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yes! He does say it one move later, but there is no need to recapture the Knight. Just Qe6 and mate. (He knows this of course, probably slipped his mind while he was explaining the advantages of the position)
► Chapters 00:00 Counter the Caro-Kann Defense | Two Knights Attack 00:38 1) Black plays 3...dxe4 01:08 Famous Smothered Mate Trap 02:54 1.2) Black plays 4...Bf5 05:07 1.3) Black plays 4...Nd7 06:33 Black's best response 08:29 2) Black plays 3...d4 10:36 3) Black plays 3...Bg4 (Mindeno Variation) 11:01 Puzzle of the day
YESSSS Just won a game against the Caro-Kann using your smothered mate trick. That was awesome! LOL Thank you for putting this vid together Igor and for all the content you post for free. I've learned a so many of cool tricks, traps and openings from your vids.
At 11:13 the answer to the puzzle is Nxd4. If they take with the queen you take their bishop, and if they take your bishop you take back the bishop with your knight.
I personally want to thank you for highlighting this variation and all your insight along with it. I just reached my highest blitz rating ever of 1909 and I'm crushing caro kann players who only know a couple moves of theory. I've done the fun Nd6# you showed, twice not only that, I've been so impressed with all of the other sacrifices I've found and strong positions that I've attained in games or just by sitting by myself and engine and playing through all the possible responses from black. It quickly becomes evident that black, whether they know it or not is essentially hoping white doesn't know plenty of theory in the variation. I believe if any Caro-Kann player actually took the time to look into the many positions that can arise from playing 1.E4 C6 and if also white plays the top moves, that black would not choose to deploy such a defense. Because most of the positions are better for white.
I've seen a lot of chess videos and I'm trying to create a thinking system that can filter out the various golden rules and concepts. I thought in the following way and order: 1) discover the opponent's biggest threat mainly within my half of the board 2) Try to attack any piece or weak square mainly in my opponent's half of the board 3) If number 2 is not possible, try to prepare an attack using preferably the least active piece. WHAT'S YOUR OPINION? I await response. thanks
11:22 I've been playing the Caro-Kann for decades. This line doesn't work if black knows to play 5...Be7. Now 6. e5 is a tempo-losing move because there's no knight to kick out. Additionally later on in the video, it's claimed black will play Bg7 after Bf8. In reality, black can simply repeat Be7 and white doesn't have anything there either except to take a quick draw by going back to Qh6.
If white brings the Knight on g5 back if they don't want the draw that means they're a little worse right because of all the wasted tempo right? great ideas as well I'm trying to learn the Caro-Kann and its ways of beating it.
@@andyD-p It's still pretty equal, but black is no longer worried. The knight has to be protected. If white leaves it, then black can simply keep threatening the queen or the knight to force a 3-fold draw. If white retreats the knight, then the point of Ng5 becomes wasted time. One could try to make the argument that black pushing g6 weakened the light squares, but notice the line white chose gets rid of their own light bishop, which is what you would really want to have to exploit light square holes.
Thanks for this. I'm a beginner learning to play Scotch gambit with my computer which sometimes responds with c6. BTW as a beginner my understanding is that the perfect game of chess is a draw and any win is more a loss than a win. The looser made one or more mistakes than the winner. Therefore my understanding is that there is no way to crush any opening or opponent who plays perfectly, so the only way to crush the Caro-Kann, for example, would be if the player of it made a mistake and did not choose the best variation of the Caro-Kann. Therefore the only sure way to crush an opponent in any opening is to ensure they are the weaker player. I'm not trying to be clever. As a beginner I find it interesting that in chess, and maybe in all conflicts, the one who wins is the one who makes less mistakes. If both sides fought perfectly the conflict would never have a winner or a looser. I see this as a good thing, though it means if I do sometimes win, its not so much my skill as the opponents lack of it. When I win against my computer it is because the computer made more blunders than I did, or if we don't blunder, the computer made more mistakes than I did, or if we don't make mistakes, the computer made more inaccurate moves than I did. It dents the ego which can't be a bad thing, and I again realise the best game of chess is the perfect game of chess which is a draw. I started playing these moves with the engine switched on and with a chess database and it found no games played with black bishop to g4 (the trap) and indicated black bishop to f5 was the best move. This suggests to me what I am beginning to see - that these move only crush a player who blunders. Maybe all that CRUSH means is 'opponent blunders' or opponent is a weaker player. Which again suggests to me that there is no way to CRUSH any opponent of equal or greater strength. I understand your statement that the aim of white is not so much to trap black, but that black has to play very carefully against the two-knights of white or else black will create a trap of their own making.
