Nigel Short's King March Creates a "Mental Blockage" in Chess Engines

[@mwalter98]

Vassily, the name of the future world champion

[@eduardobreda1279]

So Magnus?

[@gxtmfa]

Yes!

[@DDKKAY]

Alireza fairouzja

[@PaleGhost69]

Name: Mikhal?😃

[@seansklenar3509]

at 3 years old this baby will be smoking cigarettes and check mating grand masters

[@luisg.ontoriaalvarez2334]

Misha

[@SteveEpic1212123]

Mikhail

[@natanfurman2467]

Tal is a first name...

[@thedoctor3151]

Neka bude Mihovil! Pravo hrvatsko ime!

The white King was thinking: "If you need something done, you've gotta do it yourself!" Name the kid Krešimir ;-)

BerylusRed Old Jesus was a nice fellow, I have no quarrels with him. Pity about that cross thing... nasty business. Turned out all right in the end, fortunately.

[@Carrejae35]

BerylusRed Satan gives me money and Fame right away. Satan is better.

[@wordlife9257]

Morris : and then an eternity of torment, have fun with that

[@bakermantop]

He must have been thinking: I have everything to do myself! Gosh!

[@elegomeskin]

Nigel Short has played many creative games during his career...worthy of the title , super GM.

[@Noname-wz1yy]

Name him Mayonnaise but call him May. Since May isn't short for anything, people won't question him about it. May however will have to live with the fact that he was named after a condiment.

[@rogercarl3969]

How about Coleslaw but name him Cole for short. Who needs condiments when you have a preserved salad dish.

[@JB_inks]

Roger Carl I think there's a law against that. Cole's Law.

[@mattnecroares3954]

@@JB_inks 😂😂😂😂😂

[@vidargj8150]

@@JB_inks Brilliant!

[@Snoflakes_1]

Copied from reddit. Still a funny take though

[@adrianjasinski601]

"I really suck at naming babies" made me laugh :P Anyway I really enjoy your content, I have watched multiple videos (have found your channel not so long ago) and they are really enjoyable. Keep up the good work ! I personally love the name Siegfried.

[@craftycurate]

"Roy" Lopez, "Carol" Kann, Trumpowskina - nothing too fancy.

[@RoeiCohen]

My name is roy lol

[@gonzalo4658]

hahaha nothing too fansey

[@TheMafiaAtackz]

Honestly one of the coolest games I've seen. Definitely one of my favorites.

[@draedeen]

The best match I have seen as simple elegant and strong. King directly walks to check mate where queen, ruk, knights are watching. KING WALK LIKE DHONI

[@coxscorner]

This is one of my favorite games, not only cause it foils the engine but because its such a brilliant idea.

[@FirstPlace97]

Baby Fischer

[@gonzalo4658]

lmao

[@backwardsbus8188]

I laughed out loud 😂😭

[@thenpguy5852]

I once played a game like this, of course I didn't come up with the idea and I was looking for a win and I just randomly remembered this game. Thanks Nigel for helping me win!

[@BeerdyBruceLeeCentral]

Bruce Lee

[@kinga12ification]

Beerdy - Bruce Lee Central yeah cant go wrong with bruce

[@MadTad]

Just Bruce - you can be Lee or Wayne

[@kpradheep8868]

Fk

[@23chenriheng46]

3 years later and agadmator is now asking for another name >.>

[@tetoviranje]

A few months ago I decided to give the engine an hour to analyze the position after 30 ...h5. It actually found 31. Kh2, announcing #25 (and it's the best move). The engine I used was the one found at Lichess, set at 3/3 CPUs, with 1GB of memory usage (best performance that the site offers). Today I repeated the test and it took the engine about 20 minutes to realize that Kh2 is the best move (announcing a huge advantage for white), and after an additional 15 minutes it announces #46 (I did a screenshot this time:). I found earlier that with the games of Shirov, Short, Morozevich, Tal (and all the other crazy players:))), you need to give more time to the engine for it to figure out what's actually happening... :) p.s. Don't get me wrong, you're doing an excellent job, I enjoy every video you've shared! p.p.s. Pozdrav iz Skoplja! :)

[@vincentzhu1614]

Vladimir Botev i

[@stopwritingthatreplyjohnat6638]

My engine says it's a blunder and then both players played completely perfectly then black was dead lost

[@ijontichy994]

There are very fine moments, when you're actually recalling you're Slav, like here with Alechin name. I'm sure all the birches on the slopes by Volga river are murmuring with delight hearing your pronunciation.

