Shadowing Practice: NEW CHESS MOVE: SPECTACULAR - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Ladies and gentlemen, whenever any of us finish a game on chess.com and click on game review,
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we desperately hope for that little blue circle with the two exclamation points to show us a little number beside it.
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Usually it's zero.
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But every now and then, people get a brilliant move.
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Yet I think there should be a category above that.
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for moves that are so heinous, so ridiculous, so spectacular.
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I don't know if we call them ridiculous, spectacular, breathtaking, godly, genius, whatever.
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And I will be showing you one of those moves today in a game that probably none of you have seen before.
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And in, yeah, that's it.
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That's the introduction.
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Let's get into it.
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This game is going to feature two players whose names are going to be fun to pronounce throughout the entire video.
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I think it's Maciej Klikowski from Poland and Vaclav.
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And if I'm getting either of them or both of them wrong throughout the next 20 minutes, I'm really sorry.
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But, you know, I'm trying my best.
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This was a game played in a leagues tournament.
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Every country, really most countries in Europe have a league.
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Polish, Czech, German, Swedish, Austrian, like there's a bajillion leagues over there.
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And in this game, actually technically the player with white is not yet a grandmaster, which I actually should fix.
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He's an international master, even though his rating is 2600.
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He is just waiting for the official Congress to come out.
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So this was a gameplay, D4, knight of six, knight of three, E6.
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Black is already a grandmaster, but actually white is higher rated by 100 points.
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We have a normal opening Queen's pawn game.
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G3 played by White looking for Bishop G2 and short castle.
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B6 looking to develop the bishop to counteract on this diagonal.
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Bishop G2 played Bishop B7 castles and Bishop B7.
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And it's clear that, you know, Black is going to do the very same.
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This is known as the Indian game, but it's, you know, once White plays C4, also taking some space here, it's going to transpose to a Queen's Indian.
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It's just that White has not actually played the move C4.
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Now, here it is, and this is a variation that has been played many, many, many times.
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Many times.
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And here, white generally tries to play e4 and maybe tries to play d5.
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And black obviously has very good control against that, although this bishop is a lot less stable than this bishop because this bishop has nothing protecting it.
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Like, if the knight were to move, black would be under a threat, whereas white would not be under a threat.
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And there are some moments where you have checkmating ideas, for example, if black is not careful.
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The historic main line is knight to c3, and then black immediately trades the knights and sometimes plays f5 and develops the bishop and does something like this.
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White goes rook e1, which is, I think, the modern main line.
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And now we have knight to e4 anyway, which is completely playable in this position.
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Black can play other things, but knight to e4 is in the spirit of the position.
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And Václav plays knight f to d2, and now we obviously see this whole concept.
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If you take on d2, I'm actually not going to take this.
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I'm going to take this, and you are going to lose.
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And that is how the game concluded.
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Shocking.
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See you guys in the next video.
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Get out of here.
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No, just kidding.
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D5 is the move that Black chooses.
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I mean, I hope you understand.
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Three minutes into a video like this, there's no brilliant move.
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You need to have some attention span, okay?
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You cannot be looking around for distractions or on your phone, sitting on the couch, watching three screens at the same time.
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I'm projecting.
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I've been doing that during the World Cup.
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Takes, takes.
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And White goes Nc3, targeting the pawn on e4.
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And Black plays this nice move, f5.
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Now Black's position here, is very non-standard.
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Black has negated the development of the knight.
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Black has weakened squares around the king.
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Black is anchoring the knight on e4 with two central pawns, which looks dicey, right?
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That looks like it could collapse at a moment's notice.
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The queen is going to come out here pinning the pawn, rendering this defense useless.
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Probably after queen v3, you have to play something like king h8.
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It's a messy position.
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It's a messy position.
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White thinks for a little bit, plays knight back 203.
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Václav is completely on his own, by the way.
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I think after knight fd2 and then d5 and then taking, he was already thinking on his own.
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In fact, this move in and of itself, he was thinking on his own.
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I guess he wasn't prepared for knight e4, followed by d5 f5.
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Maybe he wasn't prepared for the Queen's Indian.
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Regardless from the opening, it is clearly black who has won the opening battle.
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And now, you know, here you can just develop your pieces.
