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I have to say, great discussion of some extremely common situations I have largely been playing wrongly with the passive bishop over the years. Thank you.
► Chapters 00:00 How to deal with Bg5 pin on your knight? 00:30 Tactically & Strategically punishing the pin 01:04 1.1) Put your bishop to a more active square 01:48 1.2) Ne5 before Bxf7, checkmating the king 02:04 2) Attacking Bg5 pin before you castle 04:30 3.1) Hunting (trapping) the bishop that pins 05:47 3.2) If opponent creates an escape square for the bishop 06:32 4) Exploiting the absence of bishop on the queenside 08:50 GM Igor Smirnov's Chess Opening Bundle
I like this. I need to learn to be more aggressive. On the first example I normally plan pawn to H3 forcing a retreat or take of the knight. Great to add some more tactics to my toolbox. ty.
A bishop is a bit stronger than a knight. Such an exchange favors you, you'll obtain the positional advantage, and you don't have to worry about the pin anymore.
Yes because that knight is actually very dangerous at the beginning of the game as it can fork both queen and rook at the right position And new players don't know how to deal with it so they choose to trade Pretty dumb
I seem to get caught by these tactics pretty often. Sometimes I manage to win anyway but I have been on the losing side of them lots of times. Guess that’s just the way it goes when your a 500 ELO.
im 900 lose to it sometimes as well. especially if its way off the main lines. my main opening for white is queens london. my defense for black is caro kann and kings indian. keep on grinding mate!
This was one of the most useful chess videos I've seen on RUclips. Thank you for taking the time and trouble to post it. It really works. Best part is that it's perfect for our time as the Scandinavian is such a fad among players nowadays. (I personally never play it.)
Hi GM Igor Smirnov. I'm not sure trying to chase the Bg5 with h6 at 2:37 is particularly good advice for Black. Surely White won't allow his B to be caged as you show, and wouldn't have played Bg5 without intending to exchange, gain a tempo with Nd5 and use it to prepare d4 with c3. I think White gets a good game with that - ok, Black has the 2 bishops, but White has a good centre, and a soon to be safe King. So at 2:37 h6 doesn't punish White.
I learn a lot with your videos. I'm grateful for your channel. One of these days i saw one of your free chess lessons and i won 8 games straight. Thank you for this channel.
I am always learning so much from Igor Smirnov, not just because he just shares information, but because he always explains clearly in a soothing way 👍 It's easy to catch
1:09 Or alternatively black plays e6 after Bc4 and the position is even and both sides play on. These are nice tactics that might catch 1200s and the occasional 1400 who isn’t paying attention, so I think that it’s key to know your opponent and their relative skill level, and while simple tactics like these are helpful to know, they generally don’t see actual play at more competitive levels.
Maybe it’s because I’m not part of the target audience, but the moves that he suggests are obvious moves or at least common ideas that I already know. The supporting lines also depend too heavily on the opponent making a mistake. I think he should talk more about more general ideas which helps you in a maneuvering game that can be explained through the moves, rather than giving lines that can be avoided.
Perhaps you're a more advanced level player. I usually show the most common variations on beginner-intermediate level which applies to the majority of players.
So far, I have been alright in playing Bg4 in Scandinavian. Two succesive wins using Scandi led my rating get to 1500 from 1400 low for the 1st time in a popular chess website.
Very useful stuff. I usually play the passive White Be2 at 1:10 as well and haven't considered Bc4. Though what happens if Black plays e6 and continues the pin? Would 0-0 then make sense?
Let's be real Gotham might have made chess kick back again in 2024 but this youtube channel makes you learn about chess more than any youtube channel can do.
At low levels the best thing to do is usually ignore it and recapture with the queen if they decide to take. If you allow further attacks against that knight or move the queen away, you'd face issues with this idea though.
where do I start watching your videos? I prefer your tactics over gotham but both are good in their own ways. I just like your more directness and aggression on the play.
