see more of these. The interface and functions are the same as the E+chess App described above. The main issue right now is not with the App or the quality of these offerings, but with the paucity of books translated into ebooks thus far. Hopefully we'll see a lot more of New in Chess' vast library of books appear as time goes by. I do recommend the majority of books they have in their store right now. Most readers will form a collection which includes selected books from various Apps. There is also an separate App for New in Chess Magazine, but I haven't explored it yet.
Home » Book Reviews » John Watson Book Review #114 More on Electronic Publishing
In general, the Gambit Studio format follows the original EPlus model: text on one side, board on the other (there's an option to put them on the side you prefer), with tapping on moves or using arrows to navigate through the game. There are the usual functions of text size, diagram size, flipping the board, etc. Navigation is flexible and easy, and I find the proprietary font to be particularly pleasing – it's the same one Gambit uses in the physical editions, and I've always thought easier on the eye than other chess fonts. That is all the more true in the ebook format. The appearance is uncluttered, and the easy-to-use search function is another nice touch that I don't see on other apps. On the negative side, there is no way to add personal notes or copy text, and the user can't make independent moves that aren't in the notes. To be fair, the same is true for most Apps, and this won't be very important for the average user anyway.
John Watson Book Review #114 More on Electronic PublishingIM John Watson - Wednesday 26th November 2014
Gambit StudioAnother renowned publisher, Gambit Publishing, has a fairly new App called Gambit Chess Studio. They have already created 35 ebooks from their highly-regarded collection of titles, with numerous others forthcoming. For example, the book I reviewed recently for this column, Graham Burgess' A Cunning Chess Opening Repertoire for White, is available. Not surprisingly, John Nunn's books are well represented, including no less than six books on the endgame. A couple of other classics are Chess for Zebras by Jonathan Rowson, and for beginning players, Murray Chandler's ever-popular How to Beat Your Dad at Chess. [Disclaimer: There are also several of my own books in the mix].
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