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You can probably play knight d7.
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You can even play knight to c6, knight a5 in some positions to counteract a plan like this.
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Then you have to decide if you're going to put this pawn on c5, etc. He goes knight d7, thinking for 8 minutes.
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White goes queen b3, attacking this pawn.
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And black plays this nice move, king h8, which is a cool move.
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You give away this pawn on d5 completely.
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And the point is that after knight takes d5, you have this nice counter knight c5.
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And so you're threatening the knight and the queen.
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And after dc5, bishop here, the queen's hanging and the pawn's hanging.
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And that's easy.
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So white goes bishop f4.
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Clearly uncomfortable.
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Down 25 minutes on the clock, you know, still kind of trying to look for some ideas of how to pressure Black's queenside,
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but walking directly into the hidden ideas of Black's position, which are absolutely vicious, G5.
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That's pretty gangster.
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This is modern chess.
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Just D5, F5, G5.
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You would never see this type of chess 60 years ago in the mid-20th century when, you know, positional play was the norm.
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the most dynamic players of that time, you know, were tall, and they were kind of considered aliens, their type of chess, right?
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So, very dynamic play.
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White immediately justifying the positioning of the king here and giving a check, giving up the bishop pair to black and playing knight takes e5.
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Now the position still is balanced because ultimately nobody's done anything too stupid yet.
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There's not too many threats in the position.
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So black is going to have to now start making some progress to continue to knock down the white pieces.
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White is, you know, very solid.
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Structure is looking very good.
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Bishop f6 played here.
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c5 is next.
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If I'm playing this position with white, I probably bring a rook at some point to anticipate the opening of the center of the board.
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If the center opens, my rook will be a lot more powerful.
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That's what he plays.
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And now queen d6, which targets the knight.
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Also prepares to bring your own rooks.
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Just be careful, don't hang this.
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a6 will always be useful c6 is always useful c6 and then moving the bishop somewhere maybe.
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Position is very tense.
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Very, very tense.
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Black doesn't really want to grab this pawn because it would open the floodgates for white's counterplay.
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White doesn't really want to play f3 because if you play f3, maybe you're detonating a little bit too much.
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Anyway, white goes e3, which is just a nice waiting move, stabilizing the center.
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Maybe the bishop is going to have a passage in the future.
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d4 is always going to be protected.
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You know, maybe the knight could go to e2.
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Maybe you can play knight to e2 and then f3.
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That also could be an idea to try to trap this knight.
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Black goes c5.
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Now, the thing about the move c5 is logically it makes sense.
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The problem with c5, though, after this move e3, is that it's actually white who is ready to open the position and not black.
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You would think that the person with the two bishops wants to open the position.
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Yes, in theory.
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But the person that has way too many weaknesses to take care of might not want to open the position.
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Look at white's pawn structure.
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Incredibly solid.
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Almost every pawn on a dark square, which complements the light squared bishop.
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And so white's structure is very intact.
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Everything is kind of coordinated.
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Black is kind of, you know, hanging on.
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What is this?
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Like getting by the seat of their pants?
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Something like that.
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I don't know.
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Like everything is overextended.
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You really were not supposed to run out to the front lines with everybody.
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And now four out of your seven pawns are clashing in the middle.
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It's going to be very difficult for all of the pieces to hold everything together.
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Knight to b5 is the move chosen by Vaclav here attacking the queen.
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And Macha goes queen e7.
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continuing to hit this and also defending the center.
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But now the knight is going to be kicked out.
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And this is the first bit of progress that white has made in the game.
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The knight is going to have to depart the position and come back.
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White is probably going to trade.
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And now I got to tell you from this point, I love white's position.
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Just visually, everything looks like it makes sense here.
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White is not winning, but everything looks like it makes sense.
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Why?
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Well, again, everything is on a dark square and just everything in the center is anchored.
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It's like a checker's position.
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Like, everything is guarding everything else.
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This knight is completely beautiful.
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It's on as much of an outpost as you can get.
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An outpost is really a square in an opponent's position where, you know, you can plant a knight or any piece, frankly, and from where it's very difficult to remove,
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and that knight is exerting pressure on everything, and it's not as easy to take it.
