Evaluating Positions & Creating Plans - IM Irina Krush - 2013.10.16

[@irinakrush9628]

Thanks to everyone for their nice comments! I forgot about this lecture and it just appeared on my youtube screen. At 9:15 I start brushing my hair, it's pretty funny :) The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis did a great job with the production!

[@ljg5023]

so true.. irina is the most beatiful champion i have ever had the privelige to meet in my life time ;-)

[@jesusthroughmary]

Irina Krush Congratulations on becoming a GM since this video!

[@groussac]

I suppose you could take a cue from Maurice and eliminate the temptation to touch your hair by getting rid of it. Seriously though, a nice presentation. The competition of pieces for the same square is something I hadn't considered. Thanks for sharing with us. Will watch it again for other ideas. Cheers.

[@MrSupernova111]

I absolutely loved this session! I'm working on improving my game from intermediate level and the ideas discussed here were incredibly helpful - especially the concept discussed in the second game with the sicilian structure. I did not see any videos in your channel. I wish you had a channel that I could follow and watch your presentations. You have a natural talent for coaching. Thank you very much!

[@ryanjavierortega8513]

Did you ever work with Professor Ross or Ronell in Comp. Lit?

[@Crazeyfor67]

I have watched many chess lectures. But this is the first time I know I'm a better chess player than I was 46 minutes ago. Thank you Irina.

[@gnpar]

I'd die to be this skilled at giving lectures. Acknowledging everyone's ideas and explaining her reasoning so clearly. Truly impressive.

[@STLChessClub]

and to clarify, women are eligible to earn the GM, IM and FM titles, but FIDE has also created a separate class of titles specifically for women,

[@rafaellara9264]

Which is very stupid. Shame on FIDE for that.

[@pianissimo7121]

@@rafaellara9264 ?

[@jackhanson3333]

@@rafaellara9264 why

[@rhrabar0004]

Imagine being this smart and this beautiful. Great lecture

[@mrtampham]

This is so much nuance in this lecture. Brilliant presentation and my first from Irina Krush. Here are my main takeaways: 1) Your position is better if you have active pieces over passive pieces, much more important than a weak pawn here and there. 2) Don't let two of your pieces compete for the same square. Either trade one of them off or find a better square for the other piece. 3) Actively look for the best squares for your pieces. Develop a plan to get them there, even if it might be counterintuitive to play moves that "restrict" your position. For example playing f6 when you have a bishop on g7. Or playing Bd7 with you have a pawn on c6 and e6. The goal is to manuever your pieces and evaluate if there "restricting" moves are actually restricting or not. This is super advanced for me, and not that obvious to many of the members in the intermediate class. Love this lecture a ton. Thank you! Question for other viewers: On the last position where we play f5, Irina talks about how our knight doesn't have a good square, then shares all the great spots for every other piece except the knight. Does the knight eventually get into the game? It sounds like it's our last priority because all the Rook, Queen, and bishop moves create more threats. Is this true?

[@i4shreyes128]

Sad dude no one cares about your comment … Because you didn't mention the main topic …

[@danielphipps851]

hot active position, is stronger than being passive defensively, and waiting for the enemy to engage you is boring, therefore, take the fight to enemy, and go for victory. that's my take from the video. first video from her. Loved it much.

[@gavinmasterson7843]

Thank you for sharing your notes

[@paulgottlieb]

Ms Krush is a superb lecturer. She is very clear and does a great job of making somewhat advanced concepts both understandable and memorable. More videos by the fine instructor please!

[@bigfuss4135]

Great lecture! "In every passive positions are the seeds of defeat." Nice thing to remember.

[@martinadejaquiz2482]

i'm 53 and just learning, but i'm paying attn and listening - thanks mrs. Krush!

[@lashiechoax]

Irina, for a fleeting moment, has made me feel like I understand some very advanced concepts! Seriously, this was excellent.

[@cicione2007]

Thank you Irina for a great talk. You have a great way to talk and write about chess without making it boring. And a big thank you to the Chess Club for posting

[@leojoseph6385]

Awesome class! Lessons I learned: Pressure the opponent's weak/isolated pieces to weaken the position; Bring under-developed pieces into the attack; Coordinate the Rooks better than your opponent; Opposite colored Bishops favor the attacker in the middle game; Decide which competing piece will occupy a pivotal square and find a task for the unchosen piece.

