Great Players of the Past: Sergei Prokofiev, with GM Ben Finegold

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  • Опубликовано: 23 апр 2024
  • Sergei Prokofiev (April 27, 1891 - March 5, 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. As the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous music genres, he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. By seven, he had also learned to play chess!
    This lecture was recorded on Wednesday April 17, 2024. Thank you to Nathan Black for sponsoring this lecture. “I’d like to dedicate the lecture to musicians who love chess!”
    08:15 Alexander Alekhine vs Sergei Prokofiev, Blindfold Simul 1914
    12:12 José Raúl Capablanca vs Sergei Prokofiev, Simul 1914
    21:26 Emanuel Lasker vs Sergei Prokofiev, Simul 1933
    29:19 Sergei Prokofiev vs Maurice Ravel, Mont La Joli 1924
    If you're interested in sponsoring a lecture of your choice, email Karen at karen@atlchessclub.com
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    #benfinegold #chess #Sergei Prokofiev
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Комментарии • 89

  • @Rubrickety
    @Rubrickety 2 месяца назад +19

    In 1922 Prokofiev beat Botvinik in a blindfold composing competition, spotting him an oboe.

  • @matthewjohnson6938
    @matthewjohnson6938 2 месяца назад +49

    Props to the sponsor, great idea for a lecture😅! I'm a classical music fan and did not know this about Prokofiev. Very fun intersection of interests. Go Sergei! But stay there.

    • @hygujiuy
      @hygujiuy 2 месяца назад +1

      I like his sense of humor that helps keep chess fun for me

  • @douglaslarosa8782
    @douglaslarosa8782 2 месяца назад +5

    I was a classical musician for almost 20 years and played chess seriously for over 7 years, but I had no idea Prokofiev was such a Chad in chess! I was thrilled to watch this lecture ! Thank you VERY MUCH, Nathan and Ben! 🤗🤗

  • @RoxxorzYourBoxxorz
    @RoxxorzYourBoxxorz 2 месяца назад +23

    don't spot a knight to the Dance of the Knights guy

  • @runepk4life500
    @runepk4life500 2 месяца назад +4

    Another fan of classical music and chess here. I had no clue Prokofiev was so strong. Fascinating!

  • @henrycampbell8655
    @henrycampbell8655 2 месяца назад +20

    For those who have never heard Prokofiev's music, I'd strongly recommend the following:
    Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1
    Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3
    Prokofiev Symphony No. 1 "Classical"
    Prokofiev Violin Sonata No. 2
    I'm sure others will also suggest good pieces too!

    • @immanuellitzroth1905
      @immanuellitzroth1905 2 месяца назад

      Piano Sonata 6,7 and 8...

    • @fawful303
      @fawful303 2 месяца назад

      Lieutenant Kije, scythian suite, romeo and Juliette are wonderful as well. I've had the pleasure of playing some of his music as a trombonist in youth orchestras when I was younger. He wrote some fun stuff for us low brass

    • @subspace7290
      @subspace7290 2 месяца назад

      and! the last 30 seconds of "only ash remains" by necrophagist 🤔🤔🤔😎

    • @thenoblegnuwildebeest3625
      @thenoblegnuwildebeest3625 2 месяца назад

      Would add the second piano concerto as well

    • @michakowalski4578
      @michakowalski4578 2 месяца назад

      If I'd create a list of composers Prokofiev for sure would be in top 4.

  • @flpsnk4848
    @flpsnk4848 2 месяца назад +6

    I will always treasure when I played his Piano Concerto no. 3 with my professor (two pianos) on my academy graduation concert. I felt very excited when I learned he also played chess. It's amazing one can be such of a beast of a musician and still play chess on a master level. I'm not even close to be this good in both fields.

  • @ThunderChickenBucket
    @ThunderChickenBucket 2 месяца назад +4

    I did a double take and thought, " no way thats the same person as one of my favorite composers."

    • @ThunderChickenBucket
      @ThunderChickenBucket 2 месяца назад

      I can speak to his composing, Prokofiev is very influential in orchestrating and film scoring, Lieutenant Kije Suite is worth a listen.