[@dimitrismastorakis7175]

Agamemnon ?

[@dimitrismastorakis7175]

Agadmator im a 1500 player in lichess but i would like to play against u so if u can accept my channel ive been challenging u in ur streams for a while

[@dimitrismastorakis7175]

Challenge*

[@Jan_ne]

This is so funny lol

[@siggiarabi]

agamemnon was a greek hero, not a battleship

[@Aurelius11605]

Algernon is better

[@catteruwu2347]

"If the king doesn't lead, how can he expect his subordinates to follow?"

[@misternewoutlook5437]

"The king is a fighting piece" - Steinitz

[@chessguru900]

First time I watched this game some years ago, the game instantly reminded me of an old master game which I had seen in a book. Richard Teichmann vs Allies 1902 Teichman played aginst a consulting team of 5 or 6 top German players. Every time he made a move he had to leave the room and when it was his turn he came back with a surprising reply. Not sure if Nigel new about this game. Nigel's game is 34 moves and Teichman's 35 moves.

[@manoahkarara5289]

That king March was incredible

[@brianjanson3498]

I like the length of your videos. And, of course, the selection. I believe this game won "Best Game" in a copy of Informant.

[@yashj1072]

Short is probably the most underrated player in Chess history.

[@makytondr8607]

Three years later, Antonio is now the one asking for baby name suggestions...

[@jayeshpurva108]

"As it turns out I really suck at naming babies" you're officially my favourite youtuber , I love your videos ♥️ And for the name how about Jay? :D

[@outputresistance]

This is really weird... Stockfish 8 doesn't see Kg3 on its own, but once you present it with the move, it quickly says it's mate in 26.

[@NoneShallBeSpared_]

I actually first saw this game in Magnus trainer app where he explains about plans in chess and he showed this game in example

[@Iblis2Lakon]

Starting from 31... Rc8, Stockfish 8 after 22 seconds gives +7.25 Kg3 at the depth of 24. Houdini 4 after 3 minutes gives +9.99 at the depth of 21. And it's pretty obvious that the baby name should be Magnus.

[@Fruege]

This game was played in the city which I call my home. This is definitely my new favorite game!

[@Russoxo]

I'm blown away by this one. It never occurs to me to work with the king and it's all over...

[@josuecastro5103]

Nobody can think the move marching king.Another great game

[@x0cx102]

First saw this on MatoJelic's chess channel, nice seeing it again!

[@sureetkumar6580]

Congratulations and prayers to your sister and the family, I named my daughter Susan after Susan Polgar. I really hope she grows to play chess atleast better than me. :)

[@yedidsion]

Just call him "Tal"

[@jvuksa5]

Pošto nisam baš siguran u svoju gramatiku u engleskom, pisat ću ti po našem. :D Već te duže vrijeme pratim i moram pohvaliti tvoj rad, jednostavno postao si mi najdraži youtuber kada je u pitanju šah, jer uistinu izabireš zanimljive partije, te radiš stvarno odličnu analizu. Nastavi tako i nadam se da će se kvaliteta tvog kanala prepoznati, jer zaslužuješ puno više od 24 tisuće pratitelja. I jedna stvar za kraj. Primjetio sam prije par dana da imaš nazive u igrama LoL i HS, sad ne znam je li je to da te ljudi mogu dodati ili ne, ali kada je riječ o HS-u, potreban je name tag ili e-mail kako bi te netko dodao na listu prijatelj. Samo nastavi ovako i znaj da svaki dan iškekujem novi video.

[@chrispratt3666]

This is one of my favorite chess games!

