Shadowing Practice: The GothamChess Situation Is Insane - Learn English Speaking with Video

Ladies and gentlemen, over the course of my content creating career, I have covered the ups and downs of many players.

On this channel, when Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Gukesh, etc. have good results, I hype them up.

And when they have bad results, I make dramatic titles and ask what's going on just this year alone with the struggles of the reigning world champion, of course, the aforementioned Gukes,

I've had to make videos like the Gukes situation is crazy.

Well, today, I'm very happy to report we're going to be laughing at me,

my games, because over the past month, I have lost around 230 rating points.

And I'm kind of just going to share this with you as half a therapy session

and half a video to make you realize that slumps happen at all ratings.

You try to scramble and search for reasons why they might happen.

And you know me, I'm an empathetic individual.

And I understand how people might think and the things that they struggle with in chess.

So hopefully this video feels relatable and makes you feel seen, heard, not really, because I can't see or hear you.

And some of you I don't want to see and hear.

So, folks, I don't know when this started, but I can't play chess anymore.

I was like 3,000 blitz.

I was 3,100 bullet.

And I went below, I went to like 2,770.

And I'm going to, you know, I'm going to show you some of the games today.

This game I played literally 10 minutes ago.

That's not an exaggeration.

I woke up this morning, I just played a game.

I was drinking a coffee, played a game.

This game really encapsulates everything that's wrong with me in the past month.

And then I'm going to show you a bunch of other games.

Whoops, that one's a little bit spoiled.

And just every game, like I'm losing to 2600s now,

which I haven't even played at 2600 in like three months because my rating is 3000 and I only seek 2800 above.

So let's see what's going on.

Let's try to figure out what's wrong with Gotham and when this is going to stop.

So I play the Scandinavian defense, right?

I mean, I have a lot of openings.

If I'm ever feeling, you know, for a French, for a modern, for a Scandi, openings have never really been my problem in blitz.

I always kind of get a position that I like.

So what is wrong with me?

What's going on in these games?

So we play an opening.

My opponent plays knight e5.

This is a complete inaccuracy as far as I'm concerned.

You have to play knight e5 before bishop c4.

Because the immediate knight e5 threatens to trap the queen, and black has to play c6.

without c6, and without the c4 square, this move is terrible, and I just trade the knight, and I've equalized.

And normally, white plays knight e5 to then play g4, which my opponent commits to anyway, which is horrible.

I mean, this is just a completely horrible mishandling of the opening.

I mean, this is like trying to do something in a sport without any proper form or training.

It could end up, like, really backfiring.

My opponent fully commits forward, and I'm like, okay, I could play h5.

For the record, I have absolutely, and I do stress this enough, I have no idea why I didn't play that move.

And this is part of the problem.

Moves that come naturally to me when I'm in a slump don't come naturally anymore.

I either don't consider them or as you're going to see later, I don't play them.

I overthink.

So I just castle because I'm thinking if h5, I can go bishop e4 and there's a pin.

And here I'm like, okay, h5, bishop e4, probably they're going to castle.

Then I go knight e5, attacking the bishop, threatening knight f3.

They can't take because of the pin.

Okay, all of that happens here, here, here.

But knight e5 is a terrible move.

Terrible.

It doesn't make any sense.

Right now, my knight, this knight is attacking here.

All I got to do is go back to c6.

I have a sniper on an open, empty king diagonal.

Like, why did white commit all these pawns here?

I bring the bishop back to c6.

I start opening the position.

White has nothing.

I went knight e5.

And as I'm sitting here, I'm like, my move is awful.

First of all, first of all, he could just take my bishop.

And then I have to take his bishop.

And it's just equal.

I didn't accomplish anything.

Second of all, he can move the bishop.

Now I can't take his bishop, and I can't even put my knight on f3.

So I have to move my bishop back to c6.

So nothing happened.

I didn't improve my position at all.

So my moves now, they don't make any sense.

Like the moves that I'm making, that are popping into my head, they're not making any sense.

My opponent here thinks for a while and doesn't even play correctly.

Doesn't even play correctly.

Okay?

Plays wrong because he allows me to play rook takes d4.

And that's a very common pattern.

When you deflect a piece, you kind of attract like a magnet.

You play rook takes, queen takes, knight to f3, check.

Rook d4, I spot it, my opponent goes queen e2.

Now, if I was to ask you here, probably anybody above 1,000 should find this move relatively quickly.

I ask you black to move.

Just make a move that looks good.

Good move.

You don't have a tactic.

Just make a move.

You have like two seconds.

Okay, some of you would obviously develop your bishop.

Is there anything more natural than centralizing the queen?

and attacking the knight, and then like if the knight moves, you take this pawn, of course you go queen d5, right?

I mean, obviously.

100

Now that is the move I considered in one second, two seconds, three seconds.

101

Then I considered a couple other things.

102

I actually considered this weird move, queen a6, which removes the queen, doubles my pawns, but destabilizes the knight.

103

Actually, queen a6 is the top move of the computer, even though it's like very ugly for the structure.

104

This is the second best move of the computer.

105

I spend 24 seconds here and go here.

106

I rejected queen d5 on the grounds that after queen d5, my opponent simply defends themselves and then kicks out my rook.

107

This just, I just take this pawn.

108

I just take the pawn.

109

There's no longer a defender of the night.

110

This is a check.

111

I win the night.

112

So now I can't spot one move tactics anymore.

113

I rejected queen d5 because I was thinking my opponent just goes f3 and I don't have anything.

114

That's insane.

115

It's completely insane.

116

Confidence, zero.

117

Like, not spawning anything.

118

Opponent goes c3.

119

I go back with my rook.

120

Now white just has an advantage.

121

I mean, white is back in the game.

122

Good pressure on my position.

123

This trade for white is atrocious.

124

I have no idea why white would do that.

125

And now, okay, now it's quite clear that my opponent is trying to set up some stuff against my e6 pawn.

126

The safe thing for me to do here is to move my king so that this move never comes with a check.

127

And then I can maybe go attack on the dark squares because overall this pawn's not very important.

128

But what is important is making sure I don't trade too many pieces or lose some pieces and go to an endgame.

129

I, of course, act impatient.

130

I strike first.

131

And now I'm just worse.

132

Now I have to bail out.

133

It's time to go to an endgame.

134

It's time to go here.

135

Try to trade the bishop for the knight.

136

Maybe hold the draw.

137

I spend 20 seconds and play again a bad move.

138

I lose a pawn and I have to pin myself but I'm still kind of pinning my hopes on this counterattack.

139

Here my opponent actually repeats moves with me.

140

I don't know if they would have just repeated and made a draw because they thought it was too scary.

141

Probably not.

142

And literally within five moves, all the pieces are traded off the board, and I have to resign.

143

So from a position where, you know, everything was pretty chill, it was just 0s, 10 moves later, I'm resigning.

144

I'm resigning because now I'm going to be forced to trade every piece.

145

If Qe7, my opponent can just go take, take, take, take.

146

And when you have 6 pawns versus 4, you win.

147

That's what happens.

148

Bring the king, I mean, there's nothing black can do.

149

So, everything in this game encapsulates what's been wrong with me the past month.

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I am frozen at critical decision points

151

and I'm choosing them wrong way more than I'm choosing them

152

right I'm doubting myself constantly I'm missing resources both for my for myself

153

and for my opponent and I'm getting chances in all these games right

154

so let's look at this game this is some I have no idea

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but considering it's a Pikachu profile picture it's probably just another like random American child who's like 2200,

156

who I've played in bullet, actually.

157

This person's quite strong in bullet as well.

158

So in this game, I play one of my openings with Black, Queen's Gambit accepted.

159

You'll notice my rating here is a little bit more respectable, 2900.

160

My opponent here plays an opening, which I know very well, and I get an advantage from the opening as always, because I'm great.

161

No, obviously not knight e5

162

and now for reasons i can't quite comprehend i don't defend my pawn uh

163

which is the best move

164

but whatever i mean okay i go c5 i didn't play

165

the best way in the opening doesn't particularly matter like my

166

opponent goes here there's nothing really to write home about um

167

and now i can play back to e7

168

and just be very solid i choose to go a little more provocative with queen a5, giving my opponent the option to damage my pawns.

169

That is what they do.

170

And then they go knight e4.

171

Now, the move knight e4 in and of itself is not a good move.

172

You don't have to go knight e4.

173

You can play slower.

