Thanks for the video and the very nice game, Dennis. I enjoyed your principled play.
Your point about recognizing a long term advantage and taking the time to squelch your opponents chances at counter play, I found very instructive. I think I've often enough lost a game by pushing to hard with merely a long term advantage, such as you had in this game. Next time I'll keep your lesson in mind and simply eliminate my opponents options.

An entertaining and instructive video. I like this more tbh than for example the game of last week: this game has much more educational value I think. So yeah, a good one, thanks.

Not the most entertaining but absolutely the most educational and instructive game analysis u have ever done in my mind!
Rock-solid play from your part after
the opening trick when u caught him with his pants down. Ive been in the exact same opening nd I have played nb3 automaticly and getting beaten just because of the factors u stated!! Now I know what to do!!! ty!!!was great!! It's so easy to get afraid and thinking like ,,,well I cant stop his pawns rolling since he has 1 more pawn then me, but what u have to think like is ,,,welll I have the knight there, his bishop cant influence the light squares and his rooks cant participate in any meaningful waysoI'll just stop him on the light squares!!

Way to go Dennis and once again ty so much!!

As a Najdorf player myself, it was very nice to see some instructional principled play and to be shown that its okay to castle on the kingside

Thanks again Dennis, cannot wait for your Svidler-Karjakin presentation tonight.

Dennis, Thank you.
Good instructive game.

Long time watcher, first time caller. This was extremely useful Dennis: thanks. I suspect that for lower-rated players such as myself (around 1650) the solution to the question "how to stop that king-side pawn majority advance", when you're initially looking at the board, just seems utterly mysterious! g4 then eventually Ng3 is just so effective here; but it's very difficult (for me at least) to find these moves OTB. The other question for me is always knowing if I have the time (ie. the tempi) to think about prophylaxis. It seems like you need to choose your moment carefully in order not just to be playing passively, instead of "prophylactically"? About judging threats I suppose. Anyway, this is wonderful for all levels!

Dennis,

I appreciate the videos very much. This is your showcase so I will make this short. In the video when you were recapping your opponents 7th move choice after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nf3
The move chosen by your opponent on the video, instead of 7...Be7 or 7...Qc7, was 7...h6. I think I heard you say, 'but my opponent's choice is also fine'.

I would agree with you, if you were right. So would a couple of guys named John Nunn and Joe Gallagher, etc.

In their book, "The Complete Najdorf: Modern Lines", pg. 169, they state, "... 7...h6 (perhaps not a complete waste of time as White no longer has the option of playing a piece to g5 but it shouldn't be forgotten that playing ...h6 weakens the light squares on the kingside; if Black intends to ignore the 'threat' of 8.Bc4 it is better to do so with 7...Be7)...". Also on pg. 169 is all of the analysis that bears out that White gets the clear advantage. Throughout the whole of chapter 8, which begins on pg. 168, they point out all transpositions back into lines analyzed on pg.169.

Their conclusions at the end of the chapter on pg. 187, "... 7...Be7 is a solid line against which White has considerable difficulty proving any advantage. An assessment of somewhere between += and = seems to be appropriate. ..." My repertoire includes ...Be7 as the top candidate move. And, definitely does not include ...h6

As part of my repertoire with Black I play the Najdorf in response to 1.e4. I am constantly revising my repertoire. And, have played the Najdorf for years. 7...h6 is an inferior move.

I realize these videos are free. This is just constructive criticism. I am sure you are a stand up guy and this was just an oversight or I misunderstood what you said in the video.

I agree that 7...Be7 is better than 7...h6, though I wouldn't want to cite a 10 year old book on the Najdorf as a decisive argument. That said, their basic remark is correct and indeed corresponded with my main idea with Nh4. My recollection is that I claimed 7...h6 was "okay" or something like that, and that doesn't seem wrong to me; it's playable. But best, or equally best? Nope.

Denis - I like your chess videos and the quiet and dignified way you present them - this last (Quiet Najdorf) game is instructive - I think if Kasparov had played h6 a lot it would be considered a great move. But your move g4 (which I found) I thought was great also I didn't find h4 which was excellent - you are right it is such moves that turn a game into a win or at least keep = such game scan be > instructive than say 12 move combo. Richard.

PS as to h6. I would probably play Qc7 or Be6, or Be7 - also of course there is the move Ng4 - but that is a sharper line.

I realise I was a bit Blase about the h6 move (although the opening as such is not the point here) - looking at the video again that h6 by Black was probably not good considering it weakened g6 etc -Richard

Instructive as always, DM. As an unrated amateur, what I take away is your tips such as long term vs. short term advantages, activity, and not allowing counter play. These insights into master thought can only help, even at my level. Thx again, E.