Levy Rozman vs Eric Rosen | I'M Not a GM Speed Chess Championship

and we are live ready for this i'm not a gm speed  chess championship match between gotham chess levy   rosman and i am rosen eric rosen i'm on it's  gonna be a heavyweight battle two of the most   popular streamers on the web who's gonna take this  one that's a great question robert and when we're   all looking for the answer for i saw the chat poll  right before you and i went live here and it was   neck and neck i think 45 to 43 with the remaining  going there cat jam or some guy i've never heard   of but it is going to be a super close one and  i love that we're uh got this prime time slot   robert really feels you mentioned heavyweight  matchup i think that uh you know this is going   to be one of the most exciting matches in the  entire competition it certainly will be and   the everyone in the audience is familiar with  the players let's remind them of the format   so to get used to what we'll see as the night goes  on it is a single elimination knockout brackets   the loser of this match well you're not continuing  in this tournament it is 75 minutes of five minute   plus one second increment blitz followed by 45  minutes of the three plus one and finally we get   to 25 minutes of bullet and the winner moves on  and of course we have the prize fund it is 300 and   more importantly advancing the semifinals and then  the rest 300 is split by win percentage and i'm on   as we take a look at the bracket how we got here  where we're going it is the bottom left-hand side   of the bracket we have levy rosman as the four  seed eric rosen as the five seed and this is just   the matchup everyone's been waiting for yeah this  is uh as you can see from the bracket there this   is basically the final spot that we have to fill  um in the the semi-finals leading into the finals   so this is going to determine everything that  you know the winner is going to move on to play   against greg shahade which is he's the number one  seed in the whole thing so right after this match   no matter who wins you're guaranteed another big  matchup as the winner is going to take on craig   that's for sure the case and it's almost nine on  the east coast everyone here in the audience is   feeling fine i see the chat going crazy because  they're excited about gotham chess versus i am   rosen and well we can see the players right now  we can bring them on screen for you they've got   their hoodies on they're you know they're ready  for this match and i wonder if they're nervous   to you know settle score here and determine which  of these two is going through to the semi-finals   yeah it's it's really really tough to call um  this matchup i think on paper the players are so   similarly rated and if i had to pick someone who  uh i guess maybe would be more nervous i feel like   i might say levy and that's just based on his  post-game interview that he gave in the last   match where he was like you know listen i have  to admit i was a little nervous and uh rosen   always seems so cool and and so calm but who  knows you know what's hiding behind the facade   that does appear to be the case most of the  time and we know what it's like commentating   the pressures off we want to bring entertainment  and education to the masses but you don't feel   that same pressure like when you are playing and  for levy who during the day has been covering the   champions chess tour and of course providing  excellent content going up on youtube daily   now he has to pick up the pieces himself and  take on a very strong opponent eric rosen   yeah and you've uh talked to so many different  players over the course of this i'm not a gm   competition so many other content creators  are actually commentators themselves so   you know with all work that levy's been doing  commentating you make a good point you know   kenny transitioned back to a very very uh intense  matchup that he's gonna have to deal with uh eric   rosen i mean they're so evenly matched in blitz  and bullet um i i think that uh on paper this   might be the closest matchup rating wise yeah it  is very close probably about 50 points separate   them but it's at the different time controls  because there is that one second increment   you can't flag your opponents as easily and  let's say you're used to playing hyper bullet   rather than one minute bullet it just affects  the same rating but it's a different game so   it's going to be an interesting battle and we're  just a minute away now the chat is really stoked   and they're picking their sides that's clear yes  they are i saw a gifted sub bomb from chesapeake   in the chat there to energize the people and maybe  give them a few extra emails to spam and i mean   the the chat right now is energized robert as i  mentioned i'm just hyped for this prime time slot   we don't get to commentate too many of these  matches in the evening and it just it just always   makes things feel more prime time it for sure does  and the players they're stretching they're getting   yeah their bodies ready to sit in these chairs  and compete in intense blitz chests for the next   few hours and you know eric i feel like it's  hard to tell if he's winning or losing just by   body language because he has that same mannerisms  regardless and for levy i think it's important him   to start on a good note because against canty it  didn't feel like he found his footing until the   latter part of the three-minute portion canty  was really keeping with him game by game there   and then finally lead was able to break free and  you could sense that confidence and levy's been   working really hard i saw he played alexander  castaneuk that's chess queen in a match so he's   taking this seriously he's getting his practice  reps in and eric rosen also taken seriously he   said hey when i'm playing these events i take  a bit of a break from streaming to focus on   my studying and i love that i think that's  how the players should treat these events um   i think what i've noticed from this edition of the  i am not a gm tournament is that most players have   uh said that that is the case you know they have  taken time off from what they're usually doing and   put a lot of effort into their matches you know  some people even said well you know i'm preparing   for these matches more than my you know my own uh  commentary or my own over the board games whatever   it is so i i just like to see that from the  players they are fully committed to these matches   and um i think that levy is now in a position  where he knows that eric rosen is you know a very   tough even match for him and uh you know what  they say you often play up to the standards of   your opponent so maybe he felt as the favorite in  the last match that you know he he wasn't supposed   to play maybe his best chess and he might win  anyway well now he's gonna have to play his best   chess and we do have liftoff we see that levy's  going for this g3 he's going to fee and kettle the   bishop take the long diagonal this has the feel of  a catalan the difference being that white hasn't   committed this pawn to d4 yet and i generally like  this position stylistically for white you get a   bit of a plus just with your piece quality but the  problem can be if you don't recapture that c4 pawn   that can be a problem especially in a blitz game  yeah and there's a lot of uh you know theory and   preparation that goes into some variations where  you try to keep this pawn you know with the b5 and   a6 or rook b8 um you know and for white often you  might see a queen a4 move early on just to make   sure that you get this pawn back and you don't  have to deal with positions where uh you're sort   of getting concerned well hang on am i getting  that pawn back at all and look at this queen a4   knight d7 breaking the pin on the knight and c6  and after queen takes over knight b6 hitting the   queen bringing both knights over to the queen side  and then finally black can finish development but   let me ask you what if you play move okay you want  queen c2 i was thinking of queen c3 how do you   get that dark squish square bishop out but instead  the queen drops to c2 which is its natural habitat   yeah i was um even yeah okay so i was wondering  about the move e5 and the reason being that if   black is gonna you know take the time to cycle his  knight away from what most of us would consider a   very natural square f6 there has to be something  that he's planning if he's just going bishop e7   and castling i'm wondering why you put the  knight there and it looks like with the move   e5 bishop e7 uh we're almost transposing back to  you know a different line of theory where um in   the english black plays d5 and captures and then  puts the knight on b6 so i don't know what the   move count is here robert but maybe we're  back in some sort of theory in english   yeah and it's a reverse sicilian right where  white is missing the c pawn and this would be   black and sicilian and then you see the position  arise like this and eric plays a5 he's taking   up space in the queen side he's stopping b4  and levy plays the thematic bishop e3 that   may look weird to some putting your bishop in  front of the pawn but it's attacking the knight   on b6 excuse me and also the bishop can plant  himself on c5 if you want to start taking over   squares on the c file yeah that's a great point  and if people are wondering you've already   mentioned that as sort of a reverse sicilian  just think about the dragon setup and it's   actually really common for black to play bishop  e6 in that setup it's the exact same thing here   so in some cases this bishop can even be taken  and white would say you know f takes e3 sure i   get the open file and i control the d4 square  probably what eric's going to be looking to do   at some point you know rookie 8 and knight d4  there's going to be a moment where there's a   choice from uh um eric rosen here do i play knight  d4 uh and he's gotta time that correctly that's   right h4 plane and f6 the immediate response and  f6 kind of says to h4 well you're not getting that   g5 square for your piece now my knight on c6 is  free to move because e5 is well defended and i   would consider a4 especially after rook d1 give me  that b3 square if i get my bishop to b3 i skewer   your queen and then your rook so now that the rook  is on d1 i'm even more tempted to play that move   yeah a4 is uh really natural in these positions  anyway it looks like after a4 bishop takes b6 you   can even throw in that bishop d3 move intermezzo  to make sure that you don't drop the a4 upon   that's right because that would be a big pawn to  drop just push it there and then lose it but that   intermezzo could play into black's hands although  there are positions where you can just sacrifice   an exchange and claim that you get a bishop and a  pawn for your troubles or knight and upon in this   case and that might be worth it for the rook yeah  and it looks like d4 is the consideration here so   roseanne i mean if not a4 which maybe tactically  deals with d4 i was going to say he needs some   solution here because after playing the move f6 d4  for white is usually the central break that causes   some problems and knight ends up on d4 all of a  sudden it's hitting the bishop on e6 the knight on   c6 the bishop on g2 opens up on that long diagonal  and the rook on d1 opens up against the queen and   we're seeing a major drawback of the pawn being  on h4 rather than on h2 because in the sicilian if   you think about from the perspective of a sicilian  for the black pieces you could sometimes allow   this knight to capture the bishop on e3 but levy  was kind of forced to react because allowing that   capture now would leave the g3 pawn vulnerable so  that's why he took first but now black played e4   the knight moves away and then f5 and that pawn  on e4 is such a thorn in the bishop on g2 side   yeah completely agree this is what you don't want  usually as white so i'm getting the feeling that   this is uh trending in a good direction for  rosen after knight d2 f5 as you mentioned and   again if that pawn was on h2 you might consider  something like f3 to break the position down but   that pawn up to h4 is looking like a move that  levy's gonna want back and look at that eric just   pre-moves f5 and you're right that that pawn would  love to go back to h2 you feel safer for your king   now their idea is to sacrifice on h4 and push  your pawn to f4 you have to keep an eye on that   it looks very dangerous already for levy and he  doesn't have a concrete plan that's the issue   when you get into a position with that bishop  on d5 it really stops all of white's play white   would actually love to throw that d4 pawn off the  board and give me the open file give me space for   my pieces but that bishop 1d5 blockades the whole  center yeah and bishop f6 just watching that e5   uh square where the knight might want to jump in  i think if levy can get maybe bishop f4 and e3   in with rook ac1 you know that's sort of  the long-term setup he might want to go for   controlling the e5 square and uh you know his  his rooks are certainly much better placed   than than eric's rooks at the moment that's true  and i might be probably like to here and play a4   just say hey please go 95 you know move that  knight because i want to get my bishop to b3   and eric plays queen eight this makes sense  the pawn's on h4 it's you can go for a king   side attack with queen h5 or something like that  or just put your queen on a square like e e6 or f7   and go for bishop to p3 if that knight ever moves  out the way you can get that skewer at long last   yeah queen e6 queen f7 i like e6 because f7 feels  like it's going to be hit at some point with a   knight like 95 so queen e6 looks like a great  square for that a4 we've mentioned a few times   definitely a big consideration and levy is  i'm pretty sure looking at the move 95 it was   probably playable in that last position um knight  e5 but you know eric doesn't have to take that   that's right and here queen e6 you can still try  for 95 but now i'm going to take it because i have   my bishop and my queen protecting that e5 square i  will win a pawn and my bishop 155 can be protected   by the pawn coming to c6 so bishop f4 played and  all right i just see the eval bar drop which means   knight takes d4 followed by c5 is probably just a  knockout yep yep that looks uh that looks strong   there however it's something that you would  think twice about you know in a game because   it looks like there might be some maybe rook  moves to consider some rook takes d5 rook takes   e4 there's just a few extra things to calculate  but if you look at the clock i think eric does   have the time to maybe notice that i see now why  levy played the move queen c3 he wanted that setup   that i've been talking about so much bishop f4 and  e3 but eric has to strike right now otherwise he's   going to achieve that and he does go rook f7 so  knight takes d4 it's hard to play that because   it looks like there are some variations where  white gets a bunch of pieces for that queen   and it's not so clear to figure out who's on  top so he goes rook f7 now that knight can   come to e3 and that's what levy does bishop b3  no longer the same threat there could be some d5   ideas and all complications in that position and  aristotle think again before playing bishop to b3   it might be a good move but d5 is what would make  me nervous about it absolutely no i usually you do   not want that bishop to leave and then d5 and look  at all the pieces it's like taking on e6 takes on   f7 with check every piece in eric's position is  sort of on the wrong square for that d5 push and   he plays it so if d5 you know what's funny he can  just go bishop back and take on d5 i was thinking   oh do i take the queen and then you take my queen  on e6 but he can just take the pawn right back   on d5 and then say hey your queen's still under  attack yeah now it's your turn again yeah it's uh   it's easy to overlook that kind of stuff so eric  props him for playing bishop to b3 but also levy   has worked his way and created some threats  because even if you don't have d5 right now   you can line that up in the near future absolutely  i mean rook d2 is definitely playable knight c2   um knight c2 looks playable as well you're gonna  get some e3 and one thing to be careful of is this   light squared bishop as soon as it comes alive in  the position be careful like bishop f1 to c4 in   the future or bishop h3 targeting f5 that's right  and a4 was a very important move speaking of light   square bishops that bishop on b3 was hanging  if the queen got distracted so knight takes f5   was a distraction tactic to win the bishop on b3  for that knight but that's why a4 is so strong it   cements that bishop in place also you could think  about playing knight a5 at some point or even rook   a5 depending on the situation if you want to use  that square for one of your pieces yeah rook a5   is a fun move to play but you always got to make  sure that that knight is not leaving the c6 square   uh as the queen is hitting the a5 square wait  knight f1 uh-oh amman levy had 3.3 seconds left   he has been using all of his time the  clock management has not been a strong suit   of his even in the past match so he needs to speed  up and this position is way too complicated to   have three seconds in yeah i mean all eric has  to do is basically bring rooks to the d file i   would guess like rook d7 rook d8 uh to be honest  the way that he was not playing quickly made me   not maybe think like wait this guy can't have one  second what's going on here rook c8 roxy it wins   the rook on c1 is unprotected and you have to give  your queen that looks like after queen d7 you just   say i have a queen for a rook in one pawn that  should be enough and levy has 1.8 seconds left   bishop h3 though is a move you can count on next  almost you know pre-movable um taking that f5 pawn   i think yeah he's ready for that really nice  move and now you can just take on f5 and the   bishop e6 maybe is sufficient but rook c7 comes  it's a little bit tricky so eric does need to be   careful he should use some of his time here and  absolutely what is the best way to go because   rook c7 then bishop takes f5 it starts looking a  bit problematic for black so maybe even consider   knight takes d6 you are going to lose your knight  but you will lose it you know after bishop f5   queen f5 rook takes d6 you have this bishop on b3  so queen and bishop versus two rooks i think he's   can like yeah i think he's maybe going to play  this he decides to take rook c7 it's gonna happen   um and then just queen d8 yeah that's com um  but maybe he would try d7 there rook takes b7   again it should be winning i think at this point  knight takes d6 is fairly reasonable you already   mentioned it just lose the knight your king's not  getting mated and that bishop and queen should   do damage on the light squares around the king  and one of the big things is that pawn were on   h2 the white king would feel safer but at some  point the move like e3 for black will make the   white king very vulnerable mm-hmm yep and this  this is gonna be too much here there's no more   pin you don't even lose the knight and knight e5  will be game over yeah into those light squares   they go and now there's queen e6 queen h3 with  mate and many checkmates here and went on time   wow i have to say uh robert until you pointed  it out i got lulled into the the same false   sense of security that uh levy maybe got himself  into where what where did that time go we he's   got to be playing way faster there's no way  that the you can just have your time expiring   right in the middle of the well the middle game  that was surprising and levy has struggled with   this in his match against james kent he said it  afterwards he's like i was just moving too slowly   and you cannot afford to have three seconds left  at that point of the game when it's so complicated   what is this knight a3 knight c2 against the  exchange cairo like is is that typical i always   felt you supposed to get your bishop out to f4  which is why uh levy put his queen on c7 before   eric could do that but what's the knight doing on  c2 exactly well it's an interesting movie when you   start with knight a3 uh first of all you threaten  knight b5 and most players are going to play a6   out of instinct if you don't play a6 usually  knight b5 the queen moves and then knight e2   and you're threatening bishop f4 so it's kind  of annoying it makes you waste a move with a6   and then it on c2 after move like e5 is very  well positioned to take over the d4 square   that's right you're over protecting that square  and that's what you want to do when your opponent   has an isolated queen pawn an iqp like the one on  d5 you want to blockade with a knight to d4 often   and then you make sure it can't move then you  start putting pressure on it and try to win it   so right now you don't need to put the knight  in d4 that pawn of course cannot move safely   so i would consider just castling maybe developing  my dark square bishop to f4 and g5 and okay it   goes to f4 this looks like a promising star at  least from my perspective but that's a stylistic   choice and levy's going for activity whereas eric  is the better pawn structure yeah and uh it's not   like one side's better than the other it's that  constant struggle in chess whenever there's an   imbalance both sides are trying to prove that they  have the better side of it so that isolated queen   pond always affords the side with the isolated  pawn a little bit more piece activity control   of the center we see this e4 and c4 squares  both where those knights can jump in and you   know he flipped the board eric rosen on the other  hand you can target that pawn it's going to need   defense constant defense but levy and that great  d4 square that's what you're supposed to do occupy   and control the square in front of the isolated  pawn and look at levi getting active queen to b6   eyeing that b2 pawn you don't really want to give  that pun up but there could be a possibility you   trap the queen if it takes you that's always a  dangerous poison pawn to take so right now eric   trying to figure out do i need to play rook to  b1 that would be the safe move and if eric were   just trying to play speedy chess that's the move  you play instantly okay i'm just defending it   but he could have castled i think because that  queen would have been in no man's land on b2   yeah it's it was definitely maybe possible  especially with black's king still in the middle   but you know what it's the type of position where  you better be safe than sorry so rook b1 covering   the b2 pawn castling's always available and uh you  know white might want to get something like just   h3 in castling and then finally occupy that d4  square with one of his knights and the knight on   c2 is really powerful actually because bishop g4  would be a nice move but then you can play knight   e3 and you're attacking the bishop on g4 and if  the bishop moves to h5 the f5 square that knight   can jump right in there and cause some problem for  black so i'm suddenly appreciating this knight a3   to c2 maneuver and look at that h5 trying to go h4  and go after this bishop and maybe play h3 and pry   open the light squares it's an interesting move  because i feel like h3 for white is so natural i   was going to play it anyway when i see h5 i don't  want to play h4 because of the g4 square so maybe   just h3 and if h4 either bishop back to f4 or  bishop to h2 and um not seeing any issue with that   and eric plays knight to d4 and if black was h4  you cannot play bishop f4 this is a common tactic   there are pieces staring each other those bishops  through the 95 and once that knight takes the   bishop on d3 with check the bishop on f4 would be  hanging for free that tactic doesn't work right   now because the bishops defend so h4 the required  move is bishop takes e5 which i think eric is   okay doing because of this isolated pawn and the  blockade and then he can safely castle his king   yeah safely castles king if queen e2 pinning  the bishop after that black could actually   castle in that position um because there's rookie  eight so it's actually a funny position because   romu 14 robert neither king is castled black's  king could technically still castle queenside   don't expect it but uh for eric rosen i mean we're  expecting short castle sometime in the near future   and counts and queen said there is a common idea  in these types of positions but it's dangerous   right because without the c pawn your king feels  a little less safe though you are the one with   all your pieces over there like the bishops on  d7 and d6 your knight on e5 it feels like maybe   you can get away with it but it does have quite a  bit of risk of course yeah and this bishop i mean   on g3 can drop back to f2 where it's going to put  pressure on the queen on b6 but uh levy's got no   issue playing queen c7 in the near future and  because eric rosen has played f3 uh that h2 pawn   with so you know bishop on d6 queen on c7 is a  something that's really hard to defend you play h3   all of a sudden look at those dark squares  around the king yeah that's not a movie you   really want to see and right now eric thinking so  he is down on the clock levy handling clock much   better at this point he has nearly three minutes  the position remains complicated so you will need   to use that time as the game goes forward and  right now eric's struggling to figure out do i   castle maybe i can make move like bishop f5 that  way i don't have to give up the bishop pair maybe   i'll trade the light square bishops get the f5  square for the knight and he says okay 905 right   away forget about the bishop trade don't really  like this move uh to be honest because uh i'm a   little concerned about the fact that the queen on  b6 uh prevents white from castling and the rook on   b1 means we know that queen side castling is not  happening so i'm concerned about even just mass   trades let's say everything trades e3 f5 g3 in  black just castle safely like i'm concerned about   some positions where uh rosen might not be able  to to get his king there as quickly as he wants   yeah it seems like a bad combination of  moves that you play f3 and then go knight f5   as you're saying the king can't castle the dark  scores of vulnerable a timely bishop f2 could help   you out and right now levy's just trying to figure  out what my partner g7 is under attack the bishop   on d6 is under attack which pieces do i want to  capture do you want to take on d3 first before i   take on f5 should i take on f5 immediately and  you know do i just castle king's side that's   one of the big questions here and i think  he will take on f5 because g7 is hanging and   it looks like it then what's the follow up  though did you just castle king side because   that pawn h5 is starting to bother me yeah  the other option was uh actually taking on g3   and i like the potential idea of keeping the  bishop on d7 so if white ever gets castled or   there's always these ideas like bishop d5 that's  true and he decides to just castle but now viking   castle right bishop takes d6 queen takes e6 and  then quickly castle king's side before the queen   can get back in the diagonal and what about rook  e8 check after bishop d6 i'll probably call bishop   e5 and just say hey i can hoard my pieces i'm  gonna up one here so i will just bring the bishop   right back although that would be two rooks for  a queen possibly yeah in some of these scenarios   and that's a lot to take in that's an interesting  imbalance uh i think that it's probably playable   for both sides uh you know the the evaluation  is very close to you know dead center here   because i think what maybe this is slightly better  for white generally you prefer the rooks but   i think with the queen and the knight that the  knight is crucial uh the fact there's a knight   on the board and that f3 has been played uh i  think i think this is playable for both sides   that's true and the reason why i would prefer the  white side is that d5 pawn is isolated but then i   would prefer the black side because of all these  weak dark squares and the queen can just be such   a nuisance and g6 look at that move included  and if you play queen f4 there was knight d7   and that point was that the pawn couldn't then  defend the bishops the queen g5 is very precise   and if knight d7 now you just play f4 and protect  that bishop with a pawn so there is some danger   that if levy does not take on e5 and give up the  tour for the queen that he may not get his piece   back at least not on even material turns yeah  and i think we're i think we have to see brooke   takes e5 here for those wondering about the queen  for two ropes that robert and i keep referencing   it's going to happen after rook takes e5 queen  takes c5 rook e8 the other rook from the corner   and then the queen will be pinned to the king so  the best course of action looks to be to simply   give it up on e8 followed by bringing in knight  to d4 and then white will be able to castle   but it'll be uh pawns even and just queen for two  rooks so very classic chess and balance i'm on   the time is not even levy's under 30 seconds and  if you are going to give up your rooks for the   queen you can't do it when you have 29 seconds  it just won't be good and now that bishop is   protected that bishop is protected on e5 and  what is black's move here maybe h4 to distract   the queen because f6 is met with queen takes g6  check so he does throw an h4 that's a good move   and after queen f4 now i guess you have f6 as  a way to win that piece back but it's not