Wrestling with a Hippopotamus | Climbing the Rating Ladder vs. 2008
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- Опубликовано: 5 мар 2023
- In this continuation of the "Climbing the Rating Ladder" series I take on players of various ratings levels while pointing out typical mistakes and spots for improvement along the way (possibly my own!? :)). Here I commentate a 10+0 game against a player rated 2008 on Chess.com. In a game that starts life as a Nimzo-Larsen Attack (1.b3) and evolves into the Hippopotamus Defense (a flexible setup that's mainly characterized by keeping pawns back on the third/sixth ranks), I grab ample space and prepare a pawn break. This setup can be frustrating to face with either color, so remember to prepare a pawn break (usually somewhere along the c to f-file) and aim for two points of contact!
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Игры
I find myself coming to youtube hoping for a new John video. Wasn't disappointed. Thanks so much John for all you provide for the community.
It's been a month since the last post. I'm sure we're all checking back often. 😢
@@MikeDIY I sure have been!
Yes, me too..he is the best teacher in my opinion.
so… I took one for the team and created a twitch account. For all my fellow RUclipsrs, I'm sad to report that John has suffered a voice injury. He is currently awaiting to see some doctors/experts about how to improve the situation and I think things are getting better, but he still is posting some twitch streams with classical music instead of describing his moves in what he's thinking. like everybody else I'm hoping he has a speedy recovery and looking forward to his future videos. 🙏
This was a great video. It can feel really difficult to handle someone who plays so passively and solid like white here, so it was instructive to see how patiently you built an advantage.
"You cannot defeat me! I use the Hippo!" "OK, then I will use the Advanced Hippo!" "There is no such thing!" [Fins constructing a hippo structure and advancing it]
No reason to apologize indeed! This was a highly instructive, solid game. No major mistakes seemingly, just a slow positional battle. Loved your patience and the explanations behind it.
Jhon - Thank you sir. You are the reason I fell in love with Chess and have 'Climbed up the ladder'. The best chess tutor.
Hey John - you used to be my tutor briefly a few years back now. A lot has changed since then, but I just wanted to say how nice it is to see you back on RUclips making such great content. Keep it up, great to have you back!
Just reached 1100 and I owe it to you John! Here’s to continuing to climb the rating ladder! Thank you for the instructional content!!
He's gotten me to 1900 love him💯😎 great dedicated teacher
RESPECT!
Thank you for sharing your ideas instead of just moving, it makes it much easier to remember concepts
Been watching my notifications for this! Thanks, John!! Love this series
Speedy recovery John and thanks for all the work you've put into teaching us to be better at chess. Eagerly awaiting your healthy return. :)
That's the tricky thing with these unambitious setups: the natural inclination is to try to attack fast to "punish" the bad opening, but with the position so closed you have to build up your advantage slowly and win a positional game. Nice work!
huh, that's super insightful thank you
John, I really enjoy your videos, they are very helpful and you explain everything very well for beginners like myself. Thanks, I have watched lots of your videos (especially the "Fundamentals"-Series is superb for beginners like me.)
You do a really good job of explaining your thoughts. Very helpful. Keep up the good work!
Cheers - thank you!
Just got released from hospital today after spending a week in there having my gall bladder removed. Spent a lot of time catching up on old vids of yours that I missed, a small slice of life at home while surrounded by beeping IV machines and getting poked with needles every 4 hours. My sincerest thanks for all the content John, it helped a lot :)
Wishing you a speedy and smooth recovery!
Always good to see another video! 👍🏻 good stuff
Rumour has it that the ~2 week break is due to Ben Finegold taking John hostage for playing f6
😂
I love how you explain your thought pattern John! Very helpful and instructive. And I love you too :)
Thank you, Billy! By the way, you're one of my earliest subscribers - 8 years according to RUclips! 😀
@@JohnBartholomewChess Amazing! Definitely picked up a lot along the way. Thanks ;)
thank you for this wonderful content, I am so glad it is on a regular basis
Hey john, i've been watching your videos for 6-7 years. Always a good content, i know nowadays there are youtubers who scream in every video just to make it more fun, but i enjoy calmness a bit more. In this 6-7 years i went from 1000 to 2000, which is not bad for a non-pro player
Hey man, I really appreciate your kind words and long-term viewership! We're going to keep the calm, instructional content rolling around here :) Congratulations on your progress, by the way - that is a steady upwards climb indeed 👍
Appreciate you John :)
Man, that was a brutal positional beatdown by John.