174

You can play rook c1 and then bring your pieces.

175

So, knight e4, again, threatens knight f6.

176

Throughout this slump, I have not made a good decision ever.

177

Basically ever.

178

The thing that's threatened is the pawn.

179

It's not actually the check, because if I play f5, knight f6, king e7, the knight is kicked out.

180

It has to leave.

181

And then the game goes on.

182

My king is actually quite safe behind this strange web of pawns.

183

Now, I could defend my pawn with my king, and I can also maybe defend it with my queen.

184

What I shouldn't do is retreat my bishop all the way to this passive square, because the moment that I take a step backwards, my opponent can strike with d5.

185

My opponent here plays a terrible move b3, completely not in spirit of the position, giving me a chance now to kick him out.

186

I think, though, he was baiting queen h5.

187

I think this is like, you know, now my pawn, which was attacking the knight, is pinned.

188

Okay, I bring my queen back to d8.

189

Now the knight is hanging.

190

The knight goes to c5, threatening.

191

Of course, there's a pin here, so this pawn is hanging, but all I have to do is play the move king f8, and I'm super chilling and I've actually gotten back into the game.

192

I am back in the game.

193

I am threatening to take this pawn in some positions.

194

I can maybe take and then go trade the queen and put my king on g7.

195

Like, I'm not as in anywhere near as much danger as I was.

196

Also, b6.

197

So my opponent goes rook d1 and I go b6 and the knight has to go back to d3.

198

It's trapped.

199

The alternative is my opponent could bring the queen and counterattack my rook and then bring the knight back to d3.

200

Knight d3 is the only move.

201

And then when the knight goes back, we do something else.

202

Now, my opponent thinks for a little bit and goes d5.

203

d5 is a full loss of a knight.

204

Full loss.

205

The idea of d5 is if I took the knight with the pawn, you would take here, attack my queen, and threaten mate.

206

And the attack is extremely strong.

207

And it likely wins the game.

208

But if I take with the bishop, I get my queen over here, and I instantly defend the mate.

209

Now, I'm not stupid.

210

I spot that.

211

I'm just up a knight now, and I just need to deal with this.

212

So, we either have to play queen f6 or queen e7.

213

Those are our options.

214

Now, what's funny about this position is that white is not just threatening rook takes queen.

215

White is actually just purely threatening to put the rook on that square.

216

because rook d8, if I took with the queen, there would be queen f7.

217

So queen e7 or here.

218

Like I have to calculate.

219

Queen e7, queen f6, rook d8 check, king g7, rook takes, king takes.

220

One of these moves wins for black, or at least gets me close to winning, and the other move loses.

221

And I choose the move that, of course, loses.

222

I go here.

223

The reason this move loses is that after this entire sequence, I'm no longer defending this pawn.

224

I needed to defend this pawn and this pawn.

225

And when you look at this, when you actually just analyze this, of course queen f6 looks like the right move.

226

But this is part of the problem.

227

When I'm playing poorly, I'm always choosing wrong.

228

Check.

229

I can't take.

230

They take.

231

And now there's queen h6, and I simply lose the game.

232

Queen h6.

233

If king g8, pawn takes f7.

234

if my queen had been on f6, my queen had been on f6, rook check, king g7, takes takes, this is defending this, and I'm just up a bishop.

235

So when pawn takes f7 comes in, there is no promotion.

236

I can play bishop e6, bring my rook, and I'm going to win.

237

I mean, I would like to think I'm going to win.

238

I have an extra piece.

239

So I choose wrong.

240

I play the move queen e7 in 10 seconds, and the game just ends.

241

Now, I could survive here maybe by going queen g5, and I mean, and I just have a bishop for a rook, but yeah.

242

And I lost, okay?

243

Just gave away 11 raiding points like that.

244

I put my queen on the wrong square, boom.

245

Now, the problem is I'm also human.

246

I'm like you guys.

247

And when I get mad about my play, I start tilting and I start playing openings like this.

248

I just start, you know, moving my knight around and bang, bang, bang.

249

Like, I'm like, all right, I don't know.

250

I'm playing every single opening that I know.

251

I'm losing every single game.

252

let's just play something and this is also

253

sometimes a nice way to play and sometimes terrible because you tilt

254

and then you lose even more rating and then you feel like even bigger of an idiot.