like   black's king is so thrilled about pushing these  pawns up well remember white can go queen you know   to f4 or f6 like queen d4 something like that and  after rookie five just move the king right it's   not the end of the world and i question whether  you know black is happier uh or white is happier   with the pawns on f6 g6 h4 as you mentioned  like that that could simply just backfire   uh in levees facing with 20 seconds left these  are weaknesses you can't take back no they're not   queen before played and these end games will be  pleasant for white against that isolated pawn he   takes an e5 a check king f2 i think is better he  plays that and queen b5 this to hit the e2 square   i'm not going to allow you to check me there same  with queen e6 rook hd1 and thankfully that knight   on c2 is there that's been a hero piece when all  said done because it protects the e1 square so   the rooks can keep on going use that square  forever yeah and i was just going to say i really   like the idea of getting h3 in it looks like you  know kind of whatever does not a big deal but   the knight is going to eventually come to g5 and  you want to loosen up that king side position with   h3 so the f3 square is weaker white on the other  hand wants to probably get some sort of queen d2   knight d4 in right and what's left is move in  eight seconds you gotta move like it moves like   knight g5 is tempting but you calculate f4 fork in  the rook and knight so then you convince yourself   out of it and now i'd play rook b to d1 remember  that knight on c2 protects the rook on e1 and my   immediate threats go rook takes e5 and queen takes  d5 winning that pawn that problem pawn that's been   there for a while so rook beatty one threatens  just to win material yeah it's it's weird rook   b to d1 it's easy to be deterred by rook e2 check  because you certainly don't want to take that uh   and mate yourself in two moves there is king  f1 available and he decides to take which is   not a decision i would take because look  at the f-file now suddenly knight g5 queen   f6 rook f8 everything seems to be coordinating  and queen five is a great way to start that's a   great move hitting the knight c2 the knight can't  really move because the rook is hanging behind it   if you play rook c1 in comes rook f8 knight g5  and look erika stevens yeah how did that happen   oh my goodness wow the knight g5 rook i faded e4  there's so many good moves here where's knight g5   no knight f6 is too passive and rookie one  played with 2.9 94 check winning material so   it looks like levy's getting this there's a queen  d5 check and he's trying to win some pawns back   for the material but levy blocks the queen f7  this looks like it is levy's game but you got   to move you might lose on time queen f5 is a  great move knight e3 oh the nerves the nerves   yeah we'll see who has the better nerves here  because that's one pawn taking the f3 pawn could   be loose later and neither king is safe oh but if  you trade queens that's got to be a loss yeah the   problem is queen d2 is such a strong threat um and  this is still going to require a conversion here   you know as levy's guardian at f3 pawn but finally  he brings his king and i think that's the way to   go yeah and rook at four now hits the knight  hits both pawns on g4 and on b4 and yeah this is   too many pawns for black and the rook is  too strong yeah just watch out for that   awful fork but rook g2 taking on h2 is going to  seal the deal and a2 would hang next so he moves   the pawn but that h-bone is about to queen so  you have to okay h2 and there's a promotion yeah   and this will be it by the way the time is uh not  enough here and somebody who doesn't resign very   frequently is eric rosen he plays the games out he  gets these tricky stalemates and things like that   but of course levy converts that one nice game  there it was really topsy-turvy at points but levy   he composed himself despite the horrendous time  trouble and he strikes and gets on the scoreboard   and something to remember about this match is uh  there's two sides to every coin robert there's of   course uh levy is putting himself in crazy crazy  time trouble but if there's someone who can get   himself out of this crazy crazy time trouble it's  also levy so you live by this or die by the sword   it's kind of part of his style it's just he plays  a bit slower because he's so confident in his   bullet chest that when you're playing these five  minute games he's like oh okay i got 30 seconds   like he plays 30 seconds chess you know what he's  not gonna feel like 30 seconds is him being low on   time it's only when he's under five seconds  that he really realizes and eric could have   had a similar problem with he had so much extra  time and then he burned it all and suddenly he   was the one who was down on the clock under five  seconds so that was a really nerve-wracking game   and credit to levy for putting all the piece in  the e-file creating some threats and if i'm being   honest that rookie two check i didn't even see it  i should have seen it that the rook had stopped   there but after king f1 as you showed in that  previous game that white was still doing well but   that's why eric took on e5 and levy turned those  tables real quick and was able to launch an attack   yeah and we're already into this next game the  moves are flying uh we have an interesting opening   here where there's a major imbalance basically  black has this b4 square uh has the b file for   himself white is putting pressure on the c file  and definitely has a a slight lead in development   here ideas like knight e5 and knight b5 come to  mind maybe bishop f4 targeting the c7 pawn so hey   what about the move c5 uh looking to trade the c  pawn for the center pawn and all things considered   structurally i think black is doing well black has  a really nice looking position and one important   thing is the pawn's an a7 because if one of the  white pieces wants to go the b5 square you can   play a6 like if the knight gets in there to kick  it out whereas that b4 square that's an outpost   white does not have a pawn that can kick any of  black's pieces out and so rook coming to b8 soon   it looks like it can be very promising for eric  and he is a bit ahead on the clock we're gonna   say this often it feels like in the match but  he already has a lead of almost 30 seconds and   if he can maintain that with the strong central  pawn structure he has that pawn on d5 really good   one then he should have the upper hand as this  game continues yeah and uh takes on c5 here and   the reason that you know uh the evaluation maybe  is hovering a little bit closer to the middle   uh there 0.00 is probably because that bishop's  not quite developed yet for mr rosen so there's   you know knight d4 ideas knight b5 ideas and  sometimes there's even and i was about to say   it the move e4 and you do this because that bishop  is not quite developed yet and you you burst the   center wide open and who's going to benefit uh  when the center opens up robert it's going to be   the guy who's the lead in development although  one way to kind of counter that development   bishop a6 right now because you played e4 my  bishop can develop and attack your rook on f1   and if you have to move your rook to e1 then i  get a turn maybe queen b6 hitting the f2 pawn   it could be some danger there and eric does play  bishop a6 and i'm expecting levy to e takes d5   sacrifice in exchange rip open the position and  let the bishops fly free but that's a risky move   when you have to give up material yeah it's a  uh it's something to consider because the other   option rookie one he's probably looking at the  move queen b6 and saying wait a minute how do i   you know defend f2 because after queen b6 let's  not forget that e pawn is going to be hanging the   bishop pinning the knight on f6 to the queen after  queen b6 remember that pin is not there anymore   that's right and knight g4 moves happen fast  before you know it f2 falls so that could be   very dangerous and levy trying to figure this out  he can go knight b5 as well to block that bishop's   attack of the rook but then the e4 pawn is really  without defenders so that looks pretty risky so   i don't know like the way he's thinking it makes  it hard for me to you know tie together thinking   and giving up the material so he does play knight  to b5 which gives up the pawn with d takes e4 but   there are going to be tactics with the knight  pinned on f6 the bishop one c5 a bit loose the   knight on d7 doing kind of the hero's work right  now covering everything yeah absolutely knight b5   i think was probably a decent decision because i  did not like the look of rookie one queen b6 and   uh you know going into that position he would  have to expect to give up the exchange if you're   not prepared to do that it's not a decision  you can make just you know on the fly yeah so   we see that d64 is happening now the knight can  move to d2 but even e3 is a possibility for black   like when you win a pawn sometimes you just push  it and try to create a worse pawn structure for   your opponent that's a great point and the other  thing that is involved with that e3 idea is that   black does not care about bishop takes a8 you  know in a lot of positions that that bishop on g2   is probably levi's best piece and you give that up  look how weak the white king is going to be so e3   definitely a consideration here you know queen b6  can can happen all the same but e3 looks like the   kind of fun testing move right i like e3 it  just hurts your opponent's pawn structure and   that's all i'm looking for and if that bishop  were to leave g5 that bishop and c5 can take on   e3 with check in some lines so there's a lot  to calculate especially with that rook and   hanging but i'm kind of willing to sacrifice that  rook everything opens up i haven't calculated   fully but i feel like black should not be unhappy  about that kind of transition yep um he's thinking   a lot here so rosen is investing his time back  into the position knight d2 played i wonder   what else he could be thinking of because queen  maybe b6 is the only thing but knight takes e4   just it looks like a move you don't want to allow  it hits the bishop on c5 and if you play knight   takes e4 there's bishop takes e4 hitting the rook  in the corner the queen will then be hitting the   knight on d7 so that's all stuff for rosen to  consider yeah that opening of the position favors   a bishop on the longest diagonal the bishop one g2  you're pointing out the bishop on c8 wasn't doing   much the bishop on a6 perhaps not doing as much  either except for being captured knight and e3   was played here so that hits the knight on d2 he  immediately takes back and i think i would consid   i would really consider taking that knight on b5  because it's just bothering me and then putting my   rook on b8 but then that c6 square we've seen  this happen in previous matches where there's   a pawn on b5 a bishop getting into c6 and that  could be really annoying rook c8 is a nice move   that deals with a lot of things at once it deals  with obviously the rook being hit in the corner   and it adds some support to the bishop you might  be thinking you know why is that such a big deal   well there's a pin on this knight on f6 and if the  knight on d7 were to take back suddenly would be   undefending the bishop on c5 so it's just adding  an extra defender to this bishop so the knight on   d7 is free to move to f6 if need be because moves  like knight e4 uh or potentially on the horizon   yes and well h6 would be a big threat for black  right because then you remove the defender of the   e3 pawn and that punk can be taken with check so  h6 is the simple threat how do we deal with that   and maybe we have to protect this e3 pawn but  if you play move like queen e2 you're walking   into a new pin that could be awkward knight c4  looks strong because you protect e3 and uh you   also open the d file for your pieces but i'm  already looking at knight to b6 let's trade off   knights let's try to get that e3 pawn and i feel  like white's pawn structure is just worse here   yeah knight to knight b6 it looks like maybe i'd  consider knight d6 there i thought actually white   was gonna play knight e4 hitting the bishop  and taking advantage of the pin the move h6   we were talking about did happen and if bishop  f4 he already has to think about g5 e5 but he's   saying look with my new move knight c4 bishop  d6 is the idea there's an amazing line that i'm   just realizing based on your 94 move i think that  eric would have sacrificed his queen with knight   takes e4 so we can show that in the analysis board  where just a move ago if uh instead of knight c4   uh if knight e4 was played that would have been  a queen sack i believe that would be a fun one   bishop takes d8 and bishop takes e3 with the rook  hanging on c1 ideas like knight f2 in the position   you know bishop d8 later that would be a fun one  yeah that would have been really cool but i think   levy he sniffed that one out he's like this  doesn't feel right let's go for something a little   more solid and eric says no solidity for you i'm  pushing my pawn to e5 and guess what that bishop   on four it's not going to be protecting this  pawn on e3 much longer if we trade knights on e5   down goes up pawn e3 with check and that rook on  c1 is under attack it feels like eric's about to   win some material yep e5 is a nice uh move that  basically everything is going to get clarified in   the center white's king is going to be a little  bit weak and bishop e3 we just saw the the line   where you know the rook on c1 was threatened  with the bishop and the rook what are you even   supposed to do here um asking the wrong guy uh the  video on f4 is under attack i was going to say can   you throw in b4 and he does do that but it feels  like this take on f4 and then maybe even take him   capturing stuff and the pawn c5 at  the end of this is going to be hanging   right yeah i think that bishop takes b4 plays into  levy's hands like that's the intention of the move   um and wow what a what a poised move there bishop  b6 he says look that apon is not able to move to   a5 to continue harassing me the bishop is going to  take the knight on b5 in that case and if you take   me well there's so many things that are going to  be hanging in your position after queen takes b6   the bishop's trapped on f4 it's strapped in the  center of the board it has no three squares to   go to so what a restrained move by eric and now  does rook take c1 and e takes f4 you win a piece   yeah just plain and simple um there's nothing  to do here e3 is still weak still pinned i mean   that's the one of the cleanest pieces you'll  ever see with knight g4 following this up   yeah and look at the clock five seconds left  for levy so he knows he's in trouble eric   he's seizing the momentum here in this match  he won the first game levy evened it now again   with the black pieces if eric can convert this  it'll be the third win with black in the match   yeah and this has got to be a  conversion four seconds up a full piece   uh i mean 50 seconds for you what more could  you ask for yeah if you don't win this game   that's going to be really upsetting you know you  it's hard to come back from these moments and we   have seen this in previous matches where a player  just really botches it but here what's the best   way because knight c6 looks a little annoying  now this bishop takes e3 check after knight c6   but you can also the queen takes a 5. you can take  that knight first and then take on e3 so it's your   just for style points but it looks like nobody's  needing them here b5 though will be played   and i think the the easiest is bishop b7 it looks  it looks funny because you're walking into maybe   97 check but the rook was guarding that from e3  that's right now the trade of bishops can happen   the rook should probably go on over to the a3  square there it goes the b pawn can't move the 97   now knight b6 probably just scoops up the a4  pawn i believe so uh knight b6 now same idea   yes bringing both knights over and it's a win  on time but it was a win on the board as well   exactly yeah and uh that's going to be a recurring  thing i think the the time situation robert it's   constantly going to be uh what looks like from the  match so far it's going to be levied down on time   but ever resourceful and you can just never  count them out no you cannot and we get our   halftime break through the five minute plus one  second increment portion it is two to one eric   players winning with the black pieces so  aman let me ask you something we we get to   take a few minutes they get to prepare look over  lines what do these players need to do to start   winning with the first move image yeah it's funny  i think that might just be nerves starting out um   i actually haven't liked the positions that uh  levy has gotten so far with the catalan it's it   felt like uh eric was really dictating the pace  so he might look to switch up his opening we know   he's a very accomplished london system player as  well like these guys can play a bunch of different   openings uh it happens when you stream a lot you  often experiment so i think that we might see some   openings uh being changed when we come back yeah  i think they need to play a little more solidly   they're allowing black way too much activity  in these positions and kings getting unsafe   and things of that nature but we'll see we'll be  back in a few minutes for more action from this   gotham chest i am rosen i am now gm speechless  championship match brought to you by chess.com and we returned ready for more five-minute plus  one second increment blitz amman the players have   gotten the time to have a breather they can  stretch a little bit say the nerves all right   i know that we were playing we were giving each  other chances but now that a couple games are   underway what do you think what can the players do  differently how do you see this match continuing   yeah i think uh so far what we've seen is a lot  of time pressure and it's a tough thing to adjust   to because it's sort of stylistic you either  are a person who gets a long time or you're not   but i think that levy if it continues the way that  we've seen so far he might quickly identify that   as sort of like a lose condition like something  that he just simply has to change or has to fix   we saw him do a lot better um at playing under  time pressure he turned around an entire game in   beautiful fashion got right back in the match but  going forward i think he's going to have to pick   openings that he can play a little bit quicker at  the beginning so that you know eric rosen isn't   sort of playing an offbeat line and sort of knows  the entire opening and gets a one to two minute   time advantage for no reason that's true and  here we see a karo khan and another exchange so   generally speaking this is seen as a very solid  position where there are not as many tactical   lines and if levy goes for this e5 push again  he'll be left with the isolated queen pawn so   it looks like eric plays h3 which is thematic  taking away anything to g4 and that's already a   big difference between this and the previous game  yep you can tell like players are going to use   these brakes for different reasons sometimes you  don't want to look at any chest during the break   the best thing for you might just be to you know  take drink relax uh calm yourself down and some   players like to hop right on the the computer  check their analysis and say look we might be   playing this line the whole match it's worth it  for me to check on some of the main lines and h3   looks like an improvement that he came back with  and he's already coming out very quickly look   he's got more time than he started with robert  yeah and levi has already spent 40 seconds and   this is a better version of what we saw in game  two and the reason why instead of having a pawn   on f3 you have a knight on f3 and your pawn's  on h3 so there are those dark square problems   you still have the blockade against this pawn on  d5 and this is how you tend to play now black's   position isn't that bad i don't want to make  it sound like levy's done anything wrong he   has not it's a standard position i just have  a strong preference stylistically of playing   against the isolated queen pawn because you need  activity you have the e file is open the c file is   semi-open for your rooks but you're a bit behind  in uh in terms of development white can bring a   rook in first and then bring the bishop out and  that pawn on d5 especially after bishop g5 oman   that feels like the pawn is quite weak yeah  and there's something about this position   i almost prefer it to the last game that levy  played with this opening just having those two   bishops sometimes you can even lose this pawn on  d5 just get all the open files maybe b5 bishop b7   the rook's come to come to the middle of the board  and yeah he plays h6 he's saying look bishop takes   f6 i'm going to take back and feel free to take  my pawn on d5 all of a sudden it's going to be   moves after moves with tempo although the problem  is bishop f6 bishop 6 knight b4 you can actually   try to win that pawn with your knight and that  causes black more problems so he instead retreats   his bishop to h4 which is fine the bishop can go  to g3 as well and you could take on f6 at some   moment but right now queen b6 levy he's timing  these moves very well hitting this pawn on b2   yep and definitely after queen b6 i think it's  going to be a rook b1 consideration however you   mentioned it last time queen takes b2 rook f to  b1 and that is going to be a trapped queen however   rook e1 hits the bishop if bishop c5 hitting f2  i mean the queen watches over the knight on f6   yes and so now do you just play bishop e6 which  is not a move you like to play because the knight   wants to blockade the pawn anyway and if your  bishop sitting on e6 you defend the pawn and d5   but now your bishop on e6 is under attack and  then you have to think is my opponent going   to capture me there so i think levy already  has a tough choice here he does play bishop   e6 and i'm looking at knight f to d4 because i  want my knight on c2 potentially go to e3 later   right um and i think there's there's an  interesting move i've been looking at   i'm not quite sure if it works but knight e4 um  giving up the e7 bishop for some sort of queen f2   um shenanigans down there don't know if it worked  but definitely looked a little bit unnecessary in   the position uh knight d4c to d4 just played which  means in general you have to watch out for that b2   pawn now that there is queen a3 to escape that's  right and your 94 idea that's actually pretty   interesting something that levy if he gets time  after uh this series of games for the next break   he can look into that but that's really deep into  these openings probably too far down the line to   think about too much but it's hard move to play  because that bishop on e7 would have been hanging   but anyway that's behind us the knights on d4  blocking that queen's access to f2 but as you   just said the pawn on b2 is a problem so rookie  2 comes to mind uh i don't really want to play   rook a1 to b1 that feels like too passive of a  way to defend that pawn whereas rook e2 a to e1   now we're talking getting my rooks onto the open  file yeah rookie 2 rook 81 looks uh like the best   uh way to do this because it also adds pressure  on e6 and e7 those two bishops lined up there   i'm actually kind of curious how black is going  to meet that it might be with that move knight e4   now that the bishop is defended on e7 if one of  the hardest questions to answer is do you take   on e6 and i'm much more likely to take on e6 when  black's pawn is on h6 rather than h7 because the   g6 squares a little bit vulnerable but instead  eric does play the calm the cool collective move   rookie two and his plan is pretty natural right  just rookie two rookie one and for levi i think   now is the time to strike whether it's knight to  e4 there's also knight h5 which is just a tricky   move trying to get your knight to f4 with the  fork but he needs to act because he can't sit   on this position much longer yeah and i was just  gonna say we we've reached a middle game position   you can see the eval bar right around the middle  there knight h5 your move played knight f4 you   have to watch out for it but i think this is good  from levi he's keeping pace you know the time is   not an issue but we have seen him just kind of  randomly tank about a minute in a regular position   like this if he avoids that he can find moves you  know knight h5 look how quickly he played that   it's a great move he just needs to trust himself  it's also a great realization recognition that   last one was rookie e2 so something has changed  knight h5 if that rook on e1 would not be a   particularly good move but because you have the  fork available to you it creates this tactical uh   possibility and now the bishops are staring each  other down bishop takes e7 is a blunder because of   knight f4 and knight takes e2 with check before  taking that bishop back so i think that white   needs to move the queen and probably queen d2 but  queen c2 is also a move i don't know what you want   to pick yeah the interesting thing about queen you  know d2 to watch the f4 square is that levy might   just sidestep next move play bishop d6 control  the f4 square say look your bishop on h4 is doing   absolutely nothing now there's no there's no pin  there's nothing to hit and you can't even go back   to g3 because i've got that covered that's a good  call and he takes an e6 which covers the f4 square   so at least that's protected against but what if i  just take back on e6 which i have to do f takes e6   and then knight f4 is a renewed threat the rook  on f8 is very happy to get that semi-open file and   there could be tactics as well with like a rook  takes f3 at some point there's lots of renewed   threats in that case remember if the bishop  goes back to g3 it's always a free piece as well   uh because the queen on b6 is pinning that f2 pawn  you mentioned ideas like rook takes f3 might not   work exactly here but keep that in mind as a way  to remove the knight from defending the bishop on   h4 so yeah i mean you just called it knight f4 to  cap it off there are so many threats here that uh   eric has to deal with and levy is now up on time  and seems to be taking over the the game slowly if   eric had a bit of time you know knight e5 knight  g6 taking over those vulnerable light squares   that would be nice you just don't have that  time knight h5 was such a good move by levy   and queen d4 i think bishop c5 knight f4 to  follow bring all of my pieces in for the attack   levy he's doing well on the clock and doing  better on the board so i think that this is   his chance to even the match definitely bishop  c5 is very very natural here um i guess there is   a you know a world for queen takes d4 um keep in  mind queen d4 pawn d4 rook takes f3 white's gonna   throw in bishop takes on uh e7 or even maybe a  tricky rook takes e6 in that position so um for   example queen takes take with the pawn let's say  something like rook takes f3 i mean this is a wild   calculation but it's probably uh something  that these players are considering robert   ryan your bishop takes e7 was important i would  say instead of taking on f3 which loses the bishop   and then it's a knight against a bishop the bishop  not great the knight can hop around the board but   that's we'll save that for those classical books  that we read about we're going to get something   more tactical here with bishop five i know it i  i'm sure like especially after a long think like   this you almost have to keep that that bishop in  play there we go we do see bishop c5 stylistically   i think that suits levy even more use that open  f file and is it going to be knight f4 here or   just knight back to f6 knight f4 played and the  rook needs to scoot on over you need to keep an   eye on the f2 pawn i'd say so rook to d2 and i'm  already looking at moving h5 for black the point   being that queen on g4 is running out of squares  quite quickly it's pretty dangerous position so   where is that queen going after hrv i guess  you have queen g3 but then bishop d6 renewing   the threat of a discovery against that queen and  it really is running out of options yeah and it   you know if i even show something like queen to  g5 rook f5 is one of the ideas bishop d6 we see   that queen nearly getting trapped there and you  know ideas like knight e2 eric just can't develop   that rook on f1 or a1 robert and levy played  h5 so he's seen all the tactics and right now   it's about even the clock levy a little bit ahead  but his position is so much better but i will say   now that we're getting into that bullet stretch of  this game mistakes do happen much more commonly so   you think you have a winning tactic and you miss  the fourth move down the line and all of a sudden   things go wrong i think levy has this he's been in  control for a large part of the game right now but   it's still tricky especially when you're pawn's  on h5 and your king side's a little bit open   yeah and i'm i'm wondering how how we're supposed  to stop this robert it's almost like king h1   is one of the only moves just get in the corner  and strangely enough this knight maybe doesn't   have any completely winning moves that's true king  each one and then you're so frustrated as black   because i have to have a winning move and then you  have to realize wait there's no win on this turn   but my position is better because my pieces are  coordinated really well so what that move is right   now i don't know w what piece needs to be improved  should i put my queen somewhere else should i play   e5 but e5 has risk because then the d5 pawn is  looser not an easy situation right now for black   despite having the about evaluation lead as we  see on screen here it just isn't that easy to play   not at all i actually like the move e5 it's risky  but i think the position almost calls for e5 e4   knight d3 uh sync that knight in and then just  just play from there at the end of the day   you can't calculate a perfect variation here  it's frustrating enough that there's no wind   on the spot i think just mobilize the center  and you know it's frustrating because look levi   spent a lot of time and now we're at even time  and i saw the eval bar it went back up better   for white all of a sudden knight d4 hits the work  with tempo and this is exactly what happens in a   bullet stretch of a game yeah and queen g6 after  a night move like knight e2 keeping my queen g6   it's gonna hit the rook on e8 there's so many  things happening and moves are flying in quick   as a flash now robert okay and if i play that  pawn is pins you're not actually threatening the   knight on d4 maybe there's a move thrown he plays  bishop g5 for that reason and look at levy quickly   renewing the discovery against the queen  queen for it now take on f4 take on h5   is possible in some variations le'veon  in eight seconds he's now down on time   maybe bishop ba queen d6 an idea that go for  h2 mate he doubles rooks on the f file and now   we're gonna have to see eric getting under  10 seconds this is going to be a wild finish   it is radiation you have to play the quickly the  h5 punting look at queen h6 g5 g5 will trap the   queen that's a win on the spot he has to play f3  it's not a move you want to play and no replay   he's threatening g5 again queen he won he freed  up the square and all of a sudden levy's thinking   2.7 seconds the queen comes back to e1 and now  queen b1 and look at this it's turning around   yeah bishop f4 and queen g3 though he wins  in exchange this is not over though bishop f4   keep that e3 pawn queen d5 king h8 oh my gosh  but you have the palm but rook to d1 take over   that open file you have rooks use them and queen  somewhere are you just going to figure out where   to knock him out in 1.3 seconds both of these  players are just almost losing on the spot queen   d4 check rook d7 coming up yep queen d5 check  queen careful queens wait trade every one of me because robert all he had to do was play queen  takes f7 with a check queen f7 check he needed   to take the rook but he took it the wrong way  and what a move by levy rosman and let's show   that finish one more time let's bring up the  uh analysis board there because you needed to   trade the queens off you saw before it happened  that queen b won checkmate but queen takes f7   wins for white just look at that eval bar it goes  after rook f7 all the way up queen takes f7 needed   to be played here black would be forced to trade  because it's a check but the wrong piece captured   first and that's why order matters in chess look  at that eval bar all the way down robert and queen   b1 found by levy wow and that can turn the entire  match around for levy here he played a very good   game he was alert he was pressing forward and he  started off very well on the clock then things   got out of hand and well i hate to say i called it  but we were getting that point where he's getting   the bullet and all of a sudden it's difficult  to find the knockout you're getting frustrated   you play a little bit slowly and then eric was  timely he struck back with 96 winning exchange   and finally in a pure time scramble it was levy  on top there just finding queen bee one track   a lot of credit to both of those players after a  hard fought game and wait d5 is a pawn sacrifice   yeah i was gonna say this is actually a well-known  uh ponzac in this line um the move e3 i don't   think is very good because of it i mean it's not  winning on the spot or anything but it's just a   nice way to get developed and uh usually black  is pretty happy to to get that move in yeah the   one downside in black's position is the e5 pawn  a little bit loose and that knight on d5 now is   not defended but if you take knight takes e5  the bishop recaptures and the queen opens up   to that knight that would be a blunder by white  even though it looks like you might be winning a   pawn yeah and i think both players are are going  to try to solve their their problems here just   castling bishop e6 now a move that always hurts  bishop e6 it moves like knight g5 and that's   what makes me think of e4 and play quickly by  levy if pawn takes on e4 we're gonna see the   knight jump into g5 hitting the bishop and then  looking to take back on e4 maybe with a piece   keep in mind there's queen h5 check queen b3  so many ideas i like white's position after e4   and part of the problem with this opening is  that knight on d5 it went knight c6 knight b4   knight takes d5 that takes time and the king is  still in the center white's king is castled and   black's position's a bit flimsy here so knight  g5 coming as you've been talking about the light   squares are very vulnerable and i think that eric  he kind of has to just say all right this doesn't   look good but let me take on e4 and when you go  knight g5 i'll just play queen e7 and you'll take   my bishop i won't be happy about it but at the  very least i'll have the ability to castle next   and i'm not down any material yeah that's a great  point and already in the tank here uh is rosen   although the time's actually even it looks like  levy was taking his time earlier with that tricky   d5 move so both players investing in the opening  we actually have seen the opening phase of this   match robert has really taken a long time i think  that is partly because rosen does play so many   tricky sidelines it's just his style that i think  both players in general are going to be investing   time in the opening because levy wants to make  sure that he's not misstepping in any of these   offbeat lines and it's the first time we've seen  white with a good position on the opening because   we've had four wins by black and the openings have  looked good for the black pieces this is the first   real advantage with the white pieces that i  can recall absolutely and and it's a very real   advantage um after knight g5 i mean it already  comes to question are we playing bishop g8 to   keep the bishop that's the move that comes to  mind that's the first instinct but it's not clear   that you can get away with that because you're  not going to be castling kingside there give so   much time to your opponent right so queen e7 eric  says i have to i'll give up that bishop take it   my queen takes at least my center is protected i  can try to castle queen side and if you take on e4   with the pawn your bishop on g2 could actually be  a bystander to plenty of the action in this game   so you prefer to take with the bishop on e4 but  that leaves that pawn on d3 as an isolated pawn   and that could be a problem in and of itself  so it's not an easy decision for levy either   definitely um i think there's like queen a4 queen  takes e4 if you want to play that way black won't   be too upset though to play um c6 and maybe long  castle or short castle there so i think levy is   just definitely better it looks like he does  want to play queen a4 and maybe take back with   the queen on e4 another situation where it's clear  that white is better but a few moves from now that   advantage can go away and in part it's because  this decision right now you have three pieces   all those captured in e4 look pleasant for white  but then you say is it really that bad for black   you said castle king side why not give that seve  open file maybe my bishop will come to c5 at some   moment and i can attack your pawn on f2 and all  of a sudden i like my isolated pawn e5 just like   the iqp we had in other positions look at queen b3  threatening the b7 pawn threatening to go d takes   e4 and perhaps black says all right i'll give you  b7 and i'm taking you on d3 and now we get a wild   tactical game yeah it makes me question like what  what's the call your bluff move is it pawn takes   on d3 queen b7 short castle queen takes c6 e4  and just saying look i'll take the entire center   you get my entire queen side that center if it  falls apart it's gg but if he hangs on to that   that could be levy spoiling his advantage although  i like what eric just did because while e takes d3   could have worked look at that bishop on g2 not  the happiest bishop that we've seen especially   when you have two bishops advantage a queen trade  not so bad for black your rooks are connected can   take over the d files so i think all things  considered eric is very happy to get to this   position out of the opening where it looked  like he could lose tactically in a few moves   absolutely um i think this game is going to come  down to the dark squares if this bishop manages   you know to put itself on d4 for example it's  going to be looking at the f2 pawn the b2 pawn   and it's going to be very very strong but bishop  e3 that's why he played h3 keep that move in mind   he didn't just play for no reason knight g4 would  have been the same annoyance as knight g5 earlier   in this game attacking the bishop but played  h3 stopped it now he takes over this important   important diagonal and that that's why i think  that levy's doing well here and he does it with   tempo that palm a7 is now under attack if the  rook run a8 so if that rook on f8 went to d8   do you play your idea bishop c7 bishop b6 and try  to trade off those dark square bishops but now the   pawn a7 is under attack so you don't have time  to just make a random move otherwise white will   capture so if you play a6 then a bishop plants  itself on b6 and takes over the dark squares there   that's not so bad for black and a bishop trade the  darts are bishop trade could be nice because that   bishop on g2 isn't in the game but giving up those  holes on the queen side isn't exactly appealing   absolutely the the dark squares here are gonna  shape the game and levy up a minute on the clock   it's like where have we seen this before well  not in this match so far robert white has a   good position and levy's up a minute on the clock  yeah and eric has really been struggling in this   game and it's because he did kind of the opening  surprise and then levy just parried it off really   well and now eric trying to find the precise  moves you need to make the good moves quickly not   the best move slowly we always say this and right  now bishop c7 is played giving up that pawn in a7   that [ __ ] what do you think robert basically  it comes down to do you have it in you to take   it because i think we can all look at  this pawn and say that's greedy but   it's takeable yeah i think you should capture it  and what eric's really relying on is not a bishop   trap i think he wants to trade the bishops and  he says i'll give you that outside rook pawn if i   trade the bishops i'll take over the dark squares  in particular the d4 square it takes a while for a   knight to get there but if that knight could go f6  to e6 and into d4 then we're talking yeah uh still   a crucial decision because that's a way to  hang the match right there you know what   i mean or at least hang this game bishop a7 if  you miscalculate something believe me what he's   looking at is bishop a7 b6 and then queen takes  c6 and you know like there follows maybe a rook d6   or something like that and that bishop does stay  locked on a7 for longer than feels comfortable   and i'm sure that levy doesn't believe in it he  knows that he can take the pawn a7 he's checking   double checking unfortunately quadruple checking  because he gets himself in some time trouble   but he does take the pawn so he makes the right  decision he spent a minute and four seconds   to figure it out but um eric had spent a minute  and 17 seconds on his move so both players spent a   lot of time and eric just goes rook 8 i guess the  a2 pawn can be captured but bishop c5 with tempo   8 pawn is saved and that totally worked out for  levy time invested and paid off immediately that   you wonder about the similarities between chess  and poker well robert that was called a bluff   bishop c7 i think eric rosen knew that pawn could  be taken but just hoping that the the calculations   would scare off levy but you know levy says all  right let's go you want to calculate that i'm   right there with you and i believe he calculated  it very well let's see if he can convert his one   pawn advantage as we mentioned those dark square  bishops now being traded off fantastic decision by   eric you're down a pawn you realize that my knight  can outclass a bishop especially that light square   bishop so if you trade the bishops levy says no  don't want any part of that but now the f2 pawn   so rook f8 the problem is not solved because that  bishop can plant itself on d4 he plays knight f6   still that bishop can come to d4 and how is white  going to make progress you have an extra pawn   but it's this f2 pawn that's really where your  extra pawn is right now you're not moving that   because i can get your king in trouble and so it's  not so clear how to proceed i like that decision   by levy i would go f4 here and he's played it  king h2 just like get the king out of the way   i know that i can't trade these bishops so you  know what i'm going to give you this great d4   square we talked about it earlier and i think  bishop h4 could be played here and he saves the   bishop g5 not possible because the f4 pawn is  right there but you're not going to take on e5   and then the bishop takes back on e5 and that's a  great square so in comes the queen say please take   my knight and f6 i don't mind opening my king  because you don't have pieces to attack me and   it's your king on h2 on that dark square that can  get in some trouble and it's tough decision after   tough decision for levy right now do you play f5  that closed down the position he says no bishop   f3 let's attack the queen you're gonna drop back  the g6 and now do i play f5 that's f5 with tempo   that's always a little bit more enticing i think  queen queen b3 i was actually wondering on the   last move was it gonna happen because it sort of  makes the move queen h5 look a little questionable   oh and now if you don't trade queens is black  gonna take on f4 and say hey you take with your   pawn your king is not feeling so safe i would take  on f4 i'm down to pawn but i'm going for your kick   ef4 g for bishop e3 threading rook d2 when he  plays bishop v3 first rook d2 is the threat   yep it's got to be rook well you feel like it's  got to be rook d1 but hey that that pawn can now   be taken there's an e5 flurry you know in the  position but i just don't think it quite works   for levy no because you can take on d1 and then  move your knight you got out of the pin by trading   and this is why i didn't like f4 your king  is exposed you're creating threats for black   now black has all of this out seven seconds  for white you gotta go you gotta now knight d5   your pawn forward defend f63 is a big threat  because the rook on f1 is not defended the king   is in a big trouble here f takes g3 king g2 and  then bishop c2 g5 just trapped the bishop there   there's still some tricks here though queen f6 is  a solid move g takes h4 okay that's going to be   in there queen h7 that was sneaky though and just  rookie yeah the fisherman e3 is protected so queen   e7 here pick up the pawn and the king on jade  can live to see another day this is not gonna be   enough um and you know he's gonna try here but uh  i don't think we're gonna see anything other than   eric rosen converting this position he's got an  extra piece and a pawn to boot what a wild game it   looked like levy had a big advantage and then eric  played good defense and the position opened up   unfavorable terms for levy now eric can just push  his f pawn he puts his king in he's trying to go   for a checkmate if he got a rook p5 bishop f2 mate  so that's why the king ran away and now his f-pawn   can start running yeah and this uh you know it's  levy who has the one second you know in rook f5   trying for something you know hoping for f3  pre-move or something like that good try that   was a good try and we still have 16 minutes  45 seconds left in this longest time control   and i'm not sure who prefers to play more games  because it has felt very back and forth black has   won all five games okay so maybe they should start  playing a3 on the first move and try to play with   just hand the move over i agree because even with  that opening advantage that we saw there robert it   just can't break the curse that black is winning  every single game it okay d4 a fun position with   white is it gonna matter well let's find out  robert can white finally win a game in this match   and this variation is interesting i'm not quite  sure why eric went away from the positions he   was getting with the iqp that isolated queen  pawn i thought they were pleasant for white   but perhaps eric didn't feel like they were in  his comfort zone and instead we're getting a   more open position look at this the bishop on  d3 is open now the bishop d6 of course is open   knight takes d4 there could be bishop takes h2  check as a possibility with queen h4 to follow   that's a known tactical sequence which means  that the pawn d4 could be potentially untouchable   yeah and i i always wonder in positions like this  uh if rosen is really planning to take it back   right away or if he's sort of going for something  more attacking knight takes d4 looks tempting is   it worth saving this bishop uh something like c5  you can already keep the extra pawn but i think   that might be exactly what rosen is looking  for it reminds me of these openings where   freaking exactly what move it is but it's like  the italian with an early d4 and a sacrifice we   try to like bishop g5 and give up the pawn and go  for an attack that shouldn't work out with proper   play but it's always scary and instead levy says  i don't want to deal with that let me just develop   my pieces i'm doing fine i'm up a pawn right now  my bishop pins your knight so you can't even get   the d4 pawn but i would probably play h3 and just  try to get the bishop pair yep yeah h3 um looks   like a good move to start with uh no matter what  you know if the bishop goes to h5 you deal with   that after knight takes dc because bishop h7 check  of queen takes d6 so you have to take on f3 wow   what a move yeah we can show that for everybody  just what a nice little tactic yeah so knight   takes c6 queen takes d6 i mean that's a move  you pretty much pre-move nearly um here and then   knight g5 check and queen takes g4 and hey you  pick that up the g4 pawn is still loose in the   position there's still ideas like queen to the h  file and queen h7 mate yes and it would be even   material so i think that's what levy's trying to  figure out here because he can give the h7 pawn or   he can take on f3 and then give up two bishops  keep his material and say i have the knights   and extra pawn but you have these bishops my king  could still be vulnerable i would i wouldn't want   to give the bishop but i don't want to give the  h7 pawn so he does take on f3 and i think that's   the best choice and do you think there's also a  little bit of ego like you don't want to let the   guy play bishop to h7 on you you're like oh i see  the tactic i can't let him uh do me like that on   chess tv yeah that's probably part of it you know  there are what uh 18 000 people here on twitch and   you know more on youtube and elsewhere on chess  tv everyone's watching so i know bishop h7 for   you and instead we have this position what is  white's follow-up though because how do you really   start making creating pressure that's the thing  you can get away with you know having the bishops   and that sounds good but then you have to prove  it like where are you going from here the proof   is always the hard part i think in general you  know move like bishop d2 or a3 is almost needed uh   i'm a little concerned about knight d7 knight e5  or knight b4 in general taking these pieces out   of the way knight f6 looks so natural but i think  he he wanted that to follow up with bishop g5 and   try to get a rook lift maybe i think eric's just  relying on counter play and activity and even   though knight b to d7 that final night is out the  rooks are connected black should be happy up upon   you just see these bishops and you have to concern  yourself if i ever play h6 is he just gonna sack   that bishop on h6 and rip with my king and so  how do i yeah how do i shield myself but the   simple answer is probably move your queen away  because under attack then bring your rook to e8   go with the open file and just play it slowly be  deliberate you don't have to rush any decisions   here absolutely um keep in mind queen d5 i know  it sounds crazy but it's hitting that a2 pawn so   if all the rooks go to e8 we might see a situation  where you can almost take that and just grab   a2 and say look you know i prove your advantage i  like that rook 81 queen takes a2 is a possibility   and if i am eric i'm probably ready to give that  up like i'll play b3 trap your queen over there   for a while and try to get some kind of quick play  but you are down one pawn going down two not ideal   yeah that's a good point queen d5 just a nice  centralizing movement life is just putting the   question back to eric we see the time situation  b3 played because hey he saw that a pawn and let's   keep in mind levy actually took the pawn on e7 so  i think rosen is probably thinking i don't think   i can bluff him twice in the same match and once  again black has a good position now the opening   up the engine right we see the evaluation bar it  agrees and the thing about b3 which is tricky is   there's some bishop c4 not to be so afraid of but  at some moment the f7 square could be a target so   i think that's why levy's taking his time but rook  fte that's the sort of the obvious move to him but   he's trying to say maybe i switch my a rook over  maybe that's the precise way to go and the only   downside of playing 88 is if i get bishop d6  if i can remove your queen then your rook on   f8 is trapped over there so there is something  to figure out yeah i was thinking another like   main idea that sometimes black goes for is queen  h5 with the idea queen g3 queen g4 now don't know   if we want to do that exactly in this moment but  it's actually a way to force the queens off the   board for sure and when you're up upon you always  want to be looking for ways to possibly do that   there's a great tactical sequence right now bishop  e5 queen e5 rook 81 and yeah the queen of d6   afterwards and you can play the move rookie seven  i've actually experienced this in a game where my   opponent has done that to me and i was shocked  but the point is that the queen takes e7 bishop   takes h7 and the knight can't capture you back so  someone has done this not in this exact position   but i have faced this before and i've stored that  in the memory bank of hey wait a sec that knight   on f6 is pinned and it would only be a draw in  that case but that's just the type of thing that   scares you you know if you're calculating yeah and  like i said i missed it and it was in much bigger   consequences in an online game so it wasn't that  big a deal as a blitz game but i remember being   like what in the world oh that's sick so i've  kept that in mind since then knight g6 is a great   choice by levy they're just hitting the queen and  the bishop and you're forcing off one of the pair   of bishops so it looks like it's a good trade  yeah the bishops get significantly weaker when   you divide them in half uh two bishops down to  one is a big deal actually that pawn is going to   move up to c5 defend the pawn on d4 and we've  been talking about this extra pawn that that   levy's had the whole game well he's still got  it and now it becomes more and more meaningful   well now it's on d3 it's this dark square  bishop light square on d3 rook d8 coming   and hard to see how you pile up pressure you can  play rook d2 but then the knight comes into e4   he starts with bishop e3 he wants to play bishop  d4 cutting off the queen and the pawn but then   black has the c5 move to say get your bishop out  of here that pawn is staying on the board yeah and   keep in mind that bishop might take that pawn  on a7 if you've seen it before robert i'm just   gonna be calling out uh those apons from now on  that'll be my wait wait wait can we can we take it   oh my goodness no no we please no this  can't actually happen wait but can we okay   now i'm actually a little serious that pawn  is under attack can we just steal that pawn   okay he's not it's too much yeah it's too  much but now he is threatening to take   that pawn with his queen and he cut off the  queen from the d3 pawn so if you trade on d4   i just take back and then i will win the d3 pawn  next move so this is a really good move by eric   although bishop takes a7 hats begs the question  is that pawn really hanging it does that time   is even queen d4 played there's always an idea  to just move that queen but let's say queen f5   then we're dead serious queen takes a7 has to  happen um if we trade that bishop takes back i   think it is you know reasonable to play something  like e6 keep in mind that if you just grab that   pawn on d3 there is going to be c5 that's going to  be a pin from the rook on d8 to the rook on d3 so   white can't is or is not threatening rook  takes d3 in the current position he could   have captured with the pawn on d4 which would  have allowed him to capture the pawn on d3 next   but that would be something in a capablanca game  where black just crushes because it's a terrible   bishop on the dark squares and an isolated pawn so  that's why eric took with the bishop and he's up   time levy down to 45 seconds he is better here  that's for sure he's up a pawn and as you said   c5 will be the response that we're taking d3 but  he doesn't have time so he needs to move quickly   yeah bishop d4 and b6 is natural are we gonna  see b4 to sort of counteract that c5 move or   are we gonna are we gonna maybe see f3 uh king  out basically rosen is trying to take that pawn   in the best way possible he he wants to take it  and have an even structure he plays the move f3   he can't have everything though robert um he  has to focus on winning that pawn back at all   yeah the reason why i didn't like b4 for white  is i don't want to even think about that black   pawn game c4 to protect the past pawn so if he  keeps the pawn on b3 even if you get c5 you're   not getting c4 in so right now in knight hi i  like that move and rook takes d3 there's still   c5 walking into a pin don't do that so king f2  makes sense but now that knight can come into f4   yeah knight f4 and i mean the bishop is going to  be attacked by some sort of knight e6 and still   rook takes d3 not possible g5 played and are we  going to see like rook e1 uh b4 all these moves   come to mind i think it's still a very tense game  levy is actually the one getting low on time here   he is 22 seconds and rookie one there could be  a rookie seven out of nowhere and the bishop on   d4 is staring at the g7 pawn so you have to watch  out for that and rookie one also there's a rookie   five move hitting the g5 pawn so rookie one played  20 seconds not for levy you got to go did you play   g4 here no he says let's go to c5 and i played  e5 well e3 was also good but that knight has   nowhere to go i'll take it pretty much wherever  it uh runs to yeah uh i guess in this position i   would probably look the stick of rook on e8 um to  challenge that uh that e file now c4 happens and   rook d5 just looks silly it goes back to d7 rookie  3 rook fd8 at least you're holding on that pawn   but the problem is your knight can't get back in  i will take your knight and blockade your pawn so   i actually think that white has very good chance  to hold i would probably start with rook d2 here   i don't even want to think about your pawn pushing  but if your pawn does push i guess i can actually   team up on it more easily so he does play g4 he  probably will take this knight no matter where it   goes but seven seconds eight seconds okay he moved  and rook e5 without using a rookie four instead   it's almost like a bullet move where you get  them pre-moving g5 or something because ricky   [ __ ] doesn't look as good no and now i would  play king e2 probably and just go near the pawn   h4 all right making sure that black can't push the  pawns now king e2 but there's always rook c3 keep   in mind like rick c1 threat and he can't take d2  without losing f3 oh rook takes f4 that's a pawn   i'll grab that one or take that f4 maybe rook e8  to follow then rookie four right i just try to   trade off some rooks and get my king d2 but a4  that's nice you're trying to break down white's   pawn structure but if a b rook takes rook takes d2  he gets the pass pawn and now it's even material   yeah and 1.6 seconds for levy i mean is someone  going to flag this game it really feels like it   oh i got 1.8 he barely got that move up three  seconds for eric he plays hr that's a good move   pawn chain rook five another group of keep your  pieces defended now the seventh rank is scary   pawn goes down rook b7 rook d7 to follow rook d6  here probably wins g6 i think that's king this   king can come into the position king f6 kg5  king f4 careful of that king oh my gosh king   takes g4 whose