The magnus carlsen effect: people play cautiously and mostly for a draw where he can easily exploit this by playing unconventional moves and throwing opponents out of prep. He’s basically taking advantage of people that are good at memorizing rather than creative. Fischer would be proud. Unfortunately this only works in blitz games, in games where players have plenty of time to think these kinds of tricks don’t work as well.
That is right, but see that only Magnus and sometines Hikaru are the only ones who troll their oponnents, the rest dont even try despite if they play blitz, the rest stick to conventional and usual openings and defenses
I think in many blitz games the players are already well out of book by the 10th move. You could argue that maybe the pawn structures are unfamiliar, but even that argument is sus. I think the 'real reason' MC is so good is not that he takes players out of book but he can calculate better.
He also takes advantage of the fact that everyone is afraid of him it's super weird I don't think there's a single player out there that doesn't play noticeably worse against Magnus. You can see the demeanor shift and everything. He's got a mental strangle hold on all the top guys it's craziness.
Hikaru said in one of his latest video(was on Magnus winning the world blitz 2023), quoting Naka" Magnus is by far the greatest end game player of all time."Not just that, paaraphrasing Hikaru"Magnus is probably, not probably, just he is the greatest of all time GOAT"
@@LeafyPeach it has been very hard for him to come to peace with the fact that Magnus is his better. Because honestly Nakamura probably would be that guy if Magnus wasn't just better than him. But I think he lost a lot of steam and worrying about his normal chess career realizing his position as far as his legacy goes is pretty much dependent on waiting out Carlsen. Of course Nakamura is a little bit of a choker so that's kind of his big problem and why he hasn't been able to be that guy compared to Magnus who does not choke. Of course I want to be clear this is all within the realm of being like one of the best three players of Chess in the world so like you know compared to most people he's not a choker and the margin of difference is so tiny.
Magnus is on the top for more than a decade. And its lonely at the top, so He make these openings to challenge himself or at least make it more fun and it makes sense to me.
I think he is challenging not himself because he is mostly finding a solution to level the game again. It´s more a challenge for the opponents to find a solution for uncommon positions they are not prepared for. Magnus wants to play creative chess and not a pure memory game.
@@Rafael-w4j I know this was a throw-away joke, but you got me curious. How would a King en passant look? Can you explain an example of how you envision this would work in the game? The like a Queen comment kinda sticks out to me. What does that mean? If you were simply being cheeky as the op commenter no worries. Be well.
That may generally be the case but here it almost backfired. Magnus won due to his endgame prowess and his opponent making a crucial mistake towards the end. His unorthodox opening actually backfired. Even though his opponent flubbed a bit, it was not enough and Magnus got slowly pushed back, the evaluation bar dropped into the negatives.
Magnus realised modern day GMs are extremely weak in endgames, because everyone is focusing on computer-analysis and memorisation of openings, very complicated mid-games, then hoping for a draw. So he literally designs several "endgames" right from the beginning, leaving all preparation useless.
Hey Epic chess, have been watching your channel since the beginning. You have replaced my other go to channels with your excelllent content. It is to the point and very entertainingly presented. Keep up the good work!!
You are welcome to stay ignorant if you'd like. Just know that the way you use the word 'piece' is different from the way nearly everyone else does. As seen in this video.@@goodtoGoNow1956
Watching the eval bar is crazy. That endgame consisted of winning situations for black, white and even plenty of draw situations to all navigate around. But what’s even more impressive is how they got there from that opening with the eval bar saying that neither player played the top moves.
As a newbie to chess I’m excited for this. As I watch higher rated players go at it all you hear is “I remember that line or that’s not the move” which tells me it’s all memorization at a certain point. To me that’s not fun.
@SCBB24 - The number of distinct chess positions after White’s first move is 20 (16 pawn moves and 4 knight moves). There are 400 distinct chess positions after two moves (first move for White, followed by first move for Black). There are 5,362 distinct chess positions or 8,902 total positions after three moves (White’s second move). There are 71,852 distinct chess positions or 197,742 total positions after four moves (two moves for White and two moves for Black). There are 809,896 distinct positions or 4, 897,256 total positions after 5 moves. There are 9,132,484 distinct positions or 120,921,506 total positions after 6 moves (three moves for White and three moves for Black). The total number of chess positions after 7 moves is 3,284,294,545. The total number of chess positions is about 2x10 to the 46 power. If you understand this and like math tell us the answer.
