Blunder or Trap? | Standard Chess

The Korchnoi Attack (1.d4 f5 2.h3 and 3.g4!?) is a less-than-sound yet dynamic and fun way to confront the Dutch Defense. My attacking setup appears promising after the rook lift 9.Rh4, but might a quick, seemingly poor decision by my opponent a couple moves later lull me into a false sense of security?
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Recommended chess books:
Tune Your Chess Tactics Antenna: amzn.to/2xJ2auH
Amateur to IM: amzn.to/2Dph3IG
Life and Games of Mikhail Tal: amzn.to/2zq741X

[@KF1]

"I've done a lot of things against the Dutch" - J. Bartholomew, 2019

[@gtgaxiola]

"There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch." - J. Bartholomew, 2019

[@johntatum1951]

Playing against Ginger Gm...a lot..ha!

[@freezatron]

"There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch." yeah, there's a lot of hatred towards white peoples culture these days which is pretty despicable ;)

[@WinSchutten]

I bet he ate french fries without mayonaise...

[@robiaharefin6876]

@@freezatron r/whoosh?

[@gcollins1992]

I am so happy. There's SO much John happening lately and I hope it keeps up.

[@dg_eddie1242]

I am so happy too haha

[@SuperYtc1]

Loving the content you’re pumping out. What a privilege it is to watch, via a mobile phone and wireless internet and laying in bed, a master at his craft playing and explaining what he’s doing in a free video. What a time to be alive. Y’all, take a moment to appreciate how privileged we all are.

[@Sxndri]

Agreed!!

[@ourtube1128]

couldn’t agree more!

[@dgmisal1979]

You, sir, are a class act. No whining, just looking at it all objectively and trying to learn while simultaneously teaching us. Well played, sir.

[@Xrayballer88]

Yep. If online chess were a 90s video game console, I would've broken at least of dozen controllers by throwing them across the room.

[@llamalord878]

Respect for posting a loss, love that you don't hide from it John. You're the man!

[@Lovely_Bean_]

Always love the standard videos :D

[@benjiekern5558]

There's a comment on LegoCoffee's profile saying that he cheated, but I really don't think that's the case. John was actually ahead a large portion of the game, his opponent made plenty of inaccuracies/a couple blunders, and his opponent is now 2305 in rapid. Let's all try to be cautious when accusing someone of cheating at it really is such a big accusation. Also I think it's really cool how gracious and humble John is, it really shows when he uploads vids like this one

[@greenUserman]

Yup, doesn't look like an engine to me. LegoCoffee would have most likely lost, even with an engine, if John had played Bh5+ at the right moment.

[@DownfallHitlerParody]

Look at LegoCoffee’s profile and most of his games have 90%+ accuracy - in one game he scored 96.8% accuracy in a 60 move game, beating a guy who was banned for cheating 😂 (the other guy scored 93.1% accuracy in that game) - LegoCoffee is either a cheater or the burner account of a grandmaster - most likely he’s a cheater that mixes in his own moves.

[@mcgwirehidden9077]

This upload schedule is increasing my chess content consumption to an absurd amount!

[@chandraveersaran3752]

I would say it has brought my chess consumption under control It just gives one video to watch per day, play a couple of 15+10 games and I'm good

[@czvxi]

I like to see you win a game as much as the next person, but I really appreciate getting to see the post-mortems after your rare losses, too.

[@theJW55]

It is so nice to see that you are still putting out some Standard videos! I have been through the entire 270+ games, and really have enjoyed and benefitted from them! During my serious online games, I even occasionally find myself asking questions like "If I play here, he can take my pawn, but do I really need that pawn?", or "If I go here, he has that move, and I don't like my position." Simple stuff for an IM, but I need this kind of self-talk and self-checking a lot more in my own games. This LegoCoffee game was one of the most complex, difficult, and irrational of the whole standard series. I think your composure and attitude during and after such a difficult loss is really exemplary. It is not hard to see why you have a national H.S. title and an IM norm! Most of us, myself included, don't handle the myriad strong emotions elicited by losing a tough game nearly as well. Based on their comments some of my vanquished online opponents certainly don't handle their feelings as well, lol, but I would like to think a bit of your perspective is rubbing off on me. Anyway, after going through the series once, ( and I am nearly 1/3 of the way through it a 2nd time) it is way past time to give you props for such a great, sustained educational project, and for giving so much of yourself in the process!! Thanks so much for the effort!!!

