WEBVTT 00:00.930 --> 00:01.650 Hi there. 00:01.680 --> 00:06.450 In this introductory lecture, I want to talk about the accumulation of advantages theory. 00:06.600 --> 00:13.080 So the end of the romantic era in chess was when actually the first official world chess champion, 00:13.080 --> 00:20.340 Wilhelm Steinitz, created this theory that actually chess is about a balance at the start of the game 00:20.340 --> 00:24.090 where we fight for an accumulation of advantages. 00:24.570 --> 00:30.300 And it's when you have the advantage, you have the rights and justification for the attack, and you 00:30.300 --> 00:31.680 should go on the attack. 00:31.710 --> 00:33.750 He didn't specify what kind of attack. 00:33.750 --> 00:34.860 It could be a king attack. 00:34.860 --> 00:39.900 It could be on the queenside in this course we're talking about, in particular king attacks, which 00:39.900 --> 00:40.950 are game ending. 00:41.280 --> 00:45.810 So sometimes you can have other attacks just with material, for example. 00:45.810 --> 00:47.310 We're not really focused on that. 00:47.460 --> 00:53.370 But how do we actually consider the accumulation of advantages model in our own games? 00:53.370 --> 00:55.890 It doesn't really say how in a game. 00:55.890 --> 01:00.870 I don't find it particularly useful to say I'm going to accumulate advantages here. 01:00.900 --> 01:09.150 No, it requires work and work directed for me at the downsides of the opponent's position and maybe 01:09.150 --> 01:10.440 even just their last move. 01:10.470 --> 01:15.180 The weakness of the last very last move might be a winning combination trigger. 01:15.540 --> 01:21.350 So I'm focused heavily on downsides That gives me personally the how. 01:21.360 --> 01:28.650 So I'm still kind of respecting the accumulation of advantages model, and for me that's more useful. 01:28.650 --> 01:34.500 It's more practical just to be kind of discerning, more nerdy, discerning, hardworking about what 01:34.500 --> 01:36.270 opponent downsides there are. 01:37.020 --> 01:41.700 You only get advantages in chess if the opponent makes mistakes. 01:41.700 --> 01:45.420 If your opponent doesn't make mistakes, we can't actually win in theory. 01:46.020 --> 01:51.510 So yeah, there is this scientific underpinning of chess that we want to accumulate advantages. 01:51.570 --> 01:56.700 And I personally consider all the time looking at the downsides of the opponent's positions. 01:56.940 --> 02:02.880 But also has this course actually opened up my thoughts on this subject, which I did introduce heavily 02:02.880 --> 02:07.500 in the Complete Guide to Chess Tactics about looking for like default downsides. 02:07.500 --> 02:13.800 If the opponent castles is their back road weak, the diagonal of death and stuff. 02:13.800 --> 02:17.160 So I talk about downsides a lot in the Complete Guide to Chess Tactics. 02:17.160 --> 02:21.240 This course has made me focus more on game ending downsides. 02:21.240 --> 02:24.390 We really want to make the King because then there's no comeback. 02:24.390 --> 02:29.190 They don't get to play on material down, for example, as they would if you make them. 02:29.790 --> 02:31.950 So mating really ends the game. 02:32.970 --> 02:35.100 Is the term costs useful? 02:35.100 --> 02:38.640 Because in chess, a payment doesn't have to be made in terms of money. 02:38.700 --> 02:44.340 It's like the opponent could lose material, lose key squares, they could pay costs for their moves 02:44.340 --> 02:45.210 in other forms. 02:45.210 --> 02:49.350 But it reminds me too much of the current cost of living problems. 02:49.350 --> 02:54.390 And we play chess for fun, not to be depressed, and our terminology should actually inspire us and 02:54.390 --> 02:56.880 make it a fun experience to play chess. 02:56.880 --> 02:59.490 I'll be careful with terminology. 03:00.450 --> 03:02.820 For me, I prefer downsides. 03:02.820 --> 03:04.200 You could say disadvantages. 