Northernlion: Intermediate Chess Genius?

many of you have asked me to make videos on  intermediate level concepts for strategy and   improvement so i think you're gonna really like  this video it's an excerpt of a two hour lesson   that i did with northern lion live on stream he  is a youtube og he's made a lot of let's play   walkthrough videos he's got thousands of videos  here on youtube he's around 1500 chess so this   video i want you to focus on the thought process  it takes to get to his level uh there's a lot of   opening middle game and end game thought processes  covered and i hope you enjoy let me know your   thoughts in the comments below and then after that  we can do openings yeah yeah let's do that then   okay perfect so this game in particular uh the  way i want you to think about this is if you're   like 14 1500 that is like every game has a ton  of value uh for analysis because you're playing i   hate to say this but real chess you know no one's  hanging queens you know it's like your mistakes   in a game in a 1500 game strategic you know  bad trade bad decision with the pawn structure   um so okay you started with c4 and you can see  the moves right yep yeah okay c4 he goes here okay   in every opening there's like a spot where you  you go something's bad they did something bad this   game it's move one yeah you can't play d5 against  c4 it's already much worse for black that's what   i felt like in the moment i felt like immediately  they were on the back foot yes i'll tell you why   have you ever heard of the scandinavian defense  i've seen it pop up as i've been playing but   nothing more than that it's the same kind of  thing but notice it's it's against the king's pawn   the difference is there's a  whole central pawn missing   so that's why doing this against the way you see  like the swap of the pawn yeah yeah as little as   it is this is already almost like winning for  white like borderline already winning 100 of   computers would win this with white from here  um so normally what you do in a situation like   this is you you take the center you just take the  center immediately which is what you did but then   he stops you from going here right yeah obviously  because obviously this so bishop d2 is fine   um i would probably like nights before bishops  generally okay just because you know your knight's   gonna go here and you don't necessarily know if  your bishop will go here but obviously it's not   you know nothing bad um e4 fantastic bishop g4  um i think nothing is nothing is wrong nothing   is wrong okay i love what you did here this is  a really instructive moment so you played e5 because you know now that the opening phase is  over uh you need to kind of like do something   right you gotta yeah i i have like initiative  right now i can kind of control what's happening   yes and e5 is the best move in fact you know the  crazy thing about this position it's completely   equal material but engine is saying it's plus four  for white oh so it's like a piece up basically   piece and even a pawn yeah and notice e5 is the  only move so this is very important guys like   guy doesn't have central control e5 best  move knight d5 so then take take and then   you immediately use the open c file so this is  great so far everything is fantastic oh thank you   that'll change pretty soon i think well  but that's why a game like this is is so   good so you played queen c2 and you might  um you might not remember exactly obviously   you recorded the game but i i can actually tell  you like what my methodology was in the moment   okay so i uh you know first thing i'm gonna i'm  on a little bit of time crunch yeah in in the game   to some extent but yeah i thought c8 like it's not  necessarily good but i guess it's kind of clever   if he doesn't do anything to respond  to it you know you you put him in check   he takes your queen you take his rook  and then the only way out of mate is   you know to do that and i materially  it's the same but it felt kind of clever   no so there's absolutely nothing wrong with the  move queen c2 it's just that this it's like flashy   but at best what's gonna happen is you'll trade  a lot of pieces queen c7 is better than queen c8   because at least you get the rook in and then you  can like take this and you can put some pressure   on this so this is a bit more of a tactical  pattern which is very important to to keep in mind   it's the it's the the open diagonal to the king on  on the queen side okay yeah this will happen and   the best move is queen a4 which the computer  does agree with because this is just   like almost impossible to defend and  there's something even more brutal here   let's say black plays rook d8 defending  the knight bishop a5 right yeah so   you just basically you you play where you're  stronger and since you can move two guys over here   and just destroy and you have the rook queen a4  and like this knight is loose because the bishop   is is disconnected um queen a4 and then like for  example bishop b5 and and uh let's say i'm just   gonna play a random move you have something else  you have like e6 for example yeah that makes sense   clearing the square for your night right so  something like this this and even like 95   in the future just going for like the kill total  kill like don't even don't even give him a chance   so then here when the king moves over i like queen  f5 the computer isn't isn't thrilled because of   this move but you see how you're spending like  a lot of time with the queen yeah moving the   same piece too much yeah and he goes like e6 he  gets a little time when i was looking at the game   this move i audibly gasped at you played b3  okay it's not a blunder but at this level   one move can change the game so this move  is just something called it's just too slow   yeah it's too slow like you you don't need  that pawn what you do need is you need to   create threats because you have the initiative you  like like you said you have a lead in development   why are you plus three in this position like  why would you describe why are you plus three   um okay let me think about it for a second there's  a couple things i like like i have control over   the c file already they're king you know it cannot  castle which is kind of like a a very quick way   