[@vergtio4352]

Damn, i've watched nearly ever video on this channel and have been a subscriber since i think

[@anvb5a1]

Funny those moments when we play a move and then immediately spot what we missed when our move is on the board! Indeed, a classic!

[@Muazuestuas]

I look forward to these uploads every day. I can't wait until lunch time everyday to eat and watch John play great quality chess. Thanks for the daily uploads, John!

[@mikecantreed]

This guy was really quick at calculation and had balls of steel. Impressive that he found all the moves that you pointed out in half the time too. Impressive.

[@tomrender89]

Loved this one John! I prefer the longer games so we can hear you talk through your thoughts in more detail. And this was amazing to see you work something out, feel you missed something and then in the analysis seems you didn't etc. The game was great and appreciate you putting out loses as well as the wins. Definitely a fan for life :).

[@jonshive5482]

Tough loss but you handled it like a true sportsman. Good on yer John!

[@seasideman]

I'm rated about 1400 and I learned a huge amount here, thanks John. These rating climbing videos are amazingly instructive for me. I learned two important things from this game: 1) Keep your eyes open for the less immediately obvious moves 2) Take your time at the start, but not too much time. I have this bad habit of playing too quickly at the start and I need to get over it.

[@Flying_Chess]

Thank you, John. You are doing great content lately. This game was very interesting. It is a pity you couldn't win it after the queen sacrifice. Time management is always taking its toll! Your final speech, full of humility, is something rarely seen in today's society. Respect.

[@TheZerohero1996]

This is one of the most interesting and sharp games I have ever seen. Thanks for sharing.

[@threethrushes]

Kudos for showing us a loss against a lower-rated opponent. Shows integrity, not that we needed to be reminded of your qualities. That said, I enjoy playing the London System against the Dutch. Believe it or not, I have had 5-move checkmates against 1800s in blitz...

[@baoboumusic]

25:30 15 seconds on the clock in a lost position, he just remains calm. That's awesome.

[@laafridi7681]

There's a lot to learn from your loses, the way you handled it simply it helps us relate to you more, because we lose a lot so it's nice to see it happens to ims too and there is nothing to be sad about that

[@mitchstookey]

I'm loving this daily upload streak you've got going! Hopefully the upload train also has no brakes :)

[@Joe-zu7lx]

Great video- lots of instructive content!

[@confucheese]

Wow, your position seemed far worse (disregarding time pressure) during the game than the analysis revealed it to be. Edit: LegoCoffee seems to be an extremely good player based on his later games. His account was created the day you played him and you were the second person he encountered. Seems likely he is at best the alternate account of a very good player or at worst a cheater.

[@seasideman]

There were some engine-like moves in black's play, but it's a new account so perhaps their grade just hasn't found its (upward) level yet.

[@yanair2091]

LegoCoffee cheater? Nonsense. John played terribly! I've never seen IM losing it so quickly, like an amateur. Even after giving him queen he could have at least try to organize serious attack, but he withdrew instead.

[@confucheese]

Yan Air I wasn’t referring exclusively to this game. In other games on his archive he shows an accuracy of 99.5%.

[@sl523]

Definitely a cheater. Yes, I agree that John didn’t play well, but you can clearly see that his opponent made a move at a very set interval of time. There were some easy recaptures that took the same amount of time as complicated moves!

[@yanair2091]

I couldn't find his profile on lichess. Where did you find him? I couldn't open link in the description.

[@mongreltiger]

That was painful to watch once you got so far down on time, but as always your games and analysis are enjoyable and educational win or lose. Thank you for all of the excellent instructional videos!

[@nightsau]

Thanks for the upload John, great as always.. Happy to say as a patzer, I saw the Qf7 resource once Ng6 was suggested.

[@zoomskirtpow4483]

Hey john, you should play the magnus app, where you can play him at different ages, I saw your older videos of that, and they were really funny 😂

[@michaelbaker9347]

poor John. opponent lets him think he forked his pieces, immediately hits back with a counter fork

[@basidhfareeth7757]

always happy to see johns face in regular basses

[@alwaysprepared]

Whoa! Not used to you blundering. It happens to all of us, though. You took it in stride and learned from it. Well done!

[@istvanmagi473]

John! TIME! Probably you should treat every game as if it was another "Using the clock as a weapon" video.

[@venkatachengalvala4289]

Good advice.

[@krishnansuresh9206]

Hats off to you John for posting a loss. You are still the best!!

[@jakobzohmann6468]

Hey John, tough game! Even though you said you don't think your opponent used an engine... I have looked at this game three times now and I think the speed with which black made some moves in an extremely complex position is really suspicious. Granted it is possible to find all those moves but why move so quickly? Wouldn't you want to spend your time double checking if you're black? Suspicious.