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You take this, the position will go from 0.3 to, like, 2 plus 2 very quickly.
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Even more than plus 2, plus 3, because after this, there's just, you know, unstoppable pressure on your pawn.
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This pawn is promoting.
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So you have to be very careful here.
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Black takes on d4.
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This is not a good transformation.
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I mean, a lot of people here cannot maintain the tension correctly.
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I think this is a very difficult position.
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If anything, black is supposed to go c4 here completely shut down the position for the remainder of the game.
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I mean, obviously you have to defend this.
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And then if white goes here, you have to play like b5, bishop a6, and just sort of hold on.
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This is incorrect because this transformation, White's position is just too solid now.
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Now both guys are going to rotate their play to the C file, and White is just having a field day.
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I mean, this is an excellent position.
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Black opts for taking both of these pawns, probably thinking that in the long run, F4 is weak.
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But no, it is only Black here who suffers.
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Rook to C8 is a normal move.
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White plays KH1, gets off of this diagonal, if anything opens, gets off of the G file.
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And the King is completely saved.
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The Bishop is going to be able to move.
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F5 is weak.
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D5 is going to be weak.
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what's the worst piece in the black position?
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That same bishop.
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That queen's Indian bishop from the beginning of the game.
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Now, the brilliant move is coming.
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The brilliant move is coming.
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Obviously, players of this caliber don't just blunder all their pieces.
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Just be a little bit patient.
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You know, the game is developing.
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We got to get to the moment.
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We got to get to the spiciest moment here.
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So, what do we do?
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Rook c7.
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We protect the entire seventh rank.
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We are looking maybe to double income in this way or maybe double income in this way.
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We actually don't know.
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We are ready to go at a moment's notice anywhere we're also covering f7
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so that this rook can just move in general.
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Rook g1.
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And here, Maché just decides, I gotta go for something.
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I mean, if I continue to do nothing, my opponent's just gonna continue to make improving moves.
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He goes to take the knight.
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That's a massive decision because the only advantage that black had in the position, the only one, was the bishop pair, and now the bishop pair is gone.
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But apparently, in this particular moment, taking with the d-pawn was wrong.
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Apparently here you needed to take with the F pawn, not the D pawn.
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You would think you want to open up the rook, but in this case it was bringing the queen to the middle
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and then bringing this rook to the F file
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and actually switching the target to the F pawn that would have given white a very, very, very strong advantage.
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And somehow taking with this pawn is wrong because you've left yourself with a target on F4.
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And this is the issue.
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And the other issue is, by taking with the d-pawn, you enabled the black d-pawn to move forward, which would result in a trade of bishops,
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and clearly it would be black who is happier with the trade of the bishops.
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That bishop is terrible, terrible bishop, but this will actually give black chances, whereas this would have given black no chances.
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It would have left black with a very bad bishop in the long run, and honestly, this position could be included in a positional decision-making book.
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It really could, you know.
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Dxc5 is the move played, and we have Qh6.
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And now white goes Qe3, and the players begin a huge battle.
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So we have Qe6 back, defensive, maybe unnecessary.
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Maybe Rg7 active defense would have been better.
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This is very passive defense.
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White plays Qa3, looking to target this, looking also to target the rook.
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Don't blunder the rook.
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Rook d8 played.
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You can't take this, though, because you would get your queen trapped.
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So Rook d4, not allowing black to come forward with the dpawn and trade the pieces.
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Rook g7, and now white is a little bit stuck.
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What is white going to do?
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He goes here, and he opts for a trade of rooks.
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And now we're going to have queen, rook, bishop, queen, rook, and bishop on the same complex.
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White has a protected pass pawn.
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White has a very clear target.
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White has the much better pawn structure.
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Four out of five pawns on the dark squares.
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The light squared bishop actually is doing something here.
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Rook g8 check.
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King goes back to h1, but suddenly it's not so clear.
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suddenly in all of the complications, it is actually black who is using the weakness of the white king against him
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and maybe is getting back into the game.
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And the brilliant move is coming.
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It's going to be upon us very, very soon.
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Queen to d3, and suddenly black is better.
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Black is better.
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Queen goes back to d1, and Maché grabs a pawn.
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We are in a mutual time scramble.
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Black is just a pawn up.
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If you take this pawn, you will lose.
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I will take, and I will play queen g2 mate.
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And this is a position where king safety is actually the deciding factor between who has an advantage.
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Now it's also material, but it's also king safety.
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King safety was the entire reason white's positional advantage fell apart.
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White goes e6.
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This is a roll of the dice.
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You are looking for some sort of queen e5 check business.
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Maybe d5 is going to be weak in the long run.
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You're also looking to promote and get this rook off of the g-file.
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Queen f2, a nasty move.
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This is a nasty move to face in this type of position because, you know, it hits everything.
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You think you're going to be blundering a checkmate, and when you immediately make a mistake after that, you know, it kind of makes sense.
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Now, e7 is always there, and also Qa1 check is there, which is why black plays Rg7, which is a move that just completely shunts down white's counterplay.
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Rg7 is just kind of like playing tennis.
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You hit the ball back, and now the opponent doesn't have a move.
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It's hard to move the rook up.
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It's hard to move the queen anywhere.
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d4 is always kind of lurking in this position.
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This is a position where people blunder.
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Queen a1, and now the king is extracted from the corner.
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He's going to walk the king to f8 to be closer to this pawn, to be out of the way of any counterplay, and to potentially win this pawn, frankly, not even just to be closer to stop it, right?
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Queen goes back to d1.
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The king has gone to f8.
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White is out of moves.
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White doesn't know what to do.
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He has 39 seconds here to make a move, and he plays the losing move.
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I'm going to turn off the evaluation bar Rook C3 and in this position something could have been played that was not
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think of it like this you can set yourself a timer for 80 seconds here if you'd like Rook C3 appears
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clearly there is some intention to get down over here
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when you get this move and you have a minute
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and 20 seconds right away you think is there a threat There is no threat.
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So then you start thinking, what are my possible moves?
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Well, if I play the move d4, which looks very natural to attack the rook, my opponent is going to play bishop takes bishop, and I'm probably going to take the rook,
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but I can't do that because queen d8 is literally mate and one.
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It just ends the game on the spot.
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So you're like, d4 take, rook takes.
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Okay, but then there's rook c8 check, which just looks unpleasant.
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I have to bring my king up.
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Now my rook is blocked out of the game.
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King e7, I'm not so sure about that position.
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Maybe the rook is going to go to h8 in that position.
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Maybe, I don't know, but I don't want my rook to go over to b7.
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Okay, d4 is out.
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So what do I do here?
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Maybe I play, I don't know what I play, because if I play rook e7, I'm getting my rook off the g file.
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Queen b2, by the way, that's already been a minute.
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You have 20 seconds remaining.
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It's not easy to make a move.
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In the game, black went here, which was fine.
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That was the move.
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And then the game proceeded.
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But there's something so cool here.
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Which, depending on the depth of your computer, it doesn't even see.
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It doesn't even see the winning move here.
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Your computer has to be set to a certain depth.
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The move is d4.
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But I just said bishop takes bishop, rook takes bishop, some sort of rook move or maybe rook c8 check.
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and you can't take the rook.
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So what am I talking about?
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Well, after bishop takes bishop, if you follow the age-old wisdom of always look for checks, you will find some checks here.
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You will find queen f1, queen g2, queen h2, queen f3, queen g1, rook g1.
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But every single one of those checks loses almost all of your pieces.
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I know.
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you have to play rook g1 check.
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Or queen g1.
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And the point is, after takes, takes, takes, then you take.
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And the pawn cannot be stopped.
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And this pawn can be stopped.
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A couple of moves ago, Maché made this decision to walk the king over, and that was completely genius.
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he absolutely had the intuition
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that the king would need to be the one stopping the pawn so the rook could stay busy.
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Rc3d4 ends the game on the spot.
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It also ends the game on the spot because of the backup idea of Rd3, Bf3, and you win here because if Rf3,
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Qg2 is made, and if Qf3, anything to g1 is made.
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It's the move that is screaming to be played.
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But unless you spot the transition to the winning endgame with the pawn on f5 stopping the bishop, that's just how it works out,
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you won't find this move.
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And he didn't find this move in the game.
