When Your Attacking Instinct is Bad But Your Strategy is Genius: Dissecting My Chess Game for Growth

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00:00 Introduction
01:35 Game 1
03:51 Puzzle 1
08:04 Game 2
09:07 Puzzle 2
11:34 Game 3
14:10 Puzzle 3
18:47 Puzzle 4
20:49 Puzzle 5
24:00 Game 4
25:11 Puzzle 6
27:16 Puzzle 7
30:23 Homework
In this episode, I dissect my own chess game with brutal honesty. I examine both my strengths and weaknesses by identifying recurrent patterns. Each of us has a unique chess style, reflecting our personalities in the game. The goal of analyzing our games is to pinpoint patterns that can lead to future growth. Recognizing our shortcomings and weaknesses is crucial for this endeavor. For instance, after failing to win against an international master due to a clearance pawn sacrifice, I decided to create a Chessable course on pawn play to activate pieces, titled "The Art of Awakening Pieces."
Although I have a personal preference for strategic/slow play, I realize the need to improve my attacking play and learn positional sacrifices to fill the gaps in my chess skills. Embracing a growth mindset involves accepting our shortcomings and using that feedback to enhance our future selves. What are your strengths and weaknesses as chess players? Please don't hesitate to write a comment and join the discussion!

[@brainfellow5140]

Dr Can, you are a great teacher, please keep up the good work for us to learn more! Re: Homework - I see Rh1+ deflecting white king. If Kxh1, this allows black Nxf3+ and the black queen will capture the white knight on the next turn (knight & pawn for rook) and be safe while still keeping an eye on our black rook on b8. If instead Kg2, the other black rook can enter the action with Rb2+ and will wall-off the white king with similar result (Note e3 is covered by black knight) and white would have to block with knight or queen, or do Kxh1 with similar result as mentioned previously. If instead, Kf2 in response, Rb2+ forces white knight to block, but then Rh2+ will force white king to back rank and Nxg3 or Bxf3 become serious threats to force a back rank checkmate with rook on h3 (Note that doing this offers up our black queen as bait but we have initiative and are weaving a mating net around the white king with the other 4 pieces).

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much for your kind thoughts and the excellent answer to the homework position!

[@KikanKikan-wb1wr]

Could u make notation for us I still dont get it thanks

[@RagnarsAxe1945]

Another great lesson. Thank You. The personal side of chess play typically doesn't get the attention it deserves, cigar smoke aside. As my learning has progressed and I've gotten older I've begun to appreciate more deeply the critical influences from my personal strengths and weaknesses. Most of my focus these days is on impulse suppression and patience, something I often have in short supply. Homework: I considered ... Qxf4; gxf4 (not recapturing the Queen, say gxh4, looks like disaster) Rb2; looks good for Black. If Black takes the Bishop, ... Ng3 is one move from mate. White can instead check on e8 or a8, but has no further checks. This gives Black the tempi needed to complete a mating net. Pulling the White Queen back to f2 does nothing. Or if after ... Rb2; Qa3, then Re2 with ... Ng3 to follow. Apologies in advance for any oversights. ;2)

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much for your feedback! It is indeed fascinating how personality affects chess styles. Your answer is very interesting, but have you looked at ...Rh1+ Kxh1 ...Nxg3+ line? We will follow by capturing the knight on f4 with our queen. How does that look? :)

[@RagnarsAxe1945]

@@Dr.CansClinic Well, I like that line ... a lot. Then I have to ask myself why I didn't follow ... Rh1+; Kxh1 Ng3+; further than Kg2. I only recall looking at ... Rb2+; Kxg3 and then abandoning the line. Board blindness? Clearly, Qxf4 keeps both Knight and Bishop alive while at the same time evading the e6 Rook. If Qf2, then ... Rb2! I'll chalk it up to fixation and wanting to make the ... Qxf4 line work. I'm frequently looking for the quirky, convoluted solution often at the expense of overlooking a more elegant one. Which in one sense speaks to the theme of this lesson.

[@briandwi2504]

Excellent. Very honest and illuminating. Thanks.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much! 💙

[@eschiedler]

In puzzle 7, it took me about 8 minutes but I was able to find the beautiful Bh4 Rg2 Rh1+ Rg1 Qh2!! which leads to Ke1 Qxg1+ Kd2 Qc1# any other defense is a forced check-mate.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Beautiful! I am sure there are several forcing solutions there for Black!