@SCBB24 I get what you are saying, but at the same time, the game is fundamentally about memorization. Even "calculation" is to some extent memorization, it's seeing/imagining the board in the mind, just as you would when playing blindfolded, and recognizing patterns. Pattern recognition is a form of memory. In many cases the positions are not identical but there are similarities in the pattern of the piece placement -- especially pawns -- which points GMs to candidate moves and lines to consider. This has been looked at in chess studies. As to @uforferdetnilsson2595, this is a common thing people say but it is very misleading. There are countless "theoretically possible" chess positions but many positions will be immediately ruled out as unfavorable or outright losing, which is why popular lines are far, far fewer than the mathematical possibilities. In many cases, there are only 1 or 2 moves which maintain a balanced game. The vast majority of the "possible" moves will be seen as unviable right from the start. In addition, just because positions are different, doesn't mean they are dissimilar. You will often see in interviews GM's making comparisons to other games they played before which were "similar", but the similarity can seem pretty abstract (e.g. pieces can be in different locations, but pawn structure is similar). If you only look at possible combinations of pawn structures, already the number of possibilities shrinks dramatically.
Sure there are that many positions, but there are absolutely terrible positions within that. So that completely removes a lot of those possibilities from the pool. So it is still a lot of memorization.
This game shows that Magnus knows how to squeeze water from stones. Best player in the chess history. Thanks for your commentry, analysis and English language tips. :)
It's a wacky set of opening moves, but it also looks like it shares a lot of DNA with the Alekhine's defense (including the follow-up a4), just with g4 and g5 subbed in for e4 and e5. Which helps justify why he could get away with all pawn-moves and zero piece development (since that can often be the name-of-the-game for white in the Alekhine's)
Magnus really applies this strategic principle: Beat the other player. He's not trying to beat chess history, known chess tactics, or "chess traditions." He's beating the person on the other side of the board. Brilliant stuff.
This is like any skill. There are rules to follow when a novice. To become a journeyman you learn how to break those rules. The ascent to Mastery comes when you learn when and why to break the rules not just how.
Your older viewers will remember Shelby Lyman on TV showing Fischer/Spassky in the early 70s. As wonderful as that was, Magnus has rewritten chess. He is incredible, no question by far the greatest chess player of all time.
It took me a bit but after I thought, if there is a double check, the knight can't help, it was pretty easy. King safety goes way down when there is a double check and he has to move.
Love your passion! Am I right in saying there was another path to check-mate at 10:43 - rook to f8 check, King MUST go to G7 OR black knight to G8 to block - either way rook to G8 protected by white knight is check-mate.
Thanks a lot! Don’t have board in front of me but visualising it the problem is after kg7, rook, g8+ the knight on f6 will take your rook! But in the knight blocking line yeah would be mate otherwise. It also helped me visualise knowing that, from memory, the computer only showed me one path to mate which is what Magnus played
I tried doing this tactic called combos back then. Never knew Magnus would do too. Basically, I just push paw(n)s attacking pieces then move an official after no threats. IDK if its the same as this one but I'm still on like 1/4 on the way. Edit: Epic game but ok
I mean just after 8 moves you realise how Alexander is actually left dumbfounded and he has NOTHING. These quirky moves totally left him running around in a way that stopped him from developing any pieces or following any game plan.
You have to give it to him he defended extremely well and had an excellent middle game, creating good chances of holding or even wining, given the situation
@@mrtech2259 very true! it's so strange with this "Magnus" effect - the middle game really felt like Alexander would actually turn it around and win.. but Magnus is so strong in the end game.
He is learning from Stockfish and the other NNUEs, and he is way ahead of the curve on it too. Other games are doing the same thing. NN has nearly solved multi-player Hold 'em poker. Backgammon was solved ages ago. Chess and Go have been rewritten. Any young human player would be learning from NNs instead of GMs.
1:34 magnus offered a pawn there. Why not take free pawn Q×g5.agreed queen would have been attacked after d4 but atleast something to hold on .after a4 a5 magnus played d4 and black has done nothing except moving his knight. Some psychological pressure start building when your opponent is magnus carlsen. If some 2000 rated player was playing this kind of moves that grandmaster would have taken that pawn.magnus carlsen as good as he is but he is not alpha zero or stockfish.thats why sometime he loose also. But still a great fan of Magnus for making chess a truly creative game rather than memorization of moves. Your comments on this
You learn the fundamentals so you can forget them and have fun. Chess is such a complicated game that we sometimes forget that the most difficult problems can have simple solutions.
After centuries of theory and decades of chess engines running every possible combination: "We have figured out chess." Magnus: "Lol. Just watch what happens when I get bored."
German pronounciation: the "z" is spoken not softly but quite the opposite, like a very sharp hissing "ts". So the opposite of a soft English "z". That is true for all German letters "z" and most notable in the word "Zwischenzug", which sounds more or less like a hissing snake.
You chuck in a "SWISHEENZUEG" thats how u "properly" say it in germany :D hahahaha that actually got me soo good! Thanks for that mate that made my day
Thanks haha although I made myself misunderstood in this video as what I meant was it’s the correct word to use, not that I was pronouncing it correctly
I see Magnus following Danny’s opening principles just fine. You don’t have to develop pieces if your opponent doesn’t either! Magnus is never more than one developing move behind his opponent so it works out fine(-ish).
