Shadowing Practice: Master the Trompowsky Attack & Win in 7 Moves (No Prep Needed) - Learn English Speaking with Video

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This opening can destroy your opponents quickly, sometimes in just 7 moves.

I'm Grandmaster Igor Smyrnov and I'm talking about the so -called Trompowski attack.

Here you start off with a Queen's pawn move and your opponent will usually play d5 or Nf6,

but regardless, your setup is always the same this move Bg5.

And that is why I love it, it's very simple and universal, plus it's also great for blitz because it confuses your opponent right away.

Usually they begin to think right here.

And on top of this, it's not just a cheap opening trick, it is actually a setup and it's used by grandmasters.

I'll show you in a moment how Judith Polgar was checkmated in 10 moves here.

Let's say your opponent wants to counter strike, he goes knight e4 and now counter attacks your bishop,

but you just solidify it and protect it with your pawn.

Now this bishop is still annoying, for example notice

that in all of these lines black cannot easily move

this pawn forward as they usually do in the queen's gambit because their queen will be lost.

But of course it seems very easy and this knight is kind of shaky anyway because you can potentially attack it,

Black will just trade off your version.

Well, looks good, but on the other hand, you got this massive advantage.

Now your rook became active on its original position, but your opponent is still optimistic.

He goes e6, which allows him to attack this advanced and a little bit isolated pawn right there on g5.

But you play another sudden move, pawn to g6.

What are you even doing here?

Black can obviously capture me, right?

It's not that simple.

If I captures with the h pawn, that would be a major blunder of his rook on h8, and yet sometimes that happens.

Of course, most of your opponents will instead capture by this pawn, which is not a blunder,

and now it's not even clear what have you achieved so far, but stick around.

So we go e3, your opponent develops somehow, and then you continue with development of this bishop.

And at this point, your opponent already needs to be very, very careful, because if he plays any usual move, like develops a knight plays d5

or infernels you already have a tactical trick bishop takes g6

and this wins the game you attack the king but black still cannot take it because of the same

pain of his opponent he's gonna lose the rook right there therefore that's not an option let's take it back

but of course your opponent played bishop is on getting ready to castle

and that looks like the best option for black right completely wrong

because now that counts the favorite part of our Igor nation, don't judge a rook by its cover,

suddenly that's rook takes h7 sacrifice and it wins the game.

And it really blew my mind when I saw it for the first time, because it looks like black just did everything right so far,

and yet got destroyed.

I'm not even sure how to explain that, but somehow this attack works.

Black captures it, and now you totally confuse your opponent by throwing your queen right here.

Your opponent thinks you're crazy, right?

What the heck?

He can just capture it.

But then his king starts to blush, because king realizes that this little pawn is not intelligent enough to realize

that it is pinned and it cannot move and the king is embarrassed

and has to retreat back but now you capture this pawn creating this checkmating net

that your opponent really has a hard time getting out of because even

if he tries to provide some escape square for the king it's very easy to chase the king down

and just to check mate it to all my brothers in gambits

sometimes you ask me in comments igor it's all good

but will it work if i'm rated 1500

or whatever rating you're at let me show you a game where judith polgar faced this opening as black

and it's a really fun thing

so memdarov is playing white another top grandmaster judith realized

that this thing is annoying played knight to e4 just like we discussed

and so far we talked about h4 really cool

and tricky line memdarov chose an even simpler option bishop h4

now what can black do now well this bishop is still pinning this pawn right can't ever move.

Therefore, she just played pawn to d5, and now f3 kicks this knight back.

She didn't want to retreat back to f6, because then it would be once again under this influence of your bishop,

decided to put it to this safe square on d6, but now knight c3 hits the pawn, and again, black still cannot move this pawn,

because that would blunder the queen, right?

So our bishop is really tricky here, but of course, she's not going to blunder it.

She plays pawn to c6, just defending it now e4 and

and just look at how wide is taking over within just a couple moves how easy

it is to bamboozle your opponent now we're attacking this pawn threatening to push the ball forward

and sure black could potentially trade in the center she didn't

because then what is having a totally dominant position grabbing the center having easy development

and black is just struggling instead she decided to try to find back

and played queen b6 hitting this pawn on b2 but maybe darov stayed cool, just played queen to d2,

saying, hey, if you want to round a round, wasting time with your queen just to get one little pawn,

no problem, you'll fall way behind in development, and it's good for me.

