The Budapest Gambit is scary · Road to 2500, Games 70

[@lehel121]

It is amazing that you are among the top 1000 active weekly players. 2500 is a really hard goal because you need to get into the top 250 players. No wonder you struggle, but that's why I like to watch you play-it shows how much work you need to put in to earn those points. I would also love to see a video about your training program.

[@thesingingfly]

Hey Stjepan, I have a much more aggressive recommendation for you against the Budapest Gambit, but it might not be consistent with your style of typically trying to hang onto your extra pawn when you're up a pawn. After 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ng4, the approach of 4. Nf3 (which you did in the game) and/or 4. Bf4 (recommended by someone from another comment on this video) both try to hang onto the e5 pawn. As a result of White trying desperately to hang onto material, Black can get a VERY aggressive position that is not easy at all for White to defend. 4. Bf4 is not so good since it leads to a damaged queenside with 4. ...Bb4+ 5. Nc3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3. 4. Nf3 doesn't even defend the pawn. Black gets a strong bishop on c5, followed by enormous pressure on e5 with both knights, castles, and a rook that is impossible to overcome. White will soon have to give the pawn back. The aggressive alternative I recommend for White is 4. e3, simply giving back the pawn, and after 4. ...Nxe5, following up with 5. f4, notice the difference. White has a perfectly healthy pawn island of 3 on the queenside, and White is already caught up in development. It gets even better--after the most common line of 5. ...Ng6?! 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. Ne2! (you can now prevent your queenside from being damaged) O-O?!, White is already +1 after 8. a3, with a pretty aggressive position. Recapture on c3 with the other knight, and you'll be golden. White already has a 65% win rate on Lichess from this line after 8. a3 Bxc3 9. Nxc3, because Black does not get their typical aggression that they usually strive for in the Budapest Gambit.

[@simeonbott2711]

I can see you've put a lot of thought into this @thesingingfly. I suspect you've made your idea from the lichess database win rates. For instance, I wonder why you would play 4.e3 5.f4 when you could be playing 4.e4 5.f4 ?

[@thesingingfly]

@@simeonbott2711 Hey simeon, thanks a bunch for the kind words

[@thesouthernist8174]

A couple of observations for you learned from Andras Toth (if you haven’t come across his KZbin stuff it’s worth a watch). 1.) When calculating you should be trying to prove your move doesn’t work, not the other way around. 2.) Ugly chess is bad chess. If a move doesn’t look good to the eye; it’s probably not a good move !

[@EbrahimDabiri]

Thanks for recommending. Seems legit guy.

[@thesouthernist8174]

@ - yep, not only does he have great insights, he’s very entertaining with them too. And absolutely hates the London - so what more could you ask for!

[@GoldenBoyXCM]

no anlaysis

[@AWall925]

When you start to fidget on that chair, I know you're cooked

[@tonynorriss379]

In the Budapest, I think the best line is to play Bf4 first to defend the pawn, so that the bishop doesn't get blocked in by e3 as in your game. I think it is possible to hold the pawn then. Though, I am not sure if it is positionally worth the effort.

[@jordanmcmorris5248]

I prefer bishop f4 as well but it's not objectively better imo

[@thesingingfly]

Hey Tony, this is in fact a sound line and I think a nice way to stay consistent with Stejpan's playing style of being greedy and typically trying to hang onto the material. However, I think this would blow up in Stejpan's face, especially if Black is a very tactical player. After 4. Bf4 Bb4+ 5. Nc3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3, White suffers a ruined queenside in exchange for hanging onto a pawn. It gets worse--after 6. ...bxc3 Nc6 7. Nf3 Qe7 8. Qd5, reaching a position where Black can no longer put more piece pressure on the pawn, Black can play in gambit style with 8. ...f6. Followup moves of Bg4 and Rae8, as well as throwing the Black king in the corner, can really start to put a ton of pressure on White's position. I don't see Stejpan having a constructive plan against this.