    • @pcrich7062
      @pcrich7062 2 месяца назад

      I always thought it was two different Prokofievs!

  • @fengardice
    @fengardice 2 месяца назад +2

    When you're a master of the openings *and* the overtures! Impressive performance.

  • @lyricsronen
    @lyricsronen 2 месяца назад

    Prokofiev is a fantastic composer - most people are probably unknowingly familiar with several of his works (Peter and the Wolf, Dance of the Knights from Romeo and Juliet, etc). His compositions can be cerebral, complex and chess like in their structure, but at his core Prokofiev is a complete genius melodist, rivaling Tchaikovsky. I played in a performance of his 6th symphony several years back that I still think about to this day, that piece is so emotionally open and the melodies are just divine.

  • @VFomalhaut
    @VFomalhaut 2 месяца назад

    The early works of Prokofiev are some of my favorite, he had a really advanced music head. Awesome he played chess also.

  • @PlguDctR-yb7mi
    @PlguDctR-yb7mi 2 месяца назад +34

    "Chess is one of the only art in which composition and performance occur simultaneously" - Garry Kasparov
    Prokofiev in the background: "Someday that will be a Finegold lecture"

    • @Freakinawesome333
      @Freakinawesome333 2 месяца назад +6

      I used to like that quote until I remembered how common improvisation is in performing arts (music, comedy, dance, etc.). It's not a rare thing at all lol

    • @raskalnekov
      @raskalnekov 2 месяца назад +1

      @@Freakinawesome333 Today I learned that Garry Kasparov is an expert on both History and Art

    • @UncleDansVintageVinyl
      @UncleDansVintageVinyl 2 месяца назад +5

      @@Freakinawesome333 I mean . . . jazz?

    • @f.d.3289
      @f.d.3289 2 месяца назад +1

      Kasparov obviously doesn't know much about jazz and other improvisational music genres. Also many painters don't compose their images but just improvise spontaneously. But as always, Kasparov sounds (self-)important.

    • @PlguDctR-yb7mi
      @PlguDctR-yb7mi 2 месяца назад

      @@f.d.3289 Indeed, a lot of music and other arts are improvised. Even a lot of classical music was improvised back in the day. Mozart concertos are almost all written with cadenzas and caprices intended to be improvised; only recently have non-improvised versions of piano concertos become the norm.

  • @the_arachnerd451
    @the_arachnerd451 2 месяца назад +1

    It's so weird hearing Ben say Prokofiev when talking about chess to me , great idea for a lecture, ty ty.

  • @EgorTensin
    @EgorTensin 2 месяца назад

    What an amazing idea from the sponsor!

  • @jerryk1562
    @jerryk1562 2 месяца назад

    I guess anybody is a great player, so far as somebody sponsors a lecture for them 🙂

  • @AG-ld6rv
    @AG-ld6rv 2 месяца назад +1

    Big boy Ben been watching Simpsons, Seinfeld -- Ben watching Seinfeld, Simpsons. Every now and then, he plays chess as a hobby. He was watching TV, watching movies, and listening to music his whole life -- he also took some good naps -- and did chess as a side hustle much like Prokofiev primarily wrote music but sometimes played chess.

  • @CodexPermutatio
    @CodexPermutatio 2 месяца назад

    OK, Ben. You have already convinced me. I plan to listen to "The Dance of the Knights" on loop during my next lichess bullet tournament.

  • @JojenReed
    @JojenReed 2 месяца назад +2

    Been waiting on this one! I love love love the crossover!

  • @Yengi-cw2ox
    @Yengi-cw2ox 2 месяца назад +4

    Presumably it was Dance of the Knights?

  • @bartoszmaniecki1806
    @bartoszmaniecki1806 2 месяца назад +1

    Very interesing for me, as I am piano teacher in Poland 🎉❤

  • @michaelstallard8563
    @michaelstallard8563 2 месяца назад +1

    I’m new to chess but enjoying these games and the history 👍

  • @coralplaysgames5883
    @coralplaysgames5883 2 месяца назад

    Another banger of a lecture

  • @ericlangedijk2585
    @ericlangedijk2585 22 дня назад

    I was a musician, I like chess, I like Prokofiev. Thanks

  • @lucasfmhomem
    @lucasfmhomem 2 месяца назад

    Didn't expect this video

  • @jacobrose7973
    @jacobrose7973 2 месяца назад

    So cool for my worlds to collide like this as a music grad student and chess fan!

