I Tried to Refute the Smith Morra Gambit

In this video, I share my 9th and final round chess game from the Reykjavik Open against Vitaliy Garbuz (2155). The game featured a marathon battle emerging from the Smith Morra Gambit against the Sicilian Defense.
Reykjavik Open Recap Playlist: • 2023 Reykjavik Open
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Eric Rosen
4579 Laclede Ave. # 205
St. Louis, MO 63108
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#chess #ericrosen

[@AdrianWan]

I generally find endgames mysterious as a casual watcher but I love how you explained the nuance so engagingly :) thanks Eric!

[@billricardi]

Help, the nicest IM in chess is forcing me to watch this video! Please send an army of angry geese.

[@BlazeSLK]

Honk

[@christopherclubb9167]

Peace was never an option

[@51monw]

We only have angry ducks but I'm not sure he knows the difference.

[@B00B13S_L0L]

Is Goose from Top Gun ok

[@iseriver3982]

​@@51monw Duck gambit accepted🦆🦆🦆🦆🦩

[@PallysalltheWay]

Will always be happy to see a recap series from you :) and thanks for not leaving us in suspense by not showing the standings!

[@joeyharrington1863]

The fact that your best attempt to refute the smith morra still created such a difficult position is great incentive for me to continue to play it! Also wow, what an endgame!

[@Rubrickety]

That was an amazing endgame; well done! The skill of visualizing where you'd eventually like your pieces to be, then finding a plan to actually get them there, is utterly absent in lower-rated players such as myself. Kudos to your opponent, too, for playing so well under time pressure for so long.

[@vitalygarbuz6634]

Hehe thank you

[@danielxu0]

Your endgame technique here was brilliant. Nice win Eric!!

[@MyBiPolarBearMax]

Masterclass in use of the bishop pair. Stronger but easy to blunder with if you dont think each move through.

[@ryanlind5239]

So instructive! The way you use your bishop as a shield so that you can escort the king beyond the vision of the rook is something I’m hoping to try to remember in future endgames!

[@jakub_p3352]

I watched that endgame live. Amazing technique. Summing up, I thought that you refused to believe that the endgame was a draw and ended up winning it... Congratz.

[@cftpafan]

21:36 and d4 is hanging! 😁tired eric

[@E1337N3SS]

Great squeeze Eric! I think the ability to make a drawn endgame like that as painful as possible while staying composed is a great example of what separates titled players like you from a regular 2000+ rated player.

[@gradinarusebastian9424]

great instructive endgame, you make so many chess concepts seem really intuitive

[@nacho__063]

Beautiful beautiful game eric! Loved that endgame plan and how you explained it. Love you too 😊

[@newyorkslim2001]

wow. 5 hours! longer than a baseball game. Lot of instructive tactical maneuvers explored. Thanks.

[@charliemanolakis8879]

Such a beautiful & instructive endgame. Grateful for all these recaps, and congrats on a nice tournament!

[@Salvatawr]

I absolutely adored these recaps. Thank you so much for these!

[@dswalkij3201]

Thank you eric! This is by far the most enjoyable endgame talk I have ever watched. I can follow your thoughts and understanding your difficulties in turning the game to a win! Great defence by your opponent,too! This kind of game seldom appears on blitz, so glad that you show this😊

[@AndrewWCarson]

Thanks for the great recaps! These were very entertaining to follow.

[@lucmedina]

28:24 Man, Alexandra looks really thrilled about playing against you

[@eporeon]

eric's killing it with all these sweaters

[@qawi272]

I love these tournament recaps. They are just the right mixture between relaxation and suspense. A Great pleasure to watch!

[@tuckerprice9663]

That was one of the most instructive endgames I’ve ever watched. It’s really helpful to hear you talk through your process of coming up with a plan to win the pawns.

[@usageunit]

25:00 Now there's a sign of a good arbiter! Proactive!

[@morara8282]

"He took another really really long think,, i think he thought for over half hour"was my favorite part😂

[@stuvius]

Incredible game. Loved the recaps and hope to see more of them!

[@Chimperly]

Love the recap series! thanks again!

