Jacob Aagaard: Basic Positional Ideas

In a new Chess Media System DVD Danish IM Jacob Aagaard teaches us the most important principles of positional play. Aagaard's DVD contains six lectures which deal with weak squares, good and bad pieces, prophylaxis and pawn weaknesses. These are concepts which should belong in the toolbox of every chess player. The lectures are followed by 50 exercises, in which you can also always look for the solution yourself. In total, there are more than four hours of high class video training on this DVD.

About the author: Danish International Master Jacob Aagaard, 30, has already published a whole array of chess books, including the prize-winning "Excelling at chess". For ChessBase he made “Attacking Chess I and II”, both published in the series “Fritz Trainer”.

Price: € 29.99

Glasgow 3rd floor Chess Radio

From a home studio in Glasgow International Masters Jacob Aagaard and John Shaw will comment on recent and past chess events in a weekly Radio Show on the Chessbase server, starting Wednesday the 17th of November at 20:30 server time (20.30 CET, 7.30 pm GMT, 14.30 US East Coast time).

In their first show the hosts will discuss the Russian Championship currently underway in Moscow, where the favourites are Kasparov, Svidler, Grischuk and Dreev, while Kramnik and Karpov both cancelled their participation right before the beginning of the tournament.

IM Jacob Aagaard is one of the best known chess writers. His personal favourites among his own works are Excelling at Chess Calculation and Excelling at Technical Chess, both published by Everyman Chess, as well as Experts vs. the Sicilian by Quality Chess Europe and Attacking Chess 1&2 (CDs) Attacking Chess 1&2 (CDs) by Chessbase. Jacob has in 2004 made three GM norms and hopes to gain the necessary 50 Elo points for the GM title in 2005.

IM John Shaw has written two books for Everyman Chess and co-edited Experts vs. the Sicilian. He has represented Scotland on many occasions, recently in the Olympiad in Calvia, where he obtained his second GM-norm. As John has once had 2500 in Elo, it is his hope that he will complete his Grandmaster title in 2005 with a third GM-norm.

Together with Jacob, John constitutes two thirds of the new chess publisher Quality Chess Europe