Botvinnik crushes Capablanca with an Anti-engine Move

[@kune2327]

"Chess cannot be taught, it can only be learned" Love this quote.

[@Andre-pl2vg]

What does it mean actually?

[@Chestnut-xm2pv]

When interpreted literally, it makes no sense.

[@Chestnut-xm2pv]

@Bobert Wiltshire You'd have to be hilariously stupid in order to accomplish that feat. Forgetting chess? The only way I'd imagine one doing so, is being painfully unaware of the rules. After that, everything relies purely on vision and memory.

[@gonzalo4658]

Hahahaha me too

[@Chestnut-xm2pv]

@@netzgaenger Eh. Valid point.

[@kevinhammond2361]

Capablanca succeeded with his multi-move plan to get his Knight to the fine outpost on b3... and there it stayed until he resigned!

[@tkell31]

yeah, I didn't understand the investment, would have been nice to hear why he spent three moves getting it there for virtually no return.

[@reelgesh51]

​@@tkell31 I'd assume he felt the position was somewhat closed cos really the position only opened up with the sacrifces and then taking the a4 pawn n pushing his own pawn for queening to make a queen side attack in the long run (one could also argue that due to capi not needing to move his rook he saved 1 tempo in the process)

[@jeffreyjohnson7359]

I put the critical position in my chess program more than ten years ago, and it actually found Ba3. I was very impressed.

[@swampwiz]

I always try to get an output like that, but when it's on the opposite side of the opponent's king, it can start to look stupid.

[@chrisloades9619]

Hinterland outpost

[@gonzalo4658]

The development of this guy’s channel is so satisfying

[@danytheunicorn95]

I am both astonished and baffled by your username as well as your culture in chess, chapeau!

[@Cnut_the_grape]

HE JUST REACHED 1 MILL!

[@thegorn]

He sounds hangover or stoned in his older videos

[@fujiapple9675]

Wow! Someone *crushes* Capablanca! I didn't know there was such a thing. Thanks for the upload!

[@agadmator]

+fugiapple96 To be fair, Capa was already 50 :) But great game none the less :)

[@yevgeniyzharinov7473]

Is this a revelation to you? This is the most famous game of all time.

[@rickrick5041]

To be fair, besides being old, he was sick. Wikapedia: "Capablanca's play was satisfactory in the first half of the event (50%), but collapsed in the second half, when he lost three games. He had only lost 26 tournament games in 29 years. Hooper and Whyld say "he suffered a slight stroke".[2] His wife Olga recalled that his high blood pressure nearly cost him his life: "A doctor screamed at me, 'How could you let him play?'" (at AVRO 1938).[3] In a 1939 interview Capablanca attributed his performance to "very high blood pressure and related circulatory disorders".[4] His doctor wrote that he had dangerously high blood pressure while he was treating him from 1940 until his death in 1942, and believed that it contributed to his death.[5]"

[@theblondknight9579]

Alekhine crushed him too

[@MrMorlaf]

@@theblondknight9579 Alekhine crushed him PROPA!!! ;-)

[@MichaelSlovin]

I would love to see a Botvinnik saga one day.

[@johnmarvel8729]

Botvinnik played an anti-engine move because Capa himself was a human engine.. lol

[@arthurv.a2710]

John M LOL

[@LeventK]

Lol

[@lonelyhumanbeing99]

Dude you're not complement capa , you are just saying he's an engine and got defeated by human

[@Warriormanners]

@@lonelyhumanbeing99 are you okay?

[@ripinkhanna6075]

@@lonelyhumanbeing99 Bruh, Capablanca was called the Human Chess Champion

[@josephstalin9167]

Man. Finally. Finally. After watching your videos for so long, I could finally correctly guess the move, and that too with proper reasoning. I feel so happy!

[@gicahagi2559]

Botvinnik is too much underrated in chess history imo. As a player, he was the world champion for more than 10 years and as a coach, he was the one who raised the golden three 'K' of the Russian Chess: Karpov, Kasparov and Kramnik.

[@kurzackd]

Botvinnik had *NOTHING* to do with neither Kasparov, nor Kramnik... You're also generally incorrect that Botvinnik is *"underrated"* ... He's literally the father of Computer chess, among *MANY* other achievements !! .

