You’ve come a long way baby!
ChessBase
Magazine # 117 (April 2007) - reviewed by Michael Jeffreys
The earliest copy of ChessBase Magazine
that I own is # 58, from February 1997. In preparing this review I decided to
go back and “just for fun” take a look at what ChessBase Magazine was like a
decade ago!
The highlight of # 58 was the multimedia
clips of the infamous Kasparov vs. Deep Blue “revenge match.” However, because
back then the magazine came on a CD, space was at a premium and so Frederic
Friedel spends several paragraphs explaining the tough editing decisions he was
forced to make in order to include as much video of the match as possible. By
dropping the pixel size (thus making the clips smaller and lower quality) he was
able to pack an amazing 1 ¼ hours of video on to the CD—although the length of
each clip is quite short, 30 seconds to 2 minutes.
The CD includes several databases,
including (appropriately enough) the 12th Aegon “Man vs. Computer”
chess tournament. By the way, back then one of the computers that competed was
Fritz 4.1, which ended up with 1 win, 2 losses, and 5 draws! (Unlike Fritz 10, which
now routinely annihilates even the strongest GMs.) The CD also contains a
theory, middlegame, endgame, tactics and correspondence section.
While at the time this CD was cutting edge,
when you compare it to what can be done today, well, there is no comparison.
And it all has to do with advances in technology. Today’s ChessBase magazines
are delivered to you on a DVD, which can hold up to 7x the amount of
information as CDs. Also, the digital camera that records the video these days
produces a much higher quality image than a camera from 10 years ago. And so
with the extra space on the DVD, you now get high quality videos for extended
lengths of time, something that just was not possible on those early CDs.
Finally, for those of you who, like me,
care about visuals, the overall look and layout has also improved with time.
For example, here is a screen shot from CBM # 58:
Now compare the above with this screen shot
from CBM# 117:
You don’t need to be LeRoy Neiman to see
that the magazines current layout is much more attractive and easier to
navigate than it was 10 years ago. What’s more, not only has the look improved,
but the content has become a smorgasbord of chess goodies that will keep you
happily gobbling up rich material for hours.
To begin with, ChessBase Magazine # 117
comes with its own host. That’s right. GM Karsten Müller
in an 11 minute video segment takes you through all the main features of the
magazine. This is a nice touch and really gives you a good overview of what’s
on the DVD.
Besides giving you annotated games from two
super tournaments, Corus Wijk aan Zee and Morelia/Linares, you also get 12
Opening Surveys:
- 4.g4 in the
English by Michael Krasenkow,
- Fianchetto
against the Modern Defence by Mihail Marin
- 4.Bg5 and
5.f4 against the Pirc by Viktor Moskalenko
- A
Repertoire for White against the Sicilian Dragon by Dorian Rogozenko
- Sicilian Najdorf
6.f4 by Viktor Gavrikov
- French
Rubinstein 6.Bd3 by Hannes Langrock
- Sicilian Najdorf
Poisoned Pawn by Igor Stohl
- Sicilian Najdorf
Poisoned Pawn by Evgeny Postny
- The
Vietnamese Variation of the Slav (5…e6) by Laszlo Hazai & Peter Lukacs
- Hennig-Schara
Gambit in the Queen’s Gambit by Lubomir Ftacnik
- Grünfeld Defence, Taimanov Variation by Efstratios
Grivas
- Nimzo-Indian
4.Qc2 by Laszlo Hazai & Peter Lukacs
As you can see, there is truly something
for everyone here whether you play e4 or d4. And in the screenshot below, you
can see the nice layout of the surveys:
A handy feature is the “clickable” navigation
links off to the left side of the screen that allow you to jump from one
section of the DVD to another (see screen shot below):
Besides Müller, other video segments include Rustam
Kasimzhanov spending 25 minutes going over the super GM game between Ivanchuk
– Topolov from Morelia. Kasim
says he had a difficult time picking which game to show, but felt this one was
most impressive due the “apparent ease and strategic conviction” with which
Ivanchuk beat the Bulgarian’s Sicilian Najdorf Defense.
In another
clip, Alexei Shirov spends a full 34 minutes taking you through his win
over Miguel Illescas from Pomplona 2006. He said he didn’t know if
Illescas would use some of the preparation he had gone over while working with
Kramnik, or if he would just play his own line. The game features a Sicilian
which Alexei calls “extremely sharp.”
Other segments on the DVD include:
- Daniel
King’s Move by Move Column – Here you practice guessing
the moves played by Black in the game Svidler – Karjakin, Corus Wijk aan
Zee 2007. (Make sure you go up to game and click on enable training
so that the training timer window pops up when it’s suppose to.)
- Oliver Reeh
on Tactics - Includes tactics from the Aeroflot
Tournament in Moscow as well as
a video clip of his favorite combination.
- Peter Wells
on Strategy - Features the British GM giving a
written lecture with examples on “The delicate art of handling the king.”
- Karsten Müller on the Endgame -
The
German GM takes you through 7 instructive endgames via video clips.
- Telechess – is on Correspondence chess.
- Rainer Knaak
on Opening Traps - A trap in the Sicilian.
- And New
DVD’s – Sample clips of 7 new ChessBase products.
In addition to
the DVD, you get a 22 page manuscript (with a black and white photo of Anand
playing Carlsen on the cover) which highlights the contents of the magazine in
written form.
The Bottom Line
ChessBase Magazine
has come a long way. Whereas the CD once limited the size and quality of the
video clips, with DVD this is no longer a problem. As a result the video
segments are large and crystal clear (and you get over two hours of them!). The
overall look as well as the graphical layout has also improved greatly. Today’s
magazine is a real pleasure to go through. And while not perfect (when I
clicked on the link Ivanchuk – Topolov it brought me to the game Anand –
Svidler!?, and the “Clickable” Navigation Links appear only in German on
some of the pages), ChessBase Magazine # 117 is loaded with great
material on all phases of the game and will bring you hours of pleasure as you
work your way through all the instructive content. On the Scale of 1-10, ChessBase
Magazine # 117 gets an 8.5.
