7/6/2011 – Some chess DVDs take awhile to get interesting, but within the first ten seconds
of GM Daniel King's new DVD he presents a position for which the viewer has
to make a decision regarding what to do. In Chess
Cafe Steve Goldberg shows us this position and writes of the product: "It's a quick
moving, highly instructive DVD that is typical of King's Power Play
series." Review.
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Your key to fresh ideas, precise analyses and targeted training! Everyone uses ChessBase, from the World Champion to the amateur next door. It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.
Playing styles in chess are an important and thus often discussed topic. GM Dr. Karsten Müller and GM Luis Engel take up a model by GM Lars Bo Hansen based on 4 player types - namely ‘activists’, ‘pragmatics’, ‘theoreticians’ and so-called ‘reflectors’.
€29.90
King
and Pawn Essentials
By Steve Goldberg
Power Play 15: Practical Pawn Endgames, by Daniel King (DVD), ChessBase
2011, Playing Time: Four hours, $35.95 (ChessCafe Price: $29.95)
In the introductory segment, King identifies four aspects he intends to cover:
Calculation – this is central to king and pawn endings.
Knowledge of the basics – the "building blocks" of king
and pawn endings.
Knowledge of motifs – e.g., triangulation and opposition.
Creativity – such as a tactical idea coming into play that "can
turn a position on its head."
Following the introduction, thirty-six test positions are then presented in
order of difficulty. These can be examined either at this point in the DVD or,
more likely, after the subsequent nine instructional segments. These nine videos
cover topics such as
Basic king and pawn endgame elements, such as simple opposition and the
nature of rook-pawn (a- and h-pawn) drawish positions.
Space advantage, by which King refers to obtaining a dominant king position
or having advanced pawns, whether passed or not.
"Reserve tempi" (waiting pawn moves).
Triangulation.
Effectively utilizing an outside passed pawn.
Tactical considerations of 3-on-3 and related pawn formations.
Strong use of the king, including "shouldering" away the enemy
king.
Stalemate possibilities.
The latter portion of Power Play 15: Practical Pawn Endgames contains,
ostensibly, solutions to the thirty-six test positions. However, the viewer
will find only thirty-three test position solution segments.
In nearly every case, a separate video segment is presented for the solution
to each test position. However, two test positions are included within one of
the "solution" video segments, and inexplicably, solutions to two
of the test positions (Larsen-Wade and Socko-LeKieu Thien Kim) seem not to be
presented at all. Fortunately, the game files for both of these test positions
are included in the database, so an enterprising viewer can still find the game
continuation, but without King's explanations. This is an unfortunate production
error that mars an otherwise sparkling DVD. Unless this was an isolated problem
in my copy, I would advise the ChessBase staff to quickly correct this omission.
Both the instructional segments and the test positions offer examples of very
practical play; for example, a case in which a player must decide whether to
offer to trade into a king and pawn ending. Will the resultant endgame be favorable
or unfavorable? This is a pertinent question that can frequently make the difference
between a win or loss on your scoresheet.
Let's look, for instance, at King's treatment of the important topic of triangulation
in the "Pawn Endings 5" segment. He begins with the following position
from Alekhine-Yates 1910:
The question King asks is, "Should White play Re5?" It's the kind
of position and kind of question that arises frequently. Knowing how to correctly
answer will result in many favorable outcomes in your games.
Indeed, King answers, White should play 40.Re5, because he
can force a winning endgame. But there are a few pitfalls along the way. Black
must respond 40…Rxe5, and White replies 41.fxe5.
Now if Black plays 41…Ke6, White follows with 42.Kd4 and Black is in
zugzwang and loses. So instead, Black played 41…Ke7.
White must be careful – if he responds with the natural-looking 42.Kd4,
Black answers with 42…Ke6 (triangulation) and now it's White who is zugzwang,
with a draw as the likely result. Or, if White plays 42.Kb4, a race occurs,
again with a likely draw. Instead, White played 42.Kd3, so
that if 42…Ke6, 43.Kd4 (triangulation again) wins.
Black avoided this with 42…Kd7.
King points out that if White follows with 43.Kc3, Black responds with 43…Ke7,
and nothing has been gained. Instead, White played 43.e4. Black
can't capture with 43…fxe4+ because of 44.Kxe4 Ke6 45.Kd4. So Black is
forced to play 43…f4.
Play then continued 44.Ke2 Ke6.
Now White must be very careful. If he blunders with 45.Kf3, Black captures
with 45…Kxe5 and White actually loses.
The correct move is the triangulation move 45.Kf2. Now Black
has nothing better than 45…Kxe5, after which White plays
46.Kf3 and wins.
Despite the apparent omission of two of the test position solutions, Power
Play 15: Practical Pawn Endgames is an entertaining and informative DVD
sure to be helpful to most intermediate-level players. Few players are sufficiently
competent in endgame play, and this presentation will help provide a good foundation
to build upon.
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Throughout my playing career I have found the Hedgehog one of the most difficult type of positions to master. The basic aim of this video is to improve understanding of these complex positions and to help tournament players score better.
Studying this video course should greatly improve the viewer’s handling of dynamic pawn positions! As with all my other video courses material here is predominantly aimed at improving players and tournament players.
€29.90
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