I was very sceptical last week when I saw this channel. But in a couple of days I started to implement some of the ideas mentioned and beat most of my 1900 15/10 Lichess opponents. The main three thoughts circulating in my mind are: 1. Did I need to respond to my opponent move? 2. Which my "officer" (K,B,R,Q) don't contribute to the fight? 3. Is the move I plan is solid? Magically after a few moves like that in the middle game I find some good tactic to win material. And if I missed the tactics I still get a drawish pleasant end game. I still think that end games are very important to know because they are easy wins when you coming from a drawing middle game positions.
Thanks for your comment, means a lot. My video titles are a bit extreme as I want to educate as many people as possible with solid advice and free courses
@Pegasus-Chess HaHa -- We forgive your over-the-top titles. You are one of the most prolific, instructive, and enjoyable RUclips coaches out there. You deserve 100,000 subscribers, and then some! By my count, if you keep growing at this rate, you could reach that goal by the end of this calendar quarter! I'm a subscriber and a Patreon supporter. Please keep up the great work!
Love your videos!!! Been playing chess for 1 year now, and had to endure a lot of frustration, not being able to figure things out - especially in the middle game! Your approach of keeping the pawn structure, improving pieces and waiting for mistakes is proving to be very helpful. 2 Thoughts: 1. Would love a video about defending reckless attacks. I finde myself often being faced with opponents who play so aggressively...I finde myself responding to their moves instead of following my game plan... 2. Could you post some games against "real" opponents, not "bots" - I finde real people play very differently to AI thxs again for your great content!!!
Thanks! I am very good at defense, I'll see if I can make a video on that. I'm working on transitioning from bot games to playing against humans, but turning it into a good video has been challenging. Commentating during rapid games is particularly difficult. If it doesn't work out, I might shift to using my online games and focus on game reviews instead.
This is the first time I've seen a RUclipsr talk about the importance of the c pawn. If we consider that GM Ben Finegold says to never push F3/F6, if we are to control the centre using pawns, then we only have d, e and c pawns available. I've also worked out myself that same idea that if you develop the knight first you can't push your c pawn. Hence c pawn is often one of the first pawns I like to push, if it's not going to get taken. I did develop this idea through studying GM Oleksiyenko's Opening Compass Chessable. I am not sure whether he specifically notes the B1 knight reality though.
Your comments sharply affected my playing as a 550 ELO player. You provided a key to unlock the room I was stuck in. I’ve only been playing chess for 11 months at age 70 now. This game is really difficult to master and does provoke anger when blundering pieces. But I’m getting better. Tequila helps afterwords…
Your teaching is very useful. I subscribed to ur channel yesterday after watching one of your videos and i can already see improvement in my game today. I am beginner and already beat stockfish level 3 in lichess. Infact chess seems more enjoyable. Thankyou from India.
Thank you for revealing that chess for the beginner+ is not much about openings. It's depressing getting bogged down in opening theory and happiness to be liberated from the belief that opening theory must be learned. I saw how you sacrificed the promoted pawn to force en exchange of pieces. My natural instinct would be to try and keep the new queen but maybe that would be more complex than simply being two pieces up. BTW Is Karpov your inspiration? Did Karpov play like this?
I usually always go for the easiest variations even if it means sacrificing some material and having it take more moves before the game is completed. I Will have to think about who my chess Idol is 🤔
Hey Jonas! Cool video today. Although opening knowledge is helpful, as it helps you understand typical middlegame plans and ideas that arise from the opening, like the minority attack in a Carlsbad pawn structure or playing against a backward pawn on d4 in the advance variation of the Caro-Kann, it is not crucial to know it all. I agree with you on your thinking, and it is refreshing to see someone try to help regular chess players break out of this cycle of win in 10 moves with the London or crush your opponents with Jobava. I play 2 or 3 opening "systems" that allow me to simply understand middlegame plans and ideas. When implemented with your "optimize your pieces " strategy, when things become unclear in a complex middlegame, its a beacon of light in the night. If you can implement this strategy based on the imbalances, you're ceiling is high. Im battling against Miguel, Xavier and Olga.
I totally agree with you, I do this myself as well. I am prepared with a solid opening repertoire with opening systems and use the 'optimize your pieces' strategy. I am trying to break as many people out of the opening study obsession with my videos.