[@Clownmagics]

this makes me see the beauty in the flawed >3

[@abdallajbara6242]

i found chessable really helpful and a great idea/ concept.. im learning the scandi as i like to use it, but at some point in my games im like '' wait, what should i do now '' :D so when i came across your course on chessable found it really helpful when it comes to learning book moves, in this interactive way, i really like the idea .. starting out with this free version, decent 57 lines that's really good. will see how that goes and definitely will consider the paid version afterwards.

[@fernandopardo8272]

Great game! It was very funny. He used the clock against you.

[@heliocruz416]

First time i saw the game analysis. Learned more after a loss

[@TIeKoRis]

This happens to me ALL THE TIME! Right after I move I see the opponents move I missed 😑

[@ianhurley767]

Fascinating game!

[@reidpattis9478]

Learned a lot as always.

[@KingoftheJuice18]

"Even at this late stage, big chances for me"--yes, this should ALWAYS be the mindset during the game. (I know it's much easier said than done!)

[@tommydashed4205]

Not true. You have to be objective in a game of chess. The more accurate your assessment of a position the more likely you are to find the correct ideas.

[@DoomScrolled8]

John you are such an inspiration. I have learnt so much from you. Reached 1350 in chess.com just from following you. Love from 🇳🇵

[@robiaharefin6876]

Noice keep up the work...

[@saintsaens21]

On chess.com, rapid ratings are wildly underrated. They even gave free rating points to all members a few years ago. A 1900 rating today puts you in the top 1%, when you need 2200 at blitz. Masters such as John have their rating artificially set to equal their FIDE rating, but will inevitably fall since their true rapid rating on the website is around 2000.

[@saintsaens21]

@Rai Ichikawa nahing won't make me less right.

[@jarlardo]

what a cool game that was!

[@fisher00769]

Can't blame you for not finding f3, as Ben always says, never play f3. Weird position, definitely an interesting game.

[@sheldoncooper1569]

Hey John, thanks for the video! In some of your other videos, you talk about the relationship between the c pawn and the knight. Is there a reason on move 5, for instance, to play Nc3 and not c4, gaining space in the center? Edit: Welp, that teaches me not to comment before I've watched the video. Thanks!

[@zealous944]

im not a chess expert, but is there a reason you couldn't block with the black square bishop on f4 instead of bring back the knight to open queen side castling opportunities and remove the mate scenario earlier.

[@johnkeeton8119]

On queen F7, what are the consequences of moving the dark bishop to E3? What am I missing? Or does he go over this after the game is over?

[@canwegetsubswithonlychesscomme]

At 29:37 doesn't bf6+ cause alot of problems for black? Update:Nevermind

[@gillywibble]

Really interesting game!

[@minefieldtango5513]

19 minutes in, is there something wrong with Ba6 followed by Nc6 for Black? It seems your Queen is kind of cramped and overloaded. Even if there's no tactic right away, if he follows it up with long castles it seems to give him a big development advantage.

[@Dorfnite]

Around 14:10 when you start move 13, why not give the king a check with Queen to b5, forcing the king to move to d8 and securing the bishop on b4, simultaneously eyeing the rook on f8?

[@filipbuczynski9905]

Dorfnite because of nc6

[@Dorfnite]

@@filipbuczynski9905 Oh you're right, thanks!

[@Iamlucasrodrigues]

First time I saw you losing :D but what a game!

[@williamsquires3070]

Yeah, I blundered my king in a Dutch opening once... 🤣 That b6 move looks interesting; I’ll keep it in mind if someone plays h3 against the Dutch. 🤗

[@hasnulhashim2005]

Is it really a good idea to go for such a variation in a 15m game?

[@ConeDaRagusa]

He wanted to experment for learning purposes, not caring if he loses..

[@godthesaviour8424]

Why not bce3 after the black queen move?

[@AndrewInmanartist]

I understand the Dutch to d4 is a flanking move like the Sicilian is to e4. Is the dutch on the same level as Sicilian or is it harder because it opens the kingside instead of the queenside?

[@jackhurley2676]

Andrew Inman yes, I think it’s generally considered less sound than the Sicilian because you’re opening your king so early

[@sliderBro]

Wow nice game. Another cool game that you lost from a winning position was when you played GM Evgeni Vasiukov.

[@Ohorrorohorror]

yep, i remember that one. tactically complicated games with short time available are prone to that. sometimes the player whose game looks better has the upper hand, even though the engine may say otherwise.

