Exploring Fischer's Openings #2: Sicilian vs. King's Pawn

[hitppohiman]

This is a main line of the Sicillian. It's known as the lowenthal but they get to this position differently. If you check the databases, that bishop move at the end (2. Bc4) is an extremely weak move that can easily be exploited with e6 followed by a6 and eventually b5. 4... e5 is not a great move because it leaves a hole that can very easily be exploited. Also at 7:18, the e4 pawn is hanging...

[rhyne222]

can you tell me which website is that you are playing porfavor?

[mosesredsea]

jrobi may i ask what is ur elo rating? do you have fide title? because ur good

[10bobbyjoe3]

Awesome..

[LSJShez]

It's a drunk bishop. Been on the stella.

[daleinin]

I was confused for a while about that a7-a6 pawn move, but then I realized that it was preventing the knight response Kd4-b5 to Fisher's e7-e5 pawn attack which forced Wolfgang to move his knight off to the side effectively "un-developing" it. Fisher was looking pretty far ahead when he went into this opening. Good Move Fisher!!

[Frreyz]

@daleinin he was probably looking like 20moves forward :D

[rhyne222]

What are you talking it was my dark square bishop that killed your queen.

[zk453]

i don't care about he's rating he is making awesome videos and he enjoys playing chess

[TheNonplussed]

That's why he has a 1323 rating. 2 ...d6 is wrong. e6 is much stronger

[EMINEMisTheBestNr1]

noo way I refuse to believe you got a 1323 rating... the way you analyze chess games I though you were a grandmaster... anyways love your videos am learning ALOT keep `em coming thx :D

[grinchychristmas]

it would be nice if you put this series and other series in a playlist...

[ubanare]

@jabrightlefthook

Fischer bit off someone's ear? =P

[KaminariKatta]

What do i do if my opponent sends a queen to A4?

Sorry im new and just started playing chess 2 days ago.

[daleinin]

@KaminariKatta

I would develop my b Knight to c6 forcing him to move his queen while I continue to develop material. The danger of bringing your queen out early is that your opponent can find ways to kick it around while developing their pieces.

[MrJackanthony]

@daleinin Herr!!!!!

[herbal1971]

Nice video but it'd be nice if you'd shown the whole of the Fischer game moves.

[MrNormalG]

I love how americans always talk about fischer, isnt that so biased? I mean he was a great player no doubt but the best players in the world and overall today shows that america is not one of the best chess nations, just wondering why are we biased even in chess? is it to show that americans are the cleverist if thats the case than the answer to the world would be prob be no. no hardfeelings to you jrobi but just a general analysis from what I ve seen on many videos here and chess programs.

[herbal1971]

@MrNormalG It's probably because he had one of the highest ratings but he was also an interesting character but I take your point.

[chrism216]

dont think this system has no venom to it, just because fischer used it. this is the sicilian schvenshnikov, a double edged opening which plays with the dynamics around the bolesavski hole (thats the big hole that is created in d5 after black plays e5, which usually is occupied by a knight). usually black has to resort to a lot of tactical play if he wants to survive the pressure on the d6 pawn.

a nice example of what not to do in this line as black: youtubesearch "Pogonina vs rest of the world"

[mors322]

HI.

In the last part ,why didnt u take the pown on E4 after ur opponents move knigt on D5?Why is it a bad move in this part of the game?

Tnx for explaining this to me.



[udieylat]

Hi jrobi, on 4:08 you show that the light-squared bishop can access a dark square. There's a small mistake in the arrow drawn there.

FYI, and thanks for the videos.

Udi

[andrew654321bd]

Excellent video. very instructive especially your game in which you adapted the Najadorf in response to you openents moves,

thanxs

[gunblade712]

why didn't you mention about the backward d6 pawn and the weak d5 square for black? do black have any compensation for both of these weaknesses?

i rarely played ...e5 if I were to use the Sicilian due to both of the above mention weaknesses for black. ;(

[markmansfield1960]

I'm really enjoying these Fischer openings, they have helped my understanding of the best defense against the Kings, Thanks

[Powerofthecowboy]

RIP Bobby Fischer

[killabigk]

you should play E6 after he develops bishop to C4. You dont really want him attacking black's F7 Pawn.

[irie2day]

nice



[Repelsteeltju]

nice! what is the name of the program used for the board?

[ultranoob802]

kasparov was better

[NumbFlynn]

@ultranoob802 Lies.

[ILikeShuffle]

7:19 free pawn

[hapiluki]

@ILikeShuffle: yes

@jrobi: why didnt you take it?

[DutchAntiChrist]

what is a good opening for black if white played a queen side opening

[shogundapker]

What's the point of pawn to a6 that early (black)?

[Willomz]

@shogundapker

mainly to stop the bishop checking the king, but there are other benefits too

[flinagin]

Great videos, you explain things very well, I'm gonna subscribe right now. Keep 'em coming.

[pornyhony]

in the second match after Nd5 the white pawn on e4 is undefended. but anyway thanks for the videos they are quite useful, I have always had problems with opening theories.

[stavros8705]

this is the sicilian najadorf variation. the white knight moving 3 times is the correct line. Whites errors were: bringing the bishop to c5 and castling king. The book line is: e4 - c4... kf3 - d6..d4 - cxd4... kxd4 - kf6... kc3 - a6... - be3 - e5... kb3 - from here black then has the option of kg4 attacking the bishop or the more common be7.

[sandrews3627]

GREAT VIEDO

[laurensmn]

great stuff, please keep posting!

[dreamtheater39]

nice video! cheers

[turkeyboykillintyme]

thatsa badass white bishop at 4:08 pointin to a5 lol

[angeriod]

@turkeyboykillintyme how??

[woodensaw]

white's queen should have moved upa square earlier on in order to allow a Q-side castle. he gave Fischer the advantage

[jaileroflove]

i never really play the sicilian, and absurdly i just went to fics to mess around in some guest games, played against a white king's pawn opening, and developed the board basically as raw mimicry of fischer's response and ended up winning easily(:. the position was actually very strong and intuitive, even for a novice like myself. thanks.

[sergey58us]

Great vid jrobi! just wondering if you could post a few more white openings.

[ShotDownInFlames2]

Thanks for this vid, jrob. Finding a good response to e5 is one of my toughest challenges.

[myristique]

Hello and thanks for the vid.

I noticed that in your game, when your opponent played Nd5 you could have won the pawn on e4 with your F knight insted of Nc6.

[TheJoshic32]

I just played someone, as black. I was playing the Sicilian, and was seeing which variation I was going to use. But instead of doing the instant trade of the c pawn for White's center pawn, white instead did c3, so to turn his C pawn into a center pawn, which is bad.. so I think I was forced to do e5, is that correct?

[ultrascape]

4:08 nice magic bishop lol

[boodaguy]

haha i didnt even notice that... XD

[tubajedimaster]

The power of god gives the bishop that ability. lol

[achilies12346]

@ultrascape  LOLOL

[checkster12]

I really wish he'd continue with the rest of the match in a follow up video. Great job though.

[cyrussar]

man!! ur gooD!!thnks for this vids

[ooaaveehoo]

After 1. e4 c5 2. Bc4 the move d6 isn't as good as e6, which blocks the bishops pressure on f6 and allows a nice d5 with tempo.

[balakaras]

Play as Black, I will ignore the pressure made by Bishop to f6 square. 2.Bc4 consider instead of 2.Nf6 will not seems as a shaky move for Black player who are familiar with Kopec variation.

And I would like to bring the game to Scheveningen or Najdorf instead of Dragon

[ooaaveehoo]

I believe that playing agressively with 2. - e6 and 3. - d5! is the only real way to play for the initiative. It would be a pity not to punish white's poor opening choise. And it's a pretty easy way to play, if you know theory in the Alapin. It also scores an amazing 60 to 22 percent for black.

[balakaras]

is it svesnikov or kalashnikov? correct me if i'm wrong. the only real way?? i may say alternative way. May be u like to take over the attacking tempo from White early. It would be risky or U force White to choose a drawish position. Maybe u are master with Kan or Taimanov Line but i still prefer playing 2....e6. Be calm. The endgame will be yours

[MrAndrews1070]

Why wouldn't Unzicker capture with Nxf6? Isn't it good when the opponent has two bishops to trade one? Or is the Knight's position at d5 better than a trade?

[downding]

Basically yes. As jrobi mentioned the d5 white knight is very placed (centralized piece and over defended) where as black f6 piece is a "bad" bishop. It's being blocked by his own pawn.

