Hey Willy Wonka. 100% agree. I actually have a young student around 1300 or so but his puzzle rating is 2300. Huge gap. I would actually argue that doing tons of puzzles is only 50% of the equation. I think a lot of players don't understand that having good tactical awareness and knowing when to even look for tactics is just as or even more important than the calculation skills needed to see the continuation. If your puzzle rating is 2300 and your calculation skills are off the chart, but you can never find one in the game, what's the point right? That's why I have a couple of videos on this channel titled "Tactics Recognition" where we talk about 6 conditions that need to be met in order trigger that alarm in your head to treat the position like a puzzle and start looking for tactics. Thanks for your comment and good luck with your chess!

Hey Sarthakop, awesome! Thanks so much for letting me know, I love hearing these things. Good luck with your chess!

@chesswithcoachmark thanks 🙏

Thank you Frantisek, you're very kind as always. Many blessings to your family this holiday season and next year as well!

We all do my friend. We all do.

Hey Sanjay, thanks for your comment. Absolutely, I have many videos I'll be uploading relatively soon on end game strategies/techniques. It will be the first thing I do when I finish the Caro-Kann mini-series and speedrun. Here is a quick list of just some of the things you can expect once I get there. Yes, I was a bit inactive around the Thanksgiving holidays, but with Christmas coming up, my private 1-on-1 lessons schedule will lighten up due to people traveling, etc. so I will have more time to dedicate to this channel over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned! End Game Principles Pawn End Games Trading Down in the End Game for Easy Conversion Passed Pawns in the End Game King Activity in the End Game Distant Opposition and Zugswang Sacrificing to Promote in the End Game Space Obstruction

Hey David!

Very nice analysis Daniel. Cheers!

Fantastic, you're very welcome. Keep pushing!

Thank you Greg, I really appreciate it!

I think Qc7+ is still more practical. After that, you don’t have to calculate anything. The trade on c7 is forced. Then you just take on Bxe5, put the bishop on Bc3, and that’s it. With Qf8+, you will need to consider Kd7, after which you can trade the queens and the king ends on Kxd6. Then, you have to spend a little more thought to ensure that e and h pawns are not dangerous. Of course, still completely winning, but no need to bother with more pieces on the board when a simpler configuration leads to a no-brain victory.

Hey Gabong, good question and I agree with everything oSlig just said. So, as I mentioned in the video if you keep the queens on the board, that is technically the best way to play. Many times I look at chess from a statistics, odds, and winning percentage perspective. So the question really comes down to this. Would you rather keep the queens on the board with 1 more piece and risk losing the game (although unlikely) and being up +8, or would you rather get the queens off and be left with a winning end game that a 200 level player can convert with a 0% chance of losing being up +4? To me, the answer is obvious. Trade and convert an easy end game where you really don't have to think anymore. Plus as I mentioned, many times your opponent will just resign after you trade, so it ends the game faster. You have to understand that engines don't think like humans of course, so there are times when playing practical chess and playing the best move are two completely different things. I would much rather play a suboptimal move that guarantees I win the game than playing the best move and risk losing. Thanks so much for watching and good luck!

Hey Mark. Yes, so white had just played the move Bb5 hitting our queen, so before we moved it, we were counting the undefended pieces. But of course no other moves made sense, so we simply moved the queen. Thanks so much for watching!

​@@chesswithcoachmarkthanks for your response, but I don't think you answered the question. At 36:40 you said "their queen is hanging also" but I don't see why that is...

Oh haha, I'm so sorry Mark. I misread your question. I thought you were talking about the black queen. Yes, so when I went back to edit the video, I realized the error, so if you watch it again, you'll see I threw up the words "No, she's not" as a joke due to my mistake.

@@chesswithcoachmark oh I missed that! Thanks!

Well done!

Hey Henrik, thanks so much for the comment. I will certainly continue posting. Cheers!

