8:54 This was helpful, I screwed this one up pretty badly. Not only did I play ...Bb7 (thinking it would "prevent" white's rooks from invading), but I'm pretty sure if I had seen this in a post-game analysis, I would have shrugged it off as an understandable mistake rather than as a serious failure to look at the basic dynamics of the next few moves.
Might as well share my thoughts on the homework: Its a fight over the e5 square and the piece i want to improve the most is my knight. If we think about these 2 things, it might be a good idea to place our knight on this outpost. Fastest and most forcing way to get there is: d1, e3, g4 , e5. Lets think about blacks strategies to play against us: 1. Supporting the move pawn e5: 1.Nd1 Re8 2. Ne3 Rg5 3.Ng4 and now it starts to branch. Most forcing queen move seems g6 preparing to kick our knight with the h pawn after our Queen moves, but in the variations i thought about, white can still defend without problems. 2. Pushing the Queen side Pawns ..... Nothing to gain for black. Can be ignored. 3. Attacking the d4 Pawn 1.Nd1 Rf4 2.Re5 ...... Well, that was easy 😅 Since i cant find any other Lines white might have to fear. I submit my plan to reach of Nd1, e3, g4, e5 as my answer
Another excellent lesson. Not an easy homework. No obvious weaknesses for black and no obvious way of creating a weakness. Our pieces are stuck defending f2, which isn't great. Our knight is poor, so N d1 with the plan of moving it to the outpost at e5. Many thanks.
At 15:05, I see the strategic benefit of h4. However, did not consider it because bishop on c3 is a bit hemmed in and I thought it might be activated further by e5 or moving bishop to c2 transfering to a4 hitting black's rook furthermore a knight bishop trade on d5 taking back with the c pawn disconnect black's rooks and holds the center. Your queenside minority attack may be a simpler clean forcing line.
my thoughts for the homework position: i see that we need to get the knight to e5 but we also need to prevent e5 by black or only allow it in unfavourable circumstances. so maybe: 1. Na2 Re8 (if ...a5 2. Nc1 Re8 3. Nd3 followed by Nd5 but now i see Nd3 blunders Qxd4 so thats wrong) 2. Nb4 e5 but now black gets e5 and seems to be fine. so maybe we need to play Rde2 before manouevering the knight to e5. 1. Rde2 blunders Qxd4 again so try: 1. Qe3 Re8 2. Rde2 e5 I dont think exd4 is a threat here because white wins a piece after Qxe8+ but i dont think white wants to allow e4 either. so 3. dxe5 Rfxe5 4. Qxe5 Rxe5 5. Rxe5 d4 6. Nd5 and i think white should be better
Homework - avoid for spoilers Knight has no squares but moving it a2 to b4 or d1 to e3 doesn't activate much. The rule of bishop opposing knight by two squares in between applies. However, knight supports b4, a4, b5 which drives bishop away and white can tie down black's pieces on backward b7 pawn and maybe invade with a rook on c-file. Black's bishop on dark squares can't add pressure to d4 or f2. Hard to find a path forward for black except for kingside pawn storm.
The knight can go to e5 via e2, c1, d3, e5. I was also thinking about putting it on c5 to hit the pawns but that would take longer and not accomplish anything since the bishop is still defending the b pawn. Maybe I can play some combination of Rb1, b4, b5, a4 in the future to trade off pawns on the queen side and make an isolated pawn there. But there is a bishop that controls a4 and b5 which makes it much harder to pull off
10:50 In your last example, before the homework puzzle, I thought the light squared Bishop on d3 was the weak and should be improved. But it should be the Knight that needs improvement, as you explained. Is it because the white Bishop on d3 is bad anyway? So improving it doesn't help as much as improving the Knight on b3? Let's repeat myself: great video 😀
Absolutely! The knight has great improvement 'potential', due to the gaping hole on d5, but the bishop is lacking that potential. That is why we improve the knight first! :)
In the first position, would 1...Nd7 also work? With the intention of going 2...Nc5 next move. If 2. d4, to prevent access to c5, then Rxc3 becomes an option 🤔
At 8:05 one move you didn't relly talk about was Bxc6. My candidate moves were going back to e3 or taking the knight and playing a4 to leave black with a ridiculously bad light bishop. Is there any sense to that as well?
Not a terrible idea. But I still want to play this game with a beautiful bishop on d3. The knight on c6 is a harmless piece so I don't want to trade it off.
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Absolute solid gold - this is so useful! Thank you, Can.
I am so glad to read this, my pleasure!
Great episode to put the ideas into action with the game example. Clear explanations and appreciate the lesson
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you!
Educative as always! Thank you Can!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Precious advice.
Glad it was helpful!
Great episode again! I really love the content and the format: short, effective and right to the point! Thanks++ Can
Much appreciated! Thank you Pierre!
8:54 This was helpful, I screwed this one up pretty badly. Not only did I play ...Bb7 (thinking it would "prevent" white's rooks from invading), but I'm pretty sure if I had seen this in a post-game analysis, I would have shrugged it off as an understandable mistake rather than as a serious failure to look at the basic dynamics of the next few moves.
