1/29/2018 – Review: Certain legendary champions form the foundation on which every player should learn and improve one's chess. Morphy is definitely among the first players one must learn from, as his games can be used for teaching, for learning on one's own, or simply for enjoying the beauty of human creativity. Thanks to a team of ChessBase titled players we have a selection of the most beautiful combinations, endgames, and openings played by Morphy.

1/6/2018 – The road to becoming a better player passes through many stages. One of these is predicting the future endgame in which one will enter. This is the true mastery, not memorising 25 moves of the Najdorf, but knowing which pieces will be advantageous to keep on the board, and which are better to let go. Through many painful losses, one can discover how difficult the game becomes when, for instance, the dust settles on the board and we find ourselves facing a good bishop with a bad knight. Now thanks to this DVD one can develop into a better player through many practical examples which guide the player through the maze of decisions we need to make when choosing what to exchange, or not, in a tournament game.

1/5/2018 – Only a few chess enthusiasts will remember the name of Paul Felix Schmidt thought Schmidt was one of the world's best players in the 1930s and 1940s, and equal to his Estonian countryman Paul Keres. A new biography by Eva Regina Magacs and Michael Negele invites you to get to know Paul Felix Schmidt and chess in his time.

1/1/2018 – Chess is mainly a strategic game because of the pawn structures. Different pawn structures require varying approaches. Strategy is the human concept since unlike an engine, we can't find the right move through brute force. We need to know a given pawn structure, and the plans it engenders. In the past we needed years to learn which were the correct plans depending on which pawn structures we encountered in our games. Now, thanks to this DVD made by one of the most expert trainers in the world, we can learn through the videos, and reviewing curated games, to understand how to deal with the different pawn structures, and reach the next level. Davide Nastasio digs in.

12/22/2017 – Davide Nastasio's latest review turned out to be more like a theoretical article. The reason is simple: If one is serious about playing the Stonewall Dutch, he or she must consider the homework duty which comes with learning this quite interesting opening. The fact that the Dutch is employed routinely by the top players in the world shows how such opening is still alive and dangerous for those who are unprepared! l'Ami is quite honest in his positional evaluations and recommendations. However, be ready for a bumpy ride!

12/20/2017 – Jump at the chance to add some variety to your opening repertoire, with an opening which can be learned in five hours, and will last a lifetime! Davide Nastasio has the review of GM Simon Williams, as he introduces us to the Four Knights, an opening from classical times, which can still bring many wins!

12/18/2017 – Botvinnik has many quotes which well describe this book. One which comes to mind is the following: "Chess mastery essentially consists of analyzing Chess positions accurately." Often as chess players we look for the miraculous shortcut, which will improve our strength, without putting in the necessary hard work to achieve it. Instead, the following review shows how one cannot become good at chess, without the painstaking work of analysis!

12/18/2017 – For an adult player Christmas can come early — In this case more than a year ago, May of 2016, when reviewer Davide Nastasio discovered Magic Of Tactics 2. Here's his take just in time for the holidays. There's also a corresponding book, which Davide will look at in a follow-up post.

12/16/2017 – The most well-known quote by Tarrasch, if memory serves me well, is, "he who fears an Isolated Queen Pawn should give up chess." There are many steps one must follow in order to become a chess master. While tactics are fundamental, at a certain point it becomes obvious one needs to know how to treat pawn formations resulting from certain openings. The Isolated Queen Pawn (IQP) results from many different openings, hence the need to know it. When the topic of the DVD is the IQP and Tactics, one knows this is a DVD to have at all costs!

11/29/2017 – The road to mastery is a difficult one, but one aspect everyone agrees on, is related to how mastering some pawn structures can help us grow as chess players. Here we have a repertoire to use against the usual frenemies we play against in tournament, and a pawn structure whose deep understanding will bring us to a new level. Davide Nastasio has the review...

11/24/2017 – Mihail Marin is considered one of the premier opening theorists and treats all his topics with great care and thoroughness. Hannes Langrock has watched his DVD on the main variation of the King's Indian Defense. Langrock calls it "an ambitious classical repertoire...the analysis is quite thorough and complete."

11/11/2017 – Curiosity, asking ourselves questions, engaging actively our opening study — what we really need on the road to chess mastery. In this review Davide Nastasio was curious to discover what made GM Bauer begin to play the Scandinavian, and thanks to Megabase 2017 he shares his findings in this review, through showing some critical games everyone should know.

