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| Chess Computers |
£17.95/$27
ChessBase Magazine Vol. 100 contains 1377 games, 370 with expert annotations. In addition there are over 3000 high-quality correspondence chess games, section on tactics, strategy, endgames, and extensive theory articles, all by highly qualified authors. Naturally there are also multimedia video reports. In addition you get a Jubilee DVD "Best of ChessBase" with over four gigabytes of video reports from previous magazines.
GM Dorian Rogozenko
£17.95 / $29.95
When playing as White, if you do not want to enter sharp opening systems, you would do better to fight against the Dragon by castling short. These specific variations are the theme of Rogozenko‘s CD Dragon 1. White castles short and basically does not try to achieve an opening advantage. But the character of the positions is completely different from when White castles queenside and often does not fall in with Black’s plans. The author himself came to this painful conclusion the first time he played the Dragon; the annotations to this game alone cast much light on the opening. This is how chess training can be fun:
- suitable for advanced players
- 29 texts and 113 annotated model games
- database with over 24,000 games
- training database
- tree containing all the games
- includes the ChessBase-Reader
SYSTEM
REQUIREMENTS:
Pentium 166, 32 MB RAM, Win98, WinME, Win2000, WinXP
ChessBase,
£59.95/$99.95
Corr Database 2004 is an extensive collection of correspndence games, featuring classical correspondence games played by mail as well as email games. The CD contains 500,000 games from 1804 until 2004 including all games of the correspondence chess world championships 1-16, correspondence chess olympics 1-14, correspondence chess european championships 1-6, national chamionships (AUS, CSR, DEN, GER, NED, USA) and memorials (1965 SUI jub75, 1991 FIN jub30, NED jub 25, NBC Millennium Email und ICCF 50th Jubilee Elite). For the second time, corr 2004 also features a correspondence chess playerbase, which includes
about 60,000 names. A must for every player of correspondence chess!
Strategy and Tactics
GM Peter Wells
£17.95/$27
This CD by Peter Wells is aimed at. It contains an introduction and five
lectures which deal with purely practical subjects: the calculation of
variations and how errors arise. These are important themes where a grandmaster
trainer is able to draw on his rich and varied experience and provide chess
students with valuable tips. There are five more lectures on positional
chess. The CD contains a total of over three hours of high-quality video
lectures and training. All lectures are presented with full video pictures
and synchronised chess graphics. There is no better way to teach and explain
chess. With the Fritz Media System chess is fun!
Attention: this course is a supplementary program for Fritz8 and can only be run if the chess program "Fritz8" or "Fritz8-WCh Edition" is installed on the PC. Neither Fritz8 nor Fritz8 WCh-Edition is supplied with this training course.
GM Mihail Marin
£22.95/$32.95
The Catalan is an opening in which Black may well be able to obtain easy equality, but in which he frequently draws the short straw in the ensuing positional battle. The reason for this is that the player of the white pieces has usually assimilated much better the laws governing this opening and the plans to be adopted. With great precision and clarity, GM Marin has examined the individual variations. Over 62 texts with 500 annotated model games are included. Additionally, there is a database of 27,000 unannotated Catalan games.
GM Dorian Rogozenko
£22.95/$32.95
An excellent CD covering variations in the Dragon in which White castles long. Rogozenko gives us the benefit of his specialised knowledge as he presents all the latest theory in 95 introductory texts about the individual lines. Over 500 of the approximately 1000 annotated games in the main database have been annotated by the author personally. The final touch in the CD is the provision of two training databases – one from the point of view of White and the other from the point of view of Black.
GM Alexander Kalinin
£19.99/$31.95
Chess Assistant
Includes: 50,000 master games on the King's Indian with a further 10,000 more games to be available for download later. Instructive material that focuses on the typical playing methods in various lines of this popular opening: 157 examples included. More than 600 annotated GM games. More than 50 opening related problems for you to solve. All the opening positions thoroughly calculated by the Shredder 7.04 playing program. The program Chess Assistant Light capable of analyzing while playing against the built-in Crafty engine as well as editing variations, searching for games in the database.
£17.95/$27
An excellent issue of this great electronic magazine: A multimedia interview with Yasser Seirawan (part 2). Wijk Aan Zee: Anand wins again. More than 400 annotated games. Opening Surveys on: A34 (English), B01 (Scandinavian), B30 (Sicilian), B33 (Sveshnikov Sicilian), B83 (Sicilian Scheveningen), C88 (Ruy Lopez - Anti Marshall), E94 (King's Indian), E97 (King's Indian with 9.b4).
