kylemeister wrote on 11/15/19 at 02:02:20:


Quite right sir. That's always the danger when posting on the fly

wolfsblut wrote on 11/14/19 at 22:28:52:


The DVD's are great overall, but I also noticed that strange omission as well as some others. For instance: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Bc5 is not covered [A funny exchange happens on the Berlin DVD, where Caruana mentions that 4...Nxe4 is not the only option and seems about to elaborate on 4...Bc5 presumably when Hans Ree Oliver Ree annoyingly interrupts, and the other options that Caruana alluded to never get mentioned again]

In general I dislike this dual commentary format, time gets wasted and lines get overlooked more than usual, often due to the distraction of the lesser commentator at inopportune times. A player of Caruana's class and a native English speaker to boot does not need the hand holding of a Hans Ree Oliver Ree, moreover it is clear from viewing the DVD's that Caruana is exceptional at communicating ideas to all levels of player. His exposition of the tactical and strategic themes that determine the essence of the various lines he espouses are crystal clear, while the background info he gives on why he has settled on a given line over another is both insightful and breathtakingly impressive.

On a side note I am proud to say that I reached the identical conclusion as Caruana regarding the weakness of the deferred Smyslov line: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 (3...g6 is the standard Smyslov) 4.Ba4 g6 5.d4 exd4 6.Nxd4 Bg7 7.Nxc6! and White is better as explained by Caruana on the DVD. I also posted the same explanation given by Caruana on this forum over a year ago, along with some analysis to prove it, in the hopes that Mikhalevski would respond since he often employed the line successfully as Black and commented those games in his monthly updates. Mikhalevski never responded, and judging by his monthly updates over the years it is unclear to me if he ever reads the forum anyway. However, in a cruel twist of irony the following happened: 

Zeller,F (2383) - Mikhalevski,V (2557) [C70]
GRENKE Chess Open 2018 Karlsruhe GER (3.19), 30.03.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 g6 5.d4 exd4 6.Nxd4 Bg7 7.Nxc6! bxc6 8.0-0 Ne7 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Bb3 d6 11.Be3 Kh8 12.Qd2 Ng8 13.Rad1 f5 14.Bd4 Bxd4 15.Qxd4+ Qf6 16.Rfe1 Qxd4 17.Rxd4 Nf6 18.e5 Re8 19.f4 Bb7 20.Rb4 Ra7 21.Ba4 Re6 22.Re2 Nh5 23.exd6 Rxe2 24.Nxe2 cxd6 25.Rb6 c5 26.Rxd6 Be4 27.c4 Re7 28.Bd1 Bc2 29.Kf2 Bxd1 30.Rxd1 Re4 31.Rd8+ Kg7 32.Rd7+ Kh6 33.g3 Nf6 34.Ra7 Ng4+ 35.Ke1 Nxh2 36.Rxa6 Rxc4 37.Kd1 Ng4 38.Ra3 Nf2+ 39.Ke1 Ne4 40.Kd1 Rb4 41.Kc2 Rb7 42.Re3 Kh5 43.a4 Ra7 44.Ra3 Ra5 45.Kd3 Nd6 46.Kc3 Kg4 47.b4 Ne4+ 48.Kc4 Nd2+ 49.Kc3 Nb1+ 50.Kb3 Nd2+ 51.Kc3 Ne4+ 52.Kc4 Nd6+ 53.Kb3 cxb4 54.Kxb4 Rd5 55.a5 Rd2 56.Nc3 Rb2+ 57.Kc5 Nb7+ 58.Kd4 Nxa5 59.Rxa5 Kxg3 60.Nd5 Rb7 61.Ra3+ Kg4 62.Ke5 1-0

Surprisingly or Unsurprisingly the above game never made any of his updates, but I did notice that Mikhalevski hasn't employed that move-order since.     

Postscript: For those who are interested, here is the link to the thread I mentioned https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1522608448 quite prophetic I would say.

JFugre wrote on 09/27/19 at 08:07:18:


That looks interesting, so possibly the FritzTrainer app could run on a Smart TV I guess? If not now then in future.

Finally, finally, maybe Chesbase are waking up and smelling the coffee.

https://en.chessbase.com/post/windows-mac-new-generation-fritztrainers-fabiano-c...

I'm guessing it's a promotion to advertise the availability on more platforms, incl. macOS, Android and iOS.

Yes, it's well worth checking every week. The DVDs on offer are usually the older ones that are not in much demand any more. I don't recall them doing this on a new one (though they sometimes have a sale that applies to everything). Perhaps Caruana isn't selling quite as well as they hoped?

Straggler wrote on 09/26/19 at 10:14:31:

I'm not familiar with Chessbase having deals of the week - is that really a thing?

JFugre wrote on 09/23/19 at 15:12:17: