The Amateur's Mind: How to Punish Opening Mistakes

[@austinblevins6286]

Coach Andras, I've yet to comment on one of your videos. Just wanted to say a big thank you. I'm in the ChessDojo program/club. Your teachings are well known there! Your content is extremely instructive (especially when I pull a board out and watch "actively"). I have my 3rd OTB tournament (27 year old started in March) this weekend and will try to adopt these principles! Anyway thanks again 🙏

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Thanks, appreciate the kind words Austin. Chessdojo guys are legends!

[@tedesposito3238]

I used to (and still) have trouble adopting this mindset. But what helps me a lot is a constant reminder that there is another opening principle (aside from the usually mentioned ones like fighting for the center, developing our pieces without unnecessary moves, securing the king..) that we amateurs always apparently neglect (or simply don't know): Try to seize the initiative! Personally, I think many people have the mistaken impression that Morphy just developed his pieces and his opponents didn't and then they collapsed without any work. In fact, I think his games are often -presented- that way. But this is a little silly, what you should really try to learn from his games is how to seize the initiative when your opponents play timidly (don't fight for the initiative) and neglect the other opening principles. And seizing the initiative for sure takes some work and concentration. I think to a lot of people, "punishment" means either checkmating or winning material. But really we should consider taking complete control of the game as a type of punishment too. Of course a checkmating attack does that, but it can also be as simple as finding strong ways to hinder the opponent's development.

[@JohnBrazel]

As white Daniel has the initiative from move one. The coach said punish your opponent for moving the same piece twice that's the opening principle which deserves the smackdown IMHO.

[@juleslondon3088]

I think this is a very good point and very well expressed. 👍

[@Musicrafter12]

That's a good insight. Do we seriously think some of the best chess players of the 19th century were unaware of the principles of development and initiative which were illustrated by masters centuries even before them? Morphy just had better calculation skills and a better feel for how to punish slow play.

[@ShinySalamence1]

I guess my big issue is in distinguishing when your opponent can be punished by direct forcing moves and when you have to settle for getting more ahead a la “stupid/weird stuff loses to normal stuff.” It gets even trickier when stuff like 3. h4 is sound after d4-c4 against Nf6-g6. And when people play weird, passive stuff that is annoyingly solid.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

On the Black side things are always tougher bit due to the fact that we have one move less.

[@Sough]

Good point. Lots of amateurs play passive or unorthodox, but it doesn't mean there is a clear refutation. Or let's say you vaguely remember studying the kill line against f5 in the Owens defense, but you have to be really precise and you're not quite sure. Do you go for it and try to punish, or do you play something solid and accept an equalish game?

[@jonide2936]

Another great lesson from ChessCoach Andras! So directly applicable to my mindset and playing. I too have the lazy habit of avoiding specificity and calculation by thinking in generalities instead. Such a valuable lesson to learn. Thanks! And thanks to Daniel for having the courage to share his lesson with the rest of us. 🙂

[@ChessCoachAndras]

My pleasure!

[@nickmoore5105]

Great video thanks Daniel and Andras.

[@Cheeseparadox1337]

Every time he says ‘Daniel’ i feel like hes yelling actually at me for every time i failed to punish. Thank you

[@fabioghezzi1969]

I love the way Andras thinks and makes you think at the board. Everything is backed by a basic principle, and the idea that when your opponent deviates from the principle (losing a tempo in this case) you should be merciless is difficult to grasp for a beginner but the truth is that many beginners have the calculation ability to exploit this error. What we are missing is the bell ringing in the brain, that's why Daniel just used the tempo to secure his king. Not a bad move but not the ruthless explotation that a maestro would play in his shoes. And once again Andras give us the value between knowing an opening line and understanding an opening line

[@connectingthepieces4845]

Strong video. I usually instinctally punish the opening mistakes, but I fall guilty of the same things. 1. Thinking the lead in development is the punishment itself. And 2. The verbage and mindset of what a actual punishment is. 3. Step 3 digging deep with the calculation and not being lazy by saying I'm ahead bc xyz

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Great summary, thanks for the comment!

[@nomoreblitz]

Excellent lesson! Coach works hard to drag us club players out of our bad habits.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

So true! But we must try!:)

[@jgjohnson80]

Andras, you are by far my favorite chess coach on youtube. Thank you!

[@christmackey]

Thanks Coach

[@interstellarbeatteller9306]

Great lesson on how to change your Chess mentality. Forcing moves can shift tempo

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Yes! Thank you!

[@interstellarbeatteller9306]

@@ChessCoachAndras Thank you good sir! You showed how a scary looking position can be turned into game winning position, if we lose the amateur's mind!♟

[@rainerausdemspring894]

Very instructive - as usual. Keep on with you good work!

