I looked through the videos on the Arkhangelsk. I don't think this material (7 videos, not a lot of variations) is nearly enough. Can I really play all those 7 c3 Nxe4 lines with confidence after watching 7 minutes worth of coverage?

Another thing that bugs me, call me a purist, is the quality of the English. Of course usually it is quite clear what the author wants to say, but for example "there are few good ways to meet this line" means the opposite of "there are a few good ways to meet this line".

Somehow the 2 knights is better handled than the Arkhangelsk, but I'll come back with more later.

The Bishop's gambit is not even mentioned in the king's gambit video. I don't understand. If you can't cover two lines against the KG (KGA and KGD with Bc5), just cover one well.

So far Gusti's stuff seems to be much better than this. OK this was to be expected but still.

gwnn wrote on 07/04/12 at 20:12:02:


Thanks for clarifying that.

I'm sorely tempted to buy this as I've found Mikhalchishin's middle-game DVDs to be both original in terms of how he approaches his subject matter and also instructive.

I'd be very interested to hear what you think of this DVD once you've had a chance to formulate an opinion.

Thanks for that info, gwnn.

gwnn wrote on 07/04/12 at 19:10:47:

The second isn't that much of a surprise as Mikhalchishin has produced a DVD for Chessbase about this line. Even so, using it for this repertoire does mean he'll have to provide something against the Exchange Variation, not to mention lines with an early d4, so there's quite a bit of ground to cover here.

By 'Smyslov', I'm guessing you mean 3...g6, which I would have classed as solid rather than active. However, 9...h6 in the Closed Lopez is also named after Smyslov, so perhaps this is the line covered – though that seems unlikely in view of the huge number of deviations the author would have to deal with before the variation even appears on the board.

gwnn wrote on 07/04/12 at 19:10:47:


I suspect many of us here identify with this sentiment!

I'd say that such an overlap doesn't seem surprising, given that they seem to come out with an opening DVD or 60-minute thingy at the rate of about one per week.

I agree that there should be a better description. Some of it is even offensive...what? Middle-aged people can't play the Two Knights?

Seeley wrote on 07/04/12 at 14:16:27:


I got to the YouTube vid OK. He was covering the Italian Two Knights defence. Interesting to see what his two Lopez defences will be.

Found it:

http://chessbase-shop.com/en/products/mikhalchishin_1e4_e5_an_active_repertoire_...

But no detail as Akita has observed...

Seeley wrote on 07/04/12 at 11:55:02:


Hopefully the latter since I haven´t been able to find in on their website, too.