I saw none of that ... I always try and guess the next moves and I would have lost this game. I would also add that no one else on TH-cam could replay this game with out spending 25 minutes going down alternative sidelines just to try and look smart. Keep up the good work I love how you just stick to the moves that were played and give brief explanations of why or sometimes why not.
I don't really play chess all that often, I just think it's fun to play with my brothers when we get together, but these videos are so entertaining. I know enough about chess to know the standard openings, but watching how Magnus is shaking up the meta by these offhanded openings gets me much more interested!
Here's my conspiracy theory: Magnus is playing this way in order to influence the younger generation to also disregard opening principles, when in fact he is the only one who can do what he does and win. With younger players growing up playing bad openings, Magnus will be able to remain dominant for longer.
I wouldn't say these are the "weird openings". Magnus approaches the game now by designing several "endgame" scenarios right from the beginning, and totally throws modern day GMs into confusion. Today, the endgame mastery is forgotten art; even super GMs are weak there. All GMs spend time computer-analysing and memorising openings, hoping for a draw. But Magnus is exploiting their lack of judgement. What a refreshment!
As a newbie I find chess so incomprehensible. How far do these players look ahead? Do they map out the entire match from start to finish + a bunch of extra alternatives in case the opponent does something odd?
Yeah they have openings prepared by then after that they play on their own by general principles of good moves etc and then combine with tactics too, like learning a language really and there’s lot of pattern repetition
I googled portmanteau etymology and it said it was 16th century French... "Why is it called a portmanteau? The French word portmanteau describes a two-part suitcase. It combines the words porte, which means “to carry,” and manteau, meaning “cloak.” Like the suitcase, a portmanteau word holds or carries the meaning of two or more words." Maybe Carroll was the first to use the word for the suitcase as applied to words?
ah interesting! Yeah I believe Carroll coined the term in relation to words (or neologisms you should say, to be precise, I think). Though the suitcase term had been around for years as you say
@@epicchess2021 interesting. I first heard it in relation to Finnegans Wake which is wholly written in not just English two-word portmanteau but multilingual multi-word portmanteau making it unreadable at first glance haha as Joseph Campbell said "He had to smelt the modern dictionary back to protean plasma and re-enact the “genesis and mutation of language” in order to deliver his message." Quite the headscratcher. Didn't know the Jabberwocky was portmanteau, I just thought it was gibberish lol.
I only know enough ahout chess to know whats going on. Does that eval bar take into consideration the difficulty of FINDING the best moves? It seemed pretty sudden that Carlsen swung back there when the bar said he was lost, and it seemed the opponent only missed some of the best moves rather than playing badly. What about computer calculations and eval bars am I not understanding?
This is the best advanced chess channel. I can feel that you are a good chess player (2000+) just the way you review the game. I would be really, really surprised if I was wrong... Im @round 1800. Good job my elder chess bro.❤
Thanks very much! Yeah my ECF (English chess federation) is my most U.K. to date and is 2107, I’m hoping to get to 2200 one day so that I can get my national Master title
Computers have changed the way chess is played but that was a shockingly bad opening by Donchenko. Try that against a Tal or a Morphy and see what happens.
He is proving that much of modern GM's apparent strength derives from copying computer moves. Take them out of the book where they must rely on their talents, and the play 200 ELO worse. Magnus doesn't. His openings are effectively positional gambits which allows him to show his quality.
@Epic Chess: the quote is from Lewis Carroll's "Through the looking glass", when Alice meets Humpty Dumpty. (Re. your words at 6:10) Apart from that, your videos are more than epic!
@@epicchess2021 Rudolf . For some, the greatest ballet dancer ever. The are other greats but there is only one Nureyev, never to be confused with anyone else. Search YT for “Le Corsaire, Nureyev”. And behold.
these clown games will be remembered for thousands of years. The formula is this: do a garbage opening, create a losing position, when time starts to run out drown the opponent in complexity. There is also this build up effect where opponents know a winning position doesn't mean you've won. But the worse part musts be that they also have to search for the trap in an opening that doesn't have any. You start to think that the correct move is to walk straight into it.
Referencing German words and Lewis Carroll very much in context. Making my day. I just tried to play like Magnus Carlson, it's easy against some people because they freak out at the unexpected moves. Then there are those sneaky 1200 elos who see right through me lol
Magnus chose well not to defend his title. He'd be grim, burnt-out, and stifled preparing for another match with Nepo. Let Ding have the title, and Magnus gets to have fun, letting all his creative juices flowing, without the intense pressure of a world championship in the balance. A "good move" by Magnus!
yeah but you are forced to take the knight on f4 because the king is in check. And if you move the king instead of taking the knight then the knight will take the pawn on g6 and you're no longer able to deliver the checkmate on h7
@@epicchess2021 yeah man, I’m a big fan of agadmator, but I have to say that you’re more fast paced and dynamic with your analysis, including some great insights. 🤘🤘
Seen a bunch of these games now. What strikes me is that none of Carlsen's opponents succeeds in setting up an open attack (through the center, for example) using the advantage of early development (versus bunny-ear or plow pawn moves). Any idea why? Do even GMs need more time to set up such attack?
