Hey John, at around 9:18 I was wondering why you didn't consider black to play Bf1 after Nb4? Because I thought black was kind of holding still then. Thanks!
I love how you play by play analysed your candidate moves. It’s impressive that you are spending so much time on the clock to make a quality video against what I consider a formidable opponent. Thank you for these videos
One of the coolest things about John's content is his respect (both verbally and over the board with his moves) for his opponents. Even against 600 rated players, John takes his time, and considers his opponents' threats. I've noticed he only ever holds back in order to play a move more consistent with fundamental chess (when making videos for rating ranges that should be focused on fundamentals.) I've learned a lot from his respect for opponents. If an IM can spend 75% of their time playing a 600, then so should I.
Just wanted to pop in and say how much I appreciate your videos! While there are lots of chess RUclipsrs, few are actually playing and narrating games, and none do it as well as you. Discussing your candidate moves and general thinking has been so beneficial for me. Learning a lot! You rock, John!
Love your videos John. I have always been mediocre at chess but loved the game just recently really decided I am going to take it serious and study to improve my game since it's something I have always wanted to get better at. Watching your videos and commentary makes me that much more motivated. Thanks man keep being awesome!
One of my favs also..to grab the initiative with the knight/bishop combo...if bishop is stymied...can bring out the Q. to attack the scholar's mate weak sqare.
Taking the rook with ...Nxa1 (rather than taking the other rook on e1) was a key strategic move in this game that should not be underestimated. It pulled the White Queen to an inactive square and White was then forced to use up precious tempo just to bring the Queen back into the game. Kudos to you for another satisfying and enjoyable game, John.
At 7:00 Your discussion re not sweating over nearly equal moves.. I have found this a great help in time management. I rarely get in time trouble anymore. If I am waffling over moves, I just pick one and go.
This video highlights why Bartholomew is such a great Coach. Great ability to articulate the info in a game that a Class player can easily understand and benefit from.
Cool. Now, I just gotta sit on my head to make myself upside down, so that the way this man presented this video is compatible with everything everywhere on how chess is presented.
Thanks JB! Yup - Oof. This fellow a) did not play the best line with d5, and b) played WAY too quickly. At "A" level play I don't think you can just give away pawns and expect to come out of it OK.
Thanks for the new video! I’ve learned much from you! You have one of the best RUclips chess channels. Stay warm in Minnesota! Trying to do the same here in Grand Forks ND🙂
Hello John! I've followed your advice and started playing longer games (15+10) instead of blitz and analyzed my games without engine. That way I've increased my rating in about 9 months from 1500 to 1850. However, my biggest problem is time management. I play pretty slowly and get into time trouble often. Also, my bullet rating is 1400, so I can hardly compete with my opponents in time trouble who often have around 1900 bullet rating. Any tips on how to play faster in general and how to survive time trouble without blundering winning positions? What's the best way to improve bullet skills?
Hey Niko! Back in the day I did make it to 2200, and I did it in blitz. SO - the key to faster play is tactical awareness and pattern recognition, ("board sight"). ===> Hit problem solving like a maniac. Also, play the computer as fast as you can move! Watch as the mistakes you make get immediately trounced (ouch), pause, look at the ouch factor, take the move back and fix it. You get immediate feedback training that way. Tactics trainers, problems and play fast like that. Strategy goes out the window in bullet, as you've seen. ;-)
Thanks Tom! I never thought about playing fast games vs computer. It sounds clever. I can already sometimes quickly find complicated tactics, but I also miss some really simple ones like knight forks. When doing tactics, it's easier because you know the tactic is there. Now that I think about it, actual quick games vs computer might help with that as the positions and therefore my mistakes will be more realistic.
Hello Sepehr! I've also studied openings and endgames on Chessable, which is somewhat similar to learning from books I guess. I've never read a real chess book though. In addition, I practice tactics on my phone when I'm bored, and watch chess videos from John and Ben Finegold.
Very simply the finest chess series for improving players. I one day look forward to getting my arse kicked on a climbing the rating ladder video lol.Thanks John !
7:20 IM Kavutskiy tweeted about this today! "Resolve underlying issues about indecisiveness/perfectionism" in regards to high rated players finding themselves in time trouble
12:29 this is something I need to look for more in my own games. I often see when a square opens up for a piece when a pawn moves forward or captures or is captured but I often overlook that pawns block squares for your own pieces and when it captures it opens a new square for a piece.
THANK GOD! A game from the black side of the Giuoco! I always get CRUSHED in these lines. I literally took the time out to learn the darn Caro-Kann JUST to avoid this.
I got to 1000 relevantly pretty quick but been stuck around this range for like a month i don't really hang pieces ever but in the middle game i never know when to move ponds around anybody ever been there and what did you do to approve?
I play this line, and used to play d4, exd4 cxd4 Bb4+ Bd2 Nxe4 Bxb4 Nxb4 Bxf7+ Kxf7 Qb3+ and soo on .. It works if your opponent thinks he's worse but it's really nothing for white. I stopped winning with d4 move so now learning lines in d3, or switching to Ruy Lopez.
Hi John. Do you have a recommended opening for beginners for black? I've watched a lot of your videos but haven't seen one, though you recommend Giuoco for white (which I've been following and also doing on chessable!)
Another excellent instructive video Minnesota Fins. I can't recall you playing my go-to opening, the Scotch in your 15 minute games. Is it because you consider it a bad opening?
Thank you! The Scotch is a great opening. I never learned it from the White side, so that's the only reason it's absent from my play. Check out Kasparov's games; he revived it at the top level.
I like scotch gambit or goring gambit ...i always tend to be a pawn down and lose after a long and tedious game so i dont know why i like playing it so much.
It's been awhile since this was posted, but I'm still learning (and I very much appreciate your videos). Would the proposed move at 6:33 of Ne7 with the plan of moving to Nf5 have potentially been a blunder with what your opponent did at 7:12? If you had made it to Nf5, you would have blocked your bishop in, then had a fork, right? I miss stuff a lot in my games though, so there may be something here I'm missing.
I play e4 e5 nf3 nf6 bc4 bc5 from both sides and - thank you for all the good informations! Many players play h6 to avoid the fried liver - love to see that, cause i am not interested in doing that! But nevertheless there is so much of theorie, c3, and stuff, it is not "piano" at all!
@18:27 why not Qd1#, Re1 Qa4, with the queen on a4 defending the E1 square as well as the loose pawn on a1? It feels like a very natural combination that wins another pawn and defending threats?
Hey John. Thank you very much for your videos - I'm learning a lot from them. You mentioned this in your video and you've also mentioned it before, you recommend a minimum of 15 min as the fastest timecontrol for improvement. Could you elaborate on why? I almost exclusively play blitz but i don't feel i improve at all. Been rated around 900 for years. Isn't blitz a good way to improve my intuition, specially in the opening moves? And is it better to play one 15 min game each day, compared to say 10 blitz games each day?
in start you play all the computer best moves john your understanding is jut oustanding thanks alot for sharing knowledge with us thanks whcih otb tournamnet you are playing next.
John MVP of chess youtube :D hey man, are there plans for some blitz showdown rivals with GingerGM or anyone else? It's been a while and I still remember those fondly
Nooby question. After you mention 12.f5 and start convincing yourself that it is too complicated because of the weak a2-g8 diagonal and the king safety, Why not considering Kh8 prophylactic move to avoid those complications? (obviously not even an engine recommended move). On your thinking process why did you cancel this move? Was it too slow? Too weakening?
How do you do the "step ahead" moves? ... meaning, the moves that are anticipating what your opponent is going to do... the "pre" moves? I can't do those. Do you have to have a paid account?
Agreed. Also his memory for theoretical lines, as demonstrated in this video. And this is just one particular opening variation out of everything that he plays. Put that recall alongside his tactical vision, positional understanding, endgame knowledge and all the rest of it, I really see how weak a player I really am, despite playing chess for over four years. For me, playing a game sometimes feels like juggling, or spinning plates: sooner or later something's going to come crashing to the ground.
Because Black will eventually turn all those extra pawns into extra queens! White has no counterplay, and can only hope for Black to blunder his rook, which an international master will almost never do.
chess is a very sick game. Two people trying to squeeze the literal life out of one another, ruthlessly. It brings out the worst of human nature: namely wanting to tear the other person apart and gouge their eyes out and taking one of the eyes and smashing and stomping that eye into a flat raw sac, while shoving the other eye up the other guys throat and smashing the guy's mouth and jaw repeatedly with one's elbow. As I say: it literally brings out the worst in human nature. A nasty game. Absolutely the sickest human invention of all times. Very worst of human invention. I mean, we are capable of such beauty and creativity. Yet' we come up with games that draws us to want to disembowel one another. Just sad.
The Steinitz-Lasker 1896 World Championship game I was referencing at 24:45: www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1132712
Before Nb4 if you play Qf6 and then play Nb4 is it better or not?
Hey John, at around 9:18 I was wondering why you didn't consider black to play Bf1 after Nb4? Because I thought black was kind of holding still then. Thanks!
thanks!
Hands-down the best chess commentator on RUclips!
Even hands-up, and hands-left-and-right as well!
He kicks ass but Kingscrusher is also right up there.
and mato and agadmator are pretty good as well
IM Levy Rozman aka Gotham Chess is great, too
@@ChocolateMilk.. No? Why Not?
I love how you play by play analysed your candidate moves. It’s impressive that you are spending so much time on the clock to make a quality video against what I consider a formidable opponent. Thank you for these videos
One of the coolest things about John's content is his respect (both verbally and over the board with his moves) for his opponents. Even against 600 rated players, John takes his time, and considers his opponents' threats. I've noticed he only ever holds back in order to play a move more consistent with fundamental chess (when making videos for rating ranges that should be focused on fundamentals.) I've learned a lot from his respect for opponents. If an IM can spend 75% of their time playing a 600, then so should I.
Just wanted to pop in and say how much I appreciate your videos! While there are lots of chess RUclipsrs, few are actually playing and narrating games, and none do it as well as you. Discussing your candidate moves and general thinking has been so beneficial for me. Learning a lot! You rock, John!
Thanks, I truly appreciate that!
John has a such a calming friendly voice, these long videos are best watched with a hot cup of cocoa, very soothing
Hey John, been watching for a long time. Your vids have helped me greatly. I am not where I want to be yet but you have gotten me much closer.
Always happy to hear that :) Thanks for watching.
ive been looking for real live games like this with full on commentary thanks liked the video
You really mishtup with that Rxe3 move.
This is one of your best videos imo. Thanks for the concise and thorough analysis. Much enjoyed
Love your videos John. I have always been mediocre at chess but loved the game just recently really decided I am going to take it serious and study to improve my game since it's something I have always wanted to get better at. Watching your videos and commentary makes me that much more motivated. Thanks man keep being awesome!
You are the most likeable person on the whole RUclips I've came across.
When you explain the moves i think: "I can do that". Then when i play.....very very low rating. Great video as usual...
Nice relaxed chess video. GP opening is my fav
One of my favs also..to grab the initiative with the knight/bishop combo...if bishop is stymied...can bring out the Q.
to attack the scholar's mate weak sqare.
Easily the best videos on the net.. plus I love your delivery..so friendly and with a sense of fun...!!
Really appreciate the talk about your thought process here. With the candidate moves as well as the perfectionist talk.
So incredibly instructive.
Wow long day down here in Alabama and this just ended it on a good note. Glad to see you’re alive john
Taking the rook with ...Nxa1 (rather than taking the other rook on e1) was a key strategic move in this game that should not be underestimated. It pulled the White Queen to an inactive square and White was then forced to use up precious tempo just to bring the Queen back into the game. Kudos to you for another satisfying and enjoyable game, John.
That was a nicely paced and very instructional video! Thanks!
Hi John, thanks for these videos! They really compliment the material on chessable very well.
Thank you John, I hope you continue making these videos...You are an amazing chess instructor (and player as well!)
I was just watching some of your old climbing the rating ladder games last night! I love your content john. Keep it up!
John, really enjoy hearing your train of thought. Very instructive.
At 7:00 Your discussion re not sweating over nearly equal moves.. I have found this a great help in time management. I rarely get in time trouble anymore. If I am waffling over moves, I just pick one and go.
love to watch a few of these before games
thanks for this video John. You are a great coach and still my favourite streamer.. I have gained so much from your channel.
This video highlights why Bartholomew is such a great Coach. Great ability to articulate the info in a game that a Class player can easily understand and benefit from.
very good commentary on what your reasoning was behind moves that didnt seem too obvious.
Every video should be a climbing the rating ladder video. Every. Single. One.
Wrong
Great to hear you're getting back into the video groove! Thanks for this one, indeed!...Stay warm!!
Well explained. Thanks. Subscribed.
Cool. Now, I just gotta sit on my head to make myself upside down, so that the way this man presented this video is compatible with everything everywhere on how chess is presented.
High quality content. Thanks!
Great video John!
Great content John. Thank you
It is just Amazing how clearly he think!
Thanks JB! Yup - Oof. This fellow a) did not play the best line with d5, and b) played WAY too quickly. At "A" level play I don't think you can just give away pawns and expect to come out of it OK.
thanks for this video. GP is one of the few openings simple enough for me to use. Great for intermediate patzers and a fun open game.
Thanks for the new video! I’ve learned much from you! You have one of the best RUclips chess channels. Stay warm in Minnesota! Trying to do the same here in Grand Forks ND🙂
Saw my first Guioco Piano in a game yesterday and now a video comes up? Damn you youtube
Ayy new John video! Made my night.
Thanks John.
I haven't finished watching titled tuesday and a new vid is up already!
I tried to comment first so that I could win the internet, but I was too late. :( Oh well. This new John video will console me.
Hello John!
I've followed your advice and started playing longer games (15+10) instead of blitz and analyzed my games without engine. That way I've increased my rating in about 9 months from 1500 to 1850. However, my biggest problem is time management. I play pretty slowly and get into time trouble often. Also, my bullet rating is 1400, so I can hardly compete with my opponents in time trouble who often have around 1900 bullet rating. Any tips on how to play faster in general and how to survive time trouble without blundering winning positions? What's the best way to improve bullet skills?
Hey Niko! Back in the day I did make it to 2200, and I did it in blitz. SO - the key to faster play is tactical awareness and pattern recognition, ("board sight"). ===> Hit problem solving like a maniac. Also, play the computer as fast as you can move! Watch as the mistakes you make get immediately trounced (ouch), pause, look at the ouch factor, take the move back and fix it. You get immediate feedback training that way. Tactics trainers, problems and play fast like that. Strategy goes out the window in bullet, as you've seen. ;-)
Did you read books or you only analyzed your games?
Thanks Tom! I never thought about playing fast games vs computer. It sounds clever. I can already sometimes quickly find complicated tactics, but I also miss some really simple ones like knight forks. When doing tactics, it's easier because you know the tactic is there. Now that I think about it, actual quick games vs computer might help with that as the positions and therefore my mistakes will be more realistic.
Hello Sepehr! I've also studied openings and endgames on Chessable, which is somewhat similar to learning from books I guess. I've never read a real chess book though. In addition, I practice tactics on my phone when I'm bored, and watch chess videos from John and Ben Finegold.
You related to jake?
Very simply the finest chess series for improving players. I one day look forward to getting my arse kicked on a climbing the rating ladder video lol.Thanks John !
This is awesome becaues this is how alot of my gamer start
At 17:53, John is about to say 'the Re8 shit is a little bit annoying' but quickly corrects to 'check' instead. LMAO
sneaky sneaky johnny boi ;)
Great stuff John this will help me hit my goal of 1400 rating one day
7:20 IM Kavutskiy tweeted about this today! "Resolve underlying issues about indecisiveness/perfectionism" in regards to high rated players finding themselves in time trouble
I have this problem a lot in my blitz games as well. It's quite hard to let go of the perfectionism😂😂
12:29 this is something I need to look for more in my own games. I often see when a square opens up for a piece when a pawn moves forward or captures or is captured but I often overlook that pawns block squares for your own pieces and when it captures it opens a new square for a piece.
Thanks for the theoretical instruction.
THANK GOD! A game from the black side of the Giuoco!
I always get CRUSHED in these lines. I literally took the time out to learn the darn Caro-Kann JUST to avoid this.
Same here. IIR John has mentioned before how he dislikes to open games with e4 'cuz there's so much theory to worry about. Ditto for ...e5.
These are quality vids.
I got to 1000 relevantly pretty quick but been stuck around this range for like a month i don't really hang pieces ever but in the middle game i never know when to move ponds around anybody ever been there and what did you do to approve?
I play this line, and used to play d4, exd4 cxd4 Bb4+ Bd2 Nxe4 Bxb4 Nxb4 Bxf7+ Kxf7 Qb3+ and soo on ..
It works if your opponent thinks he's worse but it's really nothing for white.
I stopped winning with d4 move so now learning lines in d3, or switching to Ruy Lopez.
thanks for sharing
Hi John. Do you have a recommended opening for beginners for black? I've watched a lot of your videos but haven't seen one, though you recommend Giuoco for white (which I've been following and also doing on chessable!)
Very nice!
Another excellent instructive video Minnesota Fins. I can't recall you playing my go-to opening, the Scotch in your 15 minute games. Is it because you consider it a bad opening?
Thank you! The Scotch is a great opening. I never learned it from the White side, so that's the only reason it's absent from my play. Check out Kasparov's games; he revived it at the top level.
I like scotch gambit or goring gambit ...i always tend to be a pawn down and lose after a long and tedious game so i dont know why i like playing it so much.
It's been awhile since this was posted, but I'm still learning (and I very much appreciate your videos). Would the proposed move at 6:33 of Ne7 with the plan of moving to Nf5 have potentially been a blunder with what your opponent did at 7:12? If you had made it to Nf5, you would have blocked your bishop in, then had a fork, right? I miss stuff a lot in my games though, so there may be something here I'm missing.
I wonder if a5 around 7:00 would have been reasonable to put the knight on b4?
Hey John really enjoy your videos do you think you could show a game of you playing the kings gambit sometime i would love to see how you go about it.
I play e4 e5 nf3 nf6 bc4 bc5 from both sides and - thank you for all the good informations! Many players play h6 to avoid the fried liver - love to see that, cause i am not interested in doing that! But nevertheless there is so much of theorie, c3, and stuff, it is not "piano" at all!
@18:27 why not Qd1#, Re1 Qa4, with the queen on a4 defending the E1 square as well as the loose pawn on a1? It feels like a very natural combination that wins another pawn and defending threats?
whoops ahah just played it anyway without the check, silly me!
Wow, a Ukrainian player! He was lucky to play JB! Greetings from Ukraine!
I want to get really good at a set opening for white - any advice on how to really get to grips with all the variations / theory ?
(Specifically all the theory surrounding the giuoco piano)
Dang, you know a lot of Italian theory
Hey John. Thank you very much for your videos - I'm learning a lot from them. You mentioned this in your video and you've also mentioned it before, you recommend a minimum of 15 min as the fastest timecontrol for improvement. Could you elaborate on why? I almost exclusively play blitz but i don't feel i improve at all. Been rated around 900 for years. Isn't blitz a good way to improve my intuition, specially in the opening moves?