03:04.200 --> 03:05.940 You could say Kings Russia. 03:05.940 --> 03:12.270 Well, why don't you logically think about the disadvantages being super nerdy about the disadvantages 03:12.270 --> 03:12.960 of the opponent? 03:12.960 --> 03:14.370 Doesn't that give a hell? 03:14.400 --> 03:17.430 Doesn't that link up with the accumulation of advantages model? 03:17.460 --> 03:17.940 Sure. 03:17.940 --> 03:19.740 But you know, it has too many syllables. 03:19.740 --> 03:20.460 And this goes back. 03:20.460 --> 03:24.000 If you're thinking in a chess game, you should make it fun. 03:24.000 --> 03:28.080 The whole process of playing chess should be fun, otherwise it's not really worth it for most of us. 03:28.080 --> 03:30.570 So I personally prefer downsides. 03:31.020 --> 03:34.140 Cons reminds me too much of accounting and financial stuff. 03:34.530 --> 03:36.990 Disadvantage is a bit too wordy. 03:38.250 --> 03:39.480 I don't like to take the fun out. 03:39.480 --> 03:42.270 I like to put the fun in to my chance. 03:42.330 --> 03:48.930 But in particular, there is a qualifier game ending downsides, which is highlighted to me through 03:48.930 --> 03:49.470 this course. 03:49.590 --> 03:53.730 We're really talking about game ending downsides when we're talking about attacking the opponent's king. 03:54.240 --> 03:58.520 So that's the major qualifier, if there's any qualifier of the downsides terminology. 03:58.620 --> 03:59.480 It's that. 03:59.490 --> 04:05.760 So you could say, well, actually, ideally we don't want to just accumulate material or any old advantages. 04:05.760 --> 04:08.610 We want to accumulate game ending advantages. 04:08.610 --> 04:15.510 You could go back to sign its, you know, philosophy and qualify a bit more for the assassin of the 04:15.510 --> 04:16.290 chessboard. 04:16.560 --> 04:22.500 You want it to be game ending, not just you cause discomfort in their right hand, you know. 04:23.160 --> 04:32.130 You know you want to end the war in chess so I could reconstruct this whole accumulation of advantages 04:32.130 --> 04:33.450 to fit what I like. 04:33.540 --> 04:35.580 So you could say the accumulation. 04:37.460 --> 04:38.210 Of. 04:39.110 --> 04:41.990 Game ending upsides. 04:41.990 --> 04:47.210 And you get that for being nerdy about game ending downsides during a game. 04:47.330 --> 04:51.080 Now, let me just give you a concrete example of what I mean. 04:51.860 --> 04:55.680 So this is a game I had in the elite super blitz of 2022. 04:55.700 --> 04:57.170 I was leading this tournament life. 04:57.590 --> 05:02.630 Unfortunately, I had to play Alex for anyone who's like nearly 10,800 Grandmaster. 05:02.660 --> 05:04.550 I had this glorious position here. 05:04.550 --> 05:08.180 Yes, I'm an exchange down, but I've got this glorious past pawn. 05:09.560 --> 05:12.710 And so there's a mixture of downsides here you could think about. 05:13.160 --> 05:16.190 So do you want just plain vanilla downsides? 05:17.330 --> 05:18.260 Or do you want. 05:19.520 --> 05:22.640 I like pistachio pistachio ice cream. 05:22.910 --> 05:26.740 Do you want game ending downsides or plain vanilla downsides? 05:26.750 --> 05:33.200 So I played from this position a plain vanilla downside of the passport because it seemed like a logical, 05:33.200 --> 05:35.350 you know, bias that I've created this passport. 05:35.350 --> 05:38.900 And why not try and exploit it with a move like Bishop C-7? 05:38.900 --> 05:43.220 But I can't play that because, you know, the opponent's going to eliminate the pawn. 05:43.220 --> 05:45.320 So this this had a duality to it. 05:45.320 --> 05:50.450 It's not just about eliminating the pawn, it's about taking out this pawn and creating a pass pawn. 05:50.450 --> 05:52.880 So there's a duality associated with that. 05:53.270 --> 05:58.070 Now, as you become an attacking assassin in this course, you realize that actually this kind of excursion 05:58.070 --> 06:00.650 is a queen temporarily in Siberia. 