Dear friends,
For eighteen years, 2000-2018, the Unorthodox Openings Newsletter (UON) brought about to the entire world interesting games, analyses, news, cartoons, and more. The newsletter played the same role in the unorthodox openings community that Myers Openings Bulletin did in 1979-1988 and New Myers Openings Bulletin did in 1992-1996. Openings such as the Grob, the Danish Gambit, King's Gambit, Tennison, Benko Gambit, Zilbermints Gambit, and more, were analyzed and played. UON length varied by issue, with the largest ones being over 100 pages.
In addition to the UON, readers shared files on openings. These used to be on yahoogroups.com, but not anymore. Yahoo! has removed all the material posted on these groups. However, I have saved all the opening files and the 35 issues of the Unorthodox Openings Newsletter on a flash drive. In addition, my old Yahoo! mail account has some emails from the defunct Yahoo! groups.
During these 18 years, two people served as editor-in-chief. The first was Davide Rozzoni, of Italy. He was the first EIC of the Unorthodox Openings Newsletter. After publishing UON for quite some time, Rozzoni passed the task to Gary K. Gifford of Cleveland, Ohio. Gifford was the EIC until the last, 35th issue was published in 2018.
I think it is time to re-start publication of UON again. There is plenty of material available, both from the Internet and books. It is my intention to bring up the Unorthodox Openings Newsletter back to what it used to be. The task will be challenging, but not insurmountable. Thus, I have decided to take it upon myself to be the new editor-in-chief. I am asking you to submit materials for publication.
With the Internet, it is possible to create a new group on Facebook, where Unorthodox Openings Newsletter files will be stored. That way, people can analyse their favorite openings. As stated before, I have the old files on a flash drive. All I have to do is download them to a new site.
When will Unorthodox Openings Newsletter #36 come out? That depends on how many submissions there are from interested people. I would like to see the 36th issue be at least 30 pages or more. My own writings alone can make it far beyond that, but I want to give other writers a chance as well. I would like to see #36 come out by September 2020. Tentatively, I would like to see publication at three or four month intervals, if possible.
Please submit all articles as attachments in pdf format. Sketches, photographs and the like should be scanned and submitted. If you have seen good chess books, you are welcome to do a review of these books.
Now, a bit about myself. I have over 30 years of experience writing in student newspapers, local newspapers and online, 1990-present. At Rutgers Newark, I rose from contributor to reporter to Executive Editor of the Observer, the student newspaper. I currently am a reporter with a small newspaper in New Jersey. At the same time, I am the President of the Garden State Chess League, a league consisting of teams from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The teams play matches against each other once a month. The 2019-2020 season just concluded. More on this in the UON.
Hoping to hear from you soon. Stay safe and healthy!
Lev Zilbermintz [pictured]
President of Garden State Chess League
Editor-in-Chief, Unorthodox Openings Newsletter
email polyanker@gmail.com
