Thanks for another great video. Like Carlin said, there are lots of helpful lessons in this game. I think you've done a fantastic job (once again) in conveying the themes in a clear and constructive manner.

And my favorite line from this episode: "Our rook will have a party here on black's seventh rank." That actually made me laugh out loud.

Beautiful, there is no such thing as too many thanks Luis.

I can't wait for the picture in paint. I can imagine it already!

Thanks so much, Luis, for another wonderful lesson!

I agree pretty much with everything Carlin said, both about the video and the idea that the next step has to be getting the rook off of a4 so the a-pawn can be advanced. One thing I've been wondering is why Black hasn't played g5 at some point trying to eliminate the White pawn on f4. If White plays g3 to support the pawn on f4, then the h3 pawn hangs. OTOH, I'm sure Capablanca thought of and discarded the idea of putting the g-pawn and h-pawn on g3 and h4 or he'd have done it earlier, maybe because Black playing ...g5 and then ...gxf4 weakens Black more than White. White's rook is more active and more in a position to exploit the open g-file (thus having a different sort of party...).

As for a4, getting the knight to c5 seems like the ideal fantasy placement for it, but I can't figure out how to force it without Black trading it off. And even if we just magically placed it on c5, the rook would move but we'd still have to get our king to b3 to force a4 -- and how do we keep Black from checking it away? King on b2 and rook on a1 would do the job, but who is keeping the Black king from having a party of his own with our king side pawns while we do that? And even then, what's to stop him from ploping his bishop down on a4 blocking the a-pawn and hoping we'll trade minor pieces? Obviously, there's something I'm not getting here...

The "Our rook will have a party here on Black's seventh rank," line cracked me up too. It made me flash on the old (and awful) Arnold Schwartzenegger movie Commando where (in the only memorable scene) he grabs this huge machete and grunts, "Let's party!" before attacking one of the bad guys.

L8erz...
=wild=

And yet another awesome video... Thanks! I can't wait to see the end of it next week... stupid weeks taking so long!

Hola Luis, no sólo eres un fantástico jugador y entrenador de ajedrez sino que también tienes talento para los idiomas. ¡Al parecer tu español es tan bueno como tu inglés!
Intentaré hacer los deberes. Tus videos son francamente geniales.
Saludos desde la Selva Negra alemana.
José (profesor de español y apasionado del ajedrez)

Hola José, muchas gracias por sus palabras! De hecho me encanta jugar y enseñar el ajedrez, y aprender nuevos idiomas es igualmente fascinante Ojalá logres responder la posición de la tarea correctamente, pero es una posición muy dura. Hasta pronto, un gran saludo! Luís.

Frankly speaking, I have no idea where that "party on the seventh rank" comment came from! I guess I just got carried away by the beauty of the position, I guess : ) If anybody already has concrete ideas about what White should do in the homework position, I'd be glad to read them here in the forum before I record the second part of the lesson tomorrow. Cheers! Luis

I was thinking about taking the white king to the aid of the pawns on the queenside but first we should prevent black from counterplay and his king from getting active. To achieve this white may first centralise his king and take it from there. The ideal set-up I imagine is as follows: king on d4, knight on e4 or c3 and rook on either c3 or d3. Once the black king is cut off by Rd3 white could bring his kind to the queenside attack the rook and then the pawns can roll forward. I'll be blad to know what you think, thanks
I hope I am in time posting my homework Because the 2nd part is tonight!

WHERE IS THE SECOND PART... i'm dying here.

Hi Oginschile,

Mind your manners. Say, "WHERE IS THE SECOND PART, PLEASE!"

L8erz...
=wild=

It's coming, sorry there's been a slight delay and Luis hasn't been able to record it yet. But as soon as we get it, it will be posted