The Secret To Mastering Chess

0:00 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Gotham Chess slow run in the series.

0:04 I started on an authorized account on chess.com

0:07 and I'm going up the rating ladder.

0:09 This is episode number 31 and we are approaching 1400.

0:14 Deep in the intermediate territory,

0:16 the games have been pretty high quality the last few episodes.

0:21 No longer some dumb stuff going on in the opening

0:23 and we're going to see what we can experience today.

0:26 Uh a friendly reminder, all of these slow runs are a ton of educational

0:29 content so occasionally I will promote something but I'm promoting myself.

0:33 Number one European tour is in October-November this year.

0:36 Link will be in the description and more importantly, well,

0:39 I suppose it it depends which one you

0:41 consider important or not is the second book.

0:44 Uh signed copies in the US have for now sold out.

0:49 But they are available in the UK, in Europe uh and in Canada.

0:53 Waterstones uh will be doing something uh has started

0:57 a uh a signed copy pre-order promotion and if you

1:00 just want it signed or not uh it's available

1:04 on Amazon on Penguin and and so on and so forth.

1:07 Uh I am referring to this book a lot and I know it might get annoying

1:10 but uh can't wait to share it with all of you when it's live uh in October.

1:16 Uh and it has a it contains a lot of great information.

1:20 So, uh we kick things off.

1:22 I'm going to open up with a king's pawn

1:25 and I'm going to lower my volume a little bit.

1:27 We have D6.

1:28 Okay, D6 Pirc defense or maybe some sort of Philidor.

1:33 Two pawns in the center is good if you can.

1:37 Okay, the opponent is playing a made-up opening.

1:41 Now, there's a few ways to approach this when they play like this.

1:45 I think we've we must have had faced this like one time.

1:47 Obviously, the easy thing to do is just

1:49 to put knights in the middle and then bishops.

1:53 That's what I would do if I was a beginner.

1:55 As a stronger player, what you can do,

1:57 what I like to do when I was a a kid in particular,

2:00 is I like to put as many pawns forward as I could.

2:03 Because when you have a lot of pawns and then your pieces come next,

2:07 uh you you have a lot greater attacking

2:09 power cuz the pawns actually lead the dance.

2:11 To be honest, you can even move the fourth pawn here.

2:13 There's actually nothing really wrong with it.

2:16 Uh and I want to show you how to handle such a ridiculous position.

2:19 All right.

2:19 Now, maybe the opponent's going to play something like f6.

2:21 Okay, so black is playing very cagey.

2:23 We don't know which of those pawns is going to move forward.

2:27 So, now I'm going to develop my knights behind my pawn wall, right?

2:31 I am expecting the move e5 at some point.

2:34 Already, by the way, already, when the knight comes out,

2:38 striking at it is is not that bad of a move because you have so much backup.

2:44 Uh you don't have to, though.

2:45 You obviously can just, you know, prepare yourself uh cuz this was under attack,

2:49 but uh and and now now this without a doubt is the best move.

2:54 And the reason is you throw off the natural

2:57 development scheme that the opponent wants to play.

3:00 If we just play bishop d3, bishop e3,

3:02 and then play e5, that's probably still going to be good.

3:05 Like, if I just proceed with developing both bishops to active spots,

3:09 uh we're still going to have a very good position.

3:12 Uh and and and I will just play that, but I'm

3:14 going to show you especially and particularly when black castles,

3:17 now black will probably lose the game in like with it like within 10 moves.

3:22 The thing is when you have such a powerful and not just cuz they're playing me.

3:25 When you have such a powerful center against something like

3:27 this, the right pawn move is the is the key.

3:30 And this pawn move attacks the knight, removes it from the defense of the king,

3:35 uh and when they take us, if they take us, we actually have a choice.

3:39 We can take with the f pawn or the d pawn.

3:42 There are some positions where the d pawn is

3:44 better because if you take with the d pawn,

3:50 this pawn cannot destabilize your center.

3:53 So, you take, you keep the pawn structure completely symmetrical,

3:56 both D pawns go this way, and you don't have any undermining of the center.

4:01 The flip side is when you take this, you lose control of C5,

4:05 which immediately opens this knight and the bishop,

4:08 and this in this case is superior.

4:11 It's superior because you also open up this bishop's diagonal.

4:13 So, look, the the On this move,

4:16 the bishop was blocked by the pawn, you know, was blocking the bishop,

4:19 and now the knight goes back, and now the knight can't really,

4:21 you know, return to the to the game so easily.

4:24 The best plan for here uh here for black would be something like pawn to F6.

4:28 At this point, uh I'm looking at different Greek

4:31 gift ideas with a move like knight to G5.

4:34 I wouldn't be shocked if here we can play something like pawn to H4.

4:38 Um Queen C2 to attack the pawn on H7 is reasonable, although I mean,

4:44 I think black is going to probably just play pawn to H6.

4:47 So, while we are not immediately winning, we we clearly have uh you know,

4:52 have generated enough uh of an attack,

4:54 and and and we probably have uh quite a good position.

4:57 So, now I'm like, okay, should I castle this way, or should I castle this way?

5:01 You know, or should I finish up my development?

5:03 Uh What I What I will do is I'm going to play this move,

5:07 Queen C2, but I'm doing it to accelerate my castling.

5:11 Okay, my opponent just blundered this move?

5:18 Or Or what?

5:19 What was that?

5:21 What was Is there some big idea here?

5:23 There could be a big idea.

5:26 But now, by the way, you see what I just said about destabilizing our center?

5:30 If we take, my opponent is going to activate material this way.

5:33 Um we could bring our bishop back.

5:35 Another thing we could do, especially when you want to attack somebody,

5:39 is you don't want to open the center.

5:41 We can push, and the the center stays closed.

5:44 So, after we trade, the center is deadlocked,

5:48 and they cannot take this pawn and I'm noticing that based on continuity, right?

5:52 How every move affects the position and now I'm going to play this move D5.

5:56 Now here black has this move G6.

5:57 You could accidentally get your bishop trapped

5:59 and let's see if my opponent spots that.

6:02 By the way, both knight and pawn are good.

6:04 In fact, now that I'm sitting here, I almost like knight more because I I add

6:08 something into the black position which puts some pressure.

6:11 G6 traps the bishop, but I'm going to sacrifice and show you Okay,

6:15 I I can't show you anything because my opponent is just playing so fast.

6:19 Um In a practical setting that wasn't just like me doing a slow run,

6:24 you you do have to play faster, especially if a person's playing this quickly.

6:27 So, we could take this.

6:30 Uh but I like the stability and what I'm going

6:32 to do is actually bring my bishop back and defend my knight.

6:34 And if my opponent takes my knight,

6:36 which I think will happen in like 2 seconds, uh or they're going to play here.

6:39 Yeah, there you go.

6:40 Uh now I'm going to take with the pawn because together they can push.

6:44 Although bishop was probably also fine.

6:46 Now, if I get my queen, I mean, this is this is an insane move to play.

6:50 So, my opponent is just simply playing too fast.

6:53 So, let me show you how to maintain a fast-paced of a game of chess, okay?

6:59 You're low on time.

7:00 This will teach you how to play in time trouble.

7:02 This will also teach you how to play uh safe moves quickly.

7:05 Okay, king G8.

7:06 Clearly this move has no threat.

7:08 What have we not done yet?

7:09 We haven't castled.

7:10 I don't know if it's the best move, but we need to speed up.

7:13 What have we not done yet?

7:14 Develop the bishop.

7:15 Okay?

7:16 This is a nice and threatening move.

7:18 This is always a check.

7:20 Let's Let's try to play every move

7:22 with this type of thought process relatively quickly.

7:25 All right, I'm going to Okay, G6.

7:26 What does that do?

7:28 Uh I'm not sure.

7:29 Uh maybe bishop H6 attacking the rook.

7:32 Okay, boom.

7:33 Play that move in 7 seconds.

7:35 We still haven't gotten our piece out.

7:37 Okay, knight there.

7:38 Uh there's no threat.

7:40 Maybe we bring our rook to the middle.

7:41 Maybe we push this pawn.

7:42 You know, I kind of like pushing this pawn

7:44 because the bishop is is looking really stuck.

7:46 So, the bishop's only move for safety is bishop H4.

7:49 There is no way that move is good.

7:52 I can take the bishop, right?

7:54 But, I can also add an attacker to it.

7:56 Boom!

7:56 And now the bishop's just trapped.

7:58 And like these moves we just played one after the other.

8:02 I'm leaving my bishop here to put some pressure on the king.

8:04 Of course, I can always trade when I need to.

8:06 If I were to win this, uh I would probably just trade this without thinking.

8:10 Okay, this one's easy.

8:11 Now, the knight cannot reenter the game.

8:13 I expect bishop to G4 or bishop to H3 because

8:16 the opponent is going to try to get something back.

8:19 If they go there, we we Okay, I I'm not sure what that does.

8:22 Maybe looking at this move, right?

8:24 Um All right, I still haven't brought my rook.

8:27 Uh let's uh let let's let's centralize the rook like this.

8:30 Now, here comes queen H3.

8:31 We are winning.

8:33 So, oh, but notice, they're attacking this and this.

8:38 Now, a very difficult move to spot here is to bring the queen over to H2.

8:44 That's a tough move to spot.

8:45 I think what's much more practical is to take this and this.

8:48 And this is actually very instructive by the opponent

8:51 bringing in the queen like that, but we rotate over,

8:54 we defend our entire position.

8:55 And that is that that that is chess right here.

8:58 Like spotting that the queen can do all of these things rotating.

9:03 And and that's that's that's board vision, you know?

9:05 That that's going to take your chess to the next level,

9:07 which is also the name of the next book.

9:09 Uh the bishop is hanging.

9:11 Why can't I just put it there?

9:13 Chess is a relatively simple game sometimes.

9:16 If black plays bishop to E6, I can predict basically all of the moves.

9:20 We take.

9:21 We're winning.

9:22 Of course, we want to make some trades.

9:23 Now, that wasn't a great trade because after pawn takes,

9:26 the rook sees the knight,

9:28 which is a very unfortunate side effect of what has just transpired.

9:32 Now, I have to be a little bit careful.

9:34 I can move the knight somewhere.

9:35 I can also continue to offer a trade of queens and even

9:39 though the knight is hanging it it can't actually be taken.

9:42 So, I'm going to continue to offer

9:44 a queen trade because we are completely winning.

9:46 And if black wants to avoid the queen trade,

9:49 they have to play something like queen F5 and get out of the way.

9:52 And at that point, with the queen leading the attack on the knight,

9:55 it's actually not really attacking anything uh cuz my rook is going to protect.

10:00 And I can move the knight somewhere to attack the queen and I

10:03 can also just push this pawn because it's ultimately going to become a queen.

10:07 I also can take this if I want.

10:11 And uh yeah, I I actually see a nice little simple combo.

10:14 So, check this out.

10:15 So, I'm going to take the knight now, right?

10:18 King is going to take and then I'm going to go

10:19 knight to G5 and this should win us the game.

10:22 I'm threatening the queen.

10:24 I'm threatening checkmate.

10:25 There is no check.

10:27 That is the biggest thing.

10:28 There is no check.

10:29 Ooh, okay.

10:30 I take the queen, you take me, and now I can take the rook,

10:35 but then you would take my rook,

10:36 so I play Zwischenzug in between move, rook F7 check.

10:42 Defended by my knight.

10:44 Rook is going to collapse next.

10:45 If the king goes there, this is just mate.

10:48 So, black either has to defend that or run the king this way.

10:51 And black just resigns.

10:53 And we win.

10:54 Now, in this game, we played a person who played really fast,

10:57 which is both a positive and a negative

10:59 if you're trying to improve as a chess player.

11:02 They've clearly played their own original opening setup.

11:04 Uh they did not play extremely principled chess, uh but we we did have to show,

11:09 you know, how to how to make an impact.

11:12 Now, look, here you can just develop your your knights and everything.

11:15 I chose to play in one of the more aggressive uh styles.

11:18 It's not the best style,

11:19 but it it kind of shows you that when pawns lead the charge,

11:23 uh good things can happen.

11:24 Now, my opponent played like this.

11:26 Yeah, look, already E5 plus 1.2.

11:29 That is already the best move.

11:30 I went here.

11:31 Uh E5 once again the best move.

11:33 What's amazing is E5 is the best now.

11:37 Why is it the best now?

11:39 Because after this trade, the knight doesn't have E8 or D7.

11:43 So, black either has to roam into the middle and get trapped maybe.

11:47 Black either has to go to G4,

11:49 after which there's always this idea where you can take the knight.

11:52 I've shown you this in previous games where you damage the structure,

11:56 and if black ever castles, the king is just going to be weak.

11:58 Taking is not even the best move.

12:00 It's just like one of the options.

12:03 And of course knight to H5,

12:04 which would lose the game instantly to the to getting the knight trapped.

12:06 And the knight cannot return because of the bishop,

12:08 something a lot of beginners miss.

12:10 Or black goes back to the home square.

12:12 At which point we just have a massive lead in development.

12:15 The way that I played this where I I focused on principles.

12:18 Oh, I'm supposed to be principled and not rush.

12:21 By the time I played this move, black actually had the move knight to E8

12:24 and was totally and was totally okay here.

12:27 Now, white has multiple choices here.

12:30 The top move of the computer is simply to castle.

12:34 The second choice is to enable the Greek gift sacrifice.

12:37 Keep in mind what you need for a Greek gift sacrifice.

12:39 H7 is only protected by the bishop, check.

12:42 But knight G5 is not possible followed by queen H5.

12:47 So, we play the move H4 because the idea is now we have Greek gift ideas.

12:55 Knight G5 check, if takes, we take with the pawn.

12:59 And if the king goes somewhere, then we have queen H5 with a monster attack.

13:03 The only reason black survives the attack here is cuz this is one

13:06 of the rare cases one of the knights will go to F6 and sacrifice itself.

13:12 There you go.

13:13 And after pawn takes queens uh knight takes,

13:15 the queen actually doesn't have mate and actually has to leave.

13:18 So, there you go.

13:20 But H4 is a is a key attacking idea.

13:22 I decided to play this move because my idea was that after H6,

13:27 I would long castle.

13:28 You castle on the other side if you want to have a successful attack.

13:32 I was going to go here and if c5, I just want you all to understand,

13:37 if you're faced with a situation like

13:38 this, you want to be a strong chess player, you lock the center if possible.

13:43 You keep the center closed.

13:45 You don't open up paths for the opponent and just, you know,

13:48 if you can play d5, you can only play d5 if e5 is guarded, right?

13:53 And so that that's what I was going to go for.

13:54 My opponent allowed me to take on h7 and then again,

13:58 the best move is with the pawn.

13:59 Understanding this, uh look, it's plus three if you push the pawn and if

14:03 you do this, you lose a big chunk of your advantage.

14:07 And one more thing, if my opponent here had played the move g6, I can sacrifice.

14:14 This is very instructive.

14:15 You take, take, and there are some positions where you sacrifice

14:19 the material and there are no pawns left protecting the enemy king.

14:22 I'm not even threatening anything immediate.

14:25 I'm simply showing that the lack of space

14:28 disallows black from easy defense and we are winning.

14:31 But some positions you will sacrifice and you

14:32 will not be so easily winning, you know?

14:36 Okay, e4 on the board.

14:38 Um maybe I'll show you how to play the opening that my opponent just played.

14:42 I mean, a lot of you request different openings.

14:44 So I'm going to play d6, knight f6.

14:46 I'm going to play the Pirc defense or the King's Indian setup myself now.

14:49 Um okay, knight f6.

14:51 So we attack the pawn.

14:53 My opponent didn't put two pawns in the center.

14:55 So now they probably should move with the knight.

14:58 Yep, now I play g6.

15:00 And again, you should play d4.

15:02 So this is a version where the opponent doesn't have huge pawn backup.

15:07 I'm going to play bishop g7 and I'm going to castle.

15:12 Okay, that move is not really doing much,

15:14 although I cannot play bishop g4 anymore.

15:19 Fine.

15:21 And this is this is just the idea and then

15:23 we're going to commit one of the e or c pawns.

15:25 This pawn, okay, there's our development.

15:29 Probably black is going to white is going to castle.

15:32 It is a bit annoying I don't have this pin.

15:34 That is actually by far the most natural move in these positions.

15:38 So now we need to decide how we finish up our development.

15:42 In these King's Indian positions,

15:43 you you you have to find a way to use your pawns.

15:47 Like you either have to go for e5 or a d5 like e6 d5 or c5.

15:52 So, in the spirit of putting knights behind pawns,

15:56 let's play c5 and put the knight behind the c

15:59 pawn so that we have more control over the center.

16:01 There is nothing wrong with any of these moves.

16:04 Okay, bishop g5 is a move.

16:06 Sometimes when I see a bishop like this, I

16:08 I like to just ask what the intentions are.

16:12 Uh the alternative if we don't do that is

16:14 white will make a battery and come down this way.

16:17 I actually really like how my opponent is playing this position.

16:20 It's very sophisticated.

16:22 They have delayed castling, so maybe they will long castle.

16:24 I think what they're going to do is go queen d2 and attack this.

16:27 It's very instructive so far.

16:28 Now I don't know that, right?

16:29 I'm an intermediate, so I'm just developing, but the second they castle,

16:32 I want you to understand it's go time.

16:35 Now uh don't forget you just put this pawn here.

16:38 The best way to protect it is actually with the king.

16:41 If you push, you might be susceptible to pawn attacks.

16:45 If you push this, well, that you know, that just helps their plan.

16:48 And yeah, this is so far this is uh this is a great game.

16:52 Now uh here's a move you can offer a trade of the light squared bishops.

16:55 I I I mean, I don't think this is a bad option.

16:58 Uh you can play e5 and try to jump the knight into the middle of the board.

17:01 That's another good option.

17:03 Or you can, you know,

17:03 you can start your own little little queen side pawn storm here.

17:06 And if and if they castle, they will be castling into that attack.

17:10 Wow.

17:11 This is this is game on.

17:14 This is this is a person that is playing very, very well.

17:17 So, G5 is an idea, right?

17:20 Mhm, and if I [clears throat] take there's like

17:21 a there's like a potential knight capture there with a check.

17:25 Wow.

17:27 So, G5 will attack my knight.

17:29 And G me playing G5,

17:30 you generally don't want to push pawns like this where you're being attacked.

17:34 So, I'm going to I'm going to move my knight.

17:37 I'm actually going to not be threatened here.

17:40 I'm going to move my knight to D7.

17:43 So, that when G5 comes, I can play H5 and I can lock the position.

17:49 The most important thing when you're being attacked,

17:51 like we're under attack here.

17:53 We're defending against an attack.

17:55 Trading off attacking pieces, trading off the bishop, trading off the knight,

17:58 and especially the queen takes a lot of power out of the attack,

18:02 and locking the structure.

18:04 So, very instructive game.

18:07 A move like knight D7 would not occur to somebody rated 1400.

18:10 Okay, there's the move long castle.

18:11 Now, I'm looking at B5.

18:13 I'm looking at these aggressive moves.

18:14 Also looking at maybe D4 or knight E5.