(in PGN format)
£39.95/$59.95
The Chess Informants 86-88 in PGN CD brings a selection of 1,518 fully annotated theoretically important games and 1,303 accompanying game fragments played between October 2002 and September 2003.
Reinhold Ripperger
£ 17.95/$27
Whoever plays 1.e4 as White, has to ask himself what he intends to do after 1… e5 2.Nf3 Nc6. If you do not feel up to the heavy positional demands of the Ruy Lopez then 3.Bc4 is a natural choice and after the strongest reply, 3…Bc5, you are into the Giuoco Piano. This opening set-up is reckoned to be one of the oldest known in the history of chess and the author is right to comment: “ This opening, more than any other, reflects the very development of the game of chess. This means that the Giuoco Piano is the best suited for those making a start in opening theory.” The author put great emphasis on his training database, so that the student can check the knowledge he has gained in an interactive fashion, against the clock.
* suitable for club players
* 11 texts and 240 annotated model games
* training database with more than 160 questions
* 2 supplementary databases with more than 44,000 games
* includes the ChessBase-Reader
The author: Reinhold Ripperger has also produced “How to play the Nimzo-Indian” and “The isolated Queen’s Pawn”.
£39.95/$49.95
Fritz 8 is identical to the one that fascinated the world in the man vs Machine duel against the human world champion. Millions of chess fans watched the games live on the Internet - the match ended in a 4:4 tie. "Deep Fritz is stronger than Deep Blue," said world champion Vladimir Kramnik, who had carefully studied the program. But don’t be afraid, Fritz is not just a chess playing monster. It is a friendly chess partner for beginners and amateurs. It will teach you to play chess from scratch, and can automatically adjust its playing strength to suit your needs. It will warn you when you go wrong in a game, giving you hints on how to play better. In any position it will explain all possible continuations to you in plain language, and it will display all pieces that are attacked, defended or "hanging". Afterwards it will analyse your games and point out mistakes and blunders. It has many handicap and friendly levels. In the sparring level the program will actually set up tactics for you to discover, teaching you to keep a lookout for opportunities throughout the game. Fritz has a photo-realistic 3D chessboard and will chatter humorously during the game. It has a giant openings book with a very wide repertoire and full statistics on every move. It has a built-in database with half a million top-quality games and is the companion and analytical partner of top players all over the world. Even Garry Kasparov admits: "I use Fritz regularly for my analysis." Fritz is also the only chess program that has been in space.
In April 1999 it was transported to the space station Mir to entertain the cosmonauts who were spending many months in orbit. Fritz is also your key to a completely different world of chess. The program has a no-hassle connection to the Internet chess server Playchess.com where you can play with chess enthusiasts all over the world. You will find hundreds of opponents, day and night, you can start a blitz game, play a tournament or simply watch and chat. You can also find the latest chess news, live coverage of international tournaments and online training sessions. This is what chess is all about.
System
requirements: Pentium PC, 32 MB RAM, Windows 98, Me, 2000,
XP, CD-ROM drive, mouse
£39.95/$49.95
THE CHESS MASTER FOR YOUR SHIRT POCKET
Pocket Fritz
2 is a chess partner with mobility built in. Take it with you wherever
you go and leave boredom behind. Pocket Fritz 2 is much stronger than
its predecessor and has an estimated blitz performance rating of 2450
Elo points. The younger brother of the world’s strongest chess program
has made great strides in the area of design, functionality and user
friendliness. New pieces and board colours, formatted, colour-coded
notation, all contribute to optimum clarity, even in deeply annotated
games. The moves of the computer as well as hints and threats are displayed
with coloured arrows. Pocket Fritz 2 has many diverse playing levels
that make it an entertaining opponent, while the database functions
and new commentary options fulfill the needs of even strong professional
players. The program gives you mobile access to the ChessBase Online
database with well over two million games. There you can search for
the games of specific players, tournaments or openings. You also have
online access to a giant state-of-the-art openings book with over seven
million positions and full statistics for each of them.
Other new functions: extended, user-friendly move entry and
annotation; automatic game replay with adjustable speeds; special energy-saving
mode for longer battery life. Have fun, play chess. Anywhere and everywhere
with Pocket Fritz!
