Videos + US Championship...
Hey friends,
A little update on what was going on last week and what is coming the next week.
Last week we were working really hard to put the finishing touches on our video library, released late sunday night. The first thing i'd like to say about that is that we have a really great group of teachers for these video lessons: http://www.chess.com/video/authors.html . Many of them are new to our site, so welcome them, as you usually do, with warmth.
Some other points on videos: there are five videos viewable by all membership levels. The first is an extraordinary game walkthrough, then an endgame lesson, an opening lesson, and two videos teaching the rules:
http://www.chess.com/video/player/meeting-gm-khachiyan-exchange-sacrifice
http://www.chess.com/video/player/rb-v-r-the-defense
http://www.chess.com/video/player/shankland-teaches-the-najdorf-6bc4-part-1
http://www.chess.com/video/player/play-chess-today-part-i
http://www.chess.com/video/player/play-chess-today-part-2
All other videos are only fully viewable by diamond members, with a 3-4 minute demo for other members. This should be enough to give other members a taste of the video product, and decide whether it is worth upgrading to them in oder to watch more. I hope non-diamond members won't be bitter about the fact that we are giving something nice to the diamond members; they still have all the benefits they had in the past!
What else... I have started to upload some pgn files with games used in the lectures for download. Also, we are quite open to topic suggestions or other feedback. Please let me know what you'd like to see covered, and i'll pass *good* suggestions on to the authors. hehe. We will be adding one new video daily Mon-Sat.
As a segue, three of our new video authors will be playing in the U.S. Championship starting tomorrow! GMs Melikset Khachiyan and Josh Friedel, and IM Sam Shankland will join chess.com's Wednesday columnist, GM Julio Becerra in St Louis. The tournament is being held at the apparently amazing new St Louis chess club. Information about the event and the club can be found through:
http://saintlouischessclub.org/US-Championship-2009
The games start tomorrow and continue for 10 days with one rest day (9 games). On Saturday, I'll publish a more extensive preview of the event, with info about last year's winners, and my predictions for this year; and in the coming week, we'll try to bring you some U.S. Championship - themed articles. I'm really excited looking forward to the games; and, I admit, hoping that my friends play well.
Have a great week!