Reviewed in TWIC: ChessBase Training DVDs and Downloads

For my new set of columns, I'm going to begin by fulfilling an old promise to discuss some of the scores of DVDs from ChessBase which I've watched parts or all of over the years. I'll try to pick out good ones, with a variety of authors, and I'll include some recent video products which are only available by download. It's amazing how much is out there: according to the ChessBase website, in the 'training' category alone (which doesn't include programs, databases, CBM Magazine, etc.), there are 331 DVDs, including 189 on openings, 71 on middlegames, 17 on endgames, 19 on 'World Championship chess, six 'Fritz and [X]' elementary DVDs, and 24 '60 minutes' videos (described below). The great majority of these are four hours or more, sometimes up to eight hours (e.g., Davies' English Opening DVD).

Here I'll discuss the type of videos I've used myself in teaching and writing, i.e., those about openings and middlegames (e.g., the 'Fritztrainer' DVDs). But in the past, I've reviewed ChessBase Magazine several times, as you can find in the TWIC archives. I've also written about ChessBase DVDs which deal with historical/biographical subjects; in fact, those are my personal favourites. In this column, for example, I have already looked at the Anand and Kramnik autobiographical DVDs, Kortchnoi's My Life for Chess, Nigel Short's Greatest Hits Volumes 1 and Greatest Hits Volumes 2, and Hort's DVD about playing against the World Champions. In the older days of the CD, I also very much liked 'The Greatest Tournaments in the History of Chess' and the World Championships CDs, as well as the World Champions series by Huebner and other ChessBase staff. The nice thing is that such material doesn't become dated, so you can enjoy it on its own merits.