News & Updates
by Greg Delaney
Chessbase has released dozens of very good training DVD’s in the past few years, featuring very capable and well-known presenters such as Andrew Martin, Alexei Shirov, and Viktor Bologan (and countless others).
The Secret to Chess, by first time presenter GM Maurice Ashley is one of the best that I’ve seen during that time. GM Ashley from New York became the first African-American to earn the coveted international title in 1999, and has since become a polished chess commentator for events such as Kasparov’s matches against computer programs and the Anand-Kasparov World Championship match in 1995. Ashley’s skills at the chess board and in front of the camera serve him well in this DVD.
“The Secret to Chess” has about 4 hours of chess instruction by GM Ashley on a simple but profound idea: every move in chess has at least one “drawback.” Beginners and club players have some general understanding of this (“pawn moves always weaken squares,” for example) concept, but Ashley presents the idea literally as a way to play each and every chess game. He provides numerous examples of what he calls “Drawback Chess” or “Aikido Chess” (Ashley is a martial artist who is familiar with the Aikido style, based on taking advantage of the opponent’s imbalances and weakened areas). The examples begin with positions in which the “drawback” to a player’s move is relatively easy to spot, and gradually progress in difficulty and complexity. GM Ashley’s explanations of the drawbacks and how they are “punished” are detailed and clearly illustrated with the colored squares, arrows, etc. frequently seen in Chessbase DVD’s.
Ashley’s delivery style is lively and engaging: even his few errors are entertaining. His verbiage is sprinkled with words that communicate Ashley’s inherently aggressive style, and he comes across as really enjoying the presentation he is delivering. A small number of examples are from Ashley’s own games, and he provides excellent insight into the positions as one might expect. In addition, however, GM Ashley takes the viewer into his thought process, his emotions, and some of the psychology that takes place at the highest levels of chess. The emphasis of the DVD is on recognizing the drawbacks to the opponent’s moves and on taking advantage of these drawbacks to find very strong and even decisive moves. As a viewer, I was thoroughly engaged in the material for the entire 4 hours.
While The Secret to Chess focuses primarily on identifying and exploiting the drawbacks of the opponent’s moves, I have found it even more interesting to use this idea to help me identify the drawbacks of my moves when I lose games. In the past I have often been perplexed as to why I lost some games (in ways other than outright blunders, of course), and I have started to analyze these games from the “drawback” perspective. It becomes much easier to see why I lose when I look for the drawbacks of my moves and how my opponent exploited them. I consider this DVD a “must own” for any club/tournament player.
Greg Delaney is Life Member of USCF who returned to chess in 2005 after a three decade hiatus from the game he loves. He is an educator, club player, and student of IM Yelena Dembo. For fun, he blogs about chess and his work to improve as a player.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of Wholesale Chess. We welcome open discussion on all aspects of chess on the Wholesale Chess Blog. If you would like to be a guest author on our blog, please contact us at marketing@wholesalechess.com.
Wednesday’s Chess Deal of The Day is a great value. Fritz 12 chess software is only $44.99–but for today only. It’s time to treat yourself if you don’t already have this #1 favorite of chess playing programs.
The Deal of the Day for Sunday, Nov. 28, will get the new week off to a great start. Today only you can get the DGT Trainer with Fritz at a savings of 50%. Today you will pay only $17.49 for this excellent deal. 
Written by guest author Jason Repa for Wholesale Chess
This Rybka is the fourth generation of the popular chess playing/analysis program created by MIT Graduate, International chess master, and software developer Vasik Rajlich, who resides in Warsaw, Poland. To my knowledge, Vasik is the first titled chess player to introduce a competitive program into the market. Vasik’s wife, Iweta, who is an active member of the Rybka development team, is also an International chess master with a FIDE rating of 2450.