past pawn is better i don't know  don't play rook g3 g6 is hanging rookie two's   almost mate though yeah it's almost majority  players rook d2 and rookie are going for a game   0.4 seconds how is that even possible oh they  go with 0.1 seconds barely is possible i wasn't   gonna fight you and now levy's up a point that's  me we'll get one's mate oh my goodness oh my gosh someone was gonna lose that game eric is so  he just didn't react and levy just like what   just happened this is ridiculous and it's an even  match and white still has not even scored a half   point it is six nothing for the players the black  pieces in a 3-3 match overall that makes no sense   when white makes the first move every engine that  you could ever see in the world is going to say   yeah white has a slight advantage after e4 and yet  we've seen no wins with the white pieces this is   crazy uh somehow right now you know black is just  cracked i mean they know something that we don't   robert because uh some of them about the opening  choices in this match uh i mean it's almost like   you get the black pieces and you're feeling more  confident and i'm just looking at the players   levy kind of looks like he's struggling for breath  after what was a crazy finish and eric's looking   like he's making decisions at the grocery store  he just doesn't react like he's just there hanging   out like does he not feel the pain of just losing  that game by getting checkmated in a two-rook   position i am just out of words and eric is just  calmly biting into his hoodie and moving on i   think that's about as nervous as you'll see him  get you know the classic you know yellow hoodie   collar bite is uh that's the most emotion you'll  you'll get out of uh eric rosen as again you   pointed it out he's already just focused on this  next match whereas levy it's like you can almost   see the the the cold war flashbacks from last game  in his eyes and for eric you should be happy he's   got the black piece in this game but actually i  like white's position because of this [ __ ] don't   say that robert i i you know i tend to think that  white has good chances here but after this 94 move   it's funny that's the tempting move but i think  white should have probably started with c5 because   look at the knight coming right back to d2  that's saying f5 could have come now at least   i'm attacking the pawn on e5 so f5 doesn't work  but black can probably play in bishop d6 or queen   d6 or something to defend the pawn he does play  bishop d6 and the setup is solid white is still   trying to play c5 and advance the knight but  that d3 pawn that's always a potential weakness   yes this classic position so you give up the  bishop pair two bishops for black but by doing   that then they don't have six it's so instrumental  in controlling the center especially the light   squares e4 and d5 you give that up well now look  knight e4 the other knight maybe can cycle back to   d2 we might see the c pawn push followed by knight  d2 to c4 and all of a sudden every piece for white   is getting involved here robert that's true and  then c6 it's it's supposed to be a good piece it's   developed but often you want the knight on d7 to  go into like c5 and try to make progress there and   right now knight after d2 you called it the  bishop on g2 watch out on that diagonal there   could be some problems here and c5 for white  and then knight to c4 and all of a sudden those   knights are getting into the game the bishop is  thriving on the long diagonal and black is in   some trouble there trying to defend the position  and bishop g6 i was about to say f5 such a big   idea in this position and you know a well-timed  e4 for black is usually what makes it break this   position for either side g4 you might look at that  move and say you know what the heck is levy up to   but this is a positional idea taking control of  f5 and we actually might see this knight on d2   uh either reroute f1 to g3 or maybe the knight on  e4 dropping back to g3 it's all about controlling   the light squares which is why levy gave up his  dark square bishop for a knight and the main   drawback of course is the dark squares there so if  you move that knight away from d2 i will consider   playing bishop takes e4 and then bishop g5 very  quickly get my bishop into f4 cause your king   you know some problems over there and c5 is a good  move it takes up space that knight can go into the   c4 square maybe into b6 or d6 so levy has things  going on for him but i would even consider rook a5   saying are you are you gonna get away with knight  to c4 maybe that c5 pawn is a target i guess it   might not work out in that immediate position  but rook a5 that rook lift is actually thematic   yeah it's either going to be rook a5 or rook  c8 but brook a5 makes more sense because you   don't want to just drop the a4 pawn now that you  put it there you can't just drop it for nothing   king h8 speaks to the fact that rosen might be  feeling like hey white's doing all the you know   has all the ideas here i have to do something king  h8 says you know at some point the move f5 makes   some sense now i want to get off this diagonal  and he takes an e4 because he says the c5 pawn   is no longer defended the g5 square i can bring my  bishop there or if i take on c5 first my queen can   get out over to g5 or h4 the problem with this is  there are going to be times where bishop takes c6   knight takes e5 tactically work out for what this  is uh i think it seems very uh fortunate that it   is working out because after bc6 knight takes  e5 rook is threatening the c5 bishop and hang on   that king on h8 does not look very smart right now  because knight takes e5 also now threatens knight   takes f7 so you have the move queen d5 and that  queen is a hero protecting literally everything   the c5 bishop the c6 pawn and the f7 square while  attacking the knight on e5 so you have that saving   grace but you're right iman that you wish that  you could put that king just hey no one's looking   king's back to jail if you're playing the hustlers  in the park you there quickly put the king back   into g8 and then make a different move and here  queen definitely only option and isn't this very   tricky queen d5 knight takes f7 king g8 looks like  a really fun move to play because you almost say   look that knight on f7 stranded after king g8  it's like wait a minute i thought i was the one   with the white pieces doing the tactic could we  see this flip around right away knight f7 looks   like a very reasonable move to play yeah what a  shocking move king g8 would be and the thing about   this position is even if i had to take your knight  and go down a pawn you wish that pawn speaking of   sliding pieces could that pawn go back maybe one  square or two back to g3 or g2 because your king   is going to be open for the rest of the game but  that is an amazing thing to see iman with knight   f7 king g8 and your knight has nowhere to go yeah  it's such a funny move and i think maybe levy's   starting to realize that now because you almost go  into this thinking okay the guys king's on h8 with   the rook pressuring c5 i simply have knight takes  f7 winning upon queen you know has to take rook   takes c5 but knight f7 king g8 and suddenly it's  your knight who's getting trapped and we could   see black win yet another game in this series and  the thing is if you move your knight back casually   like knight c4 black says i'm gonna get rid of my  back rank problems with an attack with h5 ripping   your king side open and then my bishop later can  come to the bh2 diagonal my queen's coming over to   the king side to cause some threats i don't like  white's position all of a sudden it felt like   there was something there and then you go for the  direct win of material and it backfires because   of this wonderful king j8 move that we've been  pointing out so this is a scary position for levy   yeah and there's not an easy decision to make  here because knight c4 as you mentioned there's   there's moves like h5 coming up the the fact  is the queen can't get out and after knight f3   rook takes e1 as the first move that comes to mind  because you cannot play well doesn't look like you   should play queen takes e1 uh dropping the knight  and dropping a whole bunch of puns near your king   that would probably not be ideal and i'm still  looking at this h5 move just to give my king   some space off the back rank he does take on e1  first that looks good and brookdale how could   you blame him for developing his pieces and his  attack he does luce said the a4 pawn so there i   wouldn't take that right now that's going  away from the king that looks scary with   queen g5 coming things like that but that  pawn a4 at some point can be captured so levy   how does periphery he's going to be looking at  that definitely and the reason you want to loosen   up this wow he took it excuse me is this a match  of taking random a pawns it looks like it robert   queen takes a4 and i mean this just looks too  greedy to me but hey uh queen g5 that's the   first thing that comes to mind it hits the  c1 rook and it hits the g4 pawn with chat   look bishop d6 also is tricky because if you  play queen takes c6 then that rook takes e1 shack   distracting your rook from the queen's protection  and when the queen recaptures you cover the back   rank so that tactic would uh be good so yeah  that wouldn't work out for white there's this   trick and the rook's overloaded yeah and the queen  watching e8 is actually so important in that line   so you really have to notice that to go for it  but it does work out perfectly for block yeah   i think bishop d6 is the way to go because  you're staring right at that white king side   and it looks like you can mount a serious attack  so i don't even know what the best response is to   bishop d6 because your move queen g5 comes next  and he plays bishop b6 step one complete queen g5   step two checkmate inevitably step three that's a  scary three-step process just that outline for our   viewers here robert um bishop d6 i mean you've  pointed everything out it's it's queen e5 it's   queen g5 it's the fact that h5 gets rid of back  rank for black and continues the attack um this   looks really difficult to meet because that knight  all you want to do is put it on f3 and play king   g2 all at once but you can't do either of those  moves at the moment and you'll never do both of   them together no you will not and just coming up  with a move is difficult for white if you play   queen back to d1 yeah you keep your king side  safer for now but i still make a move like h5   or rookie 6 rook lift and queen g5 is possible  right now because you want queen to c4 so i'm   going to play queen g5 and just attack the g4 pawn  keep an eye on your rook on c1 what do you do here   do you like play h3 but then c5 how's queen  takes c6 i mean are we getting completely mated   here like i know queen takes g4 is like completely  ridiculous but at the same time white just had to   make a move and with 18.7 seconds i think queen  c6 is reasonable yeah it is and after king h1   you can just play d8 maybe and keep the attack  alive because that bishop on d6 is staring at   the king and there's no queen takes d6 which is  important there would be background checkmates   but the queen on g4 covers that c8 square so you  are safe for the moment and there's gonna have to   be an investment by black after defending the  rook and taking care of these pieces which are   forked by the way uh there just is gonna have to  be an h5 or a g6 move uh because back rank threats   throughout this entire end game it's just not  possible to deal with everything and queen h3   is a pretty big threat hitting h2 throwing the f1  square that's why he drops the queen back to f3   and just bring your queen back somewhere i'm not  sure where yeah not gonna be a trade here no sir   queen g5 maybe just uh hey maybe you don't notice  your rook's hanging you have 4.9 seconds yeah yeah   h6 for black just like give my king some safety  maybe even uh at some point h5 because it controls   g4 but yeah we just need upon we need something  in front of the king i would say queen g5 okay   there's that threat to the rook five he barely got  the move off oh my gosh queen it should check this   king f1 what a way to weasel out of this for levy  yes because he's playing on the light squares now   every piece is safe king f1 you can quickly  oh he walked right into it and he had no time   and he shakes his head gets up and bounces and  eric's like all right it's it's chill we're   still just playing eric's just pouring another  cup of tea i mean it's just a day in the office   this is such an intense match eric rosen takes  the lead at the end of the five minute portion   oh what was needed there was just like king  f1 or something it just those those two   seconds you're never going to play perfect  chess all the time amman seven games played   seven wins for the player with the black  pieces what in the world is going on   i think everybody in this match needs to go and  check their repertoire and make sure they actually   had some openings prepared as white because it  looks like everybody's just winging it right now   and everyone prepared with the black pieces or  something because let's be let's be clear these   guys are playing great but uh we're not seeing any  big advantages and especially not any conversions   with the white pieces no the the biggest lead's  been one it's been a win for one player win for   the other it's a strike back immediately so this  is as even of a match as it gets eric gets to go   into the break with the lead and before we take  our break i just want to ask your iman and what's   the mindset like for them because it is really a  50 50 shot except for a you know win there in the   final position on time and getting checkmated well  i i think what we've seen from this match is that   uh these guys are allergic to uh draws let's  put it that way um if there's a time scramble   and it's even time we don't see players offering  draws we see absolute chaos on the board you and i   losing our minds our voices uh it it's basically  indicating that every game seems to finish with   a decisive result so time scramble skills are  super super important in this match and coming   back into it you just want to regroup and remember  in the three minute portion if you're getting in   that time pressure it's going to be even worse so  that's something to think about yeah it's a good   thing to leave our viewers with we'll bid you  adieu just for now we'll be back in a few and   when we return we'll have more of this levy versus  eric speeches championship match brought to you by chess.com and just a reminder of our 16  participants in the upcoming pogchamps 3   it's going to be a great tournament  filled with your favorite streamers   celebrities poker stars and more  amman i know i'm looking for it starts   just in a few days from now yeah and it's  going to be an exciting one robert if you've   you know been tuned into the chess category you've  probably noticed quite a number of these players   um getting some coaching and getting tuned up for  the event which is exactly what we like to see   the players are taking that as seriously as the  players are taking today's match by the looks of   it robert so if uh today's match was a taste of  adrenaline in chess that you haven't experienced   before uh we got that event coming right up we  certainly do and i am just pumped to see how   this match keeps going here because seven games  seven wins for the black pieces both sides have   had their chances time scrambles have been a thing  and it feels like for levy better clock management   is a necessity at this point in three-minute chess  you can't afford to spend two minutes early like   he did in some of the five-minute games but  then again he was playing really good chess   so it's hard to fault him completely there i don't  know what the right solution is yeah it's so hard   to say i always say live and die by the sword but  uh we're into this next match i think at the very   least levy is gonna see three minutes on the clock  and realize that that's a more comfortable more   natural time control that's the arena kings format  the title tuesday when he's playing blitz on   stream that's probably going to be more familiar  territory for him and i think that that could   you know make him feel more comfortable yeah and  for eric in some of these time scrambles levy has   gotten the upper hand so he needs to be careful  about that and as you said title tuesday has this   time control and levy's beaten even peter spidler  one of the very best players in the world so we   know that he has what it takes to win games in  this format and right now we have another caracon   that b5 has just been played that is an aggressive  move that can often backfire if white can time an   a4 push at some moment so that's a dangerous  move to play if you're levy especially having   not canceled yet and it looks like a strange move  to play against someone who's got a knight on c2   because it controls the b4 square so nicely and it  it's full queen side development over here bishop   to b7 uh is he playing a castle queen side it  looks insane with moves like a4 so i'm questioning   that bishop on b7 is it ever going to get open i'm  looking at moves like queen e2 bishop g5 and just   planting knight in on e5 yeah that's thematic here  and if your king finds it doesn't just drop a pawn   um so knight takes e5 and then pawn takes bishop  takes e5 does he did he hallucinate some sort of   queen e2 bishop pig's e5 thing like there's  no there's no way this is just a free pun   yeah that caught me off guard because you were  saying queen e2 and then 95 right exactly and   then he went 95 and i'm like that doesn't look  right because he played that too fast and levy's   sitting here and calculating is there something  that we're missing down the line here i'm trying   to look at the player cams for a reaction um  and basically rosen is probably like oh my god   if i move my eyes a single bit he's gonna notice  the pawn hanging yeah he's doing secret service   we have a problem on the e5 square nobody move a  muscle and yeah levy takes it and he is now up a   pawn down 30 seconds but upon him i think that's a  good response by eric if you are going to blunder   upon the center at least complicate matters  playing a4 now if you take on a4 the rook can   capture it over there and the a6 pawn becomes a  target so the extra pawn hasn't quite made its   presence felt and well actually levy gives  the pawn right back yeah you know i tend to   agree with you robert the extra pun hasn't made  his presence felt because it's no longer there   and after a takes b5 technically you can win that  pawn back i still think black has the edge and of   course that was definitely not a good sequence  by eric to give it up in the first place but   i guess you gotta take it back even the stakes and  say you know whatever the position is that i have   now i just have to deal with it because getting  that pawn back is is worth more than anything   very interesting to not take on a4 and allow  white to take on b5 giving the pawn back   but as you were just saying black's position is  better look at this activity the knight on e4   the bishop e5 and don't sleep on that bishop on a8  because if that diagonal opens up there could be   big trouble by the way bishop h2 check forces the  king to f1 if you go to h1 you get not just forked   but checkmated so levy first plays pawn to f5  solidifies the defense that knight on e4 he would   like to take with the f pawn open up that rook  and eric will not be capturing that's for sure   no and i'll just show the people that check me  because it is it is pretty uh pretty funny the   idea just getting made it's so satisfying to do  with the knight basically a smothered mate um so   keep in mind it looks like it you know maybe just  a silly tactic you know robert's just having his   fantasies about smothered mates but no it's really  important to uh focus on those tactics see them   even when they aren't forcing and they don't  work because later on in this game we might see   that type of idea play into the game that for sure  could be the case and queen b6 puts pressure on d4   says bishop e3 don't think so queen takes b2 so  levy has really liked these queen b6 maneuvers   throughout the day and it also protects  the e6 pawn so that queen's doing it all   absolutely the only piece left to maybe improve  if you're looking at black's position just a few   small moves that he wants to play maybe bishop b7  just to get off the back rank so that the rook can   always use the a file if necessary also one step  closer to bishop ca if you need just more scope   and maybe just a move like h6 there's always time  for small moves like that so i'm i'm liking levy's   position as uh wow bishop takes e4 that is quite  a committal decision yeah that is a huge decision   and the one good thing for eric there are not many  in this position is that the pawn on b2 even if   your bishop moves the e6 pawn is also an attack  but i like the way levi recaptured because that   bishop is going to go to d5 and so even though you  didn't capture on the f-pawn to open up the rook   your bishop is more flexible and free so levi's  got a nice advantage here yeah absolutely bishop   e3 is the move you want to play so desperately  with the with the white pieces queen takes c3   knight takes e6 i don't know what the uh queen  is b2 rather knight takes e6 i don't know what   the evaluation is after that looks like he wants  to defend it and then go for bishop e3 and the   biggest difference between taking the d and the  f pawn is black and also f4 if that bishop goes   to e3 and then maybe e3 or f3 are both ripping  open that king side and so i think that levy's   in a great position to even play f4 himself say  hey is that really a bishop on c1 what you doing   over there you can't get out and i am going to try  to push my pawns and attack your king but look at   the time 45 seconds for black 35 seconds for white  we're getting into a bit of a scramble territory   and that's when mistakes happen but black really  has a nice position at this point yeah and i was   gonna say he's either thinking about rook takes  e4 or he's thinking about something crazy and   i think it was crazy knight f3 saying look if  you take me rook takes e5 what's even happening   there after f takes g2 yeah have that pawn i'll  use it as a shield that's an umbrella and that   way your bishop on eight looks great but you're  not figuring a way to attack so he doesn't take   now knight g5 is possible rookie for also  possible i was just trying to save the material   and he goes for your line because the light  squares are now under white's control and the f4   i'm a bad influence i don't know if that was the  best but it's just such a bullet instinct he saw   those 20 seconds ticking down now his position hey  it might not be the best but it's very playable   he's got two connected outside pass pawns and he  has control over some light squares be careful of   that epon getting to e5 and getting to e4 before  he can establish the blockade he does have knight   g5 now but you have to think is there f3 coming  open up that bishop e4 check things get really   crazy at this point so knight g5 there probably is  that f3 move so he goes knight to d2 and now after   f3 maybe he can go queen e4 and say wait a second  if the queen's trade well he takes it that can't   be good that completely shocked me i thought i was  gonna play queen e4 and try to trade queens and if   the queens came off my point was that hey those  past pawns in the queen side could be worth the   exchange down maybe queen g5 and then take f3 you  can't play knight takes oh that's that's for oh he   takes and does the bishop hanging yep that'll be  game all right so it's an extra rook for just two   pawns and you need to prove it you're 12 seconds  you're up on time you can do this i would make   space for my king at some point i would play h6  and just you know deal with everything else later   um eric is going to play this because hey he's  got two pawns over there but that queen trade i   think is going to cement things yeah that's  not going to help your cause here rookie 8   the knights know we're good to go the c3 pawns  hang ruxia obviously is also good and it looks   like levy for the eighth time in this match with  the black pieces the player is going to win so   i guess we're just coming to expect that black  is going to win every single game in this match   and i know there's there's not much commentary  to give at the end but i just want to say   playing rook a8 there with the rook  just a really good habit to get into   you toss your rook super far away from your king  so that it won't get forked yeah that's a good   call and there's a fork here but rook c4 you  guys would protect the bishop that's good news   and eric is the type player to play out by the  way three seconds for each player so there could   be a flag and now rook c3 knight g4 if you take  on f3 king g2 and you oh you can't get through oh my gosh i knew it that's so funny eric finds  all of these stalemates he did it last year   against elizabeth pitts and he managed to actually  get a stalemate in one game but levy's too   aware of what's going on he's got some  free moves now and he's like all right   enough of this enough just take the  knife wait oh it's not stalemate   see that's what that's what rosa does to you  he sits there in his yellow hoodie and he makes   you think that every position on the board is  stalemate oh my gosh amman the way this match   is going wouldn't be surprised if we get to  tie breakers and if we get to armageddon i   know which color the players are going to choose  it is certainly going to be the black pieces   would be insane if black won every game in the  match and then won the tiebreaker and you know   the players just went home and that was the result  i wonder if this is getting to their heads because   obviously we're making jokes about it but do you  think they're looking at their opening repertoire   and even in this game levy sacrificed the pawn and  if eric can counter the initial pressure he should   have a good position because he's a pawn up so  another game another kind of weird opening choice   and if he can deal with the immediate danger  black will once again have the advantage   robert i i mean i have to just go back and show  that stalemate what could have happened because   that's so classic rook g3 king h1 and honestly i  might have pre-moved this in a game yes like it's   so easy to do you're like okay rook g3 i finally  won his knight that tricky guy's been forking   me everywhere rook takes g4 and you know it's  actually really really good of levy to notice that   absolutely and good awareness by both and for  levy not pre-moving knowing when and when not   supreme was a very important skill set in these  speed chess championship matches and right now   levy played the crazy opening he's the one who  sacrificed a pawn then he spent what 40 seconds on   that decision here so being upon down and spending  the clock that feels like it's not a good sign   for levy right now just castle king said of him  eric you mean the white king's in the center   white king's in the center it's a couple moves  away from uh castling and knight back to c3   it's still a few moves away from castling what  is usually called for robert when stuff like   this happens maybe move like b5 b4 just something  very ultra aggressive attack that knight dislodge   it again go after that pawn i love b5 b4 because  it almost prepares if a guy goes knight f3   you have bishop b5 after b4 you're looking  to cut that king and stop it from castling   that looks like a phenomenal sequence eric does  play b5 and he is up half a minute on the clock   this is at this point standard time controls and  knight f3 we're gonna see b4 and after 92 we will   see very likely bishop b5 and the d5 pawn is weak  this is looking really nice for black once again   knight f4 maybe can be played there might be a  knight d5 in that position i'm not too sure i'm   looking at knight g5 knight takes f4 and knight  g2 but the problem with knight d5 is you can just   take back on d5 because your bishop that yeah i'm  sorry to ruin your fun that was a nice checkmating   sequence but i don't think it's gonna happen yeah  well that i will take that off the table for now   but i still think with that bishop on b5 there's  no king side castling it might even be queen d2   and queen side castling just forced because you  gotta get your king out of the center somehow   yeah and even there it doesn't look very safe for  the king and black's king on the other hand looks   very very safe and so what's the move right now  he plays bishop c4 just going for the pawn on d5   and that if b3 can he take on d5 i guess he can  takes on d5 bishop takes f6 and then even just   bishop takes back on f6 hitting the rook on a1  which would be the case after b3 i think he might   have just missed that bishop takes d5 bishop f6  you look like you're undermining the bishop on   d5 but bishop takes back is so strong and eric's  thinking here trying to figure out if it works   out for him it does but that may mean that he  must put his bishop back and say now you're   not casting kingside still right and castling  queenside is even more dangerous because of your   pawn structure and all those weak dark  squares very reasonable to play bishop b5 but   i think at the end of the day when you see a pawn  in the center of the board and you calculate that   you can take it you almost gotta do