New: Kasparov – How I became World Champion

New: Kasparov – How I became World Champion

Who is the best player in the history of chess, Fischer or Kasparov? A question which cannot be fully resolved. Fischer and Kasparov have a lot in common – for example, both World Champions have always played for a win. Kasparov never made a secret of the fact that Fischer was his great idol, whom he emulated and not only with his choice of openings such as the Sicilian Najdorf or the King's Indian.

But there are differences. Unlike Fischer Kasparov is still with us, even after his retirement from tournament chess. And he feels an obligation to the chess world, to pass his knowledge on – for example with this new DVD...

Only rarely do chess fans have an opportunity to get a first-hand account of the success story of a World Champion – as it is presented on this new DVD by Garry Kasparov. In 16 videos, containing more than six hours of material, the 13th World Champion looks back at his chess career, from his first junior tournaments in which he still played under his father's name "Weinstein", to his aborted World Championship match in 1984/85 against Anatoly Karpov.

Kasparov shows key games, among which are a few setbacks and a lot of brilliancies. Even today, 30 or more years later, many of his winning combinations are still stunning. Kasparov also treats his public to a number of little known details, such as a funny story in which another player called young Garry nothing but "g4" for one year, because this square played a crucial role in a game in which Garry overlooked a chance to win a piece against him; or how Kasparov learnt a lot about rook endings from Bent Larsen – unfortunately in a game against the top Danish player. Of course, Kasparov also tells us how he was ousted in his first candidates cycle but in the end could still play against Korchnoi. In the last video on the DVD Kasparov finally talks about the aborted World Championship match against Karpov – with lots of self-criticism.

Preparing for a recording in the ChessBase studio (with multimedia expert Pascal Simon)

Almost in passing the viewer also learns a lot about chess, and that from a player who understands it like no other. To watch how Kasparov virtually reveals live which considerations made him play this or that move is simply fascinating.

Training with Garry Kasparov

• Video 1: Kasparov shows early games, which he played under the name Weinstein. [45 min]
• Video 2: Junior tournaments Various successes in junior tournaments, qualifying for the U-16 World Junior Championships. [30 min]
• Video 3: First steps and success in non-junior tournaments, e.g. Daugavpils 1978. [39 min]
• Video 4: Kasparov plays his first Soviet Championship and afterwards wins the tournament in Banja Luka as unrated player. [26 min]
• Video 5: Winning the World Junior Championship in Dortmund 1980 and playing his first Chess Olympiad in Malta. [19 min]
• Video 6: Team tournament in Moscow, in which Kasparov played his first games against Karpov. [16 min]
• Video 7: Landing in the middle of the field in his first super tournament in Tilburg 1981. [15 min]
• Video 8: Kasparov finishes second in the USSR-Championship in Frunze 1981. [23 min]
• Video 9: Convincing victory at the tournament in Bugojno 1982. [8 min]
• Video 10:Winning the Interzonal tournament in Moscow and qualifying for the candidates matches, Chess Olympiad Lucerne. [20 min]
• Video 11: Winning against Beliavsky in the candidates quarter-final in Moscow 1983. [18 min]
• Video 12: Chess politics and the tournament in Niksic: Kasparov reports how he was eliminated from the candidates without making a single move. [19 min]
• Video 13: Candidates semi-final against Korchnoi in London: Kasparov won after a hard struggle. [13 min]
• Video 14: The candidates final against Smyslov was not as clear-cut as the result suggests. [11 min]
• Video 15: In the match USSR against the Rest of the World Kasparov won against Timman. [10 min]
• Video 16: Kasparov talks about the circumstances of the aborted match against Karpov, Moscow 1985, and shows key games. [31 min]

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