Why I continue to watch each episode of this series: your move-by-move commentary, your calm demeanor, your precise delivery, the depth of your knowledge, your wrap up of each game with the help of the engine, the visual set-up. All works to make this probably one of the very best series of its type. Great work, Eric.
Positions are getting much more complex, with the center being tightly contested. It's getting more entertaining to watch. Congratulations to Wanwansetiawan27 for what might be the first legitimate non-win for Rosen. We shall see.
Not sure about that. Wanwansetiawan27 consistently took 3-5 seconds on every move whether it was a brilliancy or an obvious recapture. The game is suspicious to say the least.
Watching this series has helped me immensely in learning how to analyze positions and find good moves. I've since reached a 1500 Rapid rating and I have a very consistant accuracy of around 80-85% in my games. Thank you so much Eric! You're an awesome teacher!
Maybe a weird take, but I like that these have kind of an impromptu vibe. Happy to hear about how the gardner is driving cars in the background while the sun is setting at the same time the smoke detector is going off after the maid vacuums.
So I've come to realize that the series has passed the level where it's of any potential benefit to me. It's humbling seeing how deep the understanding is. You explain it well, but it's just way above me here.
The Cambridge springs happens to be one of my own main lines, the main idea of playing c6 (usually after nbd7) is not just to unleash the queen but threaten a quick dxc4 followed by b5 to hang on to the pawn. E6 is usually played to defend c4. I don’t mean to criticize your chess, you are of course much stronger than I am, just some opening fun facts. awesome chess, keep up the great work!
Dammn 2000 are good at chess, not easy to take them down. I reached 2000 rapid a couple of months ago, now trying to get there in blitz, 100 point away I feel like these players are better than me, but I don't play this positions / structures, so maybe that explains it, also 2000 flat is my peak, I struggled to get there. Still amazed that you reached that point withouth defeat ! Keep it up ! That's getting more and more usefull to me!
I started off playing at the same time as the series started and made it to 1400 elo. Also my blitz chess is better from your other videos. Love these higher level games exposure. Chess is humbling all the time.
I don't know if opponent cheated or not. I'm low 1800 and I find the recent games facinating. I also don't think I am qualified to eye out covert cheaters. Blatant cheaters are easy to detect. Eric is spending time making the games educational, also going for concepts that are helpful to players at the rating his speedrun is at, so he doesn't necessarily play to his top strength. So merely saying there is no chance Eric would not win every game handily just because rating seems too simple to me.
Excellent idea to take the draw in the 2nd game! I think the indonesian guy played too good for only a 1926 player, especially against a 2700 IM. He might have been cheating or partially cheating like using the engine but not all the time, until he gets a good position.. the time difference was suprinsingly high in favour of him especially playing Eric, I really doubt he can play those good moves so fast
I got the feeling that your first opponent knew who you were and tried to repeat the position, hoping for a draw. The second game shows how well players at 2000 can hold their position together, but lacked a plan to play for a win towards the end.
Might be an idea to play 15 minutes or with increment or both so that you can explain these complex positions more easily without getting too low on time.
I have become quite strong using White but I am pretty bad playing as black, what is a good intermediate strategy equivalent to the Danish Gambit-Center Game approach that I use for white?
Against the Sicilian, you could try the smith-morra gambit, which leads to pleasant games (at the cost of one pawn) and generally theoretically sound positions, though usually you get less activity than in danish gambit style games.
@@sumtingwong5109 No I am good at the center game usually when I play as White, it’s when I play as Black that I don’t know what to do as an equivalent to the White center game style
Play the old Benoni, or ‘mirrored English’ it’s helped me get into some decent positions. Good activity, and even better piece synergy (placement wise)
Elephant Gambit is similar to the Center Game, but not that solid at all. Maybe just main line approach with e5? I used to play the Stafford, switched to Nc6 and saw good results. The funny thing about low elo is that people actually know the gambit lines better than the main lines 😂
Hi Eric. Would you consider making a video on how to play against the Pirc/Modern, along the lines of the one on the Caro. Against the Pirc, I've seen you play the aggressive Bf4 line to good effect. Also, I've seen you play the Nf3/Bc4 line against the Modern. What are the subtleties to think of when black doesn't play the usual move order, delaying Nf6 and playing say d6, g6, Bg7 and c6 in various orders? It's tricky stuff, of course, as black can also look to counter with say c5 or a6 and b5.