it yeah so he  takes it and it's about even on the clock an extra   five plus seconds now for eric and the problem  for levy is not the time it's the position he is   down upon i would just castle and i'm down upon  i know it but at least i'm moving quickly i have   some clearer plans queenie two rook d1 rookie  one just make moves that are natural here and   black's extra pawn is upon e7 not exactly in the  game just yet yeah there's i mean you know down   upon in a blitz game is not going to be the worst  thing uh we've seen uh him almost get a stalemate   down an entire rook in a pawn so hey we'll  we'll take down a pawn here if you're levy uh   maybe queen e2 i feel like avoiding a queen trade  is what you want to do queen e2 followed by rookie   1 and rook d1 as you said uh bishop b5 once again  it rears its nasty head here trying to skewer the   queen on e2 and the rook on f1 and weirdly white's  pieces are just in this strange order like the   knight should be on e5 but the bishop's there and  you know the queen's on e2 and that looks fine but   bishop b5 is coming i think this should be five  anyway right now there's no good square for that   queen you go to the d-file well hello there's  rook d8 you go to e3 there might be knight g4   yeah that looks good he starts with rook to d8 and  oh bishop b5 is a very real threat so c4 i would   take that thing on passant probably but then the  bishop can capture back and maybe the queen will   go to b2 later and that's the kind of play you  need if you're levy when you're down in a pawn   i agree yeah that that looks good especially  because it it might be backed up by a queen   to b2 like if bishop b5 queen b2 all of a sudden  you're putting a lot of pressure on that bishop   on g7 and pinning the knight let's not forget it  looks a little risky right now but keep an eye   on that e7 pawn it's loose and if you ever play e6  as black that queen b2 move makes a lot more sense   yeah and the bishop on c3 is not defended so you  always want to look if the piece goes out the way   is knight h5 a move here if you take my bishop on  g7 i take your knight on f4 with tempo that kind   of tactical sequence could have been nice for eric  right there but queen b7 is such a natural move   lining your queen and bishop on the diagonal we're  looking to play bishop takes f3 and knight g5   played so hang on a sec after h6 which is like the  natural move is there some sort of knight e6 or   knight takes f7 what's going on that probably was  the plan and that's why eric would rook to d7s and   all right if you go 96 i'll have to figure it out  now he does it but now these 96 knight takes g6   all these tactics are flying i guess eric's just  going to take the piece and they have to fly right   now though otherwise they won't work at all that  night he's got to make a decision and i think with   time taking down you sort of err on the side of  caution like i don't want to throw this game away   with a ridiculous sack unfortunately the caution  often is bad for the side that sound material   because it makes it black's life easier here and  now you're up a pawn e5 is coming he plays it the   g2 pawn is hanging if the knight moves out the  way oh no where can i not even go to knight d3   but then bishop b5 is possible there too so this  looks like it's dropping material there's no   way this works um g2 still falls plus you're in a  completely nasty pin and knight g4 right to d7 is   going to win the game okay so where's the material  he takes there is there queen f3 nice move bishop   bishop f6 queen g4 check and take on h4 if the  rook goes to g3 steal some material he goes queen   of five hitting out of the pin credit to rosen and  levy for the the sequences okay queen g4 check and   the e5 is hanging so he takes just right away okay  you didn't even need to move the queen and what's   the finish here what's that's a tricky move queen  f4 okay let's look at some time yeah two seconds a   piece i'm trying to figure it out quick before  check one second and barely get the giveaway   and now black is up oh rookie five at some point  is dangerous okay for a levy he's he's moving the   queen but there's just no good moves rook g5's  winning winning the game yeah that queen is now   hanging and that's one of those situations  move the piece out of the way and then you   get discovery black wins for the night time in a  row it is about to be an adoption with the black   pieces this i i swear to god robert everything  i know about chess has told me that white is   supposed to have an advantage like there's a  reason that when you have a chess match like   the world championship you have an even number  of games so that one player doesn't get the extra   well now i know the extra black pieces would be  having an advantage right so it's not you know   i'm not wanting that extra white piece i don't  want to move first i want to respond because then   i have a psychological edge and we get back to  this keracon and look queenie two this time oman   he understood that 95 was two c he needs the rook  as well he can't forget the rook this time there   we go there it is there it is all the pieces lined  up in the e5 square and i like these positions for   white because it's kind of like a london system in  a way that bishop on d3s hits across the position   to the h7 pawn so if you castle king side 95  happens bishop g5 your king could quickly come   under fire because most of black's pieces are  over there on the queen side the problem right   with casting queenside though is that a4 your  pawn is too advanced on b5 there so knight to d7   and weird move to play i was actually wondering  what you thought of maybe the move knight e4   and uh giving up a pawn and playing 95 and just  kind of opening up those bishops and saying hey   that's a that's a way to play you know look for a  castle and a very aggressive setup knight d7 much   more passive it is much more passive and you're  also moving another piece away from your king side   so if you castle that way you're probably walking  into a checkmate attack and look at this knight g5   threatening the h7 pawn sacrifice on e6 or f7  so knight f8 played but can't white just play   a move like knight e3 threatening the d5 pawn  bringing the knight to f5 perhaps pins galore   problems with that black king in the center i  think that this could be a pretty swift game but   it's the white pieces so no this game yeah of  course not what are we talking about blacks   looks much better here ignore that evaluation bar  um i was going to say even taking on b4 moving   that dark square bishop and just getting rook c1  it's like the knight on f8 sure it covers things   but you can't castle now and queen h5 makes yet  another threat knight takes e6 is in the position   robert utilizing that new pin wow and where does  black even go here g6 the queen just goes right   up to h6 doesn't mind hanging out on the g7 square  because that rook will get trapped in the corner   so this looks really unpleasant for levy right now  i don't see a way to do it make queen d7 just like   protect e6 right now and say all right there's  no knockout blow i can hold on maybe i will   get to castle eventually just i don't know when  eventually happens yeah and it will be that g6   move queen h6 to g7 is the threat and so rook g8  just to stop it but without even being up a pawn   here just look at the evaluation bar it's you know  cresting the two plus two plus three almost and i   mean it's because you just look at the position  and it's clear to see black's pieces are doing   nothing they're reacting to white's threats and  there's so many good things for white to do here   and castling queenside doesn't actually shield  your king you're walking into another attack it's   a different attack but it's still a very strong  attack and actually white can consider taking on   h7 right now just grabbing that pawn and then the  black king would have to castle queen side after   a trait of knight so instead eric plays the calm  move surprising that eric rosen plays a calm move   bishop to d2 just hitting the b4 pawn a third  time yeah and really looking to say look uh long   castle c4 right i'm going to open everything  up there is no side of the board that's safe   for you the king side not safe the middle well  doesn't look very safe and now that he's played   this we might see a very very quick rook c1 c4  and just busting the entire position wide open   and that kind of restraint shows that he's a very  strong player because you could have taken on h7   but the material is less important to him than  just dominating the board and not giving levy   any chances whatsoever sometimes you take pieces  give up more squares your opponent look at this   move knight g4 coming into f6 your rook is going  to get trapped your knight on f8 is stuck the f7   pawn is under attack so if you played bishop  e7 thank you for the f7 pawn don't mind if i   capture that i don't really see moves for black  that look the least bit appealing and f4 is there   and knight takes e6 there's like okay maybe it's  taking queens but there's 96 at the very least   yeah bishop f4 is one of those moves  that's like you know it might hold for   the second but i feel like i can even take and  play pawn g3 and just kick your queen away and   go knight f6 eventually and now you're in big  trouble yeah at this point i mean look at black   species they're they're just doing nothing but  let's not forget levy is staying in the game i   mean i'm super impressed the way rosen is handling  this you know very mature he's taking his time   he's not cashing in material advantage but the  longer you wait to cash in an advantage there's   always a chance that you maybe miss a move and all  of a sudden it's not there for you to take anymore   yeah that check could pass its expiration date  and there could be a time where black has like   knight a5 and closes down the queen side protects  the pawn of b3 stops c4 all at once and c4 now   that you played f6 looks even more powerful  because that e6 pawn is now weaker because   the pawn f7 no longer defends his friend and  there's c4 bishop takes c4 will hit e6 hit b3   the position is really opening up and levy's  king is the one that's not safe the king on g1   is well that's very happy to be there and maybe  oh it doesn't look good but maybe knight b4   um if you take it at least i take with the  bishop and make a threat on your rook and then   maybe taking dc4 in the future is not so bad that  bishop on v7 opens up against the knight on f3   that's a good call knight b4 is pretty interesting  he does play it here and the bishop is hanging so   you have to react in some manner you can't take on  d5 you just drop the bishop that wouldn't be good   and by the way that bullet territory 40 seconds  for white 34 for black this is where the mistakes   really happen and it's getting tactical if you  look bishop f1 is knight c2 happening with a four   that looks kind of worrisome and he takes their  place rookie two that seems to be a good call   yeah but why don't we maybe just take the pawn  on c4 and go king b8 uh it doesn't look like the   best but that bishop opening up in the knight  on f3 you could even take that and take on d4   yeah that's actually a good call and then you just  remove your bishop from b7 saying i don't care   about my king's defense let me rip your king open  but now that bishop is a terrible french bishop   it's stuck behind a wall of pawns the e6 pawn is  still weak 15 seconds counting down for levi he   doesn't even have a good looking move if you go 97  rookie one the e6 pawn is weak what do you do here   bishop c8 maybe just to add support to e6 bishop  c6 dropping the a pawn yeah that's an important   one because you take on a6 go right back to b5 and  then you go for the attack yeah and he he missed   that queen a7 maybe looking for a cheapo with  bishop d5 tape that would be that'd be pretty   funny and here once again one second oh my gosh  he gets the move off and where is the finishing   touch queen e3 looks good take that pawn on b3  and that should be a second extra pawn and the   king's in trouble yep and he takes that bishop a5  and he's gonna grab the bishop because you take   the queen takes b8 remember the knight on f8 the  rooks are not connected no that's a problem 1.3   seconds left so bishop takes c6 he doesn't do it  and now all of a sudden levy's trying to escape   but his next bishop's trapped oh my goodness look  at it it's like he's playing against horde chess   yeah oh tbc the queen drops the queen drops oh  and that's a win for eric the first victory for   the white pieces of the match and now it  is six to four our biggest lead of the day   two point spread eric rosen who goes into the  break probably pretty happy camper you couldn't   tell by looking in his face he looks the same no  matter what move is being played he could blunder   his queen or make a seven move sacrifice  for mate and he still looks like he's just   not even playing chess yeah uh i mean i think  the the wit the way the chat is going right now   the energy that you can feel from the chat i think  you and i feel it as well robert this is not only   the most hyped match but it's also delivered you  know there's a lot of matches that are hyped up   this one is delivering it is so intense it feels  like it's just one game swinging in the balance   and it just swung in eric rosen's favor it's six  to four he's opened up currently the biggest lead   of the match it's been back and forth every  single game what do you think these players are   going to be thinking about going into the break  robert as now eric has the first two game lead   if i'm levy i need to keep this spread at the  maximum because i believe levy is the favorite   come bullet time but if you go down three games  then you think do i actually have enough time   eric is of course a good bullet player so will  i have enough time to come back in the match   so it's only a two point spread both players have  had chances this was definitely levy's worst game   of the match he had no chance to get active so  eric did something very accurately here to say   levy you just can't move your pieces i'm going to  dominate the game and that's why we saw our first   victory with the white pieces because levi just  couldn't move so i think that eric did everything   right that game but this has been a very balanced  match thus far yeah i think uh robert you and i   are going to catch our breath people in the chat  you know get those spam hands ready and be back to   cheer on your favorite either levy rosman or  eric rosen when we come back after the break so and after our first win for a player with the  white pieces we see the match score at six to   four in eric rosen's favor mom we just had a brief  break there what do you think the players did do   you think they went to look at their openings and  work on their preparation or just say forget chess   for a few minutes i need a break well i hope that  levy took a look at that line we've been seeing   because i think it's been the most common  line in the entire match so i'm referring to   the knight a3 i think that's the easiest  way to remember it knight a3 variation   seems to be throwing him off and i am not  liking that setup i mentioned it before   that i don't like this a6 b5 bishop b7 setup  that he went for he was bailed out one game   because uh eric basically forgot and hung upon  um so that game you know worked out for him but   um i think that overall now that uh eric's  demonstrated that once he gets that knight to   e5 it's really really painful i think he needs to  be real careful and hopefully he switched that out   yeah and for a coach and content creator  known for many of his gambits and tricky lines   eric has played a very measured match i mean  throughout this one he's played his knight a3922   right you're saying this 983 line and he's playing  for a positional bind and he played a great game   in that 10th one and that's why he was able to  secure a two-game lead and for levi he is playing   really well there was that game where he ended up  checkmating eric with queen b1 checkmate which was   surprised but before all the wild stuff happened  he was out playing eric for sure so there's been   very good moments for levi that he shouldn't  forget about even though now he's down by two   points yeah and neither player uh i think  it's obvious to them but i want to remind   everybody that neither player i'm sure feels like  this match is over a two point lead not even close   levy has made up so many differences in the bullet  portion that um you know we're not even done to   three minute here robert and there's still bullet  coming up so i feel like there's still so much of   this match to happen and remember in bullet things  can move so quickly that you can make up way more   points in that section alone than sometimes  the other two combined that's can be the case   and we've seen that before and we have liftoff in  game 11 c4 played an e5 so we have a sicilian with   colors reversed and now we have this f5 line are  we going to get this knight f6 d5 pawn sacrifice   like we saw earlier and here i think so because um  well levy's going to repeat it because it worked   out for him but the thing is and here we go eric  i was going to say eric is going to remember what   the line actually is i don't think he played  it properly he played knight takes d5 last time   a little bit too hasty i believe the c6 is the  move right because if pawn takes c6 you can even   just take back with your pawn and the d3 pawn  is weak and look at this eric playing instantly   levy took a pause that's not good news for levy  because when you're met with a pawn sacrifice   and then e4 trying to take over the d3 square  with that check keeping the king in the center   that's some scary stuff it certainly is you can  tell for those wondering uh you know the answer to   robert's question hey what did the players do in  the break this is what eric rosen did in the break   it looks really good because you're planting the  knight on d3 you could take that pawn back on d5   with your pawn and once you do that pawn on e4 is  protected which means the d3 square is protected   as well so oh gosh what do you mean dude 95  i guess a necessity and that's a good move   and queen takes d5 offering the queen trade  that 995 could get caught in the center   yeah it looks like you pretty much have to  take this remember there's still knight c2 as   a follow-up afterwards to uh fork the king and the  rook castling looks like a move but hang on that   night we talked about it maybe getting stranded  out there is that something to worry about or   do you leave it out there and go for a counter  attack like bishop d2 or a3 on black's knight   you need to because bishop d6 does trap the knight  that knight is trapped in e5 you go to g4 i play   h5 and there's nowhere else to go so or you play  f4 but you don't play that happily you can even   just take on e5 play bishop e6 and then say you  have the two bishops quote-unquote advantage   how's your bishop on g2 looking right yeah at that  point white would need to reroute that bishop to   d4 a slow journey um and the pawn on e5 would be  a pass pawn but also not connected to any other   pawn on the board a potential weakness after  something as simple as knight d3 or knight c6   yeah you play knight d3 you play rook c8 you  take over the queen side over there and this   is a big moment because taking on e5 giving up  the bishop pair not easy to do and he does just   that uh no he is not yet so okay sorry i thought  he oh he does i was like in the future well no i i   actually clicked on something and all of a sudden  the moves happen and i was like wait how did that   happen i didn't see the players moving yet here  we are and predicting the future but eric just   playing good moves knight to d3 going after  the b2 pawn taking the c1 square rook c8 next   we will see bishop c3 a very very normal move here  uh the bishop is anchored supported by the b-pawn   and of course it watches over the two pawns that  the knight on d3 was attacking so bishop c3 i can   see this working out for for levy here i do think  that eric has the better position but there's   something about that bishop on c3 and d4 just so  solid defending everything in the position if the   the f-file can be used by uh levy's rooks then all  of a sudden things could crash down for for rosen   sometimes you see a a sacrifice like an exchange  stack opening things up let's say the rook for   that light square bishop on e6 followed by bishop  h3 sometimes that's the way to play with white   and a big problem that's going to be here is if  you instead of sacrificing exchange go bishop f1   black can just play bishop f5 like you could  take me on d3 we'll get opposite called bishops   but that's a passed pawn on d3 that you have  to deal with so that's what eric is relying   on here bishop f1 bishop f5 keep that knight  oh he moves it back i don't like that decision   no i i visibly was disturbed by that move like  that that knight c5 is not the right one because   after this is he going back to d3 no he's allowing  it to be traded yeah that's you're backing up and   it allows levy the time to connect his rooks  but whenever look on c1 the knight on d3 was   covering the c1 square so playing bishop f5 was  defending tonight allowing opposite color bishops   but white's excuse me black's light square  bishop would have been better and that pass   pawn was stronger for black it was more advanced  so instead we have this position i think he has to   go back to d3 now i don't like the look of knight  a4 you play palm b3 and there goes your knight   and d6 does drop that a6 pawn we've talked about  stray apons in this match that's another one and   he does go back to d3 now we've already looked at  ideas like you know if these rooks trade and white   goes for it the pawn on d3 the black rock's gonna  get activated and again i think there's some sort   of security that these guys have in the back of  their mind that hey there's opposite bishops in   this position you know it's not the worst yeah the  rooks get traded it's immediately a draw so that's   the thing that eric can count on he's down upon  but it's double pawns opposite-colored bishops   you can't push that e5 pawn to passer that can't  move so i think bishop f5 and rook c2 coming maybe   black can play for more though right if you get  a quick bishop f5 bishop e4 yourself or bishop   h3 here it's the white king that's in some big  trouble yeah and i actually like maybe something   like bishop c3 for rook d2 i feel like you need  to wrangle some control of your own second rank   and there would also be an e4 threat after that as  well that's true and i'm wondering if i can just   play bishop h3 and give up my pawn on b7 and try  to checkmate the king right if i get a quick rook   g2 check and your king has to go into the corner  there could be checkmate and it's eric's material   and he is up 20 seconds so he can think before  he just gives away this pawn b7 with check   but bishop h3 is a serious move it is because the  idea that robert's pointing out um and i'll just   even put it on the board bishop h3 let's say rook  takes b7 king e6 brook takes g7 or something rook   d2 and king f1 would be met by rook takes g3  discovered attack hitting that rook and if the   king has to go to the corner i mean here you're  already wondering hey after king h1 rook f2   is it just game over or something like that i  mean this is already something to be concerned   about for sure and that's why we did not see that  instead after the king went to c7 very smartly   levy trades the rooks and this game is a complete  draw there is no way to make progress because your   extra pawn is doubled and even if you get e4 and  trade the pawns there you can't push through to   e6 black controls that square so this seems to be  a very simple draw i would be extremely surprised   if somebody wins this game that would yeah  how could that even happen yeah the thing is   basically uh rosen doesn't even care about e4 even  though e4 technically lights up a clean clean pawn   it really doesn't matter as long as you have the  pawns somewhere where you can protect them uh this   should be a super easy draw for these guys  i'm actually surprised they're playing it on   the one thing i'd be worried about if i'm eric  is if g4 and some bishop f8 but you don't have   time because that's why eric brought his king over  to f7 to make sure those pawns are safe and it's   like you we can trade on d5 that doesn't bother me  my king gets the f5 square and you're not getting   your pawn oh whoa that's kind of point of getting  one time here two seconds point six seconds left   and then you pre-move king g6 which is a good call  i wouldn't even think i'd be being sneaky if i'm   levy you know some kind of quick quick movie a  bishop sacrifice bishop e7 here so if king of   seven's pre-moved you win the g5 pawn yeah he's  got two seconds this is uh getting a little crazy   and he's putting up on h3 which is really smart  king f7 and then pre-bishop c8 bishop v6 just   just go back and forth yeah you can put that  king on d7 um and then you pre-move this   bishop anywhere you like really and now now he's  seemingly got it under control but man that was   unnecessarily scary for a second there yeah that  was way too close to zero seconds remaining and   he does blockade the pawn and he can just  go bishop g4 bishop e6 just do not put your   bishop on a square where it can be taken  and b4 played and they agreed to a draw   okay there's always that moment where you know  it's a draw and you almost want to just repeat   moves because taking the time to go over and  click draw you might even click resign i mean   who knows that the hands are shaking with the  nerves i have done that before and that is one of   the worst feelings in the world you're like it is  it's a complete draw and then you resign and your   opponent's kind of like what is wrong with that  person i misclicked okay yeah who is this and wow   levy looks like a guy who has taken a look at  that variation robert pleased to see it and he's   taking a page out of eric's book because eric's  been playing knight day three all match levi's   like well why don't i put mine in the rim who  cares about chess principles if eric one of the   best content creators like myself is doing it and  we're both instructive coaches hey let's put those   nights on the rim baby exactly yeah we just have  to hope there's not too many people taking notes   so we might see somewhere in the 500 to 1200 elo  range a lot of nights on the rim after this match   yeah this is something where as a coach i often  say do as i say not as i do because this is   not recommended for you to put your knights on  scoring h6 but it does make sense you can bring   your knight to f5 in the near future your bishop  on g7 still is on an open diagonal but open to   what look at this poncho b2 c3 d4 your bishop  doesn't look all that strong there so i do like   eric's position out of the opening here and watch  out queen d2 if knight f5 there could be a g4   trapping that knight so be very careful if you're  levy with that knight on the rim and that's why   h3 not only are you taking away squares from uh  you know the bishop the knight on g4 but also   supporting that g4 thrust if the knight gets  the f5 and somehow you can you can simply trap   it as you mentioned so again i'm feeling these  openings are really working out for eric but f6   and knight f7 finally indicates a brand new plan  of e5 and that will require a reaction from eric   and it's a risky choice because look at those  light squares on the king side right the king on   g8 that diagonal from a2 towards that king there  could be some problems there so queen b3 comes   to mind but then levi will play e6 but he wants  to play e5 and that's why eric says i'm going   to strike immediately and look at levees he did  pawn and d5 you take me i take your bishop on b5   you take on c6 i take back and black will get the  bishop pair with a lot of open space i don't think   eric really wants that to happen so he takes on  c6 and might try to keep the position more close   i'm not i feel like i'm not a fan of this you know  it's not so bad of course there's knight c3 to   follow you can take a knight c3 that looks good  as well i was also considering maybe bishop a4   and if dc4 d5 and just play against that e pawn  in that position so i think that rosen still has   a lot of attractive options but there is an idea  to just sort of play against the d-pawn here for   white which if you can imagine an exchange between  those two pawns that is going to be an isolated   pawn robber something that we touched on in some  earlier positions although if you take on c4 push   that pawn to d5 and then you can play knight d4 at  some moment queen e2 the e7 pawn isn't happy the   e6 squares whites for the taking so i'm starting  to like the initiative that white has and that   pawn on c4 doesn't feel that relevant just yet  without now it does because he's saying i'll give   you e7 my bishop blockades your past pawn if you  take it and my pawns can start marching i really   like that decision by levy yeah and this is going  to be extremely double-edged we've got two bishops   a pass pawn for white here you could also call it  an isolated pawn depends on which side uh you're   playing with here and also b5 cementing that  c4 pawn and saying look later on b4 is c3 and   it's black who's gonna have a pass bond as well  although something thematic that white will try   for is d6 followed by knight to d5 you push your  pass bond even though it's isolated