[@Insidia85]

You forget the most important lesson: never use two of your pieces to compete or aim to the same square

[@numcrun]

She was made a GM a month before this video was posted.

[@shaunbutler6395]

Very informative

[@benc7152]

they dont officially give you the title for a bit

[@jakeb.2990]

She got her final norm in Baku Open 2013 which ended in late Sept and submitted records in 2013-09-28 - that made Krush GM-elect by the time of this video but it takes some time to process it. Rating did compute for October.

[@oussamaatmani6273]

We're talking GM or WGM here ?

[@oussamaatmani6273]

K just realized she was already an IM so my question makes no sense, she's a GM now

[@jackcarter3944]

What a splendid instructor! I had not heard Irina lecture before and was looking for something on how to evaluate and develop a plan in the middlegame. I stumbled on this video of hers and it's really quite wonderful. She has an excellent method, she pauses to allow us to think at all the right times and lets the lecture breathe (many lecturers seem afraid to let even two seconds go by without their speaking), and is very clear on the principles and ideas she wants to convey. Bravo.

[@MusikPiratCH]

+Jack Carter See Yasser Seirawan. I think there is (at least at the moment) no better teacher awaiable than him! At least not in the USA. Maybe John Nunn would be on the same level (but he never was World Junior Champion like Seirawan, Anand, or Curd Hansen)! These guys really know what they're talking about. Anand is still competing on the highest level. I^m really impressed by him since I met him first in the late 1980s! :D By the way this was the same time when I also met Seirawan, Nunn and Curd Hansen!

[@jackcarter3944]

+MusikPiratCH Funny. I also met Seirawan, albeit decades ago. Nice guy. I'll look for some of his videos here. Thanks for the tip. Cheers.

[@philonutube100]

Top Draw, it's great to hear a master talk in laymans terms, there were some real gems in that 45min especially two pieces fighting over the same square!

[@lukastux3024]

Wow! Thanks Mrs Krush! I evaluated the first position completely wrongly and thus has the opportunity to learn and improve. Your lectures are very instructive!

[@dmaster20ify]

This is a great lecture. I learnt a great deal of positional concepts from this lady.

[@dmaster20ify]

like what?

[@oanimalinho2]

+John Brown Don't ask...

[@dmaster20ify]

ok. I just only wanted to learn something from the guy

[@oanimalinho2]

+John Brown I am afraid he didn't have chess positional concepts in mind...

[@dmaster20ify]

oh I just get it. My mind is just bent in Chess at the moment.

[@richardingram1655]

An excellent lecture with well-chosen examples. Krush's interactive format is much more instructive than the presentation of a prepared script. Interesting also is the progression from an endgame to a middle game to an opening position. The subtext of the reverse order is: we should always have in mind where the game is ultimately headed. The more we know about the endgame, the better chance we have of converting an advantage to win or handling a disadvantage to draw.

[@intersweat]

Do you ever get one of those lectures that just makes sense to you at your own personal level at that moment. Not too basic not too tricky. Irina has just nailed it there. I have a chess crush on Krush. Please STL lets see more more more of this. She is just so good at explaining and her choice of examples have made more sense to me than reading my last 3 chess books. BRILLIANT.

[@chessgeek10707]

My takeaways: 1)As attacker, avoid having two pieces compete for the same outpost. Trade one of the pieces away. 2) Illustration of the pawn chain pointing out the side to which one should attack. Awesome!

[@PeterSodhi]

In every passive position lays the seeds of defeat. Two pieces fighting for the same square weakens them. One bad piece makes your whole position bad. Great insights...

[@GarciaPics]

Just pure gold. Thanks!

[@xshortguy]

I found my chess Krush.

[@BobChess]

She really gonna krush you

[@coldtruth9431]

I love watching her flip her hair and talking about different positions

[@YOLOMarkus]

fantastic video, thanks Irina!

[@miltontoast]

Thanks for the video. It would be great if we could hear what the class members are saying as well. I still appreciate the instruction from the teachers.

[@sleepyeyeguy]

It's funny how she was like, "when I was a kid, I won one game like that"... and I'd bet money that she knows exactly how that game played out all these years later.