[@postaldelivery6867]

What an awesome video! Last night, I too was looking at not only the smith Morra Gambit, but I was also watching Molton. That makes this game even more understandable and enjoyable to watch! Good stuff Eric

[@jaydub2971]

I sometimes see my Old Benoni transpose into a Smith-Morra. So, even though I'm not an e4 or Sicilian player, I found your explanation very instructive. Congrats, Eric.

[@nicoz4717]

This was the coolest endgame I have ever seen! And amazing instructive commentary alongside with it. Thanks Eric and congrats on the Top 51 finish!

[@number94]

Really enjoyed these, thanks for posting

[@seanhunter111]

Well played. What an incredibly tough fight. Really a great game.

[@Alexander-mw1ek]

Thank you for the beautiful game Eric! It’s easy to discount titled players abilities when we see y’all playing silly blitz games online, but OTB classical games like this show your true greatness. Highly technical win, I feel so thankful for videos like this because they really demonstrate the technique necessary for people like me (2200 lichess) to keep improving

[@argothiel]

Beautiful! It looks like the most educative of your games in this tournament, what an ending!

[@FMEEvangelist]

Definitely a well-thought (and well-fought) match there. Well done on the win.

[@longpie1689]

best chess content ever, thankyou eric

[@em4six348]

Has to be the best endgame analysis I've ever seen on KZbin. Great work Eric!

[@gilber78]

This was quite an endgame!! A good study on recognizing imbalances and how to create the best position possible

[@santinosartoris]

Super instructive and fun watch. Nice game

[@ericswanson8081]

Man that sweater is dope! Great job at the tournament and thanks for the recaps (and all the content)

[@chandlerrogers7300]

These recaps are fantastic keep up the good work.

[@collindruck4273]

I think I can speak for everyone and say that is a rad sweater

[@ligmamale4389]

Thank you for the detailed endgame analysis!

[@bkokohut1980]

ABOUT TIME YOU POSTED THIS VIDEO!!!

[@martinhadleigh5890]

Superb play there Eric.

[@charlesfromm6133]

Great recap! I've actually faced this Nb5 line in a tournament game also, and, unlike you, just meekly castled instead of going for it with d5. After analyzing a bit, I've realized that Rf8 is better than Re8 for a very simple reason. After Rf8 the white bishop is more or less trapped on c7: white can't really stop the plan of f4, Bf5 and taking the knight. However after Re8 Re1 Kf7 Bd6 white can untangle the pieces. Another quirk of this line is that after Bg3 both dxc4 and dxe4 give a slight edge to black, though as you demonstrated these are extremely murky waters, and you can hardly call -0.3 with a chaotic position a refutaion.

[@domonikoldham7387]

excellent work in the tournament eric great work

[@rockman7652]

картофелем и грибами

[@pablolacruz2652]

Very instructive game, thanks.

[@uwufemboy5683]

Good endgames are so incredible to see, this game was awesome to watch!

[@randikalakmal]

"Trying is the first step to failure" - GM Ben Finegold

[@KailamiMwiinga]

Not trying anything is the main step to failure 😂

[@michaelcarney5456]

Thank you so much for thinking out loud.. very helpful to those perhaps like me, still hoping to achieve an Expert rating after decades of play.

[@kamalakantanieves5371]

Great game! Thanks so much.

[@madshaolin]

Great win Eric in a very well-fought game.

[@MrRichi251]

Hey Eric, was not able to watch these recaps right away but watched them all today and it was really cool to see your games and follow along with your Journey through the tournament. I was thinking at 10:37 above maybe white could even just play Nxf6+ then Rb1. I know it was just a sideline you were showing but just something I saw might make that line even less appealing

[@GStarGoku3]

That handshake photo at the end is too funny

[@tim90003]

25:20 good to hear the paper was saved

[@TheMg49]

Nice game. Thanks and thumbs up.

[@philkersonchong9848]

At 8:55, I think engine prefers Rf8 instead of Re8 because it doesn’t want to trade rooks in the open file so when light bishop moves, the rook can take the knight.

[@Edmond1702]

Exactly! 👍

[@brasileirosim5961]

Great video, thanks!

[@ianmoore5502]

Outstanding finish, Eric 👏

[@AG-kl6ds]

At 9:57 eric says he thought the knight couldn’t escape. Can opponent not simply play NC7+ and just escape?

