Ben talking about en passant being complicated reminded me of a funny(ish) story that I'd like to share with y'all. I was in the county jail once (I only mention that because it's relevant to the story), and I almost got into an actual fistfight with someone over the en passant rule. I had white and had already castled short, so he started pushing his H pawn, with the intention of destroying my pawn structure and opening up a line to my king. I played a couple of general improving moves while he played h5 and h4, and then when he played h3, I responded with the obvious g3, stopping the progress of his H pawn without having to capture it with my G pawn and open the G file in front of my king. When I played g3, he tried to take my pawn en passant by putting his H pawn on g2! I tried to explain to him that that isn't how the rule works, and he insisted that it is. In his mind, you're never allowed to move a pawn past another pawn without the opponent having the opportunity to capture it. He thought en passant was possible any time you advanced a pawn past another pawn. So then I tried to make him understand by explaining why the en passant rule exists. I explained that when chess was first invented, you could only move your pawns one square, even on their first move, meaning that in order to play e4, you had to play e3 first; that would've been a two-move maneuver. After a while, they realized that this was wasting a whole bunch of time, so they changed the rule to allow a pawn to move two squares on its first move. This change, though, was only intended to speed up the opening, so they had to add the en passant rule to keep from changing other rules or aspects of the game. He wasn't interested. He insisted that I was trying to cheat him, and that I was too embarrassed to admit that I had somehow overlooked his *very* clear intention in pushing his H pawn. I tried to get other people who play chess to explain it, and he wouldn't listen to them, either. And because we were in jail (see, I told you it was relevant) we had no internet access to actually look up the rule. The argument finally ended when I told him that his attempted en passant capture wasn't a valid move, and if he kept insisting that it was, we would just have to abandon the game. His response was to knock the board and all of the pieces (which I had spent a lot of time making) off the table and into the floor, while shouting various obscenities about me cheating and being bad at chess and being too proud to admit I made a mistake. It genuinely almost ended in violence. Over a chess rule dispute. 😂 Also...make sure that you know that, according to grandmaster Finegold, "not doing stuff is important, but knowing the importance of which is more important is more important. Not getting checkmated is the most important." You got that?😂
unsurprisingly people in jail tend to not be great at knowing the rules, which makes keeping them harder as well which might be the reason they are in jail :D
Hey Ben! I won a game today after playing the Greek gift. I knew it was going to work because Black's light squared bishop could not participate. Learned it from this video!
@@alexlaporta6393 ken west was a player that used to come to all of ben's lectures. there was a recurring joke that he is a GM, as he is a good player, and everybody pokes fun at his chess knowledge, hence the "GM" title.
I think the theme is that you sacrifice material to open the the kings "castle". It looks like you're gifting him a bishop, but it's a poisoned gift, a greek gift.
Absolute legend how the hell can I learn when I'm on the ground rolling around in laughter 😂😂 I just can't stop laughing🤦♂️🤣🤣your an absolute legend ❤️
Those kids we hear in the video are lucky, I wish I had Ben Finegold as a chess teacher when I was their age! Ben's jokes must fly over their heads for now, but they'll be able to look back on these lessons when they get older and appreciate their teacher even more. For now, I'm sure they think he's a bit weird because they don't get what he's saying 😂
"When you play moves like a6, you don't live long " This is so true i believe , for if someone lived long playing that , he would have his name associated with the opening. Since it s not the case, every one that played 1... a6 must have died young ! "truth hurts " ? :)
@@felixskinner8334 actually the phrase is beware of the Danae bearing gifts, regarding an older tribe that habitated greek region in 15th century BC. Although the phrase is bestowed to Laokontas from Virgil's Aeneis poem, written in the 1st century A.C in latin, it stays true to the fact that the word hellenic (greek) did not exist at the time of the Troy seige. So "Greek gif"t is definitely not an actual historic reference, rather than a later paraphrasing of the quote. Tl;dr, it's probably closer to Greco's use of the move than the ancient quote.
@@felixskinner8334Yeah definitive, he made a book abt chess in which he explained a lot of tattics we take for granted now (can't remember exactly, but some checkmate patterns); but it's name was given mainly to this bishop sacrifice. Ps: obv "Greco" means Greek in Italian, but it was just his surname. Much like if a Spanish called "Blanco" discovers a new move and they label it as "White Move" Not much sense but it's what is it
13:04 Ben, he doesn't gift you because you call him peter. Maybe he prefers Petros instead. Call him like that and he might gift you with a smile for once
I wonder if people keep calling it "the greek gift" because they think it has something to do with the greeks, or if they just translate the surname of the player "Gioacchino Greco". It shouldn't be called "The Greco gift"? I mean, I do not call Ben "Beniamino OroBene" ...
