Master Class, Vol. 3, 6 & 9: AAlekhine, Karpov , Morphy Bundle - Chess Biography Software DVD

Master Class, Vol. 3: Alexander Alekhine

Alexander Alekhine, the fourth World Champion, played many fantastic attacking games and to this day enjoys the reputation of being an attacking genius. But ever since Alekhine won the World Championship match against Capablanca in Buenos Aires 1927 the chess world could see that the Russian-born Alekhine - who immigrated to France in 1921 - also handled technical positions excellently. But his success against Capablanca was still a surprise because the Cuban was considered to be virtually unbeatable.
 
After winning the World Championship Alekhine reached the peak of his career in the early 1930s winning famous tournaments such as San Remo 1930 and Bled 1931 by a huge margin. Moreover, the World Champion was also a prolific author and in annotating his games gave deep insights to the thinking of a World Champion. Alekhine was one of the best players in the history of chess and treated all phases of the game - opening, middlegame and endgame - in textbook fashion. No wonder a lot of later top class players, not least Garry Kasparov, claimed Alekhine as their role model in chess.
 
On this DVD Grandmasters Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten MÌ?ller, and International Oliver Reeh present outstanding games, stunning combinations and exemplary endgames by Alexander Alekhine. And they invite you to improve your chess knowledge with the help of video lectures, annotated games and interactive tests. The DVD also contains all known games by Alekhine, most of them annotated. Tables of important tournaments and various articles with background information complete the DVD.

* Video running time: 5 hours (English)
* Interactive tactics test with video feedback
* Collection of all known games Alekhine played, tournament tables, short biography
* Alekhine powerbook: the repertoire of the World Champion as opening tree
* Tactic training: 102 Alekhine games with training questions
* With ChessBase 12 Reader

Master Class, Vol. 6: Anatoly Karpov

When Anatoly Karpov was 11 years old, he was invited to Botvinnik’s chess school. But the “Patriarch” passed a harsh verdict: “The boy has no clue about chess and therefore absolutely no future as a chess player.” Rarely was a judgement about a chess talent more wrong, for Karpov soon became the best player in the Soviet Union, growing to be considered a serious challenger to the reigning World Champion, Bobby Fischer. But in the World Championship match in 1975, Fischer refused to play and Karpov won by default, becoming the 12th World Champion. He nevertheless proved himself worthy of his title, playing in countless tournaments with exceptional results. Particularly impressive was his style. Thanks to Karpov’s brilliant feel for positional chess, which reminded many experts of Capablanca, he outplayed his opponents again and again with seemingly effortless ease.

If you want to improve your grasp of chess strategy, then there is hardly a better teacher than Anatoly Karpov! It took the arrival of Garry Kasparov for Karpov to have an opponent who could challenge him on an equal footing. On this DVD, a team of experts looks closely at the secrets of Karpov’s games. In more than 7 hours of video, the authors examine four essential aspects of Karpov’s superb play. Niclas Huschenbeth takes a look at Karpov’s openings. Our tactics expert Oliver Reeh tests your skills with interactive exercises, challenging you to find Karpov’s brilliant moves. Mihail Marin sees in Karpov’s play great similarities to Magnus Carlsen: by the time the opponent understands what is happening, it is already too late. For endgame expert Dr. Karsten Müller, Anatoly Karpov is “a living legend”. For him, Karpov has “an incredible feeling for the coordination and harmony of his pieces”, something which also shows in his endgames.

• Video running time: 7 hours (English)
• Interactive tactics test with video feedback
• Collection of all Karpov’s games, crosstables and a short biography
• “Karpov’s Powerbook”: The 12th World Champion’s repertoire as an opening tree
• Tactics training based on 189 of Karpov’s games: 472 training questions with a maximum of 875 points
• Includes ChessBase Reader