[@STLChessClub]

FIDE, the World Chess Federation, has separate titles for women, which has been applauded by some as an effort to award and recognize a chess-playing minority (as tournament and professional chess is heavily male-dominated) and condemned by others as sexist. Woman Grandmaster (WGM): Established in 1977, this title is considered less prestigious than an IM title and requires a FIDE rating of 2300. Typically, if a woman holds both the WGM and IM titles, she will prefer to be recognized as an IM.

[@STLChessClub]

see the earlier response to this but basically: FIDE has separate titles for women, which has been applauded by some as an effort to award and recognize a chess-playing minority (as tournament and professional chess is heavily male-dominated) and condemned by others as sexist. Women are not inferior, there are just far fewer women playing, especially at the highest levels

[@TheDMFW62]

Really interesting and insightful exposition. I got a lot out of thinking through these positions and found the style helpful. Thanks for posting.

[@TheKnightsAlliance]

I really enjoy how well you explain these positions. I think you have a natural talent as a speaker. I hope you make more like it. If you had your own channel I would certainly subscribe. Thanks again.

[@jeffgreen3376]

I'm surprised that Irina taught this lesson in the intermediate class. It seems pretty advanced to me. I learned a lot from it and I'm an 1850 player.

[@CraigPendlebury]

Thoroughly enjoyed this analysis

[@herzwatithink9289]

Thumbs up if the first time you heard Irina Krush was in a video with GM Ron Henley. Awesome then, awesome now!

[@eccentrichorse11]

Who's here after she won the US women's championship 2020?

[@16pieces]

Greetings from Lincolnshire, UK. I liked this lecture a lot. It's very instructive. A pity there was no mic to pick up the comments of the guys in the audience.

[@pilarmellado438]

16pieces I agree!..it could be very interesting know what people say and compare with our owns ideas.

[@LawlFrank]

It's pathetic how 80% of these comments are about Irinas looks instead of the content of the lecture. Great lecture, great channel. Thanks.

[@spartnstarcraft2]

towards the end, what does she mean by two pieces competing for the same square? what is the difference between that and the knight protecting the bishop?

[@seregener]

What a great lecture! Kudos to the Saint Louis Chess Club and Scholastic Center for making such valuable resources available for those of us who just can't always travel. As far as being distracted, it's hard not to have a "Krush" on Irina.

[@timothyrothenhoefer9260]

Your examples are magnificent. Clearly the black player has built up an advantage over many excellent moves in the opening and middle game. For her to blunder it away would be awful. You show clearly how to find the best moves. She will now gain material and probably have a winning position. Thank you for this outstanding chess lesson! ..

[@coiLz0r911]

What a great lesson, thanks a lot!

[@Mathview]

Excellent presentation by GM Elect Krush. The evaluation: Which side is better and why? and how to find the path forward toward increasing advantage. Reminds me of L. Pachman's Modern Chess Strategy a bit.

[@suntzu6122]

Awesome lecture thank you!

[@SuperYasela]

Thank you very much for nice stratergies explained👍👍👍

[@ferdinandreyes8011]

The topic is very nice IM Irina..

[@glum_hippo]

Terrific lecture on a difficult topic!

[@michaelholland5424]

very instructive, fantastic job.

[@whuwhaaa2]

Thanks, I Learned a lot.

[@johnkirby5781]

OK -- I had some time to kill and somehow I came across this video. There are lots of good lectures on KZbin, and also lots of junk. I'm a master and so there's a certain level of content that I'm looking for. The part of this video that I found excellent is where she talks about a general principle of two pieces wanting to occupy the same space. That's a great observation, that Irina demonstrates in two games. I don't think I've ever seen anybody make that point before. I had never exactly thought about that idea before, but I have already used that concept when playing speed games to make some simple decisions. It's a good general rule that is not immediately obvious. Plus -- her hair is fine.

[@singhsat6484]

Omg she is gorgeous

[@niqwalshensemble9164]

Singh sat i have noticed that most of the top woman players are extremely attractive relative to population, whereas the male players are more average in terms of physical attractiveness.

[@zenmaster1958]

yes she is stunning

[@consuelocorona384]

Fantastic class.!!