Hey Salem, you're quite welcome and glad to hear it. For the Dutch, I'm going to recommend the Bg5 setup on move 2. The idea is to not allow black to play an early Nf6 as you will simply take it and leave black with an unhealthy pawn structure. The basic setup for white with this is you will play d4, then Bg5, then e3, then Nc3, you will castle long, and push your h pawn down the board to tear down the structure. If you play Bg5 and black plays h6, you drop your bishop back to h4 and if they play g5, you play e3 and they cannot trap your bishop or take it because you're threatening Qh5# OUCH!. I think it's a very good setup. For the Bird's opening I'm going to recommend you research the From's Gambit with 1.e5. Very good way to combat the Bird. Good luck!

@ thank you so much…the anti dutch lines looks very solid i’m very happy with it but whenever i try the from i discover that most bird players are also kings gambit expert and they take me into uncharted waters so i was looking for a solid equalizing line rather than gambit :) im sure you know what i mean…y don’t u consider making pgn courses and offering them for sale like Bog Mio

lol, that's hilarious. I have already considered that and am currently working on that very thing with the PGN files. At some point down the road, I plan to advertise my entire repertoire to be used in conjunction with my chess software call Chess Position Trainer (which is very cheap), although the PGN files can be used in many other sources of course. By the way, who is Bog Mio? Thanks for the suggestion.

@ sorry that was Big Mio aka The Butcher a great very under rated chess channel

Oh yes, I love the Butcher! He's been featured many times with the ChessBrahs who I've kept up with for years.

Hey Bugsy, thanks for watching!

Yes, he said the computer didn’t like the move which is correct. As you say to give check with the queen on f8 means you have two minor pieces. Obviously much better.

Hey Dado, yes as I mentioned in the video if you keep the queens on the board, that is technically the best way to play. My background is in engineering, math, etc. so many times I look at chess from a statistics, odds, and winning percentage perspective. So the question really comes down to this. Would rather keeps the queens on the board with 1 more piece and risk losing the game (although unlikely) and being up +8, or would you rather get the queens off and be left with a winning end game that a 200 level player can convert with a 0% chance of losing being up +4? To me, the answer is obvious. Trade and convert an easy end game where you really don't have to think anymore. Plus as I mentioned, many times your opponent will just resign after you trade, so it ends the game faster. Thanks so much for watching and good luck!

Hey Willy, fantastic question! The reason we have to sacrifice the bishop is to force the queen to e5 so that after we give the check on h8, the king cannot go to g6 or h6, as the black queen hangs on e5 due to the skewer. If we play Qh8+ first, the king does not have to take and can simply go to g6 or h6 and black's queen is fine. Yes, white can still win the exchange on f7 and be up a bishop, but as long as black's queen is on the board, nothing is guaranteed at certain levels. Using the sequence shown, white forces an end game where the queens are off with white being up a piece, which is much easier and less stressful to convert. Thanks so much for watching!

Noted :)

Hey Greg, awesome! I hope it was useful for you at least for that one line.

Yes

Yes

Yes please! I've adopted the stonewall attack as my main opening since watching your series on it, but this is the black opening that turns my plans to ashes.

Hi Fido, so glad to hear you're using the Stonewall. Are you having pretty good success with it?

Noted :)

Hey tchaliz, thanks for the question. If after white plays Qd7, if black moves one of their pawns, white will simply play Qh7 checkmate. Good luck with your chess!

No problem David.

Hi Muhammad, glad to hear you think it will help. Good luck with your chess!

Thank you Jose!

Amen David. God is good. In a world full of hate it seems in 2024, comments like these seem to be too far and few between. I am certainly no Grandmaster or International master, but I do truly enjoy helping others the best I can. I'm blessed and honored to be a part of a growing online community where even though I will not see or meet everyone, we can come together, encourage each other, and have fun learning about this wonderful game called chess. Many blessings to you and your family as well David. Early Merry Christmas brother!

Haha, thanks Peter. Great word, but not easy for an American.

Right. Black being in zugzwang entails Black would be ok if he didn't have to move. But that is not the case here.

Hi Stefano, thanks so much for the comment and for watching. Yes, from a technical standpoint a mate in x moves is not actually the same thing as zugswang, although I guess some people could make a case for it. I brought it up to make the point that putting your opponent in a position where they have no good move or a forced mate in x moves could be considered as a "forcing move", although again I guess some could argue that playing a move that puts your opponent in zugswang is not a forcing move. I would say it is. What do you think?

