The French Defence is the sharpest opening setup against 1.e4. With his first two moves, e6 and d5, Black tries to provoke the advance e4-e5. This closes the centre and gives Black the opportunity to get active play on both wings.

GM Yannick Pelletier is a specialist of this opening, and believes that the most efficient way to understand its ideas, plans, and typical structures is to study classical lines. He offers you a repertoire that is based on well-established lines that have been tried and tested for decades and that have proven their validity.

ChessBase Magazine is the most comprehensive and most sophisticated chess magazine there is. World class players analyze their brilliancies and explain the ideas behind the moves to you, opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and offer exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in the fields of tactics, strategy, and the endgame show you the tricks and techniques a successful tournament player needs! DVD with several hours of video + booklet.Also available for download including the booklet in pdf!

El ajedrez es el no va más en juegos de tablero. Se lleva jugando más de 1500 años y, gracias a Internet, cada vez se hace más popular. La gente de todo el mundo se reúne en Internet para disfrutar del ajedrez: jugar, aprender y mirar los principales torneos. Con este DVD podrá aprender ajedrez desde cero para unirse a la comunidad ajedrecística mundial. Daniel King, un experimentado gran maestro, le enseña con vídeos fáciles de seguir todo lo que necesita para empezar: como colocar el tablero, como se mueven las piezas y como dar jaque mate. Tras los rudimentos, aprenderá la mejor forma de comenzar una partida, los motivos tácticos más habituales y verá como la captura de piezas pueden llevarle en último término a ganar la partida. Al final del curso podrá reproducir partidas de algunos de los más grandes ajedrecistas del mundo para estudiar sus estrategias. El manual que acompaña al DVD le sirve de recordatorio rápido de las reglas y de algunos de los temas tratados en el disco. Además aborda la historia del campeonato mundial, el máximo premio en el ajedrez. Si quiere comenzar a jugar inmediatamente, instale el programa Playchess.com incluido en el DVD. Playchess.com es el servidor de ajedrez más grande del mundo. Podrá encontrar allí gentes de todos los rincones del globo y jugar una partida de ajedrez cuando lo desee.

Vasily Smyslov defeated Mikhail Botvinnik at the second attempt in 1957 and thus became the 7th world champion in chess history, but had to relinquish the title in a rematch the following year. After that Smyslov belonged to the absolute world elite for many years. His performance in the 1982-1985 World Championship cycle was sensational, when he defeated Robert Hübner and Zoltan Ribli one after the other in the candidate matches and only lost in the final to the young Garry Kasparov - Smyslov himself was 62 years old at that time! Smyslov had a particularly deep understanding of chess. Perhaps influenced by music (he was a trained opera singer), his play was characterised by naturalness and harmony. He cultivated a clear positional style and even in sharp tactical positions often relied more on his intuition than on concrete calculation of variations, although he knew how to combine brilliantly when necessary. On the other hand, he shied away from unclear intricacies. Smyslov had a special preference for the (early) exchange of queens as a precursor to his brilliant technique, especially in the endgame, where he was considered an absolute luminary. The 14th World Champion Vladimir Kramnik called Smyslov “the truth in chess”.