Suchergebnisse

“The pawns are the soul of chess!” And he put his money where his mouth was! The famous chessplayer and composer André Danican Philidor not only focused the attention of coming generations on the importance of pawns in the game of chess, he also worked out the basis of a new opening in which Black from the very first moves is trying to construct a solid pawn setup in the centre. It is an opening underpinned by his deep philosophy.

The second DVD begins in 2000, when Anand became FIDE World Champion, and it ends with his victory in the 2007 World Championship in Mexico. Anand not only analyses his best games, but casts a look back at the World Championshp in Delhi/Teheran in 2000 and the years before, he discusses the situation in the Bundesliga and Kasparov's retirement from tournament chess. 4:28 hours playing time.

With this DVD on the King‘s Indian Defence, Alexei Shirov continues the successful and highly praised series about his best games. As in the preceding DVDs the Latvian super grandmaster succeeds in spoiling his public with analysis of a high quality and with exciting insights into his games, and he does so in his own reserved, pleasant and modest style. As is the case with many of his openings, Alexei Shirov also plays the King‘s Indian with both colours. The DVD concentrates on the main line of the Classical King‘s Indian with Nf3, Be2 and 0-0. In the games, and they are almost exclusively victories, his opponents are renowned experts in this opening, such as World Champion Kramnik and Boris Gelfand with White. The black side is represented, amongst others, by the legendary King‘s Indian specialist John Nunn, but also by Teimour Radjabov, who may not yet be a legend, but who is reckoned at the moment to be the greatest expert in the King‘s Indian. Video running time: over 5 hours.

Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan began playing chess in the summer of 1972 and by 1979 he had won the World Junior Championship and in January of 1980 earned his final Grandmaster norm. What had he learned in seven and a half years that propelled him so far so quickly?

The first DVD with videos from Anand's chess career reflects the very beginning of that career and goes as far as 1999. It starts with his memories of how he first learned chess and shows his first great games (including those from the 1984 WCh for juniors). The high point of his early developmental phase was the winning of the 1987 WCh for juniors. After that, things continue in quick succession: the first victories over Kasparov, WCh candidate in both the FIDE and PCA cycles and the high point of the WCh match against Kasparov in 1995. 3:48 hours playing time.

With this DVD on the Nimzo-Indian Defence (including the Catalan and the Queen‘s Indian) Alexei Shirov continues the successful and highly praised series about his best games. As in the preceding DVDs the Latvian super grandmaster succeeds in spoiling his public with analysis of a high quality and with exciting insights into his games, and he does so in his own reserved, pleasant and modest style. The DVD concentrates on the Classical Nimzo-Indian with 4.Qc2. But when playing against the very solid Nimzo-Indian, which the author faced most often as White, it is enormously important to be able to vary your opening lines and so the author himself often switches to 3.Nf3; this then leads to games with 3.b6 (Queen‘s Indian) or 3.d5 4.g3 (Catalan). Amongst the opponents in the games he presents are, for example, Topalov and Leko. Video running time: over 4 hours.

The Gruenfeld Indian is an active and dynamic reply to 1.d4 which can lead to complex and extremely sharp positions. So it’s no wonder that also Alexei Shirov included this opening – which at its début in tournament practice was called ”hypermodern” – into his repertoire. At the candidates’ fi nal against Vladimir Kramnik in Cazorla in 1998, he exclusively – and successfully – trusted the Gruenfeld Indian with Black; the victory over Kramnik gave him the right to play a WCh match versus Kasparov. In the first part of the DVD Shirov extensivly comments his five Black games from the Kramnik match, giving deep insights into opening preparation and match strategy on highest level. In the second part Shirov reveals, among other things, how in his opposite-coloured bishop endgame against Topalov in Linares in 1998 he found the amazing and unique move, which will secure the game a place in chess history forever. And this is not the only flash of inspiration the Super Grandmaster will present in his videos… Running time: 5:25 hours

On this DVD Alexei Shirov shows that also in the endgame, it is possible to keep struggling for the full point to the very last - if you are creative and ambitious. Because even in objectively quite balanced positions, you can frequently find ways to sharpen up or complicate the fight. For the tournament player, often all that matters is to be able to pose practical problems which his or her opponent might finally fail to solve. Thus Shirov sees himself rather as an endgame practicioner, putting down his successes in this phase of the game less to concrete knowledge about theoretical positions than to the understanding of general principles, good intuition and exact calculation of variations. One main emphasis of the DVD is the endgame with rooks and different coloured bishops which Shirov finds particularly interesting, analysing five examples. Another important feature is the very complex and difficult setting with four rooks (three examples), where he works out most helpful general principles. All in all, Shirov examines 17 examples out of his own practice, among them his famous different coloured bishop ending versus Topalov which went around the whole world. Running time: 4,5 hours. 

The Sveshnikov Variation of the Sicilian Defence is considered one of the most promising replies to 1.e4, often giving rise to sharp and complex positions which require precise and inventive play from both sides. Thus, an opening tailor-made for Alexei Shirov (FIDE World Cup finalist in 2007), who has included it into his repertoire with both White and Black and knows the mutual tricks and traps all too well. In more than four hours of video, the genius from Latvia presents and explains his best Sveshnikov games, from his first successes in 1992 until his latest achievements in the year 2007. The spectator is shown typical opening plans for both sides, receives explanations on strategy and tactics in the middlegame and learns how to convert obtained advantages in the endgame – and all this in a most entertaining way. A masterful course on one of the most popular opening of our times by one of the best players of our times. Video running time: 4 hours.

Opening a game with 1.g3 appears rather quiet and unpretentious yet many of the greatest players in history have chosen to play this way. Bent Larsen, Victor Korchnoi, Leonid Stein and Pal Benko have all wielded this move with considerable success whilst in more recent times Mikhail Gurevich has been using it highly effectively. The idea behind this opening is to leave White with the greatest possible flexibility for his pieces and pawns and indeed the game can transpose into openings as diverse as the Closed Sicilian, the King’s Indian Defence and the Catalan Opening. Yet White can also choose to tread new ground by adopting formations such as a reversed Leningrad Dutch, reversed Alekhine’s Defence or even a reversed Pirc or Modern Defence. All of these formations contain far more poison with White’s extra tempo. On this DVD Davies explains key concepts and ideas behind these unique approaches, whilst also showing how White can transpose into more regular openings if he show chooses. This can provide many opportunities for throwing the opponent on his own resources as well as wrong footing him into something he does not know. Video runnig time: 4 hours