18:18 Both of these moves look decent.

18:20 If I play B5, there is bishop here,

18:22 which as stupid as it looks, I do have to defend against.

18:27 Uh and that could be a little annoying.

18:29 I I don't hate the move knight to D4, just kind of establishing Yeah,

18:33 I really like this move because if knight takes, it's a fork.

18:37 If bishop takes, you lose a key attacker of the of the king.

18:41 So, knight D4, just jumping in like this, establishing good control

18:45 in the middle in in what is otherwise a pretty locked position,

18:47 I think is instructive.

18:49 And the knight is just straight up hanging.

18:50 So, white does have to do something.

18:53 Right?

18:53 B5 was also very natural.

18:55 Then I would have just defended my knight and kept attacking.

18:57 If I can get B5, B4, queen A5, get my queen down there,

19:01 that is how you attack a king.

19:03 And also put the rook behind the B pawn and do something like this.

19:07 The very, very high-level game so far.

19:10 Hopefully no I I'm not running into anybody

19:12 else that is doing a slow run episode.

19:15 This is a tough spot for white.

19:17 Very tough spot.

19:18 You can't take with the knight, but the knight is hanging.

19:20 You can't defend the knight.

19:21 There's no way to defend the knight.

19:22 So, you have to do something.

19:23 This feels incorrect.

19:25 I kind of get the idea, you know, you sort of avoid the trade.

19:29 Um but this feels like I'm now gaining some initiative.

19:31 So, let's let's continue with this move B5.

19:34 I think white has to go here.

19:36 Not because the beginner thought process is the rook is hanging.

19:40 And maybe they don't see it, but the intermediate thought process is

19:44 this move seizes back control of the game.

19:49 And I don't think that just I don't think that happened,

19:52 which allows me now to continue my attack.

19:56 And this could become very dangerous

19:58 for white because now I'm the one attacking.

20:00 We both have pawns in front of our kings that have been pushed.

20:03 Make sure this is protected.

20:05 Don't blunder that.

20:06 And since we both have pawns in front of our kings that have been pushed,

20:09 uh those are called hooks,

20:11 and you can use them as targets when you use a pawn advancement.

20:14 So, knight D5, this pawn is hanging.

20:16 Now, now we are really going to we're we're really going to get advanced here.

20:19 This is hanging.

20:21 The only way to defend it is A5.

20:23 But if A if you're thinking to play A5 here, you're not getting it.

20:28 We're not looking to defend ourselves here.

20:31 We're looking to attack.

20:33 I'm looking at queen A5.

20:35 I'm even looking at a pawn sacrifice, pawn to B3 here, just giving up the pawn.

20:40 I'm not sure I want to play A5.

20:44 I'm really not sure.

20:45 I don't know what else I know is going to happen on this side of the board.

20:48 So, A5 to me is a little feeble.

20:51 It's just a little feeble.

20:52 It could be the best move, but I'm looking at stuff like B3.

20:56 Just give the pawn away, potentially open up this king, open up the file.

21:02 Uh B B3 just looks so appetizing.

21:04 I I I we have to play it.

21:05 I I to I do want to show you how to attack and and I I like the move B3 a lot.

21:10 I think practically it might not be the best move.

21:12 Practically it might be the best move.

21:14 According to the computer it might not be.

21:16 We force the opponent to open up their king,

21:18 which is which is really going to, you know,

21:20 it's going to serve us great benefit like to a great benefit.

21:22 So now we take this and the king is open.

21:26 All right, we've opened up the king and we have

21:28 our dark squared bishop and we have the bishop pair.

21:30 I'm looking at knight C5 here.

21:33 Knight C5 attacks this and if they take us,

21:38 well, it's a trade and they they lose another attacker.

21:41 So we've actually gotten rid of two of the bishops that could be attacking us.

21:45 Uh if they defend with the king, that's fantastic.

21:47 If they defend with the queen,

21:48 that's also not bad cuz then the queen is off here.

21:52 Our bishop compared to to their their knight for example,

21:55 night and day, no pun intended.

21:57 Rook B8, if the queen goes here, always looking at queen A5.

22:01 E6 can kick out this knight and even

22:03 bishop E6 just targeting this side of the board,

22:06 you know, get my queen out, get the rooks here.

22:09 Okay, so they take.

22:10 So it's a bishop versus knight game.

22:12 We are a pawn down.

22:13 Kings are on the opposite sides.

22:15 I'm expecting F4.

22:17 We've learned a lot about pawn play.

22:18 Pawns generally should lead an attack.

22:21 Right?

22:21 Pawns should lead an attack, but I still have rook B8,

22:24 bishop E6, queen A5 ideas, bringing the second rook.

22:28 That's how you attack.

22:29 This game will be decided with with a king being pulled out of the castle.

22:33 I actually don't think this is dangerous.

22:35 When you have a queen and a king like this on the same line, it's not scary.

22:39 I'm looking at bishop E6,

22:40 already looking very good for me, although the knight could retreat.

22:43 Bishop B7.

22:46 Bishop B6, knight F4.

22:48 I can't take right away.

22:50 Um I can kick the knight away and then it will

22:53 move maybe to F4 and then I can attack it again.

22:57 I like just the simple move bishop to B7.

22:59 I'm attacking the knight.

23:01 It has to leave because if Queen C5, I pin the queen,

23:04 and that would be a very sad way for the game to end.

23:06 Another move which I could have played here,

23:08 which I actually kind of forgot about cuz the queen moved,

23:10 is I could have went Queen A5 straight away.

23:12 And and and that would be that would be really dangerous.

23:15 So, the knight is maybe looking to go to C4.

23:18 Um there's no immediate danger to me.

23:22 I'm a little sad this bishop is here because I kind of would have

23:25 liked the rook to be on on on on this uh side of the board.

23:29 So, we could go Queen A5.

23:32 Yeah, why not?

23:32 Let's go Queen A5.

23:33 So, we're just man, any I would do anything to have this pawn gone,

23:37 you know, so I could just have my rooks.

23:39 So, the knight to C4.

23:42 Queen A1 check, there's actually nothing there.

23:45 I need to open up some more lines.

23:47 If knight C4, I'm going Queen B4 or Queen B5.

23:51 And I mean, my bishop is just so powerful.

23:54 It's It's It's much stronger than the knights.

23:56 Yeah, and maybe now Queen B4.

23:58 Now, Queen C3, of course, I just take.

24:00 Queen D2, I take.

24:02 So, our queen is a little stranded here.

24:05 But I feel like it's almost a mutual situation, and hey, I can keep hammering.

24:11 Oh.

24:12 Now that I look at that, we have

24:14 said the pawns are the most useful attacking piece.

24:16 Am I I mean, Rook A1 is checkmate, basically.

24:19 Cuz the king can't get off the the the the rank.

24:23 So, I'm going to go A5 A4.

24:25 That's my new plan.

24:26 Break this down with with my pawn.

24:28 And the position is deceiving for white.

24:31 It looks like everything is okay, but you can't really move anything.

24:35 G5 is a cool idea.

24:37 Just sacrifice a pawn kind of similar to how I did,

24:40 but I don't even have to acknowledge this pawn.

24:42 I could take it and defend it.

24:44 I could also just push and lock up the position.

24:46 So, yeah, knight F3, but there's no threat.

24:49 I think I'm playing A5.

24:52 And once A4 lands, I I we're just we're we're

24:55 throwing pawns forward to open up lines for our pieces.

24:58 This is an extremely instructive game.

25:01 Extremely instructive.

25:02 It's fascinating how despite being a pawn

25:04 up and seemingly you think white is better, I think white is much worse here.

25:08 Much.

25:09 You can start transferring all these pieces to defend yourself.

25:14 Yet they defend nothing.

25:16 They defend nothing cuz then I don't

25:17 D2 doesn't actually combat any of my pieces.

25:21 It could maybe layer up against the king, but that's miserable.

25:26 You know?

25:27 It's just a matter of time in a position

25:29 like that until the the the aggressive side breaks through.

25:32 Of course, I would not like a queen trade.

25:34 It's also important to understand what

25:35 you're looking for in positions like this.

25:37 I would not like a queen trade.

25:39 My queen is extremely strong.

25:41 And the white queen is extremely defensive holding

25:43 on to the extra pawn that I gave.

25:45 And we see white like not understanding what to play

25:48 here because even if you play something like knight E5, which looks aggressive.

25:53 I don't even have to take it, right?

25:55 I can just continue with A4.

25:57 Rook D2.

25:58 Um That doesn't stop my plan.

26:06 That's just my plan.

26:07 I just want the rook over here.

26:08 And and by the time white evacuates, it's too late, I think.

26:11 Pawn takes, rook takes, rook A1 check, and we're going to win.

26:15 Rook A1 check wins us a queen right now.

26:19 Ooh, that's an interesting move.

26:20 Okay.

26:21 So, the first thing I want to do is sacrifice the rook.

26:24 Obviously, right?

26:25 That's That's what everybody likes.

26:27 Um if I take, take, take, the king runs.

26:34 It's It's actually not It's not flawless, unfortunately.

26:42 But it looks really cool, right?

26:43 And I mean I feel like for the sake of the series,

26:45 we should we should maybe consider doing it.

26:48 Um It's a dubious sacrifice, but we might as well try.

26:53 So, we're only down a pawn now.

26:54 We will be down uh a pawn in general.

27:00 We'll have a knight and a pawn for a rook, and the king will be running around.

27:03 Now, it's very easy to miscalculate here that after king d1, you win the rook.

27:09 That doesn't mean you need to play queen a1 queen c1.

27:11 You don't have to go for this at all.

27:12 At this point, you can kind of reset yourself.

27:14 So, the king is going to e2.

27:16 We know that.

27:19 Is there anything else we can do?

27:21 Can we anticipate the king coming this way

27:23 and and play something like pawn to f5?

27:25 Which looks really crazy,

27:27 but we're trying to activate the rook or break down to something like this.

27:30 Or, how about this for board vision?

27:33 Bishop takes pawn because the queen hits the knight.

27:37 Oh my goodness.

27:39 Oh my goodness.

27:40 I didn't even see that until we got here.

27:41 I was looking at c4, sacrificing.

27:44 C4 also very interesting move because after queen takes, there's rook c8.

27:47 So, c4 is what I want you to consider.

27:50 It's a very forcing move.

27:52 Very forcing.

27:53 But, bishop before is nasty.

27:56 That is a nasty move.

27:58 Just like out of nowhere, a move that doesn't look possible at all,

28:02 but it's just made possible by seeing how all the pieces coordinate.

28:06 My original idea was going to be to put, you know, to push.

28:08 My opponent misses this, and now it's a fork,

28:11 and an attack is successful in chess if you

28:13 checkmate or if you end up with more material.

28:16 If you get a return on your investment, we win the knight back immediately.

28:20 Now, we win back five of the points here.

28:22 We're going to have an extra bishop,

28:23 and we're going to have uh and and we're going to have

28:26 an extra bishop and I think an extra pawn and checkmating ideas.

28:29 Now, we just clean up.

28:30 Oh, always look for checks.

28:32 I think this move is good to throw in.

28:35 It's not winning, but, you know, don't get lazy.

28:38 There is king e2.

28:40 But, uh it's an improvement.

28:41 We improve the position of our rook.

28:42 Why would we not do that?

28:45 Uh-huh, and now I can take this pawn or hang out,

28:48 but I don't see a reason you shouldn't just take as many pawns as you can.

28:51 I think my opponent might go here, but then there's this.

28:55 And if they play F3, yeah.

28:58 I take.

29:00 King F1 is what you should play, probably.

29:05 Uh, and in chess, you can convert a game with a ruthless attack on the king,

29:09 or a an end game simplification.

29:12 And I think in this Oh, this is just mate.

29:15 That's kind of funny.

29:16 That's a dovetail checkmate.

29:17 It's when a king is trying to escape like out diagonally.

29:21 I was going to go bishop D4 check, and win the queen, and win everything.

29:24 But this is just mate.

29:25 That was a very cool game.

29:29 I have to say, that was that was a game like that'll take your chess to 17-1800.

29:35 That was a game that that that was a that was a great game.

29:38 I was very Not not like the way I played.

29:40 I'm just very happy there was very instructive moments in that game.

29:42 So, it was cool that my opponent delayed their castling.

29:45 And and I want you to have these thoughts in your head as you play.

29:49 Oh, they're delaying castling a little bit.

29:52 And don't let them make this battery against you in the King's Indian,

29:55 or in the Pirc defense, you know,

29:56 where they try to trade your dark-squared bishop.

29:59 You know, I went like this, Queen D2, King H7,

30:02 A3, and I played A6 with the idea to start a queen side attack.

30:06 G4 was a great move.

30:08 And yeah, I'm looking at the engine now,

30:10 and the top moves of the computer here are B5 and knight to D7.

