"I Think Chess Isn't Your Game" - GM Ben Finegold

[@Tocinos]

I like how he doesn't understand how he was low on time until he realizes the game was played in Canada

[@askthepizzaguy]

The way he stares into your soul at 4:30 after making the hero and sub joke, means he understands his audience, because he's waiting for them to even notice he made the joke and then work out what the joke is. 5 percent of the gawking rabble will get it, the rest will need it explained. You can read about it in Ben's upcoming book "Eat like a grandmaster".

[@AS-sn5gf]

you're so high brow for getting the joke

[@askthepizzaguy]

@@AS-sn5gf Not really. Being better than the slow witted isn't much of an achievement these days.

[@AS-sn5gf]

@@askthepizzaguy lol nerdgin

[@spoonhouseinc.1124]

"the gawking rabble" 🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓

[@askthepizzaguy]

This whole video was fun from beginning to end. The tangents, the random jokes, the analysis, the unrelated rants, it was pure gold.

[@pakasokoste]

Pure Finegold

[@bradsalz4084]

Qb1 ..... "I got nothing" (shrugging shoulders trying to explain ) Pure gold, er, I mean "Finegold"

[@plight999]

Time trouble in a 5400 second with 1/120th hour increment game? Frankly ridiculous!

[@lollycopter]

Fun fact: PGNs (at least the ones that Lichess can process) require the time control to be entered in seconds. So 3630+30 for 60+30, etc. And 3630 instead of 3600 because DGT chess clocks have the increment added from move 0, even though rules often say the increment is from move 1.

[@RhysticStudies]

just lost it at all the answers starting at 7:35 to "why did he play Queen b1?"

[@KingstonCzajkowski]

Woah, Rhystic Studies! Didn't expect to find you here. I really admire your work btw.

[@jaredwright1655]

Hell yeah! Love you man! Keep up the great work. Mtg and chess ain't that different!

[@kmarasin]

About Qb1.. If it was over the board, perhaps he intended to play a different move (Qf5 perhaps?), realized it was bad after touching his queen, and then moved it to b1 instead as the least damaging move

[@zubizuva]

Qb1 is to reroute to d1 in order to set up for the next game.

[@gmatsue84]

7:20 is the perfect passive move for someone who kinda likes what he sees but wants no business in deciding what to do with that pawn on e5, preserving the position and kicking responsibiity and effort away to the other side saying "yeah you deal with it"

[@IsaacBenevides]

Terrible

[@muesli_snipes]

I think Qb1 is almost certainly to prepare Re2 and Qe1.

[@gmdwill]

That actually makes 65% sense

[@muesli_snipes]

@@gmdwillWhat do the 35% that don't correspond to?

[@bradsalz4084]

@@muesli_snipes I'm with Ben on this one: "I got nothing"

[@muesli_snipes]

@@bradsalz4084 It's the advantage of being so talentless for this game: I can't understand Kasparov's moves, but when it comes to this type of move, I'm the expert.

[@peristiloperis7789]

"Always retreat" 😂

[@ALTTABINMAINMENU]

Qb1 is obviously to over-protect back rank in case rooks are being exchanged.

[@5piral0ut]

But why not play h3 or h4 then? A more permanent solution to the back rank threat.

[@ALTTABINMAINMENU]

@@5piral0ut My guess would be to not weaken the king... 🤔

[@edmis90]

Qb1 would be a move I'd make in anticipation of ...b4 cxb4 Nxb4 Because in that scenario I'd have to play Qb1 anyways, to defend both Queen and a2 pawn. How many faults are in that thinking? About an infinite and then some. But it's 100% something I can see myself doing

[@beeble2003]

There's only one fault in your thinking: it's not a reason to play Qb1. If the queen is attacked by an eventual ...Nxb4, _then_ you can move it to b1. Since you have a good response to having your queen attacked by ...Nxb4, you can just let your opponent attack your queen that way. You don't need to avoid it, because it's not harmful.

[@nychold]

So my best guess for Qb1 is that he wanted to keep an eye on h7 in case fxe5, when eventually his knight could go to g5 (if the bishop moves) and he has an attack there and keep the possibility of a b3 pawn break while also preparing for the e-file to open, where Rxe3 Rxe3 and the queen can shift to e1, keeping the battery. But that's me really stretching my imagination of the position.

[@lollycopter]

6:40 I think white might have played Qb1 because they were afraid of b5-b4 for some reason. After b4, white thought cxb4 was the only legal move followed by Nb4 threatening the queen on c2 as well as pawn on a2. So Qb1 "prevents all that". These are the kinds of weird over-calculation ghosts that pop up in amateur classical but not rapid and blitz chess.

