From
Cover to Cover –
ChessBase Magazine 120
Review by Edwin Lam Choong Wai
In this From Cover to Cover column, we will take a look at the latest
ChessBase Magazine DVD. This has been an eagerly anticipated edition, as it
contained the full annotations of all the games from the recently concluded
World Chess Championship in Mexico by GM Mihail Marin. To those of you who had
followed his excellent commentary coverage of all the Mexico world championship
games on ChessBase.com, I do advise you to get hold of this CBM #120.
GM Marin’s initial commentaries on the ChessBase website during the duration
of the Mexico tournament were made in a typical “real time” manner.
But, here in CBM #120, GM Marin had more time to microscopically investigates
each and every game in the tournament, and uncover novelties (for example, Leko’s
tenth move Bg4 in his game against Morozevich from Round 7 as well as Anand’s
16th move, g6, in his Round 4 game also against Morozevich), subtleties and
missed wins in the games from Mexico. GM Marin also analyses all the possible
continuations and historically reviews all past moves in each critical game
from the 2007 world championship.
Anand wins, while Shirov annotates…
Of course, the highlight of the Mexican world championship coverage in CBM
#120 is Anand’s steady march towards the world title. And, rightfully
so, GM Shirov chose to annotate one of Anand’s wins for CBM #120 –
the exciting round two battle against Levon Aronian. Shirov’s commentaries
were delivered using the ChessBase video format, and this is the first time
I saw this attacking genius at work, analyzing a game. In the 27 minute video
Shirov spoke very well (especially considering that English is not his mother
tongue), and although he looked rather camera-shy – refusing to focus
straight towards the camera – he was excellent throughout in his commentary
and analysis of the game. I particularly liked his spontaneous spark of ideas
as he walk the viewer through the moves. In fact, you can see throughout the
video moments where he furrows his brow, thinking deeply in a certain position,
and then coming up with his “But, I wait a minute…” expression.
It showed that he worked on the ideas over the board without any pre-prepared
script. And, this is good for the viewer, as I noticed that Shirov did find
some interesting possibilities for White in this variation (for example, White
could have played 19.fxg4, instead of 19.Kh1 in the actual game, followed by
19…hxg4 20.Bd6 Qxh4 21.Rf4), which would have made Anand’s task
harder than in the actual game. Also, one more point to note, is the suggestion
of 21.fxg4 made by Shirov as an alternative to Aronian’s 21.Nd5 move.
Shirov’s suggestion of transferring the white rook from d1 to h6 (via
d6) seems dangerous for the black king considering the position of White’s
queen on c2. Go and get the DVD to check out Shirov’s full analysis! Besides
this game, Shirov presented another three videos in CBM #120, from his battles
against Korchnoi, Ponomariov and Akopian in the Carlsbard tournament. Again,
Shirov is excellent in his explanation of the openings and the analyses of the
critical positions.
You can compare GM Mihail Marin's "real time" commentary with
Shirov's studio analysis
Other highlights
The other highlights from this CBM #120 DVD includes ChessBase TV coverage
of the World Championship with Kasimdzhanov and Gustafsson, game annotations
by Magnus Carlsen, Van Wely, Radjabov and Onischuk from the 40th Biel Chess
Festival, as well as Evgeny Alekseev and Inarkiev’ annotations from their
victories in the Russia-China match.
But, that is not all. There are also Daniel King’s "Move by Move",
Oliver Reeh’s Tactics, Karsten Muller’s Endgames and Rainer Knaak’s
Opening Trap. Last, but not least, there are a dozen opening surveys contained
in this CBM #120. From the English Defence to the Czech Benoni, Stonewall, Sicilian,
Ruy Lopez and the King’s Indian, there is something here in the CBM #120
for everyone’s opening taste.
Verdict
With the spread of content from the world championships as well as instructional
annotations and videos on the openings and endgames, this CBM #120 is suitable
for chess lovers, enthusiasts, players and coaches, alike. It is even suitable
for anyone who simply wants to collect a piece of the history – referring
to none other than Anand’s triumph at the World Chess Championship.
ChessBase
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