255

So in this game I played one of my tilt openings where I tried to play d5,

256

bring my knight back to c7 my opponent played very principled played a normal game we took knight f6,

257

bishop here and whenever my opponents don't actually take my knight, I always have this move night before, which actually completely justifies my play.

258

I don't play it for some reason, enabling my opponent to play this move.

259

And now my knight can't enter the game.

260

So again, even like I get unlucky in every element of the game, right?

261

Like I get unlucky in the opening.

262

I get a like, I'm not, not, not unlucky.

263

You know, it's not like real luck.

264

It's like chess luck.

265

Like, I'm not bringing good vibes into my games and good energy.

266

And my opponent just plays normal.

267

Watch.

268

Just plays a completely normal game.

269

Now we trade some pieces, which I would like to think benefits me.

270

And now, this is truly inexplicable.

271

This moment right here.

272

So, the opponent threatens Qb7, right?

273

Mind you, I haven't thought at all this game.

274

I'm tilted every move I'm playing, you know.

275

So here, I can play bishop takes bishop, rook takes.

276

There's no threat against my king.

277

And then I can play rook b8.

278

I could maybe castle i could maybe play b6 i could also move my knight right

279

so bishop takes rook takes knight here this is defended

280

and then i'm gonna put my knight here attacking the rook

281

and then i'm gonna castle right

282

or i can think for the first time in the entire game my wires get crossed in my brain again

283

and I go here, which is like the second I drop the rook here, I'm looking at the board like,

284

why didn't I take the bishop?

285

There's just bishop takes pawn.

286

I can't take because of this.

287

And it's from around equal to plus four because I lose the right to castle.

288

So my opponent just takes, I go here, they go knight e5, there's knight d7 thread, I have to go king g8, and this is just another 10 points down the drain.

289

Like, just like that.

290

So bishop goes back to a three.

291

I have nothing.

292

For me here, to even save my king and bring the second rook, the second I go here, they take this.

293

I mean, it's terrible.

294

It's absolutely terrible.

295

I move around.

296

The opponent just attacks the center, walks the pawn into the position, goes d6.

297

I just resign.

298

I just resign.

299

There's no point playing the position.

300

Okay.

301

We tilted.

302

We tried to play off the tilt.

303

Didn't work.

304

Now we are below 2,800.

305

Now the crazy thing is, I've played this person.

306

They are from Bolivia.

307

I've played this person quite a lot.

308

We are relatively even in bullet.

309

But I don't think I've ever played this individual in Blitzchess.

310

Anyway, this was also going to be amazing.

311

Because in the previous games that we've seen, I have a good position.

312

and then at some point I'm doing something where I screw it up or I choose wrong.

313

So one opening we haven't shown at all is my Trompowski.

314

This opening, this is a go-to for me if I want to win a game.

315

This is a go-to for me.

316

So I play F4.

317

I play my Stonewall structure.

318

I do everything that I normally do in the Trump.

319

Trade my dark squared bishop.

320

And again, when I'm lacking confidence, I'm not playing my best but in this game, I mean, we just go for it.

321

We have a plus one advantage from the opening.

322

Our next few moves are g5, h4, rook g1, long castle.

323

Black can't put the knight in the middle.

324

The bishops are passive.

325

It's just a terrible position, knight d7.

326

So now the best move is to take, which allows this, but okay, this is the second best move.

327

I'm clearly, you know, I'm understanding the position.

328

If my opponent takes my knight, I'm going to take with the pawn this way, then try to get queen h5.

329

That's exactly what happens.

330

Everything is going exactly according to plan.

331

My opponent now tries to mix things up, plays this move d4, okay?

332

Now, d4 doesn't work.

333

d4 doesn't work because the entire idea is predicated upon queen takes b7,

334

pawn takes e3, attacking my bishop and attacking my knight.

335

Okay?

336

But it doesn't work because I take, take, and now I have a couple of moves.

337

But the move that I choose in the game is to just bring the queen back here

338

and set up a cannon with my bishop.

339

And my opponent goes here.

340

And in this position, I play something so incredibly illogical, it's actually mind-blowing.

341

I can take the pawn.

342

I can.

343

This is me.

344

and on the next move, I put the king on c2.

345

So my king is safe and then I go here.

346

Why do I go here?

