Fantastic video again, thanks very much. These videos are very useful - to be able to see how better players think about positions is so helpful to improving your game.

Also I'm impressed that you could see 7 moves ahead in a game in 25, I don't think I could do that. Thanks again.

Dennis, thanks again for another informative video.

Personally, I would love to see a video on defense. It's a topic that isn't sexy, but I haven't seen much help on defense. Prophylaxis... or just common defensive themes against strong attacks.

Thanks so much for your videos.

Thanks for yet another wonderful video It was a very interesting game!

I would love to see long-term strategies explained. For the average player such as myself this is the hardest part of the chess game, maby not for everyone but for me it really is Something a computer can't show you, only an experienced player can explain

Oh and one more sugesstion. What about flipping the board to see the game from black's perspective if black is the one who is playing the better moves and eventually wins? For example in your first video where you had the black pieces and whipped up an attack seemingly out of nowhere

thanks again, can't wait to see your next video

Carlin,

Yes, the hallucination variation was great - I'll see what I can do about adding some more of them in the future.

Carlin, Armis, and Oginschile,

More strategic themes will show up, fear not! A word about long-term plans, though: they only exist in textbook mythology. Or rather, they almost never exist, except against players who aren't strong enough to resist your ideas. The way things really work is this: you'll have a general idea of what you ought to be doing, and will then work out very short plans, sometimes involving precise tactics, to achieve certain goals (such as creating a pawn break, improving your worst-placed piece or exchanging off your opponent's best piece). Once that's done, it's time for the next small-scale operation. Only in retrospect, when you're showing the game off to your friends, does the overarching grand strategy make its appearance.

Armis,

Whenever I've seen upside-down boards it struck me as weird, given the standard convention of having White at the bottom of print diagrams. I'll consider it, but I'd like to hear from others on this - would you find it a distraction, or would you prefer to see Black on the bottom in the relevant cases?

fantastic!

When I replay my games as black, I view the board from the black side, so I cast my vote for the upside down board.

I would also be interesed in seeing common sacrifices, motifs, etc from given openings. In other words, if it is common to sac a knight on f6 in a Ruy Lopez or the exchange sac on c3 in the Dragon. (Grammar police will kill that sentence) Several of the members here play the Smith-Morra, so your experience in that opening would be beneficial for us.

Thanks for a great video. I will remember the queen manouver to capture the pawn with check. Good, useful advice.

Hi Dennis,

Obviously I'm waaaaay behind in my video watching, but that was a wonderful lesson. Thank you so much! Also thanks for confirming what I've long suspected about long term planning at the master level of play...

Personally, I'm indifferent about the board orientation. When I read books, White is always at the bottom and I mentally adjust if, say, it's an book about an opening from Black's perspective. OTOH, when I'm playing games on the computer or playing through games in a database where I'm interested in Black's perspective I always flip the board. But I don't think it's a huge deal either way. I'd suggest trying it if other folks think it will help them learn.

L8erz...
=wild=

Hi Wild,

As you'll see when you get caught up, I'm flipping the board where relevant. It's not as weird to me as I thought it would be, so if it helps the viewers, then why not?

D.

im amazed i should stop right now but ijust got alittle better with total analysis

"Let's see if we can play something sane here."

Best quote ever.

Nice tactical game, but I think you underestimated blacks chances at some point...
After for about half an hour in the video (i didnt count the moves) you sacced the knight on b5 and told that black couldn't castle because of X.Nc7 Ra7 Y.Bxf6 gxf6 and Z.Qg4+ regaining the bishop and a nice position for white. But I think after Kh8 and Qxg3 black tragically comes up with Rg8 and gets serious pressure because whites queen is hanging and the g2-pawn gets double attacked by the rook and the bishop which might cause you some headache...
Maybe I overlooked something, but I think that variation isn't that clear either...

Anyway, nice video...

Hope to see more of those,
Jens

Hi Eulenkadaver,

Your idea is quite sensible, but it turns out that the attack on g2 is just a ghost, and White is winning clearly. Thus 19...O-O 20.Nc7 Ra7 21.Bxf6 gxf6 22.Qg4+ Kh8 23.Qxg3 Rg8 24.Qh4 and now: (A) 24...Bxg2+ 25.Kh2 Rxc7 26.Rxc7 Qxc7 27.Qxf6+ Rg7 28.Rg1, winning the bishop and the game. (B) 24...Rxg2 25.Qxf6+ Kg8 (25...Rg7+ works out even worse: 26.Kh2 Be4 27.Rg1 Bg6 28.Rgd1, with the inevitable and crushing threat of Rd8+) 26.Rg1 Rg6+ 27.Kh2: White is a piece up with a better game, and thus easily won.

Nice idea! It's just that the rest of Black's army is so miserably placed...

Ok I'll look at that variation soon.
It seems that I often have the problem to discover miniatures and forgetting about the board as a whole...

Thanks for your quick reply!

bye,
Jens

Much as I like your videos, and they are excellent, I have one criticism of this one. I can't find Part 1, so the introductory material, which refers to that video, is completely meaningless. I think it would be better, in this case, to leave out the references as you cannot assume your listeners will be familiar with the previous posting. Thanks again for such a lucid and (usually) succinct approach to teaching. I enjoy watching your videos very much and believe they have made a difference to my game, although the phrase "silk purse... sow's ear" springs to mind.

A very good topic would be "hallucination variations". I actually PLAY these in games, I'm sure most weak players do. There must be some method of overcoming this. I know visualisation trainers are good but when you see it occur in master analysis it becomes obvious that it's a real problem for all players. I think it comes from the fact that, try as we might, we simply can't be objective about our own game positions. We tend to follow our ideas out to the bitter end.