[@saikatghosh5167]

Beautiful game

[@johnwarner3968]

Good luck to your sister. I do like the name Antonio. However, Mikhail, Miguel or Bobby are also my favorites. Love your channel and this featured game was an inspiring King March. Thank you and continued success.

[@victoroliva5347]

Just because of this game magnificent King march, the baby boy should have been named Nigel. But I agree with you that Mikhail, Miguel or Bobby(Robert) and also Antonio are fine names.

[@Richard--Fox]

White King: Fine, I will do it myself...

[@ItachiUchiha-ns1il]

Timman’s move at 7:05 actually yields a forced checkmate

[@josecoronado3101]

Maximus

[@exasperatedfarrago2444]

Nigel's King - I'm the one who knocks

[@LhooqBooksplus]

Agadmator

[@travis5125]

OMG. That was hilarious, and such a novel idea that chess computers cannot conceive of it.

[@RiteshSinghArya]

@agadmator You could name him Anand. It means bliss in Sanskrit (one of the most ancient languages in the world). As you know, it is also the name of a former World Chess Champion. By the way, I watch all your videos and they are amazing!

[@mohammadaminsarabi6207]

Insane king.

[@ew4206]

good luck to baby boy, call him Knight

[@tjmmz9843]

Amazing. Short's plan works only if the opponent is one tempo too late in seeing it - and even the engines will be too late. In my experiment, Stockfish 8 selects 31.Kh2 - but only intermittently at different depths. In one run, it did see Short's plan of Kg3/Kf4 around depth 32 (I can tell because the line has Black replying Qxd7 in a panic mode; more on that below). In another run, it NEVER saw Short's plan; it got stuck for hours at depth 55! At that point (I could not wait forever), S8 was equally happy for White to play 31.c3 or Qf4, and thought that Timman's reply of 31..Rc8 was fine. After 31.Kh2 is played, Stockfish 8 sees things a bit better (but still very slowly). It sees Short's plan at depth 28. At depth 36 it sees checkmate in all directions - albeit a long checkmate. By the way, S8 does not like your suggestion of Bc8 because then 32.Ng5 (*not* Rd8 as you suggested), 32..Bxd7 33.g4 and White has another winning attack. S8 still wants Black's move 31 to be a R move like Ra8, Rb8 or Rc8; followed by a Q sac, like 32..Qxd7. But even that recommended path ends in #28 or #29. After 32.Kg3, S8's vision improves further. It can see Short's plan now at depth 23. Again it suggests 32..Qxd7 (Q sac) to slow it down, but White keeps a strong advantage (and in some variations, resumes Short's plan) after 33.Rxd7 Bc6 34.Rd4. After 32..Rce8, Stockfish 8 instantly sees the #9. So 32..Rce8 was a blunder; Qxd7 would have at least prolonged the game. Overall, we can say that Timman missed the Q sac. I mean, he must have considered it; but he did not see that it was his ONLY hope of a longer game and, if it were too humiliating to play, he could have resigned sooner.

[@vyrtilanyrwen3071]

Two things. One, the position at 7:25. If 34. …Kh7 we’re to be played, preventing Kh6, Nigel said that he wanted to play 35. Qxg6+ Kh8 36. Qh6+ Kg8 37. Kf6, and you cannot stop mate. Secondly, I wasn’t quite convinced that 31. …Bc8 actually led to a draw for black. So, I did my own analysis, then checked with an engine for good measure. Spoiler alert, it still loses. It loses to 32. g4. Or even just Ng5 followed immediately by g4. That’s right. You can actually give up the rook and win the game. For the move g4, I came up with three separate variations, but everything loses. Firstly, the most obvious, 32. …Bxd7 33. gxh5, and unless you want to sacrifice the queen on f3, it’s mate in 5 after 33. …Kh7 34. Ng5+ Kg8 35. h6, and then the only way to prolong mate is by checking the king with something like Qh1+ then Bc6+. So, you can’t take the rook. Secondly, what if black tries to play 32. …Bb7, taking aim at f3? 33. Rd3 Qe4 34. gxh5 Qf5 35. Ng5 Qxf6 36. exf6 Bc8 37. hxg6 (a lot of things win) Bxd7 38. Rxd7 fxg6 39. f7+ Rxf7 40. Nxf7, and white is up a piece in the endgame. And finally, this being the most complicated, but best line, what about 32. …hxg4? By the way, this is the top engine move. Then we have 33. Ng5 g3+ 34. fxg3 Bb7 35. Qf1 f5 36. h5 gxh5 37. Kh3 f4 38. gxf4 Qh1+ 39. Qxh1 Bxh1 40. Nh7 (to reroute back to f6) c5 41. R4d6 Be4 42. Nf6+ Rxf6 43. exf6, and white has a completely winning endgame. Now, whether or not Short would have found this idea of g4, I do not know. He did say that Bc8 concerned him, and he was in time trouble when he found the Kh2 idea. As always, love the content.

