Edinburgh chess player’s hit book on top games
Added: (Thu Apr 08 2021)
Pressbox (Press Release) -
What began as a bequest from a departed friend has ended with a retired social worker from Edinburgh reaching the top of the book charts.
Roger Leslie Paige had already enjoyed relative success as an author with his novels and short story collections.
But it was only after being left the chess records of a lifelong friend more than a decade ago that the former teacher combined the game he loved with his ability for writing.
Roger has now just published the final part of a trilogy featuring memorable games he has been involved with, as well as the background into the openings and the players.
More Chess Games: Past & Present has just made its way to number one in Amazon’s games and chess charts.
Roger admits it was the papers of the late Wilfred Henry Pratten that inspired his countermove into chess writing.
He explained: “So many games of amateurs are lost and not collected.
“I have a strong sense of history where chess is concerned and felt that many amateur games were worthy of being preserved for posterity.
“When I retired I became the custodian of the chess papers of a deceased friend - W.H.Pratten - whom I had known in Portsmouth when I was a teenager.
“I wanted his games to be preserved and so began to write a book about him.”
Since publishing Wilfred Henry Pratten in 2007, Roger has gone onto to write a further seven books featuring chess matches and the players on either side of the boards.
Roger only took up the game to fill a void left by baseball and hockey when his family moved from Canada to Hampshire during his childhood.
Despite a varied and colourful career, which has included teaching, social work, higher education in London and Edinburgh, and even a spell as a monk, he has never lost his passion for the Queen’s Gambit, the Grunfield Defence or the English Opening.
More Chess Games: Past & Present features many of his matches played over the past six years as well as around a dozen choice games from the late 1960s when Roger was studying at Kings College in London.
The masterful and well-presented guide also features articles on Roger’s favoured openings as well as some of the game’s historic figures.
Roger hopes More Chess Games: Past & Present, as well as his other books on the game and its players, will demonstrate that there is pleasure to be had with Bishops, Pawns and Knights even for beginners.
He added: “The message I hope readers take from More Chess Games: Past & Present is that chess is a wonderful game, and it can make you happy even if you’re not the best in the world!”
For more details, visit Amazon and search for Roger Leslie Paige, where the paperback and Kindle formats of More Chess Games: Past & Present are both available.
Notes to the Editor
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