The Grandmaster's positional understanding, by Igor Smirnov

Hi everybody!

Has anyone already bought Igor Smirnov's chess course "The Grandmaster's positional understanding"? (Igor Smirnov is rated 2496 Elo, look here) 

I have Smirnov's course: "The Grandmaster's secrets" and I found it simple to understand and very practical. But if you have any ideas about the previously named course, it will certainly help me a lot. Thank you in advance

I doubt all that info can fit into one course.

Certainly, but I just want to have an idea about this course, if it happened to anyone to buy it

@paul

his courses are gud :) my rating will shoot up soon.

Thanks for the tip...long time no chat....how have you been?

I have bought FOUR of GM smirnov's courses, and have not regretted them at all. I have just gotton A 2200+ USCF performance at the World Open, which will probably boost my rating by almost 200 points, getting me to the clear expert level.

People who say that the course is too small to fit all positional understanding simply have no idea about how to study chess effectively. In chess study LESS INFORMATION is usually better than more information. His base course the GM secrets explain how to study chess properly and get fast results. Chess knowledge has almost nothing to do with chess ability.

Yeah... his marketing strategy looks very sleazy, and yet he delivers just what he advertises.

Again, chess is not about who knows more information. In fact, knowing more will just confuse you, since you don't even know what to think about.

Complex are the many thoughts of a wise man, but simple are his ways.

So this means if you hear about a lot of good things, in reality you should expect only a little?

We have a similar saying, "if it sounds too good to be true, then it is."

Most likely, you'd have to have personal mentoring from a GM in order for you to become anything special in 2 years. It would most likely require the total dedication of the two of you, in order for it to become reality.

I think that you are missing that it isn't always easy to apply something you have learned right away in chess. You can't always cause the duplication of the circumstances, in order to exercise your newly learned knowledge.

These factors don't necessarily make the teaching works of someone bad. If you bought this material and it didn't seem to help you, you need to understand that there are as many bad students as teachers, if not more. It isn't that they don't try, but that they need someone to more directly show them what to learn and how to apply it. Also It is completely possible that what this guy teaches is correct for a particular style, but just not yours. I hope you find what you are looking for, good luck.

I read Aspiring's post as a tongue in cheek about how he didn't want people to buy these courses because then they'd all be too good and he'd have to play against them. In other words I saw his post as actually saying he thought the courses were good.

It's funny you should say that. I got the same impression, but I usually don't believe every instinct I have, without more tangible proof. I thought I would do everyone involved a good service. I simply explained everything in a manner that would justify someone genuinely disgruntled, giving them good advice, while perhaps still helping the teacher to have a good reputation, if a bad one wasn't deserved. It amazes me how a greedy person would rather cut the throats of his teacher and his opponents and let that be his glory, instead of enjoying the many victories.

I recently purchased Smirnov's course, the Grandmaster's Positional Understanding and I am not disappointed with the material.  Though the title is somewhat aspirational, GM Smirnov presents the material in an instructive, methodical, and easy to understand manner. I believe that the value of the purchase to an individual will depend primarily upon his or her nature and skill level.  As a novice, I sought a deeper understanding of why moves are made and was discontented with rote learning. This course has definitely assisted in understanding the thought processes involved in making moves. The hope that it alone will transform my muddled comprehension of the game into a Karpovian lucidity is probably not a realistic expectation. However, it is a great beginning. That being said, if the cost is something that will not lead to a default on your car payment, then I do recommend it.  

As I see many "testimonials" on Smirnov's work on these forums (I put it in quotes because with how many threads are made and then somewhere in the OP mention you should get this I have to wonder if some of them are just pure advertising from dummy accounts), I am curious as to how many people have bought his courses and managed to become greater than 1800 or 2000 rating in live play?

I've listened to a couple of his videos. I don't think I could listen to that man for more than 2 min without going nuts. His voice is brutal lol.

I have bought the Grandmaster Secrets course.

I'm not impressed.

It consist of 5 short video lesson (about 20-30 minutes each), and 11 game tasks. Every task consist of about 5 games to study. For each of the games are there annoted games with solutions by Smirnov.

I'm sure if you put in the work, you will learn something (as usual).

But I have not found anything new, which I haven't read before.

Maybe this course is more suitably for more advanced players then me.

I recently posted in another forum a high recommendation for some of Smirnov's courses. I purchased all eight of them from 2009 to 2012.

In particular, I recommend Grandmaster's Positional Understanding, Endgame Expert, How to Beat GM, Winning Plan, and Calculate Till Mate.

This has been a really helpful forum.  I am a novice - very keen in putting in the hours and hoping to really improve my game.  I happened upon Smirnov's courses and was put off by 1.) the voice 2.) the advertising hype 3.) the cost 4.) the ever increasing number of his products - it just has a the feel of a sham (if it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, well ... ).  The most interesting thing for me though is this:  Chess.com would be the perfect place to demonstrate the wonders of such a course.  We could look back over the stats of his students (many of whom must be here) and SEE the improvement after them having done his course.  However, that seems not to be the case.  Looking at the stats of those that have messaged me recommending the course or even those on this forum who are suggesting how great it is - I cannot find a single case of a notable improvement in their ratings on chess.com.  I have no doubt that I would learn something from Smirnov but I'm with the cherry catchers and wafflemasters above - If it sounds too good to be true - It probably is.  I'll pass on Igor and go back to Silman.

Advertising: the sound of a stick being banged around inside a bucket of swill GEORGE ORWELL

I think of this saying everytime I see another spam forum for GM Smirnov.

"If you really are that good, you probably don't need to advertise!!"