Chessbase Fritz Trainer: Valeri Lilov - Sicilian Kan Review

First off, I wish to categorically state that I have no beef with Lance Martin, the reviewer at ChessCafe. I've made my feelings known about his review and while I disagree with his review and in some instances, made my apologies known to him, I still stand by my review of Seirawan's DVD and simply put it down to a difference of opinion. I'm not a highly rated player nor do I pretend to be one. All my reviews have simply been of the standpoint of one from a patzer.

I've recently acquired one of Chessbase's other offerings (I've been dragging my feet on reviewing Daniel King's other Powerplay DVD on PP12: Hedgehog and I apologise for the delay)

Valeri Lilov's Sicilian Kan (see my pix on right - ok, I took the pix like this because I can't find room on my computer table and had to prop the DVD on my printer instead).

This Chessbase DVD is again typical of other Chessbase DVDs. There's no accompanying leaflets (typically non-related promotional materials from Chessbase on subscriptions to Chessbase Magazines) this time round on this DVD.

This Fritz Trainer comes in a plain DVD box with just the DVD inside (see 2nd image below). It is essentially a no-frills DVD.

The back of the DVD categorically states that Lilov, despite his young age is a famous quality online chess coach. I first came across his name when I still had a subscription to Chesslecture.com (I've since stopped my subscription because I was suffering from "chess information overload" - not easy when you have a job and trying to play chess at the same time). In his Chesslecture.com videos, Lilov's voice (you don't actually get to see the person just hear the voice played over a picture of a chessboard) was clear. I don't expect this to change.


Anyway, onwards with the review.

This DVD highlights 20 games.

I'm going to start comparing this DVD amongst other things with Lance Martin's review at Chesscafe, but also with Johan Hellstan's magnum opus, Play The Sicilian Kan.

Looking at the list, I began to heave a huge sigh (not of relief).

The first thing that comes to my mind is - if this is an opening repertoire DVD - then where are the annotations (typically, you would see the annotator field filled in)?

Without opening the DVD movies, I decided to look through the first game. Nope, no information. 2nd game, no information there either. In fact, ALL of the highlighted games exhibit no useful information at all!

And I don't mean not just useful information but no annotations. To have an idea, here's a screen capture of one of the games.


No words, no annotations, no Informant symbols, not even one "+=" sign in sight!

I'd noticed that this has been a trend of many of Chessbase's Fritz Trainer Opening DVD products. I'd really really wish that they put in some form of annotation. While I enjoyed watching the videos, it's frustrating when you have to open a separate chess program and key in all the relevant info mentioned by the commentator. This is especially more so considering it's a basic opening repertoire DVD.

The main lecture consists of some 21 videos listed as follows:-
01: Introduction:
02: A model game: Spassky,B - Fischer,R
03: The Bb4 idea: Saeed,I - El Taher,F
04: The best formation: Wang Zili - Yakovich,Y
05: How to fight an early Nf3 and e5: Hector,J - Movsesian,S
06: Plan with b5 & Qb6 - Main line: Kundin,A - Roiz,M
07: Plan with b5 & Qb6 - Main line with Bxe3: Timman,J - Sokolov,I
08: Plan with b5 & Qb6 - Deviations: Milu,R - Sulava,N
09: Plan with Bd3 - d7-d5 idea: Akopian,V - Svidler,P
10: Plan with Bd3 - Drago-Najdorf setup: Almasi,Z - Anand,V
11: The Hedgehog: Karpov,A - Bellon Lopez,J
12: Maroczy Bind - Plan with Bc5: Vallejo Pons,F - Epishin,V
13: Maroczy Bind - Plan with Bb4: Erdogdu,M - Navara,D
14: Maroczy Bind - Plan with Bb4 II: Ehlvest,J - Ivanchuk,V
15: Maroczy Bind - Sacrifice of e4: Hector,J - Csom,I
16: Maroczy Bind - Plan against Bd3-h3: Kamsky,G - Gurevich,I
17: Maroczy Bind - The Hedgehog Enhanced: Torre,E - Karpov,A
18: Maroczy Bind - The Sacrifice on e4 for Black: Morozevich,A - Svidler,P
19: General Plan No.1: Gross,D - Votava,J
20: General Plan No.2: Reschun,S - Stanec,N
21: Outro:

With a total video running time of almost 4.5 hours.

In the intro, Lilov explains that he has been playing the Sicilian Kan because it is a dynamic and flexible opening that can transpose into a few other Sicilian variants. Lilov gives a quick overview of the basic difference between the Kan, the Paulsen and the Taimanov (although the Taimanov is a totally different move order and leads to a different idea of the style of play).