System
requirements:
Pocket Fritz runs on Pocket PCs with Windows CE 3.0 or Pocket PC
2002, with the processors MIPS, SHG, ARM or Xscale. Installation requires
a PC (notebook or desktop computer).
Language of user interface and helpfile: English, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch
Fritz
and Chesster
£29.95/$39.95
Use your wits, learn to think ahead, have fun and excitement AND learn a whole
lot about chess: this great chess adventure has all of this and more in store
for you! Together with Prince Fritz and his cousin Bianca learn how to play
chess, then test and increase your knowledge in a whole range of exciting games
and situations. How do you set up the board? What’s stalemate? When do you
call it a draw? What does opposition mean? And what's "up the stairs mate"?
Find the answers to these questions and many more in animated games and contests.
Tips and tricks are explained step by step. Then you can provide and test your
skill in the special games and tasks. And once you’ve got the hang of everything,
join Fritz to take on King Black in the grand finale.
Systems
requirements Pentium II 233 processor 32
MB RAM (16 MB free memory)
16-bit soundblaster compatible sound card 16 speed CD-ROM drive
Graphics card: resolution 800x600 pixels (16-bit colour) WIN 95/WIN 98/ME/XP
£22.95/$34.95
ChessBase
There are names of towns and cities, which have special resonance for chess players. Towns like Hastings, Wijk aan Zee, Karlsbad, Tilburg or Bugojno may well be small, but they just happen to be the names of great chess tournaments. Of course these major tournaments also took place in the great cities of the world. It all started with London 1851, where Adolf Anderssen enjoyed his greatest triumph. In the prize lists the names of the top players of their day turn up with great regularity as winners: Morphy (New York 1857), Steinitz (Vienna 1873), Lasker (amongst others London 1899 and New York 1924), Capablanca (amongst others San Sebastian 1911), Alekhine (amongst others Bled 1931) etc.
Steinitz,
£49.99/$74.95
Pickard
Here is your chance to discover the first World Chess Champion in his own words! This breakthrough CD-Rom showcases only writings by Steinitz himself, literally thousands of pages, all in interactive ChessBase format: Thousands of games, nearly 900 of which are annotated by Steinitz, plus his two books, and extended excerpts from his writings - a lifetime of chess enjoyment! ChessBase Reader included - no other software required.
ChessBase
Magazine 98
£17.95/$27
Multimedia report:Interview with Seirawan
Database: 2400 games, 530 games with annotations
Cap d'Agde (winner: Anand), Corsica Masters (Anand), Essent Crown Tournament
Hoogeveen (J.Polgar), Samba Cup Skanderborg (Nielsen, Sadvakasov, Short,
Hansen), Selfoss Milk Masters (Sokolov), European Team Championship Plovdiv
and
Europe-Cup Rethymnon.
The correspondence chess section contains an astonishing 4182 games from
international tournaments.
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Chess Assistant, PC CD-ROM
£19.99/$31.95
A sequel to the Chess Tactics for Beginners, this program on chess tactics is developed by the prominent chess coach Sergey Ivashchenko and aimed at intermediate players. The program includes: More than 1180 tactical positions classified by theme and difficulty. While solving, you are shown refutations of wrong moves as well as other hints to help find the correct answer. The built-in chess playing program Crafty is embedded to analyze or train with it. No additional software required.
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Chess Assistant, PC CD-ROM
£22.95/$34.95
This course composed by GM Alexander Kalinin is aimed at teaching a student much of the middlegame methods and intricacies through a theoretical section which includes over 520 games/lectures each of them illustrating typical plans and methods in the following openings: Petroff defense, Ruy Lopez (Marshall var.), Sicilian defense (Closed System and 3. Bb5 var.), Scandinavian defense, Gruenfeld defense, Queen's Gambit Accepted, Reti opening, variant 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 (or 2…g6) 3. Bg5, and etc. More than 500 exercises for a user to solve, giving refutations of the wrong moves as well as numerous hints to help you find the correct answer. As many as 100 training positions to be played against the built-in chess playing program Crafty. Multiple user profiles featured with independent ratings and statistics for each. No additional software required.