[@totoktopeng2351]

Nice my friends🙏🙏🙏 Salm totok topeng menyapa Sambil bawa kopi☕☕☕🙏🙏🙏🤝

[@ShiningLion]

I love Andras Toth, how sharp-tempered and passionate he is. And how right he is here. :) It seems he demands his students to learn the ways of right play! :D

[@RobFraser]

Excellent mindset explanation here. I started with Gotham and am hooked on Dayna, but you are truly helping to push me in my calculations work and mentality. Thank you for the instructive content.

[@pabitraghoshthewriter]

Great lesson!!

[@ioannisgkan8930]

That was a great educational video Coach Andras should create more videos like this in the feature :)

[@joeyblogsy]

It’s a great point however I do think it’s also necessary to point out that often there is no way of directly punishing such moves and instead simply continuing with your opening development and not wasting that extra tempo or tempos given to you is the best and in fact only way forward.

[@7845668]

Great stuff as always, coach! I play the four knights scotch and felt like I knew something for a change 😅

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Glad to help!

[@trboenvrnb4tingio4rn]

Great Stuff! As a purveyor of your chessable products its great to see this line in the wild.

[@danielbourque4718]

Really instructive, Andras. I don't know where this comes from, but I've also heard that when your opponent plays like this, that you should complete development and refute their play by being better in the position (- there is, of course, wisdom in not playing moves that only look aggressive). In practice, I find that sometimes that works, but sometimes that gives your (weaker) opponent time to consolidate. I've watched an unreasonable amount of chess content over the last 3 years, but you're consistently teaching things that I've never seen anywhere else and that actually help me improve. Opening principles are something we've all supposedly learned as beginners... but a lot about how they should be understood and applied to concrete, practical situations is left out. You've convinced me to buy your Chess Principles Reloaded and Master Your Chess courses - I clearly have a lot more to learn.

[@chrisb6180]

I love this video. I would’ve probably done exactly what the student did and castled. Even though I know it’s a mistake for my opponent to move his bishop twice, I can’t identify exactly what weakness that creates. Furthermore, to punish his moving a piece twice, the right move for me is to move my knight for the second time? It feels like I’m making the same mistake my opponent did, but you did a great job explaining why that is the right move in this case. The trick is applying this mentality to all situations when I know my opponent made a mistake in the opening.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Yep, this mentality applies throughout the game!

[@adrianross7615]

This channel is amazing

[@gregp.4358]

Great club player's lesson!

[@Musicrafter12]

Thoughts about why the endgame after dxc6 is bad for black, given its striking resemblance to the dreaded Berlin Wall: 1. White hasn't had to part with the bishop pair in order to induce black's structural weakness. 2. Not only does white retain the LSB, but the e-pawn is not overextended, so white should retain sufficient light square control to force through f2-f4-f5, potentially even without needing g4. 3. The f7 pawn is immediately hanging to said LSB anyway and will likely fall if black is not willing to make more concessions to hold it. 4. Trading on c3 for black (to damage the queenside pawns and gain targets for a rook which may hope to get active later, eat the pawns, and artificially make passed pawns out of the crippled majority) is no longer as attractive, as white no longer needs their knights in order to have a hope of later controlling f5 and it would even yield the bishop pair to white. Black probably won't be able to get active enough to make that weakness matter. Though the engine is not completely sure, it doesn't seem to matter if the e-pawn is on e4 or e5 or if the b-pawn is on b2 or c3 as for the question of whether white wins the pure pawn ending, though the e4/c3 case is by far the most ambiguous according to the engine.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

I am sorry but I am a bit confused. Did you ask a question which then you went on to answer in 4 points?

[@crisxroma]

Fantastic Video !

[@MattRowe182]

Brilliant as always

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Cheers!

[@MattRowe182]

@@ChessCoachAndras I find these sorts of higher level gems are what I lack, I can calculate I have "good" opening understanding, but the instinct to know a decisive moment is upon me still eludes me. Have gone from 700 to 1900 lichess in a few years but need to learn this in order to improve I'm sure and no coach has been able to help impart that knowledge so far!

[@gammalambda3331]

My favorite series is back. I still struggle with "punishing" and I think this video is going to help my a lot. Thank you. EDIT: Corrected a funny mistake, Of course I want to punish my opponent not myself.

[@interstellarbeatteller9306]

They do say that Chess is pain!

[@MrAM4D3U5]

truly a frightening thumbnail

[@dm_nimbus]

Coach Andras castles and my skull explodes because my brain grows so quickly.

[@chimbiepaladin4629]

That was the greatest friggin lesson I have ever had. Thank you so much Coach Andras. I felt like I was sitting in Daniel's shoes and it made me have all the ah hah moments. 🙏

[@ChessCoachAndras]

I am very glad you liked it! Check out my other "AM" videos too!

