Latest book
reviews of 1 July 2019
Wilhelminalaan 33John Elburg
7261 BP RUURLO
The Netherlands.
Chess Books
The 100 Endgames You Must Know Workbook: Practical Endgames Exercises for Every Chess Player
by Jesus De la Villa
2019
New in Chess
http://www.newinchess.com/
287 pages
Price € 22,50
ISBN: 978-90-5691-817-0
The well known Grandmaster Jesus de La Villa comes with a impressive made endgame exercise book based on 100 endgames you must know of,as Jesus de La Villa explains in his introduction, theoretical knowledge alone is not enough, no de La Villa is a firm believer of going throw practical examples and this book holds a small 300 of them!
As for example exercise 99 between Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman, Brussels 1987,
White Kd7 Bishop g3 Pawn e6 Black Kf5 Bishop b6 pawn a7 and now 64….Kd8! 65.Bd6 65…a5! The pawn provides an all important gain of tempo. In the variation 65…Bh4? 66.Be7 Be1 67.Bd8 Bb4 68.Bc7 the black king has no time to reach the d5 square.
66.Bc7 {66.Be7 Bxe7 67.Kxe7 a4 and both pawns queen}66…Bg5 67.Bxa5 Ke5 and Karpov accepted the draw here,as the black king reaches the correct defence set-up.
De La Villa also explains engine addicts may be delighted to see that there is another move to draw the game afforded by the extra tempo. However, the manoeuvre itself is unique, as after,say,67…Bh4 68.Bb4 the move 68…Ke4! Already becomes imperative:69.Be7 Be1 70.Bd8 Bb4 71.Bc7 Kd5!
Interesting to mention is the exercises are organized in increasing level of difficulty:while the first ones should pose few problems for the average player,the ones at the end of each chapter are likely to challenge even a seasoned chess master.
All material is divided in 12 sections plus appendix and solutions to the exercises.
Conclusion: Overloaded with highly instructive endgames!
Man vs. Machine: Challenging Human Supremacy at Chess
by Jonathan Schaeffer & Karsten Müller
2018
Russell Enterprises,Inc
https://www.newinchess.com/man-vs-machine
Price €34,95
478 pages
ISBN:978-1-941270-96-7
Grandmaster Karsten Müller and companion Jonathan Schaeffer who is a Professor of Computing Science, describe in these 476 pages the fascinating story of the human struggle against the chess machines.
It all starts with the “The Turk “ which was only a illusion but the true story of the human against the fledgling field of artificial intelligence is more than interesting.
It is fascinating to see the human achievement despite the onslaught of technology, where computers are analysing millions of positions per second ,humans remained on top for many years.
Today’s top players have achieved an unprecedented level of skill.
Karsten Müller and Jonathan Schaeffer have managed two bring the two sides of human and machine together in a very readable way as the story of Franz Morsch and many of his computer chess products that led up to the creation of our well known chess engine Fritz.
Now and than this book get complicated with the describing of technical terms
as parallel search,which brings us back to the days of Deep Blue and Murray Campbell who did his master thesis on parallel game tree search at the University of Alberta with Tony Marsland in 1980.Feng-hsiung Hsu proposed ideas for large scale parallel search in his ph.D.thesis.Keeping hundreds of Deep Blue chess chips busy in parallel was a research challenge for the team.
How different was it in the 1970s when Bobby Fischer played the following game: Fischer,Robert James - Comp Greenblatt [C33]
MIT, 1977
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 d5 4.Bxd5 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Nf3 0-0 7.0-0 Nxd5 8.Nxd5 Bd6 9.d4 g5 10.Nxg5 Qxg5 11.e5 Bh3 12.Rf2 Bxe5 13.dxe5 c6 14.Bxf4 Qg7 15.Nf6+ Kh8 16.Qh5 Rd8 17.Qxh3 Na6 18.Rf3 Qg6 19.Rc1 Kg7 20.Rg3 Rh8 21.Qh6# 1-0
Not much is known about the circumstances under which these games were played.
Greenblatt was not present,and no pictures where taken. The program’s logs of the game have not been published. Fischer submitted the game scores to a fledgling computer publication, the Computer Chess Newsletter,but without comments.
That time it was possible for a human to beat a top computerprogram but around 2010 there was no chance any more for the human side.
Page 25 holds a interesting photo from Claude Shannon who build in the 1950s a chess machine that allowed up to six piece on the board.But it is unclear how well or even if the machine worked, as it never gave a public demonstration.
Can we compare it with “The Turk “?
Conclusion:This is a super read on computer chess!
Devoted to Chess: The Creative Heritage of Yuri Razuvaev
by Boris Postovsky
2019
New in Chess
http://www.newinchess.com/
365 pages
Price € 29,95
ISBN: 978-90-5691-822-4
Yuri Razuvaev (1945-2012) was a truly chess genius who understood more from chess than any other contemporaries of his time.
But this man was also a gifted chess trainer and his list of pupils is more than impressive believe that even Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana
had sessions with him.
The correspondence chess player Boris Postovsky has managed to create a wonderful work on Yuri as his fans called him with games and surveys
that have seen no light on this side of the world before.
The analyses from Razuvaev belong to the best that I have ever seen before and I believe we can only compare it with players as Bobby Fischer
his book,My 60 Memorable games.
Yuri Razuvaev was a historian by profession but became an IM in 1973 and a GM in 1976,his tournament wins included Dubna and
Polanica-Zdrój in 1979, Zalaegerszeg 1981, London 1983, Dortmund 1985 and Jurmala 1987.
One of his best games is covered on page 179 with interesting notes from Sergey Dolmatov: Dolmatov,Sergey (2615) - Razuvaev,Yuri S (2525) [B85]
Rostov on Don Rostov on Don, 1993
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be2 Be7 7.0-0 0-0 8.f4 Nc6 9.Be3 Bd7 10.Nb3 a6 11.a4 Na5 12.e5 Ne8 13.Nxa5 Qxa5 14.Ne4 Qc7 15.a5 d5 16.Nd2 g6 17.Nb3 Ng7 18.Bb6 Qc8 19.Rf3 f6 20.exf6 Bxf6 21.Nd4 Qe8 22.Qd2 e5 23.fxe5 Qxe5 24.Bd3 Bg4 25.Re3 Qd6 26.Ree1 Be5 27.g3 Bh3 28.Bf1 Bxf1 29.Rxf1 Nh5 30.Qd3 Nf6 31.Nb3 Ne4 32.c3 Qe6 33.Rfd1 Ng5 34.Qxd5 Bd4+ 35.Rxd4 Nf3+ 36.Kg2 Nxd4 37.Qxe6+ Nxe6 38.Rd1 Rae8 39.h4 h5 40.Rd2 Rf7 41.Nd4 Rd7 42.Rf2 Rde7 43.Ne2 Rf7 44.Nf4 Nxf4+ 45.gxf4 Re4 46.Kg3 Rd7 47.Bd4 Rd5 48.b4 Kf7 49.Kf3 Re1 50.Rg2 Rf5 51.Rd2 Rd5 52.Rg2 Rh1 53.Kg3 Rd7 54.Re2 Re7 55.Rd2 Rd7 56.Re2 Rd1 57.f5 gxf5 58.Re5 Rf1 59.Kg2 Rf4 60.Kg3 Rg4+ 61.Kh3 Kg6 62.Re6+ Kh7 63.Rf6 f4 64.Rf5 Rg3+ 65.Kh2 Re7 66.Rxf4 Rd3 67.Rf2 Kg8 68.Kg2 Re4 69.Bf6 Ree3 70.c4 Rg3+ 71.Kh2 Rdf3 72.b5 Kf7 73.bxa6 bxa6 74.Bd4 Rxf2+ 75.Bxf2 Rc3 76.c5 Ke6 77.Kg2 Kd5 78.Be1 Ra3 0-1,white resigned in view of 79.Bb4 Rb3 80.Be1 Kxc5 81.Kf2 Kb5 82.Ke2 Ra3 83.Bd2 Rxa5.
Contribution: Fascinating read!
1001 Chess Exercises for Club Players: The Tactics Workbook that Also Explains All the Key Concepts
by Frank Erwich
2019
New in Chess
http://www.newinchess.com/
187 pages
Price € 17,95
ISBN: 978-90-5691-819-4
The Dutch chess professional Frank Erwich,FIDE master and chess trainer comes with unbelievable instructive tactics workbook, aimed for the more ambitious club player who can not wait to improve his or hers tactical skills.
As Frank Erwich explains every game fragment highlights a certain area of the tactical spectrum.