  • @joelcuerrier4833
    @joelcuerrier4833 2 месяца назад

    Love chess, love music, didn't know the two combined so well.

  • @polyton4539
    @polyton4539 2 месяца назад

    my parents have an oldschool chess clock like this, it is awesome :)

  • @elijahzarwan
    @elijahzarwan 2 месяца назад

    Someone please sponsor a lecture on the games of Humphrey Bogart!

  • @joaquinpiriz7301
    @joaquinpiriz7301 2 месяца назад +6

    Go musicians who love chess

  • @fore101
    @fore101 2 месяца назад

    My brother’s friend is his grand nephew. He is a musician, and a chess player

  • @sbwells01
    @sbwells01 2 месяца назад +4

    After Rf5+, black's position
    ( •_•)
    ( •_•)>⌐■-■
    Unravels
    (⌐■_■)
    YEEEAAAHHHH🎸🎶

    • @alexanderkidd7351
      @alexanderkidd7351 2 месяца назад

      I can imagine Bolero playing in the background as Ravel realizes that his king is out of squares and he’s getting mated. It’s almost like he forgot that development is just as important in chess as it is in music 🔥

  • @surfingmantis6162
    @surfingmantis6162 2 месяца назад

    Well, his most famous piece is "The dance of the knights" from Romeo and Juliet (I warmly recommend the recording with the director Georg Solti)

  • @drewpenner536
    @drewpenner536 2 месяца назад

    Needed some Peter and the Wolf playing lightly in the background!

  • @jugglingbeast
    @jugglingbeast 2 месяца назад

    Prokofiev was a 2400 player and a super GM in music.

  • @NadavHbr
    @NadavHbr 2 месяца назад

    I‘m a musicians who loves chess. Thanks

  • @alhfgsp
    @alhfgsp 2 месяца назад

    Prokofiev won a piano competition playing his own first piano concerto even after he was told not to play it beforehand.

  • @h0wnr681
    @h0wnr681 2 месяца назад

    "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dreams" Man there's a Gene Wilder quote for everything. I really like the way Lasker just pushed him down in that game, reminds me of some of Carlsen's nicer games. Also Gukesh had some wins like that in the candidates, makes me think he could become one of the best ever.

    • @RoxxorzYourBoxxorz
      @RoxxorzYourBoxxorz 2 месяца назад

      the great Wilder is quoting this one guy O'Shaughnessy

  • @erickent4248
    @erickent4248 2 месяца назад +25

    Prokofiev was a great composer, and now a great decomposer.

  • @UncleDansVintageVinyl
    @UncleDansVintageVinyl 2 месяца назад

    The game against Ravel is a ton of fun.

  • @LordBrozart
    @LordBrozart 2 месяца назад

    I had no idea my brother in music, Prokofiev was a chess player!

  • @135Pandemonium
    @135Pandemonium 2 месяца назад +1

    Wow I love Prokofiev but I had no idea that he was strong at chess!

  • @chessanthemum
    @chessanthemum 2 месяца назад +19

    I see Ben Finegold, I click

  • @user-lq3ft9zh8e
    @user-lq3ft9zh8e 2 месяца назад

    At 8:00 Ben said that the only world champions he played were Smyslov and Anand but didn't he play Magnus also in the Pro-chess league?

  • @andreitiberiovicgazdovici
    @andreitiberiovicgazdovici 2 месяца назад

    "It is a crime" against chess to play the open Sicilian, white exchanges the central pawn for the opponent's c-pawn, Larsen said it and G.M Finegold also quoted it. I would add, it is also a crime against chess that this channel has so few subscribers: for the content, it deserves at least 10 times as many...