Bxf7... the "fried liver" style attack was DEVASTATING, at first when I stumbled into the Mieses Gambit getting my move order confused with the far more difficult, and familiar to black Maroczy/fantasy variation. It's much harder to pull that trade off now
Well, he recommends 6…Qa5. And since this move isn‘t covered here I think everyone will be fine. Great video here and chessly users won‘t lose any sleep because of it :-) Both channels are great for chess imho.
Wow, this is way more spicy than hoping for a fantasy variation! Thanks for the great video!! Now I understand why I felt so bullied when I played the Caro, so I quit playing the Caro-Kann and switched to the solid French!
Pretty sure both Eric Rosen and Naroditsky play this line in their speed runs and other content (although Danya also advocates the Fantasy). However, it doesn’t come up that often and is never really explored in depth so nice to have a dedicated video.
Could you please compare breaking french defence vs breaking Caro-Kann defence because from white perspective those both initially seem similar. Is there a strategy that can be plaid similarly both against french defence and Caro-Kann?
On the variation in which the 1 ....Qd5 2Bc4 Bg6 3 Qg4 threatening checkmate on c8 . The Queen is under attack by the Bishop we have an extra tempo .... Qd8 4 Nxg6 fxg6 5 Qxg6 then you start a king hunt .That's what l saw a long that line
The puzzle was easy. Nxd4. If Qxd4, then Bxg4. White has a bishop and a pawn for a knight, and he is ahead in development. White can go ahead and castle, then bring the rook to e1, or d3 followed by Be3, developing with a tempo because the queen has to move.
At 12:20 with Bg5 attacking Queen, he says you have a great position. What about Qb6 attacking both d4 and b2 pawns. White castles 0-0-0 black castles 0-0. No more attack.
The puzzle of the day_ Knight into d4... Queen into d4... Bishop into g4 and if bishop into bishop e2 instead of queen into d4.. then knight d4 into bishop e2...this tactic is similar to French defense Nimzovich variation where Knight into e5 is threat of black and white has to take Knight d4 into c6 or Bishop b5 has to be played pinning Knight c6 to king
At 2:40 instead of Bxf7+ I would rather try a queen sac with Ne5 threatening Bxf7++. If they take your queen, game over. If Bh5, Qxh5 and game over. If e6 blocking mate, Nxg4 and game over. It Be6, Bxe6 fxe6 and you have an edge.
I was playing this line for a long time before people started playing dxe4 Nxe4 Nf6 Qe2 Nxe4 Qxe4 and Qd4 looking for a trade. Can someone give me a good line here. Also awesome job on remaking one of your old masterpieces.
Woow that is already exactly what I play against the caro kann Even that line against Bg4, that I thought was quite unknown and very trappy Also on that line, on move 8 if black plays C5 instead of Be7, which is very common, they lose on the spot with the same Qh5, and some Nb5 idea to infiltrate on c7 or d6 Nice video !
Good day, great content but it is a BIG mistake to take the knight on g4, when you can checkmate right away on e6. Very important to give the opponent as few chances as possible :)
in d4 line why black cant play e5 to support d4 , if you take the e4 pawn with knight after Qe7 isnt black able to capture the e4 pawn ? even i remember 2900 engine plays this against me
Sir he will take the d4 pawn and sacrifice his knight to hang his bishop and if he captures the bishop then we do not recapture by the queen but with the knight and we are up a pawn and have a great position.Sacrifice the knight in the MC hammers style
Igor what do we do if after 3. dxe4 , Nxe4 Qe2 Nxe4, Qxe4 and Qd5??? The annoying computer wants me to trade queens, I don't even see how white is even better it's basically a quick draw
Min 2:33. Why taking f7 with the bishop? Isn't ist better to play Ne5 immediately? Threatens mate, Black B has to go to e6 and the pawn structure will be destroyed...
