I’m willing to try new things … how about you?
The reason I ask is that I am writing a review about something I want, not something I own! But I will own it, once I get the money!! So … here goes!
Many of you active on the web have probably come across articles by Mig Greengard - whether you know it or not. He’s a frequent columnist on www.ChessBase.com; and a regular contributor to www.ChessCafe.com.
He also has his own website at www.ChessNinja.com, which has to be one of the coolest URL names I’ve ever come across!
If you like news (and don’t wish to visit Chess Base frequently) you can subscribe to his Daily Dirt “blog”. In addition to light coverage of important tournaments (he is now posting updates on the Super-GM Mtel tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria and the huge HB Swiss in Minnesota), he includes significant personal notes (like updates on Kasparov). Everything is short and well-written and can be somewhat irreverant.
But what I want are the weekly email training newsletters. He has two: the White Belt series (for those under 1600) and the Black Belt series (for those over 1600). Jennifer Shahade is a regular contributor, and he just signed on US Champ and superstar Hikaru Nakamura. And what sold me are the sample issues at the bottom of his home page. There are two sample White Belt issues, and two sample Black Belt issues. In addition to that there is a tantalizing sample at http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2011.
Now like most things, these won’t help if you aren’t committed to working through them. But if you try these out and want more, the cost is quite reasonable. For $35 (in other words, the price of two books a year or less) you can have over 400 pages of material, sent to an email account at 8+ pages a week. And here’s a Bob-challenge: if you diligently work through a 6-month’s subscription your rating will go up! Or send me a note and I’ll commiserate with you !!
Also an update: The Chess Review of January 16 touted the value of the ChessBase family of products. If you’d like to try a “classic” version of Shredder for free, I found this site: www.shredderchess.com. I couldn’t beat it either (sigh). But it has a lot of features for a free download!!
Good playing - Bob