I'm no good at chess and I've only watched 3 Crazyhouse tourneys, but here are my thoughts thus far: 1. In normal chess bishops are valued more than knights, however in Crazyhouse bishops tend to become large pawns (hook points/help maintain structural integrity of setup) and can take a backseat to the complexity (forking potential) and checking ability of knights. Opponents can't interpose any 'banked' material to save their king from checks and 4 knights on your side at the same time is sure to bamboozle any rival into a loss. 2. In regular chess fighting for the center is paramount as one's king usually has time to castle, however in Crazyhouse king safety can be compromised by pushing center pawns too far too early. It seems to make more sense to prevent your foe's initiative by maintaining a more restricted structure (hedgehog/pirc) and allowing them to create unnecessary weaknesses that can be exploited by immediate placement of extra pieces behind their overextended defenses. 3. Keeping pieces 'banked' for too long might be a failed strategy, especially when one's enemy is placing their extra fighters immediately. Once your king is safe, place those pieces! Don't be defeated with warriors still on the sidelines. *In summation: Trade bishops for knights, don't push pawns too far/until king is safe, and play your extra pieces if in trouble/you can get your opponent in trouble.*
John Bartholomew Very much so John, I think I've watched every one of your videos. And some more than once. Love it how you release multiple videos in a day - heaven!
I did not look up the rules to Crazyhouse chess before watching this. Seeing John drag pieces on the board really threw me off haha. So ridiculous, thanks for sharing!
+Bennie Robinson LOL - it would be a trip to stumble across this video, see pieces flying on and off the board, and have to pinch yourself to make sure you're seeing it right :)
John, try playing the bughouse opening you were talking about in the next video! I play it as black and it's really quite good -- very little to worry about in the king-safety department, especially if you can build a wall starting with dropping another pawn on g6. In case you aren't familiar with it, it goes 1.e4 Nf6 2. e5 d4 3. exf6 exf6 with the threat of 4...d4.
I like how double pawns in some sort of way aren't a problem and have certain advantage. Not a problem simply because their is no endgame and open files and targeted weakness is just very different.
I'm curious what a crazyhouse chess engine would reveal. I imagine that, considering the greater number of possible moves together with the presumably much smaller body of established theory, players on average play much further from the most accurate moves than in standard chess.
"How are you guys all doing?" @2:55 As a non-american, that random but endearing question threw me a bit off guard. Anyhow, I was doing just fine watching this vid! Enjoyed it as much as I did the #1.
+John Bartholomew Team Scandi! :D Btw, looking forward a lot to chessable being launched (i've subscribed to the newsletter). I'm a casual player with no real knowledge of openings, and your platform seems like a gift from heaven for learning a little bit more! Especially the comments explaining the idea behind each move seem very helpful.
First game the opponent is obviously really good (and you are better than me, you are quite amazing actually) I was just thinking some sort of Queen sacrifice to get back initiative in those moves and maybe force play somehow with that also being (and as much as it could produce a spectacular win; it definitely could backfire pretty badly) [I watch your bullet chess videos in real time and this was typed "on pause" at (2:15) maybe you do win. If I had to bet though odds are against you with this one; 5.5 seconds remaining, not good~.]
+Gr93 Hey, Gr93 - I stream here on RUclips (not Twitch or elsewhere). I haven't done too many broadcasts, but when I do go live there's a notification here on RUclips.
26:30 Qe8 is the threat. Plays Nxc8. Whaaaat? :/ Time to break out those short term memory exercises.
+nuagor 21...B@b4+ clearly killed my train of thought, ha
+John Bartholomew You got it done in the end. Thanks for the entertaining vid!
+nuagor lol
+John Bartholomew think we've all been there
I'm no good at chess and I've only watched 3 Crazyhouse tourneys, but here are my thoughts thus far:
1. In normal chess bishops are valued more than knights, however in Crazyhouse bishops tend to become large pawns (hook points/help maintain structural integrity of setup) and can take a backseat to the complexity (forking potential) and checking ability of knights. Opponents can't interpose any 'banked' material to save their king from checks and 4 knights on your side at the same time is sure to bamboozle any rival into a loss.
2. In regular chess fighting for the center is paramount as one's king usually has time to castle, however in Crazyhouse king safety can be compromised by pushing center pawns too far too early. It seems to make more sense to prevent your foe's initiative by maintaining a more restricted structure (hedgehog/pirc) and allowing them to create unnecessary weaknesses that can be exploited by immediate placement of extra pieces behind their overextended defenses.
3. Keeping pieces 'banked' for too long might be a failed strategy, especially when one's enemy is placing their extra fighters immediately. Once your king is safe, place those pieces! Don't be defeated with warriors still on the sidelines.
*In summation:
Trade bishops for knights, don't push pawns too far/until king is safe, and play your extra pieces if in trouble/you can get your opponent in trouble.*
+Ataensic Pretty solid observations, Ataensic. I agree with everything you wrote!
Great stuff. Another awesome quality video, from IM Fins! Keep up the great work man. Cheers
More Crazyhouse... this is freaking awesome!
+basdfgwe Glad to hear you're enjoying these vids!
John Bartholomew Very much so John, I think I've watched every one of your videos. And some more than once. Love it how you release multiple videos in a day - heaven!
+basdfgwe All of 'em? Amazing! I appreciate your consistent viewership :)
Yup, no problem. Thanks for your effort in your videos. And I'm looking forward to your new site/application.
