Playing
on the Flanks: A World Champion's Guide to the King's Indian, 2nd ed. (DVD), by Rustam Kasimdzhanov, ChessBase. Playing Time: 7 hours. $36.95 (ChessCafe Price: $30.95).
With seven hours of running time, and an update that includes many new games by Kasimdzhanov and other players, this is a real bargain, especially at the ChessCafe.com price of only $30.95. It is, as advertised, "a perfect tool for players looking for a complicated battle against 1.d4," as well as,"structural insights and an array of ideas." I've always admired the King's Indian Defense, although I never have been able to play it as well as I would like. In the annotations to one of the games, Kasimdzhanov notes that Bronstein once noted that the Evans Gambit was not just a chess opening, but a chess school, making the King's Indian the equivalent of a chess university! I find I must agree.
The material is divided as follows:
With so many lessons packed with ideas, it is difficult to select illustrative sections; nevertheless, here is small sampling of one of the update games that I find the most fascinating, with the annotations based on the ideas presented by Kasimdzhanov.
If you play or are considering playing the King's Indian, this DVD will be a big boon to your understanding. And as it is idea-based, many of the ideas here apply well to openings such as the Pirc and Modern as well. There appear to be a few flaws in the analysis, as noted above, but these are few and far between, and again, I think the idea-based approach trumps pure analysis in most cases when it comes to opening preparation (you can always fire up your engines for help with analysis, but most of us need help with ideas). Don't pass up the opportunity to learn some complicated ideas about chess from a world champion!
My assessment of this product: Great (five out of six stars)