[@jairhumberto]

very nice lecture... I see that women are not afraid to teach what they know, sometimes men are. so, I think learning from an woman chess master, potentially can make you improve faster.

[@martinrodin9358]

Well explained. Getting a conclusive advantadge. Gm see the blackboard way better.

[@augustodias1299]

amazing lecture

[@jackcarter3944]

36:28 -- in the position given I would have liked to have seen more exploration, since once Black brings his light-squared bishop over to the kingside (as Irina describes) black has no minor pieces with which to readily defend his c pawn, while white can quickly maneuver to attack black's c pawn with the knight currently on c5 in addition to using his Q and rooks.

[@sallylauper8222]

There're some really good ideas in this lesson.

[@That1GuyWhosNumber1]

The warning against having two pieces compete for the same square seems contradictory to the notion of good coordination with pieces protecting each other. How can I tell when to do which?

[@gorantrevise]

I did not knew that Krush is such a good teacher. I would have prefered Bishop g5 though in the last example, followed by f5 Ne7 aso...

[@harKazoid86ShredderC-37]

Great lesson by GM Krush! The comment by intersweat below has hit the nail on the head :)

[@IScipioI]

awesome lecturer!

[@SebastianVigl]

THX fort this lecture!

[@lostblue5651]

Great class!

[@bigstar3000]

Excellent lesson Irina and Gratz for GM 2013 !! realy cute GM ^_^ :)

[@fdllicks]

14:36 is her answer. Its interesting how subtle the answer is. Where is whites weakness? How can we improve the knight? How to attack the weakness. Maybe the thought process is more important than the answer. The audience is looking for some tactical thing instead of following positional rules as a guide to their thought process.

[@MegaWatcher35]

On point.... mind set!

[@davidhoekstra4620]

She's good!

[@hew2629]

Hey Irina wake up you have a lecture to give. Irina:

[@Enpassantful]

Nice one Irina.

[@Sanakipvp]

A thought I had while watching this video is about the value of knights vs that of bishops. It was mentioned that we usually don't want to trade our knights for bishops and that bishops are generally superior pieces to knights. However, is it possible that this valuing of bishops over knights actually provides some extra positional value to the knight? Perhaps the reluctance of one player to trade their bishop for a knight will provide the knight player with the ability to kick around and dominate that bishop, in a similar way to how a bishop/knight can kick around a queen or rook, since they are generally superior pieces as well. I doubt a grandmaster would fall for this trick, but probably regular club players ingrained with the preconceived notion "bishops > knights" would likely fall for this.

[@ericcheng3143]

She explains herself well. She is focused and intelligent no doubt. But she is pretty and is natural than men desire her.

[@complex3293]

IRINA ❤️

[@SuperDipoleMoment]

One of the great things about Irina is that she is the first one to admit that men are much stronger than women. She has admitted this many times in interviews and said that she prefers to spar with the men in order to help improve her game. It's this kind of honesty and objectivity that is a big part of the reason why she is so successful in women's chess and has become a legitimate (REAL) Grandmaster.

[@GRAYPORTfilm]

What, like Judit Polgár isn't a "real" grandmaster? Grow up. Men aren't stronger than women in chess, there's just a hell of a lot more men interested in chess.

[@divaybishnoi2773]

Chess Master what? that isnt necessarily true. Many women are just not interested in chess

[@SevenThunderful]

Men and women have equal average intelligence. However the variance of intelligence (and probably other skills) is much higher among men. That means more genius level guys and more dunce level guys. This is why at the high levels of chess and many STEM fields there appear to be more qualified men. No doubt there is higher interest among men in these fields as well. Thus a grandmaster at Irina's level is truly a unicorn to be appreciated (and yes she's pretty attractive as well).

[@KARTIKEYA007]

no, that was the test done on 13 year olds…. that means nothing as men hit puberty later... if a test is done on adult men then they are much higher than women in intelligence@@SevenThunderful

[@vijyantmehrotra8119]

Very nice lecture madam

[@erichvonjrrequilman9765]

I like this video...create more ideas.tnx

[@Utforskaren]

Thanks for the answer! I think WGM looks more intimidating if you don´t know what the letters stand for because W usually means "World".