[@benjaminpercival2774]

hey john, thanks for all you do. FYI you might want to reconsider using the word 'lame' a lot because it's bit ableist

[@szhzs6121]

lame

[@BrokenG-String]

That game was a intense

[@petermead8229]

Greetings John et al! 😊 i just looked up CoffeeLego as i was suspicious that theyd really tangled you up, given you couldve just had a bad day, bit his account closed 6 games after yours... I'm guessing banned? Sorry, not gossipping, just a protective fan! 😂😂😂

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Greetings! And oof - unfortunately not too surprising :) Looks like he got banned shortly after this game.

[@mrengler1]

why is b6 so unusual? in the english/sicilian, it's super common to fianchetto the bishop on the same color square where it has an unobstructed diagonal. doesn't b6 use the same ideas?

[@Flying_Chess]

It's unusual because it isn't usually played in that specific position. That doesn't mean it's a bad move.

[@KingoftheJuice18]

John, I'm surprised you didn't try to harass his king toward the end with rook checks and bishop checks, both to build up clock time and, possibly, to provoke a mistake.

[@scott_the_ancient2]

The reason I think Lego coffee cheated: he has only played 3 rapid games on chess.com. 3 games and he's rated 2300. He had never lost in rapid. Also he hasn't logged in since this game or the time of the game. He probably played this game and didn't realize the game was going to be played for thousands to see. If he cheated then he is stuck with not being able to play again because it would prove he isnt master strength. He wound really have to be much greater than master strength because in the entire game he only used 5 minutes. So this guy is grandmaster strength. Oh but all he moves weren't engine moves so he couldn't have cheated. Right? There are many engines and depths. He could pick a third choice move or vary it up. Also it's possible he is very good and played his own game most of the time but only looked at the engine sometime when he got into trouble. He might have used the engine just to know the eval and that is enough to check if your move is bad or not. Dont choose the engines move but try your move and look at the eval and if it goes down then pick another. John pretty much has to be gracious and to say he didn't cheat because that's the nice guy thing to do. While this isnt prove and proving legocoffee cheated might be impossible, there is no way the guy crushed John and only used 5 moves and has only played 3 games. I dont believe it. Is this guy a super grandmaster hiding out in this account? Because this isnt some amateur who plays chess on occasion. This is either a person who has devoted his life to chess or is a cheater.

[@tommydashed4205]

This type of logic is clearly flawed. If someone is cheating, they might make moves that aren't the top engine choice but I doubt they will make them if it is evaluated as -3 for them, because . The guy was lost out of the opening, John just blundered. Which brings me to another point. He didn't crush John, John was winning the entire time until he got into time trouble. I don't know why people rush to the cheating accusations every time a titled player loses. Title players aren't mystical beings that never lose, chess is concrete and doesn't care what your title is. This was also a very tactical game that favors the lower-rated player who usually is outclassed positionally. Anybody who uses the CAPS accuracy score or how fast a person plays to claim somebody is cheating is completely ignorant and has no clue what they are talking about. A GM will AVERAGE about 95% CAPS score. Playing some games with such a score, especially versus lower-rated opponents who don't put pressure on you or opponents who blunder or in games with a lot of forced moves will increase your score because if you blunder a mate in 15 in a 20 move game (ridiculous, I know) and your opponent finds it then you will still receive something like 98% score even though you lost because you played at least 15 best moves in a 20 move game.

[@nomvanhoutte1998]

Tough loss Minnesota Fins. Perhaps your mind was on your get together, who knows maybe your opponent was actually Wesley So. All this is speculative but, in regards to your statement "I am human," you ain't fooling me!

[@louisdapan3648]

Could've maybe drawn by perpetual

[@marcota9461]

Interesting game. Sharp and tactical. Maybe john isn't at his ease in this kind of games, like he is in the harmonic, positional ones

[@scheimong]

Clarifying that your opponent wasn't cheating at the end there, very responsible thing to do. Loved that. I've seen way too many times people having their reputation utterly destroyed by rampant speculations and accusations from mostly hypocritic internet trolls, in various online communities and in real life. Leveraging your voice to prophylactically shut down these shenanigans was really responsible and I can't praise you enough for that.

[@Daggett1122]

You must admit though that this player isn't even close to their rating, they are well over 2300, probably more like 2500 based on their speed. For an account that's literally a few hours old... it's fair to be suspicious.