[@bsed_mathematics_senokarlh3549]

That baby is now 4 years old😳

[@mayankbhaisora2699]

That's how a real king should fight... 🗡️

[@GBValode]

I have a question. 3:13 . What is white captures a knight with a bishop on d5 ? Isn't it winning a pawn?

[@sammyzoom2276]

At the end in you analysis, I like Kf6 instead of Kxh5........wonderful game!

[@anuragangara2619]

What did they end up naming the baby?

[@hurdur6828]

Name: Julius or name him e4

[@jojitosinaga6248]

The title should be bravest king in chess history

[@colonialbacon3]

"As it turns out, I really suck at naming babies" lmao!

[@thisnicklldo]

Mihovil. First chess player in Croatia. Small homage to Mikhail. Also, nice unusual name.

[@justassubatavicius54]

Bobby Fischer junior.

[@praj477]

Wow. Awesome game.. This became my fav after bravest rook in the chess history.. And Magnus is a nice name

[@johannesderuig3381]

Tim, jan, willem, christiaan, johannes, thijs, dirk, frank, Gabriëlle, niels, tom. I could come up with some more, all Dutch names. Love your videos btw. Really helps me to get better

[@royalredbird9717]

If a king doesn't lead, how can he expect his subordinates to follow?

[@aarifkhan-co6mo]

Hey i watch your videos like everyday ,following you for more than a month ,your videos are really good . Greetings from india nd arman sounds good to me 😊

[@sage5296]

Once stockfish gets to a depth of 22 it recommends Qxd2 instead of cRe8, also giving a +8.6

[@dhurghamnasser37]

Tal .... will be great name 😊

[@עידווינשטוק-פ4פ]

dhurgham nasser that's actually a very common israeli name

[@fact5832]

Name him 'Ramanujan'

[@itsme-wx7cn]

Arliss is a cool name. Love the channel.

[@arrowghost]

You can always name it after a grandmaster, I'm thinking Morphy, Karpov & Capablanca

[@ionergo]

