Seeley wrote on 01/28/13 at 10:17:14:

Hey, no I didn't, but I didn't sent a (n angry) follow-up email to inquire.

I don't have the DVD. Not ordering much lately anyway, been disappointed with the stuff I've bought over the last 6 months or so, so with the exception of Watson's White Rep, I'm taking a break from buying anything...ESPECIALLY Chessbase DVD's.

I'm curious about his King's Gambit coverage and some other minor stuff. I prob will avoid this though.

Well, that's sad. Actually, on Youtube, they never reply to my questions or PM's.

Gwnn, any reply to your email yet??

kylemeister wrote on 07/18/12 at 02:31:40:

You're quite right about this, and IIRC that is indeed the approach he recommends. However, as I didn't have the DVD to hand when I posted and didn't fully trust my memory, I didn't want incur anyone's scorn if it is in fact 4...Nxe4 that's suggested  .

I've finished working my way through this DVD now and, while some aspects of it are good, others are less so.

gwnn has already mentioned the missing main line of the Two Knights with 4.Ng5, which forms part of the repertoire and is mentioned by the author, but never analysed. The Goring Gambit is also omitted, though I'll stick my neck out and say that you can probably meet this by transposing into Mikhalchishin's 3...Nf6 line against the Ponziani.

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I do like some of the variations chosen by Mikhalchishin. A number of lesser-known lines are examined, and it's encouraging that the author presents many of his own games, which suggests at least that he has some faith in the lines he's presenting.

It would be unreasonable to expect to be able to learn a detailed repertoire from a 6-hour DVD, but there are a few omissions that I didn't really feel were acceptable. The Danish Gambit line is given as though White is forced to head straight into an ending that's about equal. However, White has several dangerous options along the way that are simply ignored, and anyone who tries to play this line as Black could be in for a nasty surprise.

The treatment of the King's Gambit Accepted is also somewhat perfunctory. 3.Nf3 is the only continuation considered, but certainly not the only one you might meet over the board.

As far as the structure of the DVD is concerned, the overall feeling I got, I'm afraid, was one of barely controlled chaos. Variations are referred to that aren't covered, and lines and games are referred back to when we haven't got to them yet. There are more instances of this than I can even remember, which gives the impression that someone juggled the running order around at the last minute and then didn't bother watching the finished product to make sure that everything made sense. For a professionally produced product, this isn't acceptable, in my view. I don't have many ChessBase DVDs, but none of the others that I do have suffers from this problem. FWIW, I don't think the author is to blame for this: it's an editorial issue. The whole venture gives the impression of having been rushed.

In spite of these criticisms, I'm nonetheless glad that I bought this DVD. At their best, Mikhalchishin's explanations are lucid and illuminating, and he presents some interesting alternatives to the lines that other 1.e4 e5 repertoire works have given.

If you want a full repertoire, this DVD might give you a start but you'll have to fill in a lot of gaps for yourself. As a collection of suggestions in the Dangerous Weapons or SOS mould, however, it's certainly worth a look.

ghenghisclown wrote on 07/10/12 at 20:22:13:

That's covered, according to the Contents List. Haven't got that far yet so I don't know what he gives in that line.

gwnn wrote on 07/10/12 at 13:45:52:

There's a further example of this when the Four Knights is discussed and Mikhalchishin refers back firstly to a variation of the Vienna and then to a Shirov game that haven't come up in the running order yet. This is starting to annoy me a bit, as it's quite clear that someone at Chessbase has tinkered with the order of the videos but nobody's bothered then to watch them through to check that the DVD has retained its coherence. To me this seems unacceptably amateurish.

gwnn wrote on 07/10/12 at 13:45:52:

I hadn't noticed this till you mentioned it, but you're absolutely right. His use of 'attitude' when he means 'approach' also becomes a bit jarring eventually - as does that stripy shirt the author wears that creates psychedelic patterns on my computer screen!!

Having made these criticisms, I do like the DVD nevertheless. Of course a product such as this can only give you broad brush strokes rather than a finely detailed repertoire, but some of Mikhalchishin's suggestions are slightly offbeat and unexpected and definitely worth a punt if you answer 1.e5 with 1...e5. A bit of supplementary work with a database is recommended, though. For example, playing the Black side of the Danish Gambit line presented on the DVD is nowhere near as comfortable as the viewer is led to believe: Mikhalchishin ignores a couple of potentially dangerous White options that don't allow Black to steer straight into an endgame.