WEBVTT 00:01.110 --> 00:01.790 Hi there. 00:03.270 --> 00:10.880 Chess is not just about material, I often joke streaming on my opponent's playing like an accountant. 00:11.520 --> 00:17.250 You know, if I want to do accountancy, I do accountancy and, you know, being count the material 00:17.250 --> 00:18.000 in the possession. 00:19.440 --> 00:26.280 And for me as Kings Cross, you might have a clue that I like games where the opponent's king is crushed. 00:27.780 --> 00:29.820 And, you know, here's an example game. 00:29.820 --> 00:33.350 Edward Laska against George Allen Thomas in 1912. 00:33.810 --> 00:35.610 This is a highly celebrated game. 00:36.510 --> 00:40.740 Lots of people have put this in their collection, their favorite collections at chess games, which 00:40.740 --> 00:41.310 is a free site. 00:41.310 --> 00:44.070 You can visit and see some of these glorious games. 00:44.080 --> 00:49.530 So here we have this opening, which is interesting. 00:49.530 --> 00:56.430 Why exchanges of early the bishop, which is usually worth more than nitrites. 00:56.880 --> 01:00.480 But White's idea is to put pressure on the line squares. 01:00.480 --> 01:05.580 Sometimes when you give up the bishop for a night, you're putting pressure on the other color. 01:05.580 --> 01:09.210 That's a good kind of general reason why. 01:09.540 --> 01:13.980 You know, if we've really said bishops are worth three and a half, why give them up for a night? 01:14.370 --> 01:16.020 There's a very, very good reason here. 01:16.440 --> 01:20.040 Black is actually a little bit softer on the light squares. 01:21.180 --> 01:24.210 So White plays this bishop, the free move Bishop be seven. 01:24.210 --> 01:30.210 In fact, with the absence of that defensive noise, White can now play this kind of cheeky move. 01:30.210 --> 01:31.110 Koeneke five. 01:31.380 --> 01:33.660 There's no knights on six to take it. 01:34.080 --> 01:41.400 So these other considerations on the chessboard, one of the main ones that I'm a fan of is King Safety. 01:41.400 --> 01:44.910 You can often bring your opponents down through King safety. 01:44.910 --> 01:47.100 It's not all about a war of attrition. 01:49.380 --> 01:57.900 Some people have no clue whatsoever about chess and they talk about strategy and this junk on YouTube 01:57.900 --> 02:03.930 as though gold is about a game of chess from a strategy point of view, they just simply have zero clue 02:04.230 --> 02:05.190 about chess. 02:05.190 --> 02:12.600 If they think chess is a war of material and attrition and just accumulating pawns or something, they 02:12.600 --> 02:14.880 have no clue about the game. 02:15.750 --> 02:20.970 And an example is this game which shows the great dynamic beauty of chess here. 02:20.970 --> 02:22.500 Guess what white plays. 02:29.550 --> 02:31.480 King safety is the major factor here. 02:31.500 --> 02:40.920 It's not about material and in fact, Wyplosz Queen, 87 CHAC and as you get better at calculating, 02:40.920 --> 02:45.410 you might even be able to play these amazing queen sacrifices at some point. 02:45.750 --> 02:47.560 This draws the king out to play. 02:47.730 --> 02:49.290 So King takes his place. 02:49.650 --> 02:52.680 Then we have notates sex and it's a double check. 02:53.070 --> 03:01.050 So in a double check, the king is forced to move if the king steps backwards here to 88 and 96, says 03:01.050 --> 03:01.560 checkmate. 03:02.100 --> 03:09.630 So we have a situation where whites just given up nine units and we have to look at the other elements 03:09.630 --> 03:10.550 in the position. 03:11.970 --> 03:21.540 So for my personal evolution of chess in 1999, I want the Lloyds Bank junior tournament under 18 sponsored 03:21.540 --> 03:26.940 by Lloyds Bank, and I really just wanted my best resources around the opponent's king. 03:27.240 --> 03:34.440 Later, I created hypotheses to test in games about what called element management, because I thought, 03:34.440 --> 03:39.030 well, I'm just trying to manage, you know, the king's safety element. 03:39.060 --> 03:40.350 What about the other elements? 