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Chess Assistant, PC CD-ROM
£19.99/$31.95
Chess material is supplied by the prominent coach GM Alexander Kalinin. The program includes theoretical material focusing on the typical playing methods in various lines of these popular openings. More than 550 commented instructive examples from the grandmasters' games, more than 50 tasks for solution . Theoretical material on the given opening, database of 50,000 games with 10,000 more games to be later available for download. All the opening positions thoroughly calculated by the Shredder 7.04 playing program. The program Chess Assistant Light capable of analyzing while playing against the built-in chess program Crafty as well as editing variations, searching for games in the database.
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Chess Assistant, PC CD-ROM
£19.99/$31.95
Chess material is supplied by the prominent coach GM Alexander Kalinin. The program includes theoretical material focusing on the typical playing methods in various lines of these popular openings. More than 550 commented instructive examples from the grandmasters' games, more than 50 tasks for solution . Theoretical material on the given opening, database of 50,000 games with 10,000 more games to be later available for download. All the opening positions thoroughly calculated by the Shredder 7.04 playing program. The program Chess Assistant Light capable of analyzing while playing against the built-in chess program Crafty as well as editing variations, searching for games in the database.
£39.95 / $59.95
For computer chess experts Shredder is the number one choice. Nobody can ignore its amazing five computer chess world championship titles, won at Jakarta 1996, Paderborn 1999, London 2000, Maastricht 2001 and Graz 2003. So in this box you have the reigning double world champion 2003, ready to play and analyse with you.
The world champion chess program "Shredder 8" for single and multi-processor systems. You can confi gure the "engine" “ the module that calculates chess move “ and change the program parameters to actually improve its performance in practical games. After "tuning" your Shredder you can test the engine in Internet games played automatically on the ChessBase chess server.
Original Fritz interface: Included in the Shredder 8 pack age is the latest Fritz interface with extensive training and entertainment features for beginners, club players and grandmasters. It also gives you full and free access to the ChessBase Playchess server (1 year), where you can play games against people all over the world. Naturally the Shredder 8 engine runs under the Fritz interface.
Endgame database: Shredder 8 gives you perfect access to the endgame databases. These contain perfect play information on all three and four piece endings.
Tournament openings book: The enhanced and extended Shredder openings book gives you full statistical information for every move that has been played in the current position. In addition you get a database with 500,000 historic and current games.
Shredder™s world championship titles: Jakarta 1996: World micro-computer chess cham-
pion Paderborn 1999: Computer chess world champion! London 2000: World micro-computer chess champion
Maastricht 2001: World micro-computer chess champion Maastricht 2002: blitz world champion
Graz 2003: Computer Chess World Champion and blitz world champion.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Pentium PC, 32 MB RAM, Windows98, ME, XP, 2000, CD-ROM drive, mouse.
£39.95/$59.95
The Fritz Powerbook 2004 is an openings book and database that will run with Fritz or any Fritz compatible engine (Shredder, Junior, Tiger, Nimzo, etc.). You can also use it in ChessBase 7.0 or 8.0 to conduct openings training and hone your repertoire.
The Fritz Powerbook 2004 contains 7.6 million openings positions, which were derived from 1 Million high-class tournament games. Together with each position all relevant information is stored: all moves that were played in the position, by players of what average rating, with what success and performance results. The games from which the Fritz Powerbook 2004 was derived are also included on the CD. This means that in any position of the opening tree, you can load and replay the games in which the position occurred.
The Fritz Powerbook 2004 represents the state of the art of current opening theory. It can be used to discover exciting new lines (e.g. never before played transpositions) and practice them against Fritz. Fritz 8, Fritz 7, Fritz 6 and all other ChessBase engines under the Fritz interface can use the PowerBook 2004 as opening book, making the opening play of the programs more topical, versatile and entertaining.
Mega Database 2004 (only
in DVD)
£99.95/$149.95
Upgrade from Mega 2003: £39.95/$49.95
(original CD required)
Upgrade
from older Mega: £69.95/$99.95
The exclusive
annotated database. Contains more than 2.6 million games from 1530
to 2003 in the highest ChessBase quality standard. 55,000 games contain
commentary from top players, with ChessBase opening classification
with more than 91,000 key positions, direct access to players, tournaments,
middlegame themes, endgames. The largest top-class annotated database
in the world. The most recent games of the database are from the middle
of November 2003.