for them to get a little bit more defensible there  and just not being able to cancel and having their   king open kind of means that the opponent has to  deal with threats more readily i suppose like they   they actually have to use some of their pieces to  reinforce it instead of just like sequestering it   you know if they castle kingside on g8 um the  fact that the king has moved over to d makes this   pawn pretty vulnerable especially if i can get  my knight here for example and then you know in   some way we can put some pressure on the bishop  maybe and obviously it threatens the fork but   they probably wouldn't let it happen  but in stopping it they would give up   uh some kind of advantage um it you know it can't  be realized right away but the the bishop does   get to pin the the queen against the king and  there's maybe ways that we can manifest that and   like moreover like this night sucks for them  like there's no way that they can get it out   this bishop's like it doesn't seem great for them  uh this bishop maybe is a little bit more powerful   but still not developed at all so i i just feel  like i'm i've got a way more aggressive position   where i kind of control what's happening so  the the the key that you kind of brought up   was like this like like this little area if  you can successfully just do something here   on this side of the board remember earlier i said  queen a4 um yeah yeah queen a4 like you you were   better on the queen side now you're better on the  king side because your queen's here and you know   one move that uh that the machine was trying  to get you to play was h4 sometimes pushing   a pawn in front of your king like this it it  does have a very legitimate threat because it   it stops this from happening and the problem  is like you said black's just gonna play   this and yes yes uh that is that is absolutely  true so then you'll have to move your queen back   uh doubling the rooks could be could be the  best idea because this move also wants this that's true yeah and if you double it's a really  big problem for example this just loses because of   this right yeah i mean and then you also have this  on top of that uh and like for example if queen   takes b2 it this is not under attack because of  the knight yeah yeah because of the knight so okay   like you'll lose a pawn or two which obviously  oops sorry not definitely not there uh here   yeah i mean that's how that's like doubling up  the rooks and you know it's it says plus three   the problem with the game like this is that it's  really hard to see exactly why but you described   it quite well it's because their king sucks you  have a lot more activity king safety material   are the top two and then after that it's piece  activity and space and pawn structure so you're   winning on every single one except material  is equal in in in the position you have a much   safer king their king is bad you have much more  active pieces uh do you know how to count space   uh i don't i did when i was 12 but i don't anymore  very it's just it's just a fancy way of like how   many squares do you control or have vision on in  their position so one two because the pawns three   you know four et cetera you can kind of count  like that but this rook is like the c file is   everything but you're always threatening  to get on both sides but there's one move   and your opponent starts like trying to wiggle out  you know and then you play knight g5 and what you   let him do here a little bit even though computer  hated this is you start letting him simplify   and he's he's a little happier simplifying  because that means less things to worry about   uh less less kind of pieces threatening  to take we play rook c3 queen takes d4   here you played the second move which made  me it made me hurt a little physically   um why did you trade queens uh yeah i mean i this  i have less of a recollection of but i think it   was the idea that um i'm trying to remember where  it goes i i i think i remember where it goes from   here but i think part of it was the idea that like  so if he takes it does like royally well you know   what no i don't even remember because i was like  maybe i i was thinking i could get control of like   the f-file via like capturing that way but like  obviously doubling up the pawn structure there is   trash um generally speaking i i always say i have  a bias towards trading especially uh in a in a   a faster game like in a game where i  don't have that much time on the clock   the idea that like the simplification would would  benefit me as well but uh i do i do probably over   trade i think that's something my audience would  say as well yes yes uh they there someone in chat   already said he loves to trade queens um they're  also begging me to ask you different questions on   subjects but i've learned don't worry about  that yeah yeah the chat you calm down um   so here's the thing about this position  it's a good way of kind of thinking about it   in any position if a pair of pieces  for you and your opponent disappear   like which pair do you want to disappear right  the truth is at this point like your your piece   superiority is if you look at like any computer  analysis here it's going to tell you it's just   the c file that's the only reason you have an  advantage is if you go in like this otherwise   like these pieces are not great but you don't want  a queen trade because you're the attacking side   so you only want to trade queens if you're up  a lot of material or if you're under attack   and in this case you're definitely not under  attack so it would have been better to just   go here actually you're threatening checkmate  yeah that's true in how does black stop this i'm not sure it's possible like knight takes  check here here here here and there's no back   rank mate yeah you bishop back to f1 yeah both  bishops actually oh that's right yeah yeah it   was reinforced by the queen is this scary um not  really i mean you could uh you can get out easily   with that but you could also take the uh advantage  back yourself super easily with either uh you know   this or that and then yeah you probably make  them i think before they even get a chance to   yeah good that's that that's the main thing i  wanted to bring up here i mean h3 is the last   