03:40.620 --> 03:43.350 I wanted to improve and refine my game. 03:44.070 --> 03:48.960 And, you know, nowadays I just think, well, I just want to find the downsides of the opponent's 03:48.960 --> 03:49.610 position. 03:50.130 --> 03:56.940 And so if you hear that phrase about downsides, that's my current, you know, evolutionary, you know, 03:56.970 --> 03:57.360 thinking. 03:57.360 --> 03:59.190 And I do, too. 03:59.310 --> 04:03.180 You know very well generally in my chest, though. 04:03.690 --> 04:08.520 But here we are bringing bringing out the downsides of the opponent's position. 04:08.520 --> 04:12.600 But in particular, we're emphasizing the king's safety elements. 04:12.600 --> 04:13.620 We've made a commitment. 04:13.620 --> 04:16.450 We made a queen sacrifice for King's safety. 04:17.010 --> 04:20.280 Now, this is actually what's called a calculated queen sacrifice. 04:20.550 --> 04:26.900 There's actually zero risk in this one, believe it or not, because it's actually calculated. 04:26.900 --> 04:33.930 Well, we have knights four check nine eight G4, not the other one. 04:34.320 --> 04:37.290 And there's very limited replies for the opponent. 04:37.740 --> 04:45.390 The opponent can only go to G5 and now we have this ability to draw the king into position eight for 04:45.390 --> 04:51.180 check king at four, and now we can draw the king even further Jeoffrey. 04:52.440 --> 04:57.770 So if that were literally bringing out the downsides of the opponent by bringing the king down the board. 04:59.220 --> 05:03.020 So anyway, OK, so pardon me. 05:03.030 --> 05:05.490 Sometimes I find my own jokes a bit too funny. 05:05.490 --> 05:09.180 So Bishop to check, we're bringing the king down the boards. 05:09.540 --> 05:12.000 This is a totally forced situation. 05:12.300 --> 05:15.240 You might think Black is just a bystander here. 05:15.240 --> 05:21.690 All the pieces are spectator pieces, as I like to call them, rook to check King G1. 05:21.690 --> 05:25.350 And now why has a choice of how to checkmates the opponent here? 05:25.590 --> 05:28.290 Can you see two moves which checkmate the opponent's. 05:30.980 --> 05:36.230 OK, the move in the game was actually if you if you want five cents for the video, the move in the 05:36.230 --> 05:40.160 game was actually just Kingdome to discovering this check, which is actually made. 05:40.490 --> 05:41.210 It's checkmate. 05:41.210 --> 05:42.150 Why it's won the game. 05:43.670 --> 05:45.430 Yeah, this is the magic of chess. 05:45.440 --> 05:47.300 It's not about bean counting. 05:48.530 --> 05:56.210 I hate to tell you about material and the material system when really, you know, it really does depend 05:56.210 --> 05:57.030 on the position. 05:57.440 --> 06:00.770 Chess is not a kind of cold calculation game. 06:02.220 --> 06:06.060 For me, chess is about bringing down the opponent through their downsides. 06:06.090 --> 06:07.630 That's my current level of thinking. 06:08.610 --> 06:12.810 And so if I find downsizer opponents position everything else. 06:14.350 --> 06:18.070 Will support that idea of underlining those downsides, and this is a great game. 06:18.100 --> 06:23.860 There's also castling Queen Side is also invoking a cheque to the king, and that's actually. 06:24.790 --> 06:31.270 So we've seen this game, a queen sacrifice, which is actually 100 percent correct. 06:31.630 --> 06:34.320 100 percent correct. 06:37.360 --> 06:38.350 So how is that? 06:40.470 --> 06:46.590 Because chess, it really often depends on the position, sometimes the most amazing, outrageous moves 06:47.070 --> 06:48.330 fit the position. 06:48.600 --> 06:51.060 So it's not all about being a bean counter. 06:52.050 --> 06:55.010 Now, if you're an accountant, I apologize. 06:55.020 --> 07:01.200 I'm sure there are many, many aspects of accounting that are very, very exciting. 07:02.460 --> 07:08.220 And you can get great insight into how companies work and how they could improve and save money and 07:08.220 --> 07:08.920 make more money. 07:08.940 --> 07:11.580 So I'm just kind of joking about accounting. 07:11.760 --> 07:15.870 But I don't like in my chest just to be counting pawns or pieces. 07:16.140 --> 07:18.030 I like to be finding downsides. 