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It's a great choice of sending this link.😁
2:46 he hade checkmate qc4
Bro really loves bullying gotham subs
It serves them right for being Gotham subs
@@josephsalmonte4995yeah you wouldn't know anything about that hu😅
@@josephsalmonte4995your elo
Bro just study Caro kan variations and you will be fine
At least Igor doesn't milk Magnus for content like Levy 😂😂😂 and to add on top of that, Igor is a GM 😂😂
11:09 White can play Nxd4 if Black plays QxNd4 white can play BxBg4. If Black plays BxBe2 white can take back with the knight and be up a pawn
thank you!
How simple and I didn´t see it. Well, I am a dull chess player. Thank you.
2:45 nonono, did you see the mate
yes! He does say it one move later, but there is no need to recapture the Knight.
Just Qe6 and mate.
(He knows this of course, probably slipped his mind while he was explaining the advantages of the position)
@@dnthymamaiYes, I hope he will revise it😅
Yes, it is checkmate Qe6. He missed to mention.
I saw this too
SAW that
► Chapters
00:00 Counter the Caro-Kann Defense | Two Knights Attack
00:38 1) Black plays 3...dxe4
01:08 Famous Smothered Mate Trap
02:54 1.2) Black plays 4...Bf5
05:07 1.3) Black plays 4...Nd7
06:33 Black's best response
08:29 2) Black plays 3...d4
10:36 3) Black plays 3...Bg4 (Mindeno Variation)
11:01 Puzzle of the day
Sir I respect you but as caro kann player i play nd7 is on 5th move in 2 knights mindeno variation 😅
1. Nxd4 Qxd4
2. Bxg4
Nxf6 challenging bishop with queen in spot
YESSSS Just won a game against the Caro-Kann using your smothered mate trick. That was awesome! LOL Thank you for putting this vid together Igor and for all the content you post for free. I've learned a so many of cool tricks, traps and openings from your vids.
“I won’t mention them by name, but if you want to beat GothamChess subscribers here’s how to do it.” 😂
Folded under 0 pressure lmao
I love his humour😅
I’m currently going through a hard phase in my life, u wouldn’t know how much chess makes it better 🥺
I started 2 months ago btw and I’m enjoying
I totally get you. Chess got me through some tough times
Good job you guys. Chess is a great game to keep your mind sharp.
@GMIgorSmirnov, are you checking to see if we're paying attention by playing Qxg4 instead of the checkmate at 2:45
good observation, why not go checkmate directly?
Purposefully ignored probably to make people comment this exact thing and drive up engagement on his video. GM tactics when you think about it
@@slippery_noodle9388 actually, I think he missed this one
Smirnov has the ability to play the power knight move g4-f7 😜
At 11:13 the answer to the puzzle is Nxd4. If they take with the queen you take their bishop, and if they take your bishop you take back the bishop with your knight.
2:45 mate in one missed❤
Trat is what I thought, too
Ya
At 2:46 Qxg4. But even without taking knight on g4, directly Qe6# as there is no chance to black king to escape or any other piece to protect it.
At 2:43, why isnt it checkmate after black N X G4 with Q E6? It doesnt need to take back the knight on G4. Just curious.
Yeah.. I know right?? 😂
Queen did not need to take Knight. Checkmate at e6 first.
Your content is so much fun! I found a small note of interest: at 14:17 rather than Qxg4 Qe6 is mate. I show your videos to my students as well!
Thank you!
I personally want to thank you for highlighting this variation and all your insight along with it. I just reached my highest blitz rating ever of 1909 and I'm crushing caro kann players who only know a couple moves of theory. I've done the fun Nd6# you showed, twice not only that, I've been so impressed with all of the other sacrifices I've found and strong positions that I've attained in games or just by sitting by myself and engine and playing through all the possible responses from black. It quickly becomes evident that black, whether they know it or not is essentially hoping white doesn't know plenty of theory in the variation. I believe if any Caro-Kann player actually took the time to look into the many positions that can arise from playing 1.E4 C6 and if also white plays the top moves, that black would not choose to deploy such a defense. Because most of the positions are better for white.