[@eschiedler]

Congrats on improving by leaps and bounds from your earlier days using good training techniques. homework spoiler - no engine Black has an additional bishop and there is still a lot of material on the board. However, four (!) black pieces are attacked, therefore the next several moves by black will likely be forcing and decisive or else the game will be lost. Qc5+ and Rb1+ can be immediately discarded. They only leave hanging pieces. Rh1+ Kf2 Rb2+ Ne2 Qxg3# wins so white can't go for that line and must take the rook after Rh1+. Rh1+ Kxh1 Nxg3+ Kg1 Qxf4 Re7 (trying to counter-attack) Ne2+ (then Kh1 Bxf3#) Kf1 Qxf3+ Qf2 Ng3+ Ke1 Qxc3+ Qd2 Qxa1+ and white is lost. Rh1+ Kxh1 Nxg3+ Kg2 Qxf4 fxe3 Rb2+ Kh3 Nf5 Rg6 Rh2# is another winning line for black. Therefore, white will simply have to give up material such as the queen, etc, and the game is won for black. edit: move typo

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Excellent as always! Thank you so much! I found ...Rh1+ but after Kxh1 I went wrong with ...Bxf3+??

[@eschiedler]

@@Dr.CansClinic I also looked at Bxf3+ as it is forcing and tempting but wrote down nothing because I couldn't vizualize any follow up. But in a game I can see how it'd be the first move to play. Your honesty about self-appraisal is your best trait.

[@leoschuring1052]

Knight g3 and after rook d6: rook b2 threatening rook h1

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Wow, that looks like an amazing idea! Does it really work? Probably White has Qf2 defense.

[@tmbhbnt8281]

Thank you for this video, I resonate so much with it because that's also my assessment of my own weakness. I often get advantageous position by applying standard principles, but then give away my advantage by being overly cautious or not finding the killing blow. I often miss sacrifice ideas or counter-intuitive moves. I wonder if you could make more videos about how you got over it? In this video you mentioned doing puzzles, I think that helps with some aspect (e.g. concrete calculation) but not sure how to improve my dynamic instinct, for example, seeing sacrifice ideas or just being brave at making irreversible moves like starting pawn storms.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much for your kind feedback, I hear you. It is also a personality question often times :) I have not fully resolved this issue probably, but I did calculation work and created two courses involving positional sacrifices. You can also check out my latest video on sensing the critical moments to see the cues for such sacrifices.

[@gregdanford359]

Thank you!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

You're welcome!

[@tdekoekkoek]

Great video. For the homework I see Rh1+. White has the option to take or go to the 2nd rank. If he plays Kg2 or Kf2 then Rb2+ is devastating. So after Kxh1, we have Nxg3+ Kg2 and Qxf4. Now blacks bishop is hanging, but I believe W does not not have time to take it since Rb2 will lead to mate and otherwise Black is threatening Qxf3 check and mate to follow

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much! Excellent answer to the howework position! You did better than me there! I played 1...Rh1 2. Kxh1 Bxf3+??

[@user-gg6df4xr3i]

Super instrcutive,and now i know the openings ive been looking for as a positional player...Mastering Positional Sacrifices by Merjij van delft,brilliant book to have on your shelf,also the complete manual of positional chess Vol 1 & 2 by kontantin sakaev & konstantin landa.Many thanks Dr Can...

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Those are great books! ❤️

[@user-gg6df4xr3i]

@@Dr.CansClinic So ive got some more books coming on the slav and najdorf,So its the catalan,slav,and najdorf...So how we do in the next coming months,going to take ages to play these openings lol...