And is it better to play one 15 min game each day, compared to say 10 blitz games each day?
Haha your defense tends to be the Scandinavian!
Stanley Minervini makes sense!
Snowplow for the MN Blizzard SKOL Vikes SKOL Blizzard
Finallyyyy another vid. Do some standard!!
in start you play all the computer best moves john your understanding is jut oustanding thanks alot for sharing knowledge with us thanks whcih otb tournamnet you are playing next.
YAS JOHN!
@18:18 Qxa4 defends the e8 square and wins another pawn and you should be fine.
Any advice on how to quit the bullet habit?
John MVP of chess youtube :D hey man, are there plans for some blitz showdown rivals with GingerGM or anyone else? It's been a while and I still remember those fondly
Nooby question.
After you mention 12.f5 and start convincing yourself that it is too complicated because of the weak a2-g8 diagonal and the king safety,
Why not considering Kh8 prophylactic move to avoid those complications? (obviously not even an engine recommended move).
On your thinking process why did you cancel this move? Was it too slow? Too weakening?
The opening beginners play every match.
What about move 15 f6?
11:24 Qh4!
after ...Nxc3, bxc3. Bxc3, Qb3, black has d4. After Bxd4, 0-0 black seems fine here. I'm sure I'm missing something
Ba3...? So.... d5...Ba3,dxc4...Qxc3, and now the king can't castle, and white has Re1
No, Ba3, Qd5, amd black is ok. I'm relly stuck here
How do you do the "step ahead" moves? ... meaning, the moves that are anticipating what your opponent is going to do... the "pre" moves? I can't do those. Do you have to have a paid account?
slyjokerg you can add the ability to pre move in your chess.com settings.
@@josiahross2185 I looked before and didn't see it. Since you said it exists, I just went back and found it. I thought it must be a "premium" feature.
How a 1797 rated player makes such a blunder at the beginning of 15+0 game ? HOW ?
After watching this I’m a terrible chess player. Some people are on insane levels of skill and understanding.
Agreed. Also his memory for theoretical lines, as demonstrated in this video. And this is just one particular opening variation out of everything that he plays. Put that recall alongside his tactical vision, positional understanding, endgame knowledge and all the rest of it, I really see how weak a player I really am, despite playing chess for over four years. For me, playing a game sometimes feels like juggling, or spinning plates: sooner or later something's going to come crashing to the ground.
legit
I'm italian and I'm pretty sure the right name it's "gioco piano"
Daredevil? How can you see the board?
JOOOOOHNNNNNNNN have a great day
11:04 was Queen h4 an option?
queen to f6 before nb4??
I miss your videos
Why did he resign so early...okay pawn discrepancy...thanks JB!
Because Black will eventually turn all those extra pawns into extra queens! White has no counterplay, and can only hope for Black to blunder his rook, which an international master will almost never do.
kf8 instead of kh8 and re3 was mistakes i thnik
Hi john i love your videos , Could play one match with you? I have 1900 ELO
I'm only 1300 rapid chess.com really want 1500. Blitz I'm less than 1000.
15 min would drive me nuts. I rather bullet because engine cheaters lurk beyond 1 min games
you're a handsome devil john >:)
re8 after c4 i think is best.
chess is a very sick game. Two people trying to squeeze the literal life out of one another, ruthlessly. It brings out the worst of human nature: namely wanting to tear the other person apart and gouge their eyes out and taking one of the eyes and smashing and stomping that eye into a flat raw sac, while shoving the other eye up the other guys throat and smashing the guy's mouth and jaw repeatedly with one's elbow. As I say: it literally brings out the worst in human nature. A nasty game. Absolutely the sickest human invention of all times. Very worst of human invention. I mean, we are capable of such beauty and creativity. Yet' we come up with games that draws us to want to disembowel one another. Just sad.
After all your inner dark thoughts poured out on Chess, on a better day you will see chess is beauty and creativity.
@13:11.... never play f6!