Every chapter has a different theme, and within these theme the 1001 exercises are divided into subthemes,all arranged in order of increasing difficulty.
In chapter 10,you are invited to take the opposite side, and required to defend against such tactics and that makes this exercise work more than instructive.
To group the tactical themes in this book, the author has made used of the categorization method that was introduced by Cor van Wijgerden and the late Rob Brunia in there famous Step-by-Step methods.
The first ten chapters hold, Elimination of the Defence, Double Attack, Discovered Attack, Skewer, Pin, Trapping a piece, Promotion, Draw, Mate and Defending.
Included are chapter 11 with mix and 12 with solutions.
Conclusion: This book will be of great tactical value!
Sicilian Defense: The Chelyabinsk Variation: Its Past, Present and Future
by Gennadi Timoshcenko
2018
Russell Enterprises,Inc
https://www.newinchess.com/sicilian-defense-the-chelyabinsk-variation
Price €34,95
440 pages
ISBN:978-1-941270-53-0
Seldom I have seen such a theoretical heavyweight as this book from Gennadi Timoshchenko on the Chelyabinsk Variation or better said in our western part
of the world known as "The Sveshnikov".
For years the book from Dorian Rogozenko has been the bible of the Sveshnikov fan but with his 200 chapter book from Timoshchenko you can easy make place on your book shelf by throwing all the other books you have on the Sveshnikov into the paper shredder.
Going throw this deeply study with unbelievable variations you get the feeling the author has a love hate love with this opening because there where moments he did fall for other lines but on the other hand I have seen seldom a author, who understood so much about a opening as Gennadi Timoshchenko!
Part one of this book holds the history of the variation and it’s development and here the reader will find 41 deeply analysed Sveshnikov games all played by the author himself.
End 1970s the Bishop sacrifice was almost regarded as the refutation of the Sveshnikov,because white’s results were really impressive, in exchange for the piece white obtains a developing advantage and a strong initiative, and his queenside pawns may become very strong under certain circumstances,but as Timoshchenko explains in chapter 65 with nearly three pages of instructive text: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 f5 11.Bxb5 axb5 12.Nxb5 Ra4 13.Nbc7+ Kd7 14.0-0 Rxe4 15.Qh5 Nd4 16.c3 Ne2+ 17.Kh1 Kc6 18.g3 Kb7 19.a4 Rc4 20.Nb5 Be6 21.Rfd1 Nd4 22.Ne3 Nb3 23.Nxc4 Bxc4 24.Qxf5 and here black may choose between 24….Nxa1,24….d5 or 24…Qb6 with equal play in all cases.
Very popular under correspondence chess players is the line: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 0-0 12.Nc2 Bg5 13.a4 bxa4 14.Rxa4 a5 15.Bc4 Rb8 16.b3 Kh8 17.Nce3 Ne7!? But over the board players have so far till now, no any serious attention in it.
Impressive are the Hugh amount of novelties and interesting suggestions throw this impressive heavy weight.
But it is strange to see a old correspondence game from the ChessInformator issue 93/104 Elburg - Knebel as a novelty.
Conclusion: This is a master piece of explanation and the best ever written chess book that I have ever seen on the Sveshnikov!
Fred Reinfeld
The Man Who Taught America Chess, with 282 Games by Alex Dunne
2019
McFarland & Company,Inc.,Publishers Box 611
Jefferson,North Carolina 28640.
http://www.mcfarlandpub.com
202 pages
Price $45.00
ISBN: 978-1-4766-7654-8
The outstanding Alex Dunne,FIDE.ICCF and life master with an outstanding book on his chess hero Fred Reinfeld { January 27, 1910 – May 29, 1964}, who belonged to the strongest chess players in the United States of the 1930s and 40s,and was ranked just below Reuben Fine and Samuel Reshevsky against whom he had an impressive plus score.
But the most of us remember Fred Reinfeld of his uncountable chess books that he had written,and the most of them are all pleasantly described by Alex Dunne in this outstanding read.
Alex Dunne has managed to collect 282 games on Fred Reinfeld and where many of them are well analysed in the context of that time.
In 1931 Fred Reinfeld played an informal match with Reuben Fine during July and August. Fine emerged the victory with a score of+3-1=2.
