Textbook Endgame Positions, with GM Ben Finegold

[@jasonmooney5897]

Ben taught my two identical brothers Rufus and Doofus, Mom gave me the normal name but they got all the chromosomes

[@bbryant460]

Based on their games I’ve seen, I’d expect they have some extra chromosomes

[@camreese]

Not fair, they get all the chromosomes

[@robertomariani626]

17:15, ahah, I liked that about finding one of his own games in puzzle rush!

[@MartinNagy_mnagy]

Props for praising Ken Thompson! What he did for the world and how little he's known is frankly ridiculous.

[@petargadev6630]

But stay there!

[@zanti4132]

I know several "chess coaches" (they have the audacity to call themselves that) who teach the exact method to checkmate with a queen described at 28:38. When I questioned this method to one of these coaches, saying the checkmate takes way longer that it should, his response was to call it the single greatest example of coaching he'd even seen, then strongly implied I knew nothing about how to teach chess to kids. Oh, well, you don't to kill these guys, as Ben suggests. You may have to work with them someday.

[@SevenTheJester]

Not for nothing, Levy teaches the "knight opposition" method of mating with a king and queen, but I think he teaches it because it's easy to remember and impossible to screw up. And as we know, if it can be screwed up, people will screw it up. 😂 As my father used to say, "if you go to the trouble of making something idiot-proof, they'll just come out with a better idiot."

[@notrelevant1564]

Impossible to screw up, other than the fact having the king in a “knights opposition” from the queen is stalemate if your king is in front of the opponents on the edge of the board.

[@SevenTheJester]

@@notrelevant1564 😂 Y’know, it's actually kinda funny…you're trying really hard to prove me wrong, and what you've actually proven is that you don't understand the strategy in question - or, apparently, my comment. It's not a strategy that I would use or suggest, but the entire point is that it's a way to force the opposing king _to_ the edge of the board, where you are then supposed to station your queen at the opposite end of the second row or file to trap him there whilst you then bring your king to that edge to checkmate. In the situation that you describe there would be no need to even consider using the idea of a “Knight's opposition.” You'll also notice that I never said that I agree with Levy's decision to teach this strategy, I simply said that I understand why he does. He has a huge following, and he's doing what any good educator would. Since he can't possibly know the skill level of every viewer, his only option is to teach to the lowest one possible. So, um… I guess you missed not only the point of my original comment, you also missed the point of the strategy, and the reason he teaches it. I'd like to say that I admire the effort, but I honestly can't even begin to imagine why you would've felt compelled to make any effort at all. 🤷‍♂️

[@notrelevant1564]

@@SevenTheJester I have proven you wrong though. You said it’s impossible to screw up, I’ve explained how it can easily be screwed up. Regarding the effort, you’re welcome. It took me 30 seconds.

[@SevenTheJester]

@@notrelevant1564 No, see, what you're describing isn't a failure of the method, it's a misunderstanding of the instructions. If you can't understand the difference between those two things, I feel genuinely sorry for you. But...since I'm pretty sure you're not actually right about things too often, let's just go ahead and say you proved me wrong. 👍

[@TravelingMooseMedia]

@@notrelevant1564can’t screw it up if you just restrict the king to the last row not on the bishop squares so yeah it is impossible to mess up if you follow the alg

[@StoshGalumpke]

Great stuff !

[@Lodabar-1]

GOOOOO BEN!!!

[@TravelingMooseMedia]

About to smoke weed and enjoy a lecture. Love this game

[@jgreen802]

Im 1500 and still cant mate with B and N. Luckily, the postion almost never happens in real games.

[@richardminhle]

@bo_11BN mate is extremely rare but it is a great mate to master because it masters your B and N coordination.

[@hideomituns2184]

Doing the knight and bishop checkmate isnt hard once you have put in the necessary 1 hour to learn and drill against a resisting opponent. Both pushing the king to the edge and then pushing him to the right corner. The tough part is remembering it because it comes up so infrequently in practice. I find myself having to review it monthly. I dont think its a useless skill as it trains bishop and knight coordination in forming a mating net ( which makes it more applicaple in many other positions) When i was under 1700 yeah, I thought it was a useless skill.

[@hideomituns2184]

​@@richardminhleoh my god we said the same thing at the same time just saw your reply 😅

[@jimmyfuckthechainofcommand4332]

@@richardminhle Yep. A lot of these niche endings really teach you how to coordinate certain combinations of pieces/imbalances. They are always worth learning. It's also cool to be able to show your friends if you're beginners.

[@A51838]

well many grandmasters can't mate with bishop and knight so it would be sort of astonishing if you could

[@donsimons9810]

no one puts Kingy in a corner!

[@braadress]

Class not worth this comment...best ever to be clear for u who missed class 1

[@stephenphelps920]

Microsoft phone? lol

[@donsimons9810]

yes..? this was 2018ish

[@WastrelWay]

I saw a GM a month or two ago who couldn't do the K+N+B vs. K mate. This was in a tournament broadcast on lichess (boo!). He apparently didn't know that the K has to be driven to the corner square that's the same color as the Bishop's. The other K kept escaping and running to the wrong corner. It was not funny at all. It was pathetic. I am not a GM; I am unrated, but I learned this in high school, 50+ years ago.

[@Math.Bandit]

Over 1400 seems like a generous estimate when about 2/3 of the video are oretty straightforward wins (KNB, KR, KQ, KBB vs lone K).

[@thekurdishtapes8317]

you've sort of missed the point.