30:15 And I did say that during the game.

30:17 I I said like, probably B5 is the best move,

30:21 because after G5, you just take the bishop.

30:24 Right?

30:24 You you are creating that threat.

30:26 And if after B5, the opponent went this way, well, then,

30:28 you know, then I should move my knight out of the way.

30:30 It is kind of crazy that the best move

30:33 here is to move the knight out of the way.

30:37 Because if you allow the move G5 to happen,

30:39 you have a serious problem on your hands.

30:42 You allow a check and then you allow initiative.

30:45 When you allow the opponent to make moves with a tempo, every punch is landing.

30:50 You are backing up, defending yourself, absorbing the damage.

30:53 Now you go here and here comes h4.

30:55 Now you're like, I don't know what to do.

30:56 b5 here then you make another slow move.

30:58 All of a sudden here comes pawn to h5.

31:01 Now you don't know which way to take.

31:02 You take with a with the pawn.

31:04 Now white castles long and now the rooks are coming.

31:06 And if if you set up this position,

31:10 black will lose 80% of the time at the intermediate level.

31:14 An advanced player will realize that before this attack actually arrives,

31:19 you have to be extremely timely with your counterplay.

31:23 You have to sense that in the game.

31:25 See, you have to sense that something's going to happen.

31:27 I went here because g5 no longer attacks

31:29 my knight and I would immediately lock the position.

31:32 And after I lock the position, the pawns are never getting through.

31:35 White has to look for obscure sacrifices to try to get into the territory.

31:39 Um and also landing in the middle with your pieces is the way to go.

31:44 Pawn and knight going like this instead of knight in front of the pawn.

31:48 Pawn, knight, and bishop all working together.

31:52 I thought it was a really instructive game.

31:53 Uh knight to d4 was the best move.

31:55 b5 was the best move.

31:57 Uh b4 was one of the best moves.

32:00 And in this position I advocated for sacrificing the pawn.

32:05 Yeah, it's good.

32:06 The computer likes rook b8 because if knight takes b4,

32:09 you just you walk directly into the bulldozers here.

32:13 And a5 is not bad.

32:15 a5 is just too slow and it allows white to immediately begin their, you know,

32:20 bad intentions on this side of the board.

32:23 But I thought it was very instructive that we played this move b3,

32:25 lost a pawn, but we got to open the king.

32:28 That was the most important thing and then every move comes with a thud.

32:32 Knight c5.

32:33 You take my knight, no problem, but you lost an attacking piece.

32:37 You lost two bishops and one of your knights went back.

32:39 You don't ever have the firepower to attack here.

32:42 Bishop to B7 was not the best move.

32:44 Bishop B6 was the best move.

32:45 I just didn't know what to do here.

32:47 Oh my gosh.

32:49 The computer shows bishop takes B3.

32:53 I didn't see that.

32:55 Sacrificing and forcing the opponent into rook B8

32:58 with B2 at the bottom of the of the row.

33:02 And this is lost.

33:03 It's lost because even though white is getting a lot of material for the queen,

33:08 the king is alone with the queen and the rook

33:12 coming and white just doesn't have the defensive capabilities here.

33:18 Queen A2, rook B8, and the game is just over.

33:22 It's over.

33:23 And these knights never participated.

33:26 Very cool move, bishop takes B3.

33:28 When I saw that this would attack me, I was going to go here.

33:32 And after knight E6, I was going to probably take and then put my rooks.

33:36 And last but not least, was A5 the best plan?

33:40 It's not only the best plan A5, it's the only plan.

33:44 I'm going to put this in my second book.

33:47 I'm putting this in the chapter on uh converting positions and attacking maybe.

33:53 One of those.

33:55 A5 A4, very instructive pawn play example.

33:59 Doing this.

34:00 And uh rook takes A3 is the is one of the best moves.

34:04 Yeah, I sacrifice like this.

34:06 And then this.

34:07 C4 is also good.

34:09 I think practically speaking, C4 is very good.

34:12 The best move for white now is to try to trade the queen.

34:15 Hey.

34:16 Very ve- I'm going to put that into the book as well, by the way.

34:19 Defense.

34:20 The most important thing to do here with white is to get a queen trade.

34:25 And if the queen avoids it, then you take.

34:29 That is important.

34:30 That is very important.

34:32 You have to be very timely with your defense.

34:33 If you go here, you lose.

34:35 Rook c8.

34:36 And then I get the c1.

34:38 Rook c1 here, I take.

34:40 You have something, it looks a bit scary with the queen,

34:42 but I just don't let you do anything.

34:45 And I win.

34:46 But there is also this move.

34:47 Yeah, I this was a cool game.

34:49 It's one of my favorite games of the whole slow run.

34:52 This one.

34:53 And now this next one will be over in 5 seconds, right?

34:56 Let's play maybe a Queen's Gambit.

34:58 Maybe a London.

34:59 Let's play a London.

35:00 Let's play a London and leave our king in the center of the board.

35:04 Oh, that's kind of an interesting move.

35:05 g6, okay.

35:07 So, we're going to set up the pawn pyramid.

35:10 Like this.

35:12 And what I want to do here is I want

35:14 to play in a way where I they castle and I don't.

35:18 Ah, there it is.

35:20 So, h4 is is a very dangerous plan.

35:23 Uh, our generic IC play is like

35:25 this and generally white should black should play h5.

35:31 If they don't play h5 like this, you

35:34 actually can generate a very monstrous attack.

35:37 This is not principled chess.

35:39 This is don't This is not principled.

35:41 But it's extremely effective.

35:44 Now the bishop is going to leave.

35:46 White is already nearly winning.

35:48 From a practical standpoint,

35:51 unless the opponent uses Stockfish and defends themself,

35:54 this attack has already successfully arrived.

35:57 And the only way black doesn't lose is

35:59 if black lands one of these two counterattacks.

36:01 Chess is a very principled thing.

36:03 If you are storming on one side of the board,

36:05 and black has to strike back in the center,

36:08 that's the way that they can maybe defend themselves.

36:11 The computer will evaluate that this is too slow.

36:14 Okay, so knight c6, right?

36:15 They They could still play e5, although it's kind of unlikely.

36:19 I'm looking at bishop d3, and I'm also looking at transferring

36:22 my queen over this way and potentially attacking.

36:23 But let's For now, let's open up the h-file.

36:25 So, now my rook is staring directly at the black king.

36:28 They take with the F pawn.

36:29 So, they want to maybe move their rook.

36:31 I can develop the bishop.

36:33 I can maybe move my queen.

36:35 G5 is always there.

36:37 I can also take the knight so that the move E5 is not possible.

36:46 A lot of interesting ideas.

36:47 Or I can begin this queen transfer.

36:50 Hm.

36:51 Which one is going to be the most effective?

36:53 I'm going to go queen E2.

36:55 Because I want to put my queen and rook together

36:57 on the H file and make this position a nightmare for black.

37:02 Now, black can play rook E8 or I'll go again.

37:04 There's queen E8, very instructive,

37:06 but the unfortunate thing about this move is there is now no E5.

37:12 I like how black played, by the way.

37:13 Organizing the pieces like this to try to get E5,

37:16 very actually very sophisticated stuff.

37:18 Queen is there.

37:20 The lazy move is bishop to D3.

37:21 Just a kind of a simple move, also long castle,

37:24 also knight H3 and knight G5 looks just awful.

37:29 And if my opponent plays rook E8, I will actually just trap the queen.

37:32 Oh my gosh, can you imagine rook E8, knight G5, black resigns?

37:38 That would be horrendous.

37:42 For the record, this pawn has been free,

37:45 but just like the last game, we don't want that.

37:49 Like the pawn doesn't interest us.

37:51 What interests us is checkmating the king.

37:55 What I also haven't done in this position is push them is push pawn to G5.

37:59 Wow, bishop takes, huh?

38:02 Oh.

38:06 Zwischenzug.

38:07 In between move.

38:09 Of course in this position, of course.

38:12 Pawn takes is probably fine.

38:14 After it takes, you simply move the queen.

38:18 But if you move the knight first, the queen has to go there.

38:24 And that is a huge problem.

38:26 Because you've also opened up your queen.

38:30 And they can't even take this back anymore.

38:33 Because of mate.

38:35 So the game will now proceed queen e8

38:38 pawn takes g4 and maybe black will play h6.

38:42 Because if they play knight g4 they just get mated.

38:45 And if they play h6 that I go here and I ooh.

38:49 But this move we established a long time ago.

38:52 Doesn't work at all.

38:53 Because we have too much defense.

38:55 And they've just lost the knight.

38:57 And if this they're going to get mated.

39:03 Folks.

39:05 People hate getting attacked.

39:07 This game is over in like 15 moves.

39:10 Okay, now they now they go for this.

39:12 Now the position is still a little bit tricky here.

39:16 Just a touch.

39:17 For example, if I move the knight they can

39:19 play knight takes g4 which is a little bit uncomfortable.

39:24 If I take here there is this move.

39:30 Which is a little scary.

39:31 Now we are up five points of material.

39:33 In this position we are up two pieces.

39:35 If I bring the knight back and they take on g4.

39:40 Mhm.

39:42 So we basically will probably will probably going to lose one of these pieces.

39:46 Unless I take they take with check I block.

39:50 They take again.

39:51 You know what's the easiest way to win a winning position?

39:56 It's to protect your king.

39:59 That's the truth.

40:00 If the second you start allowing things like queen

40:02 e3 things could get really out of control really quickly.

40:06 Um.

40:08 So I'm going to take a sip of my smoothie.

40:11 And then make a decision.

40:21 I think take take here and something like

40:26 a rook takes doesn't quite work for us.

40:31 I might just castle the king.

40:37 I think that's what I'm going to do.

40:41 My logic if they take here Wow.

40:49 Knight takes G4 instead.

40:51 Can I sacrifice the queen?

40:53 I kind of want to take and just like and take the rook.

40:58 [laughter] That's actually not that crazy.

40:59 I take, they take, I take.

41:02 They take?

41:03 No, no, no.

41:05 Maybe.

41:06 Okay, I mean, I think it's ridiculous, right?

41:07 I should probably just move my queen out of the way.

41:09 I like the move queen G 2.

41:16 But then they can maybe even go here.

41:18 What is happening?

41:18 This this This should have been trivial, you know?

41:22 And it's somehow like it's way more complicated than I thought.

41:26 So, the knight is now hanging.

41:31 Wow.

41:35 My queen is still hanging.

41:38 Uh and my knight is hanging and my bishop is hanging.

41:43 So, if I move my queen to G1 the knight is hanging.

41:51 And they can take my rook,

41:52 but then I'm obviously going to take their bishop and all their other pieces.

41:54 I mean, this is crazy.

41:55 I get queen G1 or queen G3, queen H3, queen G1.

42:00 What What do What do we do here?

42:01 This is a wild If we go here and the queen takes then we can No,

42:09 I don't like that the queen can take.

42:11 Maybe queen g3.

42:14 Queen g3 could be the move.

42:17 Cuz we're up two pieces.

42:26 What what what is what is going on here?

42:28 How is this 13 1300 out playing me?

42:30 Huh?

42:31 What what is what what's Hold on a minute.

42:33 Hold on a minute.

42:34 Hold on a minute.

42:35 Hold on a minute.

42:36 I do kind of want to just like sacrifice

42:38 the queen for a three pieces and have a fun time.

42:42 Um But come on.

42:44 What is what what's going on?

42:45 What's going on here?

42:47 Um I only have 4 minutes, too.

42:54 Yeah.

42:55 I I'm I'm not going to lie.

42:56 I think at the intermediate level this position is beyond the pay grade.

43:00 Like it's just it's simply too complicated.

43:04 Uh let's go queen h3.

43:09 My opponent's going to make another move in like 2 seconds, probably.

43:13 That seems to be the MO.

43:15 So if this Okay, the queen takes on e5.

43:17 Now I look at queen e6 check here.

43:19 Take take.

43:22 They take the rook.

43:23 I take their rook.

43:27 That's what I looked at.

43:28 Queen e6.

43:29 Also rookie e1 pins the knight, no?

43:31 Rookie e1 pins the knight to the queen.

43:38 But this is so this is so insane, this position.

43:42 Like it felt like I should have won a long time ago.

43:46 And now queen e3.

43:49 Or rookie e3.

43:50 Queen e3, there's like rook there.

43:52 Which which actually should still be winning for us, but All right.

43:56 I have to speed up.

43:58 I'm playing way too slowly.

44:01 Way too slowly.

44:02 I like my opponent's clock management.

44:04 Like the the it's it's actually very impressive how fast my opponent is playing.

44:08 Um now they're going to get like the bishop in the game.

44:11 This is This person is crazy strong.

44:19 Let's give a check first.

44:20 I'm sweating.

44:22 I am I am uncomfortable here.

44:24 This is Pawn takes.