Tartakower makes for some of the most fun games tbh. I always play Caro. 2 knights is nothing to be afraid of.
You have great stuff. Thank you!
I've seen a lot of chess videos and I'm trying to create a thinking system that can filter out the various golden rules and concepts. I thought in the following way and order: 1) discover the opponent's biggest threat mainly within my half of the board 2) Try to attack any piece or weak square mainly in my opponent's half of the board 3) If number 2 is not possible, try to prepare an attack using preferably the least active piece. WHAT'S YOUR OPINION? I await response. thanks
At 2:42 shouldn't you mate on e6 instead of recapturing the knight?
Thanks once again Igor. I cant get enough of you lessons. Much appreciated. I will no=longer fear the Caro-Kann
Now I like to face Caro-Kann
Wow i am learning and using these to my great advantage.
Igor thank you 🙏
🙏
As a caro kann player i will never take on e4 thats a basic principle of caro kann until you are 500elo
@Remote Chess Academy 1:43 I have done that multiple times and Tennessy gambit works as well for this.
Not sure why you would take the knight with your queen at 2:45. Instead, queen to e6 is mate. Or am I missing something?
Thanks Igor. I might add this to the rotation VS Kann but I really love the fantasy variation you gave us last year.
2:46 Why to take the knight with the queen?
isn't queen e6 mate :))
These videos have been very informative and has allowed me to really improve my game!
11:08 .... i think Nxd4 is the best move.........Qxd4 , then Bxg4 .........if Bxe2 , then Nxe2.....
2:45 you don't have to take a knight, you can just play Qe6# right away
At 2:45 you recommend taking the Knight but Q-d5 is mate.
Qe6, definitely not Qd5
Gawd. I can’t even write the notation right. Thx
At 2:46 instead of the queen taking the knight on g4, moving the queen to e6 is checkmate. Or am I missing something?
11:22 I've been playing the Caro-Kann for decades. This line doesn't work if black knows to play 5...Be7. Now 6. e5 is a tempo-losing move because there's no knight to kick out. Additionally later on in the video, it's claimed black will play Bg7 after Bf8. In reality, black can simply repeat Be7 and white doesn't have anything there either except to take a quick draw by going back to Qh6.
If white brings the Knight on g5 back if they don't want the draw that means they're a little worse right because of all the wasted tempo right? great ideas as well I'm trying to learn the Caro-Kann and its ways of beating it.
@@andyD-p It's still pretty equal, but black is no longer worried. The knight has to be protected. If white leaves it, then black can simply keep threatening the queen or the knight to force a 3-fold draw. If white retreats the knight, then the point of Ng5 becomes wasted time. One could try to make the argument that black pushing g6 weakened the light squares, but notice the line white chose gets rid of their own light bishop, which is what you would really want to have to exploit light square holes.
At 2:47 after Nxg4 by black there is Qe6#! Why did you miss this?
Thanks for this. I'm a beginner learning to play Scotch gambit with my computer which sometimes responds with c6.
BTW as a beginner my understanding is that the perfect game of chess is a draw and any win is more a loss than a win. The looser made one or more mistakes than the winner. Therefore my understanding is that there is no way to crush any opening or opponent who plays perfectly, so the only way to crush the Caro-Kann, for example, would be if the player of it made a mistake and did not choose the best variation of the Caro-Kann. Therefore the only sure way to crush an opponent in any opening is to ensure they are the weaker player. I'm not trying to be clever. As a beginner I find it interesting that in chess, and maybe in all conflicts, the one who wins is the one who makes less mistakes. If both sides fought perfectly the conflict would never have a winner or a looser. I see this as a good thing, though it means if I do sometimes win, its not so much my skill as the opponents lack of it. When I win against my computer it is because the computer made more blunders than I did, or if we don't blunder, the computer made more mistakes than I did, or if we don't make mistakes, the computer made more inaccurate moves than I did. It dents the ego which can't be a bad thing, and I again realise the best game of chess is the perfect game of chess which is a draw.
