Kasparov QGD DVD Follow-Up

Having finished viewing the DVD (for the first time - I intend to rewatch it at least once more), I'm happy to report that its initial virtues all held up; further, there are a couple of other positive aspects worth noting.

First, unsurprisingly, Kasparov often pays tribute to the great players of the past who helped in the development of the theory of the Queen's Gambit Declined, and practically pleads with the viewer to explore and appreciate that rich heritage as well. Of course, this plea is just what we would expect from Kasparov in light of his My Great Predecessors series, and I can only add my own hearty yea and amen - my ChessBase show was started for just that reason, to celebrate and publicize to a broader audience some of the wonderful games and players of the past.

The second additional virtue of the DVD is that it comes with a database of QGD games (99,995 to be exact) from 1842 through August of 2004. The overwhelming majority are unannotated, but about 50 games are well-annotated and all the games Kasparov mentions in the theoretical portion of the DVD are specially placed early in the database for easy reference.

All in all, a fine product, though I reiterate that it certainly presupposes a certain level of sophistication and ought to be supplemented with other explanatory material. Good stuff!