April Fools Day!

April Fools Day is comin' up real quick like! Surprise your friends with a new chess opening during the month of April. One great way to learn chess openings would be to buy Winning Chess Openings. Winning Chess Openings is a great chess book chock full of chess openings, and the fellow that wrote it (Yasser Seirawan) is a very seasoned chess player, author, and even has a DVD on how to play chess called Pro Chess DVD; this chess DVD is a chess mentor that assumes you know how to play the game of chess, but it really hones your chess playing skills to a finer edge. Enjoy the month of April everyone!

Fritz Trainer Chess DVD's

The Fritz Trainer chess DVD's are a great addition to any chess library. Fritz Trainer chess DVD's are all narrated by professional chess theoreticians. The Fritz Trainer DVD's are produced by Chess Base.

Fritz Trainer Opening Chess DVD: The French Defense
Ari Ziegler is the narrator of The French Defense DVD, He is the top chess theoretician in Sweden and holds the title of international master chess player. He has an extensive backround as a chess teacher, so he knows the type of questions you will have when it comes to teaching you the french defense. Ari Ziegler will teach you a crushing way to defeat players who use 1. e4 as their main opening. The French Defense can be a tricky opening, but after viewing Fritz Trainers French Defense DVD, you will have a firm grasp on how to play the French Defense.

Fritz Trainer DVD: Basic Positional Ideas
Jacob Aagaard is a renowned chess writer and teacher, when it comes to chess he knows what he's talking about. He has a series of 6 lectures in his DVD on basic principles of positional play in chess. Basic Positional Ideas is a good, easy listining way to improve your chess play.

Intro: Basic positional ideas
Lesson 1: Weaknesses 1
Lesson 2: Weaknesses 2
Lesson 3: Piece play 1
Lesson 4: Piece play 2
Lesson 5: Piece Play 3
Lesson 6: Prophylactic thinking and exercises

Why Buy A Heavy Chess Set?

The advantages in owning a heavy chess set VS a light chess set are not entirely personal preference, heavy chess pieces are better simply because they have increased stability during play. Heavy chess sets are not nearly as tippy as light ones, and a heavy set of chess pieces really are the only thing to use for a game of blitz chess. You can get heavy chess sets in almost any Staunton design you want.

Executive Staunton Heavy Chess Set:
The Executive Staunton heavy chess set has got good detailed pieces that are really heavy and pretty darn durable, they very durable, and the entire set weighs nearly 4 lbs! It comes with extra queens to. The king height is 3 7/8"
Tournament Heavy Chess Set:
The classic tournament design chess set doesn't normally come weighted, but you can purchase heavy tournament chess pieces with lead inserted into the bottom of each piece. There is nothing super special about this heavy plastic chess set, it has the classic tournament design and is the most affordable heavy chess set you can get.

Hastings Heavy Chess Pieces:
The Hastings heavy chessmen are really nice detailed weighted plastic chess pieces, I would say that the Hastings heavy chess set is the best of all the plastic chess sets I have ever seen or used. They are very detailed, they come with extra queens and I really like the size of the Hastings heavy chess set. The king stands 3 7/8" tall. You can get the Hastings heavy chess set in Black & Natural or Red & Ivory.

Heavy Wooden Chess Set:
And this is my favorite heavy chess set, it is a heavy wooden chess set with the absolute coolest piece design ever! another reason I really like this heavy wooden chess set is because it was within my price range. It weighs 2.12 lbs and the bottom of the heavy wood pieces have leather covers, much nicer than the cheaper felt bottoms. The king stands 3 3/4" high.

Many of the chess sets listed above come in kits that are pre-made and ready to order, these kits include a chess bag, chess board, and chess pieces. Some of the kits come with even more than the above mentioned, chess clocks and chess scorebooks are common in the kits as well. Vew Pre-made Kits.

Romans Lab DVD Series

Roman Dzinzi is the worlds acknowledged best chess theoretician; he really knows his stuff when it comes to chess. The Romans Lab DVD series is for those who really want to improve their chess game, if I really wanted to improve my chess game then I would buy the whole Romans Lab chess DVD series.

There is only one problem with the Romans Lab chess DVD series; Roman Dzinzi has a Russian accent, it isn't hard to understand him, but his accent can be befuddling for those with low comprehension levels. I never had that problem, but one of my acquaintances seemed to have a bee in his bonnet about that. You can buy the Romans Lab chess DVD series in a set of 28 chess DVD's. These chess DVD's have various subjects and topics, here is a list of the 28 DVD series titles.