I started playing these moves with the engine switched on and with a chess database and it found no games played with black bishop to g4 (the trap) and indicated black bishop to f5 was the best move. This suggests to me what I am beginning to see - that these move only crush a player who blunders. Maybe all that CRUSH means is 'opponent blunders' or opponent is a weaker player. Which again suggests to me that there is no way to CRUSH any opponent of equal or greater strength.
I understand your statement that the aim of white is not so much to trap black, but that black has to play very carefully against the two-knights of white or else black will create a trap of their own making.
Bxf7... the "fried liver" style attack was DEVASTATING, at first when I stumbled into the Mieses Gambit getting my move order confused with the far more difficult, and familiar to black Maroczy/fantasy variation. It's much harder to pull that trade off now
2:46 instead of taking knight, is qd6 not checkmate???
Thanks, this is a great way to learn!~
Levy just pooped his pants
Well, he recommends 6…Qa5. And since this move isn‘t covered here I think everyone will be fine. Great video here and chessly users won‘t lose any sleep because of it :-) Both channels are great for chess imho.
On 2:32 you can also go KE5 (sacrificing the queen) imho
Hi Igor, in 2min 47sec isn't it better to have a queen on e6 checkmate than to take a knight?
Of course, it is..
My favorite chanel to optimize the time a spend learning chess.
9:35 and 9:13 how would you deal with d3?
i was thinking the same thing, we can just check with stockfish though
I think Knight f4 Double attack on the pon on d3 and black can’t defend
Wow, this is way more spicy than hoping for a fantasy variation! Thanks for the great video!! Now I understand why I felt so bullied when I played the Caro, so I quit playing the Caro-Kann and switched to the solid French!
Thank you for watching!
Thank you so much for changing my life
3:17 the best move is h5 not h6 it’s a different game when you play that. You can also push the pawn on h4 when h6 is played.
2:37 why should i take the knight when there's a mate there on Qe6#
Great.
Pretty sure both Eric Rosen and Naroditsky play this line in their speed runs and other content (although Danya also advocates the Fantasy). However, it doesn’t come up that often and is never really explored in depth so nice to have a dedicated video.
2:46 you’re even checkmating them now
2:23 I would play knight to e5 here. Mate on f7 with the bishop of black takes the queen.
Mate on f7 you mean?
Ah yeah. My bad. Edited it now
Could you please compare breaking french defence vs breaking Caro-Kann defence because from white perspective those both initially seem similar. Is there a strategy that can be plaid similarly both against french defence and Caro-Kann?
Nice traps! Thanks.
On the variation in which the 1 ....Qd5
2Bc4 Bg6
3 Qg4 threatening checkmate on c8 . The Queen is under attack by the Bishop we have an extra tempo .... Qd8
4 Nxg6 fxg6
5 Qxg6 then you start a king hunt .That's what l saw a long that line
7:27 in, after n.c4, why wouldn’t white play n.f7 immediately and fork the queen and rook? Ends up much better than just winning a pawn?
The puzzle was easy. Nxd4. If Qxd4, then Bxg4. White has a bishop and a pawn for a knight, and he is ahead in development. White can go ahead and castle, then bring the rook to e1, or d3 followed by Be3, developing with a tempo because the queen has to move.
Thanks a million
At 12:20 with Bg5 attacking Queen, he says you have a great position. What about Qb6 attacking both d4 and b2 pawns. White castles 0-0-0 black castles 0-0. No more attack.
at 2:28, i think it would be better if you move knight e5 sacrificing the queen because if bishop takes, then it's checkmate
11:06 Nxd4
The puzzle of the day_ Knight into d4... Queen into d4... Bishop into g4 and if bishop into bishop e2 instead of queen into d4.. then knight d4 into bishop e2...this tactic is similar to French defense Nimzovich variation where Knight into e5 is threat of black and white has to take Knight d4 into c6 or Bishop b5 has to be played pinning Knight c6 to king
At 2:40 instead of Bxf7+ I would rather try a queen sac with Ne5 threatening Bxf7++. If they take your queen, game over. If Bh5, Qxh5 and game over. If e6 blocking mate, Nxg4 and game over. It Be6, Bxe6 fxe6 and you have an edge.
you missed be6 after ne5
I was playing this line for a long time before people started playing dxe4 Nxe4 Nf6 Qe2 Nxe4 Qxe4 and Qd4 looking for a trade. Can someone give me a good line here.