resort actually probably bishop c1 even because  you have the queen protecting yeah to disconnect   but i did want you to you know not freak out  people freak out they see bishop d3 they're like   oh i i messed it up oh my god you know no just  go hunt their kingdom you're fine actually you   have something very cool you don't even have  to give a mate you can check check and like   bring the rook back to be like oh yeah no that's  nice but yes you can also just hunt them down and   checkmate them after this the game is now like  totally different because you're not attacking   you're i guess slightly worse why down one  pun yes just down one pawn right so i think   but your opponent in this position could have  played a very good move which he didn't play he   played king e7 which is garbage yeah it was very  trash yeah very very bad um i remember that one uh   why is it bad no no no no no you you you punished  it but i'm saying why is k7 bad what's the best   move here for black um let me think about that  again it's nice to have some more uh free time   because i'm pretty sure i had like 90 seconds left  on the clock at this point that won't be easy no   trying to think of what would be the best move um   well obviously like they want to get their rook  developed which is why they moved king to e7 in   the first place so that they could have access to  the back rank but um i feel like the way that they   gain an advantage here like if i look at it from  the perspective of the black pieces their knight   now that d4 doesn't exist actually has a lot  more flexibility so i feel like developing that   could be sensible but i also wonder if it isn't  something a little bit um cheekier you know like   due to the fact that they have like a more uh  contiguous pawn structure if they can't just   push these like with maybe something like f6  and and start to dismantle me that way but   i don't know how to move backwards  by the way oh no you just left click   if you want to get rid of anything oh okay okay  yeah so that's that's my that's my hunch but i   i'd love to know the the reality just got hit  with the word contiguous i'm still recovering it stretches like from d to h whereas i only have  like h to e so you know they can they can trade   pawns in such a way that they can get some freedom  to get them to the back rank so little checklist   to always like i said th this this concept  of like instinct and coming up with a move   like just instantly that you will you will see  it will come to your mind very very quickly   um for the concept of forcing moves uh so  attacks on the king checks that's just number   one for yourself and for them just scan it if if  there's a that exists the second one is a capture   so in this position the only capture they have is  this which is not good right but the third one is   like the concept of attacks so attacking something  in your position which is worth ah wait you you   hit me with a light bulb there can they just  go like bishop to b1 well that's that that that   actually yes but who's worth even more than upon  in your position which they can attack right now   but yes bishop b1 is a yes all right oh  yeah like uh pawn to d4 yeah and notice   what what's happening when they play pawn to d4 what's happening when they move pawn  to d oh they're forcing me off of the   protection of the the e-pawn okay and i mean  if you lose that pawn it's gonna be very bad   because it's like an avalanche yeah the the  five on three so d4 will come to mind a lot   faster and this bishop is just a beast i mean  it's just it's surviving the whole game so king   e7 yes but that's what you have to think about  too d4 forcing move so d4 and knight e5 and then   um by the way you obviously find i felt great  about that move yeah it's it's a it's a nice move   it's aesthetic it makes them just you know  go back and then bishop d3 you gave away this   you need to follow the path of the aesthetic move  where should the bishop live forever uh probably   d6 at that point control is way too much space  to give up don't even think about just bishop d6   i mean rook bishop boom everybody and then you  can glue the center shot with f4 in the future   so that they can never get rid of this yeah and uh  yeah bishop d6 anytime you have this in bishop d6   like it just and the end the whole game it's  it's it's done but of course you want to trade   the bishops now um he blunders immediately this  is a fantastic move when you're down two pawns   you need to attack things that are weak yeah  when you're up two pawns you need to not create   weaknesses this creates a weakness of what the pin  on the bishop to b2 yes the pin and the the real   like instructive thing is every pawn he has is  on a light square yeah everything of value is on   a dark square and you have a dark squared bishop  so that's why you can go here and it looks like   he's holding everything together but you go chop  chop chop and all of a sudden it's not so simple   uh and you i mean f4 by the way  doesn't work but it's very close   because you see you want to take this pawn  yeah so this is bad because you can play what um well i guess uh like h3 yeah  and what about more violent   more violent there's a more forcing move than  attacking the knight oh i guess you would just   take the knight with your rook instead and  then you you get the the pawn and then also   the the rook out after yeah yeah but bishop e5  rook g6 i think is the is also very good one uh   instructive moment here i just wanted to show f4  looks like it wins but it it has a drawback so   uh i i always say this is like the danger  level concept so the knight is hanging   but let's say black won't move it what is  black's most forcing move in this position using that hierarchy there there's one check  that's it loses the knight so pawn to h4 yeah and   now you have to move the rook away like somewhere  so if something like h4 the best move for you   is now probably to go here so that if take you  have this skill and then it's kind of the same   thing but i'm just kind of this is how this is  how you think about this you want to play f4 but   then there's h4 so uh the way it's happened in  the game is he made a very uh 1500 level mistake   he he lost his mind he lost the g6 pawn and then  in the next few