I think saint louis chess should hire you, seriously, perfect fit i even imagine you comenting live events along with seyrawan, would be the top of awesomeness
I heard about you from a friend. So glad I found you. Your vernacular is perfect for teaching and you are an excellent excellent player. I'm learning a lot from you. Ty. So many videos. Not sure where to start so I've been sporadic
Apart from dubious a3 opening, it seems he needs to be more careful to avoid blunders, especially with time on the clock- both times he resigned immediately after blunders
John, great video as usual. At 0:42 you mentioned a "big problem" with 4. BxC6 dxC6 5 Nxe5 Qd4. I recently faced this line leading to 6 Nd3 Qxe4+ 7 Qe2 Qxe2+ 8 Kxe2 but I (black) don't think I explored the position very well, I also tried searching some study material about this line but didn't find. Would you please comment or point to good study material? Greatly appreciate it. Thanks and keep up the great instructional videos. Looking forward to see you pursuing the GM title soon (I believe you mentioned in one video it's not your priority this year).
No, I'm not fond of black's 11th move; if he was going to get aggressive on the 10th move to gain the initiative, then I think 11 ... Qg6 is called for. Not only does this threaten Bh3 the next move, but it pressures white's e4 pawn; now white has to waste time considering the problem of meeting Bh3 with g3 dropping the exchange, or Nh4 followed by Qg5. Black should be ahead a pawn at least, though there may be some clever refutation... :)
Excellent video, John. If you'd ever like to play a 1700 in a classical game for your climbing the rating ladder series, I'd be more than happy to volunteer!
could you do a video better explaining the Scandinavian defense: Icelandic Gambit variation? playing as black, it's one of my favorite openings but I only seem to find vids of how to beat it as white, where as I like playing it as black
John while I understand your criticism of early pawn moves like a3, h3, a6, h6 etc. you well know that many 2700 club level players play like this. Yehuda is below 1600. This is why he lost to a 2450 FIDE player. lol
Hey John, could you ever do a video of you playing ~20-50 of your fans at once? (ie, a simultaneous exhibition) Do any of the chess sites you use support that?
What are your thoughts on moving the king over when long castling. Is it mostly something you might do in equal positions? I hear people like Ben Finegold professing it as a “rule.” That being, “always move your King to safety.”
In the second game, move 17 he plays Rdf8 as opposed to moving the other rook. It seemed like the D Rook was well positioned in the center while the H Rook was less involved. Why move the D Rook a second time?
Thanks for the video, John! I have one question I'd love you to answer! At 11:55, why do you go 11. .. Qe7 and not e.g. 11. .. Qd7? Because you prepare for O-O-O and d5, and you want a rook leading in a file that is likely to open up?
Hey John, great vid! Anyways do you and Simon have any set date for a match? Or is it just a when the time is right sort of thing. I'd imagine living on opposite ends of the world makes it hard to get a match since your clocks are about 6 hours apart. Personally that's the chess match I want to see the most since you guys have pretty contrasting playing styles.
Hey John, as a dedicated Scandinavian player can you recommend any lines or setups as white that offer aggressive attacking games? Which lines do you fear the most as black when white utilizes them
Hi John. Does thinking about these Tactical variations such as the potential Knight sac in the second game come with experience or adjusting your playing mentality?
Hello! For sure: my experience plays a significant role - even when purely calculating. Therefore I try ro detach my commentary from experience whenever possible, but no doubt I'm driven to make some decisions based on my existing knowledge.
Hey John, its BPM. Do you ever feel its not fair that all the other chess streamers get to watch your videos and you have to watch theirs. Its sort of like how NJ has the pretty view across the bay at NYC, but all NYC gets to see is New Jersey.
+Matthew Bolan Looks like this works to me. I was thinking 16. Nh4 Qf6 17. g5 and if 17. ... Bxd1 there's 18. gxf6 and the Bd1 has to be lost for fear of fxg7 winning the rook.
I think every opponent you got in these climbing the latter videos ended up being super intimidated by your rating and title so much so that they became less able to just focus on making good moves. You should make a separate account when you record these just to take that aspect out of the equation. I believe your opponents not knowing your identity would make these way more instructive, but I completely get it if you decide against going anonymous.
Tremendous Sax I hear you. I'm just not a fan of the popular look and feel at this point. I have to work on getting it so that I can shrink the window to the size that I like. I prefer to make the board smaller and shrink the window to one side of the screen. Then I don't have to look at the chat, and I can see other things on the side if I want to do multiple things. So, we'll see.
+Ivan Nikolov The point is the analysis John provides. This is not a video to watch as a spectator of competition. It is a video in which a teacher uses a game against a lower rated player as material for his lesson.