11/6/2017 – Pieces are tossed in like fuel to burning fire, a king’s pawn shelter ripped apart. One player sees bone-chilling nightmares; his opponent couldn’t hold his thumping heart. More pieces come marauding in, hacking off every defender. The king begins running for his life; in the end, it’s caught en prise. An aesthetic murder is engineered. It’s checkmate! For those romantics who crave for such excitement in their chess games, Robert Ris has selected examples from his professional coaching practice with the aim of helping them understand the method behind what seems madness. | Graphic: 4fingerprodigy

11/3/2017 – Passion and hard work are the secrets to chess success, if to these two ingredients one adds a Chessbase DVD created by a successful Indian IM, the result is nearly certain: big chess improvement! ChessBase contributor Davide Nastasio takes a deep dive into IM Tania Sachdev's general strategy DVD, in this review.

10/25/2017 – David Bronstein is a chess legend. In his critical memoir, The Rise and Fall of David Bronstein, Genna Sosonko shares memories of the life and the career of the grandmaster who has inspired the chess world with his ideas and his games, and who in 1951 almost became World Champion. | Photo (right): Anne Fürstenberg

10/21/2017 – If you are looking for a new opening against 1.d4, look no further! Here the review of an exciting DVD made by GM Williams for keeping our repertoire always spicy and fresh! Williams excels at communicating the ideas behind the openings, and here brings a dose of recent chess history to the table, noting the influence of Alexander Morozevich in the resurgence of The Chigorin.

10/19/2017 – That's the tagline of the quarterly print magazine, which soon celebrates its one year anniversary. The 150+ page colourful glossy "Issue No. 4" recently arrived at the ChessBase office, and includes a dose of "endgame strategy" from Karsten Mueller, a review of Simon Williams' DVD on The London System and an intriguing article on Tablebases by Jon Edwards, among extensive coverage of tournaments, player interviews, and educational features.

10/17/2017 – A detailed review from Prof. Nagesh Havanur. Among other things this issue includes all games from super tournaments, Altibox Norway Chess and FIDE Grand Prix tournaments with winners, Levon Aronian and Ding Liren annotating decisive battles. Our reviewer re-examines the Aronian-Carlsen encounter and also sets up a little test for young readers. The magazine offers a bonanza for lovers of rapid play. There are games from Norway, Paris and Leuven blitz events. 1968 games with 11 opening surveys from Spanish to Semi-Slav. Not to be missed.

10/4/2017 – The Najdorf Sicilian is one of the most popular openings and top players such as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave or Ian Nepomniachtchi win game after game with it. But you do not have to be a top player to enjoy this opening. On his DVD "The complex Najdorf" Viktor Bologan offers a balanced and comprehensive introduction to the Najdorf. Christoph Menezes had a look.

9/20/2017 – In an attempt to sidestep mainline opening theory, a lot of today’s 1.d4 players have switched to systems like the Trompowsky or the London. Therefore players — whether amateur or professional GMs — can no longer rely on their Nimzo-Indians or Queens Gambits and have had to look for antidotes to these systems. One such club player, Davide Nastasio, got his hands on Daniel King's Powerplay 25. Going through the contents of the DVD, he found that King's work not only provides an easy-to-learn remedy against these systems but also helps amateurs get a better understanding of themes like pawn breaks, destroying opponent's centre, opening and closing lines, etc.

8/30/2017 – At the RTU Open in Riga the drawing of lots gave me a very special opponent. I was to play against Alexei Shirov, one of my chess idols as a junior. The chance to play him was definitely my tournament highlight. I knew that I was the underdog but I did not want to submit meekly. But what to play against Shirov? Fortunately, Peter Heine Nielsen's new DVD "The Semi-Slav" offered help. | Photo: Pascal Simon

7/31/2017 – In the McCutcheon Variation of the French Defense (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4) Black sharpens the play very early and indicates his wish to win. Opening expert Rustam Kasimdzhanov shows how best to do so. Our reviewer Christian Höthe was impressed.

7/26/2017 – Rustam Kasimdzhanov was FIDE World Champion in 2004, a renowned opening expert and a successful trainer. He was a long-time second of Vishy Anand and helped him to prepare for several World Championship matches. For ChessBase, Kasimdzhanov has published a number of popular opening DVDs. Fiona Sieber had a close look at his DVD about the Main Line of the Classical French.

7/7/2017 – Grandmaster Timur Gareyev is full of original and creative ideas. In life and in chess. At the board he is always ready for an unexpected attack. His DVD about the Trompowsky Attack (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5) shows his passion for active, at times even explosive play. Christian Höthe, a long-time "Tromp" follower had a look at the DVD.