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In addition to opening knowledge and positional and strategic ideas, a player must always be able to test their own ideas and plans in concrete terms. The FritzTrainer is structured according to the individual techniques of these calculations and is particularly suitable as an overview. Each chapter contains a short theoretical text alongside the chapter title, which is then taken up and explained in a video by Czech grandmaster David Navara.
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Navara has selected only exercises from practice for his FritzTrainer, which is in keeping with his philosophy of prioritising the practitioner above all else, with the help of a pragmatic approach to variation calculation. The course therefore always includes tips on how to calculate from the perspective of a practical game, so that aspects such as time management are not neglected.
David Navara's explanations of each topic are short and concise. He gets straight to the point and doesn't get bogged down in endless explanations. This allows you to capture the technique as a small building block for your own practice and incorporate it into your own training when solving tactical problems or in your own training in calculating variations.
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The Fritz Trainer is intended purely as a lecture, providing an overview of the technique of calculating variations. In addition to the exercises discussed and solved during David Navara's theory chapters, which provide an example of the presented technique, there is unfortunately no database of exercises that could have been used to test the students' understanding of the theoretical concepts.
The only additional material is the extensive and well-structured database, which is already sufficiently prepared for your own training or in your club.
With "Your Calculation Compass," David Navara contributes to the modern treatment of variation calculation, highlighting developments since Kotov's groundbreaking work as well as important building blocks that can serve as a guide for ambitious chess players during their own games. Navara always keeps the practical aspect of a chess game in mind. The lack of exercises is the only negative point I see, as after reviewing the FritzTrainer, I would have liked to practice what I had learned directly with selected exercises.
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Positive:
✔ Theory of variation calculation
✔ Logical and methodical structure
✔ Clear explanations by Navara
✔ Structured database for reuse
✔ Focus on a pragmatic approach for tournament players
Negative:
✔ Missing exercises on the respective topic
David Navara (*1985 in Prague) is the most successful chess player in Czech history and has been part of the extended world elite for many years. He was supported early on by renowned coaches such as Luděk Pachman and won numerous national and international youth titles. At the age of 14, he became an International Master and earned the Grandmaster title in 2002.
Navara is a multiple-time Czech national champion and has represented his country at every Chess Olympiad since 2002, usually on the top board. His international successes include reaching the quarterfinals of the 2011 World Cup and winning the European Blitz Championship in 2022. Alongside his tournament career, he studied logic at Charles University in Prague and has been a full-time chess professional since 2010. Navara is known for his fairness and his deep, strategic style of play.
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