Talking through all the positional pawn play is really helpful. It seems like at some point there are like 7 possible pawn breaks! This was a really instructional and interesting game. Thanks John!
Thanks john for teaching us
Love these longer games. I really like the in-game thinking followed by the after-game analysis. There's so much to learn from games against 2000+ rated players. Looking forward to the next one.
The hair/beard game in this one is on point
You and Daniel N explain chess in a way nobody else can. For me at least. Thanks as always for these.
Very much appreciate this
Came to see a man wrestle a fierce water beast, stayed for the thoughtful chess instruction
😂
There’s no better chess teacher than John. Love your videos!
Very instructive game! Thanks John :)
As someone who watches content from a ton of chess personalities I've been watching the Chessbrah's hippo ladder climb and I love this video to see how to handle it from the other side.
As a beginner/intermediate player I appreciate calling out simple improving moves. You got yourself a sub Sir! 🙏🏻
Much appreciated!!
@@JohnBartholomewChess ❤️
Woohoo. John is back. The pioneer of chess speedrun. I enjoy your series a lot!
I miss the rapid fire production of videos from recent! Hope to see some new content soon. Really appreciate the great work you do!
Thank you for watching! I've been having voice issues recently, so I'm taking my time come back. Hopefully I'll be 100% and producing new content again soon.
Love your analysis here. Thank you!
Much appreciated!
Hi John, I really enjoyed your explanation of the Hippo at 19:32. You mentioned Black should be flexible, look into pawn expansion by putting several pawns on the 5th rank, and finding a point of contact attacking two things at once with a move like 15...e4.
I first faced the hippo probably when I started playing online, and I never had someone titled explain what to do against it, so this video helps a lot. Thanks, John! Have a good day
Hippo structures are a pain to play against for me because I feel like my opponent is "doing nothing" and I must have a forcing win somehow by opening lines and sacrificing. This was super instructive! Patience is key!
two points of contact is your term for sure. you taught me that.
🙏
Cool and calculated,nice one john...
Really nice game and follow up John.
Thank you!
i would never have played move f6 to shut down that bishop and a well timed a4 to shut-down the queenside.. very instructive game
Great video as usual.
"Don't wrestle with a hippo. Fight it, using your clock as a weapon."
- John Bartholomew, 2023
Would love to see John against the Chess Giant's hippo. Was hoping for the Hippo player!
I miss John. Was so excited for his content early this year. I hope he's doing okay.
Thanks, Adam! I'm gradually getting better - appreciate your concern
Great video as always. I am always looking for videos in which you explain your moves. I already watched a lot of those videos :) thanks John.....Btw I just realised I already watched this one since I commented on this vid 4 months ago :)))
Hey guys, this is just another guy saying hi!
So interesting - I often come up short against these systems, as I invariably try to 'punish' the opponent's passive play too quicky and find I don't have such a great attack after all. This method shows that, while White has given himself various weaknesses, slow, patient play is still required, while above all always being aware of White's dangerous ideas. I thought f6 in particular was very instructive in this respect.
I love playing the hippo, so this was really instructional :)
Thanks! You Hippo players are crafty!
Great content as always John! That mate in the end, as a practitioner of the "Checkmates pattern manual", is kill box mate (as you touched on) and not triangle mate where the king and rook are on the same file or row. Killbox mate is my favorite checkmate pattern. Nice ending! 🎉
*Queen and rook on the same file or row I mean.
Damn John is getting regular!!!❤
nice game John 😀😀
Successfully getting a correctly timed pawn break in the center against a Hippo setup is an advantageous strategy to aim for. Else, building up an attack on the flank aided by your own strong central control is another good plan.
Great video! I really want to play a game with you!
The hippo is the new stafford gambit. So many of my opponents have been playing it recently. So curious how youtubers influence chess trends.
I think the first time I ever remember seeing the Hippopotamus was when Hikaru Nakamura used it to beat Stockfish, then Levy Rozman tried it and it worked. I think the strategy was more or less to sit behind it till Stockfish, tired of the locked position, tried breaking through and in doing so, developed a weakness.
yeah, it's the perfect opening to fight engines and cheaters
Lol, the Hippo does not beat Stockfish even if Hikaru is playing; it beats cheaters using stockifish in low time control games like 3 min Blitz. Even a 5min is risky. Cheater end up loosing on time not by the strength of the Hippo per se.