The point is for John to use his knowledge and experience to identify the suspicious moves his opponents play and to demonstrate how those moves lead to their eventual downfall. That way instead of just being told why certain moves are bad, he is showing why they are bad.
I think saint louis chess should hire you, seriously, perfect fit
i even imagine you comenting live events along with seyrawan, would be the top of awesomeness
I agree
If it was anything like his videos they would definitely benefit from adding him to their list of people.
I heard about you from a friend. So glad I found you. Your vernacular is perfect for teaching and you are an excellent excellent player. I'm learning a lot from you. Ty. So many videos. Not sure where to start so I've been sporadic
I'm late to reply, but thanks a ton for watching :)
Love your videos. Hearing you analyze every move really helps me get in the right mindset for playing a game.
Great to hear, James. Thanks for watching.
In game one, 16.Ng5! was kind of cute - unpinning the g-pawn and threatening to win the queen with Bxf7+.
Great point, Tony - missed that one!
im so happy that i found that move too.
I'm a latecomer to your videos, but am enjoying them hugely - especially appreciate the practical tips like getting something out of blitz games
love this series, thanks John!
I feel like this is a common trend with people around my rating and lower (1500s), we don't use our time
Very helpful John. Love your explanations.
Really helpful and entertaining videos, thanks John.
Great video, John. I'm still looking forward to the "Climbing the Rating Ladder: 2000-2200" video when possible.
The e4 hype 🔥
Thanks a lot for your "ladder" videos. Great stuff, I appreciate your work.
Love your videos John keep up the good work!!
Thanks a lot, John
Great stuff John!
Thanks, Jed!
Great another climbing the rating ladder :-)
Best series by John!
love this video series.
love the climbing the rating ladder series
John, at 2.00 roughly Black Q can not come to g5. Lol, I use this trick all the time in taking f7 with check. FFT Thanks
Apart from dubious a3 opening, it seems he needs to be more careful to avoid blunders, especially with time on the clock- both times he resigned immediately after blunders
John, great video as usual. At 0:42 you mentioned a "big problem" with 4. BxC6 dxC6 5 Nxe5 Qd4. I recently faced this line leading to 6 Nd3 Qxe4+ 7 Qe2 Qxe2+ 8 Kxe2 but I (black) don't think I explored the position very well, I also tried searching some study material about this line but didn't find. Would you please comment or point to good study material? Greatly appreciate it. Thanks and keep up the great instructional videos. Looking forward to see you pursuing the GM title soon (I believe you mentioned in one video it's not your priority this year).
No, I'm not fond of black's 11th move; if he was going to get aggressive on the 10th move to gain the initiative, then I think 11 ... Qg6 is called for. Not only does this threaten Bh3 the next move, but it pressures white's e4 pawn; now white has to waste time considering the problem of meeting Bh3 with g3 dropping the exchange, or Nh4 followed by Qg5. Black should be ahead a pawn at least, though there may be some clever refutation... :)
John, at 12:52, if the king sidesteps to g2 then the knight can go to e3 forking the king and queen.
With the end game in mind, why not move your king toward the center, f1, vs. h2?
Why not knight to d4 vs. Bishop to g4?
Excellent video, John. If you'd ever like to play a 1700 in a classical game for your climbing the rating ladder series, I'd be more than happy to volunteer!
Thanks, Samuel!
+John Bartholomew if instead you wanna crush a poor 1400 you can have me xD
could you do a video better explaining the Scandinavian defense: Icelandic Gambit variation? playing as black, it's one of my favorite openings but I only seem to find vids of how to beat it as white, where as I like playing it as black
nice games john.
John while I understand your criticism of early pawn moves like a3, h3, a6, h6 etc. you well know that many 2700 club level players play like this. Yehuda is below 1600. This is why he lost to a 2450 FIDE player. lol
Hey John, could you ever do a video of you playing ~20-50 of your fans at once? (ie, a simultaneous exhibition) Do any of the chess sites you use support that?
Yes! We could organize such a simul on Chess.com or lichess. Someday...
John Bartholomew You're the man, John!! Looking forward to it!
+John Bartholomew I'm down I may lose but I'm down
+maizenblue2441 Maybe a 20K subscriber's special would go well for something like that :)
Hi John, did you organise simultaneous match already? Where I can find a video from that event?
What are your thoughts on moving the king over when long castling. Is it mostly something you might do in equal positions? I hear people like Ben Finegold professing it as a “rule.” That being, “always move your King to safety.”
In the second game, move 17 he plays Rdf8 as opposed to moving the other rook. It seemed like the D Rook was well positioned in the center while the H Rook was less involved. Why move the D Rook a second time?