Time is certainly a large factor. Carlsen has great insight and thinks fast. He also converts to regular play in a timely manner, i.e. he doesn't let things get out of hand. Still, even super-GMs do not seem to get the advantage that should result when the opponent (Carlsen) makes provocative, "wasted" moves. Have they forgotten how to attack right out of the opening?@@epicchess2021
I guess Magnus is using something I learned when I used to be good at chess and younger its synonym to parallel strategy shifting, delayed repositioning, risk deferral and off the board symmetry. I can explain those terms. Of course, there is a psychological factor here. Think about it. Fisher was did something similar.
im the only one who dislike when the narrator starts to explan a move that NEVER happens but tends to be the best always ? i believe is the "im trasnforming content, not copying it"
you actually did not pronounce Zwischenzug correctly in german I'm sorry :D the Z needs to sound different
Thanks a lot yeah sorry I made myself misunderstood in this video as I meant it’s the correct word to use, not that I was pronouncing it correctly
"Tsuh-vi-shen-tsoog", german Z sounds like an english "ts" ; and the w in german sounds like the english "V" 😅
@@PatrickStockl and the g should be unvoiced, more like a k
this is infinitely more interesting than standard openings.
.....but don't try this at home 😆
@@blaze1148 Indeed 🤣
You can only get away with it if you're playing blitz or rapid
@@blaze1148 You can… and you’ll succeed to the extent you understand the opening phase of chess better than your opponent.
Naa he watch Emil Diemar 17 pawns move and he prepared this with improvmant😂😂😂
The magnus carlsen effect: people play cautiously and mostly for a draw where he can easily exploit this by playing unconventional moves and throwing opponents out of prep. He’s basically taking advantage of people that are good at memorizing rather than creative. Fischer would be proud. Unfortunately this only works in blitz games, in games where players have plenty of time to think these kinds of tricks don’t work as well.
That is right, but see that only Magnus and sometines Hikaru are the only ones who troll their oponnents, the rest dont even try despite if they play blitz, the rest stick to conventional and usual openings and defenses
I think in many blitz games the players are already well out of book by the 10th move. You could argue that maybe the pawn structures are unfamiliar, but even that argument is sus. I think the 'real reason' MC is so good is not that he takes players out of book but he can calculate better.
@@raylopez99 he isnt calculating that early in the game
He also takes advantage of the fact that everyone is afraid of him it's super weird I don't think there's a single player out there that doesn't play noticeably worse against Magnus. You can see the demeanor shift and everything. He's got a mental strangle hold on all the top guys it's craziness.
@@chicken29843 MVL isnt afraid of him
I love watching magnus. He plays like me, except I have no idea what I am doing.
Haha I know the feeling!
That's the funniest comment I've read all day.
Hikaru said in one of his latest video(was on Magnus winning the world blitz 2023), quoting Naka" Magnus is by far the greatest end game player of all time."Not just that, paaraphrasing Hikaru"Magnus is probably, not probably, just he is the greatest of all time GOAT"
Hikaru himself being so great he definitely knows what he's talking about.
@@LeafyPeach yeah for sure.
@@LeafyPeach it has been very hard for him to come to peace with the fact that Magnus is his better. Because honestly Nakamura probably would be that guy if Magnus wasn't just better than him. But I think he lost a lot of steam and worrying about his normal chess career realizing his position as far as his legacy goes is pretty much dependent on waiting out Carlsen. Of course Nakamura is a little bit of a choker so that's kind of his big problem and why he hasn't been able to be that guy compared to Magnus who does not choke. Of course I want to be clear this is all within the realm of being like one of the best three players of Chess in the world so like you know compared to most people he's not a choker and the margin of difference is so tiny.
Magnus sees tactics faster than anyone else.
Magnus don't see tactics, tactics find their way to magnus' eyes 😅😅😅
I think Hikaru is slightly faster, but Magnus goes both deeper and wider and has better instincts.
Magnus is on the top for more than a decade. And its lonely at the top, so He make these openings to challenge himself or at least make it more fun and it makes sense to me.
I think he is challenging not himself because he is mostly finding a solution to level the game again. It´s more a challenge for the opponents to find a solution for uncommon positions they are not prepared for. Magnus wants to play creative chess and not a pure memory game.
@@andremuller8546 It could work both ways, to make himself more fun, and totally confuse the opponent
His yet to reach his prime!
He's never beat me at chess.
Nor me 😉 @@TheJpf79
If he’s really rewriting chess I hope he makes it so any piece can en passant.
ah I like it haha
Only the King should be able to EnPassant like a Queen.
