BIOGRAPHICAL & HISTORICAL CHESS DISKS

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Note: to use and enjoy these biographical CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs there is no need to own any other software unless otherwise stated.
 

Viktor Korchnoi My Life for Chess, Vol. 1 DVD-ROM

BCM Price £17.99

Viktor Korchnoi is undoubtedly one of the most electrifying personalities in the chess world. Still playing successful and attractive chess, the 73-year-old former double world championship finalist is also famous for his candid language. Korchnoi was never one for mincing his words. Now you can experience this chess legend “live”: with the new ChessBase DVDs “My Life for Chess”, Korchnoi has created a vivid memorial to himself and his great chess career. In Volume 1, he presents eight of his most brilliant effort from the years 1949-1979, among them games against Smyslov, Geller, Tal, Huebner and Karpov. In each case Korchnoi describes in detail the story around the game, never beating around the bush, sometimes harshly criticizing his opponents, but also lavishing praise on them when this is warranted. A highlight is the game against Karpov from the match for the world championship in Baguio 1978. All in all, “My Life for Chess Vol. 1” offers more than three hours of first-class chess training, plus an extensive interview. A must-have for every chess fan!

    Victor Korchnoi, two-times contender for the world championship, is a piece of living chess history. In the 60 years of his career, he crossed swords with practically all great players of the past and presence, including Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov. A relentless fighter at the board, he expressed his never-ending love for the royal game in a very simple phrase: “Chess is my life”.

   System requirements: Pentium-Processor at 300 Mhz or higher, 64 MB RAM, Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Media Player 9.0, DVD drive.
 

Viktor Korchnoi My Life for Chess, Vol. 2 DVD-ROM

BCM Price £17.99

Volume 2 features about four hours of “Korchnoi live”. The great chess legend portraits the second part of his eventful career, presenting among other things his games against Kasparov (1986), Spassky (1989) and Short (1990) in his typical gripping style. Embedded in the game commentaries are many details of Korchnoi’s biography. For instance, before commenting on his game against Spassky, the veteran speaks extensively about his personal relationship with the ex-world champion. Throughout these lectures you can feel Korchnoi’s ever-enduring love for chess. Whenever the great master gets to the heart of an opening (King’s Indian, English and French) or shows an astonishing move, one can see the joy sparkling from his eyes. No wonder – hardly any other chess genius has lived chess as intensively as “Viktor the Terrible”.

    Victor Korchnoi, two-times contender for the world championship, is a piece of living chess history. In the 60 years of his career, he crossed swords with practically all great players of the past and presence, including Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov. A relentless fighter at the board, he expressed his never-ending love for the royal game in a very simple phrase: “Chess is my life”.

   System requirements: Pentium-Processor at 300 Mhz or higher, 64 MB RAM, Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Media Player 9.0, DVD drive.
 

The Best of Garry Kasparov (Informator CD-ROM)

BCM Price £21.50

Foreword By Garry Kasparov • Close-Up • Bio & Facts • Farewell To Chess At The Peak Of His Fame (By Aleksandar Matanovic) • Tournaments • Games: 1193 Published Games, 595 Annotated By Kasparov • White/Black Repertoire Trees • Stats • Creativity • Best Games: 13 Selected By Kasparov Himself • 100 Best Games • Chess Informant Jury • The Best Game 1966-1996 - 40/202 (Kasparov Audio) • Most Important Theoretical Novelties • Novelties • Chess Informant Jury • Theoretical Surveys (B 80, C 45, E 04, E 92) • Play Like Kasparov • Combinations • Excellent Moves • Attack • Storming Initiative • Defense • Endings • Rare Blunders & Misconceptions (In 4 Different Formats - Chess Informant Expert, PGN, Chessbase And Chess Assistant)


   

The Best of Chess Informant - Anatoly Karpov (Informator CD-ROM)