[@sking7252]

​@@kurzackd botvinik is Kasparov coach

[@williambunter3311]

Thanks very much for posting agadmator, and for the interesting historical anecdotes. What a fantastic game chess is!!

[@euraiahblair921]

Thank you!! I've been looking forward to this all week! Lol. Awesome videos and channel.

[@agadmator]

+Euraiah Blair Thank you, Euraiah :)

[@veryblackcat]

It's a fast growing community, join us :) you'll enjoy

[@euraiahblair921]

veryblackcat Being (in my opinion) the best chess channel on youtube it's no surprise how fast Antonio is growing!

[@veryblackcat]

Euraiah Blair He quickly became my favourite too! Not only because of the live streams, where meeting the community and interacting alltogether, but also and mostly because of Antonio's talent and passion!

[@veryblackcat]

Agad, i'd love a video about the classic Bird vs Mason game! Got a special attachment with that game. Pleaaaase :D. Thx man

[@jayharrison1785]

You know this video is old when his Top Donation is only $40

[@NoSoulNoToll]

8:41 aaactually you missed e 5 check, just kidding

[@mazhar13191]

Sorry 'bout that

[@cinegraphics]

And after black plays e5 check: "Feel free to pause the video and find the winning move for white."

[@plivajucizamajac]

@@cinegraphics king to h4?🤓

[@cinegraphics]

@@plivajucizamajac not the strongest move recommended by the engines, but quite playable for white :)

[@plivajucizamajac]

@@cinegraphics and this is completely winning for white

[@choide2317]

2:07 But I thought that Capablanca hadn't read opening theory

[@CalmaxFilm]

What happens if dxc5?

[@TCarr897]

Calmax Film If dxc5 on move 7 black will play Nbd7 and attack the c5 pawn. Black’s point is that White now has tripled pawns and weak squares to attack. For this reason it is not strategically desirable to play dxc5 as White but it is not terrible, just not the best.

[@zombieperson620]

He started studying it somewhere around late 1910s.

[@jampubharadwaj9374]

Underrated comment 🤣🤣

[@iXNomad]

This is theory not because Capablanca learned it but it is theory because Capablanca played it.

[@BlazeRhodon]

5:10 I recently installed Stockfish 10 in Arena 2.5.1 and this engine actually found this move 30. Ba3!, but instead of taking this bishop it suggested the move 30. ... Nc5 which leads to white win anyway. However when I played as black in this position vs Stockfish, after I captured this bishop, computer also found Botvinnik's next move 31. Nh5!! and also whole pattern. In position where Capablanca resigned, Stockfish 10 shows "Mate in 7". I know this is an old video, but now chess engines are better and better.

[@egor6946]

Blaze Rhodon Better yes but someone probably let it study that game

[@lucacastellaro1615]

engines are the most unnatural chess players, engines sucks

[@ericb252]

Stockfish 12 on mobile device found it instantly. Engines too good now

[@shubhendranathsingh9888]

Dude stockfish is fed with famous critical positions. Alpha zero or leela can't be so good without reading human games.

[@Almagells]

@@lucacastellaro1615 Also Botvinnik was "Unnatural"

[@PerfectPianoHD]

Agadmator did mention this game on 1960 WCH Game 4 and I now see why did Tal prepare to avoid this famous game.

[@agadmator]

:)

[@yogibear6363]

I recall reading comments that Botvinnik made after the game. He said that after the bishop sacrifice he was certain he had at least a draw, but hadn't yet seen the win line when he played it. He found the shelter for his king as the game progressed.

[@vardenispavardenis3526]

yogibear6363 Mikhail Tal, one of the most creative chess players ever.

[@jangtheconqueror]

I knew it was bishop or knight sacrifice, turned out it was both

[@brianbrown7238]

I remember analyzing this game over 20 years ago and even then as now I thought that was a damn clever move with the Bishop attacking the Queen , however I didn't know about the venue and how very strong the level of competition was....my hats off to Botvinik

[@robertpesevski1641]

The chess must be first LEARNED, and then, it can be taught. This great sentence from Botvinnik is very important for chess beginners and the others. Thanks a lot for this video!

[@johngrey5806]

I found the move! (This is the third time I watched this video.)

[@hippophile]

And dd you read out all the checks?!