06:00.650 --> 06:06.530 If they're really going to take on A2, if the queen is away from the king, then usually the king is 06:06.530 --> 06:07.100 kind of weaker. 06:07.100 --> 06:08.930 It's less, you know, it's less covered. 06:08.950 --> 06:11.060 There isn't a defense of Knight on F6. 06:11.570 --> 06:14.060 The Rooks are kind of passive on the back row. 06:14.090 --> 06:19.610 We should be aiming ideally for game ending downsides here and Instructively. 06:21.470 --> 06:26.570 I really fluffed this up with Queen C6, so he's still playing on after this. 06:26.570 --> 06:29.450 I'm trying for Bishop C7 but you know what? 06:30.050 --> 06:33.110 It doesn't matter about Bishop C7 off the Queen Knight's A2. 06:33.110 --> 06:34.640 It's just not good enough. 06:34.640 --> 06:35.990 This is what I mean. 06:37.280 --> 06:41.690 You know, when you accumulate advantages, be careful what type of advantages you accumulate. 06:41.720 --> 06:47.960 You want ideally the knockout advantages, not this because he's just created a pass pawn. 06:48.350 --> 06:51.560 The Queen's not in Siberia anymore, and there's this dangerous pass pawn. 06:51.680 --> 06:54.920 So Bishop takes the eight and without further ado, a two. 06:54.920 --> 06:58.550 And all of a sudden I need another move to get this pawn out of the way. 06:58.850 --> 06:59.630 Queen D six. 06:59.630 --> 07:01.250 And I'm just allowed to make in six. 07:01.250 --> 07:02.210 He's just queen ing. 07:02.210 --> 07:03.980 And this is the end of the game for me. 07:04.400 --> 07:07.700 What an embarrassing waste of possession. 07:07.700 --> 07:09.530 And it hurt me this game. 07:09.530 --> 07:12.260 Online games do not hurt me When I have pain. 07:12.260 --> 07:18.980 I usually have benefit after because I really do soul searching, searching deep for the lessons. 07:19.040 --> 07:22.520 And it was during the construction of this course, this game. 07:22.520 --> 07:24.350 I thought, why didn't I? 07:25.070 --> 07:25.460 Why? 07:25.460 --> 07:26.570 Why didn't I play? 07:26.600 --> 07:30.020 There's other attacking moves than trying to queen the pawn. 07:30.290 --> 07:33.380 And this is what I want to share my pain about. 07:33.410 --> 07:37.100 We want game ending downsides. 07:37.190 --> 07:38.880 You know the pistachio downsides. 07:38.900 --> 07:41.330 I hope you like pistachio, not the plain vanilla. 07:41.330 --> 07:43.700 We want the game ending downsides. 07:45.210 --> 07:46.050 So what are they? 07:46.080 --> 07:47.160 Well, there's two moves. 07:47.160 --> 07:49.410 One just literally points at the king. 07:51.090 --> 07:52.950 And, you know, there'll be a big penalty. 07:52.950 --> 07:59.190 You know, if Rook takes then Queen G4 and, you know, we're threatening and we're threatening kind 07:59.190 --> 08:03.570 of indirectly defending and fine, we're just going to play Queen G7. 08:03.570 --> 08:08.400 So let's say Queen takes a two, We go for the king, we go for the game. 08:08.400 --> 08:09.630 Ending downsides. 08:09.630 --> 08:11.550 That's what the whole point of this course is. 08:11.550 --> 08:13.500 We're looking at game ending downsides. 08:13.500 --> 08:17.430 I'm not teaching this course just to win a pawn on the Queen's side. 08:17.430 --> 08:24.540 Let's get that crystal clear before you look at any game examples where after game ending downsides. 08:24.540 --> 08:28.470 Now, why aren't I saying to you, Oh, just accumulate advantages? 08:28.740 --> 08:31.320 It's very difficult in a game to make use of that. 08:31.320 --> 08:37.260 We do want to respect the underlying philosophy of the accumulation of advantages, but for me, the 08:37.260 --> 08:43.890 most effective way is to continually work and focus hard about the issues of the opponent's position 08:43.890 --> 08:44.880 and their moves. 08:44.880 --> 08:51.390 And for me, being super nerdy about especially game ending downsides will end the game. 08:51.390 --> 08:58.590 And this is one way which is of course obvious the computer in a millisecond how to finish off the opponent. 