[@scheimong]

@@Daggett1122 Maybe, but the key is that you don't know, and it's not for you to judge. Be very careful about your accusations because words are powerful and can do a lot of damage. Try putting yourself in the shoes of the person being accused and feel the tyranny of the masses bearing down on you. There are people whose professional job is to counter cheating, and they know much more than any of us. So just don't participate in those accusations. I learned this the hard way by being on the receiving end of it and let me tell you, nobody deserves that level of stress and nonsense.

[@stegaBOB]

@@Daggett1122 they are in no way 2500. If at any point you blunder a full piece in the opening you are not even over 2000. There were a significant number of tactics that he missed. John definitely would have beat him if he had more time. You say that he could be 2500 based on his speed, but it's not hard to be fast. What's hard is to be fast AND make good moves, which he did not.

[@Daggett1122]

@Sammy Harris He's already rated over 2,300, and beat John without even using half his time, so it's fair to say he's over 2,400 no doubt.

[@scheimong]

In real life if someone accuses you of wrongdoing which turns out to be false, you can sue them for slandering and damages. There is no such recourse over the internet. So don't make those accusations unless you plan to be personally responsible if proven wrong.

[@get_downed_boi6270]

Did an IM just lose

[@malchar2]

coffee is better than tea

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Fax

[@zealous944]

29:36 again not an expert so i would like enlightenment. why not f6 mate, then take his rook with bishop. Sure he takes your rook with knight but its an even trade if not a better trade since it at least buys you more time.

[@kevingonsalves4323]

The rook is an important piece to keep on board. The 2 bishops vs the queen is resignable is almost any position

[@V8SupersQirreL]

Your opponent uses the clock as a weapon. How unfair is this?

[@freezatron]

One line you didn't explore was checking the king with your queen and taking the hanging dark square bishop first chance you got, I wonder why ? . . Never seen you play so badly !! haha :) you're still ten times the player I am, nice to know that I aint the only one that can blunder though and I think it is great that you share losses too, very instructive.

[@anttt7993]

He could have blocked it with the knight, which would defend the bishop.

[@WesitoxD]

Maybe that was Magnus Carlsen

[@marcojimenez2725]

Instant like 🙂 👍

[@mariostheodorou9726]

This guy was definitely using an engine. He found everything in 4 min. Hate em

[@tommydashed4205]

I could find most of his moves in a 3 minute blitz game. Even better moves. The guy was in a clearly losing position, he just plays quickly. Morphy played quickly too, I guess he was a time traveler with a chess engine.

[@HistoryFathom]

John maybe you could play a 30 min game so you have more time

[@beyondlimits8159]

Nah too long

[@cheetrowe]

Or maybe he would just use all his time then too hehe (jk John)

[@zoomskirtpow4483]

3rd, I think?

[@mitchhezel1988]

Hi John, I am girl from Egypt. Thank you

[@nischay4760]

Do you want my many leather bound books?

[@cabbanisgaming]

Very nice game, fins! I believe that he was a cheater, but that doesn't make a bad game, just a unoriginal opponent (computer)

[@chessism93]

This was gonna go in the climbing the rating ladder playlist before John blundered Qf7. I suggest you play more aggressive lines. Less d4 more e4. More gambits. Just do us some fan service by showing us more crazy games like this.

[@kingberzerk]

It is hard to believe that Black was not cheating. This LegoCoffee player.

[@CharizardFan_og]

You defeated yourself by making a decision and when your opponent did what you predicted you reanalised what you were going to do instead of just sticking to your decision, so you lost time...

[@ConeDaRagusa]

Too much experimenting with risky positions

[@SaintD382]

Either John played way below his usual level in this game, or Black was using an engine.

[@charlesmoore5954]

Geese this guy moves so fast...you get a chance to play an IM you should take some time....at least.

[@sl523]

It was painful watching you play against an engine. Seriously people need to get a grip and just play authentically. It’s not like you get to play against an IM every day. C’mon people!

[@drayt1238]

His latest bullet game might prove that LegoCoffee is indeed a cheater.

[@Hojsholm71]

This player plays to many top moves to fast in very complicated tactical positions.

[@johntatum1951]

Wow, so much thinking time...not your best game throughout....too early in the day?

[@humanrightsadvocate]

If top chess players would have pursued a career in STEM instead of chess, we would be living in a much better world. Or would we?

[@markrobs2954]

Just play 30 min chess 30+0

[@cutiecutie8609]

Why would you post a game that you've played against a cheater??

[@SeriousSkateboarding]

dude you lost to a 1900 because you decided to waste 2/3 of your time on 2 moves, very poor time management.