Nietzsche wrote on 05/30/09 at 00:59:59:

Seems to me that presenting the moves of what he considers the main line would take about the same time. Thanks all you guys for saving my money on D's stuff.

Off the CK I know, but I have tried to watch big D's English DVD twice but only succeded in falling asleep twice ...

nyoke wrote on 05/25/09 at 18:58:13:


Can't say I'm familiar with Dzindzi's stuff, but if the comparisons to Schiller are at all accurate, I also agree completely. I bought a couple of Schiller books, when I first started studying chess, and even then I could figure out that they were junk. It's amazing how people like that are still able to sell books after so long. 

tops, I could not agree more. I mean ; yes we really should provide reviews for potential buyers on this line of products.

Huh... You definitely did say something.
I agree. I have seen a lot of awful videos from Dzindzi. Watching his videos, I often get the feeling of being treated as complete idiot.
My question is: are there any good works by him? For example, Chess Openings For _Black_, Explained is good?

RE: "I looked at this. Quite good, but better is to buy Houska's book. "

That is a massive understatement!!

I am not kidding when I say watching "Dude, where's my car?" will teach you as much about facing the Panov-Botvinnik as this DVD.  But let's start from the beginning...

Against the mainline 3.Nc3, the DVD suggests the same line Houska recommended (but with much, much less analysis).
Eugene does a nice job of explaining the basic ideas in the mainlines (but does overlook some key responses by White).  This part is quite good.  However, this is the only good section of the DVD.  

The DVD doesn't cover Advance variation in any depth at all.
After the sharp 4.Nc3, they simply list the first moves from the ever-quoted Topalov-Gelfand 2002 and basically say "its in all the books, go get one. We can't cover this in a DVD."  
They don't cover major sidelines (such as 7.Be3) at all nor do they ever explain the middlegame plans or suggest WHICH books to read or WHICH games to study from the database.   Phenomenally lazy.

But what about 4.Nf3, a.k.a. the popular Short System? They give about 2-3 more moves for Black ( ...Ne7, ...Nd7, etc.)  and then Roman says Black is 'solid' and that White doesn't really have any advantage. 
That's it.
Once again we get no common tactics to look out for, no games to look at or study, no standard middlegame motifs, nothing.  Just a handful of moves from mainline theory, then kick in the rear.

And yes, that's ALL the coverage of the Advance CK.  
Nothing about f4 moves, nothing about 4.Be3, etc. etc. etc.

But wait, it actually gets worse!!

The DVD does even not look at the Panov-Botvinnik! 
Quote Roman:  "We are not going to cover 4.c4"

And the man isn't kidding.. 
There is not a single move mentioned after 4...Nf6.
Nothing at all.

Roman says you "definitely should know how to play it " and that he will "definitely cover it" in another ('upcoming') DVD. 

The reason he's not covering this classic opening? 
Apparently, the Panov-Botvinnik is "not really Caro-Kann defense" since other openings can transpose into it.  So he doesn't think he needs to mention anything else.

WOW.  

A Caro-Kann repertoire DVD that does not cover the Panov AT ALL.  It takes my breath away.   
My dog could teach you this much about how to play against the Panov; and for free.   

Well, you may ask, O ever hopeful reader, what about the 4.Bd3 exchange line that they recommended in their book for White?  It turns out that "the position is definitely not bad for White but Black has equality" and its "not an ambitious way to play against Caro-Kann."  We get a few minutes of playing over the moves and done.

Bottom Line:
This DVD is absolutely horrific.  This is BY FAR the worst chess DVD I've seen, and I've seen dozens.
It's not even worth watching, much less buying.  
Spend the 90 minutes reading ANY decent book on the Caro-Kann and you'll be better prepared.

This is repertoire DVD for black....

I looked at this. Quite good, but better is to buy Houska's book.