[@Almagells]

This is Botvinnik at his BEST! A MONSTER, a champions crusher!

[@nigelfarage4119]

Botvinnik top 3 all time for me......so underrated....he made it look easy

[@arbialliu7205]

Congratulations on the channel! I love it!

[@agadmator]

+Arbi Alliu Thanks Arbi :)

[@mikevergara4772]

I really enjoy your videos. I love how you break doen the history of the match, makes it a lot more interesting then the standard replaying/analysis. I subscribed and liked!

[@oneshot8480]

Great game! Keep up the good work :) And thank you for regular uploads :) Awesome channel!!

[@danielnidan]

YAY!!! i found the move B-a3. AND therefore i must be an amazing player???... actually so true... amazingly BAD :( but i do have a knack with problem solving and my Tal-like (i wish) ability told me intuitively about that move. i love your videos, i love your attitude AND i love your puppy who occasionally appears in the background . keep up the great work! i do have one reservation tho' about your comment regarding no more 'useful' checks... "never miss a check, it might be mate" was attributed to none other than the great Joseph Henry Blackburne... (i say this in jest ;)). my grandma was from moravia and i think she might actually have agreed with you... but she would have said that there indeed are plenty useless czechs... but they'd be called slovaks ;)

[@agadmator]

Thanks Daniel. And I love the grandma remark :D

[@nitarayz]

Lol I thought the same thing. I found the move but I suck at chess

[@dannygjk]

It's a lot easier to discover an amazing move when you are told there is one in the position. :)

[@contactkeithstack]

Dan Kelly and when he starts the video saying "this bishop will do something awesome later." I found the moves right after hard to find.

[@Gray-dr2ri]

Who wants to play like Tal?

[@darrellspencer1809]

The Ba3 wasn't hard to find. Nh5 was the genius move!

[@أهلالكهف-د3ض]

Agree

[@Subsonic-cd2en]

Sort of agree. All Ba3 accomplishes is to distract the black queen - but you have to calculate so far ahead in this sequence. Really amazing combination.

[@kryable5715]

M hey guys im kinda new to chess but what does it mean by Nh5?

[@Subsonic-cd2en]

It means that he moved a knight to square h5.

[@hiraadhikari2144]

Ba3 if not accepted and queen moves back then white will lose the pawn if pawn will pushed that's why engine didn't recommended it and this guy has no idea and giving the crap brain pattern theory

[@warrenhuffman3910]

Agadmator - you've got a really great channel. I've really enjoyed what you've made and I'm excited every time I search for your channel now. You've done a really good job of (among other things) choosing great games to showcase :)

[@TimothyRyanFisher]

Man I have been watching so many of your videos lately.

[@SrinivashM29]

Simple application of wonderful understanding of the position and foresight from Botvinnik.

[@ongbonga9025]

Honestly, your channel is making me better at chess. Thank you. Ok I didn't find the moves in the right order, nor did I see the full combo, but I'm sat here eating hob nobs while drinking tea and smoking weed, and I'm thinking Nh6+ and Ba3 were key deflection moves. If only I pulled up an analysis board I'd be fistpumping this one.

[@danilodestropadua3192]

Thank you very much from Brazil.

[@BRADPITAGO]

Your enthusiasm in your voice has increased multitude in Talking Vs Botvinik series

[@Shockprowl]

Great video, thank you. I'm reading about AVRO 1938 at the moment, so very interesting to see this game. Some Keres games would be excellent.

[@godsdisciple2904]

_The Bishop Sacrifce on A3 was Amazing also the Knight H5 Positional Sac was Insane☝🔥_

[@cool-as-cucumber]

For the first time I found the decisive move. Thanks for the content.

[@j.a.armour2427]

Great game! I found the B to A3 move. However, I did not find the N to H5 ch move. I really like the way Botvinik plays. WTG Mikhail! Great commentary as usual!

[@pathutchison9866]

Watching this in February 2020. Really shows how much Agad has improved his schtick and his overall abilities as a presenter. But even in this video, one can observe flashes of what will soon make him the most entertaining chess channel on KZbin.

[@pelimies1818]

Delightful game, indeed.

[@rhaining]

Awesome commentaries, thanks for publishing these. If it were easy to do, I'd love it if the last few moves could be documented, say, in the lower left corner, so it would be easy to refer back to which specific move # and move notation is under discussion.

