The Secret Weapons of the Champions

Modern middlegame theory does not exist in written form. That is why players and trainers have to go back to the recommendations by Nimzowitsch – to study typical positional methods. Who is better placed to teach us about their own powerful weapons than the great champions of the past? The key to understanding the middlegame lies in understanding how to execute certain positional maneuvers.

In this DVD GM Adrian Mikhalchishin explains, for example, Botvinnik’s famous “flank against center” strategy, which is one of the corner-stones of positional play. He also shows that Petrosian’s white-square strategy is an extremely important form of the control of squares and space. Tal was a great master of changing the material balance in every position – for example, rook and pawn against two pieces. GM Makogonov, once a trainer of Vassily Smyslov, invented the famous “secret positional rule” of the Soviet Chess School. How and when it is possible to apply this method you will find out from this DVD.

Adrian Mikhalchishin, a Grandmaster since 1978, is currently among the top 5 world trainers and FIDE Trainers Committee Vice-Chairman. He has trained at various points in the past the national teams of the USSR, Slovenia, Poland and the Netherlands. On an individual basis he has trained Anatoly Karpov, Zsuzsa Plogar, Alexander Beliavsky, Maja Chiburdanidse, Arkadij Naidich and Vasily Ivanchuk.

Video running time: more than 4 hours. System requirements: Pentium-Processor at 300 Mhz or higher, 64 MB RAM, Windows Vista, Windows XP, DVD drive, mouse, soundcard