[@Sough]

I still think this is a tough balance. Watch chessexplained blitz games and see how many times he says an opening is garbage and he should have punished it more but he ends up spending more time, not finding refutations, and losing on time or in a time scramble

[@Sough]

Hmm the premise of this video doesn't really make sense because it's clear that the student did not have a sense of the opponent's move being egregious, and just felt that it was somehow suboptimal. He did not feel "the need to shift". If he doesn't have that intuition it's probably not going to come to anything in an actual game.

[@Shellback13202]

Andras from what I've seen is still the only channel that addresses thought process and mindset.

[@stag6161]

I'd like to see hin do a collab with Northern Lion

[@RoyLGamer]

let's go! I love to learn some new mistakes to punish!

[@WeThin]

This is the only channel I can learn concrete wisdom from, other means of learning chess just turn into vague intuition.

[@vipuljindal4584]

2:15 teaching students how to punish by punishing them 😂

[@DarkSideChess]

I love his coaching style!

[@vipuljindal4584]

@@DarkSideChess now when i see an opportunity to attack an developed piece with my pawns i can hear him scold me for not calculating 😂

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Glad to hear it, thanks!

[@DimitriNosarev]

The part where Arondir shouted to Galadriel: “Get to the choppaaa” brought tears to my eyes, best adaptation of Tolkien’s work ever. Good chess lesson too,

[@d_15745]

I vote you should ALWAYS do chicos and chicas intro

[@Midnight890]

Hey if I wanted you to train me is there anyplace I should go like a website? I’m sorry but I quickly searched and didn’t see anything on your KZbin profile

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Sadly I am fully booked but yes, I do have a site: chesscoachandras.com

[@Midnight890]

@@ChessCoachAndras ok thank you

[@gammalambda3331]

Speaking of openings: I'm currently trying to improve my repertoire with an awesome beginners e4 course on chessable, made and recorded by a chess coach who happens to look just like you. I really hope there will be some similar courses for the black army. A beginner e4 c5 for instance. Can you give any hints if something is in the works?

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Beginner's e4-e5 is coming soon!

[@gammalambda3331]

@@ChessCoachAndras Great. I'm really looking forward to it. I currently play the Sicilian Najdorf, but without much theoretical knowledge. I will probably give the course a try. Thanks a lot for the information.

[@DarkSideChess]

For a beginner / intermediate such as myself , the position evaluation after Nxc6 dxc6 Qxd8 Kxd8 is very hard to give white the advantage there. To me that looks like an even position with either side having good chances. I would not be afraid of playing this as black against someone my own strength...

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Fair point but still, thats a horrid endgame...

[@knownonsense3246]

With the e5 Ne4 Qf3 line I thought there would be a defensive resource of d5 exd6 Nxd6 protecting f7. Still better for White but I didn't see anything that screamed to go for that line. I liked the castling you threw in there. Much cleaner but even after that I wondered if there was still Bxc3 followed by the same continuation. Computer of course says White is leaps and bounds better which makes sense but it didn't shout to me as an "On your bike!" moment while watching the video.

[@knownonsense3246]

Hmm, I just went back to look at it again to see what it thought of the defensive sequence and noticed the computer was saying that after exd6 black can simply castle because the e-file has been opened against White's king.

[@knownonsense3246]

I guess that is another reason for White to castle first.

[@matthewbell3427]

How much would it cost for me to get a coaching session?

[@KnightToRemember]

That’s why I would also advice beginners to know their openings extremely well and have a superficial knowledge of the main-lines of all the other openings! But most of the times especially with Black you can’t punish every weird looking move, per example in the Sicilian after 1. e4 c5 even if White passes the move to Black, he wouldn’t have an advantage!

[@juleslondon3088]

I actually think the opposite is true. Beginners don’t need to know any opening theory save perhaps how not to get mated in 4 moves. What’s really important instead is an understanding of opening principles. However this really needs to be a bit deeper than the basic develop your pieces, control the centre, make your king safe and don’t move the same piece twice. The best explanation of this I’ve seen is from Chess Dojo’s GM Jesse Kraai. From my own experience I’ve seen very strong juniors (2000+ online) playing opening theory without understanding why they’re playing the moves they play. So they often play the same moves regardless of the opponent’s response when just following opening principles and adopting the mindset that Andras is advocating would naturally find the better moves.

[@KnightToRemember]

@@juleslondon3088 I disagree that you can play openings only by knowing principles, by my experience in watching the National Italian U8 and U10 Championship there were two kids who knew a lot of theory for their age in the Italian with c3 and d4, so while following their games in the first boards they always won very quickly from the opening because their opponents had 0 theoretical knowledge apart from 3… Bc5, they always lost without a fight

[@interstellarbeatteller9306]

Kids these days are natural theory monsters due to the amount of online blitz/rapid games but there is no correct way to learn chess; it's all about the individual.