[@sqa1824]

Amazing games ❤ but I can’t believe im the exact opposite of your play style the tactics you put up were so simple for me but I have a hard time thinking about my opponents weaknesses and exploiting them can you make a video explaining the way to think to find opponents weaknesses and exploit them thanks ❤

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you! ❤️ Have you seen this video? kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaiYiZ6egpJ3eqs I am also considering to create a course on positional primer, involving weakness exploitation and feeling for the pieces. Would you like to study such a course? ☺️

[@sqa1824]

@@Dr.CansClinic I would love to see such a course my weakness now is exploiting weaknesses

[@Dr.CansClinic]

@@sqa1824😊

[@fredgandolfi2356]

Inspiring self introspective!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

❤️🙏

[@yoboy3220]

Hey Can! It would interesting with a video that focuses on the aspects of going from online chess to actually playing OTB. Me and I know many others who started playing online find it difficult to adjust to OTB chess.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thanks for the idea! I will write it down to my video idea list.

[@yoboy3220]

@@Dr.CansClinic Thank you! Would be very interesting to hear your perspective on this and maybe how to adjust.

[@user-ot8bb3ng7o]

Really great video 🎉chess theory is like a paint brush to an artist,it's when we can express our chess knowledge and ideas it's then we get the joy🎉its always great when we see knowledge in action,its more we learn great video 🎉

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Absolutely! I very much like your comments 😊

[@davidmchugh7264]

Nice games...well explained

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Glad you like them!

[@netcrazy4727]

Awesome!!!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

You are!

[@Sooosooostoned]

Dr thanks again, I was wondering if you made a video about how to analyze our games? so we can begin asking ourselves these very same questions about our playing styles. Peace love and good chessvibes from Michigan!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Love to Michigan! I am planning to start a series on analysing your own games. The format will probably be the coach reacting to students analysing their own games. ☺️

[@GaryWalters-tk2lp]

Very informative, the sacrifices I found very difficult to see until you explained them, but this has shown me that if you consider the forcing moves even if they don't look worthwhile, then sometimes you can find something truly beautiful! The homework position for me was just utter kaos on a board but then I tried to apply what you'd shown and looked at the two king positions first, then the piece activety and realised that the white king only had a few squares to move too and felt that black had a stronger position due to his activety, so rather than defending I looked at attack first and the forcing moves and came up with kxg6 then no matter what white plays I can't see how he stops Rb7, which creates the matting net around the white king and then finally Rh8# not sure if this is the correct way of looking at the position as the first move of the sequence kxg6 in itself isn't forcing a single move response but the follow up with Rb7 seems hard to answer for white, I'm sure there will be some great answers on how this position should be played, but looking at a position and now be willing to let my queen be captured so that I can create such an attack is just something I've never been willing to do before, even if I've got this completely wrong your tuition is enhancing my overall play, so thank you once again for sharing your knowledge, another fantastic video 👍

[@GaryWalters-tk2lp]

Sorry I should have mentioned that the move from white knightg7 which I was worried about, I could meet with Rh8+, kf7 Rb7+, Ke6 Re7+, Kd5 and Kightf4# it's amazed me how I'm now starting to look at the game now I'm learning from your tutials 😊

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much for your kind thoughts. Quickly browsing the forcing moves is indeed a good calculation advice, which I did not always follow... Did you mean ...Rh1+ on the first move? Then you are on the right track! How do we respond to Kxh1?

[@Dr.CansClinic]

❤️

[@GaryWalters-tk2lp]

I looked at Rh1+ first of all as it just stood out as a candidate move but I dismissed it as I couldn't see a follow up if the king accepted the sacrifice kxh1, I could see Nxg3+ and then when the king moved we could take the white knight with our queen as we were still guarding our rook being on the same diagonal but then I though what then??? Wheres the checkmate, hence this is why I dismissed this but I've just read one of the comments and suddenly realised that this is not a puzzle but a real game and we were already a piece up so this is winning!!! Unless I can see a clear win I don't follow through with any sacrifices but this has just opened my eyes as all I need in reality is an advantage after x number of moves not a forced win. It's simple but I've never looked at complicated positions that way, I will be doing from now though, just love this channel

[@Dr.CansClinic]

@@GaryWalters-tk2lp Excellently put! This is not a puzzle, but real game!!

[@KikanKikan-wb1wr]

In minute 22.11 puzle 5 ,if black 1..........,Ke8, 2.Qe4+,Kf7 3.Qf5+,Ke8 ,it 3 repetition right Sir Or 2.Qxh7+,Ke8 3.Qg6+,Rf7 4.Qe4+,Kf8 ,And white run out of check and black hide in their pieces

[@Dr.CansClinic]

But how can the king go to e8 from g7 at that moment?