347

This is just a waste of time.

348

Like my king, I mean, obviously there was some logic.

349

I was like, well, this pawn, you know, if I take, I'm in the way like king e2 is probably still fine, but just take the pawn and hide the king.

350

Just take the pawn.

351

Don't waste time.

352

Like I'm playing in a typical Trompowski style.

353

For whatever reason, I go here.

354

My opponent defends against mate and I have to take this pawn.

355

So right now the material is even, but it's quite clear that I'm setting up some sort of attack.

356

But if my king had already been there, right?

357

So if this had been the position, king here, here, here, there wouldn't have been a bishop h4.

358

There would have been nothing to potentially infiltrate here with and stop my pawn.

359

And so my opponent ultimately plays a very nice move, which is this.

360

And this move clears the seventh rank for defense, also threatens bishop e1, which is a pretty crazy move.

361

Now I'm forced to waste time to take this pawn, which I could have done in the previous move, but I go here.

362

They obviously can't go here because I'm threatening rook g6. And now king h8.

363

So all of my good play, all of my typical, you know, initiative that I play with in this opening goes out the window.

364

I lose time here, but my opponent gives it back to me.

365

Sensing the long-term danger of this, they go queen d5, and this is simply a bad trade.

366

Black does not want a queen trade.

367

Black is not actually in any danger here.

368

If anything, black should try to be the danger.

369

Shout out Walter White, like B5, C4.

370

By going for this endgame, look, it just went from equal to plus two.

371

It's a plus two endgame.

372

Why?

373

Because in the long run, I'm going to get my king to these pawns.

374

My king is closer to where it has to be.

375

The pawns on this side of the board kind of cancel out, and black isn't able to push many of them forward.

376

Now, I don't play this endgame perfectly.

377

I kick out the bishop here, and here I should completely commit to h4, h5, etc. The move I play here is so shocking.

378

I don't even understand.

379

I don't know what I was thinking.

380

What am I thinking here?

381

I'm trying to, like, what?

382

Like, of course you go h4.

383

That was my entire idea and then if h4, king, h7, I get h5, and the king can't come closer.

384

Why did I go here?

385

What is the idea of rook to g2?

386

Maybe I was stepping out of the way of f5, but I can just take on passant.

387

There's nothing there.

388

I don't know.

389

I don't.

390

What am I thinking?

391

And black now just wins the pawn, and I still get h4, but black has already come and defended themselves.

392

Now I'm still gonna get a winning chance in this endgame.

393

My opponent was determined to give me a winning chance.

394

They play this move a5, which is a terrible move, because it allows this here, and my king walks into the position.

395

So in the long run, black is gonna suffer from these terrible weaknesses.

396

Now I felt like even if I wasn't playing it perfectly, I was still going to win.

397

I have a 50 second time advantage with a dominant position.

398

50 seconds.

399

I mean, I can do whatever I want.

400

I can try to go for a mate with h5.

401

I can, in the long run, maybe trade a piece or two.

402

My opponent goes rook b8.

403

This is awful.

404

I play bishop back to f3.

405

I'm just kind of, you know, h5 here.

406

I poke through.

407

We take.

408

And I play rook g1.

409

It doesn't really matter.

410

I can also take control of the file.

411

I'm kind of just making moves, passing the ball back to my opponent, bishop f4.

412

Now we go in here, and I'm going to win this pawn on g6.

413

Not on g6, on f7.

414

I'm going to win all of these pawns as well.

415

Black just cannot defend.

416

25 seconds remaining on the clock

417

and now i would like to show you the kind of chess

418

that we've been playing lately i take on b6 my opponent goes king f6 i bring my bishop back

419

and they go rook b8 check 56 to 22 now what do i have to calculate here

420

obviously rook b7 is a move right right?

421

If I don't play Rb7, they take my pawn and that's weak.

422

If I play Rb7, so we're going to trade, they're going to move the king, and then they're going to promote their pawn.

423

Now, that sounds pretty stupid, right?

424

That is what I thought in the game.

425

I remember this game.

426

I was like, Rook B7, if we trade, I'm going to try to come back and win these pawns.

427

They're going to go here and promote the pawn.

428

What?