Extremely sus second game, opponent probs got some engine assistance throughout the game and might have made a few suboptimal moves here or there on purpose
Against the polish guy when the queen was getting boxed in a bishop sacrifice should've happened destroying the king side and giving your queen squares
Is it important to see whole board while playing My rating stuck in 1200 elo I solve daily puzzles and play games and analyse them still not improving how can I improve can you suggest me opening for white and black
when you evaluated the first game, you skipped over the last few moves, but the eval bar goes from around -1.5 to -5. it would be interesting to hear why that is, and what your opponent did wrong there, how could they have improved
Ok. So in that game vs setiawan. I was wondering. Instead of taking that bishop immediately wouldn’t. Be3 first be more interesting? Like it’s threatening to win the c pawn. And still holding onto the idea of taking the bishop. Interestingly enough I don’t think they can actually defend it? Pushing the pawn looks awkward and if they bring the queen they drop the bishop. There’s also a lot of pressure going on there I can easilt see a million ways the opponent could try to hold it and lose interesting
When he said "I just had a weird idea to play Ba8 and Nb7" I was like "That was my idea!!!" and then I really hoped he would play it to get rid of that pesky pawn. After a few bonus moves and calculating the defense for checkmate threat, he finally did it!
Why didn't you consider Be3 after that dangerous Qc6 by black? It wouldn't be a silver bullet, but you'd pin the knight on d5 and protect g2 with you queen simultaneously. I guess black wouldn't have to do anything and could just step their queen aside. Even so, the idea is kind of interesting to me
People are saying the last game is sus because the opponent took time with one legal move, but if I managed to turn a winning position into a draw, I might pause and start questioning my chess abilities
Second opponent definitely not using assistance there. 2000 putting Eric in time trouble but then taking 5 seconds each time to make the only legal move, seems legit.
Black’s bishop manoeuvre to g4 to suffocate the queen felt like a computer idea to me. I feel like he could have switched to computer assistance in the middle game. But who knows.
@@katelynssugarpuddin1587 He took pretty frequently all over the game, 4 to 5 seconds also to make the only plausible move (e.g., recapturing the pawn, and then the knight on d6). Also the curious repetition towards the end of the game was a bit odd. I don't know, I wouldn't state he's cheating with confidence, but it looked indeed a bit sketchy.
Eric did explain it. He vacated the b7 square for the knight so it could attack the pawn, which was won. There was no good way to protect it because all the squares the queen could protect it from were covered.
17:40 If you insist of playing Qe5 here, you could have first played h6 to kick out the bishop from retreating to d2. Also, its very understandable why your opponent wants a draw against a nearly 100 ranking higher player. Even a draw will mean the opponent will gain ranking points.
1900 draws an IM? Yeah, ok. Bro was picking and choosing moves to use an engine with. I've played against so many Indonesian cheaters with banned accounts now for the past few months, they have an unmistakable stench.
Actually, at their elos, a draw is not crazy. Most tables produce an estimate of about 7% for drawing between 1965 and Eric's rating. Not crazy, especially when you account for the amount of games he's playing in this series. It's bound to happen sooner or later.
@@Aaron-th7xx I'm 2100 rapid. An IM in a borderline losing position against a measly untitled 1900 is absurd. You people don't understand what it takes to become an IM. And Eric is an upper echelon IM.
@@heronymousbot5883 Anything can happen with a large enough sample size. Judith Polgar beat Magnus Carlsen after being retired for ages and having a peak rating wayyy below Magnus.
The last game the guy has a 3 year old account and seems hard stuck in the 1900s i dont think he is cheating he also went from a plus 1 position to a forced draw
Minor comment on the layout of these videos - not a fan of the large camera view and side-by-side arrangement as it pushes the board off to the right edge, forcing me to move the window to focus on the action. Otherwise, the content is dynamite.
13:27 “It’s clear that white doesn’t know what to do here just moving his queen back and forth.” No Eric. He was bringing his queen into the game and positioning it for an attack.
Why I continue to watch each episode of this series: your move-by-move commentary, your calm demeanor, your precise delivery, the depth of your knowledge, your wrap up of each game with the help of the engine, the visual set-up. All works to make this probably one of the very best series of its type. Great work, Eric.
I watch because Eric is the best looking Chess player after Rapport.
you put my latent feelings to words !
Positions are getting much more complex, with the center being tightly contested. It's getting more entertaining to watch. Congratulations to Wanwansetiawan27 for what might be the first legitimate non-win for Rosen. We shall see.