This is very helpful I’ve bought a Gambit Tournament Chess Set to help my nephews Autistic stepson who hasn’t spoken for 3yrs I know that Chess is a good method in activating parts of the Brain to help certain neural areas hopefully teach them to think and speak
0:40 in. So I tend to Rook Pawn to H2 here. Because if he takes my Knight I have the option of G Pawn capture or Queen Capture, and having the Queen open to 2 Diags can be something you don't want to face early. So if he pins the Knight, by all means... let's trade. Especially since, generally, late game Bishops carry more value... so if I can trade 3 Points for 3.25 Points... as long as I'm good without Knights, that's advantage me. So now that my two options are given, which are probably horrible since I'm in that 800-900 ELO Range... let's see what this smart man has to teach me. :D
Great lesson, great help. I need an explanation tho, on 3:31 (Attacking Bg5 pin before you castle) you only explain a pawn H4 response for white; but not pawn H3 to counter attack the forking Bishop. how would one proceed?
Igor - thank you for the great videos - quick question, what happens at 3:33 mark if white pawn goes from H2 to H3 instead of H4? - please let me know your thoughts - Thank you once again.
Hello, Please note: at 6:04 my opponent (black) would not have moved pawn to e3 after my knight (white) moves to e4 hunting bishop (black) at g3. My opponent would move bishop (black) to e5 attacking rook (white) at h1. I’ve played this game out 3 times (black) wins. Would like to see your version played out with this bishop (black) aggression. Thank you for providing helpful videos ♟
The notation you wrote makes no sense. Blacks move at 6:02 was e6, not e3. The white knight moved to e5, not e4, and blacks bishop is on g6, not g3. Moreover, if black moves their bishop to e4, not e5, because that's impossible (hitting the rook on h1) just play f3 because the Queen protects it. Black is forced to move back to g6 and then you continue with his idea of advancing the h pawn for white. If black ever moves his h pawn, then capture the bishop with your knight and black captures back with the f pawn which is terrible for black.
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Great video! Thank you. Your lessons look very appealing. I find I spend more time on defense than I do on offense- is this typical of novice players? At a high level like yourself, do you feel your victories are more offense or defense? I have much more fun when being aggressive, but I win more often when being defensive, unless playing a less skilled player. Is primarily playing defense a sign of a bad player? I sadly feel it might be. Lastly, is pattern chess boring to you? I find I play dumb openings sometimes just to break their patterns- which yields a more interesting game for me, but usually also leads to less victories. Have you ever chosen odd positions for fun over patterns for success? Perhaps at your level it's more about success than fun. Is success the only thing that brings satisfaction at your level since you've likely seen it all before?
@4:43 what happens if the opponent likes trading bishops for knights? you attempt to kick the bishop with a pawn, but he trades material bishop for knight on f3?
most times people with low elo take the knight just to mess up youre pawn structure and to capture knights becose they are the most hard to deal with if you are low elo.
after ...g5 a good attempt to mcx it up is Nxg5 hxg5 then Bxg5 and the knight pin can be annoying,as well as the king being stuck in the centre. Black is forced to play ...Be6 then white plays h4.
U missed out same tactics for white at 3:18 .instead of casting white coud take the pawn and once King takes bishop .white delivers check with bishop and takes the black bishop with knight
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sorry gi5439---------------
GM Igor i did what you said in this video and made a good improvement in my opening games!!!!!!!!
I have to say, great discussion of some extremely common situations I have largely been playing wrongly with the passive bishop over the years. Thank you.
I'm delighted to know it was helpful!
Me too!
Same here!! Great vid!
Basically the most beneficial chess content creator in youtube
I think you are not seeing other chanals
@@dileepmv7438 yeah
I recommend xklam64
You're not checking out other chess channels
@@ScandalousStars what
► Chapters
00:00 How to deal with Bg5 pin on your knight?
00:30 Tactically & Strategically punishing the pin
01:04 1.1) Put your bishop to a more active square
01:48 1.2) Ne5 before Bxf7, checkmating the king
02:04 2) Attacking Bg5 pin before you castle
04:30 3.1) Hunting (trapping) the bishop that pins
05:47 3.2) If opponent creates an escape square for the bishop
06:32 4) Exploiting the absence of bishop on the queenside
08:50 GM Igor Smirnov's Chess Opening Bundle
Id just push h pawn to force the bishop away
W youtuber
Change to Bg4 instead of Bg5
how do you move your pawns
I love that you get straight to the point in the most simplistic way. Thank you!