I mean playing against a bot and an actual player are two completely different things. The bot will always make some nonsensical moves which can be exploited.
But that honestly doesn't take anything away from the system. If you're already at a level, where your opponents don't make nonsensical moves at least once during a game, then you probably don't need to watch these videoes.
The same thing happen against humans, there is always a moment they break and play a bad move. And if they don't that means they are very strong and I am happy with a draw.
There feels like a difference with the bots. I can beat an 1800 bot. Once beaten a 2000 bot. Never beaten a player over 1900. Bot errors seem to look different, maybe it’s just me. Can you show more games against warm bodied players?😊
I'm working on transitioning from bot games to playing against humans, but turning it into a good video has been challenging. Commentating during rapid games is particularly difficult. If it doesn't work out, I might shift to using my online games and focus on game reviews instead.
Love the channel but I'm finding myself in a very distressing situation. I've been playing tournaments for some months and it's fun and cool. Bought a book on the catalan but it already starts with a million lines. My thing is: how to develop plans and strategy ? How to create weaknesses or spot them? I just want to play my beloved catalan/reti life but understanding plans since i my wins come via my slow play and some rival blunder. I just want to understand the game better. Thank you and love the channel.
Hi, @Jpizzakebob. My very humble advice: Don't think of your situation as "very distressing" -- instead, recognize that this is what chess improvement is all about! I share your desire to understand the game better. For me, I believe that less emphasis on opening theory and more emphasis on thought process (i.e., improving my pieces; carefully considering my opponent's last move; avoiding thoughtless blunders; etc.) is the way to improve understanding and, along with it, my rating and my enjoyment of the game. Here's to your improvement (and mine)!
@ibiwisi I get you 100% but is this there any método to understand better those things? It's hard to find. All I see is traps and that sort of things. I love Petrosian and would like to try in my humble way to learn to play 0,0001% like that but I can't find how....if you know anything I'd be thankful
Jonas' approach combines well with what GM Smirnov suggests. In the middlegame, you see if you can move a piece into your opponent's half of the board and attack a piece, pawn, or weak square. You usually do not have many pieces that can go that far forward or attack from range. As Jonas suggests, if you don't have any attacking moves, look to improve your pieces. Jacob Aagard has three similar questions (What is my worst piece? What are the weaknesses? Why did my opponent make that move?). He used to have a much longer list, but his students couldn't remember them, so he reduced it to these three. If Jonas, Igor Smirnov, and Aagard all came to similar conclusions about simplifying chess, then we can trust it. I miss winning moves and run into trouble when I don't follow this advice. Playing solid moves is hard for me because I like crazy tactical positions, exchange sacrifices, and gambit openings. Even then, this simplified approach works.
Thank you. Refreshing to have content on chess improving that focuses on how to play good chess, rather than on the moves of the new line of the Pteradactyl arrmpit Sicilian defence new opening variation that is the must play opening to memorise without understanding for today!? ;-)
👇 FREE Chess Courses and Community:
www.pegasuschess.com
Very good of You to address the comments. Touche'
10 vids in the last 9 days - I think I know what your New Years resolution was this year 😄
Trying to reach 100.000 subscribers this year, already gained 3000 in 8 days 😁
@@Pegasus-Chess Just subbed, thanks!
I was very sceptical last week when I saw this channel. But in a couple of days I started to implement some of the ideas mentioned and beat most of my 1900 15/10 Lichess opponents. The main three thoughts circulating in my mind are:
1. Did I need to respond to my opponent move?
2. Which my "officer" (K,B,R,Q) don't contribute to the fight?
3. Is the move I plan is solid?
Magically after a few moves like that in the middle game I find some good tactic to win material. And if I missed the tactics I still get a drawish pleasant end game.
I still think that end games are very important to know because they are easy wins when you coming from a drawing middle game positions.
Thanks for your comment, means a lot. My video titles are a bit extreme as I want to educate as many people as possible with solid advice and free courses
@Pegasus-Chess HaHa -- We forgive your over-the-top titles. You are one of the most prolific, instructive, and enjoyable RUclips coaches out there. You deserve 100,000 subscribers, and then some! By my count, if you keep growing at this rate, you could reach that goal by the end of this calendar quarter!