Not sure about that. Wanwansetiawan27 consistently took 3-5 seconds on every move whether it was a brilliancy or an obvious recapture. The game is suspicious to say the least.
@@skepleyits definitely about to be “Rating refund: 2” 😂
@@skepley Their account is 3 years old with 8000 games played. Their accuracy was 82%. Very unlikely they're a cheater.
@@kdawghomieyeah what cheater gives up the draw like that?
@@kdawghomieaccuracy means nothing
Awesome series, and the " I definately have to watch my time", never gets old.
Definitely*
@@patrickbates6679 And i definitely need to check my English.
Watching this series has helped me immensely in learning how to analyze positions and find good moves. I've since reached a 1500 Rapid rating and I have a very consistant accuracy of around 80-85% in my games. Thank you so much Eric! You're an awesome teacher!
I think I got addicted to your episodes please don't stop
You could go to betterhelp to help with your addiction.
This is simultaneously the slowest speedrun and the best
the best speed in chess is slow >:)
Maybe a weird take, but I like that these have kind of an impromptu vibe. Happy to hear about how the gardner is driving cars in the background while the sun is setting at the same time the smoke detector is going off after the maid vacuums.
honestly now that you've pointed it out i agree, has a warmth to it lol
Love the speed run
First draw of the speedrun. And the sun is setting.
Poetic.
as a poet that slipped my mind, nice catch!
Hands down has been the best chess series on youtube.
Cheers to all of us who have been with Eric since the first episode.
Great work! I'm a little under 1600 right now and seeing your thought process at a level +400 is super helpful. Shows me just about what I'm missing!
This series is so great - thanks for the updates!
So I've come to realize that the series has passed the level where it's of any potential benefit to me. It's humbling seeing how deep the understanding is. You explain it well, but it's just way above me here.
Wow!! That was one hell of a comeback victory. He won by a goatee!!
The Cambridge springs happens to be one of my own main lines, the main idea of playing c6 (usually after nbd7) is not just to unleash the queen but threaten a quick dxc4 followed by b5 to hang on to the pawn. E6 is usually played to defend c4. I don’t mean to criticize your chess, you are of course much stronger than I am, just some opening fun facts. awesome chess, keep up the great work!
Educational game...look forward to the next one!
I miss eric
Dammn 2000 are good at chess, not easy to take them down.
I reached 2000 rapid a couple of months ago, now trying to get there in blitz, 100 point away
I feel like these players are better than me, but I don't play this positions / structures, so maybe that explains it, also 2000 flat is my peak, I struggled to get there.
Still amazed that you reached that point withouth defeat ! Keep it up ! That's getting more and more usefull to me!
Brilliant first game.
Episode 61 pleeeeeasse
The last moves of the last game... Suspicious!
I'd never in a million years see that knight manoeuvre to attack the pawn 😂
I started off playing at the same time as the series started and made it to 1400 elo. Also my blitz chess is better from your other videos. Love these higher level games exposure. Chess is humbling all the time.
I don't know if opponent cheated or not. I'm low 1800 and I find the recent games facinating. I also don't think I am qualified to eye out covert cheaters. Blatant cheaters are easy to detect. Eric is spending time making the games educational, also going for concepts that are helpful to players at the rating his speedrun is at, so he doesn't necessarily play to his top strength. So merely saying there is no chance Eric would not win every game handily just because rating seems too simple to me.
Eric where are you???? Post more videos !!!! ❤
Great videos as always, thanks for the great content
Good luck in your upcoming tournament!
Fun games. Thank you Eric
i lose 100% of my games due to the knights.Any idea on how to counter them
„It‘s actually very tricky!“. I wish I had any clues of my opponent‘s plans. Seems never dangerous to me since .. I get mated 😂
Excellent idea to take the draw in the 2nd game! I think the indonesian guy played too good for only a 1926 player, especially against a 2700 IM. He might have been cheating or partially cheating like using the engine but not all the time, until he gets a good position.. the time difference was suprinsingly high in favour of him especially playing Eric, I really doubt he can play those good moves so fast
There isnt a single 2700 IM. Not even a 2500 IM.
I’m going to start watching now
Thank god the speed runs are back
I got the feeling that your first opponent knew who you were and tried to repeat the position, hoping for a draw. The second game shows how well players at 2000 can hold their position together, but lacked a plan to play for a win towards the end.