At 21 years of age Reinfeld won the 53rd New York State Championship held August 17 to 22 in Rome, New York.He won six and drew five to go undefeated. Reuben Fine finished second. At that time Reinfeld and Fine were both students at City College New York.
As Dunne explains: Reinfeld began writing on chess in 1932.While researching materials he found a position as a part time chess instructor for the adult education sections of Columbia and New York University. He taught chess courses for various levels of difficulty there for many years. During the 1930s Reinfeld ran an ad in Chess Correspondent magazine offering to annotate any chess game for a dollar.It was a small beginning of what would eventually become a major enterprise for private chess publication.
On December 10,1932 Reinfeld married his fiancée, Beatrice Levine {1912-1979}.who was a secretary at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
In 1933,Reinfeld started his own publishing company, Black Knight Press, from his basement in the Bronx.
Reinfeld died at the age of 54 and 4 months on May,1964,at Meadow brook Hospital in East Meadow,New York of a virus infection.
Conclusion: One of those books you must have read!
Chess DVD's
ChessBase Magazine issue 189
May - June 2019
ChessBase
http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
ISSN 1432-8992
Euro 19.95
System requirements:
Minimum: Pentium III 1 GHz, 1 GB RAM, Windows Vista, XP (Service Pack 3), DirectX9 graphic card with 256 MB RAM, DVD-ROM drive, Windows Media Player 9, ChessBase 12/Fritz 13 or included Reader and internet connection for program activation. Recommended: PC Intel Core i7, 2.8 GHz, 4 GB RAM, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, DirectX10 graphic card (or compatible) with 512 MB RAM or better, 10
Besides the super made master file of 2914 entries where a small 40 of them are more than excellent analysed, a fine example of this all is: Wang,Hao (2714) - Firouzja,Alireza (2618) [A72]
Moscow Aeroflot op-A 18th Moscow (8), 26.02.2019
[Wang, Hao]
This game was played in round 8, usually a critical one, but in this case probably nothing to do with winning the tournament. :)
I had White against Alireza Firouzja, the prodigy whom I consider one of the most talented players ever. I was bit of fortunate since my opponent was really tired and lacked opening improvements, having finished three tournaments in a row (with fantastic results!) prior to the Aeroflot Open. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 Alireza has limited opening choices against 1.d4, he mainly goes for the Kingâ?Ts Indian.
5.Be2 0-0 6.Bg5 Actually this was my first time to play the Averbakh Variation. However, I have a lot of preparations against the Kingâ?Ts Indian, and I know that this is a dangerous line for Black. 6...c5 One of the main lines in the Averbakh Variation. [My opponent used to play few games with 6...Na6 But I believe that after 7.Qd2 c6 8.Rd1 Nc7 9.Bf3 Be6 10.b3 (Le Quang Liem-Naiditsch, Danzhou 2017), White has a pleasant position.] 7.d5 e6 8.Nf3 [8.Qd2 is another main line, but I think that my opponent knows well about the forced line with 8...exd5 9.exd5 Qb6 10.Nf3 Bf5 11.Nh4 Ne4 12.Nxe4 Bxe4 13.f3 h6 which is fine for Black.] 8...h6 9.Bh4 I decided to go for an old-fashioned line. [9.Be3 is another option, after 9...exd5 10.cxd5 Bg4 11.Nd2 Bxe2 12.Qxe2 Re8 13.0-0 Na6 Black is fine.] 9...exd5 10.cxd5 g5 11.Bg3 Nh5 12.Nd2 Nxg3 13.hxg3 It was clear that my opponent had not expected my opening choice, here he was thinking for a long time. Now Black has a good dark-squared bishop on g7, but his light squares are also weakened. Black needs to be very careful with his moves. 13...f5 Very straightforward. I expected this move during my preparation, because I can see that Alireza is a very direct player, he doesnâ?Tt have enough patience. [13...Nd7 is the main line, after 14.Nc4 Qe7 (14...Nb6 15.Ne3 f5 16.exf5 Bxf5 17.0-0 with a worse version compared to the one Black chose in the game.; 14...Nf6 15.a4) 15.Ne3 Nf6 16.Qc2 (16.f3 a6 17.a4) 16...a6 17.a4 Re8 18.f3 the position is complicated, and itâ?Ts not easy for Black to find a good plan.;