Since its inception, Rybka has consistently topped the charts in terms of playing strength according to reputable chess program comparison lists such as the SSDF http://ssdf.bosjo.net/list.htm. In recent news, Rybka 4 has won both the main and the blitz tournaments at the 18th World Chess Computer Championship which took place last month in Kanazawa, Japan. http://ticc.uvt.nl/icga/cg2010results/WCCC.html. In the main event it scored 8/9; a full point and a half ahead of its closest rival. It also scored 8/9 in the blitz event. Starting back from its original release, Rybka has always had an uncanny ability to win a large percentage of games with the Black pieces, which is unusual, not just for chess programs, but in human play as well.
When Rybka first arrived on the scene it was independently sold as a UCI engine that required you to have an existing UCI compatible interface, such as WinBoard (for Windows), or XBoard (GNU/Linux). But starting with the third generation of the program (Rybka 3), it is available preinstalled in the tried and true Fritz/Shredder/Junior interface as Rybka has teamed up with the Chessbase Company to offer the best of both words in terms of interface quality/functionality and engine strength.
Deep Rybka 4 is the multiprocessor version of the program. Although the regular Rybka 4 will also run on multiprocessor computers, the Deep version is specially optimized to take full advantage of the additional hardware resources. The drawback is the higher price tag. But for those seeking the strongest off-the-shelf chess program available, it is well worth the additional expense.
Rybka 4 also comes with a 1.5 million game database and purchasers are entitled to a free one year membership at the playchess.com online chess server. The server entitles you to online play against other human opponents in the normal rooms, or even pit your chess program (Rybka or others) in competition against other programs in the special engines room.
Jason Repa is a CFC rated national chess expert and part-time chess coach from Winnipeg, Canada. He has been a tournament chess player since 1995 and has been teaching chess since 2002. He can be reached at jasonrepa @ hotmail.com
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of Wholesale Chess. We welcome open discussion on all aspects of chess on the Wholesale Chess Blog. If you would like to be a guest author on our blog, please contact us at marketing@wholesalechess.com.
Written by guest author Erik Czerwin for Wholesale Chess.
Once you’ve become a chess coach, you’ll need a few things to get the chess team going. After purchasing chess sets, chess clocks, and storage for all the team chess supplies, you’ll want to consider some things to use while teaching chess, love of the game, and more. The good news is you don’t really need anything beyond a single chess set. If you have heart and knowledge, you already have everything you need to get started. I began with literally no more than a couple cheapo plastic chess sets from a department store. My enthusiasm was all I needed. As the team grew and got more competitive, I found needs for other things to help me be a better coach. All chess coaching supplies boil down to three categories: Demonstration Chess Boards, Chess Books, and Chess Read more �
Wholesale Chess Book & Chess Software Sale
From now through July 11 we’re celebrating our chess books and chess software sale! We’ve marked down dozens of titles today, with more titles to be discounted throughout the week as the sale progressses. Watch for saving of 10%, 20%, 30%, and even 40% off your favorite chess books, chess dvds and chess software.
Of course – it wouldn’t be Read more �
Here’s a glance at today’s Thursday Chess Deals:
Save $30 on Saitek Handheld Chess Computer!
Bright back-lit screen with features like take back,replay, 100 playing levels, and saved games.
Save $35 on Magnetic Travel Wood Chess Set Combo
At a small 5 x 2 inches when folded, this board can go anywhere! King is 3/4 inch tall.
All About Thursday Chess Deals
Every Thursday you’ll find two great chess deals at www.WholesaleChess.com available only for orders placed online on that Thursday from 12:00 am to 11:59 pm PST. The Thursday Chess Deals change from week to week but the savings are always significant! Thursday Chess Deals are limited to stock on hand and no rain checks or back orders will be allowed. Customers may choose to purchase one or both of the Thursday Chess Deals but will be limited to a maximum of one of each item per Thursday. Orders containing a Thursday Chess Deal are not eligible for any other promotions requiring a promo code or PriceMatches. Thursday Chess Deals are only available for the item listed. No substitutions of product, color, size, etc., will be allowed.
Chess for Absolute Beginners
Susan Polgar’s Learning Chess the Easy Way: Chess for Absolute Beginners, is by far one of the best DVDs ever made to teach beginners how to play the worlds greatest game.