[@fredressler]

Thanks for everything. Saw a great game 60 years ago where Aaron Nimzovich opened for white with P-KR 4 and won a beautiful game. Very unorthodox. Thought you and your audience would like it if you haven't seen it. I might have seen it in Reti "Hyper-modern chess openings."

[@Lord_Volkner]

I finally found one of the "pause the video" moves! Yay me. I only had to watch 400 of agadmator's videos to get one.

[@jackjohnson5714]

Same! Although the foreshadowing of the bishop earlier being "useless" certainly tipped things off for me.

[@DonChhangte]

Can you show us the greatest end game (according to you) ever played? Really enjoy your channel, keep it up!

[@IDona-vj6xf]

I saw the A3 move pretty fast! PS. I liked how u did this game. Also, please put story behind games, when possible, it adds a lot of value and interest.

[@ahmedbaig7279]

Both players were wonderful in this match. The black bishop was ready to act at a3 and thereafter many moves were played till the match was finally won by young Botvinick. The exchnge of queens was not possible!

[@lukacalov1988]

Pozdrav iz Srbije najbolji si!

[@ThePatsyMusic]

HELLO EVERYONE!! when i hear that it makes me ssssooooo happyyyyy!!!!!!!!!

[@paultheaudaciousbradford6772]

I’m so happy! I found the winning combination. Well, every now and then.... ;-)

[@Cnut_the_grape]

Agadmator: "if you found the move then congratulations, you're an amazing player" Me, who just saw the move on the thumbnail: "yeah I'm pretty great at chess"

[@Дмитро-х2г]

Botvinnik is very under appreciated WC in the history of the game. He dominated chess for probably the longest duration from late 30ies till early 60ies, but because of Alekhin refusing to give him a chance to win World Championship and then the war, he only became WC in 1948. He was able to retain WC until he was 52 years old. In the era of open chess this is ancient as no other subsequent WC in history could get even close to keeping his crown until such an advanced age. Botvinnik was also responsible for the creation of Soviet chess school and personally tutored several future WC from Kasparov to Kramnik. Whatever you may think about Soviet chess school you can not deny that it created some of the strongest players ever to play the game and you can thank Botvinnik for this.

[@ashoksafaya5397]

Dislocation technique plus sacrifice so beautiful to learn from this game.Engine involved is the present day one.Thanks.

[@Nexfero]

4:20 get ready for the en passant

[@moemenibrahim2424]

I don’t understand how this happened ? Is it an error ?

[@pikilic4481]

as he said it is "en passant", it is not a well-known chess rule, but google it and you will understand

[@petersmythe6484]

(5:42) I also like h4. [Edit] (5:55) I was kind of guessing that, but didn't see a full enough continuation.

[@tdalrymp]

Loving your videos. Keep it up!

[@glennmiller9768]

Nice game & good commentary. I found the critical move at 5:55. I thought it was obvious.

[@creativeclubccdevadathantd1133]

" So Without further ado..... " Oho finally 🤣

[@mzimbres]

Thanks! I would also like to suggest Alekhine x Ninzowitch in San Remo - French defense, where Alekhine suffocates Ninzowitch.

[@mariovanderwal1695]

But did Capablanca know any opening theory druing this game?

[@Knowbody42]

What is "opening theory"?

[@bravehome4276]

In his 20s, Capablanca wrote that he had never read any books on chess openings. In 1925 he wrote that a deeply analyzed theory of chess openings might lead to chess stagnation within 50 years. From these two statements we can conclude that he depended more on his genius for positional analysis and endgame crafting than on deep study of chess openings.

[@andrew_owens7680]

I once shook hands with Reuben Fine and got his autograph. That was a memorable day.

[@kamilmorningstar]

Not long ago when I began adventure with chess I was only impressed by aggresive plays like Tal's and thought that Botvinnik's/Petrosian's games are boring. After some time when I got better (well, I hope so) I started to appreciate the positional masterpieces. I hope we get more of Botvinnik some day, especially his rematch with Tal :)

[@kurzackd]

9:08 -- *Incorrect statement.* Places #4, 5, and 6 were to Euwe, Reshevsky, and Alekhine. *Capablanca was 7th... yes... **_SEVENTH_** !! :O* (i.e. second-to-last (after Salo Flohr) What's *MORE interesting* about this tournament is that Fine somehow had the same number of points as Keres... even though he *LOST 3 (THREE) games* , whereas *Keres lost 0 (ZERO) !!* (this was achieved by Fine managing *to **_WIN_** MORE games than Keres* ...) .