  • @dordiwesterlund2528
    @dordiwesterlund2528 2 месяца назад

    It goes even further. Prokofiev played a match with David Oistrach - and Oistrach won. It is very unfortunate that these games have no survived.

  • @matthewpaul985
    @matthewpaul985 2 месяца назад

    Proper Chess player

  • @SkateSka
    @SkateSka 2 месяца назад

    It's like he beat up Capablanca even worse than he did Alekhine. That's crazy.

  • @juhonieminen4219
    @juhonieminen4219 2 месяца назад +2

    Anand and Smyslov only? I can't believe you have never played Kramnik. Online blitz maybe? Any opponent could be Kramnik using false account.

  • @paparatzz7531
    @paparatzz7531 2 месяца назад +1

    Ben got so exited that he played good against world champions... Then I got exited Oistrakh was a chess player

  • @carneades4409
    @carneades4409 2 месяца назад

    wait what? I had no idea!

  • @temperedwell6295
    @temperedwell6295 2 месяца назад

    Menachem Begin also played chess. How good was he?

  • @beeble2003
    @beeble2003 9 дней назад

    BTW, the violinist whom Prokofiev is playing against in the photograph in the intro is more than just "a famous violinist" -- he is David Oistrakh, who was of the same stature as a violinist as Prokofiev was as a composer. I think it's fair to say that, if you declared Oistrakh the greatest violinist of the 20th century, just as if you declared Prokofiev the greatest composer, many (perhaps even most) people would disagree with you, but nobody would call you crazy.

  • @lewisr.c2806
    @lewisr.c2806 2 месяца назад

    @16:20 Start from here

  • @user-es3bf9lt2j
    @user-es3bf9lt2j 2 месяца назад

    Very nice video, Morricone played chess too but certainly not at this level

  • @brettdeccy9897
    @brettdeccy9897 2 месяца назад +7

    Lasker died in 1941.... Does Grand Master finegold know anything???? Oh that's what he guessed...... Fries

  • @scheimong
    @scheimong 2 месяца назад

    Always comment. Rawr!

  • @garysikon1812
    @garysikon1812 2 месяца назад

    Prokofiev died a few hours after Stalin. Shostakovich said Prokofiev was so happy when he heard the news he had a heart attack on the spot and died. His apartment was on red square and they couldnt get his body out because of all the people lining up to view Stalins body.

  • @adomaskuzinas2137
    @adomaskuzinas2137 2 месяца назад

    The amount of people that believe Prokofiev did CHESS composition is too damn high!

  • @williamblake7386
    @williamblake7386 2 месяца назад +1

    Hey, i know his music

  • @xwngdrvr
    @xwngdrvr 2 месяца назад

    Prokofiev had a pretty good alibi for Stalin's death

  • @matthewpaul985
    @matthewpaul985 2 месяца назад

    Pictures at an exhibition

  • @answeris4217
    @answeris4217 2 месяца назад

    Didn't you play Magnus in the pro league. And Didn't he play a very suspicious move to beat you???

  • @Someone-tn8ur
    @Someone-tn8ur 2 месяца назад +2

    He was indeed a great composer, but now he is a great decomposer.

  • @matthewpaul985
    @matthewpaul985 2 месяца назад +1

    Ravel

  • @newzild1
    @newzild1 2 месяца назад +1

    Taimanov (concert pianist) and Smyslov (opera singer) are my top picks for music people who can play chess. Sting, on the other hand, is a terrible chess player.

  • @charliemurphy1269
    @charliemurphy1269 2 месяца назад

    PROKOFIEV??

  • @jeffreyfisher3115
    @jeffreyfisher3115 2 месяца назад

    Maurice Ravel was not a "10"

  • @theodentherenewed4785
    @theodentherenewed4785 2 месяца назад

    So Prokofiev was not only a more profficient musician than Ravel, but also a better chess player. Was he better at everything? The truth hurts.

  • @TheGloryofMusic
    @TheGloryofMusic 2 месяца назад

    Prokofiev is generally not considered to be among the top figures in Twentieth Century music, e.g., Schoenberg, Stravinsky (the Rite of Spring), and Bartok.