Master SQUARE CONTROL to Avoid Regrettable Blunders!

[@spark5010]

Nd7 is The correct answer cause Qd7 allows Rc8 mate due to Queen being pinned

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Nice!

[@Socrates...]

You should do a whole series just on squares. Squares are the background that people become oblivious to.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

That is actually a good idea :)

[@owaisabdulmoeed7644]

Dr. Can, thank you so much for these videos. After having been stuck at 1700 (online) for a whole year, I'd finally managed to break 1800, and that's around when a friend of mine introduced me to your channel. I managed to hit 1900 today, only a few weeks after hitting that previous milestone, and I definitely owe it in some part to you. Your teaching skills are quite unique compared to many chess educators. I especially improved a lot from your repetitive "why?" questions, really needed that hammered into my brain! Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate what you do. Thank you once again!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Such comments are just sooo motivating for me ❤️ Thank you so much for sharing this! Congratulations on your great achievement (I am sure it is mostly your hard work than my channel).

[@s1mon_234]

Great Video as always, in the homework i calculated Qd7, Rc8 is checkmate so we block with the knight. I love these advanced concepts and blunder checks. That is my first Video on the topic of loose squares and i really learned a lot. Most Videos on YT about chess focus on Openings/Traps/win fast in x moves, but not on important concepts like this. That is the reason why i love your channel, this really helps me improve

[@Dr.CansClinic]

I just love your comment. Really motivating and gives me a signal that this channel is on the right track ❤️

[@eschiedler]

Is that a blue award for your chessable course in the background? Very nice. homework spoiler - no engine Defending the check with Qd7 is losing as it blunders mate-in-one due to Rc8# as the bishop on a3 covers the f8 and e7 escape squares for the king. However, defending with the knight Nd7 is also challenging because most of black's pieces remain tied down. Qb5+ Nd7 Qc6 h3 (defends against Bb5) Bg4 threatening a checkmate sequence with Bxe6. Qb5+ Nd7 Qc6 Rb8 f3 Nf6 and white controls the dark squares around the black king. I haven't found a solid resource yet for black to stop white's initiative.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Yes, that is the Chessable award for winning the best tactics course of the year :) Thank you as always for your excellent answer. White is better after ...Nd7 too, but at least Black does not get mated on the next turn :)

[@mikkelhansen3714]

What is the sequence after Bxe6 if black passed the move? i don't see it haha

[@HemanthH-yb1pt]

Please make more videos on this topic I recognized the same fact that strong players focus on squares and weak people on pieces

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thanks for the feedback. I will surely produce more on this topic later on!

[@riaanstrydom1692]

Took me a while but then saw the obvious: right move is Nd7. Qd7 allows Rc8# because the Queen is pinned and the Bishop on a3 takes away all the escape squares

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much!

[@GaryWalters-tk2lp]

Great subject and although the examples show were relatively easy to spot they certainly highlighted the point. Personally I'm finding that I'm much more focused on week squares before looking for any loose pieces as I've found this to be a very effective way of stopping a blunder, I do miss the odd loose piece oppertunity but rarely seem to miss a loose square, I think the first position showed this nicely as I was instantly drawn to the g7 square not the loose pieces, followed by the queen move to g1, I didn't initially see queen to e1 creating the fork on the bishop and rook! Lovely episode as always 👍

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Excellent feedback, thanks! It is very good if your attention is drawn directly to empty squares! That shows the establishment of a very important skill, which as my student mentioned it was not yet developed fully for him.

[@GaryWalters-tk2lp]

​@@Dr.CansClinicinterestingly I'm playing a casual game (no time constraints) against someone a lot higher rated than me, and I've tried out the modern benoni as black for the first time, I've made a couple of mistakes in hindsight and I've been punished positionaly but the technique you've just shown in your lesson has saved me being mated more than once and it's been a fantastic game for me to learn from so far 👍

[@Dr.CansClinic]

@@GaryWalters-tk2lp That is great to hear!

[@feliou]

This is a great channel. So instructive

[@Dr.CansClinic]

So nice to hear that, thanks! ❤️

[@cwgriffin1]

Homework: N-d7. Q-d7 allows Rc8. The Q is pinned. K-e7 will be followed by Rxh8. Then if Qxb5, Bxb5.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Beautiful!

[@jaybingham3711]

5:50 It's a pin. The N is pinned to a key square. In this case, a mate square. A less lethal 'key square pin' might involve something like one of your pieces blocking access to a forking square. Identifying such key squares often isn't the problem. Instead, the bigger challenge is learning to remain vigilant about them being in play. Especially when in a time scramble. It can be helpful to mentally highlight/color such squares. And even mentally drop a key on the square. 🙂

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thanks for the feedback! Absolutely, one tends to forget about those in time trouble. A single slip in vigilance we find ourselves getting mated.

[@ikeyote]

Knight to d7 blocks check and adds rook the game defending against white rook attack

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Excellent!