@chesswithcoachmark I agree with you that a move which puts the opponent in a zugzwang is a forcing move. I guess in the context of using forcing moves to prioritize lines to look at when calculating variations, it would be different to other forcing moves because a zugzwang position is usually not as easy to recognise as a check, capture or mate threat so could be easily missed.

Exactly, good point.

The word comes from German Zug 'move' + Zwang 'compulsion', so that Zugzwang means 'being forced to make a move'. It has been used in German since 1858 and in English since 1905 to mean a position where the player to move would be fine if he were not forced to move, but since he is forced to move he is lost. A mutual zugzwang is also possible; that is a position where it's not yet specified who is to move, and whichever is the player to move, whether it be Black or White, is lost.

Thank you!

Hi Tottenville! Thanks so much for watching. Just curious, is this account for a chess club at your middle school? I did the Chess Club at my previous high school for 10 years a while back before becoming a full-time chess coach. If so, good luck with it!

Hi swag. I'll post the same thing here for you that I said to Jealous here in the comments. If you're solving puzzles that are 1000 points or so higher than your playing level, that means you have great calculation and vision skills, but perhaps don't actually find them during the game. Check out my 2 videos on this channel on tactics recognition, where we talk about 6 conditions that when met, trigger that alarm in your head to treat the position like a puzzle and to start looking for tactics. It will change the way you think about tactics and will help you find them when you might miss them otherwise. Good luck and thanks for watching! Tactics Recognition Part 1 kzbin.info/www/bejne/iWS3Ymt5d9d0qZo Tactics Recognition Part 2 kzbin.info/www/bejne/kGm0g4moiZKfm7c

@ i appreciate the links dude, I'll check it out. Haven't seen these yet, but sounds like something i need. Thanks dude

No problem man. You're very welcome.

Hi Jaekn. I certainly respect everyone's opinion. I will say the last season was a bit disappointing to me. I feel like they rushed it, but overall I thought it was excellent. I'm interested to hear what turned you off from the series. Thanks so much for watching!

Hi undefined. Thank you so much and good luck with your chess!

Hi Coach. Great question. I need to finish the last few videos of my Caro-Kann mini-series lessons and then I will do a Caro-Kann speed run. After that, I need to post a few videos on End game strategies on the main "Beginner to Master Series", and then I will start on the London. Thanks for watching!

Hi there, that's fantastic and I'm sure a great feeling. Keep pushing!

somehow doing chess puzzles makes you look way better than your real elo I can solve up to 1400 elo tasks (~1520 peakest) freely in puzzle rush for example but at normal chess i am ~620 (648 my peak) rapid

Same!

Hey Jealous, that's great, that means you have good calculation and vision skills. Check out my 2 videos on this channel on tactics recognition, where we talk about 6 conditions that when met, trigger that alarm in your head to treat the position like a puzzle and to start looking for tactics. It will change the way you think about tactics and will help you find tactics when you might miss them otherwise. Good luck and thanks for watching! Tactics Recognition Part 1 kzbin.info/www/bejne/iWS3Ymt5d9d0qZo Tactics Recognition Part 2 kzbin.info/www/bejne/kGm0g4moiZKfm7c

Yeah this might be more of a 1000… ish

Hey Thomas, sweet! Yes, I don't ever think that feeling of satisfaction you get from solving a puzzle will ever go away for me no matter how easy or hard it is to solve. Thanks for watching!

Haha, yeah that was a tricky one.

You're welcome. I agree.

Hey BananaDope. That's awesome man, great thinking. You'll get there. Yeah, I would guess most people would not think of a move that puts your opponent in zugswang as a "forcing move", but I would say it is since you're "forcing" your opponent to play a move they don't want to. Thanks for watching.

Frantisek, you're so kind. You're welcome as always.

Hi Alberto, thank you so much sir. You're quite welcome.

Hi, thanks for watching.

Thank you.