She realized that it's probably not a right strategy, and this pawn is still hanging, therefore she just played pawn to e6, and our castle.

Now what can black do?

Again, we used to think that our knight is our tricky pieces, but in this case, your bishop is kind of really annoying.

Like, black can now develop normally because you would simply capture it.

Buy your bishop right here and force the king to move.

Black does not want this.

What if black played this move?

she didn't in the game but i'll show you why right because in this case white can trade

black needs to be careful

because the king is right here in the center of the

board probably black would wish to capture with this pawn so

that this one stands as a shield

but white can unlock it with knight takes d5 this brutal sacrifice

and then something like rook to e1

and again our bishop cuts the king off and it's almost a checkmate and white is winning polga realized that she

She traded in the center

and then played queen to a5 trying to put pressure on white a little bit slowed down white's attack.

It looks like she's playing weird moves, but in fact, it's not the case.

She just calculated that normal moves don't work and she's looking for options.

Now, knight to d7 so far feels the black little bit stabilized and yet at this point, Memudarov played the decisive winning move.

Now I'll give you a couple seconds, you may try to find it on your own.

and the move is knight to d5.

It's really funny how despite of all the effort black struggled to get out of the opening really.

One of the top 10 players in the world among men is having a hard time there.

White is sacrificing the knight and opens up this attack and

if black's queen moves anywhere for example counters right here then knight to c zone is a sneaky checkmate.

By the way, if you can solve tactics and puzzles that miss them in your own games,

this is exactly what I explained in my free masterclass, the link is below.

What about black's most usual move, pawn to d5?

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You still develop your bishop, just as always, in the Trampovsky attack, and here there is one fun fact.

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In this position, over 800 ,000 people played here pawn to e6 as black, blundering their queen in one move.

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I'm not really sure what happened, maybe they pre -moved this expecting usual queen's gambit.

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But anyway, that's quite fun.

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Now, of course, most players will not blunder the queen.

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They'll play something like knight to f6.

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And then you can take it and double black's pawns.

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Now here, advanced players in such positions sometimes capture with a g pawn.

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But that is kind of dangerous.

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Black really needs to understand how to handle this situation.

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Because for their king, it's going to be hard to stay safe.

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Black certainly would not want to castle kinside because that position is already exposed.

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And for beginner to intermediate players, this is something hard to handle.

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That's why the majority will recapture with this pawn, still expecting just normal development after that.

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And now you play pawn to e3, black develops, and then you play pawn to c4, putting pressure down black center.

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Now black could try to either defend this pawn or trade.

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Now trading is the easiest option if black tries defending it.

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Then after this exchange, this pawn on d5 is isolated

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and you can keep attacking it because notice there are no other pawns of black that could possibly support that central pawn.

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Well, you can keep putting more pressure.

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You can also develop the bishop this way and add one more attacker and it becomes annoying.

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Therefore, that's not really the best way for black and the easiest way is just to trade off pawns,

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then you recapture and so far it looks like just a normal position and it is quite normal.

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They play usually c6 here controlling some squares so

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that your pieces cannot go there and now throw bishop g4 pinning your knight.

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Again, looks like it's about to be a normal chess game, but there is a very powerful attacking plan here.

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Pawn to h3, and this plan was suggested by a computer because it sounds slightly unusual,

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you know, but as I kind of dived deeper into it, I realized that it's really, really strong.

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Now h3, you attack this bishop.

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Usually they'll drop back to maintain the pin.

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If they capture here, you could recapture with the queen in a normal way, or even ultra -aggressive pawn capture, putting your rook right here,

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then later casting queen side and just trying to checkmate black's skin quickly.

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This can be very dangerous.

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Now, if instead the bishop retreats back to h5, then you keep pushing with g4

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and you're almost winning the game right here with this super straightforward and aggressive attack on the king side,

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which is very hard for black to stop.

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Because right now it looks like there is no big danger, you just weakened your position for no big reason black will develop

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now you take on g6 they cannot recapture by this pawn

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because of your worship it's pinned they recapture this way having this nice square of pawns

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and then you keep pushing with h4 h5 opening lines for your rook right there

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and aiming to checkmate the king

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that way again black will do whatever you keep playing h5

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and now if they allow you to trade the h pawn and to open up the file for your rook,

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that'll be very dangerous for black real quick.