and get in   trouble as if you can get your knight to d5 behind  that pawn that's really good news for you he plays   g4 first where's that knight going has to go  back over to h6 and maybe there's even bishop c7   then pawn to d6 then knight to d5 and knight to  d4 all the white pieces seem to be cooperating   and he leads with his rook but that does allow  levy to try to trade some pieces it does and i'm   not sure about the rook because there is going to  be like a brook e8 maybe bishop f8 idea to trade   everything liquidate and that bishop is doing  a lot more from f8 than it is uh from g7 and i   was just checking if rook d7 was a tactic but it  doesn't look like if there's a roof takes e1 check   good thing to look out for what about bishop c7  speaking of rook takes d7 where's your rook going   yeah wow you almost have to meet  that uh i think you lose an exchange   hang on a sec there's not a good  way to get out of this wait what   suddenly like your movie broke to see it i just  take your bishop because the knight in f3 is   protecting the rook on e1 and if you trade on e7  f8 yeah but bishop takes d8 protects the rook on   e7 so you get to win material there yeah no that's  crazy at this point i think you have to just do   it i don't see a way out he's probably a little  dumbfounded that that works like that that wins   material because then i don't have three defending  the rook on e1 is actually so important it's key   that the rook can even take d7 because of  that so yeah i think i think he goes for that   i don't know what move was better than bishop  f8 there and black certainly has chances in   this game because the bishop pair will thrive  the pawn can go to b4 those pawns are rolling   on the queen side you can blockade that past  pawn which is isolated maybe attack it later   f5 followed by bishop g7 back comes to mind to use  that diagonal and i think levy has chances but i   don't like the clock situation eric is doing  really well and now levy down under 25 seconds   yeah and f5 very interesting move actually it  takes away the e4 square so i i think i think   i completely understand that knight e4 was going  to be really annoying right and niagara's knight d   forcing you take on g4 in comes my knight to c6 or  e6 and that's a problem probably to e6 with tempo   blocks the bishop the g4 pawn will fall right  next and i don't think you could take that thing   the d-pawn captures and goes to e7 that looks like  a big problem maybe rook c8 to prepare b4 and c3   some sort of counter play there keep in mind the  knight is also going to look to jump in to like   d6 as a blockade or even e5 to f3 i love that move  94 the knight f6 check is devastating so he plays   bishop e7 i think you just take on g4 and he does  black down to eight seconds 95 maybe and then the   f3 check and the g4 pawn and knight d3 good move  there what do you do king g2 and then just give up   the pawn but that knight goes to d3 and there's  knight of four check ideas so watch out from g2   they're still forks yep king g2 is very easy to  overlook knight d3 there oh my gosh in 30 seconds   so this is where that extra time plays its part  and he plays rook to d1 to just avoid all the   knight forks that's a good move it is okay so what  now 92 don't buy kg2 that allows bishop v6 knight   for check you want to watch out for knight forks  and he plays g5 and now he's going knight f6 check   yeah now yeah six looks very tempting it has to  be met by just king g7 yeah because kfa drops the   h7 pawn don't want to lose that and knight d5  is coming right there's still h6 ideas though   undermine that knight he goes back and forth he's  not going to take a draw surely oh b3 nice move   bishop six g takes the e7 e6 pawn runs and i said  e7 but it's not there yet but look at that knight   of four hitting the rook and knights through check  takes g5 coming your way now you got knight h3   oh he takes the e6 pawn which also was hanging  but still a good move but knight h3 would have   been crushing their knight takes g5 needed oh my  goodness he barely made a move wait rook takes e6   the rook gets back you take on e6 you're threading  rook 67 with check so bring the rook back to e2   now and you win the game but i think levy had it  there for a split second he did he had it there   there was definitely knight h3 knight takes g5 and  now it's gonna be too little too late as you know   eric is just consolidating bringing everything  back and hey we've seen bishop brook and knight   all on the board in multiple games and it usually  works out for the guy who has the extra rook   that is typically the case and eric rosen takes  the biggest lead he extends his lead to seven   and a half four nav a three point lead and what i  said earlier on is that levy probably has to keep   this within two points he doesn't he has a chance  of coming back even if it's a three-point spread   but you start feeling like it's slipping away from  you so if levy can win this game which might be   our last in this time patrol because we have just  over six minutes left he'll be down by two he has   a chance he's playing this the frankenstein  dracula variation which i loved as a kid   yeah this is a fun opening and especially after  queen h5 um if you're not familiar what to do   with black it's so easy to just lose the game  immediately it really is and this line isn't as   sharp because the queens have been traded their  lines were actually white stays upon down and   tries to go for a checkmate but this is saying  all right we have a neutral looking position   we have seven pawns four minor pieces two rooks  just no queens on the board everything is safe   and sound but knight d5 white is hopping first  into the position and if you play bishop d8 then   white plays c3 takes away the d4 square from your  knight and it's not really much of an advantage   for either player but it's one of those positions  you're like all right we're on neutral territory   let's see who can outplay the other yeah and  both sides are going to do the exact same   thing basically d5 d4 the only difference in the  position is pretty much those bishops on b3 and d8   getting castled is nice and easy for both sides  so again super super equal game here and uh well   as you said get a chance to see both guys with  a fresh position and whoever is able to generate   advantage can say they definitely outplayed  the other i love and hate the move f6 because   it takes away the knight jump from e5 or g5 later  but you can't really play king f7 look where that   bishop on b3 is if that diagonal opens up the king  could get in trouble just because queens are off   the board does not mean that kings are always  going to be safe so if that king does land on   f7 a timely c4 could be big trouble for black  yeah and let's not forget that uh you know levy   is a little bit ahead of development he's castled  you don't need to be castled in games like this   but he is castled which means that you pointed  it out king on f7 it's not always safe to have   you know just that bishop on b3 lined up against  you and he goes bishop e6 oh this this is uh   there's an imbalance here robert so we are going  to see a game somebody bring out their zurich 1953   book because i analyzed a lot of positions just  like this as a child the problem for white is   you have the bishop pair but if we trade the light  square bishops that pawn on d4 actually restricts   the mobility of your dark square bishop i will  plant a knight on c6 bring my rooks to c and e   files and black is the one with the advantage  knights can dance around these isolated pawns   the bishop stares into it and that is not a good  thing for the white side so i've seen many strong   players lose positions like this with the bishop  against the knight and after pawn takes c4 i mean   is there a world of rook takes e6 or wow wait oh  this is hd5 yeah we both said the same time that   is a blunder by eric and levy can just take  that pawn so there's there's d takes c4 after   that for black but he could have played that move  instead of playing g5 this is just him completely   forgetting and overlooking that the arrangement  of pieces here for black is very delicate   and shout out to nemo for the huge raid welcome  everybody sorry we missed it when it happened   and welcome to a very intense matchup between eric  rosen and levy rosman aka gotham chess and he did   just take on c4 theramon rook takes e6 as possible  then bishop takes c4 check the f6 pawn looks like   it's falling as well how many oh oh that's that's  too timid of a move there yeah i liked rook takes   e6 i was thinking about it earlier but now  that the pawns on f6 and hanging i think that's   automatic you take bishop c4 and bishop takes f6  now knight d7 i feel like there's sacrifices here   all the time rook takes e6 again oh yes there it  is king e6 rookie one check the knight on f5 falls   and very importantly the knight on d7 is now  under attack so if that knight we're on b8   this sequence would not work for white but because  the knight is developed it's actually a bad thing   king d6 bishop f4 check i'll save my bishop and  then take your knight if king f7 bishop takes   f5 and then the knight on d7 is lost this should  work out for levy and you can see that uh eval bar   is uh nearly going for the end zone there in  black's position because there's a piece being   lost here and the best that looks like can happen  is maybe two pieces for a rook but there's also   so many pawns that have been taken on the way big  match question for you iman there are two minutes   left in this time control if you're eric you  haven't lost the game completely yet but do you   want one more game in this three minute portion  because you think levy might be the favorite in   bullet or did you say all right let's uh keep this  one going and if the time elapses we'll just head   to bullet and if my lead's two points that's still  a lot i think it depends on whether uh he's the   type of player to even be checking the clock at  this point you know and i think if he is yeah he   might want to play this game out and and say look  let's have this be the last game in this portion   um don't wanna have uh levy mounting a comeback  you know right at the buzzer this is a crushing   position if we can just let the time run out  here and i think that it will based on you   know how long this might take to convert then i  think that's probably what rosen wants take that   two-game lead into the break i would resign so i  disagree with you for the first time in forever   and the reason why is because eric will get the  white pieces and something has been a little bit   shaky for levy in these caro con so i don't want  to give him time to prepare something for bullet   because in that last game his knight went to h6  that was starting to look a bit odd in previous   games his knight a3 lines look good for eric so i  think with the three-minute time patrol he has his   best chance to maintain a larger advantage whereas  he is going to lose this game i don't really see   a way that black survives this yeah he's he's  going to lose this game for sure i i don't think   i could possibly resign a game and then take the  white pieces and consider that an advantage at   least not in this match so i'm just i'm just too  scared to do it you're right i'm on my bad i just   failed you as a co-commentator but the position is  completely lost for black knight forward jack wins   the rook knight of seven there's another fork  94 it just actually wins it and if he resigns   he will get another game i'm looking at the clock  and if he's paying attention he can resign with 15   seconds or 10 seconds left and get one there it  is he resigned he wants one more yep and and he   definitely looked at the clock there or he was uh  cognizant the entire time and will he regret this   because levy could win this game take it to one  point differential but as you pointed out this has   been tough for levy to answer and he might have  thought of that in those dying seconds hey we   need to go back to this does levy have an answer  for this variation and this is where if any player   with the white pieces had an advantage it's been  in this line for eric and you don't want to just   allow things to come down to bullet if you can  get that extra victory then you're feeling good   but i don't think eric's the type players take  risks at this moment he's not going to sacrifice   pieces if it is speculative so i think he made the  right decision and it's still going to be a game   just because he's playing with the white pieces of  course in this match does not mean that he's going   to score a point in fact it's been going the other  way for the most part i just feel like levy's had   a hard time at this point coming up with a way  to counter this opening and you say that but i   want to give him credit here because i think one  of the suggestions i was making the last time i   saw this was maybe a knight e4 uh the knight on  c2 you have to think about what does that knight   not do on c2 what's the difference it's not just a  great move and there's nothing wrong with it it's   a given it take yes you have uh you know the the  d4 square e3 under control but you're not on d2   like usual so knight into e4 f5 supporting and you  sort of get this almost dutch stonewall position   maybe we see him just castle here and say look  take me in the center i've got the strong knight   that you can't get rid of it's kind of funny  because after c4 my thought was knight to c3   and then i just remembered and listen to you the  knight's on c2 so the knight is not on b1 but he   plays 93 he attacks the center that pawn on d5  surprisingly difficult to defend you can play   queen f7 you can't play knight e7 or maybe you can  but i'm looking at c5 as a way to get that bishop   on d6 almost trapped so it's a situation here  where you have to be very careful if you're levy   because when you play d5 and f5 there are weak  dark squares that you have to deal with so i think   the position oh okay go for it so c5 bishop f4 is  available right and so he's not going to lose that   piece of course but it's still it still feels a  little bit shaky but i guess bishop f4 and keep   in mind that light square bishop hey it looks  terrible right now but the maneuver bishop d7   bishop ee bishop h5 it will get there eventually  and that's actually super annoying to deal with   and look at eric justifying his move c4 following  up with queen to b3 there's a lot of pressure   on this d5 pawn and it's actually hanging in the  current position and there could be tactics where   the e4 square is a problem because there could be  a pin on that diagonal so watch out for tactics   here queen a5 play the rook on e1 is defended for  the moment i almost thought wait a second is that   rook under attack no you can take on d5 if you  want but you have to find a follow-up you just   don't take on d5 and hope that it works you need  to find something because black has some tricks up   history with knight to g5 and what a way to  defend that pawn queen a5 is not normally a   resource you lean on to defend your center pawn  especially with all the pressure building up   here the queen lining up towards the king on g8  queen a5 combining defense and attack eyeballing   the rook on e1 as we mentioned i think that's  a great move by levy to try to hold the balance   and watch out for knight g5 right now because that  rook needs a defender and knight g5 thunder just   take on f3 and remove the rook's defense while  shattering the white kingside pawn structure   so levy's thinking here he can take back on d5 but  i feel pretty confident he's looking at knight g5   ideas and that could spell big trouble and there  it is that's a big move it is and you can react to   this in a number of different ways but what  looks unavoidable are the double pawns here   yeah that doesn't look very pleasant either and  well you can react a number of ways or if you're   eric rosen you just don't react at all we don't  even know if he's playing in the game right now   yeah that's true it always uh comes to question  at some point eric's cam could freeze for the   entire broadcast and he would just come back  at the end and i wouldn't notice the difference   for sure and we see him here you know he's  looking at the board trying to figure things out   levy i think he likes his position based on his  posture and look at the clock eric is the one down   under a minute while levy has over a minute and  a half this is turning and maybe i was wrong to   suggest to play another game because levy it feels  like he's hitting his stride at the right moment   yeah and he i think having an answer oh god there  should be four four four it just wins on the spot   and he takes it first but bishop b4 is next  that's over that's over black black wins proper   oh no and it's the biggest reaction  we've seen from eric all day he gulped   and he was just like okay that's a problem there  goes that rook and it went from a potential   two-game lead to a one-game lead so getting that  last game in levy must be like oh you tested me   all right that knight e4 jump didn't see that  one coming yeah and and just having something   ready for that was not expected by rosen because  he's thinking hey that worked out the last time   we played it and i haven't gone back there since  let me do that again it's up to him to show me   that he looked at something and unfortunately  for him the preparation you know it wasn't like   he prepared everything to win but he just had the  ideas prepared and he knew exactly where he wanted   to put his pieces he executed the strategy that  said you got to finish things off here you know   the there's nothing to lose for eric so he's going  to be playing uh until this one is absolutely over   that's right in hindsight they say it's 20 20. i  still think that eric made a good choice i mean   he was looking at his own he had a good looking  position but you have to give full credit to levy   finding this move queen a5 just causing all sorts  of problems the d5 pawn was defended but that's   not what it was about it was the tactics and eric  walked right into a trap now levy brings his queen   to h5 and the pawn h3 is under attack eric has 10  seconds he plays kng2 which is a reasonable choice   i'm looking at that knight trying to get to h4 but  don't move the knight yet then the e pawn starts   rushing up so still not the easiest conversion but  levy should win this without too much difficulty   yeah there's one thing there um you know maybe  it was unnecessary but bishop e6 was potentially   playable because the queen on h5 was watching the  bishop on a5 um and maybe sometimes you can just   sack bring the rook to the middle he decides that  well i think he forgot as well as i was saying   that and that's not gonna that's not gonna cut  it for eric rosen here no that's another piece   down the drain and levy has 40 seconds so he  is way too much time and eric is the type of   player we've said this many times at this point  he plays on until the game is checkmated he does   this all the time it's not a matter of respect  some people think oh it's disrespectful to play   he does against everybody so it's just what he  does and he has every right to continue this   game and the time's up for this time portion so  he might as well and i think when you demonstrate   time and time again that you're able to trick even  the strongest players into a stalemate trap at the   end of a game it's like okay you can you can play  on you know you you are clearly doing that not   out of anything other than your own creative  uh you know canvas to play with and he does it   so many times so um he almost did it in this  match robert and it's just i mean queen takes   e4 was a free rook knight to check you can  take that rook next have fun with it and now   it's an extra rook two minor pieces king is not  safe you have less time everything is going on   for good measures for good measure there goes the  queen and levy he has some bounce because he just   got up he airlifted out of his chair and i mean we  might see him levitate if he is able to continue   this winning streak yeah i know he he just bounced  uh took off to space if his uh sweatshirt was any   indication of where he was playing from uh knight  c5 to finish off a confident game from levy rosman   and we were worried about this happening you know  if you're looking from eric rosen's perspective he   takes that extra game he fully made that decision  robert and now he's probably regretting it do you   think that he's going to be thinking about  a flurry of emotions going into this break   hard to tell by looking at him but he must be  feeling negatively about his chest in the last   few games because levy did outplay him there and  so he's only up by one point he saw the win in   sight three game lead everything's going well and  now it's down to one levee is the high rated ball   player however eric himself is a very strong bill  player i believe his reigns are 26.50 so he should   be right in this come bullets oman i think we're  going to take our final break and when we come   back we will have the bullet portion levy just  at one point you will not want to miss the finale so and we couldn't ask for a more exciting match  it is seven and a half points for eric rosen   six and a half points for levy rosman levy  down the scoreboard but on a winning streak   a mom we just took a break so did the players  how do you think they're feeling right now well   if you're rosen you're probably a little dejected  i mean it's hard not to be you could have taken   a two-point lead into this bullet uh segment  completely your decision to get another game   doesn't mean it was the wrong decision at the time  but obviously you look back on that you reflect   and you think man you know what would it could  have shoulda and that's not the right attitude   so hopefully he's not thinking about that too much  but it's very easy to think back on that decision   as you know this match looks like robert it could  come down to a single game in either direction and   it could be that game that he decided to get at  the end of the three-minute portion and we know   he loves to drink his tea hopefully it's heavily  caffeinated because in bullet you need to be alert   at all times you need to be ready for tactics  galore and it has been levy in the last couple   of games who's been striking when the tactics are  available so rosen he's been a bit shaky in the   last two but we can't forget the prior games where  he jumped out to a three-point lead so right now   just the bullet portion left 25 minutes  of it come on i'm super excited man   yeah this is honestly the not only is it really  close going into bullet we've seen that before   but you get the feeling based on this match  it's a win for one side a win for the other   a three-point lead from rosen cut back down  to one by levy neither of these guys is going   out without a fight and i think this is uh  going to be an extremely exciting portion so   you know everybody in the chat strap in b3 on  the board that is bullet opening here we go did   he call hit car during the break because he goes  b3 which is a karu's pet line and e4 upon sack   if you play d takes e4 the f pawn can't capture  the bishop pins upon f3 but it's a pawn sacrifice   and eric spending some time to figure it out no oh  look at this knight c3 knight takes f3 if you take   it just trying to get all the piece out bishop  c4 queen e2 castle queen side and eric saying   you know what i'm just gonna leave that pawn there  for now and keep an eye on this bishop there's a   lot of tricks in this opening like queen b5 check  picking off the bishop on h5 that's a good call   and knight d7 deals with that and says you can  win this pawn back on e4 i'm happy to give it   back to you we kind of have a scandinavian vibe  a scandi where the d-pawn is gone for black the   e pawn's gone for white and wait a sec there  was knight f6 with queen b5 ideas right there   yeah wait a minute knight f6 there's some bishop  takes queen b5 stuff but you have to be careful   that rook on a1 was hanging so don't know if  it was completely winning good call it's easy   to forget because i was focusing your attack but  that rook in the corner was under attack it looks   like eric had things at least barely holding  on there and he was actually that's a good   move when you fianchetto you can push that rook  pawn to try to challenge it a4 locks it up c6 you   can't play b5 just yet your key needs the castle  first whose king is safer because here comes h4   yeah this looks really good for levy h4g4 and  there's already going to be tons of tactics   if you have to play h5 or h6 in this position  complete disaster robert knight takes g6 which is   why he played bishop takes e4 you're thinking hey  giving up that bishop that doesn't make sense it's   because h5 was gonna put that bishop in a coffin  very good call there by eric and if e5 he brings   knight to d5 which is right let me go knight d3  awkward situation with queen e2 bishop f1 blunted   by your own knight and levi can just push all his  pawns g4 threatening g5 the g7 pawns under attack   and g5 still that wins the pawn yeah this this  looks great i mean g7 is hanging why not take that   there's bishop h3 to follow up and hey use that  f file next rook f1 uh this looks fantastic for   levy well done and it looks so strange with the  knight md3 brings it back to e1 not trading pieces   trying to go d4 challenge the 95 and have to drop  back to g6 but there's the f4 square the h4 pawn   there are tactics available for black and he's  evening up on the clock he was down by quite a bit   now it's about uh even yeah and knight d3  can follow up as well covering the f4 square   rook to f1 hitting f7 is gonna be lethal i  feel like going forward h pawn also hanging   yeah levy's final game of three minute was great  this is probably his best game of the entire match   yep there's going to be some counter play with  rook takes h4 and i was going to say levy actually   up on the clock he's more used to the bullet  portion but now it's evened up and it's anyone's   game yeah and then bishop comes to e4 taking on g6  is the priority you could take there and the trade   that works in f8 but then that rook on h4 is kind  of annoying the pawn g5 is weak the bishop on b2   defending d4 but not very active in five seconds  you've got to move exactly rook g1 a bit passive   error gets active and the works on h2 yeah what's  going on b1 king b1 getting out of bishop g5 with   check rook takes g2 queen g2 and already the other  rook comes in i think this is going to be anyone's   game 12 seconds look at the time advantage for  eric rosen and the rooks under attack you're gonna   bring your rook back probably h7 to cover the f7  square good idea rook f7 perhaps queen d i like   that g5 is hanging you can just grab that pawn  but you lose g6 so he's trying to figure it out   he goes queen eight covers that knight f4 oh  this is getting really really good here for   levy i feel like but bishop g5 is a great strength  wait is the knight trapped in g6 rook g7 yeah nice   [ __ ] it's stuck in the corner oh my gosh nobody  puts the knight in the corner except levi e4   oh bishop takes d4 was available there then he  doesn't want it the knight's trapped okay it can   come out but rookie knight d2 oh 92 wins d4 that's  really important and there it goes knight 64 who's   better two seconds a piece oh my gosh rook see  you work up seven you can win b7 you can win c2   there's no mate if both sides are trying to mate  the other knight b5 looks like a good move take   that knight okay see two is hanging so now it's  even material in the rook ending but someone's   going to lose this game though someone has to  good move king ceasing over c6 and he defends   the e6 pawn and now his pawns are safe his king b6  and king c5 can oh you're hanging b7 b7 is hanging   open now the king's coming to b4 rock d6 rookie's  huge is huge he plays it and kicks the fight back   he goes here oh now the b6 and e6 once he's six  and e6 with check okay take him a fourth it's   sure white has lots of time it should be a draw  here rook to e8 the king should chase the bomb   wait for e7 and if rookie five would be a check a  rook b7 though brilliant brilliant defense and one   second oh we touched the book the rook covers  the square look at levy he cannot believe it   oh my gosh it's a typical you're wondering what  the hell was he thinking it's a typical idea when   the pawn is one square from promotion you want to  put that rook anywhere on the board but anywhere   except that square because the rook takes it and  covers the queening square and we're right back   into this opening robert the the emotional  rollercoaster is just beginning all aboard   oh yeah great first half of that game by levy  then great resourceful defending by eric just to   stay in that game and against that knight to the  corner we have this position that eric has loved   the knight a3 variation of the car con levy queen  c7 bishop v6 that's looking good but look at white   aiming on the e file 95 coming and you don't  have that many pieces defending your king   over there on g8 yeah and i wonder i was going  to say is he going to go for knight e7 some sort   of knight g6 to try to plug the position maybe  knight f5 as well uh also using the b file and   maybe getting a knight to e4 the knight on c2 does  not look as effective from this position robert   knight e4 blunts that bishop on d3 that's really  important to get that knight e4 move we saw   levi used that with success in the end of the  three minute portion and now rook to b1 