08:58.590 --> 09:04.680 But if you look at it, the queen is also in Siberia and it's just too slow to queen this pawn. 09:04.680 --> 09:06.600 It's far too slow to do this. 09:06.810 --> 09:09.180 The queen getting out spirit and the king is going to be mated. 09:09.180 --> 09:11.430 Her queen takes her to queen, takes age six. 09:11.640 --> 09:14.520 Let's say queen takes be three, Queen takes 86. 09:14.520 --> 09:17.070 How on earth would black defend this possession? 09:17.880 --> 09:19.890 It doesn't matter about their passport. 09:22.620 --> 09:27.360 And subsequently, by the way, yesterday at the time of this recording, I did actually be annexed. 09:27.360 --> 09:28.470 So by going for his king. 09:28.470 --> 09:30.450 And funnily enough, we had another situation. 09:30.450 --> 09:32.730 He was coming down hard with his past pawns. 09:33.210 --> 09:38.220 Well, I should have made to this king, but it was quite a dangerous attack which led him to eventually 09:38.220 --> 09:38.730 lose on time. 09:38.730 --> 09:40.440 But there was actually a forced me. 09:40.440 --> 09:43.790 So this is a recurring pattern I have with this this game. 09:43.830 --> 09:47.340 He's like nabbing these pawns, trying to play like Karpov or something. 09:47.580 --> 09:51.690 You know, these guys, you've just got to find the game ending downsides. 09:51.690 --> 09:55.350 You can't waste these opportunities against higher rated opponents. 09:55.350 --> 09:56.760 He's like 2100. 09:56.760 --> 10:02.940 I could have put me away with Bishop E5 game ending downsides Not playing vanilla ones. 10:02.940 --> 10:04.230 Queen G4 is another one. 10:04.230 --> 10:07.590 What is he going to do if he tries to nudge the Queen? 10:07.590 --> 10:08.940 We stick around. 10:08.940 --> 10:12.960 If he tries to stick around, we've still got a great attacking position here. 10:14.130 --> 10:16.260 This is a very strong attacking position. 10:16.410 --> 10:20.190 And anytime rock takes D7 hands, you know, it looks after the position, you know. 10:20.190 --> 10:22.440 Bishop E5, we're looking after the position. 10:22.530 --> 10:23.720 What are they doing here? 10:23.730 --> 10:25.950 F6 We've got to take on on G seven. 10:25.950 --> 10:27.000 What are they doing there? 10:27.090 --> 10:28.740 So that pawn is kind of immune. 10:28.740 --> 10:33.150 And even if we got this ending again, the game ending downside. 10:35.040 --> 10:39.470 Yeah, it wouldn't be to take the rook, but to try and win these pawns. 10:39.480 --> 10:41.260 That's not game ending to take the rook. 10:41.280 --> 10:45.180 If King Joffrey is the way here, this would just be leading to a draw. 10:45.210 --> 10:46.850 You've got to think about your downsides. 10:46.860 --> 10:47.860 Are they game ending? 10:47.880 --> 10:48.930 The king is going to come out. 10:48.930 --> 10:50.130 It's going to be a draw. 10:50.340 --> 10:50.550 No. 10:50.550 --> 10:52.320 Better to nurture this position. 10:52.320 --> 10:53.990 We can get a more aggressive king. 10:54.000 --> 11:00.480 Keep the king in its box and make sure that when we win material, it's game ending. 11:00.480 --> 11:03.000 So this game ending philosophy isn't just for champ mating. 11:03.000 --> 11:07.560 You know, we can pick up material and then with another pass and this is definitely going to be more 11:07.560 --> 11:09.000 game ending potential. 11:09.000 --> 11:11.130 This possession is going to be more game ending. 11:11.130 --> 11:17.250 So the point is, is here, there's a few points for this introductory lecture. 11:17.300 --> 11:19.080 I had to carefully think about this. 11:19.080 --> 11:25.950 I don't want to be too weird about this one I was trying to express here, but we do want to reflect 11:25.950 --> 11:28.020 on the scientific era of chess. 