11/9/2020 – The Netflix series "The Queen's Gambit" continues to be popular with critics and public alike. For Simon Williams, the Ginger GM, the title of the series evoked memories, and in this "Simon Says" show he looks back to his experiences with the Queen's Gambit, an opening that has been part of his life. | Watch "Simon Says" on-demand and with a ChessBase Premium account). (Normally 18:00 UTC (19:00 CET / 14:00 ET).
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This DVD concentrates on the increasingly popular 5.Bf4 variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined and gives White a dynamic and aggressive weapon against Black's set-up.
Mastering piece setups in various pawn structures and transitioning to a dominant middlegame, this course equips you with the insight and flexibility to outmanoeuvre your opponents in the Closed Catalan.
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The Queen's Gambit
Simon Says: "In this Simon Says I look at how the Queen's Gambit has been a part of my life and how I have incorporated different ideas in this opening to become a more successful player. The main concepts that I have used are very aggressive in nature, involving Queenside castling and then throwing the g- and h- pawns up the board. To learn more about these ideas please do watch the show!"
Here's the warm-up: "What did White play in this position?"
(See the full game and the solution below)
This week's show
You can also watch the show in the archive with a ChessBase Account. Don't have an account? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!
Rules of thumb are the key to everything when you are having to set the correct course in a complex endgame. In this final DVD of his series on the endgame, our endgame specialist introduces you to the most important of these rules of thumb.
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About Simon Says
In early 2015 Simon Williams launched his own show called "Simon says" after producing the first of his ChessBase video series. On a weekly basis (with breaks for tournaments and chess events) Simon entertains the chess world with attacking ideas, play strategies and witty manoeuvres on the chess board.
ChessBase Premium members have permanent access to the videos in the archive. Over 60 shows and counting have been published to date. Their lengths differ but most of them run for about 60 minutes.
Opening with the Chigorin shows your intention to play for a win right from the outset. After 2...Nc6 Black's pieces fly into the game putting pressure on White's position from a very early stage. This opening is ideal for the type of player who strives for an unconvential yet attacking game right from the start.
Still more Simon
Simon's latest DVD series, "The Exciting Budapest Gambit" is now available. Check it out, starting with the sample below:
Williams main teaching method behind this set of two DVDs is to teach you some simple yet effective set ups, without the need to rely on memorising numerous complicated variations.
Simon Williams presents the London System, providing the theory you need for your games (7 h 16 min). In addition Williams also introduces into typical tactics and patterns in a seperate product. (53 games, 96 training questions and 3h 14 min)
Simon WilliamsSimon Williams became a IM in 1998 and a GM in 2008. For the last 15 years he has concentrated on teaching, playing and making instructional chess DVDs. He also has a lot of experience commentating about chess. Being the regular commentator at the strongest and best open tournament in the world, Gibraltar. Simon Williams is the author of numerous chess books. His first chess book. 'Play the Classical Dutch' got voted, in New in Chess, as one of the top 10 chess books of all time. His playing style is very aggressive, preferring attacking chess to positional grinds. No wonder he produced two widely acclaimed ChessBase DVDs on the King's Gambit. More information about Williams can be found on his website.
The technical details we see in "The Queen's Gambit" (as they relate to chess itself) are above reproach - both Garry Kasparov and Bruce Pandolfini acted as consultants. It's difficult to understand why the Farcebook GMs had a problem with it. And the opening scenes were wonderful!
The film contains many astute insights into chess and the emotions it arouses. It is blessed with superb actors and rivetting special effects. Certainly the non-players who watch it will come away with a new awareness of the game, including the stresses that players have to cope with.
We should simply acknowledge that "The Queen's Gambit" will likely bring many newcomers into the game, whilst re-kindling the enthusiasm of any chess players presently suffering from a bad patch of mediocre results!
Karbuncle 11/9/2020 11:15
I liked the series, but I have noticed a lot of GMs on Facebook saying they didn't like it and thought it was stupid after the first few episodes. It's one of those series where it's worth watching the complete set before forming an opinion on it.
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In this 60 Minutes, Andrew Martin guides you through all the key ideas you need to know to play with confidence. Whether you’re looking to surprise your opponents, or simply want a straightforward weapon against e5, the Centre Attack has you covered.
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