moves he literally lost every   gun yeah he went mega tilts at this point i was  like this is it's just a joke at this point yeah   he uh he malfunctioned a little bit um and this  is instructive we can learn from our opponents   what i mean of course the best move here is you  have to bring the king yeah and then you often   time can even chuck this other pun like just  chuck this and just just go with these guys   and also rook c8 yeah why rook c8 because open  file and then active rook in the end game so this   game had like a few things that had the opening  but then he survived it even though he played it's like weird because a game like that if you  run it through the analysis will be like you're   terrible you're the worst person ever he you know  you he gave you 30 missed wins yeah have you ever   analyzed and then you don't even know why it's a  missed win there's sometimes i'm like oh obviously   this would have been better when i look at it for  more than 10 seconds and then sometimes it's like   you know this move puts you one and a half  points up from your previous position and then i   follow the line down and i'm like only a computer  could find that in in 10 minutes yeah exactly uh   i was watching uh bodhi who started as a total  beginner and i was watching his stream and the   engine wanted him to defend the pawn and defending  the pawn was -6 what he played was like minus four   i was like you have to defend the pawn he was like  what the i don't know um so that also happens uh   but the rest of this game was beautiful so he  traded rooks in a losing pawn end game yeah   terrible move don't do that and then you just  you just went full magnus here king g-pawn look   at this look at this beautiful conversion kd4 and  just beautiful excellent execution jeep on as a   decoy and um yeah like everything about that  game was good with the exception of two moves   two moves a little bit slow on the b3  but most importantly was the queen trade   yeah uh definitely i always say this uh it's  like you have to stay away from creating your own   meta like i like to trade pieces it makes the  position easier no no it's like the best move   is gonna be the best move if it's the best move to  trade in the position you know you trade uh and if   not then you don't trade yeah i've never actually  thought about it that way like even when i came   into this conversation i was like you know i like  open games you know i prefer to play like this but   that's that's a better way to think about  it i think it's kind of like meta agnostic   now like why do i need coaching  like i've got a 100 win rate   exactly yeah i have i have not pulled up a  game yet and then where you were on the uh   you were on the losing side but it happens it  happens your kid distracted you it's it's never   it's it's never the full the full story i love  c5 by the way i love that you play the c pawn   instead of knight c6 i keep telling beginners  to stop doing this crap like yeah like i want   i want my bishop to be useful at some point so  why don't we try to like something like this to   maybe uh get it out there yes thank you oh my gosh  chat wait i mean i i feel like i have like three   sons the chat is two of them and i'm telling the  chat like why can't you be like my oldest son like   everything he does is good i guess you know  learning chess when you're younger really does   help though it sticks yeah i'm surprised you wanna  know something funny okay you're in a car con now   oh really yeah that's that is funny yeah because  transpose yeah i capture with the c pawn i guess   yeah and then it's like the exchange car  con so that's called the transposition   uh so the only thing is these positions are  very tricky to navigate because they're so solid   that's why i want to trade this let's let's  open it up a bit after i closed it with my   with my opening oh and that's why in this position  you took the knight because he he traded yeah it's   uh it's a bias for sure okay you have something  better knight takes e5 is your most forcing   move but it's not the best so this is something  called continuity so a piece moves i want you to   think not just what is it attacking so this is  attacking this and maybe there and maybe there   but it used to guard something  okay what did it used to guard it used to guard ah very clever they used to guard d4 yep which  is now open okay and they can't capture with   the pawn obviously yes oh they they can you  would you know well it's not in europe yeah   i guess it's close to equivalent but well the  problem is that after that everything else falls   apart your queen just takes everybody  yeah knight takes d4 is what oh my god   computer is just it's just the worst thing in the  world it's trying to tell me that after queen a4   there are still chances you kidding me oh my god  look at this this attacks the knight and when the   knight moves back the bishop attacks your queen  and the queen attacks your bishop with the knight yeah good of course probably  something i wouldn't have seen   i didn't see it either so you don't have to see it  nine times out of ten knight takes d4 will be the   best move and no one in a million years if if they  see queen a4 bishop e3 you report them probably   that's like this you know um you play  knight takes d4 and nine times out of ten   you know the concept itself is  good enough but okay we trade we're attacking not really attacking  i mean it's defendant i like this   just getting the now you see  your bishop kind of has no ah so i thought the rook would have now maybe  some access on the the e file and the queen   can't take because it's guarding this ah you know  what i hope i thought of that in the moment you   you did of course yeah yeah of course i mean to be  honest it's like it's it's queen five queen v2 is   very interesting because like there's this and  there's this and there's this and there's a lot   of a lot of stuff happening um i definitely one of  the things i remember is i was like if i can get   especially if i can get them to play f4 first  then this night it becomes like you'll never get   it out of there yes it's 100 right uh very happy  you pointed that out see like people when they're   when they're first starting out they're looking  at stuff like this they're looking