@@Rafael-w4j I know this was a throw-away joke, but you got me curious. How would a King en passant look? Can you explain an example of how you envision this would work in the game? The like a Queen comment kinda sticks out to me. What does that mean?
If you were simply being cheeky as the op commenter no worries. Be well.
would be impressiver if he made it possible for a king to commit a mitrofanov deflection
@@sterlingmullett6942 When a Bishop goes from b8 to h2, King on c3 can capture at c7 or g3.
Magnus makes you play out of theory. And then you are screwed for not being prepared
That may generally be the case but here it almost backfired. Magnus won due to his endgame prowess and his opponent making a crucial mistake towards the end. His unorthodox opening actually backfired. Even though his opponent flubbed a bit, it was not enough and Magnus got slowly pushed back, the evaluation bar dropped into the negatives.
Magnus Computational efficiency in the end game is just unbelievable
Magnus realised modern day GMs are extremely weak in endgames, because everyone is focusing on computer-analysis and memorisation of openings, very complicated mid-games, then hoping for a draw. So he literally designs several "endgames" right from the beginning, leaving all preparation useless.
wow another endgame crunch, this one was amazing, he just doesn't care if you can get a queen, he has it al in focus. thanks epic
no worries thanks for watching!
Hey Epic chess, have been watching your channel since the beginning. You have replaced my other go to channels with your excelllent content. It is to the point and very entertainingly presented. Keep up the good work!!
Oh cool thanks a lot really appreciate the feedback!
It's true. I didn't skip through the video at all. Straight to the game after a relative and concise intro.
Opponent's not playing their usual openings and out of their comfort zone. It doesn't end well. 😂
He did develop his pieces... its just that the pieces he developed first were pawns.
The term "pieces" in chess language usually doesn't refer to pawns; they are pawns, not pieces
@@dancer2234 lol nope not true. Id say you just blundered the pawns
You are welcome to stay ignorant if you'd like. Just know that the way you use the word 'piece' is different from the way nearly everyone else does. As seen in this video.@@goodtoGoNow1956
Watching the eval bar is crazy. That endgame consisted of winning situations for black, white and even plenty of draw situations to all navigate around. But what’s even more impressive is how they got there from that opening with the eval bar saying that neither player played the top moves.
Rule#0: If your name is Magnus Carlsen rules don't apply to you.
Haha yeah !
So I think Carlsen plays the endgame when in the opening. That's how he makes weird king moves that we humans can't see
As a newbie to chess I’m excited for this. As I watch higher rated players go at it all you hear is “I remember that line or that’s not the move” which tells me it’s all memorization at a certain point. To me that’s not fun.
@SCBB24 - The number of distinct chess positions after White’s first move is 20 (16 pawn moves and 4 knight moves). There are 400 distinct chess positions after two moves (first move for White, followed by first move for Black). There are 5,362 distinct chess positions or 8,902 total positions after three moves (White’s second move). There are 71,852 distinct chess positions or 197,742 total positions after four moves (two moves for White and two moves for Black). There are 809,896 distinct positions or 4, 897,256 total positions after 5 moves. There are 9,132,484 distinct positions or 120,921,506 total positions after 6 moves (three moves for White and three moves for Black). The total number of chess positions after 7 moves is 3,284,294,545. The total number of chess positions is about 2x10 to the 46 power. If you understand this and like math tell us the answer.
@@uforferdetnilsson2595 😂
@SCBB24 I get what you are saying, but at the same time, the game is fundamentally about memorization. Even "calculation" is to some extent memorization, it's seeing/imagining the board in the mind, just as you would when playing blindfolded, and recognizing patterns. Pattern recognition is a form of memory. In many cases the positions are not identical but there are similarities in the pattern of the piece placement -- especially pawns -- which points GMs to candidate moves and lines to consider. This has been looked at in chess studies. As to @uforferdetnilsson2595, this is a common thing people say but it is very misleading. There are countless "theoretically possible" chess positions but many positions will be immediately ruled out as unfavorable or outright losing, which is why popular lines are far, far fewer than the mathematical possibilities. In many cases, there are only 1 or 2 moves which maintain a balanced game. The vast majority of the "possible" moves will be seen as unviable right from the start. In addition, just because positions are different, doesn't mean they are dissimilar. You will often see in interviews GM's making comparisons to other games they played before which were "similar", but the similarity can seem pretty abstract (e.g. pieces can be in different locations, but pawn structure is similar). If you only look at possible combinations of pawn structures, already the number of possibilities shrinks dramatically.
Sure there are that many positions, but there are absolutely terrible positions within that. So that completely removes a lot of those possibilities from the pool. So it is still a lot of memorization.
"Tactics flow from a superior position." - Bobby Fischer
I have to believe that Bobby Fischer would have loved watching Magnus just chuck opening theory out of the window.