@@Nn-3no it's clear, he was named precisely after him. Just English ppl translate it with Greek Gift, French or Spanish ppl refers it as "Greco". It has just with the tendency of English speaker to translate everything since it's the only language they know, but other languages comunities can understand to not translate surnames lol
I could be wrong, but I know Miles had diabetes, so I suspect his early death had more to do with that, than how he played chess. Or do you mean to suggest that risky chess causes diabetes?
Thanks for showing the game I played vs Greco in 1620.
Respect
Respect x2
Funny thing is that position in the first game where black castled has been reached 1700+ times of Lichess. Bxh7+ was played 570 times. 🤣🤷🏻♂️🙏
My favourite GM, mr. Gift.
9 times out of 10 Finegold is hilarious!
Ben talking about en passant being complicated reminded me of a funny(ish) story that I'd like to share with y'all. I was in the county jail once (I only mention that because it's relevant to the story), and I almost got into an actual fistfight with someone over the en passant rule.
I had white and had already castled short, so he started pushing his H pawn, with the intention of destroying my pawn structure and opening up a line to my king. I played a couple of general improving moves while he played h5 and h4, and then when he played h3, I responded with the obvious g3, stopping the progress of his H pawn without having to capture it with my G pawn and open the G file in front of my king.
When I played g3, he tried to take my pawn en passant by putting his H pawn on g2!
I tried to explain to him that that isn't how the rule works, and he insisted that it is. In his mind, you're never allowed to move a pawn past another pawn without the opponent having the opportunity to capture it. He thought en passant was possible any time you advanced a pawn past another pawn.
So then I tried to make him understand by explaining why the en passant rule exists. I explained that when chess was first invented, you could only move your pawns one square, even on their first move, meaning that in order to play e4, you had to play e3 first; that would've been a two-move maneuver. After a while, they realized that this was wasting a whole bunch of time, so they changed the rule to allow a pawn to move two squares on its first move. This change, though, was only intended to speed up the opening, so they had to add the en passant rule to keep from changing other rules or aspects of the game.
He wasn't interested. He insisted that I was trying to cheat him, and that I was too embarrassed to admit that I had somehow overlooked his *very* clear intention in pushing his H pawn. I tried to get other people who play chess to explain it, and he wouldn't listen to them, either. And because we were in jail (see, I told you it was relevant) we had no internet access to actually look up the rule.
The argument finally ended when I told him that his attempted en passant capture wasn't a valid move, and if he kept insisting that it was, we would just have to abandon the game. His response was to knock the board and all of the pieces (which I had spent a lot of time making) off the table and into the floor, while shouting various obscenities about me cheating and being bad at chess and being too proud to admit I made a mistake.
It genuinely almost ended in violence. Over a chess rule dispute. 😂
Also...make sure that you know that, according to grandmaster Finegold, "not doing stuff is important, but knowing the importance of which is more important is more important. Not getting checkmated is the most important."
You got that?😂
There's a lot of "passed pawn" confusion out there in the wild. Also a lot of sensitive egos in jail...
That's crazy. Did you still play after that? I think I'd move lunch table if that happened to me.
I watched a documentary about how in the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, to get in the gang, you have to checkmate someone with En Passant
unsurprisingly people in jail tend to not be great at knowing the rules, which makes keeping them harder as well which might be the reason they are in jail :D
Truthfully, I wouldn’t even play that move in jail unless the person knows the move. Ppl can get hurt over that sort of thing..
That "let me hook you up" line at 21:35 cracked me the fuck up!😂 💔
Hey Ben! I won a game today after playing the Greek gift. I knew it was going to work because Black's light squared bishop could not participate. Learned it from this video!
I finally found an online coach after all these years
This dude literally googled en passant for us. Holy Hell!
True old-schoolers will get The Ken West joke
Grandmaster Ken West** show some respect to the legend
I didn't get it, maybe I'm too young or it's just that I ain't from the US... could you explain it to me please?
@@alexlaporta6393watch some Saint louis lectures of Finegold. You will get it by just watching two I guess. He would mention him in one of those.
@@alexlaporta6393 ken west was a player that used to come to all of ben's lectures.
there was a recurring joke that he is a GM, as he is a good player, and everybody pokes fun at his chess knowledge, hence the "GM" title.
@@tetrisbit Oh, I see, thanks!