at all the   you know one move attacks and the fact that you're  thinking if my opponent plays f4 i get an outpost   for my knight all right so are you winning the  next pog champs like what are we doing here   i don't know if i've got the intestinal  fortitude to compete like i can't imagine   going into something with a high rank is very  intimidating with when expectations are high   because if you make a blunder you know and  thousands of people are watching you're never   going to live it down it's going to define your  career for like the next five years i was gonna   say like 20 minutes but yeah i mean i don't you  know look uh don't hang checkmate in six moves   that has been a definitely a legendary clip  uh but you know if you if you lose like a   tough fight in the finals i mean come on it's  it's good to end up in that situation so um   so people are keep telling me to to to say don't  play yeah that's like one of the games i play is   i'm i have a notable blunder for sure ah and then  i streisand affected it you know by trying to   ignore it now everybody brings it up even more  often so now i have to pretend to be like i'm   like that that meme image of the wojack crying but  he's got the smiling mask over his face so i got   to be like that all the time i i know nothing  and i i take no bait so y'all should you know   go distract yourself with the six move checkmate  thing that i mentioned so knight e4 i like it uh   f3 isn't so scary because again you can just bring  it bring it right back rookie three's a cool move   rookie threesome because he has some long-term  hope of going here although it's never gonna quite   happen yeah now you punish this move immediately  bishop g5 nice rook f3 so the next move kind of   confused me a little bit um rook f8 oh dude  that i remember that was actually a misclick   ah okay i have okay yeah because i because i'm  i'm in there and i'm going like well i could do   you know like this or whatever and then i like  just try to click to cancel and it moves the   piece that i had highlighted okay that's  fair yeah i was going to say rook f8 is um the okay yeah i was gonna all right that  makes sense i probably missed click like   i would say one time every three games so  like the fact that my my rating is doing   so well i think actually i'm probably  like a 22 to 2300 if you take those out i i think more actually maybe  maybe like four thousand   okay i mean i was thinking like 2700 but yeah  i mean i think okay if we could go 4k we need   to go 4k i want to just point out that a move  like g6 here is not scary a lot of people they   they don't want to play move like g6 because they  yeah i'm weakening my king you know people have   these abstract concepts of i'm weakening my king  but how where how where how is the king weak like   okay the bishop controls some squares but who can  attack the the black king from white's position   nobody yeah nobody so yeah g6 is fine okay he  takes f6 not not not bad attacks the bishop   ah yeah i'm very okay so here we have a moment  here we have a moment uh you took because   i always do okay i wasn't gonna say that you said  that um i there's a move here which i i i did see   forcing moves so you can't play bishop takes f4  so what's your other most forcing move pawn to g6 so pawn to g6 will be the second move okay you have to play a different move to  attack the rook first so if you play g6 now   what does white play forcing move for white with the rook oh uh they take d5 with the rook yes so  you take the bishop and what do they do   continuity what did that pawn used to protect the  knight yeah yes yes exactly so something like g6   here and now the knight has no guard this is  very bad you don't want this to happen which   that that's hard to see uh that people would  miss that because it's much more natural to   go here thinking yeah i win the you know  it's good yeah yeah and then so instead   maybe like queen the e6  first which glues it together   then g4 then g6 okay that's the point yeah  and the rook is totally screwed at that point   yeah and i think i think the best thing for for  white to do would be to take and maybe take again   yeah that's yeah so it's this this and then  something like this attacking your rook but this   looks terribly unnatural again because something  like this and who is actually benefiting from   the opening of the position yeah cause you put  your rooks on those two yeah we are for sure   so rather than take just look around  like this rook is a little bit suspicious   okay but you play rookie eight he  goes back to f5 got so persistent   queen e6 oh i remember this game now i  feel like i trade queens pretty soon uh-oh do you maybe queen f7 i like this here oh my god does that actually work how is he  how is his rook just like i gotta see if there's   if there's something i was going to suggest the  move f5 here to just kind of like strand his legs   but that's he still can you know  he's cause rook h4 there's this   that's the problem and yeah which i would  i would try to hunt down the rook but   somehow he just gets away there's  like this mad chase here for this   rook knight c5 is a good move i like b6 i  like all this this is good rookie too nice   nice nice okay excellent excellent good did you  play knight d2 knight 22 is kind of a savage move   did i play knight d2 i would say almost certainly  not yeah it's uh well i'm only asked because you   just played knight c4 sometimes people just want  to keep moving forward so 92 attacks the rook and   threatens this which yeah yeah that's true yeah  i have another position in a recent game it's   actually very similar to this where i also did not  play knight d2 and now i'm realizing that that's a   common theme somehow like yeah because you're so  in a position like this let's say knight d2 aside   uh like you play queen g6 uh black  is doing fine just because you have   much more active pieces yeah that's like that's  like it you're down two pawns which is very bad   but you have much more active pieces which  is very good and your opponent's pieces are   really passive this move is no good because well  first thing i just see is this and i don't like i don't like this and this is all guarded yeah you  can't take that for sure but remember last game b3   was a