keeping   on that bishop on b7 and 94 still a possibility  here what the problem is for white is you wanna   play bishop g5 and be active but black is just  clogging the lanes knight g6 is your bishop on d3   that's not that good of a piece and if you take on  g6 just h takes closing down diagonals and white's   pieces suddenly don't have the same mobility that  they do in some other positions well you mentioned   hey you can't do this bishop move well he says i'm  doing it anyway and knight d7 instead of knight e4   which i was expecting by levy would have been so  consistent with his play i think that 94 and just   bring the rooks to be it and see it is all levy  needed to do in that position this bishop pair   not terribly convincing and i would consider f  takes here but f even if you have to bishop e7   to d6 that's the idea that eric look at that here  comes that bishop e5 is suddenly very protected   very safe and that bishop on b7 is under attack  so there's no queen takes c3 because then you drop   that bishop down there yeah that's important and  that that b8 square being covered by the bishop   on d6 very underrated there he's not going to be  able to challenge the entire b file maybe for the   rest of the game and i wonder how he's going  to even develop his pieces here like bishop   c6 bishop c5 might have been necessary good move  though a5 bishop a6 just to get that bishop out   the problem is the b file is under white's  control it's the only fully open file in f6   such a dangerous move queen g3 the immediate  response e6 is weak g6 is weak there could be   an ef6 and even a sack on e6 if you're not  careful and eric brings the rook up we're   going to come to f3 otherwise come to e1 that  pawn on e6 is in trouble yeah levy is in big   big trouble here everything's defended i mean  you can take a4 a straight a pawn like we've   seen before but you got to watch out your king is  getting trackmated time is taking you down it's   so hard to play defensive moves under pressure  and look at this just dark square dominance by   white's piece of the e5 bishop f4 queen x4 queen  wow i'm a good move by levy and look at three oh they couldn't take on e3 that's so hard  to play 96 check wins the queen though   1960 king d7 rookie 7. oh wait that  would have held on for a bit yeah i   mean there's a there's stuff here there's a  rook hanging on e3 it's not completely over   that was wild and we get this line with the early  e4 push by black saying my pawn if i was under   attack by this fiance bishop it's this nimzo  larsen position that's popularized by hikaru   nakamura and typically black should go h5 h4 and  start attacking this nine g3 but you have to watch   out for your opponent e4 and this is actually  a line that i play against this so i've had my   fair share of matches against hikaru i mean i just  can't for the life of me beat him in this in this   line but uh it's a typical way to play what you  do is you have two bishops a wide open central   position whereas white has this sort of snake-like  pawn mass that goes from a2 all the way over to f3   yeah fewer pawn islands are generally a good thing  and having that connected pawns you can go d4   e4 push those pawns forward and that bishop on b2  it may be blocked by the knight from now if you've   ever played g6 that bishop reigns supreme on that  diagonal seem to be very careful yeah and what   we're seeing from eric rosen here is just classic  stuff rooks to the middle of the board open files   this is very easy to play and don't be surprised  to see these bishops even go all the way back to   c8 or f8 because they can exert their pressure  from you know very very far away that's exactly   the strength of the bishop yeah you might have to  rely on that because that bishop can be caught on   h3 just under attack it won't get trapped but  they could be hit with a attack like a rook g3   or something and doubling the rook so you have to  be careful and the bishop may find its way back   to see it as you're saying yeah okay here comes  bishop g6 is it going to be d4 d4 you can always   hammer away at that structure with f5 and he's  going for f4 well you know d4 now with tempo so he   bishop c5 said you didn't play d4 the first time  well now it's probably time to do it with tempo   but that puts the pawns on riskier squares white  has the commanding control the center with the   pawns but you can chip away with f5 or c5 or both  and that center could collapse yeah absolutely the   rooks are poised for that and this is just the  type of thing in bullet it's so hard to keep   everything guarded you're constantly looking is  is e4 protected enough is d4 protected enough   you put too much pressure uh you know defending  one pawn he just attacks the other so you have to   be uh always looking and here we go here's c5 the  first attempt to chip away at that central mass   and c4 it's a thematic sacrifice but maybe i  can just take it because my nf2 is defending   oh but look at that bishop on b6 is that even  a bishop anymore does that qualify as one   wow and he just went for connect four five six in  a row that is looking good eric rosen here he's   got the bishop pair he's gotta activate but he's  got the center here for levy so very double-edged   game oh bishop a7 to go b5 to open that bishop  up here it comes c4 the queen's in line with   the rook the rook wins that battle the bishop on  a7 is alive the next rook can come to c7 this is   look at c3 maybe oh you're in check that's a good  check good check yeah that robert was really on a   roll there there's nothing going to stop him not  even a chat no not even a check i don't care if   it's legal or not i'm doing it but bishop came  to b8 that bishop can come to e5 and then you   can try to push that c pawn yeah bishop e5 here  uh i mean that bishop on f7 it looks like he's   doing nothing but timely f5 or even bishop back to  f7 one second wait one second you gotta go i just   noticed the time and quit if i'm scaring the pawn  a6 queen because i had a great response bishop d4   rook b1 oh my gosh it might be a mate bish should  be sent a good defensive move queen a4 is queen   b5 so he goes back and bishop d6 probably comes  rook b6 go rookie six rookie one rookie queen   oh my gosh queenie five oh rook takes you second  queen wow completely completely crushing levy is   looking to make this a match he can bring the  queen in and he should be able to execute the   mate bring the knight in that's the  last piece that isn't participating   and the key was that queen of four check but none  of us saw that king was in check none of us not   a single one of us not even you amman i know but  you don't even have to check no and now it's over   eric lose on time but he was lost on the board  he was a queen for a rook and a checkmate attack   levy down only two there are 13 and a half plus  minutes right now going back to this carrot con if   you were levy do you continue playing this cairo  because i feel like eric has found a comfort zone   so i feel like eric's found that comfort zone but  it's bullet and changing something up in bullet   can be disastrous if it doesn't work out for you  then you start to lose confidence so i think the   value of him just being able to make quick moves  is going to be fine it's bullet after all and i   think that in general this knight e4 has been a  good counter to this opening once he plays knight   e4 i've usually liked most of his positions and  look at this pawn structure doubled f pawns newer   players hate stacked pawns but what they do a good  job is look at the e4 square that's blacks for the   taking and the king isn't unsafe just because  the g pawn has moved and look at this knight   rerouting over to g6 if i am eric i'm trying  to get open on the queen side as black diverts   pieces to the king side let me play rook to b1  let me play pawn to b5 and use my bishop on h2   which slices across the diagonal taking away the  b8 square and that could be good for white to open   up that side oh look at this why are we seeing  knight a1 we saw knight h8 in a previous game well   it's going to go to b3 it's going to go to c5  and it's going to be a great outpost can never be   kicked by the b-pod because of the pawn on a5 and  he goes king edge one just getting out of the line   with the rook knight e4 played you need to keep  that rook on f1 you do not move that piece into c4   square blacks for the taking the c4 square 16 you  see five square whites for the taking i prefer the   c5 score it actually puts pressure on a pawn where  c4 is staring at air though it's a nice outpost   yeah and and we might see the move g4 at some  point it looks weird but it's sometimes very   thematic and queen e7 it should be six anybody e6  yeah oh it doesn't play it and now the knight can   move out the way because you can capture that  knight and take on b7 and that's an essential   pawn to the defense c4 knight c4 and knight  b5 both look reasonable c4 looks a little bit   closer to the action so to speak the annoying  thing about playing this position the black side   that knight and c5 was never leaving neville and  so you look at the queens that's clogged up here   and bishop h6 is i will give you oh and he goes  f4 he doesn't want that b7 pawn he just wants to   close this position down nobody wants that b7 fun  poor guy valentine's day coming up yeah well it's   it's going stag because gg3 knight goes  back to g6 and maybe now maybe now no no   it's i'm not gonna capture it nobody wants  it it's just a guy looking for a date i mean   oh gosh take it now come on do it a  favor it it's still there surviving   to see another day and if you're not careful for  white this knight on d7 can come to f6 and into e4   and do the same thing the knight on c5 is doing  that's exact that's probably going to happen whoa   d takes c5 is there some rook takes g3 nonsense  no oh my gosh now it's just dominance you if   you trade queen oh trade queens this is really  nice end game for white and you're up two points   you have ten almost eleven minutes in the clock  you can waste a lot of time even if you don't win   this game but black has where are you going for h4  close it down and there's nowhere to make progress   and at some point white can consider the move c4  watch out for that move yeah he's considering it   right now rook do you want anything oops he  had c4 now it's not as good but he can still   play it just to open up the file but g3 pawn's the  problem yeah and and now there's maybe a c4 again   he keeps missing it and then when he  sees it levy's like oh i see it as well   yes but he could still go c4 even if it doesn't  pin the pawn so he's bringing his king around to   play c4 yep here it comes oh my gosh that's really  c7 rook takes d5 but rook takes g3 nice call c4   there it is it's pinned finally and uh levy levy's  in big trouble here takes and rook e5 or although   the g3 pawn hangs so yeah is he going king c3  king d4 whoa i like that move oh king d king d5 who's better here black is better now look at that  king that's a hero and where do you win rookie six   let's bring the rook back rook to e6 g to e6 and  bring the the rooks down this is all of a sudden   good for black you can play d3 and a king d4 and  then rookie two check look at that king it's a   hero went all the way from like g7 to d4 wow and  look at this rookie two check trading off some   rooks king c3 bring that king in oh my goodness  and you can't move you can't take the rook d e's   nothing to do and crooked two meet the king helps  in the checkmate oh my goodness rookie three yeah   this is just completely winning eric gonna waste  some time but it's about to be a one-point match   with nine minutes remaining plenty of time for  levy to continue this comeback that is insane   because we all saw that position and eric was so  focused on trying to make progress that he kind of   forgot that hey if i over push i can actually  lose this game he's going for his stalemate   but he's going to get checkmated instead and as  you mentioned robert a one point game in levy   would you agree he's starting to find his  stride a little bit in this bullet portion   he is and eric had such a good position it was  vision in classical chess he could never lose that   ever it was close he was the one with the  only pawn break with c4 and then somehow he   lost the threat in great move d4 by levy and we  have this nimzo larson attack b3 to start the   compact pawn structure for white the bishop pair  for black and we see levy go back to this but look   at this the early bishop a3 says i can trade the  bishops so the king feels less safe without that   fianchetto there and i don't know if that's good  or bad because you know white's gonna go like   queen f2 d4 maybe rook to e1 and black doesn't  have a bishop pair anymore so now all those   things we were talking about the last time we  saw this don't necessarily apply you can't just   open the position and say hey i'm better i got  a bishop two bishops you can definitely do that   although with the king on b2 knight city  queen e5 could be a big nuisance that pin   is still alive and that's why he plays team b1  that's a nice retreating move the knight now   is free to go but how does white proceed from here  if you play f4 the g4 square becomes vulnerable so   f4 here h5 for block give me that g4 square and  he plays knight e3 first queen e5 i'm bringing   that queen to center taking away f4 from you i i  like queen f2 starting to get on the dark squares   maybe queen h4 f4 uh knight d5 is always in the  position black almost wants to play bishop c8   or bishop d7 and get over to c6 or b7 but maybe  he should have played a5 himself yes this looks   a bit scary but the good news if you take on b6  you undouble your pawn so that is good for black   from a structural point of view but what you need  to do for white is somehow trade a pair of knights   and then try to get on a dark square but it seems  very difficult at this point maybe we can get d4   like somehow play d4 in this knight c4 uh there's  okay there's that move queen e5 f4 comes to mind   f4 it doesn't rook a1 the open a file that makes  sense king goes to b7 knight c4 watch out for that   move that could that big for white to hit the  queen hit the b6 pawn take over some of those   dark stories and look at b right g5 yeah that's  rook g5 is probably good but i like that move b5   just taking away knight to c4 so queen d4 it looks  strange but threatens b4 so he has to go back and   that's a good queen trait that is a very very  good move knight to d1 now if b4 you take the   queen and there's no intermezzo because the queen  can take back on c3 okay so where to go to you   want to use the dark scores for both players right  you want to get this knight maybe to d7 to e5 but   look at this that pawn go to f4 maybe f5 crack  open the king side and that c2 to e4 pawn chain   feels very safe yeah it's so strong but i think  the pawn should have been kept on f3 now maybe   you can try to undermine it i don't know how c4  is but maybe that's too too harsh too right i do   like that move a5 just pushing your pawns where  you have an extra pawn and now rook g8 okay you   defend but fg and then rook to g1 that you take on  f5 you can't take on a five the rook is protected   that actually might be swinging things to black  stuff and there's no rook takes f5 no now you   can just i don't know what you can do now it's  94 though but knight e4 maybe there's knight g4   like can i do something like that right okay  so 94 played i can even take knight takes e4   he plays knight to g4 i do like that move take  that in knight f6 though oh wow because you do   not want to take on g5 that's for sure he plays  f6 not sure about that move yeah i'm not a big fan   of three seconds left for black i didn't even  notice the time if you take on g5 the oh whoa   they're talking about the other thing but oh wait  takes on g6 wait oh they're works hanging the rook   sings you can't take the knight rookie six knight  takes pawn takes and then you have h5 oh roxy's   h5 is winning it's winning for what oh he blew it  he left the rook hanging and he doesn't even react   how do you blunder a rook and just take more of  a nibble out of your sweatshirt and nothing else   who is this guy and levy is about to even the  score he you could sense he breathed it out he's   like this is even but he's still nervous i have to  imagine that eric is nervous too and it's an even   match we're gonna get our knight a3 again and we  have five minutes remaining this is both players   with great chances this is insane i i think by  the end of this match uh eric is going to turn   that crew neck into a v-neck i mean he is just  chomping away there robert bishop f5 we're back   to this opening i actually liked how this was for  levy last time but i don't agree that he should   have traded so many pieces and eric plays rook  b1 and he can play b4a for b5 that's the idea   i was calling for the bishop on f4 is so strong  taking away the b8 square and that's important   because the b file opens up the rook on b1 has  control the rook on a8 or f8 cannot get to b8 so   knight to d7 he's bringing his piece away from  the king side queen d2 bishop h6 is an idea   if you move your kick piece away i can go attack  you but rook g8 of course is going to be e8   yeah and this is going to be the classic  setup don't underestimate that knight on d3   kind of a hero guards the b2 pawn so the rook and  queen both do not have to worry about it and it's   watching both the c5 and the e5 squares knight  g3 you can already see where that knight might   be heading maybe the h5 to support queen over  to h6 but usually in these positions robert   black actually uses the open file to attack white  more than the other way around yeah and i think   that with this bishop trade here if you take and  play rook g6 that looks good for black i might put   my bishop back because your pieces are fighting  for the g file your bishop on g7 wants to get out   of there so bishop f4 for example says yeah that's  staying close because knight e5 but now i see yeah   there's a pin on the f2 pawn so there could be a  rook takes g3 that you have to look out for yeah   and we both tuned into that immediately the queen  on b6 looking at the king on g1 you might say well   there's so many things in the way but keep in mind  that rook on g8 looking at taking that mga 3 for   free but i don't think it's quite working it's  just an idea to keep in mind for calculations and   he goes knight d7 so he retreats and now bishop g7  knight h5 white can play for that mission we were   talking about but the e5 pawn is that a strength  helping white secure the f6 square or is it a   weakness because it's already under attack it's so  tough to tell rook g6 uh looks reasonable knight   to f4 of course can be played and that rook might  just slide back to g7 big question is can white   play queen to d4 offering a queen trade and then  try to take over the c file and that's something   that's easy to miss because you're so focused  on the king side but if the c file opens up and   white can get both rooks over there that could  be problematic for black and i like king and shoe   just maybe saying it looks nice like going all the  way like switching sides so quickly queen d queen   h4 in two moves the queen went from b6 to h4 and  suddenly there's a king side attack and there's   queen d4 watch out for knight h5 knight f6 but  the g2 pawn was hanging so he goes g3 good move 10   seconds per side 94 hits the f2 pawn maybe a sack  on g3 if you're not careful so he plays rook to e2   and there's no sacrifice on g3 it will not work so  he's not going to go for now whatever knight three   do not allow that fork six seconds my  goodness okay he brings the queen back   very very very crucial to stop that knight goes  back to e4 h4 played quickly but i think this   is going in levy's direction there are so many  sacrifices on each four to worry about queen d8   oh my god it's hanging there's going to be my gosh  and if you move your knight there's a knight takes   g3 and the queen d4 is hanging one second you  barely got to move because brook takes h f4 and   it's mate and four seconds for levy and he takes  it quick the queens trade the queen oh the rook's   hanging that's huge that's you yeah if i'm eric  you gotta resign you gotta well i guess you only   have time for one more regardless but levy is  about to take the lead in this match and it's up   to eric rosen to i think he's gonna resign here or  not sure if he knows the situation but he's gonna   get one more game anyway so it doesn't matter  it all comes down to that game if he doesn't win   and the game is over by timeout if he does not  win this game it is all over robert and one of   the most insane comebacks that we've ever seen is  about to be upon us and did you see levy hold his   heart i i don't know if he could take much more of  this i don't know if i can take much more of this   but we get this funky variation with the queen on  e2 blocking the bishop but levi he's been having   success with his king darting over the queen side  but this is different it's not the position we've   seen before whoa what is that g4 h5 in a game  where i only need to draw i'm not sure i'm going   for this wow and h6 played very quickly by rosen  he doesn't want to calculate anything he says look   this saves my bishop that's all i need  to know and look at the swiss cheese and   the dark squares on the king side over here and  the king can go to queen side for what you just   castle right now but then watch out for d4 and e5  and c5 and i don't like this position for white   yeah all of a sudden that bishop on h7 wide awake  and looking at that c2 pawn you're not going to   take it right now but it's about the pressure  black's going to play c5 knight c6 maybe knight   before knight d4 and all of a sudden the knight  and bishop work together on the c2 pawn and   a5 he says look if you were ever thinking about  casting that way don't forget i've got an attack   coming oh gosh and now the b4 square is blacks  for the taking bishop takes c2 everybody was   not possible because this d3 movement to trap the  bishop uh so oh actually the b3 pawn was hanging   so after a4 that could have been a blunder and  maybe he could have taken c2 i wasn't looking but   here no matter what terrible this is really bad  for white in a you don't need to win this game you   just need to draw c3 that b3 square the d3 pawn  maybe there's a knight c5 hitting both at once   and it seems like white's position on  the verge of collapse look at the time   he's gonna flag this game in the opening  bishop c3 takes takes there's like queen b4   queen d4 so many winning winning moves here oh  my gosh queen c5 queen d4 everything looks good   he goes bishop e7 no he missed something he missed  something there for sure richard one is available   oh gosh but roxy one that's also ugly he goes  bishop no we need to use his knight takes yeah   i forgot about that piece i was going for the fork  d4 though just push d4 yeah or bishop c5 bishop's   e5 g5 is also great for sure at 26 and 25 to 10 he  plays c5 i don't like that movie either knight f3   all of a sudden white's getting developed you  need a rook h2 he's not developing anything   and eric's just trying to play c4 himself because  that bishop on h7 might be the hero at the end   how do you stop c4 c4 is is going to hurt and  you've you need to move like once a piece he   loses the beast and eric's going to win and  tie the match oh my gosh he's 25 we're still   in this game we're still in this game oh are we  yeah we are because anything can happen when you   have votes from we made it with a point one he  made up one point five he's barely getting off   take it black is completely winning but we'll see  how the nerves are here because i'm nervous bro   six the queen on eight six five shot oh my gosh  he takes it with a rook that's a good move he's   still winning two pieces for the rook put a knight  on e3 watch out for knight e takes into a 93 check   yeah that's e62 oh my goodness it's saying  there's also queen g6 and you can just you   can check this knight g493 do something thank  you for check here comes oh my gosh if there's   not a check me in a few moves i don't know how my  time is a time match oh my goodness we have a tie   and somebody's alarm went off you know  what that means it's not time to wake up   it's time for this time break time yep that was  that was my tie break alarm there robert and let's   read the tie breaks so it is a tie right now it  is 10 and 10 now we get four additional bullet   games it's a mini match if you score two and a  half points you win if it's tied two to two we go   to armageddon where white gets five minutes black  gets three minutes but with the draw odds and what   we see early in the match black was winning all  the games hey i want to pick black but i get three   minutes we've seen the time trouble this match  hey i'm not going two minutes down from move one   so amman the player with the higher blitz rating  choose the color that means levy will choose the   color if we get to armageddon i don't know if  we'll get that far but what would you choose   well robert let me start off by saying i  didn't even know we had tie break rules   we hardly ever get to use them but it is so  exciting to be in a tie break format what   color would i choose honestly the black pieces  have been stellar for both sides today they   cannot be underestimated and i think it's less  about what color you would choose and more about   how comfortable and how confident these players  are going to be containing their nerves because   this has been one of the most exciting matches  i think we've ever hosted and they get no break   they're going right back into things and that i  mean who's that better for eric won the last game   but levy seemed to be the better of the two that  far in the bullet he came back from one point down   tied the match he was up by a point until that  last game there so he was storming back eric   says hey not so fast let's go to tie break who has  the edge psychologically as we go into tie breaks   well eric rosen does because he's stone cold  the entire time he's doing that how how did   he not break a sweat crack a smile no show of  emotion um but in all seriousness no this is a   literal toss-up robert uh i i cannot possibly call  this both players playing so clutch under pressure   and we saw that thumbs up clearly the team  behind the scenes doing all the work informing   the players exactly what's going on of course  they could read the rules beforehand they likely   have but just reminding them because tie breaks  don't happen very often it is four game mini match   two and a half points wins and well we've seen  anything can happen in bullet eric wins that final   game levy probably feeling a bit shaken because  he just need to draw he started playing wildly   and the nerves are getting to both of them even  if eric has not moved a muscle except to bite   his sweatshirt a little bit yeah this is going  to be a series of very intense matches because   it could so easily go to armageddon it's been that  connect the entire time i think that levy has done   a bit better in the bullet but when it mattered  when he needed a win eric rosa just stepped up   to the plate and played the best game of the  match and here we go we're going to get this   knight a3 line i am sure and bishop b3 c3 here  comes knight a3 to c2 we've liked these positions   for the most part for eric but this bishop f1 51  excuse me that's been going pretty well for levy   yeah and i don't see why he wouldn't go back to  it uh there's also his e6 line that he's been   playing with knight e4 but g6 bishop f5 and look  did he check that in the last like five seconds   i'm not sure if he did but he said no bishop  f5 for you you could play e5 and get the iqp   and levy says not for me i'm playing e6 and  maybe b5 but we've liked those positions   for white that's for sure yeah maybe knight e4  with f5 yeah exactly and this is another setup   it's not easy to play the move f3 to kick that  knight out when the move h3 is on the board the   dark squares get too weak and this feels like  it's a move behind for black's amount because   we saw f5 was already there in 97 the queen  a5 position so somehow black seems to be down   on g7 instead of d6 it takes an extra move to  fianchetto and that's good because stairs is a d4   pawn but now how does black get out of this a3 to  kick the knight that's why it goes knight back to   f6 but we like that knight in the center and now  maybe c5 b4 push those queen side pawns that has   some risk for the d4 pawn though yeah but it's so  it's so easy and bullet to do something like that   you know what your next bunch of moves are going  to be and it just helps you play quickly and get   up on the clock as you see that's already  the case and a5 is a great move stopping b4   before it can happen knight g4 let's turn off the  knights if you take me i take towards the center   my pawn and d4 is protect i'll bring my bishop to  e3 so i like this decision but black and try for   b6 trying to break open that position yeah knight  takes g4 or you can just leave it and play d6   he says no e5 and i like that response  i don't know what the evaluation is but   he wants to get that bishop out from ca i both  like it and dislike it the bishop wants c8s out   but so is that bishop on c1 if you took an e5 the  bishop would go to h6 that's why he took on c5 but   he could bishop e3 bishop d4 planting that bishop  on d4 and powerful look at levy say no not for you   here comes d4 but that pawn on d4 could be  weak queen d6 or queen v6 hitting the b2 pawn   keep