[@MoMatcha69]

Ben is hilarious.

[@mangaranwow2543]

Ben is like a stand up comedian that loves to talk about chess.

[@bertross9727]

"Do you play golf?" is the funniest thing I've heard all day!!

[@RealityCheck1]

Magnus: We'll see about that.

[@DarkSideChess]

I wish he would show how to play out that endgame.

[@beeble2003]

Bring the king up and attack the weak pawns. Use the fact that you have more moves available, which lets you put your opponent in zugzwang. Specifically, you can put your king next to a pawn that the opponent can only defend with their king. Then, make nothing-moves with your pawns until the opponent runs out of nothing-moves to make in response. Then they have to move their king, so you take the pawn. Now you're two pawns up.

[@DarkSideChess]

@@beeble2003 how do you know white has more pawn moves available? Isnt that something you have to calculate?

[@beeble2003]

@@DarkSideChess Just count. White can play a3, b3, f3, g3, h3 and h4 without losing material; Black only has a6, a5 and g5, at the moment. A proper answer would require calculating, though, since the number of available moves changes over time.

[@Fergus316]

The days are shorter this time of year in Canada

[@neBzeGaming]

9:00 maybe was worried ab rc8 -- didnt want queen on that file

[@TheNeilBlack]

I kind of don't want to admit this, but I don't actually know how to win that endgame. I know white has an advantage being a pawn up but I don't know how to convert that advantage into a win. I'd just play moves trying to stop my opponent's pawns from advancing while hoping I get one of my own to the back rank.

[@PTfan54]

The winning technique after the trade of rooks is to use the pawn majority to create a passed pawn. This will force the opponent's king to defend in front of the pawn. Eventually, you give this pawn up by running the king to the other side of the board and capturing all the other pawns with the king. The opposing king will not be able to both capture the passed pawn and save his own pawns. There are versions of this ending which are a bit more complicated, but this one in particular is the most elementary version which any average player should win vs. Stockfish 100% of the time. You should practice it against Stockfish until you feel comfortable you can win it every time.

[@TheNeilBlack]

@@PTfan54 So I tried the position against the engine and after a few false starts I figured out how to force a pawn promotion. It would be very easy for me to throw such a position away though, which happened a couple of times while I was figuring out where and when to move my king.

[@beeble2003]

@@TheNeilBlack Practise. And read any book on beginner endgames.

[@pschneider1968]

Qb1 was a random legal move. And GARDE clocks were the best!

[@xwngdrvr]

Canada has different time. In Canada today it's 1912.

[@chadmacgargle5311]

Come on Johnny! Come on!

[@tolkienfan1972]

He had to make a move

[@ClassicPass_]

Qa0 Double Exclam!!

[@krislapsporzmingis6952]

6:48 I laughed ma out loud during this part, thanks for the laugh, Ben!

[@magicsinglez]

Ben has no filter. Similar to Bobby. . .?

[@paulgoogol2652]

Ben is so naive when he tries to understand why low rated players play moves like Qb1. It doesn't hang the queen so it is not terrible. Tbh I imagine hed play R1e2 and then Qe1 to tripple it up on the bubble up. But that's deeper low elo logic.

[@nickschneider4830]

Qb1 to play R1e2 followed by Qe1 for the legendary triple stack, and chose the b1 square over c1 and d1 in order to keep the queen on an active diagonal… that’s my best guess Edit: nvm

[@thomasbeckett1245]

Ya in Canada people play chess while watching tv 📺

[@CampingWall]

I think Queen B1 was to potentially make an Alekhine's gun on the E file.

[@thomasbeckett1245]

Go hockey nite in Canada 🇨🇦!🎉❤🎉

[@WhiteSharkconcac]

Ben is too funny.

[@givepeaceachance940]

Ben the guy plays Qb1 because low rated players put their pieces behind pawns. I would know

[@cparks1000000]

6*6*10*10=36*100 is easier than 12*300.

[@BenHyle]

Maybe chess just isn't your game. I know, let's have a spelling contest!

[@lqtmn]

Dammit hoagie Carmichael got me

[@whoisbhauji]

didn't get it - what's the reference?

[@elevenears4785]

counting is hard

[@_nemo171]

Queen a0 🤣🤣🤣

[@lumko1492]

Your indolence is inefficasious

[@daveshif2514]

Now youre just a sub, hope you dont spend a lot of time on grindr Lol Why does ben know about grindr 👀

[@gmdwill]

People in general know about it now

[@MrHeroicDemon]

This is an average league of legends game. They farm all game, 15-25mins, just to not play the mid to late game, give up, surrender, and go back to the start of farming the beginning of the season. HHAHAHA THAT ENDING