What a great episode of dynamic play, this is such a difficult aspect of the game as an adult improver because of how we learn the game and it really takes a mental shift in your thinking to embrace this beautiful aspect of the game but it's so exciting when we do! Having that belief that the resulting position after the sacrifice must be winning when we evaluate I've found has come after realising material isn't everything but a positional advantage or piece activity can out way the deficit in material, what I've found with this approach is it opens so many doors, no longer do I consider instantly defending an attacked piece but instead look at the counter to the threat first and foremost, that in itself is a game changer, add to this learning when to open up or close a position and to apply the sacrifice aspect has really improved my play and I feel has made me a much stronger player Homework d5 followed by Ng5 and then Rfe1 looks strong, what I like about this is we have our queen on the diagonal and eyeing up the h7 pawn as well as keeping the pressure on the c6 pawn, we open the e file and should the opponent attack our knight we have the potential discovery on the black queen with Bf4 rather than defending the knight? But most importantly to me we have improved/ activated three of our pieces for the sake of ditching the pawn. I'm sure there's better but that looks worth the risk even though I can't see a winning line and possibly I'd be leaving my knight vulnerable I would be willing to give this a go in this position

17:30 with my 1550. Elo, I can't see how white can proceed. Despite, as you say, white pieces are active and putting pressure and black pieces are tide to defend weak pawn, that would be my typical position where I stuck and loose on time😄😑

Amazing game and excellent analysis, thank you! At 18:47 after Ba6 Ne5, if black trades off both rooks by moving either to c8, does white win that endgame knight versus bishop?

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😮how to find the best move i will become a grandmaster

It’s interesting that in the first example white could start pushing his split passers first, but black’s ugly/beautiful doubled passers are just too advanced. Pawn endgames, sheesh. I’m trying to play the opening and middlegame faster so that there’s more time for the endgame, but there are so many tricky decisions! Even in classical I run out of time, heh.

Interestingly age 12 is roughly the cutoff for being able to speak a second language without any trace of accent.

Interesting, these tips are really useful. I always learn something new with your videos

Love the crows

As usual, a very instructive positional chess play teaching, with beautiful commentary on the aptly chosen games that exemplifies the goal of this lesson. Thsnk you!

As usual, a very instructive positional chess play teaching, with beautiful commentary on the aptly chosen games that exemplifies the goal of this lesson. Thsnk you!

Following this very instructive lesson I'd say d5 followed by Re1. I don't see the immediate win here but that's what your advice/prompt/ hint gave me. Also I'm way too materialistic so this was a great lesson for me!

The comments have me hooked @chessopticsi love this guy especially when he says to see if somethiyworks try and disprove it he has won me over that exactly how I think about things sometimes

The comments have me hooked @chessoptics

I watched this twice then watched the second part (after you talk about the 3rd reason, materialism) two more times but I keep missing where you identify the 4th reason.

Great video... Like sacrifices... They don't always work out, but when they do, it's very exhilarating... Doing one of your courses right now.I'll have to check out those other two you mentioned... Thanks again for all the great videos, And learning...

As always excellent chess information Dr Can

Good video. Sacrificing material for positional compensation is scary but ultimately it is a very valuable step in our chess development. For the homework, d5 is the answer. White has better development so they should open the position up.

Fantastic, can't wait for more of these classic games unpacked!

Your love for the game really shines through :)

I played a game yesterday and ended up having to sac a bunch of pieces because they were literally getting in the way. I won my opponents queen and had to clear out so I could checkmate easier.

Granular use of Pawns in endgame can make you win even in dead Lost position ... Pro Advice - Simply get rid of buried pawns and those pawns who are not worth defending and same goes with strong pieces too ... remove that attacking rook and bishop in endgame by weak pawns

I don’t think you answered the question. It’s more like trying to sell your course for older audience.

13:37 No. It took a couple years. But now my stop-the-video skills are formidable.😊 What's not formidable are my skills in finding this entire line! That's a meaty bone. And quite delicious! You're spot on with respect to overcoming issues of confidence when it comes to sacrificing. Confidence is very much a process. And that process involves losing. Certainly if you habitually analyze your games, you should welcome/treasure the feedback a loss can provide. I guess eventually you'll enjoy some gains even without doing analysis. The discomfort of sacrificing is an impediment to your game. It's okay overcoming that discomfort slowly. But you will have wins too. Wonderful wins! Let those sustain you as you remain steadfast building up your tolerance toward piece and positional sacrifices.

