The Chess Match: Sherlock Holmes vs. James Moriarty

welcome ladies and gentlemen to what is going to  be pretty unique content here on the gotham chess   youtube channel as you all know i cover all things  64 squares and i'm always looking to teach you   something new but today we are going to analyze a  movie scene we're taking a look at robert downey   jr's sherlock holmes a game of shadows when he  takes on his arch nemesis moriarty on the balcony   scene this game has historical significance it's  actually based on a real game between ben larson   who was one of two players feared during the  soviet regime and the chess boom except for bobby   fischer and his opponent was tigran petrician  who went on to win the world championship   himself now this game was played in 1966 and  before we get into the game let's just take a look   at this introductory clip this is directly taken  from the movie please don't tell the copywriters   i've muted it no one no one snitch you'll notice  the two sit down and moriarty begins the game   so moriarty actually plays the move c4 but what's  interesting is that in the actual game itself   the villain is with the black pieces so the hero  is playing with white so basically they took   a game from history and they just inverted the  colors for the purposes of the movie so hopefully   that's not confusing we're going to pretend  like sherlock is playing with the white pieces   so we get e4 c5 this is known as the sicilian  defense uh it is both players trying to fight for   the center of the board just one person doing it  with the flank pawn bobby fischer himself played   this and this so you got to be on both sides of  the equation knight f3 knight c6 and white puts   a second pawn in the center of the board defended  by the knight this is known as the open sicilian   when white opens up the board with this central  pawn trait black plays g6 and white responds with   bishop to e3 bishop to g7 this version of the  sicilian the sicilian has many of these versions   is known as the accelerated dragon sicilian after  c4 we have now went even further into the rabbit   hole this handling of the sicilian dragon is  known as the maraxi vine spelled m-a-r-o-c-z-y   the point is that you are basically suppressing  black's movement in the center with both of your   pawns and the setup that you'd like luke's looks  like this you put your knight behind the c pawn   then you will play f3 bishop to e2 and you're  going to repel black's forces by virtue of your   pawn fence it's a very popular variation it  was played in 1966 and here it is being played   54 years later well i don't know maybe you're  watching in 2028 but it's currently 2021. so black   plays knight to g4 now this move you can take  but if you were to take your queen now abandons   defense of the d4 square it takes and white comes  right back this looks like some sort of glitch   in the matrix but it's not you want to make the  knight move and then you're going to play queen to   d2 the queen behind the bishop like this is called  a battery and normally in dragon style positions   you'd like to trade that dark squared bishop  because if you were to successfully do that uh you   would remove the bishop from the defense mainly of  the king and there would be some vulnerabilities   so moriarty responds with d6 sherlock plays  bishop to e2 bishop d7 castle's castle so   both players have finished what's known  as their development and now we begin the   middle game so in a position like this white  has what's called a little bit more space   space in chess is when you control squares on your  opponent's side of the board you can do that with   your pawns you can also do that with your long  range pieces uh in this particular case it is   white who has a little bit more space centralizes  the rook when you are done with castling it's now   time to bring the rooks into the game bishop comes  out to c6 and now knight to d5 centralizing you   are more than happy to make this trade because you  will attack the knight then maybe you will switch   the play action to the you know open file that  you will create there this is what that's called   but in the game we get rookie 8 and now i'll  move f4 so this pawn advancement and in general   in chess learning how to play with your pawns is  super important uh and in this case what white   wants to do white is not moving this just because  if black takes they take back white is doing this   because they have a plan to go f5 since they are  supported with their pawn and supported with their   rook they are then going to open the line here for  their rook further down the line and have a line   of attack at the king that is how chess is won and  lost you have to attack the king you also have to   pick apart the other pieces but do remember these  are some of the best players in the world they're   not just going to lose all their pieces like you  and me actually just you knight to c7 that was   mean f5 so white continues to attack right white  continues mobilizing white doesn't just take take   the person with more space doesn't want to do  the trading they want to keep their pressure   black plays knight to a6 looking to rotate the  knight back around to c5 to target the center pawn   so of course white takes on g6 because if you were  to take me here i'm my queen is hanging but what's   worth more than a queen in chess the king so i  would go and attack your king and remember that   rook from a long time ago well now i'm winning  because i'm going to win your rook it's going   to be check and then i will save my queen so i'll  go material up