[@SamueleCastiglioni]

I didn't know about this game, i already love it

[@GREENF1RE]

I am not a good player, but you prepared the conclusion well by mentioning the Bishop and you said, he brought the Queen back to help the defending. So it was easy to suggest this move. But it still would be a move, i played in this position, because i like aggressive check and my pieces are only worth, what they are able to achieve in my (not that spectacular) point of view. :)

[@coosoorlog]

this is quite fitting, considering that capablanca was called the human chess machine

[@RadicalCaveman]

Imagine winning like that... against Capablanca!

[@hammondvoodoo9555]

@ 5:02: Wow, in that critical position Stockfish suggests h3 and evaluates the position with roughly +1. After Ba3, Stockfish gives it over +7 (!) and says that the best defense is Nc5. After Qxa3 the position is even more in white's favor (over +9) and Stockfish sees Nh5 as winning move.

[@amitwadodkar7738]

8:05 lol 😂😂😂😂 Thug life!!! 😎😎😎😎

[@chairsmissing]

This was the first time I actually found out the critical move beforehand.

[@RajivKumar-ee7xv]

Same for me... however if Queen doesn't capture bishop then what will happen?

[@chairsmissing]

A draw possibly

[@AkumaAPN]

FYI, Stockfish 11 finds the special move (no spoiler) at depth 38, at which point the evaluation of the position quickly jumps from +5 to +10, and gets up to +15 by depth 44. On my decent computer (a few years old), it only took about 4 minutes to reach depth 38 in this position.

[@bubuqq9988]

Botvinnik really looked like Peter Leko

[@hippophile]

a3 is a lot easier to find when you know there is such a move!

[@12jswilson]

Yep. Often times I'm able to guess the move, not because I can calculate it all the way out but because there's really only a couple of candidate moves that allow for a tactical brilliancy. Difference between solving a puzzle and actually playing the game

[@SuedeStonn]

I think I had a book called 'The Masters' about 25 years ago about this tournament. It was hardbound, all light blue, and a good read on all the players (don't remember if it had all the games, probably just selected games, and though I've seen this game in videos in the last 3-4 years I don't recall it in the book... probably just my bad memory, lol).

[@seeingsights]

This is what I heard. Botvinnik said that he saw he can get a draw after Ba3. But as the game went on he saw the winning way. After the game Capablanca said very clear very good.

[@harshpatwardhan7624]

Great game. Amazing bishop sacrifice.

[@user-zb8tq5pr4x]

I predicted the bishop AND knight move immediately, although I didn't really understand why D:

[@Wilbeerthoven]

I still think the reason The computer avoid this is simply because h4 would win easily believe it ir not

[@agadmator]

+Wilbeerthoven But it's much less poetic :)

[@Wilbeerthoven]

agadmator's Chess Channel Yeah this is our game!! I cant stand even those top ten tournaments transmissions with engine nowadays i Just hate it.

[@qwertz12345654321]

The Computer thinks after Ba3 its draw. Is the computer actually right? Could the computer find moves to force a draw?

[@Veexliat]

Engine initially thinks h4 would result in +1 and Ba3 in 0.0. But after you let it get to depth 23-25 it changes and thinks Ba3 is way better with almost 5.0

[@nicolasjalon9063]

Interesting thought my man. Thanks for sharing!

[@orstorzsok6708]

simply beautiful

[@StephenDoty84]

The Keres victory in this set the stage for Fischer's teen defeat of him as huge. The dragon slayer.

[@keyboard_toucher]

I felt Ba3 was the move not because I was certain how it was winning, but it just seemed good because it gets a pawn to the 7th rank while still being defended--a pretty good thing to gain at the cost of what had been a useless bishop. Maybe in another game it could have led to a draw, but at least white would be in the driver's seat.

[@SlovakiaPanda]

Amazing game!

[@vinacenzobrascon1207]

Who is here in 2020? It's amazing how much agadmator has changed

[@cygnustsp]

Yep. He's a much richer man, and well deserved.