24:34 “my knight takes your queen en passant” brilliant
Don't ask who the whistle blows for, it blows for thee
Alternatively GRANDMASTER MAKES AN ILLEGAL MOVE 🤣😭🤣😭⁉️⁉️
first. this is the greatest moment of my life. (ive had a tough life)
37 years old i feel like the kid in the back of the class
Ben's older now than he's ever been
Amazing video. Thanks Maestro
Marvelous thumbnail, MISTER Finegold.
Why isn't the Greek gift a knight sac?
You gain a tempo by attacking immediately with the bishop, checking the king.
@@helenvurcevic5550 but the Greeks gave away a big horse that the Trojans took, not a priest?
I think the theme is that you sacrifice material to open the the kings "castle". It looks like you're gifting him a bishop, but it's a poisoned gift, a greek gift.
@@ArutaretiI y'all... y'all aren't getting it
@@codylee2818 should have been named the spanish inquisition sac, missed an opportunity there
You are the bestest GM ever Mr finegold bloody amazing
Thanks for the great content!!
Absolute legend how the hell can I learn when I'm on the ground rolling around in laughter 😂😂 I just can't stop laughing🤦♂️🤣🤣your an absolute legend ❤️
Those kids we hear in the video are lucky, I wish I had Ben Finegold as a chess teacher when I was their age! Ben's jokes must fly over their heads for now, but they'll be able to look back on these lessons when they get older and appreciate their teacher even more. For now, I'm sure they think he's a bit weird because they don't get what he's saying 😂
I thought my favorite topic was the Greek Liver Attack
Bro almost made me think he did new lectures 😭
"That's not a greek gift, that's just a gift" lmao
How to play in stuck position make a video
8:01 "knight g5 and a half " 😂😂
I love how 99% of Bens jokes are not for the kids, but for us, the adults 😂
Omg I was dying laughing this entire video 😂
Same😂😂😂
"When you play moves like a6, you don't live long " This is so true i believe , for if someone lived long playing that , he would have his name associated with the opening. Since it s not the case, every one that played 1... a6 must have died young ! "truth hurts " ? :)
Damm I've reached this position a lot of times..
The Greek gift comes from the great player of the past Gioachino Greco (Greco = Greek)
Is that definite? I always assumed it was named after the Trojan Horse (i.e. The saying 'beware Greeks bearing gifts')
@@felixskinner8334 that's what i thought it was named after too
@@felixskinner8334 actually the phrase is beware of the Danae bearing gifts, regarding an older tribe that habitated greek region in 15th century BC. Although the phrase is bestowed to Laokontas from Virgil's Aeneis poem, written in the 1st century A.C in latin, it stays true to the fact that the word hellenic (greek) did not exist at the time of the Troy seige. So "Greek gif"t is definitely not an actual historic reference, rather than a later paraphrasing of the quote.
Tl;dr, it's probably closer to Greco's use of the move than the ancient quote.
@@felixskinner8334Yeah definitive, he made a book abt chess in which he explained a lot of tattics we take for granted now (can't remember exactly, but some checkmate patterns); but it's name was given mainly to this bishop sacrifice.
Ps: obv "Greco" means Greek in Italian, but it was just his surname.
Much like if a Spanish called "Blanco" discovers a new move and they label it as "White Move"
Not much sense but it's what is it
There’s good and there’s not good, fifth is not good
13:04 Ben, he doesn't gift you because you call him peter. Maybe he prefers Petros instead. Call him like that and he might gift you with a smile for once
Chevy Chase?
the “24 dollars for manhattan” gambit
Second is not that bad.
Except for one thing
I'm not GM Ben Finegold 😞
Watch our for a german gift!
2001 game 16 years ago 😂
live fast, play 1...a6
I wonder if people keep calling it "the greek gift" because they think it has something to do with the greeks, or if they just translate the surname of the player "Gioacchino Greco". It shouldn't be called "The Greco gift"? I mean, I do not call Ben "Beniamino OroBene" ...
It isn't clear. Some say it's because of allusions to the Trojan horse, others say it's related to Greco.
Imagine thinking all that
@@Nn-3no it's clear, he was named precisely after him.
Just English ppl translate it with Greek Gift, French or Spanish ppl refers it as "Greco".
It has just with the tendency of English speaker to translate everything since it's the only language they know, but other languages comunities can understand to not translate surnames lol
I could be wrong, but I know Miles had diabetes, so I suspect his early death had more to do with that, than how he played chess. Or do you mean to suggest that risky chess causes diabetes?
Im watching this in santorini… terrible
500 lbs 🍌