This game shows that Magnus knows how to squeeze water from stones. Best player in the chess history. Thanks for your commentry, analysis and English language tips. :)
Yeah! And thanks very much
When they finally find that path out of the wood they are falling into Magnus' deep rabbit holes. What a game🎉
It's a wacky set of opening moves, but it also looks like it shares a lot of DNA with the Alekhine's defense (including the follow-up a4), just with g4 and g5 subbed in for e4 and e5. Which helps justify why he could get away with all pawn-moves and zero piece development (since that can often be the name-of-the-game for white in the Alekhine's)
The old lion still ruling the pride and the territory.
9:00 That's the Vukovic mate if I'm not mistaken.
Ah thanks! I googled and you’re correct much appreciated
Magnus really applies this strategic principle:
Beat the other player.
He's not trying to beat chess history, known chess tactics, or "chess traditions."
He's beating the person on the other side of the board.
Brilliant stuff.
magnus make me thinking quitting chess forever
We live in an amazing time where we can watch practically every game from the greatest player ever, and some even with his own commentary
🐐
This is like any skill. There are rules to follow when a novice. To become a journeyman you learn how to break those rules. The ascent to Mastery comes when you learn when and why to break the rules not just how.
Magnus flies by the seat of his pants sometimes but he is so confident in his endgame abilities it seems he is just experimenting and having fun.
Your older viewers will remember Shelby Lyman on TV showing Fischer/Spassky in the early 70s. As wonderful as that was, Magnus has rewritten chess. He is incredible, no question by far the greatest chess player of all time.
It took me a bit but after I thought, if there is a double check, the knight can't help, it was pretty easy. King safety goes way down when there is a double check and he has to move.
Love your passion! Am I right in saying there was another path to check-mate at 10:43 - rook to f8 check, King MUST go to G7 OR black knight to G8 to block - either way rook to G8 protected by white knight is check-mate.
Thanks a lot! Don’t have board in front of me but visualising it the problem is after kg7, rook, g8+ the knight on f6 will take your rook! But in the knight blocking line yeah would be mate otherwise. It also helped me visualise knowing that, from memory, the computer only showed me one path to mate which is what Magnus played
@@epicchess2021 - ah makes sense - keep doing your thing mate loving it
Any chance of doing any of dubov’s games? It’s been nice to see him active again. Always expect fireworks on the board
yeah might look at that, he had a nice one against Giga Quparadze that I'd like to do, thanks for suggestion
I tried doing this tactic called combos back then. Never knew Magnus would do too.
Basically, I just push paw(n)s attacking pieces then move an official after no threats. IDK if its the same as this one but I'm still on like 1/4 on the way.
Edit: Epic game but ok
I mean just after 8 moves you realise how Alexander is actually left dumbfounded and he has NOTHING. These quirky moves totally left him running around in a way that stopped him from developing any pieces or following any game plan.
You have to give it to him he defended extremely well and had an excellent middle game, creating good chances of holding or even wining, given the situation
@@mrtech2259 very true! it's so strange with this "Magnus" effect - the middle game really felt like Alexander would actually turn it around and win.. but Magnus is so strong in the end game.
@@amusik7 exactly 💯👍🏻
He is learning from Stockfish and the other NNUEs, and he is way ahead of the curve on it too. Other games are doing the same thing. NN has nearly solved multi-player Hold 'em poker. Backgammon was solved ages ago. Chess and Go have been rewritten. Any young human player would be learning from NNs instead of GMs.
I wish Bobby fisher could see how magnus plays. Hed be so proud
Carlsen's 'scrambled eggs' opening...lol...
It seems to me magnus is very skilled at finding the lines where calculaters will discard the line with the actual winning ideas
Damn magnus is out here little boying opponents ✊🏿
1:34 magnus offered a pawn there. Why not take free pawn Q×g5.agreed queen would have been attacked after d4 but atleast something to hold on .after a4 a5 magnus played d4 and black has done nothing except moving his knight. Some psychological pressure start building when your opponent is magnus carlsen. If some 2000 rated player was playing this kind of moves that grandmaster would have taken that pawn.magnus carlsen as good as he is but he is not alpha zero or stockfish.thats why sometime he loose also. But still a great fan of Magnus for making chess a truly creative game rather than memorization of moves. Your comments on this
rook
Ah apologies I should have explored, was maybe playable!
You learn the fundamentals so you can forget them and have fun. Chess is such a complicated game that we sometimes forget that the most difficult problems can have simple solutions.
After centuries of theory and decades of chess engines running every possible combination: "We have figured out chess."
Magnus: "Lol. Just watch what happens when I get bored."
Catching up on some of your new videos ❤
Thanks a lot hope you’re enjoying!
At this point when Magnus does something unheard of in chess, we all go: "Yup, that's Magnus."
