multiple threats with each move is what my engine does to me... I can only address 1 or none after a few moves and I start losing material position and the rest is history....
The Grandmaster's positional understanding, by Igor Smirnov
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The Fundamental Law of Chess is (arguably) "to restrict the mobility of your opponents pieces," A. Karpov, Find the Right Plan, (2010).
Dec 3, 2012
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#104
I found some free videos on Youtube--Roman's Lab. They are all very good, maybe you should look at them b4 spending money on Igor's stuff.
Pretty much what you would expect a guy with Karpov's style to say. 
I'm one of Igor's Student, I have all the courses. I have gone trough Endgame Expert, didnt impove my rating too much but feel better going into the endgame. GM Secrets, not that great, recommending skipping this one but going straight to Grand Master Positional Understanding. The videos are great and the excersises are even better at improving your rating. I would say my rating increase over 100 pts with this course, if not much more. As for his voice and accent, I find it quite entertaining and he is clear enough for you to understand everything. I would recommend spending a few months on each course, going over them more than once to get the most out of it. The free lessons on youtube are great so you know what your getting yourself into. I did have some trouble getting to work at first on my computer and I did need to use a new product key after upgrading my video card and ram.
Igor's courses helped me a great deal. I like that style, and looks like some thing really are secrets - majority of books do not mention them, but when you try it they just work.
My elo is steadily increasing. Even in online blitz games :)
This all sounds like advertizing. I just want to thank publicly coach Smirnov for great products.
Feb 28, 2013
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#108
I have a copy of one of Igor's dvds. They are ok but greatly over priced. You would be better off viewing the vids here on chess.com and on YouTube. And if thats not enough you can get the Roman's Lab videos for $20 each or even less depending on where you buy them. They are made by GM Roman D--please don''t ask me to spell the rest of his name!-- and are excellent. I have one of them "Think and Play Like a Grandmaster" and have learned from it but don't know if it well improve my rating. I have ordered another one on pawn structures. Whether or not all this instruction will improve your rating I cannot say, all I can say is that if you make the effort you will one day be pleasantly surprised, maybe!
Well, you can compare Houdini's choices with Anand's or Carlsen's and they will often have a different opinion. If Igor was so adept at that himself....no one would argue his choices... I mean really what did you expect ? No pun intended, but did you think it through carefully ?
If Igor was advertising A GM's tactical understanding, I could see your gripe as relevant....
I at one point considered purchasing smirnov's material. Then I came to my senses. I am sure it is useful. But for all his material it costs over 600 dollars. For 99 bucks a year I have access to hundreds of videos on chess.com that I am sure cover pretty much everything smirnov talks about in his dvd's. To spend that much is simply ridiculous.
Mar 22, 2013
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#112
overnight riches r possible but not probable at all
in other words his courses rnt for reactive mentality
pfren wrote:
There is a Greek proverb which goes like
When you hear about a lot of cherries, then hold a small basket.
i prefer Twains : the more he talked about his honesty, the faster we counted our silver spoons.
that being said, i can´t judge if he is good ,but his youtube videos are still very fun to watch.
Apr 16, 2013
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#114
I bought one course. He talked about finding the best moves based on their activity. For example in the sicilian he said Bg5 was the most active place for the bishop and therefore the best. Then he showed a game where he played Be3 and said he played it because of preparation?! Excuse me!! If something is best then wouldn't you play that?! Ok so he said he played it because of preparation but he never mentioned what exactly he had prepared.
My advice: don't buy. Maybe if you are a beginner you will benefit but honestly I don't think so.
sluck72 wrote:
I bought one course. He talked about finding the best moves based on their activity. For example in the sicilian he said Bg5 was the most active place for the bishop and therefore the best. Then he showed a game where he played Be3 and said he played it because of preparation?! Excuse me!! If something is best then wouldn't you play that?! Ok so he said he played it because of preparation but he never mentioned what exactly he had prepared.
My advice: don't buy. Maybe if you are a beginner you will benefit but honestly I don't think so.
thanks
Haven't bought the course yet, but I'd highly reccomend his youtube videos. I've been a so-so player at best, and agree with Smirnov's assessment that without knowing what a GM means by "in positions like these..." you're not going to really get anything out of most chess books. After watching his youtube videos, my "positional" understanding is growing. I shouldn't say growing; that would imply I had one beforehand. The result is that my usual chess partner, who used to be an equal match for me, hasn't won in weeks.
I think, based not only on what people have said here but from his own marketing, that what he's trying to do is get people out of the openings-tactics-endgames mindset that dominates most chess literature. Now that I have I can finally predict most of the moves in Chess lLife, and am actually getting something out of studying games, which used to be largely over my head.
I think what he's really selling is a course that teaches you how to do your own study of games, and get more out of it than some tactical ideas that require calculation and burn down the clock. Not that tactics aren't great, but a good position means your opponent doesn't have that many tactical options and you can spend more time calculating your own tactical lines. I'd imagine that if you can already do this, there's not much point in buying his courses.
May 14, 2013
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#117
There are a lot of videos out there that are a lot less expensive. U might start with the ones right here on chess.com, if u want to spend do re mi, the cost of one of igor's dvds gets u lots of great videos. Or u can watch the youtube vids 4 free or go to chessvideo.tv. I also like Roman's Lab vids that cost 20 smackers each. As i said there are lots of good vids a lot cheaper than igor's.
May 16, 2013
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#118
sluck72 wrote:
I bought one course. He talked about finding the best moves based on their activity. For example in the sicilian he said Bg5 was the most active place for the bishop and therefore the best. Then he showed a game where he played Be3 and said he played it because of preparation?! Excuse me!! If something is best then wouldn't you play that?! Ok so he said he played it because of preparation but he never mentioned what exactly he had prepared.
My advice: don't buy. Maybe if you are a beginner you will benefit but honestly I don't think so.
What is meant by preparation is suppose you know someone is going to fall for the fools mate (or whatever it is called) wouldnt you play it???? although even the best computer might not show that move!!!!!!!
That is what he meant by preparation..... n anyways he after some moves shows what he had prepared as fas as i remember it was about a wrong exchange that his opponent would eventually make..... n moreover it is good he didnt discuss his preparation cuz it was ONLY against THAT opponent.....
aha!
I have bought The Grandmaster's positional understanding course by GM Igor Smirnov :http://chess-teacher.com/understanding#oid=1493_11. The practical part of this course will help you to automate and digest the ideas of the course better.This course also will show you how to think during a chess game and it will really help you a lot.
Ah yes, threats! The answer at last!