@@platonfoucault1087 Oh, I watched them do it and explain the ideas as they went through, although I don't remember the time control, and I don't know how often it might not have worked. They didn't mention that.
and i absolutely love the title
I like the Minnesota United shirt. You ever been to a game? Great video btw 👍
"I'm not married to the plan of f5" -- Bachelor JB keeping his options open, waiting for the right plan to come into his life lol
😅
Seeing Qd4 preventing Knight C5 requires a good eye, I do not think I would have seen it! I do not think my 1850ish opponent either lol
Your videos are so sick I’ve been binging these. Start up a new speedrun series
Thank you!! I'll be making more of these vids in the future. Appreciate you watching.
It is could you can speed up when you need to....like in this game. Thanks John. Hope you have time to do some more stuff soon.
Hi John, long time you introduced me to chess, hehehe kindly do a Rating ladder playing the hippo exclusively like Eric Hansen, I kind of understand your explanations and lessons better and this would be an invaluable set of videos as there is not much in terms of good hippo tutorials out in these corridors of youtube, the only tutorials available are ones you have to part with an arm and a leg for, thanks :) keep up the Good Work.
Greatly appreciate that feedback! You know, the Hippo is fascinating to me; I don't play it too often, but I'd love to make more content on it. You might have it already, by the way, but GM Tiger Hillarp Persson's book "Tiger's Modern" is the best resource I've seen on this opening.
Thanks again - from one John to another! 😊
opponent didnt make best moves but, that was clinical on your part to capitalize.. damn
White's pattern of play I've always called "Troll chess" or "Shit chess" because when players ignore opening principles like this a win feels hollow and a loss feels far worse than normal.
Come back, John!
Been dealing with some voice issues, but I'm trying to come back soon! :D
I may be wrong, but I think you might be better analyzing games with lichess as the engines they have there are stronger. Good video as always
I watch John at 50-75% speed.
I wonder if that was Eric H. Didn’t he just do a hippo speed run?
Total CLICKBAIT, no hippopotamus shown in this video!!
jk, thanks for another instructional video John!
Dang that was JB Smoove
I like your comment about Hippo players really understanding pawn breaks well. Do you think it could have instructive value to dabble in this opening just to improve that aspect of my game? Or is it better to study it in more structures like those I tend to get in my repertoire?
As an extremely high rated (1000) player I'd say keep looking into those positions in your repertoire for now. Did you end up playing some hippo?
👍😄 greetings from argentina
Thank you for watching!
GG I am always fascinated with how masters can play so calmly and rationally with virtually no time
Hey John, i was watching santa clarita diet the other day and realised you look exactly like joel mchale..
Where are you John 😭 I miss you
I feel like the compression on your mic might be too high. The audio cuts out too quickly in between words/sentences
Nice surgical procedure.
gg
John - would you consider making an in-depth series about opening lines? I'm a beginner and I'm struggling with these - they have such a big part in the outcome of matches and I'm finding it difficult to understand the bigger picture when I read about opening lines. I find that books and other RUclipsrs are unable to really articulate the overall plans and aims of a certain line and when to play them (for example). Seeing them in action with yourself would really help me and other beginners get an understanding of the intricacies of chess 🙏 here's hoping
There's a ton of good opening videos out there. It's true that John is better than most at explaining things but still, it's not a wasteland out there.
I know it's fun to learn openings, but you should note that you can definitely reach about 1500 without learning openings at all. You simply should understand a few major principles (castle early, usually kingside, develop your pieces, especially knights > bishops > queen, connect your rooks on the back rank, fight for control of the 4th and 5th ranks with your pawns)
If you aren't getting terrible lost positions by move 10, I wouldn't really worry about the opening, it's a very inefficient use of your time
@@diggitus cool, do you have any recommendations?
@@jonjones1569 Just search by opening. Commit to an opening, pick a variation and search for whatever's out there on youtube. I guarantee there will be a lot!
@@DeathEaterLink strangely, I've actually found that this has been getting me into lost positions, where moves that look good e.g. covering squares, are just losing. I think the framework of an opening would help me work out better moves in the long run.
when you played f6 couldn't he just play Ne6 and fork your rook and king?
That would run into ...Qxg3+ (I believe I mention this in the video)
@@JohnBartholomewChess my bad, i had the volume on low cause people were sleeping lol. Thanks!
@@cam7686 No worries, thanks for watching! :)
have you played eric rosen much? might be time for a friendly blitz match. if you lose you have to buy and wear an oh no my queen shirt on a video, and if eric loses he has to buy and wear a team scandi shirt on a video.
Love these vids!