Article: 15441 of rec.games.chess.misc Newsgroups: rec.games.chess.misc Path: info!dregis From: dregis@exeter.ac.uk (D.Regis) Subject: Re: USCF Videos Message-ID: Organization: University of Exeter, UK. References: <32D6A527.2F6C@qnet.com> <32D6A9CB.2A18@qnet.com> Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 15:28:11 GMT In article <32D6A9CB.2A18@qnet.com> Mike McGuire writes: >Mike McGuire wrote: >> >> I just received a Christmas USCF gift certificate and would like to >> purchase a vieo or two. Any recommendations? >> >> Mike > > Actually, I have plenty of "vieo's". I would, however, be interested >in VIDEO recommendations. :) ;-) I don't mean to hijack the thread, but why are you interested in videos especially? I think they are mostly poor value compared to books. I suppose a really good video can be better than a so-so book, but I don't think chess is a very suitable subject for video. I have a "GM Video" tape on the King's Bishop's Gambit by Andrew Martin, which cost me 17.99 pounds sterling, and I also own a book on the King's (Knight's) Gambit by Joe Gallagher, which I think cost me a little less (say, 13.99). Firstly, in order to get the most out of it I actually ended up transcribing the analysis [so that I could cross-check it against books, see if I could find the lines on a database, and so on.] A good video would have this included; you can't zip back and forth with the fast-forward button if you want to look something up, so it's essential for an openings video of this type. The analysis and moves on the video, when transcribed, comes to about 2 sides of A4. Say, about 4 pages of an A5 book; with commentary added, this would come to maybe 8 sides. If I'm way out, and it's actually 16 sides-worth, then it's still only a fraction of the content of a book - a chapter, perhaps. So, is the charm of the presenter or the increased impact of the video format worth it? I'd guess not. Is the content of the video something really special? The commentary was fair but nothing very illuminating: I didn't get that "aha" feeling that I sometimes get when reading good explanations. How about the moves displayed? In this case, half the games and analysis I had seen before (hey, guess which book it was all in?), and the new stuff, while interesting, wasn't really worth the extra. Opening innovations have rather a short shelf-life; if you're lucky you can play them once in your local club, after which your cover's blown... and even against strangers, the line is viable only until the antidote is found by some GM, when you need your books again. In fact, for every super new idea that was on the video, I bet I could think of one that would leave a naive new player of the King's Gambit stranded without much of a clue (e.g. the common ploy to transpose into the Cunningham Defence with 3. Bc4 Be7, or to the Modern Defence with an early ...d5 from either the 2...exf4 or 2...d5 move orders). In short, I would have preferred to pay 2.99 for a pamphlet on "New Ideas in the King's Gambit" by Andrew Martin, than 17.99 to get the same stuff on video. Anyhow, that's my tuppence-worth. Maybe if I had started with a different video I might have bought more by now. I have seen a video of one of the K-K matches, with interviews and "live" match footage, which I thought worked quite well, and made good use of the video format. But the topicality might of that one might wear off pretty soon too. From info!dregis Tue Jan 14 10:06:56 GMT 1997