BCM Price £21.50

A close-up on former world champion Anatoly Karpov • biography & facts, tournaments • classification of openings • 1600 published games (559 annotated by Karpov) • White/Black repertoire trees • stats • best games, 14 golden games, 100 best games • most important theoretical novelties • theoretical surveys (C42, C80, D87) • combinations, excellent moves, initiative, defence, endings, rare blunders & misconceptions. (In 4 different database formats - Chess Informant Expert, PGN, Chessbase And Chess Assistant)

Alexei Shirov: My Best Games in the Sicilian by Alexei Shirov (ChessBase DVD-ROM)

BCM Price £21.50

Since 1992, Alexei Shirov has belonged to the best players in the world. Within a very short period he established himself as one of the absolute top guns, reaching rank 4 in the FIDE rating list and a rating of 2751 Elo. Many of his brilliant games are characterised by his famous uncompromising attacking play, often leading to a finish that comes as a surprise - not only to the opponent, but also the spectators. Now the genius from Riga presents and explains his best games in a series of training DVDs in the Chess Media System. On this DVD, Shirov focuses on his most outstanding achievements in the Sicilian (except the Najdorf which is dealt with on a separate DVD), a personal selection combining highest chess quality with aesthetic pleasure. His lectures are designed to not only explain the different opening lines, but also to present interesting and sometimes perplexing ideas and sacrifices in the middlegame. On this brilliant training DVD with a total playing time of nearly 4 hours, you will find Shirov play Anand, Kramnik, Leko and other top players. Includes ChessBase Reader. Intro & Kan Variation (40:33) • Taimanov Variation (34:51) • Paulsen System (30:03) • Sveshnikov Variation (23:10) • Rossolimo Variation 1 (31:04) • Rossolimo Variation 2 (30:48) • Richter-Rauzer Attack 1 (16:38) • Richter-Rauzer Attack 2 (23:19) • Total playing time: 3h 50 min. System requirements: Pentium-Processor at 300 Mhz or higher, 64 MB RAM, Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Media Player 9.0, DVD drive
 

Alexei Shirov: My Best Games in the Sicilian Najdorf by Alexei Shirov, DVD-ROM

BCM Price £21.50

Alexei Shirov can look back on an extraordinary chess career. Young Alexei became U-16 World Champion in 1988, and second in the World Junior Championship in 1990. He received his GM title in 1992, at the age of 20. Since then, Shirov has belonged to the absolute top players in the world. In 1998 he defeated Vladimir Kramnik in a ten-game qualification match that was staged to select a challenger for World Champion Garry Kasparov. Unfortunately, that title match never took place. In 2000 Shirov reached the final of the FIDE world championship, losing to Vishy Anand. Now the genius from Riga presents and explains his best games in a series of training DVDs in the Chess Media System. Shirov’s uncompromising style of play is also reflected in his manner of commenting his own games. He is perfectly objective, and in fact sometimes ruthlessly critical of himself. Even when he is dealing with highly acclaimed games, his judgement is unbiased - no glossing over critical positions where he did not find the optimal continuation. Chess fans are treated not just to a portrait of this extraordinary player, but they can also learn a lot about the development of particular opening lines at top level in the course of time. On this 3rd DVD by Shirov, you will find his most brilliant games in the Sicilian Najdorf. Shirov’s duel with van Wely in the Najdorf Keres Attack is for sure one of the highlights on this DVD, just as the presentation of one of his best games against Kasparov. More than 3 hours entertainment and enlightenment, all packed in one. Includes ChessBase Reader. Intro (01:58) • Najdorf with 6.Be2 (29:56) • Najdorf deviations 1 (21:52) • Najdorf deviations 2 (15:09) • Scheveningen System (45:45) • Keres Attack 1 (14:03) • Keres Attack 2 (20:45) • Keres Attack 3 (23:01) • Keres Attack 4 (29:46). System requirements: Pentium-Processor at 300 Mhz or higher, 64 MB RAM, Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Media Player 9.0, DVD drive
 

