The English Opening: Lecture by GM Ben Finegold

[@SophisticatedBanjo]

I thought it was a nice thematic touch that Ben delivered the whole lecture in English. Sort of makes his lectures on the French, the Dutch, and the Danish seem a bit low-effort though.

[@road_to_gm123]

Funniest thing I've read in a while lmao

[@younis24de]

In one of Ben's earlier lectures at St. Louis he started out with "Bonjour to la classe" then followed it up with "Today I prepared you for French with the obvious opening: the QGD Chigorin variation".

[@PlguDctR-yb7mi]

genius commtent

[@miche1df]

Hopefully he doesn't do a lecture on the Budapest Gambit, that one might be tough.

[@jamesbell1613]

But he is Ben and you are not.

[@Insidia85]

Italian player here. Really needed this lecture to improve my english language skills

[@Matute7231]

Love your t-shirt as well :D !

[@Tocinos]

The British attack

[@ryankirsten2996]

Named after Mr Attack

[@andrewcavallo1877]

The British are coming

[@TrueBlueAndrew]

Beans on Toast is quite nice yea?!

[@ArchitectGG]

Huh, I just so happened to see if you had a video on the English and lo and behold, you've just made one! Thanks!

[@Antipodeano]

Brilliant 👍 didn't realize how great Yasser was. Great opening, many thanks.

[@tomswiftyphilo2504]

he was us champion a bunch of times

[@AG-ld6rv]

Yasser was 10x US World Champion...

[@kmarasin]

1st game: the thing about the Reversed Dragon is that a lot of the hyper aggressive plans that white could normally use against a Sicilian Dragon aren't available to the black side of the Reversed Dragon. Black just doesn't have enough time to use them. Tactically there are refutations everywhere, and basically all exist because white has an extra tempo (sometimes two, if white can play d4 without playing d3, which can easily happen if black doesn't take care to prevent it.)

[@OlgaZuccati]

basically the reason I dropped playing the reversed Sicilian. There's no castling opposite then pawn storming for black, simply not happening.

[@cherubling]

nothing better than a full english lecture

[@TrulyVerity]

Damn Yasser really beats up on all the greats in this lecture. I always think of Yasser when I think of the english bc of your lectures and his lectures

[@tonysu8860]

This is an interesting approach to presenting the English. I wouldn't call this video an instruction how to play the English because there's almost no consistent structure to the moves, and in a way that's what makes the English so unique... The transpositional opportunities and that an entire White repertoire can be built on the English that supports a wide variety of styles and types of positions. The games Ben chose for this video are all open lines but there are also many closed lines. There are highly chaotic lines, there are lines for players that prefer a dominating center and there are lines that take the hypermodern approach that allows the opponent to take the center only to then be destroyed. There are lines that aim for every kind of advantage imaginable like good and bad knights and bishops, the bishop pair or even dominating knights. In general, the English is best suited for the player that believes he's the stronger positional player rather than testing theoretical preparation although there are certainly a number of forcing sharp lines that require home prep.

[@MartinZanichelli]

You have also Carlsen-Nakamura from three years ago Tata Steel, Carlsen plays with d3, reversed Sveshnikov.

[@NeoXSpirit]

Ty for this information

[@stephenphelps920]

love your shirt

[@davidmurvai40]

Wonderful lecture

[@roland.j.ruttledge]

Very informative, many thanks UK

[@mauer1]

thats nice and all but where do you get your proteins?

[@kmarasin]

The Seirawan attack. Half of my opening repertoire.

[@Demian_R]

Thanks so much for the lecture. The English used to be my go to for white, nowadays it's Nf3, but I still use 1. c4 and it's ideas in many games. 👍

[@wouteroa424]

Great sponsor promotion

[@nickf31]

Just loved A. Jazz music intro B. Sponsor dealt with, all with it 10 seconds. And all done with the usual good humour from GM BF!

[@serrie85]

Great lecture. I didn't know Yasser was that super strong. Great to see those games where he beats top GMs

[@inf0phreak]

In the game vs Ivanov (41:00 ish) maybe it was a data entry error and black played Qh8? Then Rh6+ would make sense

[@Owbly]

Its good and all but I'm interested in where you get your protein from?

[@BMWE-hm7uz]

Supplements, like the majority of vegans probably. Because nothing says a healthy diet like needing tablets to make up for deficits 🤣

[@richardlindquist5936]

Great review, Ben. Thanks. Great choice of examples.

[@arnislapsa1619]

oh wow... Yasser has a great taste! English is my favorite

[@ralph_janoras]

Thanks man now i know my openings for the Intramurals at my school:)

[@mikestubbs1708]

Very interesting - good coverage using some top games here!

[@kmarasin]

5th game: the e3 system is a flexible amalgam of classical and hypermodern ideas. Often white will defend the queen knight with 5.Qc2, allowing black the chance to trade, then fianchetto the QB. I played this opening once, losing a long game as a 14 year old against a 2100. This game reminds me why I liked it so much.

[@verstraetenandre]

3rd game is so Yasser! Yasser the greedy pawn grabber! If you give him a pawn in the opening, he'll keep it!