Aragorn? :-) I let Stockfish on chess.com calculate the position after 32. Kg3. It was predicting a draw up to depth 25, but at depth 29 it had found the Kf4 move (I was AFK in between). Around 26 is the typical depth where Stockfish finds more complex positions (e.g. where there are passed pawns in the early game, or two connected rooks e.g. white rooks on the 7th rank, or the Excelsior puzzle (Mate in 5) if I remember correctly, or even the 30. Ba3 move in Botvinnik vs Capablanca) Here are the results: +11.63 32...Qxd7 +13.04 32...b5 +M15 32...Kh7 +M15 32...Qxf3+ +M11 32...Qe4 +M9 32...Qc5 +M9 32...Rce8 +M8 32...Qxa4 Stockfish.js 8 | depth=29 By depth 31 it finds mating lines for all black moves except Qxd7 +11.76 32...Qxd7 33.Rxd7 Bc6 34.Re7 Rce8 35.Nd4 Rxe7 36.Qxe7 Bxa4 37.Qxc7 Re8 38.Qxb6 g5 39.hxg5 h4+ 40.Kxh4 Rc8 41.c5 Be8 42.c6 a4 43.Qa6 Rd8 44.Qxa4 Kg7 45.c7 Rc8 46.Qa5 Kg8 47.Kg3 Bd7 48.Qc5 Re8 49.f4 Bc8 50.Kg4 Kg7 +M11 32...Qe4 33.Rxe4 Bc6 34.Red4 Bxf3 35.Qxf3 b5 36.Rf4 f5 37.exf6 Kh8 38.Rg4 hxg4 39.Qf4 Rf7 40.Rxf7 Kg8 41.Qh6 Kxf7 42.Qg7+ Ke8 43.Qe7# +M9 32...Rce8 33.Kf4 Qc5 34.Kg5 Bxf3 35.Kh6 Qxe5 36.Qxe5 f6 37.Rg7+ Kh8 38.Rh7+ Kg8 39.Qxc7 Re7 40.Qxe7 Bxg2 41.Qg7# +M9 32...Qc5 33.Ng5 Rce8 34.Nxf7 Qxe5+ 35.Qxe5 Rxf7 36.Rxf7 Kxf7 37.Qf4+ Kg8 38.Rd7 Re7 39.Rxe7 g5 40.Qxg5+ Kh8 41.Qg7# +M8 32...Qxa4 33.Ng5 Qc6 34.f3 Qc5 35.Nxf7 Qxe5+ 36.Qxe5 Rxf7 37.Rxf7 Kxf7 38.Rd7+ Ke8 39.Qxe6+ Kf8 40.Qf7# +M8 32...Qd6 33.Ng5 Qc6 34.f3 Qc5 35.Nxf7 Qxe5+ 36.Qxe5 Rxf7 37.Rxf7 Kxf7 38.Rd7+ Ke8 39.Qxe6+ Kf8 40.Qf7# +M8 32...Kh7 33.Ng5+ Kg8 34.f3 Qc5 35.Nxf7 Qxe5+ 36.Qxe5 Rxf7 37.Rxf7 Kxf7 38.Rd7+ Ke8 39.Qxe6+ Kf8 40.Qf7# +M8 32...Qb5 33.Ng5 Qc6 34.f3 Qc5 35.Nxf7 Qxe5+ 36.Qxe5 Rxf7 37.Rxf7 Kxf7 38.Rd7+ Ke8 39.Qxe6+ Kf8 40.Qf7# Stockfish.js 8 | depth=31

[@Robi2009]

6:57 - My engine said 0 for a second, but after deeper analysis said +10 to white, so I'm guessing it saw the king's walk :)

[@williamcrisp9245]

So early Morphy's still alive... Can I stay here please?? :P Thanks for another fantastic vid!

[@williamcrisp9245]

Also, I always liked William and Alexander as names :)

[@JDoucette]

31. Kh2 = Mate in 19 (Stockfish 10). 31. ... Bc8 is not an equal position. Continuation is 32. Ng5+ = Mate in 18 (not 32. Rd8 = draw). 31. ... Bc8, b5, and Qxd7 all are best response = Lose in 18. 32. Kg3 = Mate in 15 (not draw). 32. ... Qxd7 is best response = Lose in 15.

[@ericsbuds]

wow that was awesome

[@chengzhou8711]

That’s an incredible idea.

[@bezzlebedeviled4756]

6:54 -- Agadmator "I'm interested; what does your engine think?" -- Stockfish has White at +1.5 after Kg3 in early calculation, but it jumps drastically by depth 22, and to over +14 by depth 30. Clearly checkmate is coming. 5:38 -- "White doesn't really have a good move either" (implied, aside from Kh2). Actually, c3 is also winning (in fact, almost anything is aside from a blunder, because Black is suffocating). Black's only viable response is Bb7, breaking his QB battery, then g4 by White. In fact, Black is outright doomed at the point before Kh2 is played; his best responses lead to a locked upper-right quadrant of the board, queens being exchanged on f5/f6, leaving Black with only one rook able to move freely while the White king marches across the center of the board to assist in creating and shepherding passed pawns to victory. 6:43 -- The best response to Kh2 is Bb7, and play continues Ng5, Bxd7, g4, (engine initially assumes +0.24 with hxg4, but at depth 24, suddenly it sees the big picture and dials the positive rating until announcing M15. This mating line only involve a king march at the finale after Black feeds all his pieces to the White queen (starting with Re7) to delay the inevitable, and White then finds it slightly faster for a K+Q mate rather than passed-pawn Q+Q mate.