Great video!
Great second game quality content as always
When Eric has his game face on no one is safe!
Thanks Eric!
I wonder if he's waiting to see if the second opponent is identified as cheating before doing another speedrun episode
Eric, are you okay? Where are you? We miss you
Oh no I didn't finish to whatch episod 59 yet
Right haha
Why no uploads??
Might be an idea to play 15 minutes or with increment or both so that you can explain these complex positions more easily without getting too low on time.
I have become quite strong using White but I am pretty bad playing as black, what is a good intermediate strategy equivalent to the Danish Gambit-Center Game approach that I use for white?
Against the Sicilian, you could try the smith-morra gambit, which leads to pleasant games (at the cost of one pawn) and generally theoretically sound positions, though usually you get less activity than in danish gambit style games.
@@sumtingwong5109 No I am good at the center game usually when I play as White, it’s when I play as Black that I don’t know what to do as an equivalent to the White center game style
@@Good_gnatFrench is good and your opponents will hate you 😮. Takes a change in mindset, but maybe that is a good thing if you only play open games.
Play the old Benoni, or ‘mirrored English’ it’s helped me get into some decent positions. Good activity, and even better piece synergy (placement wise)
Elephant Gambit is similar to the Center Game, but not that solid at all. Maybe just main line approach with e5? I used to play the Stafford, switched to Nc6 and saw good results. The funny thing about low elo is that people actually know the gambit lines better than the main lines 😂
Oh no, my streak.
Hi Eric. Would you consider making a video on how to play against the Pirc/Modern, along the lines of the one on the Caro. Against the Pirc, I've seen you play the aggressive Bf4 line to good effect. Also, I've seen you play the Nf3/Bc4 line against the Modern. What are the subtleties to think of when black doesn't play the usual move order, delaying Nf6 and playing say d6, g6, Bg7 and c6 in various orders? It's tricky stuff, of course, as black can also look to counter with say c5 or a6 and b5.
Was that last game cheated? Why was he taking 5 seconds each move during the forced repetition?
To try and see if he can maybe stop the draw
It makes sense when you are the one playing
Extremely sus second game, opponent probs got some engine assistance throughout the game and might have made a few suboptimal moves here or there on purpose
Against the polish guy when the queen was getting boxed in a bishop sacrifice should've happened destroying the king side and giving your queen squares
He was from Indonesia.
Inshaperosen😮
Is it important to see whole board while playing
My rating stuck in 1200 elo I solve daily puzzles and play games and analyse them still not improving how can I improve can you suggest me opening for white and black
Welcome to Norway :)
when you evaluated the first game, you skipped over the last few moves, but the eval bar goes from around -1.5 to -5. it would be interesting to hear why that is, and what your opponent did wrong there, how could they have improved
Eric likes to unleash... 😅
Oh no my sleep schedule 😮
keep em comin
You're going to send me into withdrawls when you start this next tournament aren't you?
Ok. So in that game vs setiawan. I was wondering. Instead of taking that bishop immediately wouldn’t. Be3 first be more interesting?
Like it’s threatening to win the c pawn. And still holding onto the idea of taking the bishop.
Interestingly enough I don’t think they can actually defend it? Pushing the pawn looks awkward and if they bring the queen they drop the bishop.
There’s also a lot of pressure going on there I can easilt see a million ways the opponent could try to hold it and lose interesting
When he said "I just had a weird idea to play Ba8 and Nb7" I was like "That was my idea!!!" and then I really hoped he would play it to get rid of that pesky pawn. After a few bonus moves and calculating the defense for checkmate threat, he finally did it!
"Opponent is taking time" with 1 legal move in the position for 3 moves straight was very funny
Why didn't you consider Be3 after that dangerous Qc6 by black? It wouldn't be a silver bullet, but you'd pin the knight on d5 and protect g2 with you queen simultaneously. I guess black wouldn't have to do anything and could just step their queen aside. Even so, the idea is kind of interesting to me
People are saying the last game is sus because the opponent took time with one legal move, but if I managed to turn a winning position into a draw, I might pause and start questioning my chess abilities
Funniest title by far
Those 1950 guys are hungry, I tell you !
Second opponent definitely not using assistance there.
2000 putting Eric in time trouble but then taking 5 seconds each time to make the only legal move, seems legit.