Love the video, John! Glad to see you like crazyhouse! :D
+Sidharth Soman Thanks, Sidharth!
I did not look up the rules to Crazyhouse chess before watching this. Seeing John drag pieces on the board really threw me off haha. So ridiculous, thanks for sharing!
+Bennie Robinson LOL - it would be a trip to stumble across this video, see pieces flying on and off the board, and have to pinch yourself to make sure you're seeing it right :)
John, try playing the bughouse opening you were talking about in the next video! I play it as black and it's really quite good -- very little to worry about in the king-safety department, especially if you can build a wall starting with dropping another pawn on g6. In case you aren't familiar with it, it goes 1.e4 Nf6 2. e5 d4 3. exf6 exf6 with the threat of 4...d4.
+Colin Ni Hey, Colin! Someone played that against me in one of these tourneys, and I'm with you: that's a good opening. Worth the piece sac, I think.
Please John.... We all want more Play Magnus videos.. These chess variant videos are also awesome..
you seemed to be getting the hang of this thing / prioritizing the attack well by the end of this tournament. i look forward to the next video.
What advantage do you get when bezerking (if any)? I don't understand why one will volunteer to have half the starting time that your opponent has.
+Raka Orion If you win, you get an extra point.
Thanks Tharinda!
Watching John play crazyhouse lets me think he hates losing alot ... , but honestly who doesnt? :D
is hambo's perspective online? either on youtube or twitch
26:29 cross_online uses distraction check, it's super effective!
Funny how we just forget planned moves like that :)
+styx85 lol!
Always trade bishops for knights.
I wonder what the colour stats are. White seems to have a distinct advantage with the results from these.
I like how double pawns in some sort of way aren't a problem and have certain advantage. Not a problem simply because their is no endgame and open files and targeted weakness is just very different.
I'm curious what a crazyhouse chess engine would reveal. I imagine that, considering the greater number of possible moves together with the presumably much smaller body of established theory, players on average play much further from the most accurate moves than in standard chess.
"How are you guys all doing?" @2:55 As a non-american, that random but endearing question threw me a bit off guard. Anyhow, I was doing just fine watching this vid! Enjoyed it as much as I did the #1.
+Joel Johansson I'm going to guess you're Scandinavian ;) Thanks, Joel - glad you've liked these crazyhouse vids!
+John Bartholomew Team Scandi! :D Btw, looking forward a lot to chessable being launched (i've subscribed to the newsletter). I'm a casual player with no real knowledge of openings, and your platform seems like a gift from heaven for learning a little bit more! Especially the comments explaining the idea behind each move seem very helpful.
+Joel Johansson Awesome, Joel - glad you're pumped up for our Chessable launch!
First game the opponent is obviously really good (and you are better than me, you are quite amazing actually) I was just thinking some sort of Queen sacrifice to get back initiative in those moves and maybe force play somehow with that also being (and as much as it could produce a spectacular win; it definitely could backfire pretty badly)
[I watch your bullet chess videos in real time and this was typed "on pause" at (2:15) maybe you do win. If I had to bet though odds are against you with this one; 5.5 seconds remaining, not good~.]
No more Drake quotes. K thanks
+MrXXHeadshotzXX I don't listen to Drake, but I thought it was pretty funny
Yeah it was hilarious. I was being facetious.
oh I gotcha. You never know with people of the internet.
+MrXXHeadshotzXX Yeah, I sort of shuddered inwardly when I said that. lol.
let those crazyhouse tournaments commin, i learn loads of things every time watchin :P cheers John!
+Meek Mekado Thanks, Meek! Cheers!
Match vs Aman? Any chance?
+Mr. 8I Always a chance, yes. I'm not in regular contact with the chess brahs, but maybe we'll get around to arranging a match some time.
That would be awesome :)
props for correcting "that's checkmate boys" to "boys and girls" 15:49
he also calls anyone who he doesn't know the gender of they
"NO, DON'T HURT ME!" hahaha
Crazyhouse is amazing!
2:26 take his queen!
14:50 - build a (pawn) wall
There would be some crazy theory for this game type.
+rossschcheese No kidding!
Hey John! Could you link me your stream? I can never find out where it is.
+Gr93 Hey, Gr93 - I stream here on RUclips (not Twitch or elsewhere). I haven't done too many broadcasts, but when I do go live there's a notification here on RUclips.
Excelente John! ;)
what going on???
Fins is the man- the best account on youtube
+Joey Horvath Aw, thanks, Joey :)
I can only imagine what an engine built for CrazyHouse would say about these positions.
+TheWheatOne Apparently there is an engine called "Sjeng" that plays crazyhouse. Atrophied played it recently on his channel.
Kinda disappointed at the engine, but the ending was hilarious.
+TheWheatOne Yeah, it's not very strong. I think even I would demolish it, lol.
does anyone know if there a chessengine that plays crazy horse?
+Kristian Folke Karlsen Yup! There's an engine called "Sjeng" that plays zhouse.
+John Bartholomew thank you for the info!
+Kristian Folke Karlsen Sure thing!
John how do you manage to always be such a nice person? I'm a mean, cranky, bitter short-tempered old sour puss so it genuinely baffles me.
+kwijung Hehe - I'm impressed by you're self-admission of being a mean, cranky, bitter, short-tempered old sour puss :)
John Bartholomew Eventually you get to a point where you can no longer plausibly deny it.
+kwijung lol!