[@rudellius]

This allows for white to take the pawn on b2 with the bishop while gaining a tempo by attacking the rook which is then followed by c3 protecting both the bishop and the pawn. Other variations include black getting another passed pawn on the a or b file. White would have to give up either their rook or knight to stop them from promoting. Rook to c1 lets black take the pawn but white can then just take the pawn c4.

[@tbbt8337]

@@rudellius yes but he forgot to tell that,while telling much simpler variations -)

[@tbbt8337]

and he tells aboute the fork next move like it WASNT THERE BEFORE,CONFUSING,BUT HE IS PRBABLY TIERD......

[@dennismays5692]

Beautiful endgame. Congratulations!

[@manykindsofgeek5906]

Hard fought victory and beautiful game!

[@willmorrisusa]

U pulled it out ! Good for U ! " Ohhh, My Rook " ! " Ohhh, My Pawn " ! 😂

[@hildebrand142]

nice sweater! thanks for your videos.

[@LFSPharaoh]

I also saw moltens video from a few years ago that’s so cool. I quickly realized I had no business playing it lol

[@Heroball299]

Shout out to that Molton Li guy. He has a really underrated channel, not many subscribers but he plays speedrun games as well as other good chess content. It's worth checking out.

[@neo85ish]

Cool game, kudos

[@edward-jacobholt8795]

This is such a fascinating game

[@wascourge9817]

3:18 Giri also has this in his Dragon course

[@MusicPlaylistsChannel]

Was just checking for a new vid

[@ali24B]

Great job!

[@kingberzerk]

Bb4 was my guess reading the title before I watched this video. I learned it from Giri's course.

[@diggitus]

Hi Eric, I'm curious what you planned on 9.exd5

[@sheikmanzoor5003]

Wow the explanation is so good. It makes learning such endgames fun. Kudo to Eric for the win.🔥

[@rumpelRAINS]

Wait till Marc hears about this

[@cftpafan]

Banned

[@KironKabir]

Hello mockers

[@GooseFN_]

Tough game, your opponent played well ! But you manage to earn the win ❤️👍

[@2healthy267]

That endgame technique was crazy. As a lower rated player you understand quickly the gap between a casual and a titled player.

[@Lyscian420]

I’m so conflicted, I want Eric to win, but I also don’t want the morra to lose!! Hahaha great video and great game !

[@leobosi]

"I was trying to avoid mass simplifications". Proceeds to perform mass simplifications :P

[@noahsolomon538]

I'm a die hard morra fan and truly belive the morra is objectively sound, but I gotta admit you played this really well. Good job!

[@PaulGoldstein]

love the recaps but wish they would land in youtube in more timely fashion. Was following you in tournament but videos landing 5 days after the games are getting played even though i think you are recording them shortly after the game. why the lag?

[@kriswaelput]

Congrats !!

[@Dying4pie2180]

Can't wait to see you get to GM I can see it happening.

[@smokebonde9943]

I always play the Chicago Defense against Smith Morra. It's a really interesting refutation against the Smith Morra.

[@khmerartist6581]

Nice job sir!

[@maxboltax7426]

Hi Eric where did u get that sweatshirt?

[@odinnhrafnsson6267]

Hey Eric, love the sweater.

[@xxNarcissus]

21:34 oh no my Bishop

[@ram42193]

Molten is awesome 😎!

[@robbieg8883]

As a Smith morra player that line where they trade the bishop off is my least favourite thing

[@ThisSentenceIsFalse]

Amazing that opponent had to make all their moves under two minutes.

[@perhultman-boye2858]

Amazing endgame technique!

[@ttjciluk]

I reckon you played well against the SM gambit. It is a labyrinth of a game, but clearly your tact was worth the win.

[@robertcooper1952]

A well-deserved victory!

[@satoxzero8975]

Interesting game different than usual.

[@hugopascal9332]

what an endgame! crazy

[@Harrow_the_Ninth]

Shankland covers this line in his Classical Sicilian course, if anybody's interested.

[@davidnelson4960]

Congrats Mr. Rosen. Flying the world, being an IM, what a life.

[@bdpv025]

What a game

[@streeeetz6059]

Morra sound opening ... noted

[@jeromilittle]

Eric, Prince of Egypt.