Rustam Kasimdzhanov: Endgames for Experts
In this DVD Rustam Kasimdzhanov shows some
of the most instructive strategical endgames that he has played. Many important
themes are covered like a pair of bishops, playing against a bishop pair,
centralized king, initiative, how to play with material advantage, how to play
for practical chances, finding a plan and how to defend a worse endgame. Some
of the games presented where of huge importance like Kasimdzhanov´s wins
against Adams in the final
match of the World Championship.

Generally I find this topic suits
Kasimdzhanov´s style very well and I find this DVD the best Multimedia DVD that
he has done. Many of the games are true beauties like the game that he won with
the bishop pair against Baklan. In this game the way to victory was to force
Baklan to press his passed c-pawn forward in order to occupy squares behind it
with the bishops. The final position in his game against Stevic is also pretty.
Kasimdzhanov patiently and quite deeply
explains why he chose the moves he played and it is easy to follow his logic of
reasoning.
The Bottom Line: Endgame Strategy for Experts gets 5 out of
5 possible stars. Many instructive and beautiful strategical endgames are
presented in a way that is easy to understand and a lot to be learned from.
Rustam Kasimdzhanov: Strategy - Step by Step
In this DVD Rustam Kasimdzhanov analyses
many of his best strategic games in depth. He explains accurately why he played
the moves he chose and gives excellent insight into the thinking prozess of a
very strong player and a former World Champion.

He starts with his famous win over Anand in
the World Championship tournament in San Luis 2005. Kasimdzhanov explains this
game extremely deeply, but it also takes more time than I have ever seen a single
game been given on a DVD or more than one hour for this single game.
Click here for replay a sample video from the Kasimdzhanov-Anand lectures.
In about 4
hours there are 6 games analysed. I have also never seen a strong player take
so much time to explain in detail very high level games in a manner that should
be understandable to the average club player.
The Bottom Line: The DVD gets 4 out of 5 possible stars. Generally
I found the DVD quite instructive and helpful and give insight into a realy
important topic that is how one can select ones moves, specially in a
strategical situation.This is arguably the most important aspect of chess, but
also the one which is most difficult and hardest to learn. What can be improved
is to connect the analysis better to middle game positions that are the topic
of current theoretical discussion. Generally it is quite possible that I have
learned more from this DVD than any other.
Review by GM Hedinn Steingrimsson
More video training with GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov: