Chess.com King Of The Hill Championship 2026: Who'll Win The Most Popular Variant?

0:43 Never ever ever.

0:57 family.

1:13 The ship N I don't need it.

2:40 Hey, hey, hey.

3:26 ah a a Heat.

3:39 Heat.

3:40 N.

3:48 Heat.

3:49 Heat.

3:50 N.

3:58 Heat.

3:59 Heat.

4:40 Heat.

4:40 Heat.

5:14 around.

5:20 Good morning.

6:01 Heat.

6:01 Hey, Heat.

6:04 Heat.

6:18 Heat.

6:44 I like birds.

7:09 Heat.

7:09 Heat.

7:40 Hey.

7:44 Hey.

7:44 Hey.

8:06 You're done.

8:16 Never ever ever dance.

8:36 If you're a The ship man.

9:23 Hey, hey, hey.

10:01 Hey everyone.

10:01 Everyone, welcome to the King of the Hill Championship here on chess.com.

10:08 I'm Yikr and I will be guiding you through

10:11 this uh with the very knowledgeable uh help of Mr.

10:19 Benjamin Boach.

10:20 And uh Benjamin um king of the hill, what is this all about?

10:26 Yeah, it is a very fun uh variant, Yun.

10:29 It's pretty much normal chess.

10:30 The only difference is that you can also win games

10:33 by placing your king in the middle of the board,

10:36 but checkmate also still wins the game.

10:39 Yeah.

10:40 So, getting those kings up there,

10:42 the four central squares are absolutely crucial.

10:47 They teach you to control the center.

10:50 Uh but here it becomes um yeah, just a way to win the game.

10:57 Uh I have a question, Benjamin.

10:59 Queen trade.

11:00 Yay or nay?

11:01 In this variant, it depends, right?

11:05 If you have a very clear path to the middle of the board,

11:08 then generally a queen trade is good.

11:10 So, if you don't and your opponent has one,

11:12 then you absolutely want to keep the queens on the board.

11:15 But that is definitely a uh dynamic that is added to this game.

11:19 I'd say this is one of the variants that is as closest to normal chess.

11:22 You can still win games, you know, in the end game by checkmating your opponent,

11:26 but you you do want to keep a path open

11:29 to the middle so that you can sometimes just march the king up.

11:33 Do you think like is this a variant where um you actually

11:41 the queen trade is the most exciting part of the game as opposed

11:45 to Norway ch normal chess where uh the queen trade is considered

11:50 a bit of a oh oh no uh the queens are off.

11:56 Yeah, it definitely it's going to be very interesting because when

11:58 the queens are off you the both players will definitely be looking like,

12:02 oh, how can I get my king to the middle of the board as quickly as possible.

12:06 Also, I'd say in this variant castling,

12:08 I don't know if that is a good thing because

12:09 you're moving the king further away from the central four squares.

12:13 So, we'll see how things play out.

12:16 Uh, today we are competing in threeinut blitz games.

12:21 no extra time added on uh for any moves.

12:25 We have a double elimination bracket with eight players.

12:30 That means even if you lose once, you're still in it.

12:33 Uh but losing twice and you are out.

12:37 Uh all matches are four games.

12:40 And uh let's take a look at the qualified

12:43 players because we have a superstar in our midst.

12:49 Uh Benjamin Absolutely.

12:51 We have GM Dimmitri Andreken.

12:54 He is a World Cup finalist.

12:56 Also, I was told by credible sources that he was a former world junior champion.

13:01 We also have another Grandmaster, Mitraa.

13:04 So, some very strong players in normal chess.

13:06 Also, Toyo, very strong variance player.

13:09 I believe he's close to the GM title in classical chess, normal chess.

13:13 Uh we also have Nut Minto.

13:15 He's been here in every variance championship, also known as Dragon B.

13:20 And yeah, Raza, another strong IM.

13:22 Uh, so a very nice field we have here, Yun.

13:25 And what's interesting when we take a look at the bracket here, uh,

13:29 is that a lot of the strongest normal chess

13:33 players are on the bottom half of the bracket.

13:37 Madavi, Andre, Kanan, and and Mitraba.

13:40 Mitraaba, the grandmaster, is actually our reigning champion.

13:44 But in order for him to get at least

13:47 to the winners final and win the the the initial bracket here,

13:52 he needs to get past Toyobu and Andreken and or Madavi.

13:58 That's going to be quite the challenge.

14:01 Absolutely.

14:01 Yeah, because I believe in this format the being good in normal

14:04 chess definitely helps because still normal the the players make normal moves.

14:09 Calculation is a big big part.

14:11 Not only are you looking to like win material,

14:13 go for checkmate, things like that.

14:15 Also, you have to keep these king marches into consideration.

14:18 So, I think players like Dimmitri and Draken, Toyo,

14:22 Mitraaba, they're definitely in the tougher half of their bracket.

14:25 Yeah.

14:27 Yeah, it's going to be interesting uh taking a look at those.

14:31 Uh Benjamin, do you have a preference for our first game to to take a look at?

14:38 Yeah, perhaps we can have a look at Dimmitri Andre.

14:41 I mean, you know, we give we have to give him some respect.

14:43 He was a former he was he's a 2700 grandmaster,

14:47 like I said, reached the World Cup final in 2013.

14:50 So, I'm very excited to see how he will do in this variant.

14:53 I mean, it's pretty much normal chess, right?

14:55 We've covered many other variants like atomic.

14:59 I mean, that's as uh different from chess as you want it to be,

15:03 but this is, I'd say, as close to normal chess as you want it to be.

15:08 I I just want to, you know,

15:10 get my own credentials in there just briefly and note that it's not entirely

15:16 like normal chess because I actually beat Hikaru Nakamura in King of the Hill.

15:22 So, there can be some trickery and some uh specialized

15:27 expertise uh in this variant as with all of them.

15:31 And uh well, today we're going to find out is are the the grand masters uh going

15:38 to be the ones uh dashing it out in the final uh at the end of the day?

15:44 Or will some of these specialists,

15:46 some of which are not even international masters,

15:50 uh make uh waves and prove that uh their maybe unorthodox style uh

15:57 will will uh will prevail because if you're not a super strong grandmaster,

16:03 Benjamin, you need to have like a a special kind of plan or or scheme, right?

16:11 Yeah, I think so.

16:12 I'm also curious to see what openings the players are going to play.

16:15 What What do you think?

16:16 Do you think E4 is going to be the best

16:18 move or D4 or what what openings do you expect?

16:22 Well, I'm expecting them to to put some pawns in the center of the board.

16:27 Uh but but beyond that, I I don't think it makes

16:31 a huge difference which which one of the the two most central pawns.

16:36 Uh let's take a look at the uh prices for the event.

16:41 uh having qualified to the the the knockout bracket here,

16:46 you've already guaranteed yourself $100,

16:49 but there's $750 uh for the first place finisher

16:55 with an extra $100 for our top streamer uh of the day.

17:03 Mhm.

17:03 Absolutely.

17:04 Yeah.

17:04 So, definitely something at stake here.

17:06 And they are actually off Yon Luik.

17:08 I see here a game between Toyo and Mitraba.

17:12 Mitraaba Grandmaster and Toyo very close to that Grandmaster title.

17:17 And they are starting off in an accelerated dragon.

17:21 And you know I actually have a course on the accelerated dragon Ludvic.

17:24 So what what do you think about this opening?

17:26 Do you like this for white with the maroxy pine

17:29 having more space or do you like this for black?

17:32 I think it's very unlikely, by the way,

17:33 that one of the players is going to get a king to the middle very early on.

17:37 But optically, I kind of like white because white has more space.

17:41 So perhaps he has a clearer path to

17:44 I mean I to me it feels like this has to be much much better for for white.

17:48 I'm surprised that the reigning champion Matriaba is is

17:52 is playing an opening like this with the black pieces.

17:55 Just look at that diagonal from white's king into the center of the board.

18:00 If a queen trade happens here,

18:03 then he will be ready to get that king involved so easily.

18:07 I terrible terrible opening from Mitraa in in my opinion.

18:14 Yeah, you make a great point.

18:15 I really like that idea of king f2 e3 and then to d4.

18:19 And for example, in this position,

18:20 sometimes what black can do is perhaps trade on d5 and then trade on d4.

18:25 But I think here that's way too dangerous.

18:26 White's going to recapture and then the path is clear for the king

18:30 whereas this king on jade is going to be kind of stuck.

18:32 So I really don't like this for also he's down on the clock.

18:37 Yeah.

18:38 Um I'm kind of surprised that uh Toyo didn't uh avoid the knight trade,

18:43 but like you said, the knight trade will uh

18:47 lessen black's defenses on that uh important central square.

18:52 If Mitraba keeps playing this as if it's a normal chess opening,

18:57 he he's going to lose.

18:58 And he's going to lose uh big time.

19:01 Yeah.

19:01 So E5, I mean, in normal chess, quite a weakening move,

19:05 but it does make sense in King of the Hill because it takes away that D4 square.

19:08 Bishop B6 by Toyo.

19:10 But isn't black just losing material here?

19:12 Or just trade the knights.

19:13 Trade the knights maybe.

19:15 I mean, you're winning at least two pawns, right?

19:21 Yeah, both are good.

19:22 Yeah.

19:22 knight C7 or knight takes F6.

19:26 No, this this opening has been a a disaster

19:29 for Mitraaba and uh well the time though 3

19:35 minutes is is such a tricky time control and we've

19:39 very often seen players get into massive time scrambles.

19:44 Uh, and if if Toyo is is is gonna spend 20,

19:49 30 seconds on decisions like this one,

19:52 then it may come back to to haunt him later on.

19:57 Yeah, we'll see how that plays out.

19:58 He goes queen knight C7.

20:00 So, Mitra's thing here.

20:02 The two moves that make sense to me are either queen C7 or queen D8.

20:05 But this seems like a nice pawn grip.

20:07 And already here, I'd be tempted to go king F2.

20:10 Just put it on E3 for now.

20:12 D4 is occupied.

20:14 Yeah, just put the king on D3 and you're only one square away.

20:18 I Perfect.

20:19 And is there any kind of chance that Matraa saves this?

20:24 I I just don't see it.

20:27 Nope.

20:28 Well, no.

20:28 To be fair, I mean, it is a threeminut chess, so anything can always happen.

20:32 Okay, so he takes on F5, but

20:34 but also he managed to chase the black king into the corner, right?

20:39 Yeah, that's not great for black here.

20:41 I like the idea of maybe knight E6 taking that bishop so that you

20:46 know the D4 like you're even closer

20:49 to getting access to the D4 square potentially.

20:52 Oo he's going for the E4 square.

20:55 The bishop moves in trying to trade off with black's bishop.

20:59 And now after the bishop trade there will be

21:02 some kind of pawn to G4 uh coming in.

21:07 Pawn to G4 now is just winning.

21:10 Yeah.

21:11 Great spot by you in case black takes.

21:14 Now king moves up.

21:17 I think that's it.

21:18 Rook D8 check.

21:19 Check.

21:20 Yeah, nice.

21:22 Yep.

21:22 This Okay, rook takes B8.

21:24 That's a full rook.

21:25 That's a little bit too much.

21:27 Okay, here comes the black king though.

21:29 But black does not have a clear path.

21:31 I would take or here and here.

21:35 You can just give a check and take the rook.

21:38 taking black's rook means that you have access with your king next.

21:43 Yep, he plays it.

21:45 Okay, he takes on F4.

21:47 Okay, now he's taking F8 and then check.

21:51 All right, so Toyo wins the first game.

21:54 Let's see how Mitra will try to strike back,

21:56 but that is not a good time for Mitraba.

21:58 He just got a worse position out of the opening and never recovered.

22:02 Yeah, I'm I'm surprised honestly that he he

22:05 has he has the results in this variant.

22:08 He is the reigning champion, Mitraaba.

22:11 I'm surprised his openings aren't more kind of considerate of the uniqueness

22:18 of uh of this variant cuz I mean I it felt very obvious

22:25 to me from the get-go that when you allow white to get

22:28 this really good grip with the pawns in the center of the board,

22:31 you're just going to be suffering in in the King of the Hill.

22:36 Absolutely.

22:36 Yeah.

22:36 So that's why we see in this game both players fighting for the center

22:40 putting their pawns on on you know D5 C5 D5 C4 and D4.

22:46 Okay.

22:46 So we see rook C1 black castling.

22:48 I think you know normally you're just going to have to castle.

22:51 It's very unlikely that you can occupy

22:53 one of those central squares in the beginning.

22:56 So starting out there they just have to play normal chess.

22:59 But as we saw when that queen trade happens you

23:02 want to race to the middle as quickly as possible.

23:05 Yeah.

23:05 I really don't like this decision from Mitraba

23:08 once again to shut down the activity

23:11 in the center of the board because now Toyo is able to to push his pawns

23:16 forward through the middle and once again he

23:19 has created that diagonal path for his king

23:23 where this king could potentially get involved

23:26 into the the action very early on.

23:29 So, I don't know.

23:31 To me, it just feels like Mitraaba has uh poor poor strategies,

23:37 which is wild to say about the reigning champion.

23:41 Yeah, I really like how Toyo plays.

23:43 He's also a real expert in all of these variants.

23:46 He's often there.

23:47 And here, like you said, he again skillfully has paved a path for the king.

23:52 I mean, for for the most part, right?

23:55 He's paved the path to E6.

23:57 D5 or E5 is not available yet,

23:59 but we can assume that at some point those squares will available.

24:03 Whereas the white king on G1,

24:04 it's very hard to see how it will ever get to the middle of the board.

24:09 Oo, but he does manage to to provoke an advance in the center from Toyo as well.

24:16 Um, very difficult to assess this position,

24:21 but right now I am actually liking white.

24:25 Um, white has more pawns in the more central files of the board.

24:31 Um, because the especially that capture on the queen side

24:35 that has captured in toward the middle of the board.

24:38 Uh, I'm um I'm slightly preferring white here.

24:44 Yeah.

24:44 No, I agree with you.

24:45 I feel like white has a little bit more central control and like you said,

24:49 that is what this game is all about.

24:51 Rook E7 played.

24:53 Do we take on E4 now or Also, by the way, white's up 40 seconds on the clock.

24:59 How did that happen?

25:04 Yeah, good question.

25:04 I don't know exactly where to spend his assignment.

25:06 No, you.

25:11 All right, let's see what what what's going to happen.

25:14 C4.

25:15 Okay, I genuinely think the next move for black

25:20 is going to be getting the king involved.

25:24 And there we have king of F2 by Mitraa.

25:26 Okay.

25:27 I assume queen D2, king F7.

25:30 Yeah.

25:30 Oh, and actually I kind of like black's chances now as this D5

25:34 square could become available in the next couple of moves for black.

25:39 And also the white king is never getting across the E file.

25:43 the the black rook and queen are working so well together

25:48 to to control the the white king and making sure it cannot get across.

25:54 Queen takes D4 looks huge here because then

25:57 the queens come off and then king F6 comes up.

26:02 I think this is it.

26:04 King Yeah, but king F6 now bishop B4 is a big three.

26:07 You have to go rook E8.

26:08 Rook E8 only move.

26:11 Yeah.

26:12 Bishop F7 maybe.

26:15 Yeah.

26:15 Forcing the rook back.

26:18 He has to go back now.

26:19 But now there's got to be a win for black.

26:23 Very good square that Mitraaba chose here because if he had gone further down,

26:28 black would sacrifice their rook to get a rook trade.

26:32 Oh, that's a great spot.

26:33 Yeah.

26:34 Rook E1 would have been a blunder to the rook D1.

26:36 King F2.

26:37 Here comes the white king.

26:38 Get a bishop moves.

26:39 Oh, but now bishop G6.

26:42 Bishop D5.

26:43 Bishop B4 is a big threat.

26:45 Yeah, I don't think I think M Toyo is going to win again.

26:48 Yeah, let's see how the rook is coming across to E4 after rook to E8.

26:52 If you try the same defensive plan.

26:56 Yeah, I think that's it.

26:57 Yeah.

26:58 So, time matters, but here black is practically

27:02 a few moves away from checkmate, if you will, right?

27:05 With the king stepping to E5.

27:07 But what happened here?

27:08 Why?

27:08 Why did black end up winning?

27:10 I think white was the first one to move their king toward the center.

27:14 But the key point here was the control of the efile because

27:20 the black queen and rook controlled the the one of the central files.

27:25 White's king couldn't get across whereas blacks

27:28 could and that made all the difference.

27:31 Yeah.

27:31 And I believe Mitraa also made a mistake by actually taking that pawn

27:35 on D5 because that actually gave black

27:37 the D5 square to to potentially fight for.

27:40 So I think there was perhaps a mistake.

27:42 Like you said the control of the E file also very important.

27:46 Another skillful win by Toyo.

27:48 So let's see.

27:48 He only needs another half a point to win the match.

27:51 But draws are super unlikely.

27:55 Are they?

27:57 Yeah.

27:57 How do you get a draw on King of the Hill?

27:59 I mean, we said that same thing about three checks and boy were we proved wrong.

28:05 Well, in only one game.

28:09 Well, it was a rather important game, though.

28:12 Well, you know, the last community event, believe it or not,

28:15 there was a three-way tie in four player chess.

28:19 Yes.

28:20 You don't make that up.

28:21 That actually happened.

28:23 They all the same points.

28:26 I'm I'm so confused how And did they

28:30 just have to play another game then or what?

28:34 No.

28:34 So the winner of each game will get three points

28:36 and the second and third place finisher will get one point.

28:40 So they all got 1.67.

28:45 Huh.

28:45 All right.

28:46 Anyway, we're off to another game.

28:47 What do you think about this one?

28:50 You um Mitra is down a pawn.

28:53 Why is he down a pawn?

28:54 Why is Why is he giving away his own pieces?

28:57 Mitraz had a terrible start to this tournament.

29:02 Well, it's not the worst pawn and you know, he's going for the toyo strategy,

29:05 if you will, with F6 and E5, paving the path for the king.

29:12 Let's see how he can uh I kind of liked rook C6 there.

29:16 I I wanted to just sacrifice something

29:18 to to take control of the light squares there.

29:22 I like that idea.

29:23 Right.

29:24 And then move the knight out of the way and hit this.

29:25 Yeah.

29:26 hit the D5 pawn.

29:29 King E6 is too much because you get pushed back right away.

29:32 I think he's just gonna keep the king here

29:34 for now and try to access the center later.

29:38 Yeah.

29:39 So, at least the good thing for black,

29:42 I mean, chess-wise, you're dead lost as black,

29:46 but white's king doesn't have access to the center, so you have some hope.

29:52 Exactly.

29:52 And Mitra is up 40 seconds on the clock.

29:55 I think you were asking earlier how did Mitraaba get that time advantage.

29:59 I I've played both players.

30:01 I think Mitraaba is generally a fast player and Toyo a little bit slower.

30:05 So, it's a little bit of of both.

30:07 Wow, look at that P move pushing the pawn up on the side of the board.

30:12 That was a huge mistake by Toyo to allow that.

30:16 Uh the white king is now getting checkmated on the king's side.

30:20 But that's a great defensive move though.

30:22 And Mitraaba I think makes a mistake doing the ampasant.

30:27 Believe it or not people ampasant is not always the best move.

30:32 So what do you think he should have done instead of ampasant?

30:37 Just push h4.

30:39 Maybe the knight f6 move he he played.

30:42 Okay.

30:43 Well, we'll see how it's going to play out.

30:44 He's still up a minute on the board.

30:47 So unless Toyo gets his king to the middle quickly,

30:50 I think Mitra has great chances to win this one

30:53 on time.

30:56 Yes.

30:56 And you know he can also win on the board.

30:58 What happens if you actually take cuz queen E4 looks kind of risky.

31:04 You cannot take take cuz I mean I think this is too risky.

31:09 Yeah, agreed.

31:12 We need to play E7.

31:14 Okay.

31:15 Make sure that this never fork.

31:17 I don't understand why the kings are moving around this much.

31:23 Okay.

31:23 Sacrif.

31:25 Is there some sort of sacrifice?

31:28 That's very sneaky.

31:32 The bishop on A8 is just completely out of play.

31:35 I want to play that bishop to C6.

31:37 Just get all your pieces involved.

31:41 What about rook takes H4?

31:43 Take.

31:43 And oh, he goes knight C2.

31:45 This is the other order.

31:47 Take take.

31:48 I I like this for black.

31:50 Very difficult to play with only 36 seconds.

31:53 He takes with the queen.

31:54 Rook F3 is forced.

31:56 He has to go rook F3.

31:57 What is he thinking about?

32:01 What?

32:01 What?

32:02 Queen G2.

32:03 Okay.

32:03 I I don't know what that was.

32:05 Yeah, I know.

32:06 That is game over.

32:08 Even with the bad bishop on on in one of the corners.

32:13 way.

32:13 There goes the black queen.

32:15 Uh oh, it's trapped now.

32:17 Oh, this is Oh, no.

32:18 Wait, never mind.

32:19 What am I saying?

32:21 Queen G4.

32:22 Never mind.

32:23 Uh, and Toya's got 20 seconds.

32:25 This is looking tough.

32:26 I I I recall Toyo from back in the day

32:30 being like a lightning fast super bullet kind of player.

32:36 Yep.

32:36 Knight E5 played.

32:37 I would be kind of tempted to like take and then

32:41 there's a threat on G6.

32:44 True, true.

32:46 Uh maybe Mitra missed that.

32:48 And but yeah, Toyo is super fast, just not in the beginning.

32:54 He's fast at the end when it matters.

32:57 Okay, what do we think about rook takes E5 and bish takes E5?

33:00 He goes for it.

33:01 Wow.

33:02 Bishop D4.

33:04 No, but then you get white's king up.

33:07 Oh, this is not good.

33:08 The white's king is now able to get involved.

33:10 Rook H7 needs to be played.

33:13 Absolutely.

33:13 Because G5, G4 would otherwise win the game.

33:16 Yep.

33:16 Good spot.

33:18 But he's got no time.

33:19 Check.

33:19 King back.

33:20 I think Mitra is going to win.

33:22 I think the time is just too much.

33:24 Takes on A3.

33:25 Check.

33:27 Check.

33:27 Yeah, that's it.

33:28 King F5.

33:30 Oh, wait.

33:31 But white's only Oh, white's only one square away.

33:34 This is how it becomes a draw.

33:37 Oh my god.

33:38 Take B4.

33:38 That's huge.

33:40 Toyo only had one one second.

33:42 Wow.

33:44 And he flags him.

33:45 Wow.

33:46 What a game.

33:47 Toyo could have actually made the comeback there if

33:50 he just had played a little bit faster earlier.

33:53 Uh we already have a player ready for the the semifinals,

33:58 the winner bracket semi-final and that is none other than Dimmitri Andrein.

34:04 He wins 3 in his match and Isaiah is leading 2-0

34:09 in his and also Dragon Mento is leading 2-0 in uh his match.

34:18 Yeah, we've said it this is one of the variants that is pretty close to chess.

34:21 So the normal GMs should have a should have an advantage in this format.

34:27 Ray is a strong strong player, strong IM, but Demetri and Drake,

34:31 he is uh I mean he's a world class GM, so no shame in losing to him.

34:37 We're really looking forward to the match up between the winner of this one,

34:41 the reigning champion Mitraba versus Toyo Kanan of uh of Finland.

34:47 Uh the winner here will match up against Andreken in the next one

34:52 and that's going to be a tough tough battle for well both players.

34:57 I I don't think uh Andreen is getting anything for free in in such a matchup.

35:04 Absolutely not.

35:04 No Toyo is showing that he's a very good player in all these variants.

35:08 Also King of the Hill Mitraba showing he can fight as well.

35:13 Um in the meantime, what do you think about this game right here on Lutic?

35:17 I think Mitraaba it's not a coincidence that he has not can cast castled yet.

35:23 And there we see it.

35:24 King E2.

35:25 I like it.

35:26 The king is pretty safe.

35:27 And you know with trades potentially happening.

35:30 Maybe E4, king E3, and then all

35:33 of a sudden you're very close to winning the game.

35:35 Yeah, a queen trade here would be absolutely disastrous for Toyo.

35:41 And also keep in mind the match situation.

35:44 Uh Toyville was feeling very confident with a 2-nil lead.

35:47 He may now get into trouble uh with uh with a potential um a reset

35:55 of the an equalizing score uh with Mitraa potentially winning two in a row.

36:02 Wait, what do we think about E4 here?

36:04 That looks really tempting to me.

36:07 I think you're crazy, but Okay, what do you play?

36:11 Maybe craziness is the order of the day.

36:14 Ah, so you're saying takes on E4 and then just king up.

36:17 King E3 E5.

36:20 I sack my queen.

36:22 I think that might have been an opportunity for Mitraa,

36:24 but he goes for the calmer knight E5.

36:26 Now queen G5, taking away that E3 square.

36:30 I I think Mitraa might have missed an opportunity there.

36:33 I really liked E4.

36:35 Yeah.

36:35 No, that was a very cool variation you had going there.

36:39 Um, and now white's king is feeling.

36:43 So the thing about leave what?

36:47 Wait, what?

36:48 Oh, he sacrifices the bishop.

36:51 But if you take, you just move the king up.

36:54 I mean, no matter what you do, you move the king up.

36:58 I think this was a great spot by Mitraa.

37:00 And unless Toyo finds something, we might be headed for overtime here.

37:04 I mean, how do you stop king D3 to D4?

37:08 Fantastic move.

37:09 I was critical at the beginning,

37:12 but Mitraaba has really found his his his calling here.

37:18 Uh he he wasn't his best for the first two games, but bam, he's in it.

37:24 And now he can win the queen.

37:27 Yep.

37:27 Okay.

37:27 Rook takes C1.

37:29 He wins the queen.

37:31 Okay.

37:31 But he's giving up a lot of material for the queen.

37:35 Oh, but look at this.

37:36 After rook takes H1, you play queen H5 check.

37:40 Queen H5 and king D1.

37:43 Oh, that's N.

37:45 But then pawn to E5.

37:50 Well, you have to take the rook.

37:51 I don't Oh, you do not have to take You do have to take the rook.

37:55 I don't know why Toyo is thinking.

37:58 I think you have to take.

37:59 Yeah, because you want to be able to give that check on D1.

38:01 Rook C3.

38:02 But no, that's nonsense.

38:07 very very we've seen some very strange decisions by Toy Vu I feel.

38:13 Okay.

38:13 Well, let's see what how I mean Mitraaba has an extra minute on the clock.

38:16 He has a massive material advantage and I think uh Okay,

38:23 but you know I was going to say I

38:24 don't think the black king can ever reach the center,

38:26 but I can see it happening now.

38:28 And the white king, how is he reaching the center?

38:33 Okay, I'm surprised.

38:35 Mitraaba is is not bringing his rook into the game.

38:40 Oh.

38:41 Oh, wait.

38:41 What just happened here?

38:43 Okay.

38:43 Queen D2.

38:44 Good move.

38:45 Turning here.

38:45 Rook C1.

38:46 I like

38:48 you have to do that.

38:50 What?

38:51 Okay.

38:51 Yeah.

38:52 No.

38:52 The counter threat on the rook that Wait.

38:54 G4.

38:58 Good.

38:58 But check or check there.

39:00 Okay.

39:00 Take the pawn.

39:01 That's huge because then you have the D4 square potentially.

39:05 Oh, Toyifo is still fighting.

39:08 The thing is he's doing a good job of fighting,

39:11 but he should start fighting earlier so that he's not left

39:15 with 5 seconds remaining when he gets into these interesting spots.

39:21 Yeah.

39:22 No, it's just a little bit too much with the time cuz uh Yeah.

39:27 Okay.

39:27 She's going to lose on time.

39:28 What to do?

39:32 I mean, you can play any move now with white and you win.

39:35 Check check check.

39:39 Oh, he didn't even go for the checkmate.

39:43 Well, he knew that Toy would have had king E7 prepared premoves.

39:46 Anyway, Mitraba wins another game and that means we go to overtime.

39:52 A very big turnaround here considering the 2-nil lead that Toyo had.

39:58 It's devastating for him to to now have to play a tiebreaker.

40:02 On the other hand, Mitraaba is really showing why he is the reigning champion.

40:09 Absolutely.

40:09 Yeah.

40:09 Interesting game right here between Dragon and the champ.

40:14 Uh

40:17 for Dragon needs a draw with the black pieces, but he's not going to get it.

40:22 Nope.

40:22 He's losing here.

40:23 Rook C6 check.

40:25 Forcing the king away.

40:26 And you can take the bishop, but uh F4 is what I would play.

40:31 Checkmate.

40:31 Even better, you know, checkmate still wins the game in King of the Hill.

40:36 Uh very very fun uh matchups here.

40:40 Two games move to uh tiebreakers.

40:43 Uh both of which see a player down 2

40:47 nil and then making it back to the tie breakers.

40:52 Some matches were not as close though as Anton IsaV wins 3-0 against

40:58 Austin Green and Dimmitri Andrein uh with a brilliant 3n win as well.

41:05 But here's the tiebreaker between ToyU and Mitraaba and Toyvo has found

41:10 why is Mitraaba not putting his pawns in the center of the board.

41:14 This is absolutely outrageous play once again from the reigning champ.

41:19 And even though he comes back from a 2-nil deficit, he's going to lose now.

41:25 This looks like a disaster.

41:26 I would be very tempted to go king D.

41:29 Yeah.

41:30 And there we have it.

41:31 I mean, these squares are wide open.

41:34 And this king on G8 is not getting to the center ever.

41:38 So, I don't see how Mitra is not losing this game.

41:41 I think it's already over.

41:42 I mean, king E3.

41:45 King E3 is G ch.

41:47 Oh, no, wait.

41:47 Sorry.

41:48 You take the queen and No, but then bishop takes knight.

41:54 Oh, but then queen B6.

41:56 Yeah, it's unnecessary giving away the queen to be fair.

42:00 Well, I'm sure there was a variation that actually won something like king E3.

42:05 Take take.

42:06 You're throwing king E4.

42:07 F5.

42:09 I mean, there's queen B6.

42:11 Yeah.

42:12 Okay.

42:12 Well, okay.

42:13 D5.

42:14 Good move by Mitraa, but might be a little bit too late.

42:18 King D3.

42:24 The thing is when you push your king up the board like

42:27 this, you're very much relying on winning

42:32 quickly because otherwise you are getting checkmated.

42:37 Okay.

42:37 F5 only move here.

42:38 You have to stop king E4.

42:40 the the knight is lost, which is why it was so clever.

42:44 Oh, look at this.

42:46 After bishop takes D5, he wants to go knight F6.

42:49 Take check.

42:53 What if you take with the knight?

42:57 Then there's still a five.

42:58 So, it's not over yet.

43:00 But if you're Toyo, if you're toyo here,

43:03 you're think to yourself, where is the win?

43:05 Where's the win?

43:06 And that's easily where you can get frustrated.

43:08 Yeah, but he needs to spend less time.

43:12 The time has been part of the reason why he's losing games here.

43:16 And his indecision now is is going to is going to cost him in the long term.

43:22 But these white arrows we see are Toyos.

43:24 He played queen C4 drawing queen takes C6 followed by king D4.

43:29 Uh but that's a full queen.

43:31 It's a bit much.

43:32 Yeah, that is a fantastic play from Toyvo.

43:35 He set up the queen sacrifice, made his opponent desperate.

43:40 Metraba blunders his queen in response.

43:43 Toybo makes it to this winner uh semifinals uh where he

43:49 will face off against an who seems to be in top form.

43:55 Absolutely.

43:55 All right.

43:56 So, what do we think about this position right here?

43:58 We see dragon down a pawn, but this king on C2 is pretty close to the middle.

44:02 So, I kind of like white's chances to be honest.

44:05 I like black because we saw in an earlier game the the value

44:10 of having that rook in the central file preventing your opponent's king.

44:15 Uh I I think that's uh that can be uh decisive.

44:20 Wait, what about rook takes d3 here?

44:22 Doesn't that win material?

44:23 I mean, it does.

44:26 Yeah.

44:25 Yeah.

44:26 And he goes for it.

44:27 That was a big mistake.

44:28 I think from dragon and normal chess white would be completely lost here.

44:33 But in King of the Hill,

44:34 you never know if all of a sudden there's a path towards the middle.

44:36 Wait, wait.

44:37 Actually, maybe not.

44:40 Okay.

44:41 I was thinking let's say this, right?

44:43 This variation.

44:44 Yeah.

44:44 So, you have to take the knight, right?

44:47 Take the knight.

44:50 Tricky.

44:51 Maybe you can go bishop takes knight here.

44:59 Yeah, that's the that's the issue.

45:02 I think white's lost here.

45:04 I mean, it's very hard to make it to the middle.

45:07 And if you don't make it to the middle the next couple of moves,

45:10 you're just down a piece.

45:17 Queen B4 time.

45:24 Queen B4 is nice because it hits the knight in the center of the board.

45:33 Yep.

45:33 Black's really able to to get into the game,

45:36 but you don't need to get the king on the hill in order to win

45:41 King of the Hill because you can just take all of the opponent's pieces.

45:45 Uh, and that's what Bavvesh here with the black pieces is intending to do.

45:52 Yes, that being said, it is a oh something you have to keep in mind.

45:57 King D3, check, knight D5, for example,

45:59 but there's still bishop C5 or bishop F6.

46:02 So F5 nice move by Champ or Bavesh taking away this taking away this E4 square.

46:09 King E3 needs to the white the white knight needs to get to the E5 square.

46:16 It's really the only chance there there is.

46:21 Rook D8.

46:23 Knights are notoriously difficult to get to the square

46:27 two uh squares diagonally from its current position.

46:33 Yes.

46:33 All right.

46:34 So C5 clever move by dragon.

46:36 Dragon by the way 15 seconds unless blunders.

46:42 This has to be a win for black.

46:45 No.

46:45 Yeah.

46:46 Now the king gets in as well.

46:49 Yep.

46:49 That is it.

46:50 Knight C3.

46:51 You can now just take as black gets there first.

46:55 And for the first time today,

46:57 we see a game actually end with the king in the center of the board.

47:03 But that is the win condition.

47:06 and Beavesh wins in this uh winners

47:09 quarterfinal uh taking him into the semi-finals against

47:13 Antonv not two big names there as far as chess normal chess uh acumen go.

47:23 Uh but Dimmitri Andrein uh he is the big name

47:28 here and he's taking on Toyan in the winner semifinal.

47:33 Uh keep in mind that we also uh haven't lost the the players

47:38 uh who who did uh end up losing their first battle.

47:42 Uh Dragon aka Nut Min.

47:46 Uh he's taking on Austin Green and Reza

47:49 Madavi is uh playing the the reigning champion Mitraba.

47:53 Mitraaba getting another tough pairing.

47:57 We could potentially have the reigning champ out after just two matches.

48:03 Yeah.

48:04 No.

48:04 Uh we talked about this before.

48:06 Really felt like the lower half of the bracket was the tougher one.

48:09 So that is a pity that we might

48:11 have to say goodbye early to players like Mitraaba.

48:14 But yeah, I mean a little bit surprising to me.

48:16 Not Mento.

48:17 He was leading two to zero,

48:18 but Bavves fought his way back and actually wins the match.

48:22 So we'll see how uh things are going to go in the semi-finals.

48:25 But really looking forward to that match between Andre Kin and Toyo.

48:31 And uh keep in mind also the the winner between Pavves and Anton

48:37 uh the winner there is guaranteed third place uh in this uh format.

48:42 So um huge huge stakes uh there for uh a guaranteed top placement.

48:52 Absolutely.

48:53 All right.

48:53 The next game should be underway shortly.

48:57 All right.

48:57 So if we look at this bracket right uh who do we predict to um win?

49:04 So Andreen against Toyo who is your pick there?

49:08 I we didn't get to see any of Andreen's games but the 3 score line against

49:13 a very good player in Resa Madavi uh tells me that Dimmitri is here to win.

49:20 Uh so I'm going to say Andreen uh here

49:23 with the black pieces uh in this game is is my favorite

49:28 and he's going for the draw.

49:31 Here we see an exchange law between Toyo and Enriken and Draken

49:35 with the silent draw of her and E3 play by Toyo bishop F5.

49:40 Generally if you see an early bishop F5 you always have to ask yourself

49:44 what happens if white goes for an early queen to B3 hitting the B7 pawn.

49:51 And uh is that yeah that is what uh Andreken will need to address here.

49:57 Now remember any sort of queen trade is very controversial in King of the Hill.

50:03 Normally in in normal chess you could just

50:05 move your queen out here and and be like,

50:08 "Oh yeah, we can trade queens.

50:10 That's fine." But here a queen trade just has enormous

50:15 ramifications for uh the rush of the kings to the center.

50:21 Absolutely.

50:21 We see the move a6.

50:22 Tricky move by Andreen.

50:24 Wait, knight a5.

50:26 The queen is almost trapped.

50:30 This is the second time where I thought a queen was trapped,

50:32 but there's still a square available.

50:34 E4.

50:34 Nice move by intriken.

50:37 Um E5.

50:39 All right, so check.

50:39 Bishop E7.

50:40 So, black sacrifices a pawn, but he gets a lot of space in the center,

50:45 which is important in King of the Hill.

50:48 I don't know.

50:49 I don't like this.

50:50 I think Andreen is in big big trouble.

50:52 I would take back with the pawn here though for Toyo

50:55 because Toyo is winning on the board with an extra pawn.

50:59 it makes sense for him to just try and keep

51:02 pawns in the center of the board to make sure there's no uh king of the hill uh

51:07 black king coming in uh to to win the game.

51:12 Yeah.

51:12 No, you make a very good point.

51:13 In normal chess, there's something to be said for knight takes d4.

51:16 Maybe this is the better move.

51:18 Who knows?

51:18 But in king of the hill,

51:19 I think you definitely want to recapture with the pawn to make it

51:22 as difficult as possible for your opponent to get their king to the middle.

51:27 I don't like this block of the check from Toyo.

51:31 Uh the the bishop now is captured by a black knight that previously

51:36 was on the edge of the board and not really contributing to the game.

51:41 Both players get their king out of the center which you

51:46 know is not necessarily the best thing in this uh variation.

51:51 But we have also seen that the king does end up

51:55 in in trouble sometimes if it stays in the center too long.

52:01 Yeah.

52:01 No, generally you have to castle early to just make sure your king is safe.

52:06 Um let's see.

52:07 We see rook E1.

52:10 I would think that in an endame Toy should

52:13 have an easier path to the middle, but let's see.

52:16 Still a lot of pieces on the board.

52:17 And Andre can also up 30 seconds here.

52:20 How what do you think about white having the extra pawn in the middle right now?

52:25 Is that pawn blocking potential for the white king

52:29 or or is it just always better to have an extra pawn?

52:33 I think it is good to have that extra pawn in the middle.

52:35 I mean it does take away the e5 square for black

52:39 and let's say you would move your king up right behind it.

52:42 You can always push up the pawn at the right moment.

52:44 So I think it's good to have a pawn in the middle

52:46 so that you you take away some squares for your opponent.

52:51 But on the other hand, now you cannot have a rook pointing down that D file.

52:56 Your rook would get blocked by your own pawn,

52:59 which may then make it interesting for black to get their king

53:03 to the D5 square where the the knight now uh used uh used that square.

53:11 Yeah, I mean there's definitely something to be said for both F6,

53:15 taking away the E5 square from the knight and potentially,

53:18 as we've seen, opening up that path for the king.

53:22 White's bishop is very, very important right now.

53:26 Black has a very clear plan of trying to get their king to the D5 square,

53:31 but the bishop is making sure that doesn't happen.

53:34 And here Andre canen potentially just blundered

53:37 that pawn on the side of the board, but I'm not sure it's going to matter.

53:41 Toyo once again is showing that time is his weakness and he's going to lose

53:46 this game because he's down 20 seconds without

53:50 the the position on the board really having clarified.

53:55 We'll see if he will.

53:56 I mean, yeah, the time is a big factor here.

53:59 He's up two pawns.

54:00 I mean, not the two most critical pawns, so to speak.

54:04 But Toyo is a fast player.

54:06 We've talked about this before.

54:07 And ooh, the queen trade.

54:09 Oh.

54:09 Oh.

54:10 What do we think about this?

54:11 This looks very dangerous for black.

54:14 I'm surprised how nonchalantly um Andreen went for the queen

54:19 trade knowing that to be an extremely committal decision.

54:25 Rook forward.

54:26 He needs to go with a pawn forward to to block the the white king.

54:34 Okay, super sharp fight here.

54:37 Taking I think is not good because the king gets close to E5.

54:41 King E2 played.

54:42 Can you And now you just lose the rook.

54:45 Check.

54:46 Oh no.

54:46 But then the black king moves into the Wow.

54:51 But only up second.

54:55 Uh, wait.

54:56 Take.

54:56 Take take.

54:57 That's it.

54:57 Take.

54:58 And king E6.

55:00 But Toya's got no time.

55:01 Um, it's not enough.

55:03 I think that is

55:05 Oh, he just resigned.

55:06 Wow.

55:07 What?

55:07 Why did he resign?

55:08 He didn't have to.

55:09 I mean, you never know what happens in a time scramble.

55:13 I think he was just disgusted with his own play there.

55:17 Uh, Toyva Kanan, he is too slow for this field.

55:23 He he managed to get the wins he needed

55:26 against Mitraba even though he was struggling on the clock.

55:31 But uh here he showed that um yeah the the pace is an issue.

55:37 He was better throughout that game.

55:39 He had uh two extra pawns but he just didn't have the pace.

55:47 Yeah.

55:47 And in Tken he is a really good I mean normal player but also

55:52 in blitz because what he's really good

55:54 at is just hanging in there prolonging the game.

55:57 make sure he doesn't lose,

55:58 gets you low on time and takes the opportunities he gets or he simply flags you.

56:03 And that's what we saw happening in that last game.

56:06 In the meantime, Yun, what do we think about this position?

56:08 I kind of like it for Toyo.

56:11 He's got the two bishops and um you would think

56:15 that maybe black has a slightly clearer path to the middle.

56:20 Wow.

56:21 Oh, king E7.

56:26 Wait, what?

56:26 What do we think about that?

56:28 I I like it.

56:30 What?

56:31 And I Why did he not do that?

56:35 Honestly, great shout from you, Benjamin.

56:37 King E7 there was probably winning.

56:40 I was not liking black's position,

56:43 but now that you've pointed out the ability

56:45 to I think we're noticing something about

56:48 pawns on D4 make for very good uh opportunities for the king to get in.

56:55 Um, oh wow, what is this?

57:00 I think he realized that he had to.

57:02 If he moves the knight, he probably realized that that king is coming up.

57:05 Uh, so he's throwing checkmate on H on F7.

57:08 If you take and then king D7, there's going to be rook C1.

57:11 So, no, queen D5 maybe is a draw by repetition.

57:16 No, it's not.

57:17 But, but how do you survive after rook A1?

57:19 That that looks winning to me.

57:22 Good point.

57:24 Okay, we see.

57:24 Oh, Toyo, he's looking at he's looking at king E7 and king E6 now.

57:29 That would have been much better a couple moves ago.

57:33 Yeah, but now he he's he's desperate.

57:37 On the other hand, he can just play rook F8, right?

57:40 He can just move the rook from the corner

57:42 and just protect against the immediate threats.

57:46 And by the way, we see these.

57:48 Yeah.

57:48 And he goes for those uh circles are toyo circles.

57:51 So, he does play king E7 and he's pl Okay.

57:54 King E6 obviously only move but oh but if you take here

57:59 then E5 also becomes loose so and Draken takes on E4 instead.

58:05 Yeah that that is a very very nice move.

58:08 Surely this is checkmate against that black king somehow.

58:13 Knight C4 maybe king D7.

58:18 He goes knight C6.

58:20 Well, if there's any like me.

58:25 Yeah, Andreen is the guy who would be able to calculate the checkmate here.

58:29 And he does so very confidently, sacrificing everything,

58:34 but then utilizing uh Toyvu's ambition to get his king up for the king

58:41 of the hill win is countered by just

58:44 getting checkmated down through the central files.

58:49 And that is what can happen in this variant.

58:52 You try to get too freaky with the king.

58:55 The the king could easily get in trouble.

58:58 Yeah, but still I really do not understand why

59:01 he did not play king E7 a couple moves early.

59:03 The path was paved and that seemed like a great opportunity.

59:07 Here we see this typical endgame in the exchange

59:11 where you know white is generally a little bit better.

59:15 Um I wonder how this plays out in King of the Hill, right?

59:18 King of the Hill.

59:19 I'm guessing white is just winning.

59:21 I'm I'm so shocked that that Andreen is

59:25 willing to go for the queen trade like this.

59:28 But why winning?

59:30 Cuz you have your king so much closer to the center of the board

59:33 and there's no queens to punish you for pushing the king up quickly.

59:40 Wow.

59:40 Why did Andre can castle?

59:42 I What?

59:44 I thought king E7 definitely had to be played.

59:47 What?

59:51 I for the life of me I do not understand that move.

59:55 Now pawn to F3 seems Why are we pushing this pawn?

1:00:02 This has to be I mean okay to has to win otherwise he just lose the match.

1:00:07 Well knight D7 now maybe

1:00:12 I mean he's having a great opportunity to come back in the match a little bit.

1:00:18 Thomas even I think he has a nice position as you mentioned earlier.

1:00:21 His king is of course much closer than that king on G8.

1:00:25 Uh again I do not understand why Andre didn't play

1:00:28 king e7 but okay I think just from a practical perspective

1:00:33 it's so much easier to to deal with this uh

1:00:37 with the white pieces when you have that superior pawn structure.

1:00:41 you're first to make that advance in the center

1:00:43 of the board and you also you have your your king around.

1:00:48 I I'm I'm very surprised at how nonchalantly

1:00:52 Andre just went for the queen trade as if

1:00:55 that wasn't one of the most crucial decisions

1:00:57 in the entire game uh within this uh format.

1:01:03 All right.

1:01:04 Well, he sacrifices on E4.

1:01:06 Makes sense as after take takes he's going to follow with a quick knight f5.

1:01:09 And this is kind of what I was talking about earlier.

1:01:11 This looks like a game that Toyo is

1:01:14 easily winning in, but he's fighting his way back.

1:01:17 He's a very tricky and slippery player.

1:01:20 Very difficult to put him away.

1:01:22 And I like that he took the F pawn,

1:01:24 activating the rook and opening up opening up

1:01:27 the path for his king a little bit.

1:01:30 Yeah.

1:01:30 But on the other hand, now that he's taken the white pawn in the center,

1:01:34 that white pawn is no longer blocking its own king.

1:01:39 Yeah, I mean I there still has to be win for white.

1:01:43 I mean something like take and bishop E7.

1:01:46 What about bishop to E5?

1:01:47 Just making sure that black cannot advance their pawns

1:01:50 and make it easier for the king to get involved.

1:01:53 This looks like GG to me.

1:01:55 I mean, I don't see how you stop bishop takes a five and king D4.

1:01:58 So I think Toyva is going to come back

1:01:59 to two to one and so we'll have a fourth game.

1:02:03 Now this is over.

1:02:06 No, I mean he wants this, but that's too much.

1:02:10 Yeah, just take the knight and then rook up.

1:02:12 Give the check.

1:02:13 Force the king back.

1:02:16 And the black king is in the corner.

1:02:18 White's king is in the center.

1:02:19 Not to mention the very nice two uh bishops.

1:02:24 Uh Toyvo is is equalizing.

1:02:27 No, sorry.

1:02:28 Uh getting back with uh with a 2-1 score after this.

1:02:36 And uh interestingly Benjamin, we've had a draw in the other semifinal,

1:02:43 but in the second game, Bavesh Mahayan has managed to beat Anton is uh which uh

1:02:52 means it's a uh uh match ball for the Indian player.

1:02:57 If he wins uh another game now,

1:02:59 he will be guaranteed third place in the tournament at worst

1:03:05 and uh he will make it into the winners final.

1:03:09 We keep saying that draws don't happen in these variants,

1:03:12 but the players always find a way to prove us wrong.

1:03:14 I have no idea how that happened, but maybe we'll have a look at it later.

1:03:18 In the meantime, well, oh,

1:03:20 I don't like this for and Drake cuz uh black has more pawn.

1:03:26 Black has more pawns in the middle.

1:03:28 That's why I don't like it.

1:03:29 And you know that that king is moving up.

1:03:34 I mean, where is it?

1:03:35 It's moving up, but where is it going?

1:03:37 The the central squares are being controlled by white's pieces uh right now.

1:03:43 And one of the the problems we saw

1:03:46 in an earlier game was Toyo's ambition of getting

1:03:51 his king involved early on, but getting punished

1:03:54 for that with some very nasty attacking tactics,

1:03:58 including a rook sacrifice from Demetrian Drake.

1:04:03 Yeah, but I do like it here.

1:04:05 I mean, maybe bishop D6.

1:04:07 There we have it.

1:04:08 Because if you trade off this bishop, your king is so close to getting to E5.

1:04:13 So, I think black is doing great here in King of the Hill.

1:04:16 That being said, okay, queen D6, hitting G3.

1:04:20 I think you probably castle or maybe king F2,

1:04:24 putting your own king a little bit closer.

1:04:27 Oh, I like king F2.

1:04:29 It is protecting a pawn that's under attack.

1:04:32 And it also is keeping the king a little bit closer to the middle of the board.

1:04:38 All right, Toyo takes E3 cannot be given up.

1:04:42 So I think you have to play move like queen

1:04:43 E2 defending the pawn and indirectly defending the b bishop.

1:04:48 There we have it.

1:04:54 I'm just waiting for Andreken to sacrifice another rook here somehow.

1:05:00 Oh f5.

1:05:01 That's a fantastic move.

1:05:03 How do you stop king f6 to f to e5?

1:05:05 I think you don't

1:05:13 um I mean you can take you can go take knight on C6 and then go E4 maybe.

1:05:29 But you might have to.

1:05:30 You might have to.

1:05:31 Maybe that's the only way to prolong the game.

1:05:34 Let's see.

1:05:35 Then after knight takes knight, maybe you take back with the knight.

1:05:38 Maybe that's the way to go.

1:05:40 Oh, he just blundered the knight in the center.

1:05:44 O, that was that was not the way to do it.

1:05:47 I don't know what the right way was, but Andreen,

1:05:50 one of the best chess players in the world,

1:05:53 he just messes up the move order and ends up giving away everything here.

1:05:59 Giving away at first a knight and now a bishop.

1:06:03 Unless this was planned, but I doubt it.

1:06:05 Okay, Toyo just recaptures.

1:06:07 I think black has to be completely winning here.

1:06:09 But you never know in King of the Hill, right?

1:06:11 Did he not take a free bishop?

1:06:13 I'm so confused.

1:06:15 I don't know.

1:06:16 I don't know.

1:06:17 Okay, I would take with this knight.

1:06:19 And there we have it.

1:06:20 If you get rook a rook to E8, the game is over.

1:06:26 Okay.

1:06:25 He missed king E5.

1:06:27 He could win in one move.

1:06:33 Uh, but I I'm pretty sure he's gonna get it done.

1:06:36 You And there we have it.

1:06:37 So, Toyo takes it to overtime.

1:06:40 Wow.

1:06:42 And for the second match in a row, Toy Buu is in involved in it.

1:06:48 It's 2-0.

1:06:49 He was 2-0 up in the first one.

1:06:51 He was 2-0 down in the second one.

1:06:54 Both of them goes to tie breaks.

1:06:56 Uh, he managed to win in the first one.

1:06:59 Uh, and let's see if he can do it.

1:07:01 Uh, again, um, we do have on our graphics that Andreken is up 31,

1:07:08 but I do believe Andreken had the white pieces there, right?

1:07:15 Yeah.

1:07:15 All right, they're off to another game.

1:07:17 We have the Catalin.

1:07:18 I did not expect that in King of the Hill.

1:07:21 And honestly, I like it for white.

1:07:23 I mean, I I would go E4 here, especially if your king is not here.

1:07:28 And maybe just go king E2 at the right moment.

1:07:30 Can you Wow.

1:07:34 What What do we think about castles here?

1:07:36 I Or would you have gone even king E2?

1:07:39 I mean, I would push the pawn forward in the center

1:07:42 and then king E2

1:07:45 potentially.

1:07:46 Yeah.

1:07:46 Or maybe even H4 just start an attack somehow.

1:07:50 Yeah, that I like that idea as well.

1:07:52 Anyway, they're playing normal classical chess B3 to defend the pawn.

1:07:57 Um, pretty standard.

1:08:00 A lot of in the center.

1:08:02 While these two guys are fighting it out in the tiebreaker,

1:08:06 we do have one finalist already.

1:08:10 Uh, Bavesh Bahayan has won convincingly two and a half

1:08:14 to a half to be in the winners final.

1:08:16 Being in the winners final means you're guaranteed third place.

1:08:20 So, a huge accomplishment already from the Indian player.

1:08:24 But, you know, at this point, he wants to win the whole thing.

1:08:28 Uh whether Andrean or Kanan is going to be his opponent,

1:08:33 that's what we're looking at now.

1:08:35 Um Dragon uh or as he's known by his chess.com username, not Mento.

1:08:43 He destroys the American Austin Green 3 to nil.

1:08:48 while Madavi and the reigning champ Mitraaba they are fighting it

1:08:53 out in a tiebreaker as well with a 22 score there.

1:08:59 Yeah.

1:08:59 So um yeah I mean Ninto he's a big expert in varian

1:09:04 so not surprising to see him fighting back in the losers bracket.

1:09:08 We'll see how he will fare in the next

1:09:10 round as he is going to be playing someone.

1:09:16 I don't know if he's playing the loser of this match

1:09:18 or anyway uh for the moment Toyo is up two pawns.

1:09:23 So on the board he is doing great.

1:09:25 The clock down 20 seconds but not a super big deal just yet.

1:09:29 But and he's a tricky player.

1:09:31 He's not going to just go down without a fight.

1:09:33 But who had Andreen giving away free pawns

1:09:37 in the chess portion of of this variant?

1:09:43 I don't know.

1:09:44 He was also down two pawns in the first game this match.

1:09:50 Yeah, but he managed to fight back.

1:09:50 So maybe he can do it here as well.

1:09:53 H3 feels a little bit uncomfortable.

1:09:58 I don't know.

1:09:58 I see those three white pawns on the left side and I'm thinking long

1:10:02 term they are just going to push up that queen side to to win it.

1:10:08 Uh for Toyo I think his main weakness has been the time management.

1:10:13 If he just makes some quick decisions here, he's going to win this.

1:10:16 I'm certain.

1:10:18 Yeah, I like knight E4 trading off the bishops as then,

1:10:21 you know, white does have a path.

1:10:24 Also, D3 is super weak and I don't ever see this king coming to the middle.

1:10:27 So, I really like Toyo's chances to win this one.

1:10:33 The tie break champion.

1:10:35 Is he gonna win his second match in the tie breakers?

1:10:40 He is a clutch if he uh if he manages to do so.

1:10:46 Yeah.

1:10:46 But if there if there's anyone who can drag this out,

1:10:49 make it difficult for white, it isn't Draken.

1:10:51 So, let's see how he will try with the emphasis on try to do so.

1:10:58 Yeah, but you had a really good point

1:11:00 that the black king isn't even close to getting involved here.

1:11:05 So, in in positions where you're in trouble like this, you want tricks,

1:11:10 but there are no tricks with the king so far away.

1:11:15 Uh, I was expecting queen H3, but he goes to G5 and F5 instead.

1:11:20 All right, so let's see.

1:11:21 I mean, queen B7.

1:11:22 Always runs the knight C.

1:11:23 Oh, he trades.

1:11:24 Picks up another pawn.

1:11:26 Okay, but I would go king F3.

1:11:28 Just put it there.

1:11:30 Come one step closer.

1:11:33 I like this.

1:11:33 just taking the the knight and I I have no idea what Dimma is doing but king H7

1:11:40 that was not it but why is Toy spending

1:11:44 so much time like Toyo keeps Oh rook takes knight oh yeah but you don't make it

1:11:53 I I think this is going to be winning for white king f3 that's it no

1:11:59 to's time management is outrageous but he is playing

1:12:03 well enough to to manage to win in time.

1:12:09 Okay.

1:12:09 All right.

1:12:09 And Toyvo wins it.

1:12:11 So, he moves on to the winner's final.

1:12:13 Jump jump jump into the other tiebreaker if it's

1:12:16 still going on cuz Metraba could potentially be out here.

1:12:22 Goes queen F6.

1:12:23 Although, King F6 and King of the Hill looks really tempting to me.

1:12:27 D3 played.

1:12:29 Looks like a winning position for black.

1:12:31 That control of the central file preventing

1:12:34 the white king from ever getting involved is huge.

1:12:40 He drops the C5 pawn.

1:12:42 That is important because now you know that might

1:12:46 give white chance to get to the middle.

1:12:55 Knight E2 played.

1:12:57 Okay.

1:12:59 Maybe check.

1:13:00 Okay.

1:13:00 A takes on A7.

1:13:03 The black king is now way further away

1:13:06 from the middle than when we got into this game.

1:13:10 That being said, king G5 to F5 to E4 is something you have to watch out for.

1:13:19 Really, that seems very time consuming.

1:13:22 Goes nice move.

1:13:23 preparing queen invasion.

1:13:27 But maybe it's not a nice move because like you said,

1:13:30 this enables a queen trade.

1:13:33 But now the black king is so close.

1:13:37 Can you take here?

1:13:39 You can give a check.

1:13:40 No.

1:13:45 F4.

1:13:45 Oh, he's only a knight.

1:13:46 Oh, king played.

1:13:48 Okay, you have to move a rook to D5 or B5.

1:13:53 But then he might just take here.

1:13:55 King takes F3.

1:13:58 Threating king E4.

1:14:00 Forcing rook B4 is forced.

1:14:02 This has to be winning, right?

1:14:04 E4.

1:14:08 There's no way.

1:14:09 Yeah.

1:14:09 Survive this.

1:14:15 Check.

1:14:14 Nice.

1:14:15 The black king tried to get into the center,

1:14:18 but it ended up with the black king being

1:14:20 the decisive factor in getting a checkmate on the board.

1:14:25 The knight sacrificing itself to allow the two black rooks to work together.

1:14:31 And that means when we look at our brackets, we have a winners final.

1:14:36 It's Toyo Kanan against Bavesh.

1:14:40 Uh we also have our first players out of the tournament.

1:14:45 The unfortunate players Rea Madavi and Austin Green

1:14:50 uh will have to settle for their $100 prize,

1:14:56 but uh there is still fight left to be had as the players

1:15:01 in the losers bracket try to make it back into the uh the grand final.

1:15:08 Uh, we're gonna take a quick break now

1:15:10 and we'll be back with the action right after this.

1:15:16 Oh, isn't there something else we want to talk about first?

1:15:21 Uh, yeah.

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1:16:05 And with that we we are going to take our break and we'll

1:16:10 be back with the uh winners final the big matchup between Toyvo

1:16:15 and Kanan Toyvo Kanan and Bavani and we'll be also uh back

1:16:21 with those trying to get into the grand final uh from the the comeback bracket.

1:16:39 Are you tired of losing against strangers in chess?

1:16:42 Donating ELO rating points to somebody you don't even know.

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1:16:48 actually use those rating points and then thank you later.

1:16:51 Sync your contacts and get started playing against

1:16:54 people you already know in real life on chess.com.

1:16:57 Today we're in Austin for South by Southwest.

1:17:01 Anyone who beats me gets $100.

1:17:05 Awkward.

1:17:05 This happens in chess all the time.

1:17:06 Awkward handshake.

1:17:07 I can just see on her face that we have a player here.

1:17:11 Yes.

1:17:11 Every day.

1:17:12 So she she plays every day online.

1:17:13 Here we go.

1:17:14 I was playing more in high school and then

1:17:17 like uh my kids recently want to play.

1:17:20 So shout out to the kids.

1:17:22 Hello.

1:17:22 You're in the plays chess casually with family category.

1:17:24 That's that's as far as I go.

1:17:25 That's That's the best category.

1:17:27 I love it.

1:17:27 I love it.

1:17:28 But you know, you're Rory Lopez.

1:17:29 Do I?

1:17:30 You play online at all?

1:17:31 I have.

1:17:32 My mom uh my mom does.

1:17:33 She actually runs a She's a admin for the Ukraine theme.

1:17:37 Really?

1:17:37 She's been doing that.

1:17:38 Yeah.

1:17:38 Hi mom.

1:17:39 Hi mom.

1:17:39 You follow any top chess?

1:17:41 You watch any chess?

1:17:42 My sons do actually.

1:17:43 Uh my sons find it quite excit There's a particular YouTuber

1:17:47 Goth Levy Ros.

1:17:49 Yeah.

1:17:49 Yeah.

1:17:50 He's got a particular tone of voice.

1:17:51 He's quite entertaining.

1:17:57 Have you seen um Queen of Chess?

1:18:00 I have.

1:18:00 It's so good.

1:18:01 Right.

1:18:01 Yeah.

1:18:01 And there's another film called that's

1:18:04 in production that's now called Queen's Castle.

1:18:07 Do you know Brooklyn Castle?

1:18:08 Oh, I do know that.

1:18:09 I know the woman who's making it.

1:18:10 Are you involved in that?

1:18:12 Yeah.

1:18:12 Watch out.

1:18:13 You can take Oh, I didn't see you told me.

1:18:25 That was the best move by far, by the way.

1:18:27 That was your only move.

1:18:30 This reminds me of the good old days.

1:18:38 Is that me done?

1:18:39 Uh, you got to block with the knight.

1:18:42 Okay.

1:18:41 But it's checkmate two cuz I'm going to take here.

1:18:45 You're going to go there with your king.

1:18:47 Jeez, man.

1:18:48 And then I'm going to go here with my knight.

1:18:49 It's a fancy checkmate.

1:18:51 Fancy checkmate.

1:18:51 You made you I don't get to checkmate with a knight very often.

1:18:54 So, thank you.

1:18:55 I don't get it.

1:18:55 You are welcome.

1:18:57 You are very welcome.

1:19:01 All right.

1:19:02 That's me.

1:19:03 Is it?

1:19:04 My knight coralled.

1:19:04 It was a weird It was a weird.

1:19:06 I'm sorry, man.

1:19:07 I was trying to go fast though.

1:19:08 Okay.

1:19:09 So, when did you get involved in chess?

1:19:12 So, I learned to play when I was a kid,

1:19:14 9 years old, and I watched the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer.

1:19:18 Remember that one?

1:19:19 So, I'm a part of a generation.

1:19:20 There's like a group of kids that were all

1:19:22 kind of my age in the mid '9s and they

1:19:25 pretty much all have the same answer that searching

1:19:27 for Bobby Fischer was what got them into chess.

1:19:29 Like I grew up chess was not cool.

1:19:31 Chess was only for nerds.

1:19:32 It was that kind of thing, right?

1:19:33 Same with me.

1:19:34 Like the young the young generation now

1:19:36 we were nerds and and I still am.

1:19:37 And that's okay.

1:19:38 Unfortunately that's checkmate.

1:19:40 But that was fun.

1:19:41 That was that was really great.

1:19:42 But to finish it, I think that young people now don't think about it that way.

1:19:46 No, I I think you're right.

1:19:47 Chess is cool.

1:19:47 Like literally that's checkmate.

1:19:52 Where could you?

1:19:54 And if I do Ah, of course.

1:19:57 Good game.

1:19:58 Good game.

1:20:06 Hey guys, if I make this in one goal, we're going to launch a no ads plan.

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1:20:23 Hey guys, new plan.

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1:21:31 Yeah.

1:21:37 Hey.

1:21:39 Hey.

1:21:44 Uh this is the chess.com king of the hill championship.

1:21:49 I'm Yomer.

1:21:50 I'm joined by Benjamin Boach and we have seen some action already today.

1:21:56 Uh Benjamin.

1:21:58 Absolutely.

1:21:59 Yeah.

1:21:59 But more action is still underway as now we're moving on to the winners final.

1:22:04 Yeah.

1:22:05 Pavves uh from India.

1:22:08 not one of the the strongest uh normal chess players in the world,

1:22:13 but he's really showing how uh he got his place here

1:22:18 in this uh championship uh making his way to the winners final.

1:22:23 He's going up against Toyo Kanan who has

1:22:26 needed tie breaks in both his matches so far,

1:22:30 but Toybo, it turns out, is a tie break beast.

1:22:37 Absolutely.

1:22:37 Yeah, whether he comes back from a lead or from being down in the match,

1:22:42 he has won both tie breaks.

1:22:45 And uh here we have a look at the losers bracket.

1:22:48 Dimmitri Andreken.

1:22:49 He lost this match.

1:22:50 Now he's playing not Mento.

1:22:51 On paper, I would still give it to Andreen, but not Mento.

1:22:54 He's a great player in variant.

1:22:56 So definitely not a walk in the park.

1:22:58 And then we also have Mitraaba against Anton EF.

1:23:02 I would think Mitraa should be the favorite there.

1:23:05 Yeah, big big uh moments for these players in those uh loser quarterfinals.

1:23:12 One more loss and they are out of the tournament while

1:23:16 a win for Toyo or Bav will put them in the grand final.

1:23:23 Uh and as we can see with two additional matches in the the losers bracket uh

1:23:30 it is definitely the long path to the goal if uh if you get knocked down there.

1:23:38 It is definitely a long road and don't forget Yon

1:23:41 that even if you make it to the grand final

1:23:43 you will have to win two matches as the player

1:23:46 who comes from the winners final still has one life.

1:23:49 So you know for Toyo he might be a little bit relieved.

1:23:52 He might be like, "Okay, I just beat me Traba in a very tough match.

1:23:55 Now I beat Andreen, another super strong grandmaster." Maybe now the match,

1:24:02 at least on paper, looks like it's going to be easier for him.

1:24:08 Famous last words.

1:24:11 On paper,

1:24:12 on on paper, well, on on normal chess player rating, right?

1:24:17 on on the normal blitz rating, but in King of the Hill,

1:24:21 they do have their own rating system.

1:24:24 And uh um Toy's opponent there, Pavves,

1:24:29 is no slouch when it comes to the specialized king of the hill rating system.

1:24:36 Let's see how they play.

1:24:38 I do approve of the pawns being placed in the center of the board.

1:24:44 And we see another Catalan,

1:24:46 which seems to be Toyo's favorite opening, especially in this variant.

1:24:49 What What do you think about the Catalan in King of the Hill?

1:24:55 I I I'm not a huge fan, I think, because I I feel like we could in the Catalan,

1:25:03 one of the benefits for for white is that you

1:25:06 often castle very early on, but in King of the Hill,

1:25:09 you're not necessarily supposed to castle.

1:25:13 Uh, so I'm not sure I I like it,

1:25:17 but it's difficult to it's difficult to know like what considerations

1:25:23 to make when choosing your opening in something that resembles chess this much,

1:25:28 but has its own little quirky uh rules.

1:25:33 Yeah, that being said, I could definitely see it being easier for Toyo to make

1:25:37 it to the middle perhaps if you go for, let's say,

1:25:39 F4, strengthening that knight.

1:25:42 It's not a move I would play in normal chess,

1:25:43 but you know, you open up that F2 square for your king,

1:25:46 maybe followed by E4, and all of a sudden you're only one square away.

1:25:50 But he goes for the more calm knight D3, which I don't know.

1:25:55 I I kind of like that foreign king of the hill.

1:25:58 Yeah, just you always want to just rush the king in there, Benjamin.

1:26:04 Absolutely.

1:26:05 But sometimes it just wins on the spot.

1:26:08 Yeah.

1:26:09 I mean you have had some very nice uh analysis where uh

1:26:13 where you have convinced me that your moves would have been uh winners.

1:26:18 A big moment here as black sacrifices a pawn but it's not even a pawn sacrifi.

1:26:24 It's a brilliant move.

1:26:27 Yep.

1:26:28 Can we give that a double excl Okay.

1:26:30 I don't know how I like it.

1:26:33 This is like a chess move.

1:26:35 like th this is just this could be a brilliant move in a normal

1:26:39 chess game and somehow I have never seen this idea before which surprises me.

1:26:45 Yeah, it's it's good to take note of this one mental note.

1:26:49 Uh but yeah, D takes C4.

1:26:50 I think this really can flip the momentum of the game.

1:26:53 Now the knight has to move black potentially maybe

1:26:57 if you move this knight out of the way.

1:26:58 I like the idea of f5 and then you can start moving

1:27:02 the king up and that d5 square looks really juicy takes with the bishop.

1:27:07 I like the idea of knight g4 followed by a5 potentially.

1:27:11 What do you think?

1:27:13 Well, I think with an extra pawn, black should just try to win the game

1:27:18 through conventional means if if nothing else.

1:27:22 Uh, I do think it's interesting now that after

1:27:24 bishop to F4 hitting the the black queen, uh, we will see a queen trade.

1:27:30 And to be honest, I think maybe a queen trade could be in white's favor here.

1:27:35 Uh, because black is still struggling to get the king into the center,

1:27:39 whereas white has some options of just rushing in there.

1:27:43 And even though white is down a pawn and has limited control of the center,

1:27:49 uh I I think this could be uh interesting

1:27:52 for for for some ideas of the king bring coming in.

1:27:58 Yeah, but I I do like it for black as again he has that that idea of knight

1:28:03 g4 f5 king up and I don't know it's hard to stop and that is why too plays h3.

1:28:14 Toyvo really needs to start bringing his king in here because

1:28:18 right now the black king is leading the race for the center

1:28:21 which kind of goes against everything I was saying uh

1:28:26 about what sort of benefits the the the white position had.

1:28:35 Knight E4 play knight B5.

1:28:36 Okay.

1:28:38 But even something calm like knight E8 followed by F6 and E5.

1:28:42 And there he goes followed by king E6.

1:28:45 And I really like black's chances here.

1:28:49 I feel like black is very close to getting that king in the middle.

1:28:51 That being said, if you drop the E4 pawn,

1:28:54 could also see the white king stepping up.

1:28:59 So what's the final conclusion then?

1:29:03 Unclear.

1:29:03 But Toybo is down on time.

1:29:07 You know what they said back in the day?

1:29:09 Like unclear just means you didn't analyze deeply enough.

1:29:13 I know.

1:29:14 That's why I said it.

1:29:15 Yeah.

1:29:15 I That's uh I remember that that was a conclusion.

1:29:20 Yeah.

1:29:21 Like on a clear is a lazy conclusion.

1:29:26 I like this maneuver.

1:29:31 In normal chess, you could consider bish,

1:29:34 but not in king of the hill as black just wins right away.

1:29:39 Yeah, that's game over.

1:29:44 Okay, five.

1:29:46 What is he trying to do?

1:29:49 Maybe you just take that.

1:29:51 No, then then there's check.

1:29:53 Taking that blunders the bishop.

1:29:56 But I Okay, king E6.

1:29:57 You hang the bishop.

1:29:58 It's probably too much.

1:30:00 This has to be a win for But Toyo is

1:30:02 good in time scrambles and you like I don't know.

1:30:04 I could see him all of a sudden running that king of the board.

1:30:08 Wow.

1:30:08 Both players down to just seconds.

1:30:10 10 versus 15.

1:30:12 Although thinking for 5 seconds when you have 10 seconds remaining,

1:30:17 that is a choice I would not make.

1:30:22 King E3.

1:30:23 And the thing is in normal chess you just premove.

1:30:25 But in King of the Hill,

1:30:26 you might all of a sudden blunder your opponent's king to the middle.

1:30:30 Why is black moving so slowly?

1:30:35 Well, he's moving fast enough.

1:30:37 He wins the game on time.

1:30:40 2.8 seconds remaining in the end.

1:30:43 Toyo was capturing every black piece uh there,

1:30:47 but uh the time just would not allow him to make the comeback.

1:30:53 Huge huge win for the the Indian player

1:30:56 taking one big step toward the grand final.

1:31:01 Absolutely.

1:31:01 And oh, and Draken is all is actually down a point in the losers quarterfinals.

1:31:07 So, let's see if he can come back from that.

1:31:09 Mitraa, by the way, has won the first game,

1:31:11 so he's looking good to advance to the loser semis.

1:31:16 Uh, Andreen is down a rook here.

1:31:20 How did I like this position though.

1:31:25 I mean, you after you take the knight, you're only down in exchange.

1:31:28 And your king is pretty close to making it to the middle.

1:31:32 But what about the black king?

1:31:34 Right now, the black bishop is targeting the F4 pawn,

1:31:37 which is one of the only ones controlling the the E5 square.

1:31:42 And Andreen is ah he's trying to force the black

1:31:46 king forward because he has a plan with his rook.

1:31:55 Yeah.

1:31:56 No, I really like these moves by Andreken.

1:31:58 I think he's simply going to pick up the knight

1:32:00 or I was going to say throw in another check.

1:32:03 And the path for the white king is pretty clear.

1:32:07 Now there's even a check with the bishop.

1:32:10 But I think what he's going to do, he goes king d3.

1:32:13 Knight a4.

1:32:14 Take here.

1:32:15 King D4.

1:32:16 And how do you stop that?

1:32:18 Good plan.

1:32:19 and knight A4.

1:32:20 What do you do?

1:32:21 I takes on F5 very calmly.

1:32:26 No, this is going to be win for Andreken.

1:32:28 I don't see how he doesn't win this game.

1:32:30 Knight E4.

1:32:31 Knight E4.

1:32:32 All look winning.

1:32:36 Yeah, you've got me convinced.

1:32:39 F4 played and he's going for rook E5.

1:32:42 Yeah, I mean, white's practically up a piece.

1:32:44 This side's not doing anything.

1:32:46 Okay, so it's going to be 1 one here.

1:32:49 Um, rook E5.

1:32:53 GG.

1:32:55 Clearing up that square for the white king,

1:32:58 intercepting the black rook of resignation and uh

1:33:03 equalizing on the uh in in the match.

1:33:06 We're going to jump back to our uh winners bracket final.

1:33:11 The winner here gets a huge advantage

1:33:14 in the grand final with an extra life there.

1:33:17 And right now, Toy Volcanan is looking like he's

1:33:21 going to lose a second game in a row.

1:33:25 I'm asking a question,

1:33:26 so don't feel like I'm But this this looks good for white, right?

1:33:33 I liked his position like one or two moves ago,

1:33:36 but now I don't as I don't see how you defend F4.

1:33:40 I liked it around here, but he sacrificed this pawn,

1:33:44 which okay, but maybe king E7 was a better move.

1:33:47 Now again, how do you defend this pawn on the four?

1:33:49 And if you lose the pawn on the four, I think your entire position falls apart.

1:33:55 And uh that is a potential 2nil lead for Bavvesh Bahayan.

1:34:02 And uh well to be fair,

1:34:06 we have seen Toyu get back from those two-nil leads previously.

1:34:12 Uh so uh let's let's not rule him out on on that account,

1:34:18 but he has made life difficult for himself.

1:34:23 Okay, he takes on F1.

1:34:25 I assume white recaptures rook a fade.

1:34:30 And do you think he's planning to meet queen G3 with queen G5?

1:34:34 Queen E3 played.

1:34:35 Okay.

1:34:36 I mean, I feel like you have to go for the queen trade here as black,

1:34:40 but now white isn't even allowing that to happen.

1:34:45 I think white goes F4.

1:34:47 King dives in with queen H4.

1:34:48 But again, the time he's down a minute on the clock.

1:34:51 And here, white goes king D2.

1:34:55 G3, rook F2, defending everything.

1:35:00 Rook F4.

1:35:02 You can even consider just push.

1:35:05 Oh, that's a nice move.

1:35:08 A4 A5.

1:35:09 Not the end of the world.

1:35:10 You still have bishop C8, but 22 seconds.

1:35:14 Time has been a a problem for Toyo this entire tournament.

1:35:19 He's shown some really nice scramles to well,

1:35:23 basically he's been able to play well enough to to make

1:35:28 his uh mark known on the game uh before his time runs out.

1:35:33 But when he doesn't manage to get those great concepts going,

1:35:39 then um he's just losing a lot of games on on time.

1:35:46 This has to be winning for white, but not that clear.

1:35:49 If you trade everything down, then you know, E3 and king E4 is on the card.

1:35:53 So the champ taking his time here, there's got to be a way to like win this.

1:36:01 I mean, I see a win with a queen trade and then the king moving up.

1:36:05 Knight F3, but it seems very unnecessarily complicated.

1:36:12 Okay, king C3.

1:36:14 I mean, Toyo needs D5, but he wants a check.

1:36:22 No, it's not entirely obvious.

1:36:29 Now, queen check to get the black king away, I would think.

1:36:34 Check.

1:36:35 I would give this check 100%.

1:36:36 Yeah, that's a good check.

1:36:43 Honestly, he's very impressive in hanging in there.

1:36:47 I It's It's not going to work out in the end,

1:36:50 but the fact that he's still alive is pretty impressive.

1:36:54 Okay, do not Oh my god, he just won the queen.

1:36:57 He won the game.

1:36:59 He has enough time.

1:37:03 What?

1:37:03 That is insane.

1:37:07 Oh my god.

1:37:09 I would be furious if I was white.

1:37:11 He found the only way to lose.

1:37:14 I mean, everything is winning here.

1:37:17 Uh, but he ran right into this trap.

1:37:20 And the thing is, if you take, there's king D4.

1:37:25 It's such a nice trap to get though with 10 seconds on the clock.

1:37:29 You know, anything can really happen.

1:37:31 He He stayed alive for longer than he really should have been able to.

1:37:37 Uh and and then unleashes the trap with 1.7 seconds remaining.

1:37:43 And to be fair, like it wasn't even close

1:37:45 that he wasn't going to make it in time.

1:37:47 like he was so so convincing there that he had the prem

1:37:52 moves all set up and ready to to get the equalizing score there.

1:37:58 But that really goes to show how tricky King of the Hill is, right?

1:38:01 In normal chess, you make some If your opponent

1:38:04 has one or two seconds, you just premove.

1:38:07 He's going to run out of time unless you get checkmated.

1:38:10 But here, besides getting checkmated,

1:38:12 your opponent can also get his king to the middle.

1:38:14 So you can never really relax,

1:38:17 especially if your opponent is only one or two squares away.

1:38:22 Yeah, very very nicely done there.

1:38:26 Toyivo is he's slow when he's got plenty of time,

1:38:32 but he's fantastic when time is running out.

1:38:37 And uh what is happening here?

1:38:40 Funny line.

1:38:41 If you take the knight, there's rook C2 check.

1:38:44 King D3, rook D2.

1:38:46 You actually get checkmated before you get a D4.

1:38:48 So I kind of like this for the champ.

1:38:51 So rook C1.

1:38:52 I think good decision by Toyo not allowing this.

1:38:55 But now knight C6.

1:38:57 This looks good for black.

1:38:59 I mean you have two minor pieces for the rook.

1:39:01 And I think it should be easier for black to eventually get to the middle.

1:39:09 The knight is getting chased back.

1:39:13 I guess we're going to do a bishop trade.

1:39:21 The the problem for white is how to get the rooks involved.

1:39:26 Probably you just need to push the rook up right now

1:39:28 in order to double them and have them work in the same direction.

1:39:34 King D6.

1:39:34 The champ only one square away,

1:39:36 but it's not that easy to actually get access to that square.

1:39:39 Although E5 makes sense.

1:39:41 I think the knight has to go because if you wait too long,

1:39:43 black's gonna take and take again.

1:39:45 So, he takes.

1:39:46 Okay.

1:39:47 You recapture with the pawn, I assume.

1:39:48 And there we have it.

1:39:51 Yeah.

1:39:51 Pawn to I like that.

1:39:55 Okay.

1:39:55 Take take not sure because now Toyo gets a slightly clearer path risking,

1:40:02 but maybe go bishop D7.

1:40:08 Toyo again down on time.

1:40:12 I had a funny idea, but it doesn't work.

1:40:14 Like, I had the idea to, let's say,

1:40:16 go check and meet king D2 with knight E4, but white can still take and rook C5.

1:40:22 Anyway,

1:40:23 I'm I'm I'm noticing that you're a lot more attuned

1:40:26 to these kind of sacrifices to get the king in.

1:40:30 I I'm I'm maybe I'm wrong,

1:40:35 but I feel like King of the Hill is so much like chess that you

1:40:39 can chill on these kind of tactics and just let the positions play themselves.

1:40:47 Yeah.

1:40:48 No, I think you have to play normal chess for the most part,

1:40:50 but when an opportunity arises,

1:40:52 you definitely want to try that try to get that king to the middle.

1:40:56 I think this looks great for black.

1:40:58 Knight C7 to B5 as showed by my arrows.

1:41:02 Looks fantastic as you hit this.

1:41:05 Rook E8 is coming and like it's very hard for white to hang on to the D4 pawn.

1:41:10 If the king goes to E3, rook E8, king to D3, bishop F5.

1:41:13 So I think the champ is simply crushing here.

1:41:16 Unless Toyo pulls another rabbit out of his head,

1:41:19 but I don't see it happening here.

1:41:21 Well, I didn't see it happening in the last one and I was dead wrong on that.

1:41:27 So when it comes to Toy to volcan and let's let's not rule anything out here.

1:41:35 Well, that's very nice.

1:41:38 Rook eight instead.

1:41:39 He's going to win D4 and that's going to be huge because then we're going

1:41:43 to have we had the discussion earlier like do we like a pawn on D5?

1:41:47 And actually do because you can always push it up and then you have this square.

1:41:53 I really don't like this king to D3 move.

1:41:56 He needed to get ready to sacrifice his rook on the B5 knight.

1:42:01 Pawn to F6 here.

1:42:02 Maybe also don't like that Toyo has 10 seconds, but I'm sure the champ does.

1:42:11 This looks like it's about to be over.

1:42:13 Takes another pawn.

1:42:15 Unless Toyo pulls off another miracle, he's going to lose.

1:42:18 I don't see it happening, but you never know.

1:42:22 No.

1:42:26 No.

1:42:26 Okay.

1:42:26 Well, the champ wins another game.

1:42:28 Toyiver really has to speed it up if he wants to come back.

1:42:33 It it's he it's a consistent weakness throughout this tournament.

1:42:38 Um also in the other games, uh Dimmitri and Drakin has taken a 2-1 lead.

1:42:45 Uh which means that Dragon Mento um he is facing a potential elimination.

1:42:54 Is that the elimination confirmed?

1:42:58 Yep, he is out.

1:42:59 And then Draken moves on to the loser semis.

1:43:02 In the meantime, here we have uh so yeah, we say goodbye to the dragon.

1:43:06 Always great to have him in these community events, but Andraken,

1:43:09 of course, a super strong player, so no shame in losing to him.

1:43:14 Uh Mitraaba uh actually lost in the first round of this tournament,

1:43:20 but he's still in it.

1:43:22 uh trying to make a repeat title from uh from last year.

1:43:28 Uh going the long way uh through the uh the losers bracket.

1:43:35 Wow, look at this game right here.

1:43:36 I mean, this variation looks really interesting to me.

1:43:40 So, bishop E5.

1:43:41 Can black go bishop D7?

1:43:43 He's looking at it.

1:43:44 These arrows, these circles are his.

1:43:46 So, he's looking at bishop E7.

1:43:48 Take take on B7.

1:43:50 King E6.

1:43:51 You take the rook and then what is what he's asking.

1:43:54 Like the king on E6 is only one square away, but can you Oh, wow.

1:43:57 He goes for it.

1:43:58 Well, at this point, did he really have any choice?

1:44:01 Like he had captured the central pawn for crazy reasons.

1:44:07 So, I feel like he kind of just had to go here and hope for the best.

1:44:12 Yeah.

1:44:12 And I mean, to be fair,

1:44:13 black is only one square away from winning the game, right?

1:44:16 I mean, queen takes.

1:44:18 I don't even know if I should have gone down this line.

1:44:21 It looks really dangerous.

1:44:22 I really feel like there's got to be something for black, right?

1:44:26 What are you seeing?

1:44:27 I I to me it looks very safe taking the rook.

1:44:33 Yeah, but G5.

1:44:34 Okay, bishop G3 has to be played.

1:44:36 Yep, there we have it.

1:44:41 Okay, so the thing is here,

1:44:43 black needs to have something in the next couple of moves.

1:44:46 Otherwise, white is just going to unleash a big attack on the black king.

1:44:50 I like knight e2 a lot because with the knight on f3,

1:44:53 you add another defender of the e5 square.

1:44:56 Okay.

1:45:00 But check or or do you just go queen b6?

1:45:03 I think you do.

1:45:06 Okay.

1:45:06 I mean the toyo is a genius.

1:45:11 But G.

1:45:12 Wait, what if you take and G4 does that work?

1:45:19 But then there goes G4 right away.

1:45:27 But check.

1:45:27 You have to go to F6.

1:45:30 That does not look ideal, but maybe it's fine.

1:45:38 There's also the queen check you talked about earlier going for the queen trade.

1:45:48 Bishop F4 holding things together.

1:45:52 I have to go H6 and take the knight, right?

1:45:56 I think so.

1:45:56 Yeah.

1:45:59 Then the question is what is why do maybe H4?

1:46:01 He goes knight E6 instead hitting the queen.

1:46:04 Okay, queen B3 maybe.

1:46:11 I mean the miracle of this game is that Toybo is not down

1:46:14 on time which uh it is the number one reason he has been losing games.

1:46:21 Although now white gets to castle.

1:46:23 I'm not sure.

1:46:26 Yeah, I think you do castle.

1:46:28 takes takes and you still control that E5 square

1:46:32 but you are losing your knight or what about

1:46:36 this thing on G4 and meeting EF with queen takes F4.

1:46:41 Yeah, that also looks good.

1:46:42 The black king is in trouble now.

1:46:44 I mean we were very impressed with the with the concept

1:46:48 of of black's king just rushing forward in the center.

1:46:53 It is very much in the spirit of this variant.

1:46:58 Uh But I have gone from thinking this is good

1:47:01 for black to thinking black is dead lost right now.

1:47:06 But now you're going to have to meet knight takes h7 with king g6 and

1:47:10 your king is getting pulled away in the wrong direction.

1:47:12 That being said also you can take on e5 right.

1:47:16 Yeah this this looks too much.

1:47:18 This looks like it's too much and the king is now getting closer.

1:47:22 Take f6.

1:47:24 Not over yet though, especially not against Toyo, but I think he's just lost.

1:47:32 31 seconds left for white.

1:47:36 Are you able to do some magic going for the queen trade?

1:47:41 I would I would decline the trade.

1:47:44 Yeah.

1:47:44 And he agrees.

1:47:45 I

1:47:49 F7.

1:47:49 Not over yet.

1:47:52 Trying to give some checks.

1:47:53 forcing the black king further away from those central squares.

1:47:59 F3.

1:48:00 I like F3.

1:48:00 Kicking the knight away and paving your own path.

1:48:04 I also like G3 because I think it's a better path for our king.

1:48:09 Queen F2.

1:48:11 It's an awkward move.

1:48:13 Rook D8.

1:48:16 Okay, he's just pushing up the pawn now.

1:48:20 Find a plan and stick to it.

1:48:22 But less than 10 seconds remaining now.

1:48:25 And Toyo is a super good bullet player.

1:48:27 So let's see if Oh, drops D5.

1:48:31 Not sure about that.

1:48:33 Okay.

1:48:34 Hangs E3 though.

1:48:37 E6.

1:48:39 Gives a check.

1:48:41 He hangs a rook.

1:48:44 Surely it's checkmate in two moves.

1:48:47 Yeah, he makes it.

1:48:48 1.6 Six seconds remaining, but it's checkmate on the board to end the game,

1:48:54 but also ending the match, right?

1:48:58 Cuz that was the third.

1:49:00 Yeah, that is 3-1 for Bav.

1:49:02 I mean, who would have expected that?

1:49:06 Great, great run from the Indian player.

1:49:08 Toyo Cananan is still in it.

1:49:11 But uh before we take a look at uh

1:49:15 Toyvous's uh attempt at getting a rematch against Bevesh,

1:49:21 we are moving into the losers semi-final.

1:49:25 Demetrian Draken has won 3-1 as has Metra.

1:49:30 Those two are facing one another.

1:49:32 The loser there will finish in fourth place while

1:49:37 the winner still has hopes of winning the entire tournament.

1:49:41 But in order to do so, they have to get past one another in this one.

1:49:46 Then Kanan and then they have to beat Babesh not

1:49:50 just once but twice due to the double elimination format.

1:49:56 That is a pretty tall order but you know I believe that these players can do it.

1:50:01 So now we're going to have Andre against Mitraa.

1:50:04 Should be a fun match.

1:50:06 Is No, they have not played each other yet, right?

1:50:09 So it's going to be interesting to see who wins that one.

1:50:12 I I would give a slight edge to Andre and he's the he's the better

1:50:15 chess player and I would like to think that that should matter in this format.

1:50:20 On the other hand, Mitraaba after losing the first match against Kanan,

1:50:25 he's been on a tear and really showing some of those skills

1:50:30 that have made him the champion uh last year uh around.

1:50:38 Mhm.

1:50:38 Yep.

1:50:39 All right.

1:50:39 So, the match is going to be underway anytime soon.

1:50:42 So, I pick and Den.

1:50:44 What is your pick, Yon?

1:50:46 I'll guess I'll go the the other way then.

1:50:49 and and say Mitraaba say that those specialized

1:50:54 king of the hill skills may come into play.

1:50:58 Uh I I actually was going to suggest when

1:51:01 you were talking about the Catalan as an opening,

1:51:04 I was going to say maybe you should go with the Stonewall uh defense as black.

1:51:10 And that is what Andrein has decided to do here.

1:51:14 just very aggressively placing his pawns in the center

1:51:17 of the board and also getting a lot of quick moves,

1:51:21 which has to be a benefit of this strategy

1:51:24 that you very clearly know your plan forward.

1:51:29 I wouldn't be surprised if this game actually ends up

1:51:33 in kind of a normal draw in the sense that like

1:51:35 how is any player ever going to access these central

1:51:39 squares unless white all of a sudden sacrifice a knight.

1:51:43 Black B5.

1:51:44 Wow, I did not expect that.

1:51:47 Yeah, me neither.

1:51:48 But Andreken is, if you're familiar with Andreken's play style,

1:51:53 I I used to play against him when I was, you know, better and younger.

1:51:58 And one of the things that annoyed me about Andreen was

1:52:02 that he just he was so calm about being in a worse position.

1:52:07 He was like, "Yeah, no, my position now is bad,

1:52:10 but it'll be better in a while." And he he would

1:52:13 just he he wouldn't get annoyed at, you know, being worse.

1:52:18 And that's a bit of a a superpower,

1:52:21 but also maybe makes him play uglier moves in terms

1:52:26 of u giving the white queen access here down the C file.

1:52:32 Yeah, I mean to me this looks like a normal chess game.

1:52:35 Like I said, I don't see how the player will ever occupy these squares.

1:52:39 King F7 played.

1:52:41 problem is it's difficult to kick that knight away

1:52:43 as then it will jump into the F6 square.

1:52:46 Queen C8 by Mitraba.

1:52:49 I think you definitely keep the queens on and play

1:52:51 a move like queen H8 or where would you go?

1:52:58 Yeah, I mean but both of those you uh you highlighted I think are are very good.

1:53:04 The pro No, actually I would have kept it

1:53:06 on the Cfile because now Andreen is going to start a counterattack.

1:53:12 There he goes.

1:53:14 This is actually very very dangerous for the white king.

1:53:19 Yes, it is.

1:53:21 Yeah, cuz queen C1, you're really not keeping that pawn.

1:53:24 Okay, but what happens if you actually take?

1:53:26 So, let's say you take check.

1:53:28 King F2 check.

1:53:30 King G3.

1:53:31 Take on E3.

1:53:31 King G4.

1:53:33 But I guess bishop bishop B2.

1:53:35 King G5.

1:53:38 Wow.

1:53:40 He's going down that line.

1:53:48 So, we think white is winning.

1:53:49 That's amazing.

1:53:52 I think white is just winning in the normal chess way, you know.

1:53:57 Bishop D7.

1:53:58 Wow.

1:53:58 That Okay, he's defending that super important pawn on E6.

1:54:02 So, now let's see what Mitraaba is going to do.

1:54:07 Okay, never mind.

1:54:08 cuz like white's pawns in the center are still very fragile.

1:54:13 Yes.

1:54:14 And these pawns as you know

1:54:16 moving the king there.

1:54:16 He could have just But maybe he he thought it would run into knight H5.

1:54:27 Okay.

1:54:27 Why are we not taking a free pawn as white?

1:54:31 I don't know.

1:54:33 Okay.

1:54:33 Check or queen D8.

1:54:36 Yeah, there we have queen E8 on the board.

1:54:37 Hidden bishop.

1:54:40 Nice move.

1:54:43 Isn't black just losing here?

1:54:44 What do you bishop B8?

1:54:45 Check.

1:54:46 I suspect black has been losing for ever since

1:54:49 he played that pawn move on the queen side.

1:54:52 Queen.

1:54:53 Oh, a nice move.

1:54:55 Okay.

1:54:56 King F.

1:55:01 King F8.

1:55:02 Okay.

1:55:02 Knight takes E6.

1:55:03 King E.

1:55:04 King F7.

1:55:06 a check.

1:55:13 I'm surprised by how tenacious a defender that black bishop is.

1:55:20 And keep in mind that bishop is now

1:55:22 suddenly threatening checks back on the white king.

1:55:29 Game is still not over.

1:55:30 He's still hanging in there.

1:55:32 Perhaps another check.

1:55:33 Yep.

1:55:33 I think you have to go to the B foul.

1:55:35 King B7.

1:55:36 Okay, I'll take another pawn with check.

1:55:38 And there he goes.

1:55:39 And if you step Okay.

1:55:43 Queen D6.

1:55:44 And you're getting pawn with a check as well.

1:55:46 But do you take it?

1:55:49 Yeah, I think you do.

1:55:51 Oh, I guess another I'm wondering about this.

1:55:53 So, let's say you check.

1:55:55 Take take.

1:55:56 He goes E6.

1:55:56 Okay.

1:55:57 So, he's preparing this and this.

1:55:58 King E5.

1:55:59 King E5.

1:55:59 Queen F2 there.

1:56:01 He's so tenacious.

1:56:02 It's just unfair.

1:56:04 He check.

1:56:06 I think you could go knight f3 there and just clear a path.

1:56:10 Oh, picks up the bishop.

1:56:12 But do we g6 check?

1:56:20 Now knight f3.

1:56:21 Surely this has to be winning for white.

1:56:25 He's better threatening checkmate into queen.

1:56:27 Yeah, checkmate.

1:56:28 Queen c5 b3.

1:56:31 Nice.

1:56:33 All right, so Mitraaba wins game number one.

1:56:37 Interesting strategy by Andreen, but it didn't quite work out.

1:56:41 And I don't know about you, Yon, but I really did not like that move B5,

1:56:45 and it did not work out at all, it seemed.

1:56:48 Yeah.

1:56:48 No, he he Andre succeeded in making the game all about chess skill,

1:56:55 and then somehow he didn't have the superior chess skills.

1:56:59 He he gave himself a a inferior bishop,

1:57:04 which it's not necessarily such a bad thing,

1:57:07 but when he also allowed the white queen to invade on the queen side,

1:57:11 it was just the bishop and the queen together

1:57:14 was too much to to kind of deal with.

1:57:18 And uh Andreen loses that game in very chessy fashion.

1:57:23 The kings were never even close to getting into the center because

1:57:28 the pawn mass was just blocking their path for the entire game.

1:57:34 Yeah.

1:57:35 All right.

1:57:36 So, here we have another game.

1:57:38 Optically, I kind of like this for Mitra.

1:57:40 He has more pawns in the middle.

1:57:41 You would perhaps think that that would make it easier

1:57:44 for black to eventually get the king to the middle.

1:57:46 But what do you think, Y?

1:57:50 And I I think I've decided that I I

1:57:53 confer to you on some of these uh assessments.

1:57:58 Uh it I feel like you're you're so much more aggressive about

1:58:03 getting the kings into the center and you've been proven right a couple

1:58:07 of times which uh makes me think that I have I may

1:58:12 have overestimated the value of of pure chess skill in in this variant.

1:58:20 Yeah, I think you have to play chess, you know,

1:58:23 for the most part, but you always want to be looking for a path.

1:58:26 And I like that move, king G7.

1:58:28 Now, he's not going to play king F6, king E5 in the next couple of turns,

1:58:32 but, you know, just just putting it there already, just in case.

1:58:36 H4.

1:58:36 That being said, on the board in normal chess,

1:58:40 I like Andre's chances with the two bishops and the black queen's,

1:58:44 but you know, I think that was a great move.

1:58:48 By the way, E5 E4 should be five.

1:58:52 Uh, welcome Raiders from Chess 24.

1:58:56 This is the King of the Hill Championship and the goal of the game

1:59:01 is to get the king into those four central squares on the board.

1:59:07 Uh, right now this is the uh loser bracket semifinal.

1:59:12 Uh there is a uh the there's a need for wins uh

1:59:18 for both of these players to to get into the grand final.

1:59:22 Mitraaba, the reigning champion playing here with the black pieces.

1:59:26 He took down the first game against Dimmitri Andreken.

1:59:30 Uh one of the the top 30 normal chess players in the world.

1:59:36 But so far, Andreken isn't really proving my hypothe hypothesis that normal

1:59:43 chess skill is uh is paramount in uh in this format.

1:59:49 Yeah, Mitra of course also a very good normal chess player.

1:59:53 He is a grandmaster, really good blitz player and that is why

1:59:57 he's giving Andreen such a tough time here.

1:59:59 Queen takes E4.

2:00:00 I feel like now Andre's king is very close to making it to the middle.

2:00:05 Whereas for black, it's difficult to bring that king in.

2:00:08 That being said, what do we think about rook takes F5?

2:00:12 Or I guess you just slide over.

2:00:13 Yeah.

2:00:14 To E2, probably.

2:00:18 But once again, those queen trade moments,

2:00:21 they're so they're so pivotal for for all of these games.

2:00:25 Uh, and here the queen trade, like you said,

2:00:28 does seem to favor white on account of the the white

2:00:32 king being just one square away from winning the game right now.

2:00:36 This looks winning to me.

2:00:37 I think you just take that with the bishop.

2:00:39 And how do you stop rook or bishop to E5 followed by king E4?

2:00:44 H4 instead.

2:00:46 H seems unnecessary.

2:00:48 Also moves the bishop away

2:00:50 from that interception square that you had identified.

2:00:54 I like that term interception square.

2:00:57 Yeah, that's a um rook E8.

2:01:01 Okay, so he's fully going on the inner or the the blockade.

2:01:06 We refer to that as a blockade on the E file, right?

2:01:09 I'm I'm not sure.

2:01:11 The problem is that the white rook is doing the same thing.

2:01:15 Uh making sure that the black king is is unable to get into the center.

2:01:23 Oh my god, he just gave away a rook.

2:01:26 Oh, but he's intercepting.

2:01:30 If you take for the audience, if you take,

2:01:32 there would have been rook E5 check followed by king E4.

2:01:36 So that's why he didn't take.

2:01:38 So he wasn't winning any material.

2:01:40 So I thought it was just a rook blunder

2:01:42 because he had no way of winning material afterwards.

2:01:46 But the idea was that more important than

2:01:49 material is getting the king into the center.

2:01:51 And now checkmate in one threatened.

2:01:55 And how do you stop that?

2:01:55 Rook H6 played.

2:01:57 Okay.

2:01:57 Do we take the bishop or Oh, rook F8.

2:02:00 Rook F8.

2:02:01 He missed.

2:02:02 Made in two.

2:02:03 Rook F8 and King E4.

2:02:05 Nice.

2:02:06 Nice idea.

2:02:09 This is also kind of nice.

2:02:12 He cannot take the Okay.

2:02:13 Rook H7 and king E4.

2:02:15 Nice.

2:02:16 Very nice win by Andreken to level up the score.

2:02:20 And Draken seems to have really gotten the hang

2:02:22 of some of these unique tactics to this format.

2:02:27 Again, the match is tied at 1-1.

2:02:31 Yes, that was a great blend of interception and blockades to eventually

2:02:36 maneuver his king to the middle of the board and win the match.

2:02:39 Anyway, here we have a London.

2:02:41 What do we think about this one, Yon?

2:02:46 Wow.

2:02:46 What?

2:02:47 He blunders the queen.

2:02:50 Andre can sacrifice his bishop,

2:02:53 making the argument that the bishop could not be captured due

2:02:56 to the black queen trapping the white rook on the queen side afterwards.

2:03:01 But Mitraaba, he just saw a normal developing move,

2:03:04 paid no attention to it whatsoever,

2:03:08 and as a result, he now has a queen less than his opponent.

2:03:12 You asked for my view, Benjamin,

2:03:14 and I'm happy that I didn't respond until that because now I

2:03:18 get a very easy task of saying I think black is doing okay.

2:03:23 Yeah, I think black's doing pretty okay.

2:03:25 Uh but you know, you never know in King of the Hill, right?

2:03:29 Maybe he makes it to the middle.

2:03:31 I mean, this is just completely losing.

2:03:33 Um that is shocking.

2:03:36 Wow.

2:03:41 Yeah.

2:03:41 I don't know what to say about that.

2:03:43 The the guy just let his queen be captured.

2:03:47 That is insane.

2:03:48 Yeah.

2:03:49 All right.

2:03:50 Um, so for those of you who missed that, what just happened was that uh,

2:03:56 white played queen to C2.

2:03:58 Bishop F5 was played with the idea that if you take,

2:04:01 black takes here and you're going to win the rook.

2:04:03 Usually, white takes here, but you don't leave your queen hanging.

2:04:07 That was a bit much.

2:04:08 So, let's I feel like and he's taking his time.

2:04:14 He's taking his time in Drake.

2:04:15 And I would have already played king D7.

2:04:18 That being said, I'm pretty sure he'll get it done.

2:04:20 And there we have it.

2:04:24 Okay.

2:04:24 What a way, what a turnaround.

2:04:27 It goes from one nil in favor of Mitraat to now being two to one favor Andre.

2:04:35 Uh, and Draken just benefiting from that enormous gift of free queen.

2:04:42 Uh, literally free queen.

2:04:44 I mean, we often say free queen even if you get two pieces for it,

2:04:49 but here it was really nothing in trade for that thing.

2:04:55 Yeah, absolutely zero was white what what what white got there.

2:04:59 All right, so they're going down the same

2:05:01 variation that we saw in game number two.

2:05:05 We initially liked this for black, but Andre canen actually won the game.

2:05:08 So, I'm very curious to see how this one will play out.

2:05:11 I would think that the pawns in the middle should favor black.

2:05:15 That being said, the pawns can also be in the way of your king.

2:05:22 Yeah, I don't know.

2:05:23 I'm not super impressed.

2:05:24 Oh, Andreen is winning a rook.

2:05:28 Yeah, the question is how much it matters though.

2:05:30 And I mean, bishop.

2:05:33 Okay.

2:05:33 So, take take knight E5.

2:05:34 Yeah.

2:05:36 Yeah.

2:05:36 That being said, maybe you move your king, take recapture with the knight.

2:05:41 F6.

2:05:42 King F7.

2:05:45 Yeah.

2:05:45 But you weren't really intending to give away the the rook, though.

2:05:49 So, there there's also the the mental

2:05:53 the the psychological thing where you're like,

2:05:56 "Oh my god, I'm losing a rook.

2:05:58 That wasn't my intention." even if it's okay for you.

2:06:03 Goes queen B3 offering the queen trade.

2:06:05 Mitraa says no.

2:06:07 And again, I like this idea of F5.

2:06:09 I would play a five here.

2:06:11 I'm kind of surprised Mitraa said no to the queen trade so quickly cuz queen

2:06:17 trades are such big decisions in this uh

2:06:21 variant that even when you're down a rook,

2:06:25 I feel like it was worthy of some consideration.

2:06:28 I think that definitely could have been considered here.

2:06:30 Yeah, maybe trade followed by F5, but I like it, but he said no.

2:06:36 Anyway, we're in this position right now.

2:06:37 Queen E4.

2:06:39 It's king of the hill, not queen of the hill.

2:06:42 That's why this game is still ongoing.

2:06:44 And now perhaps if white moves the rook,

2:06:47 you would have to get the queens off first.

2:06:50 But I don't like the bishop on F6.

2:06:52 I really want to push that F pawn and bring the king up.

2:06:56 Yeah, you have shown some very eager tendencies of getting the king involved,

2:07:02 but at the same time,

2:07:03 a lot of these games are just decided by normal regular checkmate.

2:07:09 The coolest games are decided with the tactics

2:07:12 and the king getting into the center.

2:07:13 But most of them, I would say, is just take take more of the opponent's

2:07:19 pieces than they are able to take from you.

2:07:22 And talking about that, doesn't rook A trap the queen?

2:07:30 This is it.

2:07:32 I'm pretty sure that traps the queen, right?

2:07:35 Right.

2:07:37 I mean, Andre allows it once again and missed a third time.

2:07:47 Rook A8.

2:07:48 Okay, but now you can Okay, now you get the bishop.

2:07:52 D3.

2:07:55 I don't Okay, now it doesn't trap the queen anymore.

2:07:57 Now the queen can get back and attack both the pawn and the bishop.

2:08:02 Not only are you

2:08:04 Why did he miss

2:08:05 rook A8 or am I missing something?

2:08:09 What?

2:08:10 I don't understand.

2:08:12 Is that the fourth time it was a potential What?

2:08:18 What is going on here?

2:08:22 We I in the players defense,

2:08:25 we have been playing very tense games for two hours straight,

2:08:30 but that is still a huge miss at this level.

2:08:34 A queen getting trapped multiple times over a very very short period of time.

2:08:43 I think he was not looking at it.

2:08:45 He was like focused on what is going on on the king side and then see like

2:08:49 oh wait that queen on the queen side I can just trap it by moving my rook over.

2:08:54 That's my only explanation.

2:08:59 So Andreen here with the white pieces.

2:09:01 He's up so many things.

2:09:05 But you get a little bit nervous when that king is marching up the board.

2:09:10 Andre with the white pieces up 30 seconds though.

2:09:13 That should be plenty to win.

2:09:16 Can you go?

2:09:17 Yeah.

2:09:18 Can you go bishop E5 and king E6?

2:09:22 Did

2:09:23 it's over.

2:09:24 Den blunder.

2:09:27 Uh-oh.

2:09:30 That's over, right?

2:09:32 I think so.

2:09:33 I don't see how you're stopping king e6 to d5.

2:09:38 Okay.

2:09:39 He wants three

2:09:40 position.

2:09:41 But I a full piece.

2:09:44 This has to be when Okay, king F2.

2:09:47 He goes for it himself.

2:09:50 Grabs a very clever pawn.

2:09:51 Stoping king E3.

2:09:54 And also if the white king now pushes forward,

2:09:57 he goes for it.

2:10:01 If you take king E3, but if there's rook F4 and then king up.

2:10:07 Oh yeah.

2:10:08 Like if white goes G3, you don't even care about go.

2:10:15 No.

2:10:16 King E2.

2:10:18 Check.

2:10:18 That's it.

2:10:19 King E6.

2:10:19 GG.

2:10:20 No.

2:10:21 What?

2:10:23 Why not?

2:10:23 King E6.

2:10:26 I don't think it's going to matter.

2:10:28 Both players down to 10 seconds.

2:10:30 But black has all the pieces and the king in the center.

2:10:36 We are going to see a tie breaker in this very exciting semifinal uh because

2:10:44 uh the reigning champion Mitraba has equalized in the final game to make it 22.

2:10:53 What a game that was.

2:10:54 I'm pretty sure white hung their queen like four times.

2:10:57 It could have been tra rook a8.

2:10:58 Black missed it.

2:10:59 Then it seemed like white was going to win.

2:11:01 But again, king of the hill is so tricky,

2:11:04 especially if your opponent has that path for his king.

2:11:07 Mitraa used it.

2:11:10 Yeah, very efficiently.

2:11:11 And uh what a treat for those special king of the hill tactics.

2:11:16 That was worked to perfection.

2:11:18 He was down a rook and two pawns in trade for a bishop.

2:11:24 Uh but that was he used that bishop to to maximum force.

2:11:30 Benjamin.

2:11:31 Yeah, it's really funny.

2:11:32 Like we said earlier, he should go rook A, trap that queen,

2:11:34 but instead he went bishop H8 and later

2:11:37 on that bishop actually won him the game.

2:11:40 Here we see another exchange.

2:11:42 What What do we think about this one?

2:11:45 Um I I think the exchange have been working out pretty well for white.

2:11:51 Um so uh I think this is a good choice from Mitraba.

2:11:57 All right, bishop D6.

2:12:01 Okay, if I was in Draen here, I would be tempted,

2:12:04 as you know by now, to go king E7.

2:12:07 Okay, E4 played.

2:12:10 This is looking very nice for white.

2:12:12 I think the the white king has the path into the center.

2:12:16 You can start making some kind of goofy sacrifices in the middle.

2:12:22 Not sure I like that.

2:12:23 Rook D2 move.

2:12:26 King F2.

2:12:27 He goes E5 instead, closing down the center.

2:12:31 Yeah, but now the center is kind of stuck and Okay, rook E1 hitting the pawn.

2:12:44 Rook E8 to defend it.

2:12:45 F4.

2:12:46 Okay, stopping E5.

2:12:50 White is definitely better, I think.

2:12:56 Okay, actually I take that back.

2:12:58 I have no idea what's going on here.

2:13:00 This now looks better for black.

2:13:02 The knight coming in into white's half is very annoying.

2:13:07 Yeah, really annoying to defend that pawn on B2.

2:13:09 He goes knight E1.

2:13:11 Nice move.

2:13:14 We could see a repetition here.

2:13:16 What are the rules?

2:13:19 I think we just go again.

2:13:20 We just play another overtime game.

2:13:24 I like this for white because I think white's winning

2:13:26 a pawn and then I think it's going to be

2:13:29 difficult for black to for the black king to come

2:13:31 up and white's going to have a pretty clear path.

2:13:35 But what if the the queen moves back diagonally here?

2:13:40 How do you feel about the two rooks versus queen?

2:13:44 Yes, but we don't have to do that.

2:13:46 We can go B4.

2:13:52 King F7.

2:13:53 Both protecting the pawn and getting the king in.

2:13:57 He didn't do it though.

2:13:59 Knight C3 looks weird to me now.

2:14:00 Knight C4.

2:14:00 Excellent response.

2:14:02 Okay, B4.

2:14:03 Why not B4?

2:14:06 But why block this square for your king?

2:14:10 And and Draken goes king F7.

2:14:12 He knows the name of the game.

2:14:13 H3 preparing to create an attack against the H7 pawn.

2:14:19 Queen B5 by by eliminating the defender.

2:14:23 Now the queen has to go back.

2:14:26 Or do you trade?

2:14:26 Also possible.

2:14:30 No.

2:14:31 Says no.

2:14:32 Trading is crazy because then we're struggling to keep everything protected.

2:14:37 Knight F5.

2:14:38 Oh, and now I like this Petroian sacrifice.

2:14:41 Rook E4.

2:14:42 Nice call.

2:14:46 I'm very surprised And didn't find that.

2:14:51 Why didn't white give this check?

2:14:52 Yeah, now he stops it with G6.

2:14:58 Both players are really focused on making their moves quickly.

2:15:02 They know that uh when you get very low on time,

2:15:05 it's so easy to suddenly allow your opponent's king into the middle.

2:15:11 And Draken is setting up a devilish trap here.

2:15:13 He wants to take.

2:15:14 Yeah, take.

2:15:15 Take.

2:15:17 And then knight G3 and take.

2:15:19 And you're gonna win a very important pawn.

2:15:21 That being said though, you might take this rook.

2:15:26 But he is setting it up.

2:15:27 This is a big threat that that would win the game if Mitraa

2:15:30 and he doesn't he doesn't blunder it

2:15:32 again or like doesn't give him the opportunity.

2:15:34 H5.

2:15:37 White's king is not safe at all.

2:15:41 There are some ideas with the knight coming

2:15:43 in and the rook giving checkmate in the corner.

2:15:48 There are ideas of check check but there's still

2:15:51 king G1 queen of one and then king H2 a4.

2:15:57 The black queen is trying to get the rook to move

2:15:58 so that the queen may join the rook in the attack.

2:16:03 Okay.

2:16:03 One.

2:16:04 Okay.

2:16:04 You cannot move this rook.

2:16:06 It runs the rook H1.

2:16:08 G4.

2:16:09 Wow.

2:16:12 What a move.

2:16:13 You mean what a terrible move.

2:16:17 What a move, right?

2:16:18 Could be good, could be bad.

2:16:21 Knight G5.

2:16:22 Maybe king F5.

2:16:26 You're You need to stop thinking about

2:16:29 getting the queen fur the king further up.

2:16:33 Oh, that's a nice threat with the queen coming into the corner.

2:16:38 Yeah.

2:16:38 And how do you stop queen H1?

2:16:40 I don't think you do.

2:16:42 I think it's just winning on the board.

2:16:44 I think it's just mate.

2:16:45 I don't see a move.

2:16:47 Nice play from Andre Kane

2:16:51 just using that fragile positioning of the white king to perfect

2:16:57 perfect perfect uh and he wins the rook.

2:17:02 Uh and with that, Andre Kin is going to join us for the uh next match.

2:17:10 He is the winner of the losers semi-final.

2:17:13 He will play against Toyo Kynan in the losers uh final.

2:17:19 Uh and the winner of that match will get

2:17:23 to challenge Bavesh Mahayan who right now is doing pretty good.

2:17:29 You know, he's chilling.

2:17:31 He's watching the other players fight it out.

2:17:34 Uh trying to just not get too excited about the fact that in the grand

2:17:40 final he's going to have one more life than his uh uh opponents.

2:17:48 Mhm.

2:17:48 Yeah.

2:17:48 So that's going to be exciting.

2:17:50 That being said, he is going to have

2:17:51 a tough match against either Tovo or Andreen.

2:17:54 We saw both players facing off against one another earlier.

2:17:58 I believe Andreen had a two to nil lead.

2:18:01 Toyo managed to come back.

2:18:02 So that's going to be an absolute thriller.

2:18:06 And also going to be a thriller.

2:18:09 Coming up soon is the Norway Chess Tournament.

2:18:13 12 Worldass players go all out to avoid draws and dominate.

2:18:20 Uh any draws will result in an Armageddon playoff.

2:18:25 So we will have a winner one way or another.

2:18:29 Magnus Coulson, Gash, Musachuk,

2:18:31 Juven Yun and others will be competing for one of the most

2:18:36 prestigious titles in classical chess and a prize fund over $180,000.

2:18:45 Uh the action starts May 25th and we're covering it all on Chess 24 streams.

2:18:52 For everything else you need to know,

2:18:54 go visit go.chess.com/norway2026 or use exclamationoint Norway in the chat.

2:19:05 So that's uh something to look forward to uh

2:19:08 as we take a break while we look forward

2:19:12 to the the more coming up very very soon

2:19:17 uh which is the Toybon the Kanan versus Andreken match.

2:19:38 I'm sure most of you have seen this viral clip,

2:19:41 but how many of you know where it's from?

2:19:42 Magnus' famous table slam happened at Norway Chess 2025,

2:19:46 so who knows what'll happen this year?

2:19:48 There's going to be two arenas with six players in each arena,

2:19:51 and everyone's going to play each other twice.

2:19:53 So, each matchup is going to start out with a classical game,

2:19:55 but if that ends in a draw,

2:19:56 they're going to go to a new decisive format called Armageddon,

2:19:59 where white has 10 minutes,

2:20:00 but black only has seven minutes, and a draw is a win for black.

2:20:03 In this year's lineup, we have six players in the open section.

2:20:06 Carlson, Kimer, Fuja, Prague, Gesh, and Wesley.

2:20:09 We have six players in the women's section.

2:20:11 Diva, Bisara, Muzachuk, Paneru, Janeire, and Wju.

2:20:15 So, who's going to slam the table this time?

2:20:27 So, Arjun, I'm sure you've done a ton of puzzles in your time,

2:20:30 but now we're going to see if you can do one blindfolded.

2:20:33 Okay, I'm not actually going to put you on blindfold cuz we want to see you.

2:20:36 So, I'm just going to announce where the pieces are, okay?

2:20:39 And tell you whose move it is, and we're going to see if you can solve it.

2:20:42 Okay,

2:20:43 white has a king on H6.

2:20:47 Okay, a bishop on D6.

2:20:49 D like dog.

2:20:50 And pawns on F2, D3, C4, and C5.

2:20:58 Okay.

2:20:56 Black has king F5, pawns on A3, B like boy seven, B7, C6, D4, and E6.

2:21:11 See, so white has a bishop and black has a pawn.

2:21:15 Yes.

2:21:15 One pawn in compensation.

2:21:17 Black has five points.

2:21:18 White has four points.

2:21:19 Perfectly set.

2:21:20 Black pawn is on a three.

2:21:21 Yep.

2:21:21 And it's white to move.

2:21:25 Okay.

2:21:30 Black's last pawn is on E6, right?

2:21:32 D4 D6.

2:21:33 C6 B7.

2:21:36 Correct.

2:21:40 This looks easy.

2:21:45 Yes, I'm missing something for black.

2:21:54 Okay, white has to go bishop E5 and King E5.

2:21:58 King G5 is mate.

2:22:01 That's exactly right.

2:22:02 Yeah, bishop E5.

2:22:03 You're about to take on D4 and stop the pawn.

2:22:05 Yeah.

2:22:05 And uh just for clarity, what happens if king takes bishop?

2:22:08 I know you already said it, but

2:22:09 yeah, King G5 and next move F4 is mate

2:22:11 and it's not stalemate because black can push A2 B5 something.

2:22:15 Very good.

2:22:15 All right.

2:22:16 Well, you you crushed it.

2:22:17 We thought with the complicated pawns that maybe

2:22:19 that would be difficult blindfolded, but not for you.

2:22:23 All right.

2:22:23 Position number two.

2:22:24 This has more pieces.

2:22:27 White king still on H6.

2:22:31 Okay.

2:22:30 Uh white rook B8.

2:22:32 B like boy.

2:22:33 White knight F6.

2:22:36 Okay.

2:22:36 And white has pawns on G5 and E5.

2:22:41 Okay.

2:22:40 Black has king E6, rooks G2 and C1.

2:22:50 Okay.

2:22:48 Pawns on A3, B6 and F5.

2:22:53 B6 F5.

2:22:54 Okay.

2:22:56 So, black is an exchange and the pawn up.

2:23:00 Correct.

2:23:00 And it's white to move A3.

2:23:02 B6 F5.

2:23:04 Correct.

2:23:04 That's That's just M2.

2:23:07 Wait, am I hallucinating something or it's just mate in two?

2:23:11 Yeah.

2:23:12 The key king f7 E6 is mate.

2:23:15 You actually solved it faster than I did and I'm looking at the puzzle.

2:23:20 In fact, it is made into That's exactly right.

2:23:22 You basically solved it as fast as I could set it up verbally.

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2:24:48 This is the chess.com uh king of the hill

2:24:52 championship and we are down to three players.

2:24:56 One of them gets to watch on as to the the last

2:25:01 two uh challenge one another for the grand final spot.

2:25:06 Bevesh Bahayan is the big favorite to win this event right

2:25:09 now because he will have two lives in the grand final.

2:25:14 But Demetrian Draken and Toyu Kynan wants to have

2:25:20 uh some say in the winner of the championship.

2:25:25 I'm Yun Ludhammer and I'm joined by Benjamin Bo and we

2:25:29 use the break to discuss who is the favorite right now.

2:25:34 And Benjamin, I mean, if you don't mind me revealing what you said,

2:25:41 you you still think Andre can take this down?

2:25:44 I think so.

2:25:45 Yeah.

2:25:46 I mean, we saw him earlier.

2:25:47 He was leading in the match against Toyo.

2:25:49 Toyo managed to come back.

2:25:52 Uh that being said, the winner of this match will have to beat Bavves twice.

2:25:56 And Bveesh has been in great shape so far.

2:26:01 And uh Toyville now doing a London Catalan mashup

2:26:09 and Andre sticking to that Stonewallesque uh strategy which you

2:26:16 must be liking Benjamin as you've been calling on the players

2:26:20 to push their F pawns forward on multiple occasions.

2:26:25 I mean often, you know, you want to grab some space,

2:26:28 get that path going for the king.

2:26:30 Knight C6.

2:26:31 Interesting move here.

2:26:32 But yes, this setup by Toyo is really interesting.

2:26:36 What do you make of him putting that bishop on F4?

2:26:40 Uh, by interesting, do you mean terrible?

2:26:46 I mean, unconventional, right?

2:26:48 So, it could be good, could be bad.

2:26:50 I mean, you keep saying these kind of s

2:26:53 these words that is trying to kind of soften the blow.

2:26:57 So, let me come in with some blunt harsh reality.