[@juleslondon3088]

@@KnightToRemember I recommend you take a look at what Jesse Kraai says on Chess Dojo and see what you think after that. He explains the rationale in much more depth than I’ve tried to. I understand where you’re coming from. I’m involved in kids’ chess in the UK in the same age groups at the same level and there’s a chasm between the top kids and the upcoming ones in terms of experience. In the early rounds of a national championship the rating difference can be several hundred elo, even 1000, which is huge. A kid without experience of facing the Moller Attack or the Deutz Gambit or Evans Gambit, or even the Fried Liver is likely to fall into the traps, but often those traps work because basic principles aren’t followed. Consider this. If you face the Stafford Gambit for the first time and you fall into the main trap by castling to try and stop the pressure on f2 and get mated in 10 moves, how likely are you to do that again? The experience and principles are the key for upcoming players, not learning theory. My son loves playing chess. He’s not really interested in learning theory. Having said that there are a lot of kids out there who know a lot of theory. You have to have an idea of what to play against the main lines you’re likely to face and a feel for where the traps are. For me that’s not opening theory, just experience.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Well said!

[@elcapitan549]

Incredible

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Thanks!:)

[@elcapitan549]

​@@ChessCoachAndras I really appreciate your style coach. Can I reach out to you for private lessons when I'm ready?

[@kevinmcgrath1052]

Well done the student here …

[@Lona_Chess]

Thank you, Kevin! Though, I have much to do to get the next level!

[@kevinmcgrath1052]

@@Lona_Chess we all do … big thank you for your role in letting us see the world of chess coaching … most of us are not able to be involved in that way

[@milosp.2712]

Hey man, I dont comment much, first of all I like your channel, very useful for someone like me, trying to reach 2000 in the next few months maybe, but that aside i was wondering if I could show/send you a chess puzzle I came up with, its pretty damn cool if you ask me

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Fire away!

[@milosp.2712]

@@ChessCoachAndrasI wanted to share with you a puzzle I came up with which Im pretty proud of. Position: White: kc1, rooks onh1 i f1, bishops on h4 i g2, queen on f7 and pawns on a2 b2 c3 d4 i g3. Black: kh6, rooks on h8 i e8, bishop on c7, Knight on d5, queen on b5 and pawns on a7 b7 c6 h5 g6 i e3. Black in this position plays e2 and blunders the game away, white to play and win. I would love to hear your thoughts on the puzzle, try to solve it, if you cant check the engine, its surprisingly mate in 4.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

@@milosp.2712 Nice mate! Rf5 check is a nice touch.

[@milosp.2712]

@@ChessCoachAndras Thanks Coach, glad you liked it

[@daro.a]

i wanted to copy the puzzle and now it is not here anymo :( great video andras!

[@999samus7]

ok, I'll watch this video now that I liked it, and then I'll go to sleep.

[@sayan64]

9:15 Qf3 d5 black is fine ed6 Nxd6

[@darrylkassle361]

By gees by jingo by fucking crikey maaaate what happened to the chica and chicos intro ?? i always enjoyed that it was your signature intro.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Its coming back friend, i mean chico!:)

[@darrylkassle361]

Sweeeet maaate!!!

[@CurtTomato]

love it😄

[@RobBCactive]

Ahh, this topic will never end, the regular player of the unconventional relies on gaining time.

[@vivekdahiya9297]

He is a chess doctor!

[@JohnBrazel]

This looks like 200 Morphy games. Morphy versus the next loser hahaha. That bit of humor is why I'm gonna remember this lesson. Thanks guys!!! #chesspunks

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Glad you liked that one John...:)

[@katana4238]

What I struggle with is that I put effort into learning main lines, variations and idea's. But when I play what I've learned, people usually just start freestyling after the first 4 moves.

[@7845668]

But this is exactly what this video is about: They freestyle, you punish ;)

[@katana4238]

@@7845668 I need to work on my openings for that. Middle game ideas are fine for now, endgames are usually won. But my openings suck pretty bad. But thank you for the motivating words, I appreciate them

[@mridgaf3233]

You have the patience of a god, Andras.

[@victorfinberg8595]

How about a video on punishing the bongcloud? Then your students can head over to hikaru's bongcloud speedruns for yucks.

[@clashclans8598]

man thumbnail 😂😂

[@tyrelljeffries2527]

Can we get a video series on this theme, subscribers if you're with me like this comment!

[@veyb3mofqtwzx9gp]

No, It's not about mentality. No matter how much Daniel wants to punish his opponent, if he doesn't see the position with ..Ne4 as loosing for black, then it's not going to help. It's going to hurt even, if he tries to be aggressive with no proper tools or experience to back that aggression. So no, not mentality. Calculation, vision or experience playing Scotch opening where kicking opponent knight with e5 is a standard plan.