Susan teaches beginners basic chess knowledge with the aid of great graphics and animation. She includes the topics of: rules, pieces, points, moves, tactics, checkmates, notations, and setting up the board.
Susan, along with her teaching helpers, Champion and King Harold, set a fun stage for learning chess. Also included is a brief history of chess, a short biography on Susan, and other fun facts about Chess.
You can purchase Susan Polgar DVDs at Wholesale Chess. Watch for the free media mail shipping special on orders over $25 shipping to the lower 48 states.
Here are a few reviews from Parent Tested Parent Reviewed:
Q1 Was this DVD enjoyable for you and your child to watch?
I used this DVD to teach my class of 13 year old students about Chess. Out of my 8 students I would say 6 of them really enjoyed the DVD and were very interested as they all wanted to learn how to play Chess.
Yes, it was enjoyable to watch. We especially liked the cartoon King and horse.
It was more enjoyable for me, I know nothing about chess and I wanted to learn. My daughter has played chess before so she did lose some interest in the DVD. I played the DVD for my niece and nephew and they were very interested as was I.
Q2 Did this DVD teach you the beginner basic chess knowledge?
yes, yes, yes, we learned a lot
I feel that it was really helpful in teaching them the basic skills of Chess. We set up our Chess set and set up teams to play and it was a ton of fun.
Yes. Both my 8 year old son and myself only knew a VERY little about chess before. Now we at least know how all the pieces move, how to set up a chess board, etc.
I do feel that we learned about the chess board and a lot about the chess pieces ( I knew nothing about chess so It did really help).
Q3 Is this DVD priced fairly?
yes great price and you actually learn how to play Chess!
I do think that the price if a fair price. For the knowledge that you get it is definitely worth it!
Q4 The quality of the DVD met your requirements?
yes- it is high quality and well presented as well.
I think that the quality was very good.Very professionally done
Q5 Do you feel this DVD taught the basics of Chess in a fun and entertaining way? Did it keep your child’s interest?
We had a tough crowd to test this on, 13 year olds can lose interest quickly. We had discussed a segment on learning Chess and I was happy to see how quickly most caught on. After we set up our chess board we referred to the DVD and have now set up a weekly Friday chess game instead of watching a movie.
my girls enjoyed the animation, we all enjoyed the information shared in the DVD.
Yes, it was fun and entertaining. The quizzes at the end of each chapter is a great idea. This DVD taught us the basics very easily. The cartoon characters were fun and even some of the possible answers
I do feel the that the DVD did teach us the basics of chess and I found it fun and entertaining. My kids did not stay interested in the entire DVD but my niece and nephew were more interested as they had no idea how to play chess.
Q6 Would you recommend this product to friends or family?
yes- for anyone who expresses interest in learning Chess
Yes, I would recommend this chess software to family and friends. It is a great beginning to learn Chess. It is great to learn all the pieces and the moves by seeing the pieces on the board and seeing the highlighted areas that they can move.
Q7 The product met your expectations.
Ya you bet. It kept the students attention and taught them the skills they need to play chess. (helped to refresh my chess skills as well, cheers to that)
yes we all learned most of the basics. Me and my husband the most! My girls are well on their way. The beauty of having the DVD is we can keep referring to it as we learn as a family.
Yes. My son and I have been very eager to learn how to play chess. Using this DVD, we learned the names of all the pieces, how to set up a chess board, some special moves, etc.
It did meet my expectations, it was very informative and was taught on a great beginner level, which I am.
Q8 What did you like best about this product?
The format was well done, very thorough without being boring. Having the chess board which shows each piece movement is key especially when teaching kids who have never played.
the amount of time it took to learn, and the animation quality. I was not expecting the girls and I to learn so much in such a short time.
The cartoonish characters of the King and Champion (horse). They were cute and funny and fun to watch and listen to.
I loved the quizzes at the end of the chapters. I also love how in the beginning it shows the chess board and highlights the moves that the chess pieces can move. I love the visuals. I also liked the chess piece characters helping out.
I run an aftercare program in our school for grade 5 through 8 graders. I am going to take this DVD for the kids that want to learn chess. I think that they will enjoy it. Thanks
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