🙏
I like this. I need to learn to be more aggressive. On the first example I normally plan pawn to H3 forcing a retreat or take of the knight. Great to add some more tactics to my toolbox. ty.
Usually they just take horsey
Bad
A bishop is a bit stronger than a knight. Such an exchange favors you, you'll obtain the positional advantage, and you don't have to worry about the pin anymore.
Yes because that knight is actually very dangerous at the beginning of the game as it can fork both queen and rook at the right position
And new players don't know how to deal with it so they choose to trade
Pretty dumb
@@sarat8124 A knight cant pin...?
@@sarat8124 Cant tell if ure serious or not with all the 800s in the comment section
I seem to get caught by these tactics pretty often. Sometimes I manage to win anyway but I have been on the losing side of them lots of times. Guess that’s just the way it goes when your a 500 ELO.
im 900 lose to it sometimes as well. especially if its way off the main lines. my main opening for white is queens london. my defense for black is caro kann and kings indian. keep on grinding mate!
@@remangelobasadre1430 Thanks for the encouragement, I will indeed.
All I can say this was an eye opener I hate when my knights get pinned by bishops he makes it look so smooth to get out of that
I'm 1000 happens to me aswell sometimes.
@@Faceless21-4K I hope to make to 1000 eventually but it’s going to take awhile. I don’t seem to have much talent for this game.
This was one of the most useful chess videos I've seen on RUclips. Thank you for taking the time and trouble to post it. It really works. Best part is that it's perfect for our time as the Scandinavian is such a fad among players nowadays. (I personally never play it.)
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for the video, this situation happens frequently during my games. Glad to have a more agressive way to respond to this.
Indeed, it's extremelly common. But now you know how to take advantage of that 💪
Hi GM Igor Smirnov. I'm not sure trying to chase the Bg5 with h6 at 2:37 is particularly good advice for Black. Surely White won't allow his B to be caged as you show, and wouldn't have played Bg5 without intending to exchange, gain a tempo with Nd5 and use it to prepare d4 with c3. I think White gets a good game with that - ok, Black has the 2 bishops, but White has a good centre, and a soon to be safe King. So at 2:37 h6 doesn't punish White.
excellent ideas
You are the best in chess I've ever seen on RUclips
Thank you for this
I learn a lot with your videos. I'm grateful for your channel. One of these days i saw one of your free chess lessons and i won 8 games straight. Thank you for this channel.
I am always learning so much from Igor Smirnov, not just because he just shares information, but because he always explains clearly in a soothing way 👍 It's easy to catch
I'm happy to help 🙏
Thank you very much, that's a very useful and interesting topic
3:32 What if white plays h3 instead? Should white play Bxf3 followed by g4?
There's a typical (and strong) counterblow by Black - push your pawn to h4.
Great video. I find this kind of video much more useful for me, than most other chess videos I watch.
Glad to hear it!
Lovely! Wish your courses were a little more affordable! But for a casual player I think all the stuff you demo is really more than sufficient!
This guy is joining my list of favorite chess RUclipsrs, along with Eric Rosen, Levy Rozman, Nelson Lopez, and Hikaru Nakamura.
The best is B. Finegold. The truth hurts.
Great video! Sometimes h3 g4 looks dangerous to me, but you explained very well how I can use this to my advantage
I love these positional and strategic videos! I can never remember tactical traps, but strategic ideas are really helpful for me.
I tried your every traps in game.....and it helps me lots.... thanks 🙏🙏🙏
💪
1:09 Or alternatively black plays e6 after Bc4 and the position is even and both sides play on. These are nice tactics that might catch 1200s and the occasional 1400 who isn’t paying attention, so I think that it’s key to know your opponent and their relative skill level, and while simple tactics like these are helpful to know, they generally don’t see actual play at more competitive levels.
This is a GM giving advice, just take it
Instead of playing Nf6, Black Plays Nc6 after White Plays Bc4. What will be the result?
At 3:30, what if the pawn moves on h3 instead of h4, how do you then proceed?
Yh i was wondering
Move your h pawn up to h4
Great video. Thank you!