429

That would take 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and then I would take 1,

430

2, you probably need the other pawn, 3, 4, 5 6, 7,

431

8, 9, 10 this might take 10 moves

432

me eating all these pawns would take 3

433

and then I would queen

434

and also bring my king back I'm kind of disgusted even looking at this game

435

if I'm being honest the lack of logic in my moves I spent 8 seconds making that decision

436

what's going on up here my opponent takes

437

and now it's just equal of course it's just equal you're

438

gonna take my only pawns we kept the rooks on the

439

board h6 he takes this pawn now guys 46 to 19

440

right 46 to 19 seconds 46 to 19 seconds this game

441

okay i mean i'm obviously gonna win on time at least

442

14 13 we're moving around i hang my bishop i blunder my bishop in time trouble

443

But because my opponent has low time, he hangs his rook.

444

He was pre-moving.

445

Hangs his rook.

446

Which is really nice because on the literal next move, I hang a fork and I lose the game.

447

Former 3,000 rated player, by the way.

448

27-81, 27-82, hanging rooks by forks.

449

like to go here 25 seconds to 11 by the way

450

king e5 is already winning for me here it's the game is more equal a bishop

451

and and these two pawns they probably will fend off a rook

452

and a king i lost this game i lost it's completely crazy

453

and uh and i have one last game for you this was a fun one.

454

So again, I was tilted, obviously.

455

And my opponent was punishing me.

456

But I just want to show you that when it rains, it pours.

457

And you're probably going to experience this in your own games as well.

458

You're going to get unlucky.

459

This game is the chest equivalent of unlucky.

460

My opponent has played a great game.

461

They're playing in the center.

462

You know, obviously, I've done some stupid stuff over here.

463

And here, h4 is very principled.

464

This is a very nice little move h4, h5, same side king side attack.

465

If I play h6, they're still going to play h5.

466

They still get h5, they get h6, totally outplaying me, right?

467

I don't even know what I'm doing.

468

It's plus three.

469

e5, I go takes, they go knight takes, and this is the position, okay?

470

It's plus five.

471

All my opponent has to do is probably just put the knight right here, take my pawn, g7 is weak always,

472

and then the chess gods smile on me.

473

The chess gods look on me and go, here, we present you with a gift.

474

My opponent went knight g4, setting up rook e7 and some sort of attack, straight up hanging the knight in one move.

475

Not even a joke.

476

I'm like, oh, great.

477

We're so back.

478

He still takes on e7.

479

What's amazing is despite losing a full knight, the position is so dominant for white.

480

White is still better.

481

Not only is white still better, white's going to win in like three moves, even though it's only plus two.

482

So here I spotted rook b2, queen takes, queen takes d1.

483

That's what I played.

484

I played rook b2.

485

Now that is extremely stupid.

486

It's actually mind-blowing how stupid rook b2 is because after takes, takes, I only calculated king h2,

487

queen h5, queen h6, bishop f1, and it's mate.

488

I can't stop mate.

489

I can't stop mate in one or two moves.

490

So Rb2 doesn't make any sense because they can just take.

491

The best move would have been, I don't know, Qb4, trying to trade the queen and prevent Qb2 and Qe3, and then I would have to defend myself.

492

So I went Rb2.

493

My opponent finishes it off in even more style, Rxe1, and I can't take the queen because I get mated on the back rank.

494

My position is so bad, In fact, I can't stop the mate.

495

And then after rook here, very nice move.

496

Queen b2.

497

On the ghost square where the rook stood, this is mate.

498

I cannot take because rook he ate mate.

499

And at this point, you never resign with black.

500

If you resign in this position, you're a piece of garbage.

501

I allow my opponent to checkmate me.

502

Very deserving win.

503

And with this game, I also once again got humiliated.

504

So I was 3,000 and maybe right at 3k.

505

My peak blitz was 3,020.

506

I have dropped 250 points in around four weeks' time.

507

Don't know what's going on.

508

Cannot make a single good decision.

509

Yeah.

510

Like, I even, I'm going to show you a game that I played yesterday.

511

This is bonus content.

512

This is completely unplanned.

513

If I can remember, if I can remember who I was playing, let me find this game for you.

514

I think it was this game.

515

So, playing a 2800, and we get an opening, and my opponent blunders.

516

They play e5, right?

517

I attack the knight, removing the guard, and my opponent goes here.