problem now it's a problem for your opponent  and yeah again here knight d2 is really nice   92 gets in there and attacks  the rook in the pawn i'm curious   why is this oh because you can just get closer  that's what i was thinking but i'm still not   sure i like it but if the computer likes it  then you know i'm willing to agree to disagree yeah it's i this is what i just kind of  discount what computer says sometimes   because it's just so absurd 94 nice so he  can't even go there and now this is hanging   oh my god this is so take take bam i love it  two things are under attack this and this yeah   oh and oh now i remember him just not getting that  one and then the game is over yeah you you you   found this i would have gotten this guy not there  again that would have been a misleading rookie too   but how how clean was this conversion oh extra  clean i think actually you know i was watching   this back the other day i think i actually made  a mistake and could have done it faster but   i'm trying to think of of where it happened it was  from oh here you can see yeah i shouldn't i yeah   instead of going what did i do on this one instead  you took this pawn but you can yeah that's right   i could have just taken that but it's okay it's  it's hard because it's like just get rid of the   point yeah the reason this is winning faster is  because it's just the check and you win the night   yeah and then once you win the night it's uh the  pawn the d-pawn is never going anywhere first of   all your king can stop it yeah so the end game  rule of the square so your king is in the uh   the correct area and you just pick this guy up  and that that's easy so i mean this game was uh   was a clash of you know pieces in the middle and  like the hardest thing about a game like this you   want to take something general away from it right  you want to be like well this game i did this and   this i'm never going to break that rule again  which i guess the only rule for you for your   case would just be don't just be so trade happy  yeah that would probably be the the only thing and   i can't think of another i mean that moment  where you could have played queen e6 and g6   is just a bit more forcing don't just you  know well yeah i guess don't miss click yes   good rule to follow good rule to follow at  least it was only it was like a tempo miss   click instead of leaving a piece out to dry yeah  actually that's a good point i have one more game   okay so let me pull this thing up and then uh can give some also some different ideas with the  white pieces oh i i know i lose this one because   the guy i remember uh remember the georgian  flag this will be this will be humbling okay   so this was an exchange car con again so similar  structure to last game oh wait no not so similar   because you played knight d7 this time but it okay  yeah bishop d6 is a little bit better bishop b4 is   it's you know i mean it's just the bishop is  happier here because it can look this way and   you're not you're you're less likely to trade  on c3 in these positions okay i will say that   because cause look think about it like this  how many pawns do you have on light squares   yeah almost all right so if you then trade  the guy who controls the dark squares   it has to be for good reason it has to be  fruit yeah like my my reasoning it's it   it doesn't think far enough ahead  because what i would think is like oh   if my rep if my opponent has no response here then  they would have to capture with the you know b2 to   c3 and then their pawn structure would be screwed  and i you know i i'm guilty sometimes of playing   my moves out without examining the opponent's  possible responses instead for sure no but bishop   before completely okay because you do have a very  good point like you have sorry you have the open c   file and like i see later you play queen a5 uh but  i think you go to battle here before you castle   so just bishop d6 and then castling and  then then after that you can you can   do all this stuff but otherwise yeah  take take everything's good queen a5 knight takes but yeah oh don't trade unless you  have to it's like a common refrain yeah yeah   because like here well here your bishop is just  very happy your bishop can always draw back and uh   but okay it's fair here and what's the evaluation  here uh i i like white's position better   they have the bishop versus the knight their pawn  structure is a little twisted up but they have uh   they have some moves that i think give them some  advantage their queen is probably developed in a   better position maybe a little bit more active  yeah they're also threatening this yeah that's   true which i think is actually that might be how  it proceeds i can't remember what's interesting is   that in a position like this like let's just  give you know the exchange like this is bad   well it's not so bad for black because who's  going to attack you now and you're just going to   create counter play on this one and then this  one so it's it's not like completely terrible   you play knight f6 i think uh i think white is a  little bit better and we'll be inclined to agree   now machine here will always say equality  because it's not concerned with the attack   and it thinks that black is gonna be in time here  so you're a positional genius you double these   bonds and queen a4 and queens very very you know  guy goes here that's a bad move like that move   sets off my all my alarms like something's  wrong with that move that can't be any good   uh and then you do this very nice very nice now  he sacrifices well i was surprised by for sure   i guess this was his idea  right so so this all this   uh you're better here i was gonna  say no i actually prefer my position   yeah this transformation is no good because this  is this is all very weak this is all very weak   now c4 here you're just i mean absolute gamer  god queen d2 like look at this beautiful move   queen e3 don't trade the queens take the pawn oh  i'm proud of myself even though i lost this one   i'm proud of myself in hindsight yes c5 and  now it's it's i would have brought the rook   i like queen b2 but uh i would have brought the  rook queen b2 is fine he goes rook do you want   the problem is you gave him one full  move and now he defends his pawn   yeah and