[@latenightlogic]

I cracked up at 8:35 when he says ‘but this is ridiculous’. That check would be pretty desperate. E5 would be equally ridiculous.

[@pop9095]

"No more meaningful checks" is a more accurate way of expressing yourself. Having said that it does seem to require a certain amount of hubris to point out that there are in fact further checks, seemingly ignoring that they amount to either a simple extension of the game by one move or the catastrophic loss of material allowing the game to end even more quickly in favor of the attacker.

[@richarddeese1991]

Thanks! In watching your channel, I've noticed times when you've pointed out that the "chess engine" doesn't recommend some move - even though it's clearly the best (or at least the better!) move, from the standpoint of a human playing. I don't know how these chess engines are programmed or taught or whatever, but I would think that, in cases like that, we would want to simply add in the correct move, given that particular position. It seems to me that would be a highly desirable capability, so that these things will come up with the best move. Just throwing a lot of games into the machine for it to consider is not enough. It has to have certain positions shown to it - just like a human learns - even if the engine isn't really "learning" anything. Anyway, thanks again. tavi.

[@climbscience4813]

I think the problem is that for an actual engine, the move is not the best because of some particular 20 move check combination with the queen that wins the game eventually. I agree though, a chess computer that plays like a human would be really great! I feel that especially for the "lower level" chess computer levels, this would be a great thing, because those that I have seen either play typical engine moves or they blunder in a really stupid way. I wonder how many games one would need to feed into an AI though to reach a reasonable performance though.

[@besmart1360]

Botvinnik plays a really fantastic game. Your beard comes back :)

[@lemachro]

best channel. salve from Brazil

[@jyrkikk]

Sometime I thought whether to move 1.Nh5+ or not. After checking, however, 1.Ba3 seems to be stronger move.In game Capa took the bishop.Of course it can be speculated (and probably done multiple times) should Capa take the bishop or not. For example, would 1...Qe8 be better choice for black ? Agadmator, what you think? I interviewed Botvinnik in Moscow, he was a modest man. Rudi Rafael

[@kilimanjarno]

my respect for Botvinnik increased by this game; Ba3 was an inspired move.

[@zainquadri1206]

Nice win for 'young' Botvinnik...?! 'young' Botvinnik passed onto to greener pastures on the 5th of May 1995 (RIP)...

[@marouanemarwaane6029]

It is normal to be happy when u find world champions moves

[@amitbharati8941]

Agadmator I think a similar bishop move was made by fischer in fischer vs Spassky game 5. Where Spassky resigned immediately after Fischer's bxa4.

[@veryblackcat]

Hi Antonio, i suggest Bird vs Mason, played in 1876 if i'm correct. I'd love to have your comment on this game!

[@agadmator]

+veryblackcat Thanks cat, I'll check it out

[@isjawu]

I don't find the quote anymore but I think Botwinnik admitted he could not calculate this to the end. He played Ba3 being sure he had the draw safe. Of course no one knows whether he said this due to humility and respect from the great name of his opponent.

[@unicockboy1666]

I found the move my intuition (also because you mentioned the bishop before), but I was way too lazy to calculate the whole line... :D

[@honodle7219]

Capablanca was unbeatable. Except when he lost.

[@Beyonder-rq2gx]

Top 10 games of all time im my opinion.

[@sipud953]

i think i saw this game from one of the books of Anatoly Karpov i think its called "Find the Right plan". anyways Great channel!

[@brianbary1771]

I have to pause this game at the begging if this is the game I think it is it's one of my favorite I must of played over more than 30 years ago now , I believe this is the game where capa does at least a 5 or 6 move knight sortie against a central pawn advance by keres which ends up being decisive . Anyway capa- bottvinik avro 1938 If I remember correctly the book iseen it in was by ludeck pachman called something like strategy in the middlegame or something to that effect it was one of like 5 chess books my father had I must have went over it idk how many times but this game made a lasting impression on me the young bottvinnik against the aging capa , I remember alekkne said he would lose the title to a next generation player like bottvinik maybe he said fine too, but what a field .

[@shadeblackwolf1508]

AVRO is still around

[@locutusdborg126]

Thanks, I enjoyed the game a lot.