13...a6 is also possible, 14.a4 Nd7 15.Nc4 Qe7 with a complicated position.] 14.Nc4 Na6 15.exf5 Bxf5 16.0-0 Nc7 Here my opponent started to make mistakes. I think that he had only considered to put his queen on the f6 square. [Actually 16...Qd7 was the right move. After 17.Ne3 Bd4! White has some choices but Black can hold his position. For example: 18.Bd3 a) 18.Nxf5 Qxf5 and Black is doing well.; b) 18.g4 Bh7 19.Bd3 (19.Qd2 Bxe3 20.fxe3 Nc7) 19...Nb4! 20.Bxh7+ Qxh7 21.Nf5 Rxf5! 22.gxf5 Qxf5 and Black has good counterplay.; 18...Bxd3 18...Bxd3 (18...Bxe3 19.fxe3 Kg7 (19...Bxd3 20.Qxd3 Qg7 21.Rf3) 20.e4 Bg6 21.Re1, White is better.) 19.Qxd3 Rae8 20.g4 Bxe3 21.fxe3 Qg7, the position is close to equal. (18...Bxe3 19.fxe3 Kg7 (19...Bxd3 20.Qxd3 Qg7 21.Rf3) 20.e4 Bg6 21.Re1) 19.Qxd3 Rae8 20.g4 Bxe3 21.fxe3 Qg7] 17.Ne3 Bg6 Another inaccurate move. [17...Qf6 was the best move here, and Black can try to retreat his f5-bishop to d7. For example: 18.g4 (18.Nxf5 Qxf5) 18...Bd7 19.Bd3 (19.a4) 19...b5 20.Bf5 Rad8 White can manage to exchange the light-squared bishops, but Black has some counterplay against the d5 pawn. Thereâ?Ts a lot of work if White wants to continue the attack.] 18.Bd3 Qf6 19.Qc2?! [19.Ne4! was very strong: 19...Bxe4 (19...Qd4 20.Nxc5; 19...Qxb2 20.Rb1 Qd4 21.Nxc5 Bxd3 22.Nxd3 b6 23.Rb4 Qf6 24.Re4 with a big advantage for White.) 20.Bxe4 Rae8 (20...Qd4 21.Qxd4 Bxd4 22.Nf5) 21.Bc2 Qf7 22.g4 White has a big advantage because the powerful light-squared bishop is on the right place, supported by moves like Qd3 and Nf5, with a strong attack against the black King.
] 19...Bxd3 20.Qxd3 h5 21.Ne4 Qd4? [During the game both of us missed 21...Qh6 which would be a good move. White can still try to keep pressure with 22.Rad1 , but after 22...Rae8! (22...b5 23.Nxc5! dxc5 24.d6 with a strong attack, for example 24...c4 25.Qc2 Ne6 26.Nf5 Qf6 27.Ne7+ Kh8 28.Qe4 and White has too much compensation for the piece.) 23.Nc4 Rd8 White is better, but things are not clear at all.] 22.Rad1 b5 23.Qxd4? I was spending a long time here since I was trying to be cautious, but actually I made a weak move blundering a nice defensive move by Black. [23.Nxd6 was much simpler. After 23...Qxd3 24.Rxd3 Bxb2 25.Ne4 Bd4 (I somehow didnâ?Tt like 25...c4 but the counterplay is just an illusion after 26.Rdd1) 26.Nc2 Nxd5 (26...Rae8 27.Re1) 27.Nxd4 cxd4 28.Rxd4 White is winning.] 23...Bxd4? My opponent also missed his best chance here. [23...cxd4 was the best move here; after 24.Nc2 Black has 24...Rf5! White still has a big advantage in the endgame with 25.Rfe1 (25.Nxd4 Rxd5 26.Nc6 Re8 27.Rxd5 Nxd5 28.f3 Rc8 29.Rd1 Rxc6 30.Rxd5 Be5 31.Rxb5 Kg7 can't offer White very much.) 25...Re8 26.Nxd6 Rxe1+ 27.Nxe1 Rxd5 28.Ne4 , but far from decisive.] 24.Nxd6 Here I was pretty sure that I would win with such a fantastic position.
24...Rad8?! [24...Bxb2 was better, after 25.Ne4 (25.Ndf5 is also possible.) 25...Bd4 26.Nc2 Rae8 27.Nxd4 Rxe4 28.Nc6 White has a big advantage, but not a winning one.] 25.Ndf5 Bxb2 26.d6 Ne8 27.Rd5 Now White possesses a dominating advantage, because Black has
has passive pieces and weak pawns, and the latter will be taken soon.
