Customer Review: Roman’s Forum DVD Series
April 5, 2010
Tags: Product Reviews, New, Etc
Volume 33 in International Grandmaster Roman Dzindzichashvilis Forum series combines what used to be 4 VHS tape lessons. Taken together, they constitute a practical repertoire for the 1. e4 player, with the defenses and main-lines most likely to be encountered in actual play, although players who wish a comprehensive system will have to fill in the gaps with more of his Chess DVDs or a generic reference book on the openings, since Roman spends more time on the main lines in order to deepen a students preparation for the ensuing middlegames.
Against the Sicilian, Roman advocates 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bb5, a variation of the Grand Prix attack with the option either of a direct attack on Blacks King or positional play on the Queenside. Roman’s suggestions against the French, Caro-Kann, Alekhines, and Pirc are a hodgepodge of lines which are nonetheless really effective :1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 and now 5.Bd2 against the French Winawer1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd cxd 4.c4the Panov-Botvinnik Attack against the Caro-Kann 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.c4 Nb6 4.c5 Nd5 5.Nc3 the Two Pawns Attack against Alekhines Defense. And against the Pirc, a White Be3 and h3 setup.
The last two DVDs examine the main line Two Knights Defense after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.e5 and the Giuoco Piano after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd Bb5 7.Bd2an innocuous line into which Roman has injected some venomous ideas. Finally, Roman proposes reaching these main lines via a Scotch Gambit move order, where Black has to run a gauntlet of traps only to reach the safe haven of the Two Knights or Giuoco Piano, where Roman has already shown how White can achieve a lasting positional advantage.
As might be expected, the insights of a top-flight International Grandmaster on lines which he has used against the best players in the world outweigh the best efforts of most other makers of chess videos. And yet, there have been some misinformed and malicious reviews which have spread onto all the search engines, which make it difficult to decide whether or not to purchase them.
As I see it, Roman’s DVDs have some real problems in presentation despite their excellent content. Often the packaging fails fully to disclose which lines are analyzed, frustrating to someone wishing to focus on their favorite systems, and the production values verge on the abysmal: lighting and sound are amateurish, and the demonstration boards (comically awful on the earlier videos) are improved somewhat on the later ones, only to be plagued with the occasional error most frustratingly yet, flipping the board inappropriately to show the Black side of a White opening system.
Now, to me that doesn’t matter, since while watching any chess videos, I follow the moves on an actual chess board. Chess memory and thinking are a matter of physical memory proprioception much more than visual memory, as studies since Alfred Binets pioneering work on human intelligence at the turn of the last century have shown. You can read more in Diego Rasskin-Gutmans Chess Metaphors (MIT: 2009) if you’re interested in this topic.
I’m a National Master and I’m largely self taught from chess books; however, I get a lot from watching these videos again and again. Roman inculcates above all a way of thinking about the position at hand, and I need constant reinforcement to get rid of all my bad habits. I have even found Romans voice guiding me in completely unfamiliar situations in actual play, his common sense enabling me to find the underlying positional thread amid the distracting thicket of tactical possibilities.
I don’t usually write reviews of products I buy, I have a day job and chess is a hobby I pursue at the amateur level, despite some intermittent success and the occasional victory over a titled player. Frankly, as a tournament player Id rather you didn’t purchase Romans DVDs, but a sense of justice and gratitude compels me to answer the unfair reviews I encounter whenever I do a search on Roman’s latest DVDs, and set the record straight as best I can.