So true, thank you for your honesty. Such errors often go unnoticed, and here a coach can be useful.
Might as well share my thoughts on the homework:
Its a fight over the e5 square and the piece i want to improve the most is my knight.
If we think about these 2 things, it might be a good idea to place our knight on this outpost.
Fastest and most forcing way to get there is: d1, e3, g4 , e5.
Lets think about blacks strategies to play against us:
1. Supporting the move pawn e5: 1.Nd1 Re8 2. Ne3 Rg5 3.Ng4 and now it starts to branch. Most forcing queen move seems g6 preparing to kick our knight with the h pawn after our Queen moves, but in the variations i thought about, white can still defend without problems.
2. Pushing the Queen side Pawns
..... Nothing to gain for black. Can be ignored.
3. Attacking the d4 Pawn
1.Nd1 Rf4 2.Re5 ...... Well, that was easy 😅
Since i cant find any other Lines white might have to fear. I submit my plan to reach of Nd1, e3, g4, e5 as my answer
Thank you for your detailed answer! Spot on!
Clear and concise, great lesson Can! Thanks as always
Glad you liked it Mason!
Another excellent lesson. Not an easy homework. No obvious weaknesses for black and no obvious way of creating a weakness.
Our pieces are stuck defending f2, which isn't great. Our knight is poor, so N d1 with the plan of moving it to the outpost at e5.
Many thanks.
Love it, thanks! Karpov also played Nd1 with the eventual Ne5!
thank you
You're welcome
Excellent lessons and examples, but it's over my head in most cases. Maybe some day....
Thank you for your honest feedback. I am planning to create a Chessable course on a positional primer, preparing the students for lessons like this.
At 15:05, I see the strategic benefit of h4. However, did not consider it because bishop on c3 is a bit hemmed in and I thought it might be activated further by e5 or moving bishop to c2 transfering to a4 hitting black's rook furthermore a knight bishop trade on d5 taking back with the c pawn disconnect black's rooks and holds the center. Your queenside minority attack may be a simpler clean forcing line.
Thanks a lot for your input!
my thoughts for the homework position: i see that we need to get the knight to e5 but we also need to prevent e5 by black or only allow it in unfavourable circumstances. so maybe:
1. Na2 Re8 (if ...a5 2. Nc1 Re8 3. Nd3 followed by Nd5 but now i see Nd3 blunders Qxd4 so thats wrong) 2. Nb4 e5 but now black gets e5 and seems to be fine. so maybe we need to play Rde2 before manouevering the knight to e5. 1. Rde2 blunders Qxd4 again so try:
1. Qe3 Re8 2. Rde2 e5 I dont think exd4 is a threat here because white wins a piece after Qxe8+ but i dont think white wants to allow e4 either. so 3. dxe5 Rfxe5 4. Qxe5 Rxe5 5. Rxe5 d4 6. Nd5 and i think white should be better
Thank you so much! You are on the right track in trying to improve the knight and stopping …e5 at the same time.
Homework - avoid for spoilers
Knight has no squares but moving it a2 to b4 or d1 to e3 doesn't activate much. The rule of bishop opposing knight by two squares in between applies. However, knight supports b4, a4, b5 which drives bishop away and white can tie down black's pieces on backward b7 pawn and maybe invade with a rook on c-file. Black's bishop on dark squares can't add pressure to d4 or f2. Hard to find a path forward for black except for kingside pawn storm.
How about the outpost on e5? Can one of our pieces be happy on that square?
The knight can go to e5 via e2, c1, d3, e5. I was also thinking about putting it on c5 to hit the pawns but that would take longer and not accomplish anything since the bishop is still defending the b pawn. Maybe I can play some combination of Rb1, b4, b5, a4 in the future to trade off pawns on the queen side and make an isolated pawn there. But there is a bishop that controls a4 and b5 which makes it much harder to pull off
Thanks! Karpov chose Nd1-e3-g4-e5!
10:50
In your last example, before the homework puzzle, I thought the light squared Bishop on d3 was the weak and should be improved. But it should be the Knight that needs improvement, as you explained.
Is it because the white Bishop on d3 is bad anyway? So improving it doesn't help as much as improving the Knight on b3?
Let's repeat myself: great video 😀
Absolutely! The knight has great improvement 'potential', due to the gaping hole on d5, but the bishop is lacking that potential. That is why we improve the knight first! :)
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In the first position, would 1...Nd7 also work? With the intention of going 2...Nc5 next move. If 2. d4, to prevent access to c5, then Rxc3 becomes an option 🤔
Thanks! That is also a good option for Black, as you want to improve your bad piece.
At 8:05 one move you didn't relly talk about was Bxc6. My candidate moves were going back to e3 or taking the knight and playing a4 to leave black with a ridiculously bad light bishop.
Is there any sense to that as well?
Not a terrible idea. But I still want to play this game with a beautiful bishop on d3. The knight on c6 is a harmless piece so I don't want to trade it off.