518

Now, I can take this pawn, and I did in one second.

519

If I take with the pawn, they can't go knight e4 because I take.

520

If I take with the pawn, I free up the d4 square for my knight.

521

They have to go knight h7.

522

So this, this.

523

by the way in this position there's even knight takes c4

524

pawn takes queen takes whatever any literally anybody watching this video takes with the pawn anybody even

525

if your rating is 300 i took with the bishop

526

and i sat there and was like why did i do

527

that why did i take with the bishop like what compelled me to play

528

that move it's just a bad move and this has been my experience

529

and i just I wanted to make this video to let you know it never gets better.

530

You could be one-tenth of my rating.

531

300!

532

Well, now 270.

533

280. It never gets better.

534

You have these periods where, like, nothing you're doing works.

535

I even, in my last slow run episode, I played like a total idiot.

536

I don't know.

537

I just can't see the board properly right now.

538

Anyway, that concludes today's video.

539

You gotta be able to laugh at yourself and insult yourself and humble yourself.

540

And that is what I am doing.

541

Because I don't know what is wrong with me.

542

I have been tempted to hit my phone against my head.

543

While I'm playing these games.

544

Or hit my head against the wall or whatever.

545

I don't know what's going on.

546

I'm trying to keep calm.

547

Because I'm trying to remember that at some point I will go on a run again.

548

And I will get back to 28 and 2900 and 3000.

549

And we will see.

550

But until then, don't know.

551

Don't know.

552

Made it through a whole video without mentioning my book, by the way.

553

Oops, get out of here.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “The GothamChess Situation Is Insane”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: knight, pawn, queen, opponent, rook. This video has 552 sentences and 5461 words to shadow. The speech runs for 31:23. The speaker talks at a natural 174 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 78% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

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…
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.
threaten verb	/ˈθɹɛt.n̩/	To make a threat against someone; to use threats.
tilt verb	/tɪlt/	To slope or incline (something); to slant.
resign verb	/ɹɪˈzaɪn/	To give up; to relinquish ownership of.
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…
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…
unlucky adjective	/ʌnˈlʌki/	Unfortunate, marked by misfortune.
slump verb	/slʌmp/	To collapse heavily or helplessly.
blitz noun	/blɪts/	A sudden attack, especially an air raid; usually with reference to the Blitz.
calculate verb	/ˈkælkjʊleɪt/	To determine the value of something or the solution to something by a mathematical process.
blunder noun	/ˈblʌn.dɚ/	A clumsy or embarrassing mistake.
encapsulate verb	/ɪnˈkæps(j)ʊˌleɪt/	To enclose something in, or as if in, a capsule.
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.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
set up verb	/ˌsɛt ˈʌp/	To make ready for use.
go back to verb		To stem from; to originate in.
kick out verb		To eject, dismiss, expel, or forcefully remove (someone or something).
move around verb		To relocate to new homes repeatedly; to not live in any one place for long.
bail out verb		To secure the release of an arrested person by providing bail money.
come back verb		To return to a place.
end up verb		To bring to a conclusion.
figure out verb		To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce.

Sentences worth repeating

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

What's going on in these games?
Why do I go here?
What am I thinking here?
I'm trying to, like, what?
Why did I go here?

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	have been nothing · we've been playing
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have covered · have lost · haven't even played
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	are traded · be forced · is kicked
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	anyway, which is · pawn, which was · here, which is

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 184 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: threaten /ˈθɹɛt.n̩/, empathetic /ˌɛmpəˈθɛtɪk/, tenth /tɛnθ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: atrocious /əˈtɹoʊ.ʃəs/, exaggeration /ɪɡˌzæd͡ʒəˈɹeɪʃən/, aforementioned /əˈfɔɹˌmɛn.ʃənd/, impatient /ɪmˈpeɪʃənt/, punish /ˈpʌnɪʃ/
Long words — get the stress right: encapsulate /ɪnˈkæps(j)ʊˌleɪt/, destabilize /diːˈsteɪbɪlaɪz/, diagonal /daɪ̯ˈæɡ(ə)nəl/, empathetic /ˌɛmpəˈθɛtɪk/, exaggeration /ɪɡˌzæd͡ʒəˈɹeɪʃən/

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, opponent, threaten.

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 →

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?