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If they try to keep it close, which might be a better option, there is another little trick here.

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You play queen c2, pretending like you just want to castle queenside.

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And while that's part of the plan, there is also another hidden idea behind it.

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If black plays virtually anything, let's say b5, they want to attack you as well, you can ignore that and play pawn to h6.

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And now that's really strong.

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Your idea is to trade off these pawns and then play queen to h7 checkmate, right?

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So let's say like captures here, you take and then queen h7 checkmate because of your rook.

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That's how it goes.

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Now, another question is, hey, but what if black tries to keep it closed?

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You can turn your middle game into your opponent's end game by playing queen takes g6,

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a very sudden move, and black cannot capture because of this pin, therefore the king must move, but then queen g7 checkmate.

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Another question you may have is, what if black tries to attack this bishop somehow by playing f6 or h6?

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Yes, black can, you will certainly retreat the bishop back, and if they keep chasing which is actually the most played move in the position.

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Sure, they push their bishop back, but at the cost of weakening their pawn structure on the king side.

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And after that, casting king side would be dangerous.

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You will always have an idea of pushing your pawn to h4 and weakening this pawn structure even more.

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And also, you know, open up this file for your rook.

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And therefore, again, it's kind of dangerous and black really needs to understand how to follow up.

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Therefore, for beginner to intermediate level players, these kind of advancements are usually very risky.

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So let's say that continues their development, you can even blow up the center with pawn to e4.

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At first black ball you think, hey, wait a second, this pawn is just hanging, right?

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I can capture it.

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But it's not that simple, because simultaneously you've cleared these diagonal for your queen,

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and now it forces the black king to go into this really awkward and exposed position on d7.

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You can keep attacking with pawn to d5, this time hitting the knight, and then you just complete your development, knight c3, threatens the pawn,

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getting ready to castle queen side and overall again it's just

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so awkward for black to have all these pieces right here

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and especially that king

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which is in such a big danger flag tries to trade off queens hoping to slow down your attack

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that way then you continue with this left hook

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and black is done they may still try to resist by pawn to c6

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but after the trade since classical tutorials suggest

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that you castle in an opening you can do just that

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but in this case it's not just castling that's a winning move

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because it also comes with a check and as the king moves

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that leaves this queen on e8 unprotected you can go ahead

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and grab it with a bunch of threats and an easily winning attack

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if you're facing a more sophisticated opponent they may play something like this preparing their kingside knight development

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so that now you cannot take it and double their pawns

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because they have this other knight protecting this knight on f6 therefore you should not take it right here

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that would be just a waste of time.

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Instead, you have another plan.

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You can continue with a setup very similar to the London system.

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That is why it's easy for you to play it, and your position is super solid here.

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But there's a difference.

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In the traditional London system, your dark squared bishop is placed here on f4, while right now you have it here.

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It does not seem like a big difference, but you can find a way to make use of it.

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You can land your knight on e5 at some point, and this knight is very strong, it's putting pressure all around, it's annoying for black.

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If black does nothing special, plays whatever neutral move, you can also solidify this knight by playing pawn to f4 and that is another key difference.

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Notice that this move would not be possible if you had your bishop standing there, but that's not the case and you have f4 being available.

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And now you have this stonewall system, but at a much more improved version of it with your bishop up there on g5, putting pressure.

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This knight really strong on e5.

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And sure, black can trade it, but there is always a disadvantage for black in doing so.

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Let me actually take it back, and let me show you what if black takes here on e5 right away.

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Yes, he can, but now you recapture, and there is one really detrimental thing for black that happens here.

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It pushes this knight out of f6, and it has to retreat somewhere back, because your pieces take away these two squares by your queen,

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your knight and bishop are controlling this one on e4, and therefore the knight has to go somewhere back.

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In this case, yes, you can trade bishops, that is also fine, or you can even keep it right there.

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But the main issue is that the king is now left undefended.

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There are no defenders around the king.

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And there are many ways for you to continue your attack.

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You can even throw your queen somewhere there, right away.

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And together with your two bishops, that is already getting dangerous.

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Or you can play h4.

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I'll show you one game real quick.

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That was a lot of fun.