Alexei Shirov: My Best Games in the Spanish by Alexei Shirov, DVD-ROM

BCM Price £21.50

There are not many top grandmasters who enjoy such a great popularity among chess fans all over the world like Alexei Shirov. Thanks to his aggressive and ingenious playing style, commentators often compare him with the former world champion Mikhail Tal. He often sacrifices material easily in return for initiative and complications where he always seems to be just one step ahead of his opponent - following Shirov’s games is like watching "fire on the board". Now the genius from Riga presents and explains his best games in a series of training DVDs in the Chess Media System. This DVD is dedicated to his most brilliant games in the Ruy Lopez. Let Shirov show you how to break down the super-solid Berlin Defence or how he managed to achieve promising counterplay against Garry Kasparov in the open Ruy Lopez. Follow this top player through one of his most famous lines in the Ruy Lopez, the Anti-Marshall with 8.h3. Includes ChessBase Reader. Introduction (09:04) • Steinitz Variation (41:10) • Berlin Defence (37:04) • Open Spanish (42:08) • Moeller and Archangelsk Defence (26:22) • Anti-Marshall-System 1 (32:05) • Anti-Marshall-System 2 (15:50) • Marshall Gambit (20:42) • Modern Chigorin Defence (34:55) • Flohr/Zaitzev Variation (34:06) • More than 4.5 hours private tuition with one of the most exciting top-class players in the world! System requirements: Pentium-Processor at 300 Mhz or higher, 64 MB RAM, Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Media Player 9.0, DVD drive
 

World Champion Alexander Alekhine

BCM Price £17.50

This collection of databases and texts was put together by GM Robert Hubner, on one of the greatest of world champions. As well as a compilation of Alekhine's best combinations, there are some videos of famous grandmasters (Shirov, Gelfand, King) retelling anecdotes about Alekhine, plus a 2,225 game database of Alekhine’s games in chronological order, lightly annotated.

World Champion Robert Fischer

BCM Price £19.99

All world champions take up an important place in history of chess, but hardly any has achieved such popularity outside the chess scene as Robert Fischer. In his heyday he did an incredibly amount for chess. His masterpiece, of course, is the treasury of brilliant games. Dr. Robert Hübner has thoroughly examined Fischer’s biggest and best known publication, My Sixty Memorable Games. This ChessBase monography includes reports on Fischer’s most important chess matches, including contemporary material. The CD contains a database with an introduction by Robert Hübner. The main database on the CD has all of Fischer's games, with an introductory text to the most important matches and tournaments. There are exactly 1,000 entries, of which 44 are tournament reports, the rest games. About half of the games, 462 in all, are annotated, many very extensively. All the reports are in English and German. The Fischer CD also contains many pictures and 330 MB of historical film footage. Here are the scenes included in the video section: video of Fischer in Yugoslavia 1958 (38 seconds); video of a Fischer interview in the USA (1 m 42 secs); video of Fischer at the 1960 Leipzig Olympiad (3 m 59 secs); 5-second video sequence with Fischer on psychology; video of Fischer in Yugoslavia (4 m 35 secs); video of Fischer arriving in Rejkyavik 1972 (4 m 1 sec); Fischer at the 1970 Siegen Olympiad (27 secs).
 

World Champion Emanuel Lasker

BCM Price £17.50

This CD-ROM features extensive biographical material on Lasker: a complete collection of all his 1,182 games or game fragments, reports of all significant tournaments and matches, analyses of major games, a multi-media database with interviews with Averbakh, Baumbach, etc, plus video footage from the Lasker Conference in Potsdam in 2001, with Hübner, Unzicker, etc, plus Lilienthal going through his game with Lasker from Moscow 1935.
 

Paul Morphy – Genius and Myth

BCM Price £17.50

The history of chess has many strange stories, but none so spectacular as the comet-like rise of Paul Morphy. Within only two years of his arrival on the scene, the American defeated the strongest players of his time and was acclaimed as the unofficial world champion. His retirement at the height of his glory, the mysteries of his subsequent life and his tragic end made him a legendary figure for all time. This ChessBase CD features an extensive biography and a special tactics database. There are expert analyses of Morphy’s playing style by GMs Karsten Müller and Rainer Knaak, dealing with the interesting question: “How was Morphy superior to this contemporaries?”

