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After watching a Susan Polgar instructional DVD (and she’s done 14 of them!), one wonders why all chess DVDs aren’t done this way. The quality of her graphics, music, layout, and most importantly chess instruction, are first rate. Her latest videos are on the venerable French Defense. And thank god. This stodgy defense drives more than a few 1.e4 players crazy. Blocking in your light squared bishop is supposed to be bad, but somebody forgot to tell French players this. Whenever I played against the French (and this doesn’t happen very often since I am a 1.d4 player), I always felt like I was defending, even though I was White! Luckily, help is on the way. On the three Mastering the French DVDs, Susan takes you through all the main lines, as well as several important side variations. She not only points out traps that both sides need to be aware of, she is very honest about her opinion regarding a particular line. If she thinks a certain move is poor, even if it is often played, she will say so. I for one really appreciate this, as too often chess authors are afraid to appear biased, and so they hedge. Well, forget that! I want a teacher to tell me exactly what they think and Susan does just this. The video opens with uplifting classical music and attractive chess graphics. The DVD menu has little blue knights next to each chapter which you can click on to view that particular section. Here’s a screen shot:
“Click on a blue knight!” Here are the contents of all three DVDs: Mastering the French: Part 1 (Volume 11)1. e4 e6
Chapter 1: Side Variations 2.d3, 2.b3 and 2.Qe2 Mastering the French: Part 2 (Volume 12)The Tarrasch Variation Entire DVD is on the moves: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 e5 3.Nd2 Mastering the French: Part 3 (Volume 13)Chapter 1:
Steinitz variation 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 While you certainly don’t have to purchase all three DVDS, doing so will give you a nice and fairly comprehensive overview of the French. Susan begins the first DVD by welcoming the viewer and introducing them to the French Defense (screen shot #2):
“Hi, I am Susan Polgar and welcome to this DVD on the French Defense…” As Susan moves the pieces on a wooden board in front of her, they move on a larger board that is projected behind her (screen shot #3):
Screenshot of Susan talking while the pieces on the board behind her move This makes things very easy to follow. And, of course, the great thing about a DVD is that if you miss something, you can simply rewind the video and watch it again. Or, even pause the video and write down the lines or enter them into your Chessbase database. Btw, Susan very generously offers the games from these DVDs as a free PDF file download. Once Polgar has introduced a segment, the view usually switches to just a large board as you can see below (screen shot #4):
Screenshot of the main board used during much of the DVD Susan not only covers the main lines of the French, but also several important side variations. Additionally, she shows several complete games, including some of her own which I really enjoyed. There is one game where she is only eight years old, yet her play resembles that of a seasoned adult master! PROS and CONS PROS: Susan’s explanations of how to play the French are very good. In fact, so much so that it makes you want to play it, which is the mark of a good teacher. As I mentioned, she goes over all the main lines and makes specific recommendations as to what to play, which I really like. The production values are first rate, and I wish more chess videos were this well presented. Susan also follows her notes and doesn’t stray. This brings up one of my pet peeves. Oftentimes other chess DVD presenters such as Roman Dzindzichashvili or Alexei Shirov come off as unprepared, i.e., as if they are looking at their material for the first time. Or, they go off on some tangent, get sidetracked, and then end abruptly by saying, “Well, this isn’t what this DVD is about, so we won’t go into that.” Fortunately, Susan is very good about knowing what she wants to say and staying on point. Also, unlike Chessbase DVDs, which must be played on a computer via Chessbase database or Fritz, all of Susan’s DVDs can be played on a standard DVD player. CONS: There really aren’t many. If I were to nit-pick, I would say that the brown and white squares on the board on the screen look washed out. Making them more vibrant and fully in color would be a bit better. And while my next suggestion goes against convention (as practically all chess books contain diagrams that show the board from White’s side), perhaps flipping the board around and showing the game from Black’s perspective would be useful since these DVDs are on a Black Defense. Again, this is just a thought and some might be used to/prefer seeing the board from White’s perspective. Finally, two minor comments about Susan’s presentation: sometimes the camera is on Susan speaking, but she is looking down at the chessboard in front of her or at her notes/laptop. My guess is that she probably had planned to just use the audio from these segments, i.e., you hear her explanations but see the big chess board on the screen, which would have been fine and which she does for much of the DVD. So, I’m not sure why they used the video footage of her looking down or to the side. Again, this is not a big deal, but when you see a product this good, my mind always thinks, “How could it be even better?” Lastly, and this could just be a personal thing, Susan comes off a bit serious to me. I would have liked her to be a bit more up, and enthusiastic. I am not saying she has to be Daniel King-enthusiastic, but a little bit of humor and genuine enjoyment goes a long way. If you see her beginner’s chess DVD with the animated characters Champ the Knight and King Harold, Susan is laughing, smiling and appears to be really having a good time. I would have liked to see a little more of that energy on display here. Again, these
“CONS” are really minor details/suggestions and in no way take away from my
overall enthusiasm and recommendation of these three DVDs. So, if you
are like me and have always wanted a good introductory overview of the
French Defense, do yourself a favor and pick up Susan’s latest DVDs.
On a scale of 1-10, the three Master the French DVDs by
Susan Polgar gets a 9.5.
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