U1400: Opening Principles with GM Ben Finegold

Check out Ben's Chessable courses here! www.chessable.... GM Ben Finegold discusses the basic principles of the opening for the Under-1400 class. This lecture was recorded June 9, 2019, at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Atlanta (CCSCATL) in Roswell, Georgia.
Originally posted on the CCSCATL channel, but moved here for channel consolidation.
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[@jacobcarrizales427]

I recommend this video to literally every single person who says “I’m stuck at

[@1010tuta]

You deserve at least 1M views on every lecture! Keep Going Ben

[@CaptainHeavyNuts]

Not even a minute in and I'm already in tears 👍 Love you, Ben

[@davidmunar8453]

xD

[@iAm7amdoh]

why? don't cry its gonna be okay

[@jelv.4142]

You need to read "Cry like a Grandmaster"

[@donsimons9810]

he loves the south

[@karrawr9538]

A Ben Finegold video a day keeps the blunders away

[@jonathanbartlett1078]

😂

[@SevenTheJester]

"No, he does that...and that's what he does." Wiser words were never spoken. 😂

[@Cba409]

Ben literally woke up just for this. What a heroe.

[@b.o.4492]

This guy is the absolute best. Such an amazing sense of humor.

[@joshuamdiaz101]

Dear Lord, the opening statement for this lecture. I love it.

[@flpsnk4848]

Other than this video being very helpful, can I just factor a fact that Ben mentioned in some of his older video Anand is still top 10 but wouldn't be when he gets older in 5 years or so ,... it is June 2023 and Anand is still top 9. I can only hope I will have the passion for my career in my 50s to be this good. Hats off!

[@gauravshukla71]

Anand's longevity is pretty remarkable. I've always wondered whether it was just expanding knowledge over time, technology engines enhancements etc which caused older players to fall off. Your explanation regarding that ongoing commitment is probably a huge factor. Anand doesn't need the money I would assume or any additional titles/accolades and yet he's still there, grinding it out, staying current. It is very impressive

[@12jswilson]

Very true, but it also helps that he only plays about 1 rated game per year. You don't lose many rating points that way (he won that game this year against some random 2400 or 2500).

[@jeffhearn3658]

Ben’s humour is on fire lately. Great vid.

[@raining1975]

This video was recorded in 2019, it’s in the description.

[@robertomariani626]

@@raining1975 Yes, I saw it in 2019 the first time, fun video, especially the queen taking everything at 22:25!

[@小胖-q8v]

Time to rewatch this for the third time!

[@nuthintoprove]

“Don’t make a move you can’t explain to a better player.”

[@AndersRosendalBJJ]

4:20 OMG, he just kept saying we keep "doing the same thing"😀

[@skycaptain95]

Ben reuploading the same video over and over and thinking we won't notice:

[@nicserbo2689]

who prayed this result

[@letsmakeit110]

The reason beginners attack stuff is because seeing all your opponent's threats is too hard, so they need to create bigger threats so they don't blunder. Then when the initiative runs out their position sucks, but at least they didn't blunder. Letting your opponent do w/e they want is really hard, because you have to know that every move they could make is worse than you attacking their queen. You ever see Fabi or Shankland give an interview or a lecture and they're like "and now the opponent has no moves" and you're like what are you talking about there's 20 pieces on the board. That's the level of ...overwhelming?... a beginner is facing to play the opening correctly. Or they could just memorize a system like everyone does.

[@cactus2304]

i don't think this is true. the reason beginners attack stuff is because they hope their opponent won't see that their stuff is attacked, then they can take their pieces for free, which is how most games at scholastic tournaments or chess camps go

[@letsmakeit110]

​@@cactus2304 i think that's a self-serving interpretation. "these other guys just play for tricks every move but i'm better than that." Believe it or not new players want to make good moves too.

[@dowaliby1]

"I already lost Rosemary last week. I can't afford to lose thyme." Only a sage GM, who would eat a bunch of parsley before he would touch meat would say that. Seriously, Ben is my favorite GM and the smartest, not only because he teaches so well, but because he's a vegetarian.

[@z0uLess]

we can talk in comments

[@jackgempler4902]

Chess Slavoj Zizek (-voice)

[@chrismoraitis3160]

Are you still in Michigan’

[@RealityCheck1]

Ben, a good example of this is Magnus vs Bill Gates. Bill followed every single opening theory out there & lost very quickly.

[@upplsuckimcool16]

44:44 what about bishop C5 then Knight F7 here.... This was what I thought the answer was, I guess I was thinking it was more complicated than it was... But I still don't see an issue with that route. Bishop C5 check, bishop blocks D7, then knight F7 king takes knight bishop takes bishop then queen can't take bishop....... OHHHH.... getting a queen is better than getting a bishop... Typing it out answered my question ;D

[@efrainvillaricci2299]

0:45 nobody can learn because we live in the south HAHAHAHHAHA I exploted xdd baseddddddddddddd thx for da video tho.