I'm a subscriber and a Patreon supporter. Please keep up the great work!
I am a lot lower rated than you, end very few of my games reach the end game...
Do a lot of puzzles... you'll easily reach 1700 mark@@asmbor
Nice video...simple chess is all you need 😊😊😊😊...thanks david
Love your videos!!! Been playing chess for 1 year now, and had to endure a lot of frustration, not being able to figure things out - especially in the middle game! Your approach of keeping the pawn structure, improving pieces and waiting for mistakes is proving to be very helpful.
2 Thoughts:
1. Would love a video about defending reckless attacks. I finde myself often being faced with opponents who play so aggressively...I finde myself responding to their moves instead of following my game plan...
2. Could you post some games against "real" opponents, not "bots" - I finde real people play very differently to AI
thxs again for your great content!!!
Thanks! I am very good at defense, I'll see if I can make a video on that. I'm working on transitioning from bot games to playing against humans, but turning it into a good video has been challenging. Commentating during rapid games is particularly difficult. If it doesn't work out, I might shift to using my online games and focus on game reviews instead.
I followed all your videos and lost 150 points in 3 days...
Please share your profile I'll have a look and see where you went wrong.
This is the first time I've seen a RUclipsr talk about the importance of the c pawn. If we consider that GM Ben Finegold says to never push F3/F6, if we are to control the centre using pawns, then we only have d, e and c pawns available.
I've also worked out myself that same idea that if you develop the knight first you can't push your c pawn. Hence c pawn is often one of the first pawns I like to push, if it's not going to get taken.
I did develop this idea through studying GM Oleksiyenko's Opening Compass Chessable. I am not sure whether he specifically notes the B1 knight reality though.
Thanks!
Thank you!!
Bro you are not a legend, but something inside you 👽📈
Thanks! Your Videos are so good, I just Defeated a 2200 player with 3 brilliant moves
Amazing!
Your videos are very helpful. I struggle to memorize the openings so words of advice are great.
I've been studying chess for 60 years. This is the most helpful approach I've seen in quite some time. Well done
Thank you!
Your comments sharply affected my playing as a 550 ELO player. You provided a key to unlock the room I was stuck in. I’ve only been playing chess for 11 months at age 70 now. This game is really difficult to master and does provoke anger when blundering pieces. But I’m getting better. Tequila helps afterwords…
I'm 53 and just really picking it up (after my lady beat me a dozen times). I'm in the 550s - low 600s.
Your teaching is very useful. I subscribed to ur channel yesterday after watching one of your videos and i can already see improvement in my game today. I am beginner and already beat stockfish level 3 in lichess. Infact chess seems more enjoyable. Thankyou from India.
Thank you for revealing that chess for the beginner+ is not much about openings. It's depressing getting bogged down in opening theory and happiness to be liberated from the belief that opening theory must be learned.
I saw how you sacrificed the promoted pawn to force en exchange of pieces. My natural instinct would be to try and keep the new queen but maybe that would be more complex than simply being two pieces up.
BTW Is Karpov your inspiration? Did Karpov play like this?
I usually always go for the easiest variations even if it means sacrificing some material and having it take more moves before the game is completed. I Will have to think about who my chess Idol is 🤔
Play 960! Also for beginners.
Openings matter.
Hey Jonas! Cool video today. Although opening knowledge is helpful, as it helps you understand typical middlegame plans and ideas that arise from the opening, like the minority attack in a Carlsbad pawn structure or playing against a backward pawn on d4 in the advance variation of the Caro-Kann, it is not crucial to know it all. I agree with you on your thinking, and it is refreshing to see someone try to help regular chess players break out of this cycle of win in 10 moves with the London or crush your opponents with Jobava. I play 2 or 3 opening "systems" that allow me to simply understand middlegame plans and ideas. When implemented with your "optimize your pieces " strategy, when things become unclear in a complex middlegame, its a beacon of light in the night. If you can implement this strategy based on the imbalances, you're ceiling is high. Im battling against Miguel, Xavier and Olga.
