ChessBase 17 - Megapaket - Edition 2024
ChessBase ist die persönliche Schach-Datenbank, die weltweit zum Standard geworden ist. Und zwar für alle, die Spaß am Schach haben und auch in Zukunft erfolgreich mitspielen wollen. Das gilt für den Weltmeister ebenso wie für den Vereinsspieler oder den Schachfreund von nebenan
Maybe the best openings DVD ever!?
Bob Long
Hallelujah! What a DVD. Former FIDE world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov lays it all on the line. Let’s go through a list of winning attributes:
1. His English speaking and
understanding of idiomatic language is unbelievable! Sometimes he sounds
slightly sing-songy as he changes inflection due to enthusiasm, but when he
gets down to business, he is business and he doesn’t say one thing and mean
something else. His expressions and understanding of our language is top drawer.
2. This guy was touted by one such as Kasparov as being world championship caliber (he beat, in succession: Ivanchuk, Grischuk, Topalov, and Adams) on the way to the world chess championship title..
3. He explains the rigors of
knock out matches and how important it is to win with black in the first game
of the first round (he has lots of insights like this throughout the 3 hr and
25 min. DVD.)
4. And here’s the part I like most: he is UPBEAT on the King’s Indian and even tells a delightful story about Petrosian feeding his family for years off of the white side of the King’s Indian. Then, as he played Fischer in 1970 at the USSR vs. the rest of the world match, he opened with 1. c4 and when Fischer replied 1… g6, he gave Fischer’s move an exclam and then the Tiger went on to lose. He was no longer feeding his family from the white side of the King’s Indian. I’ll explain more in part 5… next.
5. Rustam “believes” that White
has been engaging in a propaganda war against Black’s KID play, just so that Black
won’t play it! This doesn’t work for Kasimdzhanov… he’ll play the KID no matter
what you say or play, and he has the wins he illustrates to prove it.
6. He is his own man and
understands the KID deeply and still finds new ideas for Black. He is also a
lightning fast thinker and excels in speed and rapid chess. He still does. He’s
funny and profound. He tackles a couple games on the “bayonet” variation joking
that he doesn’t know (or care) where that name came from.
7. He annotates a number of games
on the classical, g3, Saemisch, b4 (Bayonet) and gives us a classic
Letelier-Fischer game (with a great Q sac). There’s more, but I am doing this
off the top of my head. He also has a “lecture” (as he calls them) on pawn
structure. He tells great stories too.
8. He would like to do another ChessBase DVD on the King’s Indian and I would like him to do this also. This man is good and I will give you one more reason why you should get this DVD:
9. He doesn’t believe the KID is
played out. He doesn’t believe White has such an advantage that Black should
give up. He believes there are some “unorthodox” systems still available to
Black and he shows one where he (Black) holds up his attack on the K-side to go
over to the Q-side and scare the pants off of White. He’s what I said “exists”
a long time ago—the discoverer of the new and hearty and who doesn’t listen to
the weaker GMs making pronouncements he doesn’t believe as he goes his own way
and continues to win. I am sure many White opponents are not crazy about facing
an inventor who is similar to Bronstein in his younger days.
I’ve seen videos and DVDs on the King’s Indian and I’ve read books on it. In one sitting you will get more out of this DVD in terms of reasons why, structures, tactics, and reality than any place else I have seen. It’s like a course in the King’s Indian for those who know something about the KID but not nearly as much as they should. When he gets stymied in one place, he goes somewhere else, and then comes back to bop his opponent over the head. He has belief in his prowess and I’m sure his opponents believe it too.