44:29 They're going to take with the bishop.

44:33 Rook D3.

44:35 So I am up a knight for three pawns.

44:37 I mean, I don't know how on earth this happened.

44:40 C5 I think now is the best move.

44:41 I would be completely bewildered if the opponent continued to play.

44:44 Okay, this is not a good sign.

44:47 Um I would like to activate my queen.

44:52 And I'm going to play queen D7 check.

44:55 The idea is quite straightforward.

44:58 The king is on the last rank.

44:59 Maybe I can sacrifice my rook.

45:04 It's always a decent idea.

45:05 Sack the rook.

45:08 The bishop goes back.

45:09 Okay.

45:10 Wow.

45:12 I can start winning some pawns, but that might even be too dangerous.

45:20 How about rook What about a queen trade?

45:24 Let's go for a queen trade.

45:26 I don't like this.

45:29 Don't like this.

45:34 Do not like this.

45:35 Don't know what's going on.

45:38 Oh, well, after that I might I might be a little bit more confident.

45:42 Although I am second-guessing myself all the time.

45:44 I only have two pawns extra.

45:46 I only have two pawns remaining.

45:47 I have like an extra knight, but it was supposed to be a little easier.

45:50 Well, now it will be easier.

45:52 So now we give this check.

45:55 [laughter]

45:54 My opponent [snorts] might have to make the walk of shame back to G7 again,

45:58 but the difference now is I have a lot more firepower.

46:02 So rook d8 will lose because I will give a check.

46:05 The king is going to be really

46:06 in a bad spot here cuz he's totally totally dominated.

46:11 Rook on the seventh rank in the end game.

46:13 I'm actually sweating a little bit.

46:14 Like I did not expect this type of a game.

46:18 Rook f5 is the best defensive move.

46:20 I will absolutely lose my mind.

46:22 Rook f5 is like there's two people playing

46:24 the game at the same time at this level.

46:26 I mean, rook f5 would be cuz it's tough, you know, like knight g Bro.

46:34 [laughter] Come on, man.

46:34 This is What is this, man?

46:38 This is crazy.

46:39 What is this?

46:40 What at this level rook to f5?

46:42 That is insane.

46:44 Okay.

46:46 Everything defended on the light squares.

46:49 And now we can we can get in like this.

46:52 If rook here, this is a fork.

46:53 That would be a very welcome sight.

46:56 That fork.

46:58 But rooks on the seventh rank will win me the game here.

47:02 That's what's going to, you know, that's that's simply going to win me the game.

47:10 Okay.

47:12 Knight d6.

47:13 So, this is a huge problem for black.

47:15 But if the king goes to h7, somehow they get out of it again.

47:19 But then I'm going to play rook f1 and go for rook f7.

47:21 Very instructive.

47:24 Very instructive.

47:28 Mhm.

47:31 Mhm.

47:31 Okay, I mean, I'm happy to trade, I guess.

47:37 I don't know what there was to think about there.

47:40 Knights f5.

47:42 The bishop is hanging.

47:44 And if the bishop moves, we will take on h6.

47:48 That looks terrible.

47:49 That actually looks like I can go here and this is almost mate.

47:57 So, the only way to actually protect is to play this move,

47:59 which is just awful it looks like.

48:02 But it might it might be the only way.

48:05 And that's just mate.

48:11 Okay.

48:13 That was absurd.

48:15 This person This person was so good.

48:21 I mean, this game was supposed to be over in like 15 moves.

48:26 I mean, I had a totally crushing position.

48:29 And then after H6 this, this was the best move, this was the best move.

48:34 And all of a sudden it got really dicey.

48:37 Like So two moves here in the middle of total chaos.

48:41 So the best move here was not Queen G2 because this came with a tempo.

48:45 The best move was Queen H3 counter attacking the knight.

48:48 Then the knight would have taken my bishop,

48:50 which is what I thought was going to happen.

48:52 And then I would continue with my journey.

48:54 Yeah, I mean here here my opponent drank an energy drink.

48:57 Uh and uh managed to defend their position.

49:04 Like to spot not to take my knight or my bishop, but the pawn.

49:09 Another in in between move is incredible.

49:12 And actually yeah, the computer wants to sack the queen.

49:15 It's saying that the only way to play here is to sack the queen.

49:18 Which is just which is just wild.

49:21 And then to get to this position.

49:22 But I didn't do that.

49:23 I I kind of got lost in the ocean here.

49:25 And I I maintained an advantage and I had to you know, regain my senses.

49:29 Notice that here oh, rookie seven is such a nice move.

49:34 Rookie seven is so nice.

49:36 Rookie seven and you can't take because Queen H6 is mate.

49:39 Wow.

49:40 That is an example of just going straight for the kill.

49:42 Woo.

49:44 Amazing stuff.

49:45 Amazing stuff.

49:45 This person really played a great game.

49:50 Oh, I should not be sweating this much at the 1400 level.

49:53 Um I had to kind of lock in there and and and and and win the game.

49:58 You know, and I won by focusing on the light squares.

50:00 Like I won because of my light squared bishop,

50:02 I won because of the light squares that the knight,

50:04 you know, and the rook created and rook on the seventh rank.

50:06 I thought this was very instructive how I basically always

50:10 was looking for a way to get in with my rooks.

50:14 Rook takes B7 was a free pawn.

50:16 Immediately my opponent should have taken over the file.

50:18 If they did that, I probably would have just traded rooks with them.

50:21 Uh trading one set of rooks here is probably an easy win,

50:25 but trading two uh might make it harder

50:29 with just the bishop and a knight versus this.

50:30 So, you kind of, you know, you kind of use this piece.

50:33 Yeah, and here because black has no moves,

50:36 actually white can just push this pawn all

50:38 the way and then just like remove the rook,

50:41 take the pawn, and promote this pawn.

50:43 It's kind of incredible.

50:44 Black has no forward pawn mobility at all

50:47 and cannot move the king and the bishop.

50:49 So, that was a crazy game.

50:52 Wow, I am actually sweating under my armpits

50:54 and that made the episode a lot longer.

50:56 Excellent job.

50:57 Uh and uh yeah, I will see you all in the next episode.

51:01 Uh you can get a ticket to the Europe tour or you can uh pre-order a signed copy

51:06 of the next book or just pre-order a copy

51:08 because the ones in the US are sold out.

51:11 Unless you want to order one from the UK,

51:12 but I imagine the shipping cost will be a lot of money.

51:15 Anyway, uh that's all I have for you and uh you know the drill.

51:18 Get out of here.