Mega 2004
also features a new edition of the playerbase. As usual, this is where most of
the work was done. As the player index now contains already more than 166,000
entries, it made sense to use an adapted playerbase which includes about 166,000
names. Doing this, the photo database was extended as well to contain 16,000
pictures now.
System requirements: Pentium PC, Win 98/Me/XP, 16 MB Ram, DVD-ROM drive, ChessBase 8.0, hard disk space requirements 580 MB
£39.95/$55
upgrade: £24.95/$39.95
Contains more than 2.6 million games from 1530 to 2003 in the highest ChessBase quality standard, with ChessBase opening classification with more than 91,000 key positions, direct access to players, tournaments, middlegame themes, endgames. Highest category tournaments of 2003, so e.g. Linares, Wijk aan Zee and Dortmund. All games of the European Team Championship Plovdiv 2003. The most recent games of the Database are from the middle of November 2003.
System requirements: Pentium PC, Win 98/Me/XP, 16 MB Ram, CD-ROM drive, ChessBase 8.0, Fritz 8
£39.95/$55
The DVD Endgame Turbo consists of 5 DVDs with endgame databases (Nalimov Tablebases). With the help of the Endgame Turbo, all five- and some six-piece endgames (including the sophisticated and practice-oriented endgame R,P,P : R are played with absolute perfection. Likewise, Fritz handles endgames with more than six pieces much better since the program
can already access the endgame knowledge during the analysis. Definitely a must-have for correspondence players, endgame theoreticians and friends of engine matches.
The DVDs 1-3 contain all five-piece endgames with 3 against 2 pieces, DVD 5 contains some five-piece endgames with 4 against 1. Six-piece endgames are included on the DVDs 2 to 5.
The package includes an engine upgrade for Fritz8.
£74.99
Deep Fritz 8 is identical to the one that fascinated the world in the man vs machine duel against the greatest chess player ever: Garry Kasparov. Millions of chess fans watched the games live on the Internet, the match ended in a 2:2 tie. “Deep Fritz is stronger than Deep Blue,” said world champion Vladimir Kramnik, who had carefully studied the program. But don’t be afraid, Fritz is not just a chess playing monster. It is a friendly chess partner for beginners and amateurs. It will teach you to play chess from scratch, and can automatically adjust its playing strength to suit your needs. It will warn you when you go wrong in a game, giving you hints on how to play better. In any position it will explain all possible continuations to you in plain language, and it will display all pieces that are attacked, defended or “hanging”. Afterwards it will analyse your games and point out mistakes and blunders. It has many handicap and friendly levels. In the sparring level the program will actually set up tactics for you to discover, teaching you to keep a lookout for opportunities throughout the game. Fritz has a photo-realistic 3D chessboard and will chatter humorously during the game. It has a giant openings book with a very wide repertoire and full statistics on every move. It has a built-in database with half a million top-quality games and is the companion and analytical partner of top players all over the world. Even Garry Kasparov admits: "I use Fritz regularly for my analysis.” Fritz is also the only chess program that has been in space. In April 1999 it was transported to the space station Mir to entertain the cosmonauts who were spending many months in orbit. Fritz is also your key to a completely different world of chess. The program has a no-hassle connection to the Internet chess server Playchess.com where you can play with chess enthusiasts all over the world (1 year full access). You will fi nd hundreds of opponents, day and night, you can start a blitz game, play a tournament or simply watch and chat. You can also fi nd the latest chess news, live coverage of international tournaments and online training sessions.
Knut Neven
£22.95/$29.95
The Gruenfeld is one of the most aggressive openings against 1.d4, and it’s no wonder that Garry Kasparov has included it into his opening repertoire. Playing with White, one is well-advised to accept the challenge since in the harmless variations it’s usually already Black who dictates the course of action. In the main lines, however, theoretical knowledge is of great importance. Knut Neven has taken on the great task of arraning the huge amount of data - all more than 60,000 games - in a clear-cut way, appropriately dealing with all important variantions.
(2 CD-ROMs)
£79.95 / $115
The ChessBase Opening Encyclopaedia 2004 features the complete coverage of all opening secorts, offering an optimal start for opening training. Many well-known specialists have made contributions in their field of expertise, such as Anand, Bareev, Dautov, Dr Huebner, Jussupow, Kortschnoj, Krasenkow and Ribli.
For each of 500 opening sectors according to ECO standard there is at least one opening survey, so that the database is the ideal tool for building up a complete opening repertoire.