Maybe it’s because I’m not part of the target audience, but the moves that he suggests are obvious moves or at least common ideas that I already know. The supporting lines also depend too heavily on the opponent making a mistake. I think he should talk more about more general ideas which helps you in a maneuvering game that can be explained through the moves, rather than giving lines that can be avoided.
Perhaps you're a more advanced level player. I usually show the most common variations on beginner-intermediate level which applies to the majority of players.
So far, I have been alright in playing Bg4 in Scandinavian. Two succesive wins using Scandi led my rating get to 1500 from 1400 low for the 1st time in a popular chess website.
Inarguably the best chess channel in RUclips !!
Thanks a lot. I always suffered with this. Now I can play without fear.
🙏
You don't know how much I needed this... Thank you very much for this video!
Very useful stuff. I usually play the passive White Be2 at 1:10 as well and haven't considered Bc4. Though what happens if Black plays e6 and continues the pin? Would 0-0 then make sense?
If you castle with black bishop in E6, you lose your C4 Bishop...
The best youtube chess channel thank you
🙏
Always clear explanation and practical advice. Definitely the best chess teacher on the Internet.
3:33 White can also do Nxg5 followed by Nxf7 and fork the rook and the queen after taking two pawn king-side...
And give the queen for a rook?? Maybe white is NOT a WEAK BEGINNER!!!
Let's be real Gotham might have made chess kick back again in 2024 but this youtube channel makes you learn about chess more than any youtube channel can do.
At low levels the best thing to do is usually ignore it and recapture with the queen if they decide to take. If you allow further attacks against that knight or move the queen away, you'd face issues with this idea though.
where do I start watching your videos? I prefer your tactics over gotham but both are good in their own ways. I just like your more directness and aggression on the play.
How about you have already castle?If you try to counterattack the bishop , it may make your king weaker
Very useful video thanks man.
The last part works great with London system
At 8.02 you analyse black's response to e4 being either pxp or Bxp. If Nxp then Qxp winning a piece or ++
I hope to watch more of your chess combinations. They are fantastic to watch.
thank you!
thanks for the video
these videos really help
Thank you Igor.
This is very helpful I’ve bought a Gambit Tournament Chess Set to help my nephews Autistic stepson who hasn’t spoken for 3yrs I know that Chess is a good method in activating parts of the Brain to help certain neural areas hopefully teach them to think and speak
Incredible video - so much information in such a concise format. Plenty of positions to run through while studying and practicing - thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@GMIgorSmirnov glad you grobbed it!
Thank you so much for the lesson
Ne5 exposing your queen! I’m definitely going to try it. Thanks!
I really like the content you are making. Something to take away for any players of Class levels, I feel.
I accidentally understood that pushing the pawns before castling is actually a great idea.
Thanks Igor!
Super Videos 👍 👍 👍
Igor, i need a video on how to destroy all these early Queen bullies.
Could you make one please ?
Excellent tutorial
I'm glad it was helpful.
Oh, I couldn't need this video more. Thanks! Looking forward to punishing those annoying pins!
Glad to help!
this is so extremely common in the 1200 range im hard stuck in. Thanks for this useful tips man!
0:40 in. So I tend to Rook Pawn to H2 here. Because if he takes my Knight I have the option of G Pawn capture or Queen Capture, and having the Queen open to 2 Diags can be something you don't want to face early. So if he pins the Knight, by all means... let's trade. Especially since, generally, late game Bishops carry more value... so if I can trade 3 Points for 3.25 Points... as long as I'm good without Knights, that's advantage me.
So now that my two options are given, which are probably horrible since I'm in that 800-900 ELO Range... let's see what this smart man has to teach me. :D
Great lesson, great help. I need an explanation tho, on 3:31 (Attacking Bg5 pin before you castle) you only explain a pawn H4 response for white; but not pawn H3 to counter attack the forking Bishop. how would one proceed?
I definitely needed this one
Igor - thank you for the great videos - quick question, what happens at 3:33 mark if white pawn goes from H2 to H3 instead of H4? - please let me know your thoughts - Thank you once again.
How to deal when your opponent keeps pushing all the pawns forward? I'd like to see video. Thanks
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll consider it for future videos.
Amazing stuff 2000 lets go!
