wdym "silly"? It's the same vein as the "acc. to" Anand/Kramnik/Karpov books.

Jonathan Tait wrote on 03/17/19 at 12:50:21:


Whether it's overpriced depends entirely on how much content you get in the digital file, doesn't it? If you haven't seen Sielecki's Petroff repertoire it's actually quite detailed, with active and ambitious lines against all White's alternatives to entering the Petroff (I haven't looked at the actual Petroff stuff, but I imagine the level of detail is the same).

You could just as well argue that the Chess24 ebooks and videos are underpriced. Based purely on the content and quality I would say they are, but on the flipside they're more cumbersome to use than most chess material since you only have access to them on the Internet. That goes for Chessable too of course, but there you're paying not just for the content, but also for the ease of learning it with automated spaced repetition.

About the Chessable videos: I agree they are overpriced, but note that they are quite heavily discounted when they first appear as an introductory offer. I don't think many people buy the videos at the full price.

To a large extent pricing is usually driven by supply and demand. There is a good supply of high quality video material at a much lower price. Chessable can claim they have the best product and therefore price higher, but is it really 10x as good? I've never seen anyone argue that it is. I can't see how many people have bought the video series, as the chessable site only shows number of book purchases, so it's not clear if the aggressive pricing strategy is working for them or not.

For a $200 price tag I could probably get a coach to take me personally through a repertoire in 1-2-1 lessons. There are IM level coaches who offer lessons for $20-25/hr, or would be prepared to if the student was buying lessons in bulk. That would come with personalized advice, recommendations and homework exercises (if wanted).

I realise it is going off topic, but the feedback on the chess videos on Chessable being exorbitant is an interesting one. What value would you want to see for such a price tag (around $200)? 

Going back to the topic - I quite like Sielecki's basic recommendations. My problem has nothing to do with the book itself - the positions just don't suit me very well as Black!

I dont have it. I do have some stuff on chessable, and find it helpful in getting to look at/practice positions. I generally like Sielecki and think he is quite honest in his assessments in other stuff he has done.

He did do a short and sweet repertoire on the Petroff which released at the same time as the above but is free. I do have that and found the recommendations and presentations good. May be you could start with that before deciding whether to go for the paid version. 

One problem i do have with Chessable is their pricing. New items usually appear via a sale offer, then after about a week revert to a higher price. This repertoire package with video is currently almost £200 which is way too much (in my opinion - but i dont know the depth to which he covers and explains the material). The standalone package is about £30 which is only a little bit more than the cost of some new books.  I dont know how often they do their more inclusive sales - but they do probably happen with some regularity, so might be worth putting it on your wishlist until the next time it is on at a sale price?