27...Bd4 28.Nxd4 cxd4 29.Nf5 Nf6 [29...a6 to protect the b5-pawn, was probably a better choice, although White is winning after
30.Rd1 Nf6 31.R5xd4 Kf7 32.f3] 30.Rxb5 d3?! [The most resistant move was 30...Ne4! After 31.Re5 (31.f3 Nxd6 32.Nxd6 Rxd6 33.Rxg5+ Kf7 34.Rxh5 wins two pawns, but I am not sure if White is winning after 34...Re8 . For example 35.Rd1 Re2 36.Rh7+ Kg6 37.Rxa7 d3 38.Rb7 Rxa2 39.Rb3 d2 40.Kf2 Ra5 when it's difficult for White to make any progress.) 31...Nxd6 32.Ne7+ Kf7 33.Nc6 Rc8 34.Nxd4 Kg6 White is still winning, but some technique is needed.
] 31.Rd1 Now Black canâ?Tt drum up counterplay anymore, itâ?Ts an easy win for White. 31...Ne4 32.Rxd3 Rfe8 33.f3 Nf6 34.Rb7 Re1+? 35.Kf2 Ra1 36.Nh6+ Black resigned.
I was happy to at least win a nice game in this tournament where otherwise I didn't manage to show an impressive performance.1-0.
Besides the smashing video files from Daniel King on the “Nakamura Setup”Yannick Pelletier: Nimzo Indian “Le Quang Variation and Simon Williams on the “Torre Surprice”.
Must have material for all openings experts are:Symmetrical English A35 by Evgeny Postny: 1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.e3 Nf6 5.d4 cxd4 6.exd4 d5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Qb3,Queens Indian A50 by Mihail Marin: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 b6 3.Nc3 Bb7,Pirc Defence B09 by Krisztian Szabo:1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.a3,Steve Berger recommends Bb5 in almost variations of the Grand Prix Attack,Classical Sicilian B57 by Romain Edouard:1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bc4 Qb6,Petroff C42 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nd7 9.0-0-0 Nf6 by Petra Papp,Italian Game C54 1.e4e e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 d5!? 7.exd5 Nxd5 by Renato Quintiliano,Reti Opening D02 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nc6 3.d4 Bf5 by Alexey Kuzmin,Tarrasch Defence D32 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ 10.Qxd2 0-0 11.Bc4 by Michal Krasenkow and at last the one from Igor Stohl on the Gruenfeld Indian 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 0-0 7.e4.
Other columns are “Special” Williams:Move by Move, Rogozenco: The Classic,Marin: Bishop vs Knight in the Nimzo Indian,Reeh: Tactics, Knaak Recent opening traps and at last the superb endgame contribution from the great Karsten Müller!
Included is a eye catching booklet from 49 pages and in two languages!
Conclusion: This is must have material!
Komodo13
2019
http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
Price Euro 99.90
System requirements: Minimum: Dual Core, 2 GB RAM, Windows 7 or 8.1, DirectX11, graphics card with 256 MB RAM, DVD-ROM drive, Windows Media Player 9 and Internet access.
Recommended: PC Intel i5 (Quadcore), 8 GB RAM, Windows 10, DirectX11, graphics card with 512 MB RAM or more, 100% DirectX10 compatible sound card, Windows Media Player 11, DVD-ROM drive and Internet access.
The new Komodo is completely rewritten and has become more an AlphaZero horror chess machine, because it finds moves that other engines never have seen before
It is all a combination of so called MCTS technology and multi-variation search techniques.
In 2018 Komodo 12 won the Computer Chess World Championships in Stockholm, Sweden in all three disciplines.
Interesting are the words from Komodo mastermind GM Larry Kaufman: "We have just released Komodo 13.01. The normal version is about ten Elo stronger than Komodo 12.3, while the MCTS version is about thirty Elo stronger on one thread, and over forty Elo stronger on four or more threads at blitz time controls. While the MCTS version is not yet as strong as normal Komodo (unless you are using MultiPV), we believe it is among the top five CPU engines, and we claim that it is the number one CPU engine when MultiPV is set to six or more. Komodo 13 MCTS is much better than previous versions in its ability to utilize hardware with many cores. Elo gains in MCTS mode from version 12.1.1 are in the 250 to 350 range."
included on the DVD:
Improved Komodo 13 multi-processor engine (64 Bit + 32 Bit)
Fritz 16 program interface
New Komodo 13 MCTS engine
6 months ChessBase Premium Account
The new Komodo 13 is more than Superb!