The game database includes 1.8 million games, about 68.000 of them with annotations. The new opening key has been considerably enhanced, providing even more depth (84.000 single keys) and clarity. Furthermore, the CD contains a separate directory with 86 special theory databases from the CBMs.
- more than 1.8 million games, all featuring ECO codes
- more than 68.000 of them annotated
- more than 3.200 opening surveys
- access to the games with the new big opening key "Big Key"
- 86 special theory databases
- 2nd CD with big tree of all games for quick overview and statistics
Upgrade
OPENING ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2004 from Version 2002
for only £39.95/$49.95
(please send in the original CD)
for only £39.95/$49.95
(please send in the original CD)
£22.95/$30
Russian International Master Mark Dvoretsky is perhaps the most respected chess instructor in the world today. His latest work, Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual, is sure to become a classic on one of the most difficult and subtle phases in chess. It covers all the most important positions required for endgame mastery, from elementary king-and pawn endings to complex rook or queen endgames that have baffled even top grandmasters.
Artur Yusupov: "I am sure that those who study this work carefully will not only play the endgame better, but overall, their play will improve. One of the secrets of the Russian chess school is now before you, dear reader!"
Jacob Aagaard: "Going through this book will certainly improve your endgame knowledge, but just as important, it will also greatly improve your ability to calculate variations … What really impresses me is the deep level of analysis in the book … All I can say is: This is a great book. I hope it will bring you as much pleasure as it has me."
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£39.95/$49.95
Since the year 1886, there have been world championships in chess. The world champion was nearly always determined in a duel. Whoever wanted to climb the throne, he had to defeat the reigning king. Despite this long period in time, there have only been 14 world champions in the history of chess until the year 2000, when Vladimir Kramnik seized the title from Kasparov. Far more extensive, however, are the world championships matches themselves. According to ChessBase, the last clash between Kasparov and Karpov was world match no. 35. Afterwards, there were three Kasparov duels which played outside the reign of FIDE. A second database is dedicated the six FIDE world championships from 1993 until 2002.
Dmitrij Oleinikov
£17.95/$27
The Colle System is rather a playing scheme than an opening. White plays d4, Nf3, e3, Bd3, 0-0, Nbd2 and possibly c3 - nearly regardless of what Black replies. Opening knowledge is of secondary importance. Exactly this is where the author starts his work, prioritizing on explaining plans, patterns and typical mistakes. For example, two chapters are titled "Ten inspirational games" and "Eight warning games". However, Oleinikov naturally also deals with opening theory in the classical sense and discusses the critical variations, at one point showing himself surprised: "To my amazement, none of my opponents has reached this crucial position so far". Certainly a hint that the second players know too little about the Colle System and rather play it by ear.
£17.95/ $27
Before you can strike in chess - best by delivering mate - first you have to threaten something. And precisely this is the central theme of George Renko's new CD - threats. With more than 2.500 selected tactical positions, the sheer amount of material is enormous. There are no lengthy introductions; without further ado, you can immediately start solving tasks until the cows come home - there is no better way to improve your tactical vision. The tasks are sorted according to themes, but of course you can also load them one by one using random selection. The author: George Renko is a mathematician and chess trainer. For ChessBase, he has already published "Intensive Course Tactics" and "Killer Moves".
£17.95/ $27
The move order 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 is called Albin Countergambit, and it's a gambit in the true sense of the word since after 3.dxe5 d4 Black sacrifices a pawn which he won't get back so easily. This opening is one of the gambits which can't be refuted, but nevertheless are considered as being inferior. However, what counts in the end is to get well-playable positions - and of course the points you score with them. Furthermore, the fact that Black immediately dictates the course of action is defintely not to be underrated.
- suitable for club players
- contains 3600 games
- training database
- 29 introduction texts
- 95 games annotated by the author
Written by Belgian FIDE Master Luc Henris, the CD contains a comprehensive presentation of the theory of this gambit.