Also awesome job on remaking one of your old masterpieces.
Woow that is already exactly what I play against the caro kann
Even that line against Bg4, that I thought was quite unknown and very trappy
Also on that line, on move 8 if black plays C5 instead of Be7, which is very common, they lose on the spot with the same Qh5, and some Nb5 idea to infiltrate on c7 or d6
Nice video !
8:44 why knights look like Germany in 1945?
Dunno why but today I got strangely many players who played Caro, I hope watching this can gear me up with weapon against my own main black opening.
11:10 Nxd4 if Qxd4 Bxg4 if Bxe2 Nxe2
2:04 what if they play 6...Qa4 or 6...Qd4?
How is pawn d3 a mate??
It's a discover checkmate with the black square bishop
9:35 What if black pushed the pawn to d3?
2.45: Qe6 checkmate instead of Qxg4???!
can you make a video about the caro can- euwe atack
You are really saving our life bro
ahh. the savage responses I've been waiting for. awesome!
Kindly cover colorado gambit for black..
Dont you have Ne5 and they cant take your queen because of Bxf7# at 2:35 (its the top engine move)
What if they play pawn takes pawn at e4 at 11:09?
Me: I'd learn Caro Kann.
Entire RUclips chess community: How to destroy the Caro Kann.......
Love this option and of course the alien gambit!! Don’t boo!!!
Ahoj Igor, v 2min 47 sec nie je lepšie kráľovna na e6 mat ako brať jazdca ?
The both knights be like we are the unbeatable duo 🗿☠️
3:05 what about Bg4? d4 is answer
I won't mention them by name, BUT - *proceedes to say the name within 2 seconds flat*
If black plays d4, what if he pushes and play d3? What's next pls answer asap. Anyone?
Good day, great content but it is a BIG mistake to take the knight on g4, when you can checkmate right away on e6. Very important to give the opponent as few chances as possible :)
in d4 line why black cant play e5 to support d4 , if you take the e4 pawn with knight after Qe7 isnt black able to capture the e4 pawn ? even i remember 2900 engine plays this against me
6:48 instead of knight to b6 what if the opponent goes queen to e7
so ..is this a refutation for caro kann and we need to find a good opening?
Not a refutation, but definitely you need to know a good black line against e4 Nc3 Nf3
Sir he will take the d4 pawn and sacrifice his knight to hang his bishop and if he captures the bishop then we do not recapture by the queen but with the knight and we are up a pawn and have a great position.Sacrifice the knight in the MC hammers style
is this why hikaru says caro Kahn is trash 😂😂
Igor what do we do if after 3. dxe4 , Nxe4 Qe2 Nxe4, Qxe4 and Qd5??? The annoying computer wants me to trade queens, I don't even see how white is even better it's basically a quick draw
Min 2:33. Why taking f7 with the bishop? Isn't ist better to play Ne5 immediately? Threatens mate, Black B has to go to e6 and the pawn structure will be destroyed...
I ain't gone lie... Dude the GOAT
What if we play 5. Nxf6 getting into the tartakower variation, aiming to an endgame with pawn majority on the queen side?
Is Igor still active outside of youtube? Maybe i'm looking the wrong place, but doesn't look like he had any movements on his ELO FIDE since 2009?
He started coaching 13 years ago. He does not play FIDE rated tournaments anymore.
Isnt it checkmate without recapturing the knight?
I don’t know how the algorithm figured out that I needed this but I did
Igor smirov when you played Qxg4 you coul instead directly play Qe6 mate
There is already a check mate..you dont need to take the knight..