 

World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz

BCM Price £17.50

Wilhelm Steinitz was the first official world chess champion and held the title from 1886, when he defeated Zukertort, to 1894 when he lost to Emanuel Lasker. Steinitz is universally regarded as the founder of the positional school of chess, and the basic principles of his pragmatic and systematic approach still hold good in the 21st century. Thorsten Heedt's biography features a comprehensive portrait of the Steinitz and his peripatetic career in Prague, Vienna, London, Philadelphia and New York. There is extensive coverage of his five world championship matches, as well as articles on his personality and character. More than 1,000 games • 42 texts • database with training questions • database with special topics such as 'Steinitz's provocative openings'.
 

World Champion Mikhail Tal

BCM Price £17.50

The meteoric rise to the heights of chess achieved by the young Tal, when he seized the world champion’s title from Botvinnik in 1960, is already sufficient to grant him a special place in the world of chess. But more than this, it was the art of his attacking play which conquered the hearts of chess fans all over the world. Despite his short reign on the throne, Tal became a legend during his lifetime. Johannes Sondermann, author of the biographic part of the CD, has made an objective portrait of the world champion's character. During his extensive research, he also interviewed Tal's widow and reveals a lot about the "private" Tal as well as: a collection of all Tal's 2,857 games; biography (texts + pictures); extensive video interview with Tal's widow; additional historic videos; training database with 250 Tal combinations.


 

CONVEKTA BIOGRAPHICAL DISKS

Mikhail Botvinnik CD-ROM - Khalifman (Convekta CD-ROM)

BCM Price £24.95

The most complete collection of Botvinnik’s games ever compiled, with 1,069 games played from 1924 to 1970, annotated by Alexander Khalifman and IM Sergey Soloviev. It comes with a biography and a tournament/match record, as well as 25 rare photos. There is also a special tutorial section, “Play As Botvinnik”, which includes 350 quiz positions in which you can follow Botvinnik’s lead and find his continuation in his games. The CD-ROM comes complete with the chess-playing engines Crafty and Dragon, and a special ‘Chess Assistant Light’ reader program (plus a 32-page software installation/instruction manual). System Requirements: Windows 95 or higher. No additional software is required.

Boris Spassky - 10th World Champion - Khalifman (Convekta CD-ROM)

BCM Price £19.99

This disk contains all the games of the 10th world champion, Boris Spassky, one of the greatest exponents of attack in chess history. GM Khalifman, himself a former world champion, comments on 400 games and 1,965 games contain short annotations. Plus tournament/match record and 50 rare photos and a tutorial section with 185 quiz questions. System Requirements: IBM-compatible PC, 64MBs RAM, 100MBs hard disk spare, Windows 2000/NT/Me/XP, CD-ROM drive. No additional software is required.

   

All World Championships DVD-ROM

BCM Price £37.99

Since the year 1886, there have been world championships in chess. The world champion was nearly always determined in a duel. Whoever wanted to climb the throne, he had to defeat the reigning king. Despite this long period in time, there have only been 14 world champions in the history of chess until the year 2000, when Vladimir Kramnik seized the title from Kasparov. Far more extensive, however, are the world championships matches themselves. According to ChessBase, the last clash between Kasparov and Karpov was world match no. 35. Afterwards, there were three Kasparov duels which were played outside the jurisdiction of FIDE. A second database is dedicated the six FIDE world championships from 1993 until 2002 • for each match there is one introductory text including pictures • short biographies of all world champions and challengers • more than 2,200 games, more than half of them annotated • extensive video material (about 4.5 GB) • training database by Dr. Karsten Müller • System requirements: Pentium, 32 MB Ram, Windows 98, 2000, ME, XP, DVD-ROM drive, works with Fritz 8, ChessBase 7.0 or ChessBase 8.0, but there is no need to own any of these programs as it comes with its own ChessBase Reader.