One of the things I've always liked about the Kan is that it is as Hellstan in his book mentions, it is more of a system than an opening. Black really can go into typical positions based more on the ideas and plans rather than pure rote memorisation of move orders. One of the bad things I've disliked about the Kan is its slow development.

The first game highlighted by Lilov serves to bring an idea behind the Kan. While the line 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 is a very seldom played line, it does bring into mind one very uncomfortable fact. Because White is literally begging Black to play 6... Bb4 (as Dan Heisman would say, White is "Asking for Trouble"). White will find himself having trouble trying to regain the initiative because of Black's uncomfortable pin and target of the square c3.

I felt that once this idea has been communicated, Lilov should have moved on.

Lance Martin in his Chesscafe review felt that after

....7.Nde2 Nf6 8.a3 Be7
he was not sure if Be7 was worth the tempo.

First off, why did White played such a move like Be3 if it was bad? I think this is one point that Lilov only mention much later but one that probably should have been emphasised.

6. Be3 is a very popular move for other Sicilians but not for the Kan. It is the precursor to the dreaded English Attack because White was thinking of doing Qd2 and O-O-O with the typical kingside pawn pushes.

By playing Bb4, Black critically delays the English Attack and forces White to spend a few precious tempi to cope with this threat. In so doing, White often has to make a few "adjustments" which either impede his opening development or make concessional moves.

I know I'm going a bit into theory but that is part of the gist of the Kan move order.

The first lecture I have to say is good but could have been better. It left me with a somewhat good impression but I'd say that a better game should have been selected here and the whole game shown instead.

Lilov explains in a very clear manner and tends to be quite succint in his explanations. So kudos to him for it.

The next couple of lectures was between average to good but the game that turned this review around is on game 7.

In this game position: Timman - Sokolov, Lilov suddenly says that why should Black allow White to win a pawn with Ng6, instead he said,"It looks more suitable to me that Black should play Kf8." and concluded with, "and that's an equal position."

*smacks forehead* at this point, I was truly gobsmacked and I nearly fell out of my chair.

I may be rated only 1400+ but I know a LOSING position when I see one. I'll give you a couple of minutes to think over on why Kf8 in the above diagram leads to a practically lost game for Black. :) Highlight between the brackets if you want to know the answer quickly [Oh dear me, does Black really want to tell the White Knight,"Hello! I got a nice juicy square on e6 for you."]

This really ruined the entire experience for me for this DVD and at this point on, I had to start to question every part of Lilov's opinion and judgement.

I have a minor quibble on game 11. Lilov here attempted to explain the Hedgehog structure but unfortunately a 15 minute video is simply insufficient to explain such a complex structure in so short a time. Daniel King attempted to have a go at this in his Powerplay DVD but even that was still not enough time to explain it comprehensively. For people who are interested in this structure, I suggest Mihail Suba's and Shipov's treatments on the Hedgehog in their books. Lilov is struggling a bit here because he tries to educate the user on the Hedgehog but crams too much information and most of it in brief blurbs. To the user who is unfamiliar with the Hedgehog, he/she will find this lesson confusing.

Now comes the thing which every Sicilian Kan player is interested in - how to treat the Maroczy Bind. Lance Martin in his Chesscafe review accurately points out and I agree with him that Game 12 is a very unsual treatment of the Maroczy Bind and Lilov inadequately points just what is so dangerous with this formation. For those who are new to the Maroczy Bind, look up Hellstan's book - Game 33, page 251. Alternatively, you can look up Wikipedia or do a net search for this.

I would say that the target audience rating of this DVD is between 1500-1800.

Presentation style: 7/10
Material: 5/10
Length: 4/10

Overall: 5.5/10

I gave this low marks on material and length because:

a) Material was lacking in many parts when it comes to further explanation. The horrible mistake on game 7 just left a terrible aftertaste.

b) The length of the video in quite a number of the videos like those based on the Hedgehog was inadequate and seemed discordiant with the rest of the video - some of the choices of the game are a tad suspect.

I'm quite disappointed with this DVD, sad to say. It's definitely not one of Lilov's more memorable efforts. I really want to like it. :-(

ChessCafe Review - PP12 and Yasser Seirawan's Chessbase DVDs

Sorry, this is just a short blurb.

I had intended to do a couple of Fritz Trainer reviews (which some of my friends at my local chess club had kindly lent me) and others I had purchased on my own.

Today, Chesscafe's reviewer, Lance Martin, gave the following ratings on ChessCafe:

PowerPlay 12: The Hedgehog - 2 stars
Yasser Seirawan: My Best Games - 1 star

Frankly, I was floored by the poor ratings that were given to these 2 DVDs. I have seen some real stinkers by Chessbase but these 2 DVDs whilst not the best of the Fritz Trainer series, they are definitely not the worst nor are they anywhere near the mediocrity that pervades other interactive chess DVDs.

