With this DVD Danny King completes his trilogy of lessons directed at pawn attacks against the opposing castled king.  To recap - in the first DVD of the series he made us acquainted with typical mating patterns and then in his second lesson he examined in depth how a pawn onslaught against the opponent's castled king can be inaugurated by an advance of the g- pawn.  Now he rounds of his exposition with an examination of attacks conducted with advances of either the f-  or the h-pawns.

The advance of the f-pawn demands far more caution than the advance of either the g or h-pawns in that it can make available a devastating attack  along the g1/h7 diagonal at a time when the white king is sitting on g1.  Not a pleasant prospect!  Of such small beginnings are mating attacks made of!  The g-pawn advance is not quite so committal and pushing the h-pawn probably involves less risk than the other alternatives.  However, choice is not that easy, as Danny explains.  His prime criteria is that the advance of any flank pawn must have an object to attack and that the attacker has a firm hold on the centre.  Thus, in the first case, the advance of the g-pawn will be more effective if the opponent has played h6.  It achieves little if the opponent already has a pawn formation comprising f7, g6 and h7!.

As an attacker it is always beneficial if one has a preponderance of pieces available to conduct the offensive.  A fine example of this condition is the last puzzle given.  The game is Short - Stefansson, Gudmunder Arason 2002.

The position on the right  is that achieved after Black had played 22. ....Qb6, when it is clear that the white pieces are more effectively placed for an attack on his opponent's king than the black pieces are to defend and White has a secure hold on the centre.  After another 14 moves the position on the right had been reached, when White had a decisive combination available.

As is usual with Danny King's explanations there are little gems of knowledge included.  Here he once again takes a passing look at some opening strategy and explains what has become known as the "Morozevich manouevre".  This occurs when White plays Ng5 as in the game Morozevich - Lutz, Biel 2003 - below. 

In this position White played 9.Ng5 with the idea of continuing Nh3 and clearing a path for the advance of the f-pawn.  Morozevich has used this idea successfully in several games including a game against Khalifman in Samara 1998.  From the diagrammed position play continued 9.Ng4 Nfd7 10.h4 h6 11.Nh3 Nc6 12.f4 and White's attack was in full swing.

This DVD has the same structure as the previous two i.e. Introduction, 20 thoroughly explained lectures, 17 puzzles and then the final wrap-up video.  In all there is more than 5½ hours of video - but a full study of the contents would take well in excess of 8 hours if one religiously analyses the puzzles.  Danny King gives a very polished performance in explanation of his well chosen examples, some of which were played in 2006.  In all he examines the critical sequences occurring in 44 games.  All the games are given in a database so that the full course of the game (together with notes) can be followed at the student's convenience. 

The complete course of the three DVD's on "Attacking the King" has 14½ hours of lectures and puzzles and is a secure investment in that the material will not become dated as do many opening treatises.

The recommended price of the DVD "Powerplay 3" - Pawn Storm" is £21:50 and can be thoroughly recommended.