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Born in 1975 in Tuapse on the shores of the Black Sea, Vladimir Kramnik studied at the Botvinnik-Kasparov chess school. At 16 he was included in the Russian Olympiad team and scored a sensational 8.5/9, the best result at the Olympiad. After that followed a string of great tournament results, culminating in a world championship challenge. In 2000 Kramnik played the chess legend Garry Kasparov and beat him to take the title, which he successfully defended in 2004 against Peter Leko and 2006 against FIDE champion Veselin Topalov, whom he defeated to take the unified world championship title.

On this DVD Vladimir Kramnik retraces his career from talented schoolboy to World Champion in 2006. With humour and charm he describes his first successes, what it meant to be part of the Russian Gold Medal team at the Olympiad, and how he undertook the Herculean task of beating his former mentor and teacher Garry Kasparov. Kramnik dissects his wins against Leko and Topalov, giving us a vivid impression of the super-dramatic final games of the 2006 match. His commentary is full of useful advice and provides a fascinating insight into the thought processes that govern top level play.

The DVD contains more than six hours of video with narrative and game analysis. There are also five additional segments from an exclusive video interview on the intrigues that surrounded the 2006 world championship, and on the state of the chess world in general.

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’ final 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 fi rst part of the DVD Shirov extensivey 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 fl ash of inspiration the Super Grandmaster will present in his videos… Running time: 5:25 hours

The search continues for a refutation of the Volga Gambit, and White is quite happy if he can achieve a slight advantage. According to the Icelandic grandmaster Henrik Danielsen, to get this White should accept the gambit and go on to fianchetto his king's bishop. The key move is 10.Rb1 - meaning that at any point White is prepared to play b3. And the key game is Kramnik-Topalov from Wijk 2003 - since then the Bulgarian has never again played the Volga Gambit. With his video series the author provides a complete repertoire for White against this gambit which still remains very popular with club players.

Essentially, the English Opening usually leads to reversed positions in which the first player enjoys the extra tempo. Then why not meet this 1.c4 move with 1…e5 and play the reversed Sicilian? Indeed, this is one of Black’s most reliable options, and one that leads to positions which are full of life. Practically all the top players have tried it in important tournament games, and some of them like S. Karjakin, V. Kramnik and V. Topalov even tend to give preference to such an approach. In this 60 Minutes video you will find a complete repertoire for the second player based on the move 1…e5 against White’s most popular approach - the Reversed Dragon setup. Bulgarian GM Dejan Bojkov uses very recent top GM games to highlight the trends in the line and to explain the ideas behind Black’s development.

The information explosion has led to a massive increase in opening theory. But how often do you win a game with a prepared line? What gives strong players the edge over their opponents is not some blockbuster novelty, but a deep understanding of the pawn structures to which their openings lead – an understanding that lasts into the middlegame and endgame, and is transferable between different openings with similar structures. In this DVD, Sam Collins looks at the Central Majority (white pawns on a2, d4 and e4 against black pawns on a7, b7 and e7) which is characteristic of both the Grunfeld and Semi-Tarrasch Defences. White’s space advantage gives him good chances to generate a middlegame initiative and a kingside attack, while Black hopes to reach an endgame where his outside passed pawn could be decisive. Collins also investigates the closely related passed d-pawn structure which arises when the e-pawns are exchanged – here White has a highly dangerous passer on the d-file and the key struggle revolves around whether this pawn is a strength or, when attacked or solidly blockaded, a weakness. White’s chances have been repeatedly demonstrated by Kramnik and Carlsen while Black’s cause has been championed by Svidler, Ivanchuk, Van Wely and Gymesi, with Kasparov generating significant ideas for both colours. Video running time: 4 hours 39 minutes.