ChessBase Reviews

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CDs, DVDs, Software Part 48

Modern Benoni for Advanced Players By Ari Ziegler

The Modern Benoni is perhaps the most dynamic approach to meeting 1.d4 without sacrificing a pawn.

A lot of legendary players have had a sincere love affair with this opening. The most imaginative world champion of all time, Michail Tal is perhaps the player who has done most to popularise the opening.

In this DVD International Master Ari Ziegler is giving you a fighting repertoire against all White systems in the Modern Benoni. The target audience is club players with Elo 1500-2400.

Thanks to Ziegler’s research you will find many surprisingly simple solutions in some lines, while in the critical lines which are being debated he gives new moves or reevaluates underrated systems.

With this DVD to back up your repertoire in the Benoni you will combat White from the beginning with counter-blows, strikes, positional traps or deep strategic plans, all that is necessary to hunt White down! Video running time: 4 hours 57 min.

No Fear of 1.d4! – Nimzo-Indian By Sergei Tiviakov

Constancy and a striving for solid positions are what define Sergei Tiviakov’s opening repertoire. On his two repertoire DVDs against 1.d4 the top Dutch grandmaster presents to you exactly those variations and ideas with which he himself has been successful in tournament chess for many years.

On the two DVDs all important systems which are available to White after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 are dealt with in detail. Also, in many areas Tiviakov offers you a choice between alternative variations for Black, between which you can decide according to your temperament.

A further highlight of the DVDs is Tiviakov’s collection of all the games which he has played during his career with the Catalan, the Queen’s Indian and the Nimzo-Indian. Many of these are published on these DVDs for the very first time. Video running time: 5 hrs 36 min.

First Steps in Positional Play By Andrew Martin

A strong command of middlegame skills often makes the difference between winning and losing a game of chess. The art of positional play must be included in any list of those skills. ‘First Steps in Positional Play’ attempts to equip the viewer with all the information he or she needs to begin to tackle this aspect of chess.

Players below 1500 will benefit from this basic advice. Players above 1500 will enjoy the detailed examination of many current master games. This is an enjoyable tour of positional play from which everyone can learn. Video running time: 3 hours 20 min.

System requirements: Pentium-Processor at 300 Mhz or higher, 64 MB RAM, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, DVD drive, mouse, soundcard.

The Dutch Stonewall By Valeri Lilov

Want to learn a stable opening in no time and crush all the top players in the club? If your answer is yes, the Dutch Stonewall is for you!

FM Valeri Lilov will teach you the typical plans and ideas for this amazing opening through studying key master games that reveal how the system works in practice.

The Dutch Stonewall is especially suitable for the average club player and the pawn skeleton which arises is the very reason for that. As a result, you do not need to study a lot of theory but just a few key plans and ideas that will successfully meet all possible replies by White!

While this DVD covers most of the best lines for black, FM Valeri Lilov explores in more detail the Classical Stonewall with Be7, as well as the Modern Stonewall with Bd6. Video running time: 4 hours 38 min.

Fritz Powerbook 2012 By ChessBase

The current openings theory with 1,5 million games The Fritz Powerbook 2012 contains 27 millions opening positions, derived from 1,5 million high class tournament games.

Together with each position all relevant information is stored: all moves that were played in the position, by players of what average rating, with what success and performance results. The games from which the Fritz Powerbook 2012 were derived are also included on the DVD.

This means that in any position of the openings tree you can load and replay the games in which the position occurred. The Fritz Powerbook 2012 represents the state of the art of current openings theory.

Discover exciting and tricky new lines and practice them against Fritz. In addition the DVD has a small but very exclusive book with the strongest GM games (ELO >= 2550) from the past 100 years (2 Mio positions).

System requirements: Pentium PC, 32 MB RAM, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or XP and Fritz13/Fritz12, DVD drive.

ChessBase offers an upgrade from Fritz Powerbook 2011 in addition to buying 2021 new.

ChessBase Magazine 145

Amongst the star authors on the DVD there are Carlsen, Karjakin, Polgar, Eljanov, Caruana, Gashimov, Volokitin, Vitiugov, Sutovsky, etc.

In addition to that you will find 12 up-to-the-minute openings articles with extensive analysis and ideas for your repertoire.