If you go from a winning position to a draw the moving slower and realizing you're in a forced draw definitely could happen
Black’s bishop manoeuvre to g4 to suffocate the queen felt like a computer idea to me. I feel like he could have switched to computer assistance in the middle game. But who knows.
@@katelynssugarpuddin1587 He took pretty frequently all over the game, 4 to 5 seconds also to make the only plausible move (e.g., recapturing the pawn, and then the knight on d6). Also the curious repetition towards the end of the game was a bit odd. I don't know, I wouldn't state he's cheating with confidence, but it looked indeed a bit sketchy.
@davidemirante9405 I don't know his account doesn't look like a cheaters but I guess they will probably investigate it
GG
Zen master
Gotta love watching Eric play Stockfish.
wdym
Game 1: Opponent wants a draw. I want to win!
Game 2: I want a draw. Opponent wants to win! 😁
12:32 What the heck is Ba8? A waiting move? To create a battery that's easily blocked? Then what was Nb7 for? That's not a very good battery.
Eric did explain it. He vacated the b7 square for the knight so it could attack the pawn, which was won. There was no good way to protect it because all the squares the queen could protect it from were covered.
On a8 the bishop is more solidly defended than on b7, which is important as it opposes a bishop on g2.
chess is a draw should be the title
Wow! Got sweaty palms with the last game😅 so intense
17:40 If you insist of playing Qe5 here, you could have first played h6 to kick out the bishop from retreating to d2. Also, its very understandable why your opponent wants a draw against a nearly 100 ranking higher player. Even a draw will mean the opponent will gain ranking points.
So he does... bleed
❤️
and now you forgot a loss)
Rating refund: 2 😂
We’re at episode 60 and Eric still thinks this is a speed run lol
Honestly, i got a feeling we may hear about rating refund #2 soon...
Nah, Eric got a 1 point evaluation lead in the opening, and could survive for a long time. At 2000 they just play well sometimes
I was here
what happened to loss
That player got banned for cheating.
Last game very sus
Is *Speed Run* one word or two? _HMMM_
2004 gang
I wouldn’t be surprised if you were playing stockfish again for the last opponent. Nothing concrete but got the same vibe like the last cheater
1900 draws an IM? Yeah, ok. Bro was picking and choosing moves to use an engine with. I've played against so many Indonesian cheaters with banned accounts now for the past few months, they have an unmistakable stench.
Why would a cheater allow a draw in a winning position lol
Actually, at their elos, a draw is not crazy. Most tables produce an estimate of about 7% for drawing between 1965 and Eric's rating. Not crazy, especially when you account for the amount of games he's playing in this series. It's bound to happen sooner or later.
Tell us you haven't been watching the FIDE World Team Championship without telling us you haven't been watching the FIDE World Team Championship
@@Aaron-th7xx I'm 2100 rapid. An IM in a borderline losing position against a measly untitled 1900 is absurd. You people don't understand what it takes to become an IM. And Eric is an upper echelon IM.
@@heronymousbot5883 Anything can happen with a large enough sample size. Judith Polgar beat Magnus Carlsen after being retired for ages and having a peak rating wayyy below Magnus.
Cheaters 3 episodes in a row. This is the reality of life at 2000 ELO.
This “speedrun” started 10 months ago 😂
Yeah, it's really not a speedrun, more of a ladder climb.
That being said, if he got to master in 10 months, that WOULD be pretty fast lol
When is Rosen gonna become a GM???
The last game the guy has a 3 year old account and seems hard stuck in the 1900s i dont think he is cheating he also went from a plus 1 position to a forced draw
Minor comment on the layout of these videos - not a fan of the large camera view and side-by-side arrangement as it pushes the board off to the right edge, forcing me to move the window to focus on the action. Otherwise, the content is dynamite.
13:27 “It’s clear that white doesn’t know what to do here just moving his queen back and forth.”
No Eric. He was bringing his queen into the game and positioning it for an attack.
Remarkably few cheats detected so far.
I’ve faced 1 cheater in my rapid games I have 1000 games and I’m 1900 cc
@@KingPanda-lp5ir I've had at least a couple refunds and I'm rated well under 1000.
Makes sense that they are usually caught by the time their rating gets up there
@@Scrambledbrains3601nah, there's a lot of cheating coming up in next few episodes. there was a cheater in this one too
@@jovanvranes8038 He hasn't played any games since the end of this episode? And neither of the games in this episode featured a cheater.
Eric, I really hope you see this when you wake up. Farrrrrrt