a move like f5 you have to be very  careful of in end games why what's wrong with f5   um i guess my initial hunch is that like it leaves  this diagonal uh like so open especially with the   queen already being on black space it feels like  it's not hard for them to you know get behind uh   you know somewhere in uh like on the seventh  or the eighth row and and start causing me to   have to defend my my pawns at the back yes number  one you weaken this entire diagonal to your king   specifically what physical thing is now much  weaker the e6 pawn yes yeah so you weak in all   this you weaken this and now any time i get in  here i'm gonna start taking things with check   which you don't like you got to activate your  rook like you have to go here like don't even   think rook d8 will almost always be right because  now you have a target queen e4 isn't the best move   uh because you would lose the a3 pawn and  for example if this like to move i think   you just captured the the pawn at d4 because  if they take with the rook you can force me   okay so you fell into my trap oh no  i'm very happy you did this because   what did you just calculate you calculated rook  d4 rook d4 is not possible because back rank mate   uh i'm gonna play rook d4 okay but in chess  you have to prove yourself wrong you can prove   yourself right five times you prove yourself wrong  once you don't play the move okay what what's   wrong with rook d8 i'm sorry rook d4 what's wrong  with rook takes d4 what can white do forcing moves   instead of rook takes d4 yes well that would  be nice but yeah so rook d for what will i do oh i see now okay um let me think about it so it's probably it's a a  check i assume maybe like queen to c8 or queen   to b8 yes which we've forced it's one of them and  okay it's it's one of them and not the other okay   think about a follow-up check you got to punch  once to the stomach and then once i i don't know   okay yeah so you would do you would do b8 and  then i would go g7 and then you would go yes   maybe the e5 yes not maybe 100 percent yes yes  you're very very you know you know maybe just   safety net yeah queenie queen beer 25 boom you  win the rook and the game is over so yeah rook   d4 is a perfect example of why you need to scan  their forcing moves check check and you lose the   rook the wrong way now you just lose yeah so  um thankfully i lost in a more uh dignified   way well the question still applies what's  the best move here for black it's not rook d4 what about queen takes c5 yes which is not  the first move we're drawn to no because   it looks stupid at first glance for sure but  yes and the thing is now you can go for this   and i think objectively black should be winning at  this like at this stage especially between 2 15 uh   15 50 50 94 i think it's i think it's sufficient  but it's it's hard it's hard to win this end game   i'm not gonna lie i mean this is actually  not made anymore just so we're clear yeah   uh so you would go for this and so you'd  get queen and four versus queen and three   which is not the simplest thing to win it could  be winnable and you would win it by like hiding   your king away from checks and trying to push  your pawns or play for time because it's like   it's a ten minute game so if if it's  ten minutes that's yeah even more   yeah even more so and that's why one move is so  important because if you had played rook d8 here   yeah you you don't let me move my rook  that's that's the whole thing is like you   just don't let me move my rook and then  slowly you start picking up the pawns   uh and f5 is what happens in the game okay  g3 is g3 i see a lot of queen moves a lot of   like poking at him with the queen he gets rook b2  his best move here would have probably been this   yeah that makes sense cause he's trying to you  know he's trying to get in rook b2 yeah now you're   up the pawn but you're playing so passively yeah  he's like now he's harassing you now and then i   try to force a trade this is that i can smell this  one coming a mile away his rook man like traveled   the whole okay rook f7 now by the way his best  move is not not even to take which he doesn't do   and now he's playing for a win like because of all  these weaknesses somehow his his rook traversed   the entire board um and this is actually very  scary this is very very scary so you play queen   d7 did you you ran oh my god oh my god this  is terrifying yeah it's pretty bad but you   know you're you're not you're not yet lost it's  only scary queen d7 uh-oh now it's extra scary   oh now it might just be lost rick f8 oh my  god this guy played it really well after   this okay he repeated once oh my god he found  queen e5 and if if this there's like a mate oh come on yeah that'll happen sometimes someone  plays a really good game or their older brother   starts playing the moves for them but in this case  i actually think he he screwed up the advantage   and then here you have to like escape right so he  plays like rook d6 queen e7 oh and he gets this ah   okay yeah but you know okay a game like  this you just go you know like it was   a long game i mean yeah you're like i  was i didn't want to win that one anyway   yeah that's i mean that's just yeah okay well  it's it's a it's a very tough position and and   and the the real reason why we lost this is his  rook just got active like you go back 10 moves   his rook is like the worst piece on the board  like it's just stuck so yeah queen and rook end   game activate the rook and target this and try not  to weaken your structure too much because it could   and kind of come back to uh to bite  but are you enjoying the karo khan   i i would say so like i previously like i  always felt like on black i was playing more   uh reactive which i guess is by design in the  game in the first place but now i i feel like it   at least at this level it tends to throw people  off a little bit more than just responding with e5   and generally speaking i feel comfortable  when when both players are improvising   so i think that it being not really  like that unusual but definitely not   the most common response has has led to some  situations that have an advantage for me we we're already like an hour and 20 into  this but uh wait are we yes we are uh   why don't we play a game okay sure and