 

The Greatest Tournaments in the History of Chess 1851-1986

BCM Price £21.50

There are names of towns and cities which have special resonance for chess players. Towns like Hastings, Wijk aan Zee, Karlsbad, Tilburg or Bugojno may well be small, but they just happen to be the names of great chess tournaments. Of course these major tournaments also took place in the great cities of the world. It all started with London 1851, where Adolf Anderssen enjoyed his greatest triumph. In the prize lists the names of the top players of their day turn up with great regularity as winners: Morphy (New York 1857), Steinitz (Vienna 1873), Lasker (amongst others London 1899 and New York 1924), Capablanca (amongst others San Sebastian 1911), Alekhine (amongst others Bled 1931) etc.

   The tournament reports – mostly written by Manual Fruth – contain many interesting details, which at the same time give an insight into the history of chess. In this way, you'll find that today’s much discussed rules about thinking time have been undergoing a process of development: from long to shorter and shorter. And in those days there was also a struggle against short draws. Thus, for example, tournament regulations frequently mention that draws may not be agreed before move 30. The 50 tournament reports form a true treasure trove of further information.

   The 50 tournaments: London 1851 • New York 1857 • Vienna 1873 • Leipzig 1877 • London 1883 • Hastings 1895 • St Petersburg 1895 • Nuremberg 1896 • Vienna 1898 • London 1899 • Paris 1900 • Cambridge Springs 1904 • St Petersburg 1909 • Karlsbad 1911 • San Sebastian 1911 • San Sebastian 1912 • St Petersburg 1914 • Mährisch Ostrau 1923 • New York 1924 • Baden-Baden 1925 • Moscow 1925 • Bad Kissingen 1928 • Karlsbad 1929 • San Remo 1930 • Bled 1931 • Moscow 1935+36 • Nottingham 1936 • Kemeri 1937 • AVRO 1938 • Salzburg 1942 • Sverdlovsk 1943 • Groningen 1946 • Moscow 1956 • Dallas 1957 • Bled 1961 • Capablanca-Memorial 1963 • Los Angeles 1963 • Santa Monica 1966 • Moscow 1967 • Moscow 1971 • San Antonio 1972 • Milan 1975 • Moscow 1975 • Leningrad 1977 • Bugojno 1978 • Tilburg 1978 • Montreal 1979 • Moscow 1981 • Bugojno 1986 • Tilburg 1986

50 tournaments from London 1851 till Bugojno 1986 • for each tournament an illustrated database text, mostly written by Manual Fruth • tables and references to the most important games • all the games of the above tournaments (more than 1,400 annotated) • includes ChessBase-Reader.

Grandmaster Efim Bogoljubow by Victor Charushin ..... £17.50

For over three decades Efim Bogoljubow dominated the world of chess, along with his rival Alekhine - yet Fate has made the latter name famous while obscuring the former. Now chess enthusiasts can experience the life and games of world championship contender Bogoljubow in the first of a new biographical CD-Rom series by ICCF IM Victor Charushin. "Famous Grandmasters" brings together an extraordinary combination of games, history, and images - delivering a total life picture of the greatest masters of chess.

Victor Charushin is uniquely qualified to undertake a project of this scope. His command of the subject and easy familiarity with the source material is evident at every turn. One measure of his success is seen in the conviction, which grows stronger with each reading, that Bogoljubow’s dramatic story could not have been told any differently! The Grandmaster Efim Bogoljubow CD includes: * 1,247 games by Bogoljubow, plus compositions and excerpts from his books. Over 625 games are annotated, often by Bogoljubow himself or contemporaries and other great masters. * The story of Bogoljubow’s career in easy-to-use text documents (over 70 pages!) linked throughout the database. * More than 40 photographs and exhibits. * Opening and Theme keys for quick access to particular games. * A separate .pdf file (reader included) with over 75 tournament and match cross tables.

• CHECK OUT OUR FULL-RANGE OF CHESS SOFTWARE, DATA AND COMPUTERS •
• Chess-Playing Programs • ChessBase Software • Fritz/ChessBase Data Disks • Opening, Middlegame & Endgame Disks •
• Chess Biographical & Historical Disks • Other Chess Databases • Desktop, Portable and Handheld Chess Computers •
• Chess Software for Beginners & Intermediate Players •
 

British Chess Magazine Home Page: www.bcmchess.co.uk