ChessBase Reviews

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CDs, DVDs, Software Part 27

Test, Evaluate and Improve your Chess By Danny Kopec & Hal Terrie

This is the computer version of the author’s book which was printed in 2004 and is much easier, in my opinion, to work with than the book. Certainly you don’t have to continually set up positions on a board if you want to play through the moves.

There are about 400 exercises and a scoring system which gives one point for the correct first move and two points for getting the move order correct. The scoring system can be fun but the real advantage is that regularly playing through the exercises should strengthen your tactical skills. The teaching material used has the full support of the USCF as a tried and tested self-evaluation, and as a learning and teaching tool.

The Great ABC of Tactics By George Renko

Another great tactical exercise CD with over 11,000 positions to test and improve your skills starting with several one move checkmates and then getting more complicated. The material is organised into 7 databases. I used to buy a regular magazine with such positions but sadly it stopped appearing several years ago. Trying to spot the solutions is great fun and you learn things without even realising you are doing so. If I were you I would get your loved ones to get this and the above disk for your Christmas and really enjoy the festive holidays.

The ABC of the Caro Kann By Andrew Martin

I think you all know by now how highly I rate Andrew martin’s teaching methods and this DVD has done nothing to diminish that.

Some lines included on the DVD are 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d4 3.e5, 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4. 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.h3, 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 e5 4.Ngf3 Bd6 5.g3 Nf6 6.Bg2 0-0, 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4, 2.Nc3 d5 3.Qf3.

There’s nearly four and a quarter hours of tuition which will give you an excellent understanding of how to play the Caro Kann and what you can expect to achieve from it. Well worth looking at every time you start a correspondence game with the Caro Kann.

Chess Endgames 2: Rook Endings By Karsten Muller

This is the second of Karsten’s DVDs on the Endgame and has about two and a half Gigabytes of multi media (video) files, and runs for about five hours, to let you watch the lessons on your PC.

The DVD is divided in 43 multimedia chapters with, for example, the rook and four pawns vs. rook and three pawns ending. Karsten Muller is a renowned expert on endings and rather that getting you to learn variations ad infinitum he shows you the technique involved. Even in Correspondence chess this is a lot more useful than hunting around for a particular position when it arrives in a game. The latest Grandmaster games are also included on the DVD.

Queens Indian Defence the Easy Way By Jacob Aagaard

On this DVD Jacob Aagaard the Danish IM now living in Scotland treats us to ten lectures lasting just over four hours. The DVD covers a multitude of possibilities for both the Black side player and the White side player. Weak, good and bad squares for pieces is covered as well as concepts on pawn weaknesses. There are a couple of lectures on Aron Nimzowitsch’s bishop move to a6 well as rare moves such as Miles' 4.Bf4.

The lectures are followed by fifty exercises to help you sharpen up your skills. All in all it would be pretty hard to spot anything missing in this comprehensive coverage of the Queen’s Indian Defence.

Junior 10 By Amir Ban and Shay Bushinsky

Junior 10 is the new 2006 Computer Chess World Champion. The program, written by the Israeli programmers Amir Ban and Shy Bushinsky, narrowly defeated its main rival, the many times world champion program Shredder, at the Computer Chess World Championship which was held during the Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy. Junior impressed experts with its extraordinary dynamic play, and remained undefeated in this event. Junior 10 has its own special search techniques and evaluation functions, which makes it different to any other chess program. In the latest version we see the rigorous continuation of a development that started with Junior 7 and has led to a unique and creative playing style. It started with the famous bishop sacrifice on h2 in a match against Garry Kasparov and now has been honed to perfection in Version 10.

In spite of their success in computer chess tournaments the programmers of Junior are not primarily concerned with beating other chess programs. Instead they have developed Junior into an instrument that enables human beings to gain new insights and understanding in the game of chess. A good example is the very pronounced understanding of compensation, which allows its users to explore new possibilities of sacrifice attacks and sharp dynamic play.

Junior 10 offers you 12 months of free access to the Playchess.com server. You also get the latest enhanced and improved Junior openings book. Here’s a nice game from Junior:

Junior-Uragano3D
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. N1c3 a6 7. Na3 Nf6 8. Bg5 Be7 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. Nc4 Nd4 11. Nd5 Bg4 12. Qxg4 Nxc2+ 13. Kd1 Nxa1 14. Ncb6 Rb8 15. Bd3 Bg5 16. h4 Bh6 17. Ke2 Nb3 18. axb3 O-O 19. Bc4 Kh8 20. g3 Qe8 21. Rd1 Rd8 22. Qh5 Qc6 23. Kf1 Qc5 24. Kg2 Qc6 25. Qg4 Qe8 26. h5 f6 27. b4 Qf7 28. Qf5 Qe8 29. Bb3 Qf7 30. Rd3 g6 31. hxg6 hxg6 32. Qh3 Qh7 33. Rd1 Rf7 34. Rh1 f5 35. exf5 Rxf5 36. Ne7 Kg7 37. Nxf5+ gxf5 38. Qh4 Re8 39. Nd5 1-0

White Repertoire 2nd Edition By Alexander Bagiev

The main focus of Alexander Bangiev’s repertoire CD is the Grand Prix Attack of the Sicilian Defence, featuring a wealth of introduction texts, playing suggestions and annotated games about this sharp attacking weapon. Yet this is only the starting point of the complete White 1.e4 repertoire which offers a playing plan against all common replies by Black. The point: the suggested lines have a lot in common, often transpose and many times lead to similar middlegame positions – effective opening study guaranteed.

Other openings covered include the Alekhine Defence, Vienna Gambit, French Defence and Caro-Kann. There are over 600 games annotated by the author and 8 databases with over 60,000 games. A good number of the games are from 2006. There is also a training database.

The French Defence By Ari Ziegler

The Swedish openings expert IM Ari Ziegler covers a lot on this CD with the following lines:
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 • 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 • 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 • 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 • 1.e4 e6 2.exd5 • 1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 • 1.e4 e6 2.d3 (King’s Indian Attack) • 1.e4 e6 2.Qe2 • 1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.b4 (Wing Gambit).
The Video running time is 6h 48min.

The Classical French is well covered including the line: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.f4 0-0 8.Nf3 c5 9.Qd2 Nc6 10.dxc5 f6 11.exf6 Qxf6 12.g3 Nxc5 13.0-0-0 Rd8.

The author, who is a renowned theoretician in Sweden, happily shares his own repertoire and some unplayed novelties with the viewer so there is a fair chance you could pick up a few surprises to spring on your Correspondence Chess opponents.