Channel: GothamChess

Views: 539,545

Keywords: Gotham Chess gives lessons, Gothamchess lessons, gothamchess openings, gothamchess caro kann, gothamchess guide, gothamchess e4, gothamchess, gothamchess rating climb, northernlion, northernlion gothamchess, northernlion chess, northernlion nlss, northernlion binding of isaac, intermediate chess lesson, chess lesson for beginners, how to analyze a chess game, chess game analysis, chess lessons for beginners, chess lessons for intermediate, chess lessons for advanced

Id: gZGcdIZQDvc

Length: 49min 1sec (2941 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 09 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/GameBoy09]

Personally I feel like Levy has the best tutorial chess content on YouTube. Nakamaru is fun to watch when he memes or reacts to blunders, but his tutorials kind of amount to 'draw the owl'.

Levy is like the king of fundamentals. I highly recommend his channel if you want to get better at chess. He has these 10 minute rundowns of openings that are so useful. King's Indian is best opening btw.

[u/Felinski]

"It's an eggcerpt" alright levy

[u/ReserveDuck]

For anyone who has missed the stream. Please note that this is the edited version. NL will probably upload the full VOD soon.

[u/buffer_flush]

Whoa awesome! This guy just started popping up on my YouTube feed since I started watching NLs chess series.

[u/KelloPudgerro]

big brain 1500mmr

[u/Quirky-Stranger]

I was waiting for this!!!

[u/Slid61]

That clickbait title doing our dad justice.

[u/daybreakhascome]

extremely pogged content

[u/1stOnRt1]

Chess is the most I have liked an NL series since XCOM maybe

I love seeing NL think