I have in my possession both software and I intend to do a review on both of them some time in the next week.

Chessbase Review: French Defence

I've been meaning to review this DVD since the end of last year and I finally managed to get some time to do this.

I used to play the main line French then subsequently moved onto the Winawer/MacCutcheon variation (which I mentioned a long time ago that I was not going to learn to play but which I took up in the end). Since then, I've moved on from the French Defence.That means no more Milner Barry gambits, no more Alekhine-Chatard attacks for me although I'm still quite tempted to investigate the Burn and Guidmard variations of the French Defence.

So what I am getting to here? Well, this blog post is dedicated to Greg who mentions in this blogpost here.

I've been playing the French on and off for nearly half a year now. I am not an expert in the French Defence and I don't profess to be one. However, it has garnered me a few wins so far so I guess it's not that bad. Till today, I still have a soft spot for the French Defence although I have been investigating other opening defences to improve my opening repertoire in response to 1.e4.

The problem with playing the French Defence is that it's a rather misunderstood defence. Some people think that the French Defence is a tame defence. Well, they couldn't be more wrong. The French Defence is a strong counter-attacking defence.

In case you missed it, let me say that again, it is a counter-attacking defence.

While White is busy pushing pawns, Black hits back at the center (usually) with everything except the kitchen sink.

For a club player, I would seriously recommend Ari Ziegler's French Defence DVD (image on left) - Repertoire For Black if and only if you're interested in taking up the French as your main repertoire. Unlike some *other* Chessbase DVDs, this DVD is by and far, one of the best Fritz Trainers to have come out of Chessbase.

The DVD comprises some 7 hours (!!) of lessons. Frankly I am very surprised that Chessbase managed to squeeze that much information into 1 DVD. If Ziegler were to make a second DVD dealing with other variations of the French Defence, I would be the first in line to buy it.

What about the DVD itself?

Ziegler speaks with a rather slow, serious (some would say ponderous) and thoughtful voice. He is so unlike the cocktail-drinking-yawning-in-front-of-camera Jacob Aagaard, the somewhat placid but solid presenter Andrew Martin, the funny Daniel King, the somewhat-whiny voice of Rustam Khasimzhanov and the ever-gruffy-voice-and-nerdy Karsten Muller.

When he says something, he pauses, thinks, and gives you his thoughts on the position. He does not rush but he expects you to see tactical combinations quickly.

However, I do notice that Ziegler sometimes zips through the moves at record speed at later segments. That's because he presumes you've already watched the earlier clips and knows the variations so he doesn't bother wasting time .

He starts off with the Advance variation (you can read up ChessCafe's rather brief review of the DVD in this link), followed by the Tarrasch, the Classical and the Steinitz.

There are a few minor odd-looking moves in Ziegler's repertoire unfortunately (I leave it to you to figure it out) but I would say it is definitely more than good enough for the club player. He also gives short rift of the Exchange Variation and does not even delve into the Winawer nor the MacCutcheon. So if you're looking for insights into these lines, unfortunately, you would have to look somewhere else.

I have since expanded my repertoire of the French Defence and included a few new lines taken from materials from other sources.

This DVD would take at least a week to digest all the necessary information (especially for newcomers to the French Defence) and I would strongly urge to work at your own pace and not to hurry.

One big pity is that some of the annotations for the games are in Swedish. A real shame as Ziegler's annotations are very insightful.

As a note, some viewers may be left "hanging in the air" regarding a particular reference to a player. In one of his video segments, Ziegler mentions of a player who "knows the French from every angle". He is not referring to Uhlmann or Korchnoi but the Swedish CC Grandmaster Rune Holmberg. You are not likely to find his games in normal databases but you can find it by looking up CC chess databases. I strongly urge you to find his games and go through them if you're interested.

After you have digested the DVD, what next, you say? I would say, read up more on the French Defence. Any books by John Watson regarding the French is usually good.

I know what some people are thinking. Who plays the French Defense these days? It has virtually disappeared from super-GM play. Well, the beauty of the French Defence is that there are still many unexplored lines.

If you want to know more, there is no shortage of great players on the Black side of the French. They include Victor Korchnoi, Wolfgang Uhlmann, Mikhail Gurevich, Nigel Short, Alexander Morozevich and Evgeny Bareev.

And now for something unrelated.....

For the last note of the day, speaking of a trip back to the past...... here's a very nice blast from the past.

Who was undoubtedly acknowledged as the greatest in the chess world?

One that even Kasparov, Kramnik and Anand saw fit to humble themselves and acknowledged; together with other famous grandmasters as shown in the signatures in the picture on the right?