1. Roman's Lab Learn Openings the Easy Way (Chess DVD)
2. Roman's Lab Sacrifices, Tactics, Traps That End Games in Opening (Chess DVD)
3. Roman's Lab Transition to the Middlegame (Chess DVD)
4. Roman's Lab Art of the Middlegame (Chess DVD)
5. Roman's Lab Rapid & Complete Opening Repertoire for the Tournament Player for WHITE (Chess DVD)
6. Roman's Lab Rapid & Complete Opening Repertoire for the Tournament Player for BLACK (Chess DVD)
7. Roman's Lab Think and Play Like a GM (Chess DVD)
8. Roman's Lab Comprehensive Chess Endings Part 1 (Chess DVD)
9. Roman's Lab Comprehensive Chess Endings Part 2 (Chess DVD)
10. Roman's Lab Greatest Games of Chess Ever Played Part 1 (Chess DVD)
11. Roman's Lab Greatest Games of Chess Ever Played Part 2 (Chess DVD)
12. Roman's Lab New Improvements in Opening Theory for the Competitive Player (Chess DVD)
13. Roman's Lab Maximizing Your Opening Success with Black for Ambitious Tournament Players (Chess DVD)
14. Roman's Lab Improve Your Combinational Preparation and Tactics Skills Part 1 (Chess DVD)
15. Roman's Lab Improve Your Combinational Preparation and Tactics Skills Part 2 (Chess DVD)
16. Roman's Lab Learn to Play the English Opening the Easy Way(Chess Chess DVD)
17. Roman's Lab Unbeatable Secret Weapons for Black (Chess DVD)
18. Roman's Lab Blitz as a Tool to Better Chess, Secrets in Beating Chess Computer Programs (Chess DVD)
19. Roman's Lab Understanding and Dominating Your Chess Game with Pawn Structures (Chess DVD)
20. Roman's Lab Step by Step Essential Maneuvering in Closed Positions (Chess DVD)
21. Roman's Lab The Easy Way to Play the King's Indian Defense (Chess DVD)
22. Roman's Lab The Easy Way to Play the Scotch and Giuoco Piano (Chess DVD)
23. Roman's Lab The Easy Way to Play Grand Prix and Reti Opening (Chess DVD)
24. Roman's Lab Live from Las Vegas National Open (Chess DVD)
25. Roman's Lab Easy Way to Beat the Pirc Modern Defense (Chess DVD)
26. Roman's Lab Nimzowitsch My System + 75 Years of Improvements - Part 1
27. Roman's Lab Nimzowitsch My System + 75 Years of Improvements - Part 2
28. Roman's Lab Easy Way to Learn The King's Indian Attack

For pure Hardcore chess self improvement I would highly recommend these chess DVD's, and there is no way you can learn EVERYTHING from the first viewing of each chess DVD, there is a lot of material to go over!

Digital Chess Clock Review

In this article i'm going to list off the digital chess clocks that are worth buying, i'm going to give you the facts, the features, and the figures, and let you decide which one is best for you. These digital chess clocks are going to be the cream of the crop, for their categories.

The DGT Easy digital chess clock is on of the best scholastic chess clocks made. The DGT Easy digital chess clock is real easy to operate as far as chess clocks go. It's small enough to travel around with and the DGT Easy digital chess clock is power conserving, it can run a really long time on the same batteries. For your basic scholastic digital chess clock, go with the DGT Easy.

The DGT Easy + digital chess timer is a good choice for more advanced scholastic players, it comes with more modes, namely delay modes. It also comes in a more somber color, black. Otherwise the DGT Easy + digital chess timer is exactly the same as the DGT Easy clock.

Chronos digital chess clocks are by far the strongest digital chess clocks made, they all come in a steel housing that protects the Chronos Digital chess timer like armor. That said, the Chronos digital chess clock is also a joy to use, all the modes ever invented for chess come programmed into the clock, each setting is fully adjustable, and you can have pre-programmed time so you don't have to re-set the time after you play a game. It's crazy all the things you can program the Chronos chess timer to do, you can even program in different sounds it can make! Chronos digital chess clocks come in two styles, button, and touch sensor. Kids like the button Chronos clock better because they like to slam a chess piece down on the clock after they capture it. Adults like the sensor Chronos clock better because it makes less noise.

Chronos Blitz digital chess timers are almost just the same as the original Chronos chess clock, they just come smaller/lighter, and pre-programmed with blitz modes and times. Just like to original Chronos chess timer, the Blitz Chronos digital chess clock is fully programmable.

Dueltimer Champion digital chess clock is the most beautiful chess clock I have ever seen, it is made out of walnut and the faceplate with the control buttons on it is made of shining metal. It looks really good next to the Drueke 21" walnut chess board. Looks good is one thing, but the Dueltimer Champion digital chess clock also works good, it comes with delay modes, and programmable time modes.

I have used all of these digital chess clocks and i'm quite familiar with them, if you have any questions then post a comment and I will answer them.

Fritz and Chesster Chess Computer Software

Fritz and Chesster computer chess software is made and produced by ChessBase. Fritz and Chesster was designed with youngsters in mind; the idea is to teach your kids the game of chess in a fun, interactive way. There are two Fritz & Chesster programs produced by ChessBase: Fritz & Chesster Part 1 and Fritz & Chesster Part 2. ChessBase is probably coming out with a part Fritz and Chesster Part 3 soon as well.
Fritz and Chesster is meant only for younger minds, say about 5 to 10 years old. It teaches young kids how to play smart chess in very fun, amusing ways. I would highly recommend purchasing this chess software before/while sending your young child to a chess coach for chess training, it will make the lessons so much more understandable.