White don't want to make this trade right now since doing so means using his best positioned piece to get Black's worst positioned piece. Plus, this trade would allow Black to develop his queen (after Qxf6) and link his rooks.

[Platano0587]

Great stuff.

Very informative.

[colourwins]

what move would fischer make (possible move) if after moving K e4, the Q moves to D4 - ?

[chasingjustice]

What do you mean you THINK Fischer was the best chessplayer against the king's pawn opening? You know he IS. :)

[GinoTheSinner]

why is it all uppside down on my screen lol

[Andy177man]

it's an April fools jokes from youtube just detele the &flip from the URl

[dhundupdolker]

yah e5 does create problems but kramnik beat kasporov with e5 so it shouldn't be that bad.

[raptriforcee]

jrobi, don't be so hasty to push e5 in Sicilian. It severely weakens your d5 square (unless you're a Fischer of course. :D)

[raptriforcee]

I personally like the Dragon. Sharp play and complex lines.

[MrXbox36067946794]

i talked to the US champion a week ago at the illinois state tournament. he said naijdorf is better. im also a dragon player btw.

[raptriforcee]

It's the Nadjorf variation. Prevents Bb5+ and allows for b5 later.

[Chozo003]

Can somebody please explain to be the usefulness of Fischer's move on 4. ... a6?

[Eagleye893]

i would guess bishop check (but i dont see anything good about that) or moving the knights in to attack... It's anyone's guess really.

[wl4dymir]

Well it's far from being useless actually. This is part of the najdorf sicilian. The ideas are to push b5, Bb7, and then you have the nice c4 square for your knight with Kd7-Kb6-Kc4. But here since whites have castle king side the attack on the queen side with this system is quite useless and that's probably why Fischer changed his plan by not pushing b5 and put his bishop on e6 instead of b7.

[MrXbox36067946794]

its to keep the bishop check from happening and to bush b5, both of which are central to the naijdorf

[nayef012]

to prevent Bb5+ or the annoying Nb5

[theoriginalanomaly]

I like white actually.. after and during the opening.

[monkaboy]

Oddly, I've never seen this opening sequence before, but I have played it.

I enjoy it, I almost always play the Sicilian as my opening move.

[Jahanam9994]

Haha, the ending of the match was pretty funny for me. I was wondering if you could post the BEST game you've ever played, win or lose. It would be great for my chess development.

[infinitexfantasy]

during the second match a pawn on white was hung

should've taken it instead of move knight?

[lupe12345]

If he would captured ur bishop on 6:56 and recapture with your F pawn u would be in a better position?

[heavykevyproductions]

well done grt video, thx

[wretcherwretch]

At 7:25, you missed a free pawn on e4 :)

[dawg141]

Great Videos! They have helped my openings. Thanks!

[jrobichess]

Yes good old typo there. =)

[GGL09]

haha yeah i noticed that too ^^

[jrobichess]

I don't mind at all - send me the URL so I can add it to my list. Thanks for checking out the vid!

[cyfi16]

what do you do if opponent moves his bishop from F1 to b5 putting you in check..you have to sacrafice a pieace and take his bishop then?

[246trinitrotoluene]

4:30ish

that is one crazy bishop tactic

how do you attack a dark square with a light bishop

[jrobichess]

Fischer could do magic on the board, didn't you know? =)

[day2knight]

JRobi:

I too would like to thank you for your work in posting all these videos. As MAfr3ak says, however, this is mainline. In return for moving the knight 3 times in the opening, White gets a nice outpost at d5 and Black is saddled with a backward and potentially weak pawn at d6. Personally, I believe that the moves Bg5 followed immediately by BxN are "erroneous" in that there is no reason to give up the bishop pair that easily. If White must move Bg5 why not try to provoke black into h6?

[tiwarivikram]

Thanks Jrobi for posting all those important games and chess openings. I learned a lot from your videos and my game has improved significantly.

Keep up the good work!

[jrobichess]

Thanks tiwarivikram - I appreciate the comment!

[MAfr3ak]

jrobi-- this is all mainline, you make it sound like fischer is destroying wolfgang

[jrobichess]

I plan on doing some vids on the mainlines for the Sicilian. Like the Ruy Lopez it's a massive amount of theory and plently of lines to the opening, so it should be a fun project.