[@jorymil]

Ben's definitely in rare form here: "People are in the South, so they can't learn anything." That one's pretty harsh--normally the digs are more justified. Just telling people what to do is not enough: they need to be able to connect ideas in their brain. But a student saying "well, that's just what I do" is disrespectful in the extreme to a teacher: do that in a graded class and you fail.

[@小胖-q8v]

He's kidding

[@spacegoat6302]

This was filmed during the Trump administration. It's justified.

[@dLzzzgaming]

​@spacegoat6302 yea, no new wars president always gets on my nerves as well.

[@kyledriscollmusic]

lol you sound so tired in this one

[@How2KillACop4C4B]

This is great content man

[@MaxWright7]

Great combination of chess teaching and stand up comedy.

[@GigiPerla]

Love your lessons and your humour Ben! Greetings from your former homeland Belgium!

[@samareast.1123]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@huracan200173]

Hahahaha "welcome to the 11 o'clock class" and he looks like his life is miserable hahaha I love this guy

[@EzraSchroeder]

19:24 "...the point is, when the queen's attacked, move it away!" -- reminds me of a scene from the 80s movie Better Off Dead, ski that way really fast, if anything gets in your way, turn!

[@ratnamani8228]

Abhimanyu is the Son of a Famous Archer (Arjun) in Indian Mythology who gets lured by his Father's Opponents into a Trap that he couldn't escape because he Only knows Half of the Technique. 😅

[@donaldmartell3729]

I just heard a new song from Chaka Khan actually. Good days for bad chess players like me ahead!

[@12jswilson]

Ben talking about Abhimanyu Mishra before he was even an IM! Wow!

[@phildo3668]

Chiral image

[@LympyDownunder]

santa always disappoints

[@abhishekjoshi847]

Oh man, the original video had some amazing comments :( Sad that they're gone now.

[@angelcow189]

My friend who is stuck at like 1600 for years is like this. He always plays a3 h3 type moves and when I tell him not to he says "I just don't like being pinned" Ben is right it doesn't matter what advice you give people will ignore it even if you are much much higher rated

[@Pseudify]

Are certain openings associated more with castling king side vs queen side? And vice versa?

[@percyreiling]

Some have tendencies. For black, the kings indian defense for example sees black castling king side like… every time. There are some where you castle queen side, but that is mostly for white. Like some attacks in the sicilian. That is mostly because of the tempo of the queen moving. And black can hardly make a queen move before castling if he is already behind in the move making… so its less common for black

[@beeble2003]

Yes, because castling is generally part of the opening. Also, most openings are associated with castling kingside, because there's one fewer piece to get out of the way.

[@upplsuckimcool16]

I love Ben, he's hilarious and fun to watch, but if you pay him to teach anything ur a fuckin dunce. 🤣 He's quite possibly the worst chess educator ever, yet somehow manages to be the best teacher ever.

[@Jealod24]

It’s always interesting to see him complain that kids end up repeating mistakes when he has been regurgitating the same material and complaints for decades. One of the reasons why kids, and some adults, have difficulty following certain instructions is because the underlying concept(s) and/or reason for acting out certain positions has not been adequately explained. Obviously humans can learn through rote memorization but it doesn’t allow for a deeper understanding of the material. Meaningful learning is a process that uses cognitive skills to helps student evaluate, then analyze, memorize, and finally make comparisons to previous learned subjects. Humans weren’t forced to sit in classrooms for hours on end forcibly memorizing data points, instead, throughout history, it was essential to demonstrate the utility of anything worth learning. Ten thousand years ago a father could make lessons in tracking, trapping, and hunting, all about repetition and forced memorization, but the more effective method was to demonstrate the building blocks of each skill, why they were important, how they helped facilitate continued innovation and creativity, show justification for the process, and allow the child to bridge the gap between what was learned and what was next. It’s sometimes hard to find a breakthrough with children and concepts that can be complicated and especially difficult in a group setting. But Finegold is usually great at making learning fun and effective, but sometimes he patience dries up. I wish I had your knowledge base to help develop a meaningful learning program for all these amazing chess lessons but it futile as well. Ultimately if you’ve help the kids discover the deeper meaning as to why an opening works toward a certain position, and reinforce that base with critical analysis of the pros and cons, the student should be able to retain more of the position but also extrapolate main line moves for similar opening ideas. And this will work with any chess concept. Help them realize the reasoning and implications of the best positions and they will retain the information much longer and more deeply. Love the content. Wish you weren’t so irritated with all those students. Must be a frustrating job