The Torre Attack
by Simon Williams
2019
http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
Price Euro 29.90
Minimum: Dual Core, 2 GB RAM, Windows 7 or 8.1, DirectX11, graphics card with 256 MB RAM, DVD-ROM drive, Windows Media Player 9, ChessBase 14/Fritz 16 or included Reader and internet access for program activation. Recommended: PC Intel i5 (Quadcore), 4 GB RAM, Windows 10, DirectX11, graphics card with 512 MB RAM or more, 100% DirectX10-compatible sound card, Windows Media Player 11, DVD-ROM drive and internet access for program activation.
Grandmaster Simon Williams provides the user of this DVD with an impressive coverage of the legendary Torre Attack 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5,that comes with three heavy loaded installation files,32 video files,60 extra games,91 Torre Attacks plus an extra Torre alternative repertoire file.
The Torre is an opening which is to be taken seriously but for white it is easy to learn, a fine example of this all is the following game from Alekhine,
Alekhine,Alexander - Bluemich,Max [A48]
Dresdener Schachverein 50Jahre Meister Dresden (2), 05.04.1926
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nbd2 0-0 5.e3 d6 6.Bc4 Nc6 7.c3 a6 8.Qe2 Bg4 9.h3 Bd7 10.Nh2 Qc8 11.f4 e5 12.fxe5 dxe5 13.0-0 Nh5 14.Rxf7 Rxf7 15.Bxf7+ Kxf7 16.Qc4+ Be6 17.d5 Bxd5 18.Rf1+ Nf6 19.Qxd5+ Qe6 20.Qf3 Qf5 21.Bxf6 1-0,14.Rxf7! is precisely calculated combination,which is entirely correct and guarantees victory for white,Skinner & Verhoeven
Alexander Alekhine's Chess Games 1902-1946 McFarland 1996.A mistake is here 14.Qf3? Given by Hans Müller Schachgenie Alejchin Mensch und Werk Berlin Frohnau 1953.
Video running time is an impressive 7 hours!
Conclusion:This is ChessBase on it’s best!
The Colle-Koltanowski System
by Simon William
2019
http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
Price Euro 29.90
Minimum: Dual Core, 2 GB RAM, Windows 7 or 8.1, DirectX11, graphics card with 256 MB RAM, DVD-ROM drive, Windows Media Player 9, ChessBase 14/Fritz 16 or included Reader and internet access for program activation. Recommended: PC Intel i5 (Quadcore), 4 GB RAM, Windows 10, DirectX11, graphics card with 512 MB RAM or more, 100% DirectX10-compatible sound card, Windows Media Player 11, DVD-ROM drive and internet access for program activation.
A other super interesting from the great Simon Williams is the following DVD on the Colle-Koltanowski System that runs with the moves 1.d4, 2.Nf3, 3.e3, 4.Bd3 and eventually b3)
Again a simple opening to learn and it often leads to middle games where white has a clear-cut plan,
after mobilising his pieces behind a solid rock of pawns he will wait for a good moment for a fierce kingside attack.
Some say the Colle is the safest of all opening systems for white.
This DVD or download comes with two download files,29 video files,60 extra game file,plus at last a extra tactic file from 52 entries.
A fine example of play that I found on this DVD is: Carlsen,Magnus (2840) - Giri,Anish (2773) [D05]
Wijk aan Zee (7.1), 21.01.2017
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.c3 b6 6.0-0 Bb7 7.Nbd2 Be7 8.b3 0-0 9.Bb2 Nbd7 10.Qe2 Bd6 11.c4 cxd4 12.exd4 Qe7 13.Ne5 Ba3 14.Bxa3 Qxa3 15.f4 Qb2 16.Nef3 dxc4 17.bxc4 Bxf3 18.Nxf3 Qxe2 19.Bxe2 ½-½.
Video running time is 5 hours!
Conclusion: Same quality as the above mentioned DVD,this is ChessBase on it’s best!