in mind queen d2 guarding the pawn g4  just hangs as a result and black's going to   bring the rooks to c8 d8 and i feel like i like  this position for levy and f3 says i'm going to   protect but do not move that bishop from d3 you  move that bishop d3 check happens and that could   be a problem so he goes queen c2 why is control of  the open file black has this passport on d4 i feel   like white should be a little bit better and queen  e6 is an idea you have to be careful i don't like   queen v6 queen d6 annoying so i like bishop f8 to  prevent queen d6 so maybe queen b5 queen a7 we've   seen queen e7 win some games but that could lose  you the game as your queen's really far away he   just takes that's the modest queen c4 and look at  that he dragged the bishop out so he could attack   the pawn queen seven a good response there's no  quincy one don't blind your queen there yeah no if   either queen penetrates the position specifically  black's queen uh it might be all over but look at   those bishops that either defending two seconds  once oh my gosh he barely got that move off in   time and we should be seven almost shot the  queen there's queen eight to get away from it   it's a queen city oh boy that's a that's a draw  that's true if he wants it there might be more   i don't know where more is but maybe there is more  kingdom does that secure the draw at this point   he is thinking about bishop f1 but he should  not play that movie he did it oh my goodness   oh my gosh and he does it wait check he missed  it without king f2 king of two bring your kingdom   bishop c5 hey wait is there d2 big a3 oh d2 d2 is  winning wow and that decision by eric he shook his   head the first real reaction we've seen from him  he was like i can't believe that just happened i   played bishop f1 was so unnecessary he didn't need  to do that you just be okay with the draw and go   to the next game sometimes you play for a win you  play for a loss and that's what's happening here   levy keeps his composure with seconds maybe  even just barely half a second on his clock   in certain moments and he is winning this game  it takes a one game lead in this mini match   yeah i mean we're still in this game but this is  going to be a win for levy yeah he has an extra   piece and now he can take him play bishop g7 trade  off the bishops and then promote the pawn yeah i   think bishop f8 bishop g7 is the easiest i mean  look at rosen he's going for stalemate he's going   for stealing close to it oh look at that taking  the bishop and you can just go bishop c6 and then   take the queen and then promote no stalemates  for you i mean he's so close every time though   and i feel like that takes the wind out of eric's  sales because he won that final game to send this   to the tie breaks and he's the one who chose  to play on and levy was like waiting for it   he says you're going to have three seconds i am  going to win this game and now levy rosman up   one point three games remaining in this mini match  yeah and we see already a different move knight f3   instead of the f3 we've been seeing and one thing  we've said and we've seen from eric rosen is he is   clutch robert you cannot deny that when he needed  to win he won the game he needs to win right now   to get back in this he certainly does and look  at this setup if white plays d4 to challenge   the center black plays e4 takes up space and  especially with that bishop with d6 so i like   the c4 move challenging the center in a different  way and that pawn d5 is not protected right now   and it could be some problems in the light squares  yeah and knight takes d5 we've seen positions like   this before in this match with the f6 but those  light squares always a force to be reckoned with   this bishop on g4 there might be a d4 move a5  looks super strong and a6 soften up all the light   squares over there and watch out your knight on  c6 not well defended so bishop back to e6 okay a6   b6 the problem with a6 is that pawn later in the  game can become a target but right now it's such   a problem for black the rook can't move from a  the a7 pawn needs defense e4 once again you do   not want to open the position if you're playing  uh with the black pieces here something like f5   we've seen a structure exactly like this earlier  on maybe oh i was going to say knight f6 made more   sense than knight c8 yeah knight c8 that's not a  fun move to play and i think the bishop can go to   b4 as well maybe not now because the rook's in c1  but this is not the way you want to go for eric   and he puts his pieces look at that default so  clogged and if you can get f4 that would be good   but now cc77 yes at least in exchange there yeah  wha what do you do about this i think you buy c   takes d he thinks for the knight but i was taking  the c pawn up in 97 just i would lose my rook but   not the pawn knight f6 maybe had to be played  there or something like that oh this is rough this   is rough knight takes a8 bishop takes d6 and levy  once again is just cementing this this uh position   although he doesn't win the more material he  does simplify that's a great move bishop c4   trade off some stuff there will not be an attack  for black in fact white is controlling the c   file so here comes the queen down to c8 c7  and the a7 pawn that's probably going to be   lost soon yeah maybe knight f8 simply forced here  rook c6 berks c7 looks great and you mentioned   there's going to be no attack for black he can try  desperately with f4 but h5 none of these moves are   actually threatening anything no and here comes  queen c4 if you wanted to try 87 yeah that's nice   and rook c1 rook c7 that pawn is going to be taken  and i i think this is another win for levy look he   had 38 seconds robert yeah something just you know  snapped in eric and he was playing really well   he won that final game but this one was never his  once levi struck with c4 and then the knights got   awkward in a4a5 really nice play by levy knight  c7 rook takes a7 king c6 he's trying to trap that   rook but keep in mind there's always rook b7  check yeah and he takes g7 the a pawn goes and   while you're up pawns on both sides of the board  initially exchange and now all levy needs is a   draw one draw wins in the match and eric going  back to his favorite weapon here with knight   a3 yep this is a draw wins the match there's four  games it's a four game mini match and it's already   two nothing for levy rosman you can see the two  point advantage reflected in the score he's back   to this bishop f5 system and eric rosen's saying  look that whole knight e3 thing forget that let's   go back to the basics and what has worked in the  past yeah he goes 93 now so he takes away the f5   square and the knight on f6 needs to keep an eye  on the d5 pawn so you have to watch out for that   because 28 protecting getting his queen back and  i still like these positions for white it's just   my preference levy has done nothing wrong it's  solid it just feels much more easy to play from   the white side yeah and i think he somehow got the  best version almost all match like he's got the   bishop out in front of the knight on e3 and knight  e4 can be instantly kicked away by by simply f3   and knight a5 trying to get to the c4 square  i was thinking that white would play knight   c1 knight b3 knight c5 but now the 985 covers  the b3 series bishop g5 watch out for knight g4   that's going to be a very frustrating pin and if  you play h6 the bishop just goes back to h4 so   queen of c7 that's good getting out of the pin and  we get a little repetition a little tickle levi is   going to take the repetition and i think we know  why he wins the match with a draw keep that in   mind uh going forward in this and that's a sneaky  move because if you ever play h6 you could have a   problem with that square so 94 hitting the bishop  he takes that's a big choice i was just going   forward he wants the dark squares but i think  he could have had them without trading yeah but   he came with bishop f4 and then knight to e5 so  that way he doesn't drop a pawn to get the knight   to e5 right now i don't think 96 check is good no  knight h6 king h8 and you your knight is actually   just trapped on h6 you might wish that it was back  there bishop f4 great move and if you can bring   that knight to e5 you're saying that bishop on c8  even though it can get the b7 maybe to d5 perhaps   there's nowhere for it to attack and you would  like to trade off some of these miners yep knight   to e5 we haven't even seen development completed  by levi is he gonna go knights before he does   take that off take and bishop h6 and play knight  against light squad bishop that's what i would   be doing i know it's not a classical game but it  feels like black doesn't have any active play and   white's just jumping in here yeah but keep in mind  that bishop if it gets to d5 clogs the position   all of a sudden it could be black going f4 and  where is white's play that's true i was thinking   that i would get my knight to f4 but you're right  if you can kick my pieces out of there and then   press four that could be a problem so b3 now play  b3 open up that other flank b3 but b3 c takes b3   you can't stick with the rook there's bishop a4 so  you have to be careful a little bit bishop c6 to   d5 now and he's not getting b3 i think bishop  d5 if he doesn't play b3 there's no play left   yeah maybe h4 to try to crack the king side  as well but here's g5 oh oh here comes f4   wow and the bishop does cement itself and if  you take on c4 the bishop lands there can you   even go to defense look at the clock as well  there's eight seconds he's in a tough position   clock ticking down but we've seen him be clutch  before this is still anyone's game yeah and watch   out for the king side attack if you go f4 you  drop e4 the g5 pawns in attack it goes queen g6   that's a good move but you have trouble playing f4  for black so he plays h4 but now f4 the pawn still   could be hanging i like to move rook before  yes whoa it takes a night that's shocking   very shocking well there's gonna be g4 to follow  but uh eric rosen has got to be happy with his   chances here yes because now all things  are opening up and rookie three very good   f4 oh no or maybe not the three move f3 and go  for checkmate oh my gosh this might be so quickly   rookie three play but g takes h3 and the queen  comes down to g2 and that looks like game h2   okay but you can't stop h2 there goes the pawn  get a queen yeah a draw oh he's fist pumping   he's fist bumping he's still got the game to  complete but the queening and he's got it he's   up a rook and there has to be a checkmate in  the next few moves so levy rosman against all   odds he was down three points at some moment here  he goes checkmate next move and that is the match   and look at levy he is elated there is a fist  bump he's gone it's probably jumping around his   room i feel sorry for whatever objects he has  around him they're probably breaking right now   holy smokes the emotions finally pour out  because they've been bottled in the entire match   rosen and rosman just gave us probably one of the  best treats ever for in terms of entertainment   robert you know bringing you this prime time show  i'm not a gm maybe any speed chess championship   match i feel like this has been the most exciting  it really was and it kind of got to be a little   bit of a frozen rosin in these time scrambles  he was using a lot of time levy was just locking   things up and he couldn't find the right moves  even when he had his chances of real credit to   both of these players we got to take our final  break because we need to return with them we can   hear their thoughts and we're gonna have to know  what was going on with the black pieces winning   the first nine games of the match so stay tuned  everybody we'll be back with levy and eric very shortly and we are back i know the chat is going wild  right now uh from that completely insane match   in terms of entertainment robert and i are on  the edge of our seats we have the players levy   and eric joining us here and i i just go right  to you levy the the emotions we saw them come   pouring out of you on camera right at the end  there some fist bumps we were worried about you   know the projectiles and some of the objects in  your room but can you just describe how you're   feeling after an insane match victory uh i mean  yeah what what to say um first of all uh eric   that was a lot of fun uh we should do that again  just maybe not so soon uh in a few days right   i i mean i i at some point i gave up preparing  for eric you just can't do it uh and so as the   match was kind of spiraling out of control i  actually when i went three down i left and i   and i went to talk to my girlfriend and i was  like mentally i was preparing what i was gonna   say when i when it was over and i lost because  i was just okay i mean and then i don't know   it just moved pieces to squares and  uh yeah i mean at the end it's just raw emotion what else to say no absolutely it was  a really heated match it was going back and forth   and eric let me ask you something the match  started with nine wins for the players with the   black pieces so what was going on did that kind  of feel weird to you or was that just par for   the course of what was going to be a wild match  yeah it was a little bit strange um i was i wasn't   really keeping track but i knew that it seemed  like black for some reason had the upper hand   and that may have been because that we both  prepared very well for black and not so well for   white oh not not at all i mean like most of the  games were coming down to like much later moments   and these crazy time scrambles so it may have been  psychological may have been coincidental but um   uh yeah levy levy played well especially to come  back from i think he was at a three-game deficit   yeah so twice right it was rough but uh i'm really  i was really hoping you wouldn't keep playing e4   um but then you kept playing e4 yeah i wanted  to keep punishing your kero khan but maybe in   hindsight maybe i should have switched to london  i was like waiting at some point at some point i   pre-moved c6 and i got very scared because i was  like um yeah i don't know about eric but like i i   you look at some lines and then you're like okay  i'll you'll just figure it out um i was pretty   unhappy with with some of the five plus one  i still can't figure out how to play the time   control correctly of course like we barely play it  so uh i felt those positions were a lot of fun but   for the first i mean for the almost the entire  five plus one basically the entire three plus   one it just felt like eric was more clutch held  his nerves better um outplayed me like i mean   there was moments i was staring at the board  and he played a move and i'd be like oh yeah   like not even that it's good that it's legal  that he'd play a move and then he was just   once it was three down i just kind of was  like okay whatever we'll see what happens   and then i had nothing in the next game and yeah  i don't know just momentum swings i just i wore a   fitbit to track my heart rate i was telling  eric and uh i averaged 130 beats per minute   for like the last hour so probably pretty  unhealthy for me to keep playing these matches   yeah i was saying the same thing it  would be a good thing that robert and i   did not have heart monitors on the screen because  ours were definitely up there as well um erica go   to you again because it looked like you made  a decision i was wondering if it was conscious   or not at the end of the three minute portion  it looked like you resigned to take another game   um and you know that game obviously ended up  going too levy kind of shrunk that lead you   know is that an intentional decision and is it  something you sort of look back on in this match   yeah um it was a conscious decision i was  aware that there was like i think 15 seconds   left of the 3-1 portion and i was debating  whether to resign just yet another game um   and i mean i i was liking my prep  preparation with white so i think   if i was in the same situation again i probably  would have made the same decision but of course   the game uh that was probably one of my worst  losses is white because i just blundered this uh   this bishop b4 move levy played really tricky  that final game so he got that uh that momentum   shift high praise honestly i like i said i was  just the last few games was just making moves   and then you played queen c3 and i was like oh  uh and you know playing eric is like it's kind   of a nightmare because when you play most title  players you get upper rook like okay next game but   with eric it's a constant lingering fear that he  will completely embarrass you and he almost did he   i almost almost he almost got a stalemate trap  like in the first section or something and i'm   constantly sitting here with this fear like i'll  end up on a highlight somewhere you know and uh   it's no it's the stress is never over until he the  game literally pops up that i it's over and i won   the stress is insane well levi let me ask you  something because you mentioned momentum shifts   and stress when eric won that final bullet game  to tie the match and send the tie breaks that's   a momentum shift eric's way how did you calm  yourself because you didn't even get time to rest   before going into more bullet what were you saying  to yourself what were you thinking you know what   was that experience like to be honest i would love  to give you some big inspirational speech but um   it ended um i knew i mean that whole that game  i must have hit 150 throughout the game i just   like kept trying to calm down and kept playing  garbage moves it was really a fun process and i   was like you know we'll just play and at that  point i really expected d4 because i'm like   okay it's brand new four games and he plays e4  and then we get another like what i don't even   remember what what iteration of the move order it  was and like i said i was just gonna put pieces   on squares and try to play the best move and try  not to get low on time and uh i got my chance and   then in the next game i don't even remember what  opening i played in the second game of the bullet   but um oh i played this like b3 bishop b2 e3 and  i made that decision i made consciously i was   like the next time he does that i'm going to play  that but other than that just stay focused and uh   hope for the best that's basically it right i mean  this this entire match basically felt like uh it   came down to a match of nerves especially with all  the time scrambles and you yourself eric pretty   much on camera i think everyone would echo these  thoughts that you look like nothing phases you you   know you'll you'll hang the biggest blunder of  the match and you'll look the same as when you   have that clutch victory to send the entire match  into armageddon can you give some insight are you   actually nervous under there at all or are you  just unphased in these scrambles well i'm i'm   actually curious uh maybe next time i do one of  these matches i should wear a heart rate monitor   because i get nervous but um i mean one of the  ways to calm nerves is just to not show anything   and just kind of try and find that sort of zen  mode so um of course like i'll feel the adrenaline   but um i don't think there's too much reason for  me to get emotional or like if i have a tough loss   or blunder something i'm not gonna like throw  anything or break anything so it's one of those   things that uh i've lost lost enough games over my  uh my career to kind of cope and just move on with   uh just take it one move at a time yeah that makes  sense and you mean levy in one of those games   it's hard to call it any moment a moment of the  match but there was that rook takes f7 so the   queen takes up seven and you have queen b1 and saw  that checkmate on the back rank like moments like   that like how do you play in next game because  whether you win or lose that there's so much   emotional adrenaline rushing through you like  how do you just gear yourself up to keep going   um well you you have to actually was that the  wasn't there was there a break after no no we   there was another game there was another game  one more after that yeah yeah um i mean i think   it's different what time format you do it and  i think in five plus one it it's like it takes   forever for the game to kind of get going uh  that was actually a game i was talking about   i was winning and then eric like defended really  well i mean and i got low on time and in my head   i'm thinking highlight highlight reel highlight  reel i'm losing losing losing and then as i play   rook f7 i'm like if he takes with the rook i  have queen b1 with like 1.5 seconds on the clock   you know and he takes i barely got the move there  first of all like you know mouse moving like this   and then it was just mate um but i did the same  thing against canty i uh i had a good win and   then the next game i completely self-destructed  um yeah i mean when i was basically losing games   during the breaks i would like walk outside  i would do the daniel cormier i would walk   like one way to down my apartment and then one  way back and just like be like let's go like come   on like focus and then i would like sit back  and lose more games it was a really cathartic   experience i must say um now i won't sleep till  three in the morning i don't know about eric but   ah yes and eric i do have another question  for you and one of those games in the bullet   i think it was the first tiebreak game if i'm not  mistaken you'd made this decision to bring your   bishop back to f1 instead of repeating moves with  king g1 to h2 and i hate to bring up bad memories   but what was your thought process like there  because levi did not have much time but it felt   like you could go for the repetition and go to  the next game so how did you make that decision   to sort of play for a win ah i i was just about to  suppress the memory and then you you brought it up   eric you know we're friends i'm sorry i'm so sorry  i forgive you um yeah it was kind of a practical   decision i um i mean levy had two seconds  left and i saw that he shouldn't be queening   but then he had a promotion tactic to win a piece  and then i was just lost so of course that was uh   that was unfortunate because i could have  just taken a draw and then moved on but um   it was it was kind of a calculated risk  in the moment and that didn't pay off   yeah i think that's the that's the  best summary an honest answer i mean   those are just game time decisions comes down to  just seconds uh i think it's fair to say this was   literally one of the most exciting scc matches  and i am not a gm and maybe in just sec overall   that most people can remember that i can certainly  remember commentating it went all the way to a tie   break it nearly went to armageddon so i think  that just speaks how to how closely matched the   entire thing was um go over to you levy and you  know congrats because you you did come out uh on   top with the roller coaster of emotions and you're  probably not thinking about it but you are moving   on in the competition and greg jihadi is waiting  for you on the other side of the bracket um any   thoughts towards that match or you know just kind  of trying to get the heart rate down i think i   think it's down no it's still above 1.05 so uh my  resting heart rate is like 59 so it's going to be   a while um uh no i mean greg is really strong uh  he actually it's funny he messaged me before the   tournament began and he was like you want to talk  some trash like on social media he's very like   contrary to what he like puts out on twitter i'm  like man i'm not even sure i'll even make to make   it to play this man it wasn't a matter of him he  would he would make he's fine um i was like we'll   see you know because the first time we did this i  was knocked out in the quarterfinal i'm like we'll   see when we get there so i don't know man um this  time i tried to drink some wine in the beginning   of the match to like cool off that didn't work  i almost fell asleep who knows next time i don't yeah well it's late for both of you uh we  appreciate you taking the time and everyone   was delighted and treated to a great match  i mean there's so many people still here   it was the numbers were through the roof  and everybody was rooting for both so we   really appreciate you coming on playing a great  match and obviously for all the work you do for   chess in general it's an absolute joy to see you  both thrive and the numbers speak for themselves   so it's a lot of fun guys well i i hope the  commentary was fun um shout out to you know   everybody in the chat i saw the energy was  electric it's a good it's a it's a it's a   healthy rivalry you know i should say that eric is  uh one of the only probably the person i've known   the longest in all of this online over-the-board  stuff um he's one of the only people who   at the beginning of last year i even saw in person  because he stayed at my place or was that january   that was yeah that was january last year yeah  i mean it's like crazy how much has changed so   ah that was good it was good to play this match  if i was gonna lose to anybody i was gonna be   happy to lose to eric same with you levy but um  we're gonna you know go back to the drawing board   keep uh keep making content streaming and uh shout  out to you guys for hosting and shout out to the   chat for being electric well we appreciate it good  word that's a good word for the chat electric was   exactly the energy and uh another congrats to  you levy but especially eric for making this uh   literally one of the most uh memorable matches for  for everyone here so congrats to both and thanks   again for taking the time to join us all right  thanks guys have a good night you too and there   you see it the bracket is set the final four  it is greg shahadi levy rosman roberto molina   lars oscar hogg amon we just had a wonderful match  and if we look forward we see levy taking on greg   you asked him he said well there was potential for  trash talk he didn't give a definitive answer on   what his thoughts were what are your thoughts on  both that match and the roberto versus lars match   uh it's it's actually pretty incredible to uh  remind ourselves robert that that wasn't the final   you know what i mean that felt like a finals  match so that just speaks volumes about how   closely matched those two players are levy moving  on he's taking on greg greg's the number one seed   we all know that he uh comes into this you know he  must be the the favorite on paper but we've seen   so many ups and downs from levy it could be you  know his terrible time management might cost him   the entire five-minute segment or his resilience  in the bullet might win him the whole match so i   think it's a very interesting matchup but i will  say that levy probably knows himself he needs to   find a way he mentioned it in our interview  here needs to find a way to play the five-minute   segment properly because he just doesn't have  any practice in that exact format format five   minutes plus one second increment and greg jihadi  has so much experience he's obviously older than   levy he's been playing blitz as a favorite of  his for a long long time you can go on youtube   and find really old clips of him doing that he is  higher rated he's the number one seed so far it's   been rock chuck jayhawk one through four making it  to the semi-finals and levy has his work cut out   for him but what is showing we don't even want to  think ahead at this point we'll just focus on the   match that was because we have two fantastic  streamers who can also play some mean chess   that was awesome it was wholesome to hear their  thoughts their friends when they're not competing   against one another and eric despite the loss he  proved that he was every bit the match for levy   rosman and we could not have asked for a better  show no there's no other way to put it um the the   chat i think i don't know what the the max viewers  was but it was upwards of 22 to 25 000 uh watching   so so many fans of both of these players and just  chess fans who maybe haven't uh seen these guys   hey these guys are active streaming on twitch all  the time you know so if you you liked uh what you   saw today you can get a another taste of that  on on their channels respectively so just a an   incredible incredible day i had a feeling this  was going to be one of the most hyped matchups   uh prime time slot uh we got our producers staying  up until 7 00 a.m plus uh uh their robert just to   make this show happen so i'm glad i'm glad we did  because it's been a pleasure i don't know what my   heart rate is i don't know how i'm going to sleep  tonight but that was a great match and we want to   thank everybody who's been tuning in throughout  this whole way between two very popular chess   personalities gotham chess i am rosen there  could be only one winner it was levy but on   behalf of myself and amman gonna say goodbye say  goodnight and we'll see you soon for more chess

Channel: Chess.com

Views: 946,015

Keywords: chess, imnotagmscc, i'm not a gm, speed chess championship, speed chess 2021, i'm not a gm speed chess championship, twitch chess, speed chess tournament, I'm Not A GM Chess.com, levy rozman, levy rozman chess, rozman chess, gothamchess, gotham chess, gotham chess blitz, levy rozman blitz chess, levy rozman vs eric rosen, levy rozman vs eric rosen im not a gm, eric rosen vs levy rozman im not a gm, eric rosen vs levy, eric vs levy chess

Id: DKwacGGuBG8

Length: 230min 23sec (13823 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 09 2021