Nice to see the lead up in the Von Bardeleben game to the tactic featured in Checkmate Pattern Manual, I knew it looked familiar. For homework, I would not hesitate to play d5, then put the bishop on c5, perhaps exchange, and then put the knight on c5 and now the e-file is opened right onto the king. The ingredients seem obvious, the concrete variations are fuzzy though.

13:48 Nxh7 is this also best move in this position??? ............If Qxg4 , Nxf6+ (Forking)...............After this variation white will be 1 pawn up

I have a original principal : "One pawn can be sacced casually, but two pawns sac needs a concrete continuation." The drawback of this is that it avoids good exsacs like Kasparov Shirov 1994 Rxb7. My thought process for the homework: (final thought is d5) Just activating the rooks is my first instinct. However, the b7 bishop looks very strong after c5, so I want to shut it down. One way is Nc5, and Bxc5 dxc5 is ok because the d file opens. If the theme of this vid was not about saccing, I'll just stop here and play Nc5. Then I thought about saccing something and found d5 exd5 Nc5 can also block the c6 pawn and Re1 Bg5 attacks are dangerous for the opponents king. d5 exd5 Nc5 Bxc5 Qxc5 still blocks the king going f8 so it is the same. I can't calculate all the blacks moves, but there should be enough attacking ideas. Then I noticed they don't need to take d5 and can play c5, but dxe6 opens up the king and white looks better.

youre examples are always on point and actually really helpful. I really enjoy your lessons!

Piece activity is king

I am typing this before I have even watched the video which I will do tonight, but I played a game yesterday and it came time to pawn sac and I all I heard in my head was "I need to do this to open up liiiiiinnneeesssss!" :)

Homework: The move is d5 to open up the e file. Black can only capture with the e pawn, since the c pawn is pinned to the queen. After exd5 we put the knight on c5 followed by Re1. I don't see an immediate win but we have an active knight and a rook on an open file opposite his king with the possibility of bringing the other rook and the queen to the e file later. The black light squared bishop cannot activate after the knight starts blockading the c pawn. The king cannot castle due to us having taken the knight earlier, so it will sit in or near the center for the foreseeable future. If he takes our knight, then our bishop will prevent the king from evacuating to f8 and the e file will be vacated right away. And if he doesn't take on d5 then we will take on e6 and subsequently target the weak pawn as well as the king down the e file

Dr. Can keeping the great videos coming in 2025!

6:40 after we sac on c7 deflecting the queen then Rxe6. Can we??

This is what Paul Murphy would do in any of his matches. King of open positions he was. The only (and surefire) way to development-both in chess terms and in the life in general-is challenging the status quo. To add to the training with bots bit, I think that it replaced training with coaches from the scene. Yes, it still can be beneficial to train with people but even coaches train with (and make moves based on) a machine.

Very interesting, thanks for putting in the effort to research and share this

Great video. Thanks!

So tricky! A lesson I learned from an OTB loss, never ever trade rooks if you seem “a bit” worse in the pawns endgame and are fighting for a draw. With rooks on the board there’s always a chance.

Beautiful game and it was very instructive to see how the advantage was converted

One of the best lessons ever. Really sorted out so many things and actions to be considered following opening stage

When I was 900, I thought I was good. Now I'm 1100, I realise I'm not that good -and there's plenty of room for improvement.

Good information that shows not only pushing pawns can be a mistake, but that you should be on the lookout for those outposts, and they're not only for knights. Thank you.

My testimony is short: I play Significantly better 2D than 3D, 100-200 ELO easily. No room for elaboration here BUT I bought a ChessUP 2 ONLY to improve 3D skills, will inform if it helps :-)

Love the enthusiasm and how every video has many invitations to pause and think on practical issues. Not just chess entertainment but really active and educational. Subscribed!

How instructive! Swiss cheese 😋 lol Yep the art of exchanging pieces (it was a great chessable course) I didn't find Nf6 2 rooks mating pattern 😕.

Really enjoyable game 🎉 enjoy the great explanations 💯👏 thank you

Both lovely for the conversion and that Ke5 move.

wow thank you

You have received a grade of "AA" for this genius exploration of Alexander the Great

8:40: "Winning pawns" is a part here too. 5 pawns for black will have a hard time.