[@omniversosindios7953]

Awesome game for Short!

[@ChandlerTheBoss]

At 3:15, why didn't white capture the central knight with his b3 bishop forcing black to recapture with his e6 pawn- allowing white to then capture a free pawn while remaining centralized? I don't see any reason not to do this... am I missing something that isn't entirely obvious I'm this position?

[@shoumaker5522]

What did they end up naming your nephew?

[@manishsachdeva1536]

Is it awkward to comment after four years !! Actually this video of yours popped up today for me and I just clicked on it thinking you uploaded four hours back 😂 What is the name of your nephew then ? I probably would have suggested an Indian name only...since his sister has an Indian one only... Regards,

[@emmagrove6491]

This game demonstrates why I never bother with chess engine recommendations. Computers can think logically, but not creatively.

[@johnnyonenote376]

Just loved this game - what Nigel spotted with the King here is so simple it's genius (if that makes sense...)

[@madeconomist]

I always liked the name Richard. :) It means "strong ruler."

[@elfakyn]

I'd say Mikhail is a wonderful name! Timeless, just like the chess grandmaster

[@elfakyn]

Even if he ends up not being a chess player, Mikhail is still a wonderful name for the ages

[@JohnTVian]

It took Stockfish 7 a few seconds and it gave white 99.8, suggesting the move Kf4. AMD 7 processor really improves Stockfish's performance...

[@Jesusandbible]

I wish you would narrate Shorts disaster game against Polgar, where he infiltrated, took a rook, and lost. I always wonder if she let him invade or it was a mistake......

[@lifewithriya123]

Well, I'm seeing this video after 3 years. Can you tell us the name your sis chose for her baby?

[@katieava2956]

It's Aron

[@lifewithriya123]

@@katieava2956 Thanks.. Lovely name 👌👌

[@vinegarlegate24]

@@lifewithriya123 7 months lol

[@OK-bi3hb]

7:46 why not kf6?

[@kadirv]

At 4:43, move 25, why can't the bishop capture the pawn at e5?

[@Alex-nk4pk]

QE7 looks winning for white

[@Alternamaton]

8:00 after Qxg6+ Kh8 Qh6+ Kg8, Kf6 is more in the spirit of the game

[@harshrajbasant]

Here after chessbase india stream with nigel short🌚

[@longball756]

Wow beautiful game!

[@kevino4372]

So why can't the engine find it?

[@chinzy83]

Pretty grounded and no-nonsense approach to game analysis👍👍 name: Sharva (=destroyer of darkness) Chinmay (=one who gives happiness to hearts) Satva (=the essence of this world)

[@shmvon]

Chimay is also a strong Belgian trappist beer.

[@chinzy83]

@@shmvon hahaha

[@Formula7Driver]

Congratulations on becoming an uncle. If I ever have a son, I will name him Marko. Since your sister is from Croatia, I think that the name would fit.

[@pinilan]

Amazing

[@longball756]

Jobava sounds like a good name!

[@whatsinaname7289]

Amazing!!

[@xHanz0x]

Why didn’t Jan Timman play Bxe5 in the min 4:41 using the fact that white can’t play Nxe5 because of Qxg2#. Probably he could had retreated the bishop again to h8 after that and played f6 freely after the fall of white e5 pawn

[@lukelopez2677]

The victor demonstrated that though the king's paces may be Short, given the opportunity he can a-Nigel-ate the enemy position.

[@halfcolombian72]

Depends on the last name to see what combines. Brilliant solution to that position. Anyway 11 months too late I guess he must have a name by now. :)