so knight to c5 white takes black   takes back and now white goes queen f2 white uses  a concept known as danger levels lining up again   what's called a battery queen and rook or queen  and bishop together on the same file or diagonal   and we're going down to f7 black plays rook f8  there's nothing really else that black can do   at this point white plays e5 now there's a cool  variation here that white could have played but   didn't and i wanted to show this to teach you all  something white could have played bishop to c5   and if you take back first of all we can take  again but white can also play knight to f6   you say levy that's really dumb i just take that  yeah but when the knight moved the rook opened up   and sees the queen that's known as a discovered  attack and if we were to get takes takes takes   white would say oh look at me i have a queen but  black for that queen has a rook and a bishop and   black has what's called compensation because black  is going to plant this bishop on d4 defend it with   the pawn and the rook and maybe another pawn  and this bishop laser beams the board okay that   bishop square a square on your opponent's side  of the board where you cannot be kicked out of   and you exert pressure that's known as an outpost  square so clearly ben larson evaluated this ben   larson saw this and said i don't like that instead  i'm going to just move my opponent to the middle   if you take me then i'm going to do that attack  and also your knight now loses a guard remember   every time you move a pawn it gains you something  but also could weaken something it used to protect   so for that reason tigran plays bishop takes e5  and you say why would he do that why would he   voluntarily do this because queen to h4 now what  he did there ben larson is he deflected tigran's   bishop out to e5 and now he's going to infiltrate  on squares that the bishop used to guard   and then you say well why did tigran even take  well if he didn't the pawn was just gonna gobble   everything or keep going so this was just a great  move that's how chess works sometimes it's like   well this is terrible this is terrible and this  is worse i gotta go with one of the two terrible   options i can't just lose on the spot lesser  of two evils or three evils so bishop takes d5   and now rook takes again very good moment why  did they take with the rook versus the pawn   because the rook exerts pressure you're pinning  the pawn to the queen the pawn is not defending   these pieces so right now white is threatening  bishop takes knight because if pawn takes i win   the queen that's why we got knight to e6 and if  you take i will take and i will attack your rook   that's why rook f3 this concept is known as a rook  lift so white is bringing the rook up and over   to support the queen in its infiltration to h7  there is no need in this position to just get   closer with the queen the queen's not threatening  anybody by herself the second you bring the queen   closer black immediately comes back and attacks it  the queen is safe now you bring the reinforcements   and then you go that's how it works so rook  f3 black plays bishop f6 attacking the queen   now the queen moves black goes back and now we  have our movie moment so there was a potential   variation here that could have happened  white here plays an absolutely dynamite move   a gorgeous move a move that looks impossible it  looks like black has repelled us and now we have   to bring our queen back but it's not so clear okay  white plays the move queen takes pawn you say wait   a minute what the pawn just takes the queen now  in the game itself which we will look at later   black played knight to f4 you say why wouldn't  they just take the queen well in the movie   that's exactly what happens black took the  queen i apologize black took the queen and   that is why i'm going to now pull up our clip  because at this point i will voice it over so   we don't get copyright struck moriarty says it  seems that you've lost your most powerful piece   and sherlock responds a winning strategy sometimes  necessitates sacrifice very dramatic right now   sherlock plays and now in the movie it cuts to you  know the whole scene that's going on and sherlock   kind of begins showing the point he plays bishop  takes knight check now at this point after bishop   takes knight check is played uh moriarty has  already gotten up and i will fast forward in that   clip he takes the knight and he says it right here  bishop takes knight check and moriarty says ah   the game is over you should go get your shoulder  checked out no spoilers but sherlock's shoulder   is pretty messed up at this point in the film  and then they they start having a conversation   and they say the moves out loud to each other so  moriarty says king to rook two because they're   using the old school notation algebraic notation  didn't exist the board didn't have grids and   coordinates and all these things so it says king  to rook two and sherlock at this point uh uncorks   a really savage moment in the film uh just a  short while later in this dialogue and he says   rook to rook 3 check and this is when he starts  going into you know his whole monologue right so   he says rook to rook 3 check and all of a sudden  it's like wait a second all of white's pieces are   swarming the king the king has nowhere to go so  moriarty has to play bishop to h6 now normally   when you can take a piece with a check or  not you take it with the check the problem is   black would just go here and now you have no  more checks and once black's queen mobilizes   it's gonna be bad news