[@briandwi2504]

Very interesting and helpful ideas, thanks. Homework. Queen move is a big blunder as c8 becomes 'loose' and ..Rc8 is mate!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you! Excellent answer!

[@ibiwisi]

Great video, Dr. Can, as always! (Dare I think that I might be the anonymous student you refer to? 😊) For the homework position (at 14:12), c8 is a Type II "loose square" (i.e., attacked once and defended once). It's also a critical square, because it has the potential of becoming a mating square on the back rank. If Black blocks the check with 1...Qd7?, the defending Q is pinned, and thus no longer defends c8. c8's safety status erodes, and now it's a "hanging square" (i.e., attacked once and defended zero times), allowing 2.Rc8#. On the other hand, 1...Nd7 is a double-purpose move: it blocks the check, and it also discovers a second defender for c8, elevating c8's safety status from loose to safe (i.e., attacked once, defended twice). Crisis averted, and Black is better.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

I just love your excellent comment, Mike! And thank you for this video idea!! You are very resourceful 🙏 I can sign everything you wrote there, accept the very final sentence: White keeps the advantage in the resulting position due to their superior piece activity. But at least Black avoided getting mated!

[@ibiwisi]

@@Dr.CansClinic Yeah, my position-evaluation skills are very weak. (Working on it!) Thanks so much for the positive feedback; it's really motivating for me! (I should have quit when I was ahead, after analyzing the two candidate moves!)

[@Dr.CansClinic]

@@ibiwisi ❤🙏

[@brainfellow5140]

Good session, as always Dr. Can, thank you! Re Homework: Take with the knight, not the queen! Reason: c8 is the weak square in black's position, white rook attacking it but only black queen defending it... if we instead blocked check with queen (moving into a pin!!), white rook swoops down and mates us on c8 as queen is pinned and the white bishop has the a3-f8 diagonal pinned down...

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Excellent answer and explanation! Thank you so much 🙏

[@MarkPersoonlijk]

Another great lesson. Thank you! Since I found out there the concept of 'weak squares', my ability to find better moves is increased. Especially Queen moves in the end game :) My homework answer: Nd7. No more check, and the Knight frees the Rook so it will be protecting the vulnerable back rank. But how come that Knight was still there at b8? Opening principles are not applied it seems. (I try not to focus solely on the blunders I made, I try to find out how I created those weaknesses myself more early on in the game too.) Blunder: Qd7 weakens the c8 square due to the pin by White's queen at b5. And the Rook at a8 is buried alive, so it can't do anything about it!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you Mark, great answer! Good feedback as well, thanks! Yes, Black has committed several chess crimes to end up in this position, but at least they don't get mated on the next turn after ...Qd7 :)

[@user-oo1gv9pp4u]

great video ,i like when you connect metacognitive science with chess

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you! 🙏

[@thetransferaccount4586]

nice examples there doc

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Glad you like them! 🙏

[@twentyrothmans7308]

Thank you for easy Monday homework. ... Qe2 Rf1# I think that your raven pushed your chair back to its normal position 🙂

[@Dr.CansClinic]

You surely meant ...Qd7 allows Rc8+ ☺️ Yes, the raven can do such things. He wants to be on a similar level.

[@chimbiepaladin4629]

Omg lol. That last problem was great. I thought for about 5 minutes, and decided that there was no reason not to play Nd7 and develop our minor pieces with the idea that the rook can come to the c file next. This just seemed the safest and best. Then you said please avoid the blunder. And 30 seconds later I jumped when I realized that Rc8! MATE was on the board. lol What a great puzzle. Its so amazing how things can be unnoticed. The only thing I overlooked was the queen was pinned. So I appreciate that this pattern was a bit hard to find. But its also nice that without seeing the blunder... playing common sense developing moves is always the best option. And I would have avoided the blunder in a real game. I just would have missed the beauty of seeing that Qd7 was a wonderful blunderful.

[@chimbiepaladin4629]

Also as a 2000 lichess rated classical player. The first few puzzles were simplistic. I saw them either instantly or in less then 5 seconds. The last one I wrote my experience. :D

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Super glad to read your feedback. That is a deceptively simple puzzle :) I will incorporate it to my dedicated course on the blunder-check ☺️

[@jimmccann3856]

a) Congratulations on your Chessable Award! b) Todays puzzles were really too easy, but chess is infinitely complicated, and doubtless more subtle empty squares await... c) Psychology is not particularly quantitative, but chess is. My sense is that I lose far more rating points due to oversights due to opponents Ply 4 & 6 surprises, than I lose by overlooking my own winning shots on Ply 3,5, or 7. So... Confirmation Bias exists in chess, but how important is it, exactly? (or roughly?) (or should we even care?) From my own background, which is business, not psychology: "Six sigma metrics are a set of common measurements that you can use to track process quality. They originate from the manufacturing industry, and businesses often use them in conjunction with lean manufacturing processes in order to improve business efficiency." You cannot improve what you cannot measure, is the essential concept...