David Bellows, that's who.

I know what you're thinking,

"Who On Earth Is David Bellows?!!" *wink*

Do You Read ChessCafe?

I admit it. I'm an avid reader of ChessCafe for quite a number of months now.

ChessCafe has a wealth of information available and each month, I eagerly await 4 columns in the following preferential order:

1. Endgame Corner by Karsten Müller
2. The Instructor by Mark Dvoretsky
3. Checkpoint by Carsten Hansen
4. Arbiter's Notebook by Geurt Gijssen

I tend to give a cursory look to the other articles. However, it is usually the first 2 articles I tend to give the most attention to.

By the way, did I ever mention that I love endgames? Ok, I absolutely LOVE endgames and studying endgame theory.

This month I received a bonus. Dvoretsky devoted this month's article to endgames and in it, he mentioned how even famous Grandmasters mess up their endgames.

Among the list of guilty parties include Magnus Carlsen and Mark Taimanov who failed to draw certain endings and messed them up.

Of particular note in the article, Dvorestky notes,

"It’s just the same in chess: knowledge of endgame theory does not guarantee that you will know how to play the endgame."

How very true. I can tell you of the number of times that I thought I knew the endgame theory and had it down pat and that I should be able to handle this endgame when it happens. Not so, there always appears to be chinks in the armour and it's extremely important to tighten up and know where these chinks are so they can be eradicated. And I found that my knowledge of endgame theory is still not up to scratch. Knowing and playing them are 2 different matters altogether indeed.

In the endgame, where time is usually a precious commodity, it is vital that you can play the moves as perfectly as possible and as automated as possible. Not only does it place your opponent under severe pressure to find the correct moves, but it also gives you that little "edge" to capitalise when your opponent makes a mistake.

If you have the time I strongly encourage you to read the article, , it's a real eye opener.

A Good Letter

Every month, I look forward to Bruce Pandolfini's column at ChessCafe. I find that I can identify with many posters with respect to their questions and concerns.

This month's ChessCafe's Q&A Session with Bruce Pandolfini article ends with a letter that struck a chord in me. I thought the post was very insightful and encouraging and I would like to share it with everyone. Taken from ChessCafe:

R. Surf (England) writes: I recently started up chess as a way to fill some time while I was doing a sabbatical traveling around the world, which turned into a never going back to the International Banking World in New York/London. I write now, but not nearly well enough to pay the bills like my previous job. In 2002, IM Malcolm Pein gave me the book: Tactics for Advanced Players, by Averbakh, with the not too subtle caveat, “You know everything about nothing. Learn tactics!”

As a very well paid London banker I did not take this personally, because, heck, he was a just a chess player depending on the patronage of terrible players with large checkbooks like me. But in 2005, I decided to play chess again after a fifteen year hiatus. Oh, and I actually read the Averbakh book cover to cover, I set up almost every position in the book and repeated this process several times. I then put his exercises into a database that I call Tactical Destruction. I added further exercises from Edward Lasker’s Modern Chess Strategy and Vukovic’s Art of Attack, and along the way I added all my terrible blunders and occasional successes from online games. Together with exercises from various other sources, I now have over 535 cards that I know.

But this has been a chess journey of over two years. In those years I can only give the following to justify my work: the FMs in a chess club that I occasionally visit (one of whom said to me in annoyance “You play like Morphy!”) are no longer willing to play for money at even odds and try to avoid playing me. But the best part of this experience, the other players say, with the hope I will share the secret, “They are scared of you.” Everyone thinks that I was faking my 1900+ rating. I take it with a smile and realize that I know nothing, except 535 positions better than anyone else in this club. As Malcolm said, “You know everything about nothing. Learn tactics!”

I know Malcolm Pein does not even know who I am and probably will never remember this incident, but if you happen to have contact with him at the higher levels of chess Nirvana, then please tell him “thank you” from a once well-to-do banker and now a poor but happy writer. In the meantime, I will continue building and refining my database, because I realize that until you can see the basics, all those books, from My System to Dvoretsky, are simply meaningless if you cannot see the tactics that are beneath the surface.

Regarding Blitz, it is unlikely unless you are some child prodigy or an adult who has played chess his entire life that you will ever be any good at it. I sincerely believe that it is the worst thing in the world for chess. But in fairness, I have no clue how to play this game. Still, I will venture the following thought to my detractors, that no other sport in the world turns their game from a contest of one hour to eighty-five minutes into a five minute debacle of who can move pieces faster than the other player. To paraphrase former World Champion Dr. Lasker, from his Manual of Chess, “Speed Chess will be the death of Chess.” (BP – I couldn’t have said it any better.)

© 2007 Bruce Pandolfini. All Rights Reserved.