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'The Slav Defense' is an instructional CD-Rom on the Classical Slav (D10-D19) by FM Nikolov Dorobanov; Creative Chess Thought Audio is his company name. The Slav CD is a series of audio lessons which play on the ChessBase program, with all the normal options of using an analysis engine, adjusting diagram sizes, importing games and the like. It is split into 13 chapters, spanning 4.3 hours. Dorobanov gives very clear and thorough explanations of both sides' ideas, and offers more than one complete repertoire for Black in the Slav. The instructional nature of the CD probably makes it most appropriate for about 1400-2100 players, but Dorobanov has his own theoretical ideas and any Slavophile might want to hunt around for inspiration. I did find his assessments overoptimistic for Black at times, e.g., in his analysis of 7..c5 after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 e6 7.Nf3. And there are several lines he gives short shrift to that the student might want to know more about, e.g., in the Schlecter Slav line with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7, the natural 6.cxd5 cxd5 7.Bb5+ is rather tricky, but Dorobanov says merely "7…Bd7 (7…Nc6)" and leaves it at that. But these are minor quibbles; there is a tremendous amount of material packed into this easy-to-use and well-produced package, and at $29 plus shipping, this seems to me a bargain and a fun way for intermediate players to learn the Slav. Remember that you are best off using ChessBase or Fritz to run the CD, but you can also use ChessBase Light, a free program available from Dorobanov's website, www.dorobanov.com. Go there also to read about the other instructional CDs he has done, and future projects. |
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