John, I'm low 1700s on chess.com and a long time follower of the channel, would love to play you for the next video in this series.
Thanks for the video, John! I have one question I'd love you to answer! At 11:55, why do you go 11. .. Qe7 and not e.g. 11. .. Qd7? Because you prepare for O-O-O and d5, and you want a rook leading in a file that is likely to open up?
For one thing he keeps protecting his knight on f6.
You fiddled with your mic settings again this video? It was good on the last one. Now too quiet. Keep up the good work!
Hey John, great vid!
Anyways do you and Simon have any set date for a match? Or is it just a when the time is right sort of thing. I'd imagine living on opposite ends of the world makes it hard to get a match since your clocks are about 6 hours apart. Personally that's the chess match I want to see the most since you guys have pretty contrasting playing styles.
In both the Najdorf and the Kan opening the a7-a6 move is common. So be careful with saying they are not really played or useful.
Ooooh, someone who thinks he's so smart, giving some constructive advice to an IM. Jeez.
I bet you have next to zero idea which contexts moving the rook pawn one square up is good, and why.
Hey John, as a dedicated Scandinavian player can you recommend any lines or setups as white that offer aggressive attacking games? Which lines do you fear the most as black when white utilizes them
Lol, the dude asked for a rematch.
Hi John.
Does thinking about these Tactical variations such as the potential Knight sac in the second game come with experience or adjusting your playing mentality?
Hello! For sure: my experience plays a significant role - even when purely calculating. Therefore I try ro detach my commentary from experience whenever possible, but no doubt I'm driven to make some decisions based on my existing knowledge.
1567 is a pretty high rating. Why do these players refuse to get their king to safety? He had several chances.
nice John
Fresh
gg Yehuda27
Hi John,wondering if you could play someone around ~1000 rating?
You had Legal's mate at 1:50, although that's not the point of the video.
I don't think so because after white plays Bxf7+ the king has f8 to run to instead of e7 since blacks dark square bishop is not on f8.
Hey John, its BPM. Do you ever feel its not fair that all the other chess streamers get to watch your videos and you have to watch theirs. Its sort of like how NJ has the pretty view across the bay at NYC, but all NYC gets to see is New Jersey.
at 7:34, ng5?
+Matthew Bolan Looks like this works to me. I was thinking 16. Nh4 Qf6 17. g5 and if 17. ... Bxd1 there's 18. gxf6 and the Bd1 has to be lost for fear of fxg7 winning the rook.
then Bxg6, hxg6 h5 and you are in a pickle cuase you cant push the pawn.
+Timothy Barth sorry i always think wrong. those 6s are meant to be 4s
+Timothy Barth foget all i said because Bxf7+ will crush xD
JB stop grinding
How the hell does someone rated 1500 put their queen in front of their king with an opposing rook on the same file?
They all get nervous while playing an IM
come on John, find a way to make the volume a bit louder, please.
I think every opponent you got in these climbing the latter videos ended up being super intimidated by your rating and title so much so that they became less able to just focus on making good moves. You should make a separate account when you record these just to take that aspect out of the equation. I believe your opponents not knowing your identity would make these way more instructive, but I completely get it if you decide against going anonymous.
He said that its because he doesn't want his opponents to loose large amounts of rating
You look so handsome, John.
CHESS game?
I really don't like the new chess.com look. I still play the old one.
+MrOttopants Time to upgrade. Don't get stuck in the past.
Tremendous Sax
I hear you. I'm just not a fan of the popular look and feel at this point.
I have to work on getting it so that I can shrink the window to the size that I like.
I prefer to make the board smaller and shrink the window to one side of the screen. Then I don't have to look at the chat, and I can see other things on the side if I want to do multiple things.
So, we'll see.
cool
suepb play from the im john sir yoau re thbest sir best in the youbue great chaoch by the way.thansk laot i think that he is using coputer.
Hi john
19... Qf7
20. Nf5
Ndf5*
+Daniel Glidewell ouch! right, haven't seen that xD
Hello from israel
2nd
4th
First
Two pointless and onesided games, where an IM demolishes a 1000 points lower rated player from the beginning
+Ivan Nikolov
You haven't been following the series, have you?
+Ivan Nikolov The point is the analysis John provides. This is not a video to watch as a spectator of competition. It is a video in which a teacher uses a game against a lower rated player as material for his lesson.
The point is for John to use his knowledge and experience to identify the suspicious moves his opponents play and to demonstrate how those moves lead to their eventual downfall.
That way instead of just being told why certain moves are bad, he is showing why they are bad.
+Ivan Nikolov As a lower-rated player, this is probably the most helpful instructional series available on TH-cam.
troll spotted!