I have started to watch DVD's while doing something else, like when I am in the shower.

Since Chessbase began selling downloadable DVDs I have bought quite a few, but not had time to watch all of them of course...

I really enjoyed King's DVDs in the Power Play-series (I haven't gotten all of them). Maurice Ashley's "What Grandmasters Don't see" wre also good. They both present the material well. I also like Davies' presentations. Sam Collins' "Know the Terrain" were also good, but he is a bit more hesitant from time to time, like he is not sure what he really wants to present.

On the other hand, Tiviakov is as mentioned a bit too fast and a bit dry (not that there's anything wrong with that, Müller is a bit the same). Bologan's work has been both good and not so good, the presentation is not as clear, and I found the volume pretty uneven on some. I haven't seen Gustafsson's e4 e5 yet. Lilov's work is unfortunately missing in coverage, like some of Taylor's books. Enthusiastic, though.

All in all, I think I have learned some from the DVDs. It is a different format, and for me a good complement to the books that I buy but never manage to read.

That's debatable but in any case you can't rely on one source alone, be it DVD or book, to give you a good position out of the opening in every game. You have to do your own work too.

Returning to the topic, I don't have much experience with DVDs but have found the few I have watched to be very instructive and informative. Maybe that's because I've only looked at DVDs with extremely good reviews though.

On a slightly different note I quite like King's new 'What Happens Next?' series, which isn't a DVD but still falls in the multimedia category. The first two were a bit too easy to guess but the third was difficult enough to really push me.

It has been reported that Huschenbeth used Gustafsson´s DVD to prepare for this game. He found a hole in the recommendation for Black against the Evans and used this to good effect. But 5... Be7 hasn´t been refuted, that´s right.

gwnn wrote on 07/06/12 at 09:22:59:


Didn't realise this, but just went through the Huschenbeth - Gustafsson 2011, GER-ch game, brutal to see. The 7...d6 line seems to be the way to go in this variation now.

Some of the Chessbase DVDs don't come ready with the variations presented in a database. But it's usually easy to save the games in a database just after the game segments are finished playing, and voilá, you have it!

In CHessbase it's also easy to convert any database of lines to a tree if so desired, or to print it out in a variety of formats. So those who really want it on paper can just print it out. Saves some trees you know to not send paper to people who don't really need it.

None of this applies to video-only DVDs of course. Maybe in this information age they should be sold with a secure download link to a database with the games/variations presented.

I don't use DVDs a lot, but I find watching a DVD on some topic can pique my interest and motivate me to hit the books and/or do further analysis. I've used some of Karsten Müller's DVDs on technical endgames this way; he makes the material lively and interesting, and I can then go to Dvoretsky and Averbakh to reinforce and extend my learning.

On the Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual CD; I wonder if they've updated it over the years? The book is now in its 3rd edition, but the changes are not huge and it should be easy to update the CD too. But I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't bothered...

I own Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual both on CD/DVD and as a book.

The book is falling apart from its being used while the DVD is sitting gathering dust.

I did download the endgame database, but it has only limited use, even in correspondence chess.

. .
Quoted below are the major ideas that draw my attention.

These comments lead me to suspect that, if it were economically feasible, --- Each DVD should be sold with a companion book.

Hmm, after the DVD is published, the companion book can be written, by anyone.
It is implausible to quickly re-reference a particular detail from a 4 hour DVD, but a companion book solves that problem.
In addition, an eBook version of the same paper book would really help fast search and reference lookup. Here in 2012, it seems most chess books in eBook format anger their buyers due to display or interactivity failures.


Fllg wrote on 07/04/12 at 18:48:48:


Antillian wrote on 07/04/12 at 19:21:08:


trw wrote on 07/04/12 at 19:35:42:


JEH wrote on 07/05/12 at 10:28:49:


dfan wrote on 07/05/12 at 12:37:53:
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