[@Vixmann]

Thats the line d4 Nf6 c4 e5 dxe5 Ng4 Bf4 Nc6 Nf3 Bb5+ Nc3 Bxc3+ bxc3 Qe7 Qd5 Protecting the pawn but after f6! black has enough compensation for sacrificed pawn

[@tonynorriss379]

@@thesingingfly I agree. That was what I was meaning about it not being positionally worth the effort. White tends to end up with doubled isolated pawns on the c file, which makes it dubious as to whether holding the pawn is worth it.

[@thesingingfly]

@@tonynorriss379 I saw a game between Leela and Stockfish in that line once, and Leela proved that at an engine level, you actually can hang onto the f4 pawn with 4. Bf4. However, Stockfish unleashed some deadly tactics with Black, and Leela with White had to give up the queen and go into an endgame with two very, very awkward rooks vs the queen, and Black had connected passers. Almost no human would survive that position with White, let alone win.

[@laszlokorosi9012]

Tolerating a centralized knight of your opponent together with a week king is a strategic suicide. You continue not considering your opponent's threats, I mean the most obvious ones, like the knight moves. After 32. Qc3 there was 32. ... Nxe3, 33. Bxe3 Rxe3, 34. Qxe3 Qxc2 because your queen is overloaded.

[@thenakedsingularity]

I would say this. In the last few games, when you lose, it is your opponent that has beat you, instead of you beating yourself. I think that's progress. I do think you have made good progress. If your opponent played better and win, then all you can do is learn from them. That's nothing to feel bad about.

[@crugy7]

2:00 "why is this playable?" - because you failed to punish your opponent for a ridiculously unprincipled opening. Bc5-b4 should shock any principled player. Your reaction should be "how do I punish this, this has to be bad", followed by maybe 3 minutes of calculations/considerations, not a simple Qc2 that "should be fine for me". Playing Qc2 there is an insult to all the time you have spent analyzing openings. If you think about it, Qc2-a3-Qxc3 are three tempi, while Bc5-Bb4-Bxc3 are also three tempi, I admit you get the bishop pair, but you could have gotten so much more. The engine suggests Bd2-a3, leading to you winning the bishop pair and getting the active a1-h8 diagonal, plus an additional tempo. The resulting positions look miserable for black, I played around a bit and while the initial position is around +2, many logical looking moves to me suddenly ended in +4. the positions you went into with the misguided Qc2 are barely better (+0.5), if anything. Again, failing to even realize why this is dubious shows a very poor understanding of fundamentals. I know you are AWARE this shouldn’t be good, but yet you seemingly do not even consider seeking a punishment. Edit: I want to add that this is the exact same theme that I also mentioned in my comment on the last video. You fail to calculate even one ply deep, play an innocuous looking move and then suddenly the evaluation changes in your opponent’s favor. "I don’t want my c pawns to be doubled" (around 1:30), "I can’t allow Rg5" (before getting your queen trapped a few videos back).

[@laszlokorosi9012]

@crugy7 I think is a bit harsh to say "ridiculously unprincipled opening". The Budapest gambit is considered sound, there is no refutation on higher level. Even if world class GMs rarely play it, at "Stjepan level chess" is totally fine. (Edit: spelling)

[@crugy7]

@ the Budapest is already shaky, but I agree it in itself is not that bad. Playing Bc5-Bb4 within the first five moves in an already shaky opening is "ridiculously unprincipled".

[@anonymousperson007-ck1jj]

i lost to the fajorwicz otb :{

[@roqsteady5290]

Oops! 4.a3 line stops any nonsense with Bb4+

[@anonymousperson007-ck1jj]

@@roqsteady5290 I played a3 bro but i didnt know abt Qc2 lol

[@thesouthernist8174]

First in!

[@nenadzafiroski7068]

Imagine spending your whole life and every day playing chess and trying to improve and you are still so bad at it. I think its time to quit.

[@zoichi_kanoe6227]

This is the comment of somebody who doesn't have a life

[@crimsonking5961]

You do realize no one is forcing you to watch these videos.

[@kevinblair2882]

A nasty comment. I suppose you figure you're being witty, but really, you're just showing who you are and it's not pretty.

[@OkaroShinn]

you're an asshole

[@thesingingfly]

Wha? Stjepan is in the 80th* percentile of high-rated chess players on FIDE and 99th percentile on Lichess. No way he's quitting.