The Scotch has long been associated with exciting play, although people often doubt it’s positional base. But the opening has evolved from the swashbuckling games of the 19th century to become a sound, but aggressive, alternative to the evergreen Spanish. In his first Fritz-Trainer DVD, Parimarjan Negi looks at the latest revolution in Scotch theory that has completely changed white’s plans, and once again brought back the interest of the world’s elite. Negi presents not only the white strategies in detail but also outlines a dynamic way for Black to counter this latest trend.
• Video running time: 6 h English)
• With interactive training including video feedback
• Exclusive database with 50 essential games
• Including CB 12 Reader
The opening known as the Scotch Game owes its name to a correspondence match played between the cities of Edinburgh and London between 1824 and 1828. In it, however, the Scots first had the black pieces and lost to 3.d4, but later took their revenge by successfully opening with 3.d4 with the white pieces. At the start of the 20th century interest in this direct method of play had noticeably waned, but then in 1990 no less a player than Garry Kasparov opened with the Scotch Game in the 14th game of his WCh match (Lyon/New York) against Anatoly Karpov at a moment when the scores were level. This brought the sleeping beauty of an opening back to life. This game was in fact drawn, but in his next game with White Kasparov repeated his “experiment” – and this time he was successful. The result was a boom in the Scotch. A whole host of top players rushed into the variation and what the day before had been considered old-fashioned was suddenly chic and modern.
=> More products: Scotch GameNegi is obviously quite confident with the knowledge he possesses and the material he presents. His way of demonstrating various lines will be better grasped by players closer to his level. I find the lines are interchanged too promptly, which beginners and improving players might find it a bit too quick to follow. But then, this is probably not an opening for beginners. It is full of variations and long lines, which are well covered by Negi, but one needs an alert mind to keep apace. After all, it is an opening played by the likes of Carlsen, Caruana, Nepomniatchi, Radjabov and Giri, the latest star who picked up on this opening. In the introduction, Negi even gives a somewhat cryptic announcement: “This opening can help the ones that aim at becoming world champions”. Is that you? In that case this DVD will provide you with abundant and well structured material for study, play and analyses.