I broadly agree with CanadianClub, though there are some annoying holes that could easily have been filled.

Simon is getting us a good active attacking repertoire. He is not trying to discuss top-class theoretical issues. His main goal is to put us in the correct direction if we are searching for a global repertoire as a club players, in the aggressive way he usually does.

As a tournament player myself, I search for a more precise move-orders, more theoretical subtilities... But he explains the ideas behind the moves very well, he puts the basis for a correct understanding of the positions, and this is very important. If you were thinking that he would refute the slav or the triangle move order... maybe this is not the correct dvd for you.

I like a lot his style and I have learned a lot with his other works. I have not watched this entire dvd yet, but I like it. And against 99% of under-2000 fide opposition is more than enough to play confidently.

Salut,

DVD was hit and miss for me. His coverage of the 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Bf4 dxc4 line in particular was poor. I think if you're going to follow his suggestions, you should check everything carefully with an engine + database.

There is a gulf of difference between the Dzinzi tomfoolery and the GingerGM products. Dzinzi (deliberately?) omits key lines.

The material is worth a look, I'd say.

I am an FM, just got my playing mojo back with a big tourney win, and I found the material useful. Would I play all of it? I can pick and choose. Will I play some of it, at some point? Certainly.

At club level, I'd see much of this being effective. Basically, forthright stuff works well at below 2000. Run forwards, wielding an axe, and it works.

I mean you do get more than 11 hours of chess instruction for ~30 euros. That's a lot more than some other websites..

OK I mean I obviously think the opening post the lines  to that degree of detail approximately already, which is why I asked which defenses you would like me to give more about. There is a bit more on the Grünfeld in later replies here.

What I can add to my opening post is:
d4 d5:
- Vienna: 5 e4, 6 Bxc4 (pawn sac)
- Ragozin: 5 cd5 ed5 6 Bg5
- 4 .. Nbd7 5 Bf4 dc4 6 e3 Nb6 7 Bxc4
- Tarrasch: a few words on the main lines (three illustrative games)
- Chigorin: nothing given.


d4 Nf6 I missed a bit more so let me just give all the lines:

1 Queen's Indian: as explained above, g3, Qc2, d5, sacking a pawn. He follows for example Mamedyarov-Gelfand, 2006.
2. Bogo: short video, Nbd2, based mainly on Mamedyarov-Stocek, 2007 (yes Mamedyarov does seem to pop up every now and then)
3. Benoni: Bf4 as mentioned above.
4 Snake Benoni: 7 g4 (Piket-Adams 1995)
5 Czech Benoni: g3 stuff.
6 Blumenfeld: haven't seen these yet. He either plays with g3 or more usually with an early e4
7 Benko: Nescafe-Frappe attack (two example games, one of them d Feller-Edouard 2008)
8 KID: Be2, Be3, followed up usually by f3, g4, d5, and look around.
9 Grünfeld: see above for some discussion from others.
10: Budapest Gambit: e4, f4.
11 English defense: standard stuff with e4 Bd3.
12 Black Knights Tango: 3 Nc3 e5 4 d5 Ne7 5 h4
13 d4 f5 f3

In the meantime he also released all the pgn's for buyers so it makes it a lot more browsable than it was before (the Slav video is really an hour and a half long!). And I agree the d4 d5 videos are easier to understand, partly because the moves are very consistent (knights out, e4, e5 if the knight is on f6. don't worry if any of this drops a pawn or two. attack.) and partly because he seems more enthusiastic/eager to teach there. Probably the moves/minute ratio is a lot lower and this gives you a better experience. But none of this is a serious issue with part 2 with  d4 Nf6, it's more that part 1 is so well made.

Whoops, I forgot to read this thread in a while. As far as I can see, he recommends the same lines as in the Chessbase DVD he made a while ago. http://chessbase.in/news/beating-the-queens-indian-by-williams/

He sacrifices a pawn against all Queen's Indian lines as he always pushes to d5.

I am not sure which lines you referred to about "more detailed outline." Also not sure what is OK to post and what not. Anyway if you have some questions(and you're still here) let me know.