[@shivamved4815]

Women

[@jackcarter3944]

38:30 -- I also think Irina doesn't give quite enough credit to the idea of white activating her bishop with an eventual f3 and Bg3. That, combined with a Q-side pawn push gives white distinct chances. The general idea is White playing Ne1, f3, b4, Nb3, Nd3, Bd2, Be1, Bg3). Granted, it's slow, but it's difficult to see a solid plan for Black in reply. --As White played, in the line Irina gives, taking black's N on e4, White's dark-squared bishop is even more imprisoned.

[@NotThat3]

Very good video and a good instructor =)

[@123Mihiranga]

Gorgeous lecturer and gorgeous lady 😊

[@viccc813-kf5ul]

Saint Louis is great 👍

[@marc149]

such an enchanting creature.

[@talyannatal5969]

This is nice!!!

[@vijyantmehrotra8119]

Regards from INDIA

[@adnan4688]

You say,Caruanas maneuver was not good,and your trainers concept is better,can you make it more clear what it does to dark square bishop,that f6 move,so you can get the white square bishop out? White bishop is good but f6 shuts the dark bishop out.Wouldnt it be better to do Caruanas manoeuvre and trade that knight on b6 for whites knight and solve the problem that way? Please explain that dark square bishop problem

[@drakehopkins5931]

DANG THE TIP AT 5:00!!!!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻

[@Zeuspsycho]

beautiful and smart :)

[@mr.all8366]

A crush on Miss.Krush performance , she crashes .. i mean she rocks

[@titmewtit]

just asking at 10:40 what if we just play c3 there ?

[@fahadmohammed6700]

Mo'men Dhia Nxc3 :)

[@titmewtit]

then we will take tha knight and if he takes back with rook we just play Bxb1 and we are a knight up for a pawn and if he takes with th pawn we will just plat Rxb1 with a check so we will gain a knight both ways :\

[@walmartgolem]

Just needs Dubov chiming in with, "I disagree" and this lecture would be perfect.

[@numair8188]

At 36:50 havnt you made your dark squared bishop bad in order to make your light squared bishop good.first it was putting pressure on the isolated pawn but now its doing.nothing

[@kendall6699]

How many students are usually sitting in these classes?

[@peaceharmony777]

Jason and Joe

[@jackcarter3944]

27:00 -- I have to disagree with Irina regarding 'there are too many people who want to be on that square' being the most important principle of the position. I'd say instead that 'looking to exchange off your opponent's best or most active piece' is the most powerful theme and would steer White to play Bd5 instead of Nd5.

[@jackcarter3944]

+Thomas Ernst You can't counter the argument, so you argue from authority? You can't be serious. Why do I bother...

[@sooooooooDark]

i think the last position was more interesting to "solve" from whites point of view black had several options and white was really cramped...woulda been nice to see what to do there

[@hywel4605]

the move she made to take her jumper off was the best - totally took me by surprise.

[@northeastvlogger]

Love it! Great video.

[@plastiekwaterfles]

At 4:18 GM Krush explains a neat endgame trick where the rook moves to the corner and after the opposing rook captures the pawn, it gets skewered. I believe this type of position had a specific name, could someone remind me of that name?

[@DJCA_UK]

I associate it with Lasker

[@natedogg6139]

I have a krush on Irina!

[@ne6totapo]

***** Nicely done, nate dogg

[@theobserver9684]

Careful, she'll krush you on the chessboard

[@shy4440]

Bookmark 14:04 30:53 37:13

[@quagapp]

Irina is very attractive but I was interested primarily in her lecture which is very good. Here I considered d5 and g5. d5 I felt might win but wasn't sure. I didn't see Rb3 which is a devilish move for sure and forces the R off the d file...Of course as a man I am immediately interested in a woman. But then I forget and she is a woman as such, and accept she is just a good tutor, and a much stronger chess player than I will ever be. And it is very informative.....mind you I am too old to really learn much that I will use except in blitz but it is interesting to see the ideas of chess. But complaining against sexist men is like trying to stop the ocean from moving....

[@swalice]

Its a shame that the chess community cannot simply respect a good lecturer and player without leaving a bunch of gross comments everywhere.

[@V8SupersQirreL]

She's got nice hair - and she knows!