Thanks a lot. 🍻

Great lesson - everybody talks about weak squares and outposts, but nobody talks about what to do NEXT, how to go from dominating a weak square to forcing a winning advantage. You made it very simple and very clear. Thank you very much!

Molton's videos are far better than some with ten times as many subscribers.

I love your channel! So much information and so calmly presented, it's a pleasure to watch! Thank you very much for all the time you invested. 👋

Black should have playe. 11. c5

all I know, is I'm happy that the homework I did for smith morra as wjhite after watching this paid off. My WORST stats have been against the fianchetto because I've played a bunch of different things, but NEVER e5. after studying THAT, I beat a fianchetto in 30 today!

I like the Siciian Defense

I thought the thumbnail said chess pronouns. False advertising 😂

Putting the Kalashnikov in Respectable but Sveshnikov at God Tier is a crime

suggestion...a little louder voice like an enthusiatic video maker...more power sir

is modern defense good for blitz and bullet chess

Nice

Thanks, Molton sir

2025 I'm ditching the advance french for this

1:31. The queen has an escape square at a3. What needs to happen to make this work is to insert a timely black move B-b4+, covering a3, then a timely B×B+, to avoid a costly desperado.

Instead of 3.d4 I like 3. c4 getting into a mainline of the Reti only Black has a misplaced Knight on c6. If after c4 Black persists in playing e5, then simply c:d5 then d3 and White has a fine Reti.

thanks Sir

Thanks Sir

Looks opponent wanted to play the Rousseau Gambit.

Why not play Bb4 and try to play an early d5

why isnt 3.a6, 4.b5 included as a possible defence? is it very bad for some reason? or maybe i just missed it in the video?

Respect

Thanks for sharing Molton ! I'm studying it, though the results are not good, as there is more to it then I expected. I need to dig much deeper and get a deeper arsenal of options to come around whites plans more easily. Stil visualising the basic ideas overall or in particular variations or type of positions help to widen up my options. Lets hope I trigger the right plan/moves and distnguish them more easily in practical play after this and reviewing a couple of GM games. The Maroczy is for sure a much more serious test then the classical Nc3 and/or Bd3 variations. Black had indeed more chances of getting passive whole game thru and for sure this is no fun playing it. There is a actually a song called "All you can do , is Sit and wait" but its not a favorite of mine, its also time consuming and I always get into time trouble figuring out whites options, whereas black has few.

Im a former 1900+ currently sank to 1800 elo and have a tough job understanding all the options for black against all whites options. The idea of b5 is no overall option but in particular succesfull against Qf3. On the other hand I agree that in some instances you might better not castle at all. New to me are the h5/h4/Nh5 options.I've seen them before and start to experiment with them. You mentonned that when white plays Be3 this is a kind of option due to Ng4. Still you demonstrated it even without Be3 being played. Thats precisely the problem I face. When should you play it. Also Ne5 and exchanging Bd3 is not always a good option as white disposes over a strong connected central pawn majority after it, that kind of balances the loss of whites major piece in this game. So the biggest problem is how can you be sure that your piece manoeuver turns out right ? So I keep being puzzled. Also whites attack plan with g4 is now somehow demistified with g6/Nh5 type of moves or Re8/Nd7 and Bf8 moves. Sure seeing GM games and how flexible they are with the Kahns options helps and enriches , I on my hand face a lot of difficulties without those flexible ideas in practical play, as without, its overall a very pasive game. But I will stick to the Kahn , despite the bad results I face. I Initially started with Johan Hellsten "Play the Sicilian Kan" book and though the book contains the same structure , the practical ideas you set forward are hardly detectable in such a swamp of variations. Such books are definately pointless as your sole source. Now I made a major game study wherin I analyzed about 30 games in the acelerated Maroczy bind strutures. Then I get the ideas the black players put forward and compare with chessbase and/or engine options. The sole problem that remains is, is despite the insights during thestudy, nothing ever ever gets stored in an activ manner.. It is definetly better then replaying all of the moves in that book. All helps, a video with key ideas is on visuals of course. On the other hand one has to dig into more games and experiment. So my deep thanks for your wonderfull, structured presentation and for sharing your insights. I will put my teeth into the matter and hope someday my understanding improves and hope I can score more decently with a few ideas you demoed in addition !

