Mr. Kasparov: How to Play the Najdorf {Volume 1} {DVD & CD}
by Garry Kasparov
The Najdorf system in the Sicilian Defence has a legendary reputation as a defensive weapon for Black. It is an opening where people often strive for a full point, instead of simply defending the position with the black pieces. Many great players have contributed to the development of this complex opening. There were two world champions who formed much of their careers using the Najdorf system as their weapon of choice against 1.e4: Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov celebrated spectacular successes with it. Both players used the Najdorf during their child prodigy years and retained it as an important part of their repertoire during their entire careers. For Garry Kasparov this added up to experience with the Najdorf at the very highest levels of chess.
For chess amateurs and professionals alike it is a great moment when the worlds leading expert shares all the secrets in his favourite opening. In part one Garry Kasparov introduces the various sub-systems of the Najdorf, including the central "Poisoned Pawn" variation. The development of each line is placed in historical perspective and examined in great depth, with Kasparovs characteristic intensity. More than 2.5 hours of first-class private tuition. The DVD can be played both on a PC and a DVD player, using your living-room TV set (PAL). It contains subtitles in English, German, Spanish, Italian and Turkish. The package includes the latest ChessBase 9.0 Reader, a big reference database featuring more than 16,000 Najdorf games, as well as a complete opening book that can be used to practice what you have learnt with Fritz.
The DVD contains a series of nine video talks by Garry Kasparov, each of which is presented in the Chess Media System format: you get a window displaying the video of Kasparov as he explains the concepts which works hand in glove with an automated board display in ChessBase/Fritz which shows the moves as Kasparov discusses them. Here's a list of the videos and their lengths:
01 Introduction in a famous opening (12:37 min)
02 Possible deviations (9:43 min)
03 Najdorf 6.Bg5 Nbd7 (18:35 min)
04 Najdorf 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qf3 (19:21 min)
05 Gothenburg variation (19:59 min)
06 Poisoned pawn variation 9.Rb1 (19:36 min)
07 Poisoned pawn variation 13.e5 (22:46 min)
08 Poisoned pawn variation 13.Be2 and 9.Nb3 (27:49 min)
09 Poisoned pawn variation 8.Nb3 (17:24 min)
System requirements: PC (minimum 233 MHz and 32 MB RAM, recommended 1 GHz, 256 MB), DVD drive, Windows98 SE, ME, 2000 or XP, Sound card, Windows Media Player 9 or higher (for the multimedia lessons).
Review On Jun 11, 2005by Tim Shackel of Menasha, WI
Rating :
Title :
Comments :
This is simply the best DVD of Garry's I've ever seen. He's lost his champion condescension completely in this volume. He's really sharing secrets, he's really sharing information on his favorite opening. Not only this, but he compares/contrasts the Sicilian with more "principle-driven" openings like Ruy Lopez and Queen's Gambit and discusses how Sicilian is much more tactically natured where simple principles simply don't apply. Often your moves are geared to which side of the board your opponent will castle and often your own king stays in the center (as black). Kasparov says quite direct and simply, "If you're scared of your king being in the center sometimes, pick other openings!"
Kasparov really shows his true genious in this DVD, and he helps you to understand the nature of the Sicilian Najdorf. He talks about how 5...a6 is a big risk as it does not develop pieces as one is taught in the opening, but big risks often means big rewards. Black is able to fight for initiative with b5-b4 in the Najdorf, but the price is that he may be blown out of the water!
This is Kasparov at his best. He shows great interest in the positions, and this has already improved my game 100 points (even in other openings!), and I got it last week!! Thank you Garry for finally opening up to amateurs about the nature of the Sicilian and moreover the nature of chess!
1-877-91-CHESS All purchases help keep ChessCafe.com freely accessible.
Only a few chess players work at chess to the best of their abilities.
Boris Gelfand
Puzzle Answer
1.Rd7! Bxd7 2.Qxd7 Qb6+ 3.Kh1 Re8 4.Rxe7! Rxe7 5.Bd6 Qxd6 6.Qxd6+- Gelfand-Salov, Madrid 1996 (Source: Anthology of Chess Combinations)
* USPS Media Mail or UPS Ground. Does not apply to Bulk, Foreign Orders, or Multiple-Issue Subscriptions. A 1.5% handling fee is applied to all domestic orders and a 2.0% handling fee is applied to all international orders.