I totally agree with you, I do this myself as well. I am prepared with a solid opening repertoire with opening systems and use the 'optimize your pieces' strategy. I am trying to break as many people out of the opening study obsession with my videos.
Play 960!
Brooo hats off to your hard work ❤
Really ur videos are very informative!
Luv from India
Thank you 🙏
Very clear instructions! Great videos that im sure will bring more subscribers. Thank you
I always trust your videos to guide me, and they never disappoint.
I mean playing against a bot and an actual player are two completely different things. The bot will always make some nonsensical moves which can be exploited.
But that honestly doesn't take anything away from the system. If you're already at a level, where your opponents don't make nonsensical moves at least once during a game, then you probably don't need to watch these videoes.
The same thing happen against humans, there is always a moment they break and play a bad move. And if they don't that means they are very strong and I am happy with a draw.
Playing a bot regardless of what they do isn't like playing a person
Excellent. Really clear and helpful.
Can you play the old benoni?
Learning openings hurt my chess...I play the pirc lol
Over 10000 users now. Congrats🎉
Thank you 🙏
There feels like a difference with the bots. I can beat an 1800 bot. Once beaten a 2000 bot. Never beaten a player over 1900. Bot errors seem to look different, maybe it’s just me. Can you show more games against warm bodied players?😊
I'm working on transitioning from bot games to playing against humans, but turning it into a good video has been challenging. Commentating during rapid games is particularly difficult. If it doesn't work out, I might shift to using my online games and focus on game reviews instead.
Yeah you’re good. I’ve gone from 1231 or smth to 1279 today
That's great!
Love the channel but I'm finding myself in a very distressing situation. I've been playing tournaments for some months and it's fun and cool. Bought a book on the catalan but it already starts with a million lines. My thing is: how to develop plans and strategy ? How to create weaknesses or spot them? I just want to play my beloved catalan/reti life but understanding plans since i my wins come via my slow play and some rival blunder. I just want to understand the game better. Thank you and love the channel.
Hi, @Jpizzakebob. My very humble advice: Don't think of your situation as "very distressing" -- instead, recognize that this is what chess improvement is all about! I share your desire to understand the game better. For me, I believe that less emphasis on opening theory and more emphasis on thought process (i.e., improving my pieces; carefully considering my opponent's last move; avoiding thoughtless blunders; etc.) is the way to improve understanding and, along with it, my rating and my enjoyment of the game. Here's to your improvement (and mine)!
@ibiwisi I get you 100% but is this there any método to understand better those things? It's hard to find. All I see is traps and that sort of things. I love Petrosian and would like to try in my humble way to learn to play 0,0001% like that but I can't find how....if you know anything I'd be thankful
Jonas' approach combines well with what GM Smirnov suggests. In the middlegame, you see if you can move a piece into your opponent's half of the board and attack a piece, pawn, or weak square. You usually do not have many pieces that can go that far forward or attack from range. As Jonas suggests, if you don't have any attacking moves, look to improve your pieces. Jacob Aagard has three similar questions (What is my worst piece? What are the weaknesses? Why did my opponent make that move?). He used to have a much longer list, but his students couldn't remember them, so he reduced it to these three. If Jonas, Igor Smirnov, and Aagard all came to similar conclusions about simplifying chess, then we can trust it. I miss winning moves and run into trouble when I don't follow this advice. Playing solid moves is hard for me because I like crazy tactical positions, exchange sacrifices, and gambit openings. Even then, this simplified approach works.
Could you play mittens, that bot moves a lot of pawns and is unbeatable, I've never beaten it!
I haven't beaten it either haha
Thank you. Refreshing to have content on chess improving that focuses on how to play good chess, rather than on the moves of the new line of the Pteradactyl arrmpit Sicilian defence new opening variation that is the must play opening to memorise without understanding for today!? ;-)
Exactly haha
What time control you recomend 10 min or also increment
My favorite is 10+5, but chess.com has only very few players who use it.
@Pegasus-Chess yes i tried but it only matched me with lower rated players
I want to develop my understanding and chess skills 🎉❤
You are on the right path
Merci voor de videos, helpt echt
Graag gedaan 😉
Thank you ❤
Teacher
Just played two games in a row at 90% accuracy 🎉. Thanks for the reminder about just playing solid chess.
That's incredible!