thanks for this 🙏🏼

This channel is amazing! Please keep making videos

Great

i'm ~1350 and i usually play Kan, Scheveningen, Najdorf or Yerevan system, depending on how i feel like. And Sicilian is a fun opening, because it creates so many imbalances. Last time i fought against a very strong player, we had a 3 to 1 pawn imbalance on both sides. Mine where quicker though

Umm.. Kramnik played 2.d4 against 1..d5 most of his career, so the point of this video is off-target re: Kramnik specifically. He used it as a transposition tool to get the types of positions he wanted while limiting his opponents options.

Thank you very much. Very instructive. And I love the fact that you cover black playing d3! That seems to be fashionable these days in the Bc5 lines after white plays c3.

Save yourself some pain down the road and don't play the Caro, gms recommending beginners to play he caro are conspiring to keep you low rated.

thanks for sharing

Hi, good presentation! Do you still offer private lessons, as well as chess beginners?

5:00 Is there a reason why you chose not to capture his queen by pinning it to the king with Re8?

Decided to play Sicilian after gap of 55 years. Yes, 55 years. All i get are anti-Sicilians so this is very welcome!

Great vid 👏👏

bro quit his own channel 😭

WHERE IS FRENCH

I notice you didn't cover one of the main side lines of the Four Knights Sicilian defense. Namely 1.e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 d4 3.cxd4 Nf6 5. Nc6 Nc6 6.Ndb5 Bc5. What are your thoughts on that?

Though I’ve never played the French, since it‘s objectively at least as good as the Caro-Kann and I have respect for strategic players, I would have put it bottom God Tier. Defenitely above these Modern/Pirc Defenses

I would have put Ragozin higher and included Semi-Tarrasch and Semi Slav. They’re very relevant because in order to avoid the Nimzo, people nowadays are more likely to go 3.Nf3 than Nc3, I believe.

The thing about the Alekhine is that at beginneer and club level play it is very unknown. So under 2000 elo there is a very high chance of winning as long as you know the opening theory. And you can simply hijack whites opening plans with the Alekhine defense, since there is no way to refuse it

Wait this is not Marc Esserman!

1:16 Why would white defend with Nc3? Bg5 is much better, and then good luck attacking the center.

Hello sir, 1. I have watched your video. The content is very comprehensive, but compared with such rich content, the length of time is still not enough. I suggest you take this video and re-prepare the lesson, split it, expand it, make a mind map, and then make it into a 10 or 12-episode course. Each episode is one hour long. In addition to talking about theory, each episode also comes with some classic examples, and hang it up and put it on KZbin for everyone to watch and learn for free. This is very good for you to attract fans. 2. You are in Australia, where there are many Chinese people, or former Chinese people who immigrated to Australia from China. You can find some people who can play chess among these people, and explain your video or course again in Chinese. In this way, your courses can be seen and learned by Chinese people, and even you may go to Bilibili in China to open an account, publish works, gain fans, and open courses online to recruit Chinese students. Chinese people have strong learning ability, relatively strong economic strength, and a strong interest in chess! 3. Your own image appears in your video. It is recommended to make a package to make yourself more handsome, cool and personalized. Your current dress is too ordinary and simple. There is no memory point, and people can't remember you!

Dam!! In my game as white in a standard tournament I played b3 hoping for Ba3++ but should have played Be3 as you suggested. I still won with a king hunt. Mated her king on d4!

h6 stops Ng5 which is not the fried liver. Fried Liver is when after Nf6 Ng5, d5, exd5 black makes the mistake to take back with the Knight which allows Nxf7. Thats the Fried Liver which is losing for black. Black instead should have played Na5 the Polerio defense. Black gambits a pawn in the 2 Knights defense if White plays Ng5 thats the most solid way to play. I prefer Traxler counter attack. The other way to play is instead of Nf6 the 2 knights defense is Bc5 which allows Evans Gambit.

Great - thanks.

sheveningan not shevenigan right?

I can't believe that 2100 elo fall for it 😮