[MAfr3ak]

well that would be the in the Open Sicillian: najdorf, dragon, classical, sheviningen, sveshnikov, accelerated dragon, taimanov, kan, four knights, then theres the moscow, rossolimo, alapin, closed, grand prix, smith morra, this would be a lot of videos

[jrobichess]

It's going to be a big project for sure - thanks for checking out the vid and commenting!

[MAfr3ak]

oh and those are those most common variatons, there are even more like kalashnikov, nimzo-rubinstein, katalimov, hyperaccelarated dragon, Ga-Pa, etc

[Discharg3]

And don't forget the Black Star Dragon and SSJ5 dragon. It's piece advantage is over 9000.

[Grakovskiy]

lol nice

[poprockssuck87]

It's to prevent Bb5+. Black doesn't want to trade any material and simplify the position. Also, in some lines of the Najdorf black will push the B pawn to b5 and fianchetto the bishop. Finally, it gains space on the queenside. This is useful because many times in the sicilian white will castle queenside. Watch some of the classic Fischer or Kasparov Najdorf games and you will learn more about this opening.

[ganamedious]

Hey jrobi, great vid :). I was wondering if you have a video concerning the Two Knights Defense.

[DamnControl2]

But you can block with either Knight or bishop, so what is the harm does the check of bishop really gonna do?

[weewee33wee44]

This looks like Lownthel-Kalashnikov variation of Sicilian defence. I used to play it and had a tough games. But, what about : 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 e5 5. Nf3 again? In this case how Black can continue? Any suggestions..

[MAfr3ak]

no, you should play Nb5 to threaten to go to d6. play could continue in this variation d6 c4 Be7 Nc3, etc

[DamnControl2]

I'm just curious at a6, what is the actual purpose of that?

[MAfr3ak]

to stop a knight from coming in, and to prepare the queenside attack of b5. its also a waiting move, sometimes the queen goes to c7, so a6 stops a knight from attacking the queen

[svidler1987]

Nice voice...

[jrobichess]

Thanks!

[rudy792]

I'm just now seeing your other videos. I am presently going through B. Fischer's openings and these videos are great really !!! Very good approach/very good points. concise and direct - really nice J.Robi, Thanks, Rudy792

[jrobichess]

Thanks for the comment and checking out the vid Rudy!

[rudy792]

Fischer and unzicker actually drew this game if I am not mistaken.

[nathandho]

JRobi, you are a good kid

[jrobichess]

Thanks for checking out the vid nathandho!

[bodhidarma1]

This is a really good video. I'll continue to pay attention to these.

[bodhidarma1]

This is a really good video. I'll continue to pay attention to these.

[jrobichess]

Thanks bodhidarma1!

[chowbelly]

Thanks to JROBI, youtube, and other posters. This is so much more accessible than reading it on paper.

[jrobichess]

Thanks for the comment chowbelly!

[jrobichess]

That's awesome Cuban! Keep it up!

[BigStupidFingers]

The Sicilian defence looks really strong here, I'm going to check it out more in depth. Thnx for posting the vid always awesome! Subscribe button will be clicked.

Peace.Love.Happiness

[jrobichess]

Thanks Big!

[bolleharry5]

This is a standard opening variation of the Najdorf, but Be2 is a bit more passive than Bg5 or Be3.

nice vieo, but white Bishop pointing to a5?

[jrobichess]

From what I was able to find, BE2 is often played by white when they are looking for a more quiet positional match as opposed to an aggressive one - that might have been Wolfgang's hope by playing that against Fischer. Thanks for the comment and checking out the video.

[komyt]

I don't think ...Be6 in your game is a mistake because if White takes with the c4 Bishop, Black plays fxe6 and gets a pawn mass in the center, plus an open f-file. But a definite mistake was missing ...Nxe4! after White played Nd5? (7:13). Looks like you passed up a free pawn.

[jrobichess]

Thanks for the comment and checking out the video Komyt - I think you're right about 7:13 - I will check that out in the viewer.

[frank124c]

i like the idea of checking out fischer's openings and the way he played the sicilian is interesting. nice presentation too, what kind of software r u using?

[jrobichess]

Thanks Frank - I appreciate the comment! I use chessbase lite for going over the PGN's but you can also use a variety of other programs such as Fritz or the graphical interfaces from the Free Internet Chess Server.

