8.5 out of 10 on Jobava game. Nice call on Bf1! Lost a bit due to missed draw line.

i was really looking forward to Melody Amber commentary, but i guess you're right. there's not really any point in analyzing Kamsky's ...Bb3 and similar moves.

big fan of volokitin and jobava. those dudes fight to the end! watch next round, quick draw

I just got done with the ones before. Are you trying to make sure I get no sleep tonight?

These are superb. Not only are the games of high quality (Jobava's Nf3+ and Yifan's Qf3 both impressed me - as did the perplexing positional moves like g3), but the fact that you don't know the games makes the process more instructive and entertaining. I suppose it's partly psychological. Since I know you're not just reporting the conclusions from countless hours of analysis, I stay more alert. I also hope you will continue to briefly check the games with Rybka in some of the unclear lines after you've gone over them. I'm still curious about your stunning Qf3 line against Qg4!

BTW: I realize Rybka doesn't play anywhere near perfect chess either, especially with so little time, but it's still helpful and sometimes good to just satisfy curiosity.

Thanks Greg, excellent analysis of the games, that first game especially. I learned how, and started playing the English Opening from watching your games and the move 13.Qb3 threw me for a loop when he made the move.

Well done curtains, I'd give you 9 out of 10. To raech 10 you must go mental on something and start screaming. Abother good thing is that the sound is noraml again, I couldn't hear you without turning up to volume to max before. Now it's all good! Keep it real. Respect!!!

Just to say I'm really enjoying these, and the live commentaries as well. The main reason I am commenting here as opposed to anywhere else though is that the sound is much much better this time and want to make sure you keep it this way!

Thanks again for the great commentaries.

Yes, the sound on this video was fantastic! Now I know I wasn't the only person with sound problems on the previous videos.

Good call on Bf1. Maybe Jobava played Nd2 because he wanted to provoke the sacrifice Nxe3. Maybe he thought he was winning then, and he missed the same drawing line that you missed!

Btw I have absolutely no idea why the sound was different this time...

I only found a slight improvement.
24:43
34. Rc2 no need to take the knight right away. Though this time we lose the e3 pawn.

An admin posted yesterday in the Technical Support section that they are doing the sound differently now on all new videos.

Thanks for another 5-Pawn presentation!

I especially liked the visualization exercises - very well presented!

I would like to make a special request. I am quite capable of finding the right tactics the great majority of the time, but even after years of playing I must admit that my positional understanding is lacking. When there is something concrete to be done, I can usually find my way. But when there is nothing clear to be done I sometimes flounder around, which is bad for a person's game.

If you would be so kind as to point out positional factors when you feel they are instructive, I would greatly appreciate it. Some are obvious, say, grab the open file while others are not so obvious. Unfortunately, I cannot point out the 'not so obvious' ones, but maybe a comment like "He'll have trouble on the light squares", or maybe "that pawn's going to be a headache". I can probably name the key squares in any given opening, even those that I do not play, but I cannot tell you why, for example, in some lines Black meets White's set-up of knights on c3 & f3 with knights on c6 & e7 while in others the knights are symmetrically placed.

I don't ask for much now, do I? Thanks once again for your effort on these. You've brought the joy back into studying chess once again.

These videos are great. It just shows how good it can be to just analyze "run of the mill" games by strong players. Some wonderful chess at times and I liked the game by Sokolov.

I have a tournament coming up so I will steal this idea and make a similar video when curtains starts slacking! In the meantime I am too busy watching these!!

Top 5 chess players ever:
1. curtains
2. curtains
3. curtains
4. kasparov
5. curtains

Your ratio of correctly predicted moves is ridiculous at times. Thanks again for another great set of themed videos.