£39.95/$49.95
Scoring a solid 2:2 draw against the world’s number 8, super grandmaster Evgeny Bareev, the program HIARCS has definitely reestablished itself as one of the world’s best chess programs. In years of developing HIARCS (Higher Intelligence Auto Response Chess System), its author Mark Uniacke has successfully focussed on the implementation of maximal chess knowledge. The new program version has been enhanced and extended in many ways, particularly in terms of implementing concrete chess knowledge and positional learning. With the improved search function, it’s now possible to assess positions using new positional criteria such as “typical pawn structures”, “long term plans” and above all “safety of the king”. A better selection of variations provides a higher search depth, enabling HIARCS 9 to impress by its sharp powerful play against the enemy king as well as its better understanding of endgames, even with unbalanced material.
Original engine from the match against Bareev included.
£16.95/ $27
ChessBase Magazine is out, with 1563 games, 400 with annotations. But it also contains special training sections on openings, middle and endgame, strategy and tactics. Especially the "theory" section is a bonanza for the tournament player. Check out whether there is an opening that fits your style.
Convekta
£39.95/$22.99
A new interactive training course includes over 5000 best mate studies classified by a number of moves to achieve mate, a number of pieces on the board and authors.
Visual hints to help a student find the solution
Embedded chess playing program Crafty to learn with or play against
Multiple user profiles possible with independent ratings and all other individual information
Languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian
A package includes a CD and a printed manual.
Alexander Raetsky
Chess Multimedia
£24.95/$29.95
Strategy is the most fundamental part of chess. Strategy means systematic action on the basis of an understanding of the game, and the implementation of a plan aimed at weakening and – in the end – destroying the opponent’s position. Tactics are single moves within the framework of a strategic plan.
Clearly strategy has been with us since the beginning of the game, but a strategy based on pawn structure (and subsequently the placing of both pieces and pawns) was not developed until Philidor came along. Strategic theory was first analysed by Steinitz. Subsequently, Tarrasch, Nimzowitsch, and the so-called ‘hypermoderns’ (Reti, Tartakower) and other twentieth century masters made important contributions to chess theory. Today chess strategy develops as the game evolves, but the classic fundamentals of theory remain the same.
£17.95/$27
The history of chess knows many peculiar stories, however, none of them was so spectacular like the comet-like rise of Paul Morphy. Within only two years of active play, the American defeated the strongest players of his time and gained the title of the unofficial world champion. His retirement at the top of his glory, some circumstances in his life which never got quite clarified as well as his tragic end made him a legendary figure through and through. The ChessBase CD features an extensive biography and a special tactics database. Moreover, there are expert analyses of Morphy's playing style by GMs Karten Müller and Rainer Knaak, dealing with the interesting question: How was Morphy superior to this contemporaries?
Henrik Schloessner
ChessBase
£17.95/$27
Winning won positions – who would like to be able to do that without failing at the last moment? For many people it is one of the biggest problems when playing chess: you work hard to get a tangible advantage, but how do you convert it fully? What then could be closer to their heart than training to convert winning positions – with Fritz! Henrik Schloessner has sought out positions, which can be won even against the cool program itself. It is rarely about finding combinations to solve the problem; in fact in a large number of positions the win can be achieved in different ways. But ,as with over the board play, there are always a few obstacles to be swept out of the way... a.. 102 winnable game positions
a.. explanations as how to go about things
a.. appropriate examples of how to win
a.. classified according difficulty
a.. with multimedia database “Brains in Bahrain”
£29.95 / $49.95
It contains a database of over 521,000 complete games (mostly played by post, email or web server) and 6,000 game fragments. Games are provided in two formats: ChessBase and PGN. The database will be of value to all chess players because correspondence games are frequently decided by opening novelties.
MegaCorr3 is also much more than just a database; there are extensive bonusfiles making it a treasure-house that offers hundreds of hours of enjoyable browsing and reading.
The database is compatible with all industry-standard chess software, and ideal for use with the market leader programs: ChessBase 8 and Fritz8. More than 20,000 of the games have annotations and many of the games have never been previously published in a database
The CD also has an archive of 58 Chess Mail magazines (from 1996-2002)
provided in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format, and all Tim Harding's "The Kibitzer" columns published up to the end of 2002.
The extensive and totally redesigned HTML web on the CD features a short history of the CC World Championships and CC Olympiads. This is the first time all this information has ever been published together and it complements the databases by showing exactly who played which opponents in all these important tournaments. The web also has other tournament tables, world champion profiles, photographs and other information.
MegaCorr3 is a Windows CD but as it is entirely data, the files (once copied over) will work equally well with Apple MacIntosh or Linux/Unix computer systems.