[@KikanKikan-wb1wr]

Oo king in g7 sorry,I thought in f7

[@michaelf8221]

You played like Capablanca/Karpov but forgot to convert like Alekhine/Kasparov!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Absolutely! I was a big fan of Capablanca/Botvinnik games.

[@cynica2616]

I took a free preview of Rowson's 7 deadly chess sins. But I think I am going to get your Crime and Punishment course next month. You verbalise ideas better and have a better microphone.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

That is so motivating, thank you so much! 😊 Please ask me anything while you study that course!

[@KF1]

4:00 looks like b6 followed by c5 here. Queenside advance seems thematic. *oh, I see. Cool video

[@Dr.CansClinic]

❤️

[@magicvoice0741]

♥️♥️♥️♥️👌👌👌👌👌super game sir👌😍

[@Dr.CansClinic]

❤️🙏

[@executivelifehacks6747]

That feeling when I also chose Rc4 (?), lol, 22:40

[@executivelifehacks6747]

Though I also found Bh4 later, so there is that. As a (relatively) good calculator/tactician, I know some strategy/positional ideas but lack the blind faith to not find an attacking solution.

[@executivelifehacks6747]

As far as tendencies, I don't like to lose materially in an exchange. I like to win exchanges through calculation. I like routine, basic rules. I like to drag my opponent into a world that suits my strengths. Once with a material advantage I like to simplify. I think I prefer open positions to be honest. I think. I prefer to burn more time than my opponent to get a superior position and then not have to work so hard.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

:))

[@WHAT-gm1xm]

Hello 👋🏻 dr. What is Woodpecker method and bulldog system and x ray method can you explain me

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Hello! I will probably make a video about the woodpecker method one day, but until then, you can google it and find useful information about those.

[@WHAT-gm1xm]

@@Dr.CansClinic ok but there aren't any videos and article to read

[@Dr.CansClinic]

@@WHAT-gm1xm You can read this: zwischenzug.substack.com/p/the-woodpecker-method

[@magicvoice0741]

Rh1+!!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Yes!

[@michaelf8221]

Homework: Nxg3 looks good because Rxd6 allows Rb2! after which Rh1# seems unstoppable

[@josephpraful3211]

After Rb2, i think there is Qf2.. Rb2Qf2, Rh1+Kg2, Rxf2+Kxf2, Rxa1Kxg3 it seems like black will end up a piece for two pawns.. I think its better to start with Ra2 (instead of Nxg3) because there’s an additional checkmate threat with Bxf3.. white can give a check, but the king looks safe on h7

[@Dr.CansClinic]

That looks like an incredible idea, but I think White survives after Qf2!

[@KikanKikan-wb1wr]

After black c4 white not force to take c4 Sir,in minute 14.09 Sir 1. Kf1 ,c3 2. Bc1,Bb5+ 3. Kg2 ,Rxd1 4. Rd1 ,Nc5 Or 1.Qe2 ,Bc5 2.Kf1 ,Bb5 3.Kg2 I think this line white loses after 3.........c3

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Which part of the video?

[@KikanKikan-wb1wr]

@@Dr.CansClinic in minute 14.09 black to move

[@Dr.CansClinic]

@@KikanKikan-wb1wr I think you got the square names wrong :) Can you try again with correct notations?

[@KikanKikan-wb1wr]

​@@Dr.CansClinic sorri I all ready fix the notation

[@jaakkokarki1778]

Homework. Rh1 !! There are only 3 possible moves after that if king moves to g2 Rb2+ Kxh1 Bxf3+ Kg1 forced Rg2+if Kh1 Nxg3# and if Kf1 Nxg3+ Kd1 Qxg4 and the potidion is undefendable for white, beacuse they cannot do any counter play the qeen on a7 is locked to the diagonal as a defending peace because if it moves Rg1 is simply a check mate. And and you are also posing countles check mating threats such as d2 mate Then let's look at if instead of Kg2 Kxh1

[@jaakkokarki1778]

Bxf3+ if kh2 Nxg3 and the you can play anything and as a reply Qf4

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you! ...Rh1+! is a great move. Kxh1 Nxg3+ check is an important followup, and then we will capture on f4 with our queen 😊