[@younis24de]

Yasser Seirawan, our favorite chess player

[@jtrails694]

Thank you, thinking about adding this to my arsenal

[@kmarasin]

6th game: this line is really fun to play against an unprepared opponent. It's not a gambit, but it plays like one, and you need that sort of mindset to do well. Don't play it against bots though, you'll get the wrong impression.

[@simonlundkvist3476]

great video, very instructive :)

[@tobelli]

Love the t-shirt 🎉❤

[@B0xxar]

A great selection of games, I liked the Dreev game especially. A really nice plan that shows there are just so many ways to play. Maybe I'll throw that curveball at some caro player in the future.

[@harri5475]

Why do I need to learn about the English? I already speak it!

[@mosiyo9678]

i like how yasser peacefully playing chess and damn if his opponent make a strategic mistake even god with a gun can't save him from yasser ideas:))

[@kmarasin]

4th game: this is known as the Rubenstein system, against which White takes the drastic measure of giving up his fianchettoed king bishop. Now, Ben is always saying that if you play g3, you need a bishop on g2, and I agree. Giving up that bishop for a knight with no compensation apart from the doubled c-pawns is crazy. Seirawan always seemed to have a tactical resource in this game to save him, so brilliant play by him, but not a tightrope I'd recommend for the average player.

[@PlguDctR-yb7mi]

this might as well be "Great Players of the Past: Yasser Seirawan"

[@Doc569]

❤ your shirt lol

[@kmarasin]

Why are there no closed games? The English is famous for things like the Great Snake variation, which is a reversed Closed Sicilian. I'm sure Yasser has a game or two in that line.

[@Vexplayzz2012]

Your Shirt IS Good

[@RhettReisman]

Great lecture. Where do you get your protein?

[@tonimisetic]

educate yourself so you will know

[@SanyaJuutilainen]

Why isn't this called The explosive opening?

[@trent797]

Interesting opening, but does seem a little complex for me right now. Also, I was wondering why black doesn't push e5 to e4 and attack white's knight on f3. I'm sure there is a reason, but that is the move 99% of players under 2000 would make.

[@DracoseandCO]

If the opponents knight is on F6 then the queen is blocked and white can just play kG5 and attack the E4 pawn three times (knight on c3 + fiancettoed bishop)

[@benjamiheras9294]

That move is pretty uncommon, actually. Black has some tricky tries after 3...e4 (for example, 4...c6 or 4...b5, and you need to be prepared against these moves), but most of the times, if some lower rated player goes e4 he will just lose a pawn and get no compensation whatsoever. There are many occasions in which black can play e4 a bit later, but white is always fine. E. g.: 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Nd5 e4 6. Nh4 O-O 7. Bg2 d6 8. b3, and now 8...g5 traps our knight, but white has the strong 9. Bb2! When a delicate and sharp position arises; white may lose a knight, but black may lose the king.

[@atwarwithdust]

Your shirt defines 'vegan' as a noun, but the definition provided suggests a verb. Should probably read: '*A person who is* asked where they get their protein like 20 times a day'.

[@kioro4221]

Correct

[@kmarasin]

2nd game: there's a lot of theory on 4.d4, but it's all old. These days 4.d4 is just about considered an error. If white wants to play an early d4, e3 should be played first.

[@greytoeimp]

What does that mean, ‘sharpest’?

[@krzysztof_puchta]

The first game ends with an assessment that White has a positional advantage, but as far as computer evals are considered black is doing more than fine. Sure, you have to follow up accurately, but I think it isn't an objective take. Black lost because he made a bad move later on.

[@elijahdonnelly2411]

Ben, where do you get your protein from?

[@alfiecollins5617]

25:22

[@alfiecollins5617]

32:41

[@alfiecollins5617]

41:20

[@malachickisawesome]

Let’s go ben

[@Lopac5360]

Thank you for making your videos Ben Finegold. Your content is far superior to gothamchess!

[@eliasalmaraz8894]

26:47

[@miche1df]

Go Yasser, but stay there

[@EstudosLatim]

Where ~do~you get your protein ben

[@Deucely]

They shall come from the Sea, probably.

[@kugelblitzingularity304]

Where do you get your protein

[@notdanroth]

The only time c4 is not explosive...

[@prometheus91147]

I'm watching that while eating Chicken wings

[@guaranagaucho3071]

Enjoy the diabetes and cancer 👍🏼

[@jefftaylor1186]

Tal just didn’t seem to ever do great against the English. Dunno why.

[@yellowdart6666]

Just look at all my English games and you will see why it is NOT a good opening 😅

[@kmarasin]

3rd game: ew. Terrible. This is like what a pawn grabbing bot would play. Also, this is a Caro-Kann, not an English. Advice to the black player who likes the Slav systems but not the C-K: play Nf6 first.

[@1c0nic_player]

second

[@lewiscook3918]

so youre a vegan? that's mad usually they stay so quiet about such things

[@russskidmore6893]

I was watching this and after a while started thinking ... why would anyone think to ask you where you get your protein from. Just saying, doesnt seem like an obvious question.