The English Defense: Lecture by GM Ben Finegold

The English Defense is a chess opening characterized by the moves: 1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6
Games:
03:49 Alexander Riazantsev vs Ian Nepomniachtchi, Russia Blitz 2020
14:42 Boris Gelfand vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Beijing 2014
19:48 Zhang Ziji vs Yu Yangyi, China 2018
26:51 Conrad Holt vs Hikaru Nakamura, PRO Chess League 2019
35:14 Akira Nakada vs Ben Finegold, World Open 2021
This lecture was recorded on November 13, 2023 in Roswell, Georgia. Thank you Patrick Wheeler for sponsoring!
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[@vigilante8374]

Wait, I was told the English defense involved setting up a pension liberation scheme. Possibly I was misinformed.

[@smort123]

The famous Williams Gambit.

[@tolkienfan1972]

Named after Mr Defense

[@griffinbur1118]

This joke truly is funnier every time

[@beeble2003]

... who was English, so spelled his name "Defence".

[@rdm5687]

Strangely, this lecture has given me an uncontrollable desire to play the Classical Dutch.

[@paulgoogol2652]

In the last game white never moved the a1 rook but it sort of took care of the a5 protected passed pawn. So he had one job like a security guy that doesn't get a lot of respect but probably saves a hundred people every day just by standing menacingly.

[@mcronrn]

Wow I had never heard of it 👏🤷🏻‍♂️🙏

[@12jswilson]

I remember you talking about that last game before. You were emphasizing how you finished the game off because you knew your twitch and RUclips fans would like that finish

[@jinjocat]

The word you're looking for is principled.

[@michaelaspinall2469]

That Yu Yangyi game was incredible.

[@fibonacci112358s]

Also, not to be confused with the London system, which is also a kind of English.

[@auzziully4538]

The english?! Better than the French

[@recompiled2]

> The English?! Better than the Dutch
FTFY

[@paulgoogol2652]

No way José. The french is the best. It's so good white plays it a lot but calls it Queens Gambit (against d5 setups). Ofc it's nonsense. You don't call it Le Gambit Francais when you play 1.e4?! e6 !! d4 d5 e5 c5 For obvious reasons.

[@CryOfTheLyrebird]

Except always retreat

[@paulgoogol2652]

@@CryOfTheLyrebird Like the British ran away from helping France against land invasion? I mean they still had the balls to bomb cities with air force but that's not much better. It's ridiculous really that English speakers blame the French for running away. But so are the Brits.

[@PhildoBaggins]

Worse than the Dutch

[@neverconsidered2193]

"Don't eat the food, but the openings are ok" 😂😂

[@williamh694]

I wanted to like this video, but I died of old age before Ben got to move 3.

[@eugenebeaupre533]

Great video as always! However is it just me or was Ben not as tactically sharp as he usually is?

[@xitvono]

The ending at 33:50 is a win, assuming I entered it into the tablebase right.

[@keyrone77]

Throw money 💴

[@Edmonddantes123]

If you play the English, you get to settler-colonise the other pieces and starve their pawns

[@planetina5616]

English person here, can verify.

[@951genni]

You can have all my gold coins