07:18.030 --> 07:23.430 And if I need to invest material to underline those downsides, I will. 07:24.480 --> 07:31.620 So sometimes it really you know, this is a dramatic example, a very, very famous game where the queen 07:31.630 --> 07:33.990 sacrifice is totally justified. 07:35.880 --> 07:43.740 So this dynamic appreciation of the game is why also I've given you plenty of examples in this course 07:43.740 --> 07:50.760 later for all the tactical weapons of destruction, because I know it's a beginner's course, but I 07:50.760 --> 07:55.740 want you to be a tactical monster within weeks or months of this particular course. 07:57.600 --> 08:02.670 Because being a tactical monster is your undo button, it doesn't matter if you get a bad position sometimes 08:02.670 --> 08:07.660 at the opening you can undo the damage and just swindell the opponent's later. 08:07.680 --> 08:09.510 You know, we should have lost your win. 08:10.170 --> 08:14.110 And even later, if you got a bad game in the end game, you might find tactics there. 08:14.430 --> 08:17.140 So I want you to be a tactical monster. 08:17.160 --> 08:21.300 I know there's various little departments, little subjects, though they're all equal. 08:21.720 --> 08:27.580 But as you say, especially in the winning tips section, the undo button, the big undo button of chess 08:27.600 --> 08:29.250 is you being a tactical monster. 08:29.760 --> 08:33.870 And to be a tactical monster, you're materialistic. 08:33.870 --> 08:41.940 Appreciation of chess needs to be subservient to bring the downsides and the downfall of opponents. 08:42.060 --> 08:46.770 And if you need to sacrifice the queen to do that, then you need to sacrifice the queen. 08:47.100 --> 08:54.060 And the better you are at calculating variations, the more evidence you have concretely for such amazing 08:54.060 --> 08:54.790 decisions. 08:55.260 --> 09:00.030 So try it when you see possessions, like I say, sometimes by accident. 09:00.030 --> 09:00.900 Guess the best move. 09:00.900 --> 09:03.630 I really want you to try and work out the best move. 09:04.170 --> 09:10.050 And really, you know, I want you to walk out to the largest possible extent in your head. 09:10.320 --> 09:16.770 Like Beth Holman, the more you can stretch your visualization and calculation skills, keeping track 09:16.770 --> 09:21.060 of where the pieces are like Beth Holman, you're looking at the ceiling, the more dynamic and aggressive 09:21.060 --> 09:27.000 and a tactical monster you'll be to try and, you know, try the exercises later in this course with 09:27.000 --> 09:28.170 extreme seriousness. 09:28.410 --> 09:34.290 Don't try and just guess the very next move, but see all the follow ups in your head or the best possible 09:34.290 --> 09:37.890 defenses, how they get refuted sometimes. 09:38.280 --> 09:39.000 So this one. 09:39.000 --> 09:40.590 Yeah, Cuéntame a seven. 09:41.820 --> 09:45.570 And you know, if you can visualize this whole thing in your head, that's a good start. 09:45.930 --> 09:48.870 That would be a good start to practicing your visualization. 09:49.230 --> 09:55.730 So if you take this position and see if you can actually visualize from here the entire queen sacrifice 09:55.740 --> 10:00.060 combination without moving the pieces, try and visualize it in your head as accurately as possible. 10:01.440 --> 10:03.000 That's good exercise sometimes. 10:07.310 --> 10:10.070 OK, but OK, it might be too hard. 10:10.520 --> 10:17.800 But anyway, the essential point is we are element managers. 10:18.230 --> 10:18.800 Yeah. 10:19.010 --> 10:23.570 That there is a big part of my, you know, thinking around the 90s. 10:24.020 --> 10:28.780 But now I think about we're bringing the downsides of the opponent's position. 10:28.790 --> 10:31.900 We want to bring the opponent down through that downsides. 10:32.540 --> 10:36.530 That's the fundamental thing for me, driving tactics generally. 10:37.760 --> 10:44.090 OK, which of those cars over and over again later to reinforce with examples by here, yet the queen 10:44.090 --> 10:49.460 sacrifice perfectly sound chess is not just about bean counting. 10:49.760 --> 10:51.500 OK, thanks very much.