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Initially, Black thought maybe she just wants to play something like this, but that doesn't seem dangerous.

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But suddenly White sacrificed the bishop.

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What is that?

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Black, of course, has to capture it.

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Now Qh5 comes with a check.

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The king has to retreat back and now knight to f3.

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The knight is rushing into the attack, going to g5 and then Qh7 checkmate.

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Black desperately tries to slow it down, but white goes there anyway.

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Knight to g5, threatening checkmate by the queen.

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Sure, that is the sacrifice of the knight, but after the recapture, we have seen this motif before,

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your rook on h1 is now getting active and is now enjoying your attack.

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You want to play something like g6 and then queen to h8 or h7 checkmate.

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And if black tries to somehow slow it down or trade off a little bit of pieces, that's actually a forced checkmate.

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You can go inside and then continue with pawn to g6, pulling the key out, and then queen h5 is a quick checkmate.

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If you want to be able to find tactics in your own games, my free master class is linked down below.

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And if you want to know the three main rules to prevent most of the blunders in your games, head to this video right here.

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It's going to be very useful.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Master the Trompowsky Attack & Win in 7 Moves”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: pawn, knight, bishop, queen, king. This video has 226 sentences and 3131 words to shadow. The speech runs for 15:04. The speaker talks fast, about 208 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
pawn noun	/ˈpɔːn/	The most numerous chess piece, or a similar piece in a similar game. In chess, each side starts with eight; moves are only forward, and attacks are only…
knight noun	/ˈnaɪ̯t/	An armored and mounted warrior of the Middle Ages.
bishop noun	/ˈbɪʃəp/	An overseer of congregations: either any such overseer, generally speaking, or (in Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism, etc.) an official in the church…
capture verb	/ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/	To take control of; to seize by force or stratagem.
opponent noun	/əˈpəʊ.nənt/	One who opposes another; one who works or takes a position against someone or something; one who attempts to stop the progress of someone or something.
castle noun	/ˈkɑːsəl/	A large residential building or compound that is fortified and contains many defences; in previous ages often inhabited by a nobleman or king. Also, a house or…
retreat noun	/ɹɪˈtɹiːt/	The act of pulling back or withdrawing, as from something dangerous, or unpleasant.
sacrifice noun	/ˈsæk.ɹɪ.faɪs/	Originally, the killing (and often burning) of a human being or an animal as an offering to a deity; later, also the offering of an object to a deity.
pin noun	/pɪn/	A needle without an eye (usually) made of drawn-out steel wire with one end sharpened and the other flattened or rounded into a head, used for fastening.
trick noun	/ˈtɹɪk/	Something designed to fool, dupe, outsmart, mislead or swindle.
defend verb	/dɪˈfɪnd/	To ward off attacks against (something or someone).
tricky adjective	/ˈtɹɪk.i/	Hard to deal with, complicated.
threaten verb	/ˈθɹɛt.n̩/	To make a threat against someone; to use threats.
chase verb	/t͡ʃeɪs/	To follow at speed.
sudden adjective	/ˈsʌd.ən/	Occurring quickly with little or no warning or expectation; instantly.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
open up verb		To open.
get out of verb		To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of.
slow down verb		To decelerate.
blow up verb		To explode or be destroyed by explosion.
follow up verb		To take further actions remaining after an event; to continue, revisit, or persist; especially, to maintain communication or verify.
go ahead verb	/ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/	To proceed with; to begin.
stick around verb		To stay; to linger; to remain.
take away verb	/ˌteɪk əˈweɪ/	To remove something and put it in a different place.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

What are you even doing here?
Your opponent thinks you're crazy, right?
I'll show you one game real quick.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was checkmated · will be lost · is pinned
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have you achieved · you've cleared · have seen
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	pawn, which is · chasing which is

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 27 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, I'll, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: bishop /ˈbɪʃəp/, capture /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, rush /ɹʌʃ/, unusual /ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/
Long words — get the stress right: potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, intermediate /ɪn.tə(ɹ)ˈmi.di.ət/, universal /ˌjunəˈvɜɹs(ə)l/, unusual /ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/, intelligent /ɪnˈtɛlɪd͡ʒənt/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like pawn, knight, bishop.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Master the Trompowsky Attack & Win in 7 Moves (No Prep Needed) - Learn English Speaking with Video

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