German pronounciation: the "z" is spoken not softly but quite the opposite, like a very sharp hissing "ts". So the opposite of a soft English "z". That is true for all German letters "z" and most notable in the word "Zwischenzug", which sounds more or less like a hissing snake.
Thanks a lot!
Its amazing how Magnus can find these moves.
hahaha. That opening reminds me of my 500-1200 elo days. I'd always be like GREAT, it's one of THESE. Wonder how the GM was feeling lol.
You chuck in a "SWISHEENZUEG" thats how u "properly" say it in germany :D hahahaha that actually got me soo good! Thanks for that mate that made my day
Thanks haha although I made myself misunderstood in this video as what I meant was it’s the correct word to use, not that I was pronouncing it correctly
Not to mention that Magnus himself said recently Kasparov was the GOAT. He was in his era of play!
I'd probably quit chess after that happens to me.
Unbelievable! After 1. h3 Magnus begins and ends the game with the g--pawn. Against Donchenko! Mamma mia.
I see Magnus following Danny’s opening principles just fine. You don’t have to develop pieces if your opponent doesn’t either! Magnus is never more than one developing move behind his opponent so it works out fine(-ish).
When my first 6 moves are all Pawn moves, they call me a madman.
When Magnus does it, they say he's astonishing. 😂
That rook looked pretty sad in the corner.
That was a wonderful finish, he sees it so quicly to. thanks James.
I saw none of that ...
I always try and guess the next moves and I would have lost this game.
I would also add that no one else on TH-cam could replay this game with out spending 25 minutes going down alternative sidelines just to try and look smart. Keep up the good work I love how you just stick to the moves that were played and give brief explanations of why or sometimes why not.
Thanks very much and yeah this game was really special for sure!
I don't really play chess all that often, I just think it's fun to play with my brothers when we get together, but these videos are so entertaining. I know enough about chess to know the standard openings, but watching how Magnus is shaking up the meta by these offhanded openings gets me much more interested!
Haha nice, yeah these games are so much fun to watch
We’re all fodder for Magnus’ cannon 😳
Haha
New Magnus video - always exciting!
Glad you like them!
Here's my conspiracy theory: Magnus is playing this way in order to influence the younger generation to also disregard opening principles, when in fact he is the only one who can do what he does and win. With younger players growing up playing bad openings, Magnus will be able to remain dominant for longer.
haha
Lol 😅
This was from a puzzle I believe. Wow
Magnus chess level is out of this world.
What a brilliant game !
I wouldn't say these are the "weird openings". Magnus approaches the game now by designing several "endgame" scenarios right from the beginning, and totally throws modern day GMs into confusion. Today, the endgame mastery is forgotten art; even super GMs are weak there. All GMs spend time computer-analysing and memorising openings, hoping for a draw. But Magnus is exploiting their lack of judgement. What a refreshment!
As a newbie I find chess so incomprehensible. How far do these players look ahead? Do they map out the entire match from start to finish + a bunch of extra alternatives in case the opponent does something odd?
Yeah they have openings prepared by then after that they play on their own by general principles of good moves etc and then combine with tactics too, like learning a language really and there’s lot of pattern repetition
a back rank trap isnt really a sneaky trap... thats like the most beginner puzzle lol this is a game between the best players in the world
6:01 -- Epic's giving out FREE language courses too.
Haha
I googled portmanteau etymology and it said it was 16th century French... "Why is it called a portmanteau? The French word portmanteau describes a two-part suitcase. It combines the words porte, which means “to carry,” and manteau, meaning “cloak.” Like the suitcase, a portmanteau word holds or carries the meaning of two or more words." Maybe Carroll was the first to use the word for the suitcase as applied to words?
ah interesting! Yeah I believe Carroll coined the term in relation to words (or neologisms you should say, to be precise, I think). Though the suitcase term had been around for years as you say
@@epicchess2021 interesting. I first heard it in relation to Finnegans Wake which is wholly written in not just English two-word portmanteau but multilingual multi-word portmanteau making it unreadable at first glance haha as Joseph Campbell said "He had to smelt the modern dictionary back to protean plasma and re-enact the “genesis and mutation of language” in order to deliver his message." Quite the headscratcher. Didn't know the Jabberwocky was portmanteau, I just thought it was gibberish lol.
The "space invaders" opening :-)
Amazing stuff!!! Your videos are dope man.
Appreciate it! Thank you
I only know enough ahout chess to know whats going on. Does that eval bar take into consideration the difficulty of FINDING the best moves? It seemed pretty sudden that Carlsen swung back there when the bar said he was lost, and it seemed the opponent only missed some of the best moves rather than playing badly. What about computer calculations and eval bars am I not understanding?
Exactly no it doesn’t, sometimes it gives a huge advantage but the reason is obscure and hard to find!
Hope he re-writes it to be an engaging spectator sport.