Hello,
Please note: at 6:04 my opponent (black) would not have moved pawn to e3 after my knight (white) moves to e4 hunting bishop (black) at g3.
My opponent would move bishop (black) to e5 attacking rook (white) at h1.
I’ve played this game out 3 times (black) wins.
Would like to see your version played out with this bishop (black) aggression.
Thank you for providing helpful videos ♟
The notation you wrote makes no sense. Blacks move at 6:02 was e6, not e3. The white knight moved to e5, not e4, and blacks bishop is on g6, not g3. Moreover, if black moves their bishop to e4, not e5, because that's impossible (hitting the rook on h1) just play f3 because the Queen protects it. Black is forced to move back to g6 and then you continue with his idea of advancing the h pawn for white. If black ever moves his h pawn, then capture the bishop with your knight and black captures back with the f pawn which is terrible for black.
Very helpful!
Very cool video!
1:48 oh no, my queen!
This tut is extremely helpful and well-prepared. Had to watch it again to grasp all the information in it. Thank you!
You're welcome!
This help me a lot
3:20 what prevents white from capturing g5 with the knight, then threatening f7 for a fork that's covered by the bishop on c5?
The knight is pinned down to White's queen. If the knight moves, Black can capture the queen (Bxd1).
Does this work in a Queens Gamibit declined type of opening as well?
VERY useful.
Igor, do you have something on the London?
Great video. At 7:00 what if they move the knight out instead of the pawn so the queen protects the rook
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*nice video*
@@captjuanco5766 I
Instead of playing Nf6, Black Plays Nc6 after White Plays Bc4. What will be the result?
Thanks
u have good teaching pace and form
My opponent or myself use this tactic a lot so this is very informative
👌
Thanks!
Very good video!
6:57 isn't c3 better than c4 here if we want Qb3 on the next move? What if black plays dxc4 preventing Qb3?
At 6:22 that is a disadvantage f8 bishop can check your king.
Great video! Thank you. Your lessons look very appealing. I find I spend more time on defense than I do on offense- is this typical of novice players? At a high level like yourself, do you feel your victories are more offense or defense? I have much more fun when being aggressive, but I win more often when being defensive, unless playing a less skilled player. Is primarily playing defense a sign of a bad player? I sadly feel it might be. Lastly, is pattern chess boring to you? I find I play dumb openings sometimes just to break their patterns- which yields a more interesting game for me, but usually also leads to less victories. Have you ever chosen odd positions for fun over patterns for success? Perhaps at your level it's more about success than fun. Is success the only thing that brings satisfaction at your level since you've likely seen it all before?
This teacher is so underated. Good work!
Thank you! 😃
2:00 I love that queen sacrifice CM. They will think they won the game and then BAM
Is it still a mistake if the B on g5 is just used to exchange with the knight it is pinning, creating a double pawn?
What great tips! Thank you for sharing!
Good, thanks
Thanks for the great ideas! I have been playing this wrong getting frustrated for too long.
Gaah! It's so much to remember 😅 I like your content of different approaches 🤘
Helpful!
@4:43 what happens if the opponent likes trading bishops for knights? you attempt to kick the bishop with a pawn, but he trades material bishop for knight on f3?
Excellent explanation
Glad you liked it
But what if black develops the other knight (minute 1:25), won't White be unable the move the knight and fork the king?
5:57 bishop will capture the knight. You can fool a kid, not me.
most times people with low elo take the knight just to mess up youre pawn structure and to capture knights becose they are the most hard to deal with if you are low elo.
after ...g5 a good attempt to mcx it up is Nxg5 hxg5 then Bxg5 and the knight pin can be annoying,as well as the king being stuck in the centre. Black is forced to play ...Be6 then white plays h4.
@3:30 Can white not just take the pawn on g5 with the knight, with the idea to jump into f7 and fork the queen and rook?
The knight is pinned down to White's queen. If the knight moves, Black can capture the queen (Bxd1).
2:43 knight to g5
Thank you
Thank you Coach Smirnov
You're most welcome
U missed out same tactics for white at 3:18 .instead of casting white coud take the pawn and once King takes bishop .white delivers check with bishop and takes the black bishop with knight