that's why sherlock  stays patient sherlock takes with the bishop threatening a discovered check on the king frankly  bishop takes rook is a mate literally bishop takes   rook is made in one just the way the king is so  moriarty snaps off a move himself he plays rook   to f5 sacrificing the rook for the benefit of  his position again you normally take with what's   worth less what sherlock takes with the rook pawn  takes and now it's not about taking with check   it's about cutting off the king's circulation  and we get bishop to f7 now the king can only   go here moriarty plays queen check and what's  funny is that in the movie dialogue moriarty   says queen takes knight's pawn but there is no  knight's pawn that's just queen to knight six   is the way that would work so queen tonight three  so queen takes it and now king to h1 moriarty   takes the pawn on b2 as i can only imagine because  actually the dialogue for this move is cut out   and now at the very end once sherlock has  uncorked his master plan sherlock says bishop to   bishop eight because that is where the bishop is  standing on the home score bishop to bishop eight   discover check and incidentally  mate and then you know chaos ensues   so that actually is a beautiful sequence that  could have happened from the game and that's   everything that the game is based on except in the  movie sherlock is playing with the black pieces   but that is literally the game they found this  game and they just flipped the color and they   kind of reenacted it so you know they they talk  out this whole sequence and it's all correct   that's the crazy part the queen sacrifice  bishop takes knight check king to rook two   rook to rook three check and then bishop takes  bishop you know rook to bishop five and then you   know so definitely go re-watch that scene it  will make you understand the scene better but   i also promised you that in the game itself this  didn't happen which is even more impressive in a   way because think about that that means that the  people consulting the show on this chess scene   found a game where what didn't actually transpire  could have transpired and was in the it was in   the film not what did happen but what could have  happened it just shows you the intricate detail   that some of these amazing films put together in  the game itself black played knight to f4 because   black saw this and knight to f4 is designed to  sacrifice the knight and then take the queen but   we get bishop check anyway now rook blocks that's  the difference in in the game the rook blocks   rook takes f7 against staying patient setting  up the discovered attack and now king to h8   and rook to g5 a beautiful game from ben larson  just down a queen but the four pieces swarmed   the king's safety b5 was played i mean there's  really not much you can do because you can't   even activate your queen because the root covers  like for example queen a5 trying to get in here   just rook takes queen so the rook controls all  these squares we got b5 rook goes back to g3 not   even taking the pawn drop back go over and rook  g3 is where the game ended the only way for black   to survive mate here is to play queen g8 rook  h3 block sacrifice your queen but the problem   is that now you are in what's known as a pin and  all pinned pieces you should try to put them under   pressure and here white is up a bishop and at  this level of the game black would have resigned   but black did resign after rook g3 got played a  beautiful beautiful game where ben larson at this   point started this same side attack realizing  that he's got peace superiority on this side of   the board he's got all his pieces playing he pawn  storms right activates all his pieces makes that   pawn pawn trade and infiltrates with the queen  reroutes the queen to the king side rook lifts   and pawn sacrifices makes the right trade night  for bishop infiltrates and uh well this queen   takes g6 moment is what that movie is based on but  i wanted to make this uh video because i watched   this movie many many years ago and back then  there were not a lot of resources i've been a   chess player my whole life there's not been a lot  of resources to kind of double check these things   and in many chess scenes in films there's errors  the board is set up wrong or in the show the board   is set up on some so i wanted to take a look and  uh i was inspired i was inspired by what i saw so   uh hopefully that was fun i've put the game  in the description if you'd like to go take a   look on chessgames.com great website with many  historical games if you are new to the channel   welcome it's so great to meet you i have a ton  of other chess content here for you to enjoy   feel free to do so check out some of my playlists  and of course if you are a longer time viewer well   welcome back hopefully you enjoyed this  bit of unique content i usually don't put   out things like this but uh that's it  for me i'll see you in the next video

Channel: GothamChess

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Keywords: Gotham Chess gives lessons, Gothamchess lessons, gothamchess openings, gothamchess caro kann, gothamchess guide, gothamchess e4, gothamchess, gothamchess rating climb, sherlock holmes a game of shadows, sherlock holmes fight scene, sherlock holmes vs james moriarty, sherlock holmes chess, sherlock holmes chess scene, sherlock holmes a game of shadows chess, chess movie scene, chess movie on netflix, the queens gambit, the queens gambit chess, chess movie clip

Id: gJbiguzwiwE

Length: 15min 21sec (921 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 21 2021