11:28.020 --> 11:33.960 So it was Steinitz combined with Lasker, making it into formidable weapon, the accumulation of advantages 11:33.960 --> 11:40.230 model, finding even more fine grained advantages, seeing how they can trade off for each other. 11:40.260 --> 11:46.770 So, you know, basically, Lasker was regarded by Vladimir Kramnik as the first 2700 player. 11:46.770 --> 11:53.340 So if we want to respect the accumulation of advantages and we do, ideally we do the best classic attacking 11:53.340 --> 11:56.700 games have this accumulation of like tiny advantages. 11:56.700 --> 12:02.370 One comes to mind to me in particular even from a symmetrical pawn structure. 12:02.370 --> 12:04.680 Check out Rubinstein's Immortal game. 12:04.890 --> 12:07.110 Small tempo Losses in the Endgame. 12:07.350 --> 12:14.760 In the Endgame in the opening led to a formidable, beautiful, creative combination to checkmate later 12:14.760 --> 12:16.830 with amazing sacrifices. 12:16.830 --> 12:20.190 So we do need to respect the accumulation of the advantages. 12:20.190 --> 12:20.790 Very. 12:20.790 --> 12:23.790 But you might be missing the hell of it for me. 12:23.790 --> 12:32.670 My answer to be super nerdy, super interested in the details of the opponent's downsides, especially 12:32.670 --> 12:36.150 given this course game ending downsides. 12:37.240 --> 12:39.460 Don't try to just win material in chess. 12:39.460 --> 12:40.550 You are just winning a battle. 12:40.580 --> 12:41.920 You're not winning the war. 12:41.950 --> 12:44.410 We're interested in winning the war in this course. 12:44.740 --> 12:48.270 So this is more like, you know, win friends and influence people. 12:48.280 --> 12:49.990 You know, you don't just win little battles. 12:49.990 --> 12:51.220 You want to win the war. 12:52.150 --> 12:55.480 So, yes, conclusion to bring this to a conclusion. 12:55.600 --> 13:03.070 Be super nerdy about, in particular the game ending downsides, not just any old downside to winning 13:03.070 --> 13:04.300 a pawn on the queenside. 13:04.510 --> 13:06.190 You know, what are you going to eat? 13:06.190 --> 13:09.000 Lettuce as well during the day. 13:09.010 --> 13:09.820 Are you a rabbit? 13:09.850 --> 13:11.140 No, you're not a rabbit. 13:11.680 --> 13:12.210 No. 13:12.220 --> 13:14.590 You want to be, you know, a chess fighter. 13:14.590 --> 13:17.590 You know, a formidable opponent that people fear. 13:18.100 --> 13:19.620 You want to be a Kings crusher. 13:19.630 --> 13:21.930 So that's the major qualifier of this course. 13:21.940 --> 13:25.990 Not ordinary downsides, no game ending downsides. 13:26.410 --> 13:31.480 And yes, you know, I'm going to be on the lookout when I play this grandmaster in future occasions. 13:31.480 --> 13:35.890 And I have a positional advantage which seems to logically say, Oh, I've got to promote the pawn now, 13:35.890 --> 13:37.450 I've got to do this to get more material. 13:37.480 --> 13:43.180 No, just because you have one material, one one's some possession of it doesn't mean you can't switch 13:43.180 --> 13:43.750 to the king. 13:43.750 --> 13:49.570 So I look for those opportunities for the knockout punches game ending downsides. 13:49.570 --> 13:52.350 So I hope that's clear from this introduction lecture. 13:52.360 --> 13:57.610 So when you work through the examples, you try and differentiate and also opponent materialism is often 13:57.610 --> 13:58.570 the source in itself. 13:58.570 --> 14:01.750 If opponents are materialistic, they're taking pieces away from their king. 14:01.750 --> 14:05.950 Sometimes that's often a great source and justification for the attack. 14:05.980 --> 14:10.600 Other pieces in Siberia, in effect, not just the queen, other pieces away from the king, you're 14:10.600 --> 14:12.790 outnumbering the opponent's forces around the king. 14:12.820 --> 14:16.480 Go for that knockout blow game ending downsides. 14:16.600 --> 14:19.720 Be kind of nerdy and interested in those in particular. 14:20.050 --> 14:20.790 Okay. 14:21.390 --> 14:22.090 Thanks so much.