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After Rc3, he went Qb2, and then he went queen a3 and he stayed busy
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and white went rook g2 and he got the rook over and then, you know, the rook went over this way to try to go rook c1
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and he played rook back to g1 and here the queen needed to re-centralize itself on e3 hitting this and this.
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That actually would have been decisive but honestly, I can see yourself trying to play a move like this and you're a little bit spooked.
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You're like not sure, you know, if there's going to be counterplay.
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What he ultimately went for in the game is still good.
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It was to sacrifice the queen and then to play d4
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and to force a rook endgame where he has an extra pawn.
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Like, you know, as a grandmaster, you're like, well, I'm obviously winning in this rook endgame.
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He actually needed to go here first.
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And the reason he needed to go here is that after rook e1, this is a better version of what happens in the game.
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In the game, we got this exact position, except the rook was on g1, so it went to g5.
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Whereas here, if the rook, let's say, went to, you know, like e5 or something, you would play king e7 here.
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and this is similar to, I think, what happens in the game, actually, but Rg5, yeah, Black needed to go Ke7, but actually, oh, you can't go Ke7.
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That's the difference.
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The difference is that in the game with the Rook on the G file in that position, there is no Ke7.
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That's the difference.
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So he had to force the Rook to E and then do this, because here you can bring the King and very quickly join your pawn like this, and you just win here.
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You win because Rook e7 is there and you're quickly promoting.
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What happened in the game is he simplified too quickly and thought this was winning, but now he was unable to bring the king forward because of rook g7.
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That is so crazy, like that difference of the positioning of the rooks.
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So he just went to push his pawn, and then he got his rook here, and the king here, because now here,
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here, here wouldn't work, because this rook endgames are extremely tricky, extremely complicated, very tactical at times,
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and ultimately we got this endgame where black is still probably
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playing for a win due to having what it feels like
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is an extra pawn i mean this feels like an extra pawn on this side
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and the king is always going to take
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and the king is insanely passive now here white i mean is
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so close to losing it's incredible like a5 here you know you want to go rookie two
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and cut the king off but you can't
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and in this position black should just take i don't think he wanted to take because he was afraid of this, and he was worried that his king would be,
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his rook would be too passive, but this is winning.
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This is winning because what you do here is you walk your king over and you just promote the pawns.
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It's just that you win.
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And even grandmasters overthink things.
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I mean, you think about this position, you're like, wait a minute, why did he go rookie four?
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Like, you know, you have a 1000 rated player that's like, I'm not going to take the pawn.
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I'm going to attack it with my rook.
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I always joke, like, I always make a joke, if you can take it, the better thing to do is just attack it with another piece, which sometimes beginners do.
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But I think he just overthought it.
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He wanted to meet this move with this move, and even that is apparently not even good, which I don't even understand.
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But we got rook h3, and the boys now have to play another endgame in a time scramble, and even though this position is up a pawn for black,
366
it's getting closer and closer to a draw.
367
Ultimately, being a pawn up in a rook endgame doesn't matter if the other side has an active king and rook.
368
The reason that black was winning at all here is because White's king was so passive, and black was so active on top of that material advantage, but slowly he gets pushed back.
369
The technique is not there.
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The king and the pawn are now very clumsy, and this was maybe the last moment here.
371
Black needed to go a4, and then a3 and rook b2.
372
That was the winning idea.
373
He went rook b2 right away, and he allows the counterpunch a4.
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One punch, 60 moves into the game, and the game is over because this is just a draw.
375
So he probably thought Rook A5 and he can still keep playing, and that is true.
376
But he needed to play, instead of Rook B2, he needed to play A4.
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A4 shuts down the option to play A4, and now Black is yet again winning because after Rook to D2, you can play KH3, H4, A3, Rook B2, and slowly White just runs out of moves.
378
White just can't protect the entire second rank.
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So Black had multiple chances in this game to win, but as a 2600 feet A rated player should do, Václav defended in a very tricky manner and this is just a draw.
380
This is a draw.
381
The king and the rook here restrict the black king from getting out of the way.
382
There is nothing you can do.
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Very well-known draw.
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You will never ever do anything here, and after 79 moves, the boys made a draw,
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but I have never seen a sequence like that in a classical game, as far as I remember.
