I've always ignored these courses because I prefer reading books to watching videos or listening to audio. However, several months ago I changed my platinum to diamond as much for the videos here as for the chess mentor lessons.
I might take a look at Silman's course.
Do you know the date when those courses were created OP ?
Touche!
I meant copyright date. Recently, or 6-8 yrs ago?
Thank you batgirl.
Has anyone found PGN files for the games and positions used in the videos and the guidebook that come with Silman's Great Courses course? It would save a lot of time for detailed study.
I've purchased quite a few Learning Company videos, and all the lectures that I watched were quite good. I've also read several of Silman's books, including the one on end games (which IMHO is a classic chess book that should be in the library of every serious chess player). I might purchase the Silman Great Course; my only hesitation is that the last 10 courses I purchased are sitting on my bookshelf untouched because I haven't found the time to watch them! Of course, the same can be said of the last 20 chess books I purchased.
I'm an absolute beginner in chess and really enjoyed this course. Just finished watching it today. It really pulls you into the history and culture of chess, and it's a low-threshold way to start doing chess exercises (there are 3 or 4 exercises/puzzles with every lesson, and they really tie in with the topic of that lesson). All about intuition and concepts, no memorisation or dry do's and don'ts.
Thanks for posting this, I love Jeremy Silman books but I had no idea he did lectures too, I'll have to check it out.
No one seems to have mentioned this, so I figured I would make everyone aware of it: Jeremy Silman has created, what looks to be, a very interesting set of chess lectures for the Teaching Company. (Link here: www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/how-to-play-chess-lessons-from-an-international-master.html)
The claim is that they are for players at multiple levels (near-beginner to near Expert), and not just for serious chess knowledge content but also fun and chess heritage education --there are a few lectures on historic aspects of chess, as in the topic of chess heros. If any other publishing company were involved with the production of this kind of ambitious project that tries to avail itself to such an expansive audience, I would have my doubts. However, The Teaching Company has an excellent reputation. I own more than 50 courses of 24 or more lectures each, and I've viewed right around 120 courses total. (Note: They do courses on intellectual content ranging from history, philosophy, mathematics, economic, to the more mundane videos of teaching how to cook in-home culinary cuisine. All lecturers chosen are excellent speakers and notable in their field.) I think there may have been 3 or 4 that were lackluster and one that I didn't like. They have truly honed their craft of informative lecture series production, with lectures that efficiently convey information to the most general of audiences, regardless of topic.
I may beat everyone to the punch by including a review, because I do some reviewing for the company; but, if you get to go through the lecture series, add some comments below.