:o
This is the best advanced chess channel. I can feel that you are a good chess player (2000+) just the way you review the game. I would be really, really surprised if I was wrong... Im @round 1800. Good job my elder chess bro.❤
Thanks very much! Yeah my ECF (English chess federation) is my most U.K. to date and is 2107, I’m hoping to get to 2200 one day so that I can get my national Master title
Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimbel on the wabes
ah very good 😁
Computers have changed the way chess is played but that was a shockingly bad opening by Donchenko. Try that against a Tal or a Morphy and see what happens.
He is proving that much of modern GM's apparent strength derives from copying computer moves. Take them out of the book where they must rely on their talents, and the play 200 ELO worse. Magnus doesn't. His openings are effectively positional gambits which allows him to show his quality.
@Epic Chess: the quote is from Lewis Carroll's "Through the looking glass", when Alice meets Humpty Dumpty. (Re. your words at 6:10) Apart from that, your videos are more than epic!
Thanks very much! And for the kind feedback
4:30 try again with your 'Zwischenzug'. It's close but still kind of...
Yeah pronunciation not great lol sorry
Your videos are awesome and bring so much excitement to the game. Thank you for all the work you put in
Glad you like them! Thanks very much
4:36 - absolutely butchers the word, follows up with "that's how you say it properly" lmao
Haha yeah I made myself misunderstood in this video as I meant to say it’s the correct word not the correct pronunciation!
Magnus replaced his brain with stockfish
End-game magic from the end-game GOAT.
It’s really like watching Peak Nureyev. Unreal.
I don’t follow the reference to Nureyev sorry but glad you’re enjoying the videos! Thanks for watching
@@epicchess2021 Rudolf . For some, the greatest ballet dancer ever.
The are other greats but there is only one Nureyev, never to be confused with anyone else.
Search YT for “Le Corsaire, Nureyev”. And behold.
these clown games will be remembered for thousands of years. The formula is this: do a garbage opening, create a losing position, when time starts to run out drown the opponent in complexity. There is also this build up effect where opponents know a winning position doesn't mean you've won. But the worse part musts be that they also have to search for the trap in an opening that doesn't have any. You start to think that the correct move is to walk straight into it.
Most chess players play chess to win, Magnus seems to play just to have fun. Amazing!
Referencing German words and Lewis Carroll very much in context. Making my day. I just tried to play like Magnus Carlson, it's easy against some people because they freak out at the unexpected moves. Then there are those sneaky 1200 elos who see right through me lol
Glad to hear! And yeah I have also tried and usually fail miserably haha should come with a disclaimer ‘don’t try this at home’
Poor Donchenko, man 😂😂
Magnus chose well not to defend his title. He'd be grim, burnt-out, and stifled preparing for another match with Nepo. Let Ding have the title, and Magnus gets to have fun, letting all his creative juices flowing, without the intense pressure of a world championship in the balance. A "good move" by Magnus!
" He is the G.O.A.T. *right now*"
Lmao
9:31 In this position, wouldn't Rh7 still be a mate?
Yeah I was thinking the same
yeah but you are forced to take the knight on f4 because the king is in check. And if you move the king instead of taking the knight then the knight will take the pawn on g6 and you're no longer able to deliver the checkmate on h7
@@epicchess2021 Ah, I must have missed that! Thanks!
Can’t wait till this channel hits 100k subs and beyond.
Thanks very much
@@epicchess2021 yeah man, I’m a big fan of agadmator, but I have to say that you’re more fast paced and dynamic with your analysis, including some great insights. 🤘🤘
Seen a bunch of these games now. What strikes me is that none of Carlsen's opponents succeeds in setting up an open attack (through the center, for example) using the advantage of early development (versus bunny-ear or plow pawn moves).
Any idea why? Do even GMs need more time to set up such attack?
It’s hard to even say, even when they get advantages tho he’s often up on clock or just simply setups tricks/ reaches an endgame and they crumble!
Time is certainly a large factor. Carlsen has great insight and thinks fast. He also converts to regular play in a timely manner, i.e. he doesn't let things get out of hand. Still, even super-GMs do not seem to get the advantage that should result when the opponent (Carlsen) makes provocative, "wasted" moves. Have they forgotten how to attack right out of the opening?@@epicchess2021
Great analysis. Kudos and thanks.
Thanks a lot!
His openings should come with a disclaimer: Don't Try This At Home
I guess Magnus is using something I learned when I used to be good at chess and younger its synonym to parallel strategy shifting, delayed repositioning, risk deferral and off the board symmetry. I can explain those terms.
Of course, there is a psychological factor here. Think about it. Fisher was did something similar.
im the only one who dislike when the narrator starts to explan a move that NEVER happens but tends to be the best always ? i believe is the "im trasnforming content, not copying it"
This is amazing staff, great show indeed👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏Magnus was on fire, special moves there!
Space invaders- love it 😂
If i do an opening like that, I'd have no pieces left 10 moves in lol
😁 yeah I know the feeling haha