[sausage4mash]

i liked whites positions , in the fischer game ,at a glance because of the space advantage ,but to me looked about equal so i guess black achieved something

[jrobichess]

Agreed. Thanks for checking out the video Mash!

[foraneagle2]

What chess software is that?

[bobbydigital80]

There is nothing wrong with 4.Qxd4. It's a perfectly viable system. And to the poster who said Qxd4 isn't good because of a6 and not Nc6, well Nc6 is just as good as a6. It's just a matter of taste.

[ZsSuperCumulo]

I think that you made a mistake at 06:53 when you moved your bishop to e6 because he could have taken your bishop with his bishop at c4 and then you would have to take with your pawn and you would eventually have doble pawns which is a disadvantage for you :S

[jrobichess]

Definitely could have created some pawn weaknesses Super - thanks for checking out the video!

[Tiwaking]

Doubled e and d pawns are seldom a disadvantage, especially in the opening. That game was well played by you, very odd to see BQB4 played by white so early especially against the Scillian. Its best to goad black into a stonewall position then try to break it apart with the knights

[jrobichess]

Awesome comment Tiwaking!

[jrobichess]

Awesome comment unorthodox! Thanks for checking out the video!

[tazeq]

One of diagonal in 4:13 looks very funny :) Anyway very good vid.

[jrobichess]

Yes my mouse went a little "off" there. =)

[doob10163]

A word of advice: Refer to the players by their color

Introduce the players + color in the beginning and then call them "black" and "white". Also, around 4:00 you clicked on a square a bishop shouldn't go to.

[jrobichess]

Thanks for checking out the video doob. I state the players and color in the beginning. I will try to point that out more throughout if I remember.  I see what you are referring to at 4:00 - the program had that diagonal off a bit but I was referring to the diagonal to the right that the bishop had access to.

[pestlett]

My friend has just asked me WHY Black plays d6, and I thought I'd post the reason here for people new to chess like him. It isn't as he thought to defend the c5 pawn, which currently is hard to attack other than d4 which results in a trade not a loss. It is instead intended to prepare for Nf6, where without d6 White could play e5! with a brilliant opening advantage. I know this will be obvious to most of you, but it'll be of use to someone. Nice short video by the way.

[jrobichess]

Thanks Pestlett - and excellent comment!

[ShotDownInFlames2]

Thanks for that comment. The person that helps is me. I've been trying to get the Sicilian to work. Thanks again.

[Gohma]

Assessing the position objectively its hard to say white has any real advantage, but I don't see what black has in that particular position to counterbalance the weakness on d5. So I would probably say that after move 10 white is slightly better. Of course it is silly to assess such theory-heavy openings after move 10.

[jrobichess]

Interesting points. The purpose of these videos though is simply to look at Fischer's openings and how he plays against certain openings, and what he used with his openings. I am not planning on getting into the middle-game, but rather what are some good line moves to use in the openings to at least have a solid position going into the middle game, as opposed to coming out behind positionally after the opening moves. Thanks for the comments and feedback, I appreciate them!

[Gohma]

The point of 4.Qxd4 is that it doesn't lose tempo because 4...Nc6 can be met by 5.Bb5. After move 10, the position is only scratching the surface of Najdorf theory, which like I said can run until move 20 or more. It's like saying black is equal after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6.

[Gohma]

4.Qxd4 is perfectly reasonable, just not as flexible. It's ridiculous to say that Fischer has equalized by move 7 in an opening where theory can run 20 or more moves deep. In exchange for losing tempo white inflicts a permanent weakness at d5, which is one of the most basic ideas in the sicilian. I must say you really have a great voice for lecturing, if only you understood the subject a bit better.

[jrobichess]

QXD4 would definitely have been an option for Wolfgang, but I think he didn't opt for that due to the further development of black at the cost of some more temp. I think Fischer had equalized, which is the goal of many black defences. At the end of the first 10 moves how would you assess Fischer's position in this match? Thanks for the comment and checking out the video!

[nanquan491]

pretty cool

[Test2Bear]

Another good one.

[jrobichess]

Thanks for checking it out Test2Bear!

[andsanp]

nice vid

[jrobichess]

Awesome, thanks Andsanp!