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much for your kind feedback ☺️🙏 Important insights there! How can we better quantify confirmation bias? I guess delving deeply to the root cause of our mistakes is the key, as well as taking note of those recurrent issues (on a spreadsheet). Working with a coach can be helpful here too. And brutal honesty is important: once you check with the engine, you have to honestly tell yourself whether you have considered that move at all, or it was totally outside your radar.

[@brp1344]

Blocking with Knight is correct as , it avoid mate with the rook on back rank as the queen is pinned , sorry I didn't write the board coordinate as I am slow writing like Nd7 bla bla

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Excellent, thanks for the answer!

[@CC-ii3ij]

Great video! YES, I can see my attacking options from 5+ plies, but why is the c8 square so hard to see? My greed can blind me to simple defensive tactics against squares.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thanks for your honest feedback. I hope this video will raise awareness on that important topic and you will stop giving away games on empty squares ☺️

[@Lukas_E.]

Very important topic and very well explained, but the examples were a bit too easy for me personally, do you have a similar more advanced video up as well?

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you! This is tailored for 600 - 1200 ELO, following my upcoming course "Chess Elevator". I will probably make another video for more advanced players, thanks for the tip!

[@kenthowie6622]

Knight must black the check; otherwise, the c1 Rook checks the King losing the queen and then checkmate next move

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you!

[@retour.allahmaison9068]

Master vdo ❤

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much!

[@omamoka63]

How does an older person build up the skills that he once possessed? By basic training, I suppose. Your courses and YT-videos are an indispensable resource for that.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Extremely motivating to hear that, thank you! That was exactly why I created those courses.

[@Abhi-cwq1]

homework: Nd7 as Qd7 then Rc8#

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thanks!

[@hiihello7625]

Nd7 is best block as Qd7 leads to Rc8#. Thanks for your valuable lessons sir. I had recently followed you on twitter, and now you have got a new Sub too

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Lovely to hear your feedback! Thank you so much for the sub, really appreciate it ❤

[@user-wf7my6so7l]

Thumbnails are getting wild 😂

[@Dr.CansClinic]

The doctor is still experimenting 😅🤓

[@educatorul]

Nd7. just got your Fundamental Chess Calculation Skills . there are better chess players out there but your approach to teaching is right on my alley. till next time...

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Beautiful! Thank you so much for studying my course! You can ask me anything on Chessable while studying it. Always happy to help!

[@educatorul]

@@Dr.CansClinic thank you.

[@Nathan00at78Uuiu]

any general estimated release date for the blunder course? A margin of error of plus or minus 3 months is fine. Fall 2024, Winter 2024, or sometime in 2025?

[@Dr.CansClinic]

The Chess Elevator will be released in ten days and it will contain several blunder-check puzzles. The dedicated blunder-check course: my guess is very late 2024 or early 2025.

[@monkeyman15387]

For the homework, you have to block with the knight. If you block with the queen, rook C8+ will win our rook because our queen is pinned

[@monkeyman15387]

I just noticed white's Bishop on A6. So rook C8 is actually mate 😂. Definitely block with the knight lol

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you! :)

[@Dr.CansClinic]

We have no choice indeed ☺️

[@salemtv5808]

I saw the best two moves of the first puzzle instantly…however and despite my puzzle rating which is around 2400 during my games (rated only 1050 rapid) i don’t see or find any of this i guess my psychology is totally different i think i don’t need a chess coach i certainly need a shrink…preferably a consortium of psychiatrists in Vienna 😂😂😂 great video as usual thank you so much

[@Dr.CansClinic]

We all need those psychiatrists in Vienna I think 😅 Did you mean you had much easier time finding tactics in 'winning' contexts but have trouble when it comes to blunder-checking (defensive) context?

[@salemtv5808]

@@Dr.CansClinic no i meant im much better in solving puzzles than playing the actual game like in the game im sure i would’ve thought that knights on the rim are bad and start to find a better square for it since there’s no immediate “obvious “ threat from my opponents pieces it’s like i have two brains one for puzzles and the weaker one for gameplay:)

[@salemtv5808]

i also a blunder grandmaster so i’m waiting for your course desperately 😀

[@Dr.CansClinic]

@@salemtv5808 I hear you. It may be good to mix tactical puzzles with positional ones (my calculation course on Chessable has that mix).

[@Dr.CansClinic]

@@salemtv5808 Still working on it! 🤓

[@manuelfuentes4509]

Homework: Has to be Nd7 coz Qd7 allows Rc8+ 😢

[@Dr.CansClinic]

That is right! ☺️

[@charlesreinhorn6821]

How to buy chess elevator by. Dr can

[@Dr.CansClinic]

It got published today! www.chessable.com/the-chess-elevator-climb-to-1200-and-beyond/course/229177/