386
An opportunity to give away all of your pieces,
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d4, and it has nothing to do with the rook or the bishop.
388
Well, I guess it has a little bit to do with the rook.
389
But before you take the rook, you have to sacrifice everything, every piece, and you just win.
390
It's just, it's so nasty.
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Just as a cruel game, really cruel.
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And, you know, you spend like four or five hours battling somebody.
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You make a draw, your rating doesn't change whatsoever, and you come away with it like, I just missed an absolutely generational tactic.
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And that's chess, and that's why we all play.
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That's all I have for you today.
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I hope you enjoyed this video.
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As always, get yourself a signed pre-order of How to Win a Chess Next Level.
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If you haven't already, check out the tickets for the European Tour.
399
Can't wait.
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October, November, 2026.
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I will see you all very soon in Köln, Antwerp.
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Getting announced very soon.
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Zurich, Amsterdam, London.
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See you there.
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Going to be a very fun last few months of the year.
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And get out of here.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “NEW CHESS MOVE: SPECTACULAR”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: rook, pawn, bishop, position, knight. This video has 406 sentences and 4668 words to shadow. The speech runs for 23:44. The speaker talks fast, about 197 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 82% 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
The 15 most advanced words in the video, 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… |
| endgame noun | /ˈɛnd.ɡeɪm/ | The final stage of a game of chess, when there are few pieces left. |
| chess noun | /t͡ʃɛs/ | A board game for two players, each beginning with sixteen chess pieces moving according to fixed rules across a chessboard with the objective to checkmate the… |
| rat noun | /ɹæt/ | Any of the numerous members of several rodent families that usually have short limbs, a pointy snout, a long, hairless tail, and a body length greater than… |
| blunder noun | /ˈblʌn.dɚ/ | A clumsy or embarrassing mistake. |
| counterplay noun | A game move made as a response. | |
| grandmaster noun | A master in a field, whose skills or accomplishments exceed those of other masters. | |
| passive adjective | /ˈpæs.ɪv/ | Being subjected to an action without producing a reaction. |
| positional adjective | Relating to the position of something. | |
| rook noun | /ɹʊk/ | A piece shaped like a castle tower, that can be moved only up, down, left or right (but not diagonally) or in castling. |
| checkmate | /ˈt͡ʃɛkmeɪt/ | Word called out by the victor when making a move that wins the game. |
| counteract verb | /ˈkaʊntəɹˌækt/ | To have a contrary or opposing effect or force on someone or something. |
| diagonal adjective | /daɪ̯ˈæɡ(ə)nəl/ | Joining two nonadjacent vertices (of a polygon or polyhedron). |
| outpost noun | /ˈaʊtˌpoʊst/ | A military post stationed at a distance from the main body of troops. |
| overthink verb | To think or analyze too much. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| get out of verb | To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of. | |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| give away verb | To make a gift of (something). | |
| shut down verb | To close, terminate, or end; to stop operating, either permanently or temporarily. | |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| come back verb | To return to a place. | |
| fall apart verb | To disintegrate, to break into pieces. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- It's going to be upon us very, very soon.
- It's just that you win.
- I'm going to attack it with my rook.
- That's all I have for you today.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | If the center opens, my rook will be · If you take this pawn, you will lose |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have seen · has not actually played · has been played |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is known · has been played · wasn't prepared |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | anyway, which is · position, which are · there, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 64 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: breathtaking /ˈbɹɛθˌteɪ.kɪŋ/, threaten /ˈθɹɛt.n̩/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: complication /ˌkɑm.pləˈkeɪ.ʃən/, exclamation /ˌɛkskləˈmeɪʃn̩/, intuition /ˌɪn.tjuːˈɪʃ.ən/, distraction /dɪsˈtɹæk.ʃən/, vicious /ˈvɪʃəs/
- Long words — get the stress right: diagonal /daɪ̯ˈæɡ(ə)nəl/, spectacular /spɛkˈtæk.jə.lɚ/, complication /ˌkɑm.pləˈkeɪ.ʃən/, unstoppable /ʌnˈstɔ.pə.bəl/, intuition /ˌɪn.tjuːˈɪʃ.ən/
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, endgame, chess.
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.