Grandmaster Chess Tactics #5: Can you spot the line?

[WOGI5M]

wow that move was amazing.

[Firesword8]

44444 views :P

[sonofaspine]

yes!! i got that one. Except that i imagined the king to move up to E8, with white slowly leading to a checkmate with the use of the 2 bishops

[esfelectra]

wow

amazing move

[TuequoiseQueso]

at 5:41 what happens if the Queen captures bishop instead of king.. i mean isn't that a better move then what black fella made?

[rippedonchronic]

@TuequoiseQueso no white would then move the rook to a6 and blacks queen is history

[lawltaxcuts]

Alright I looked at 1. Rxb4 axb4 2. Bc5+ and then if he goes Ke6 3. Qc6+ and it looks really strong and I think you atleast have a 3 move repetition draw as white if not a checkmate/material winning move. If 2.... Ke8 then 3. Qc6+ Nd7 4. Bb6 looks terrible for black and white will atleast equalize if nothing else, but if black just sits there I could see Bc7 followed by Bxd8 going down. I haven't seen the video yet so I'm either going to look really smart or really stupid with this post lol. 

[Bobek2809989]

what is the name of the program yoou are using? thanks

[xLucidDre4mx]

I thought your opening speach was amazing, great video sir.

[Husapi]

im not a grandmaster, but i saw the rook sacrifice

just try to resolve a lot of tactics puzzles each day and you going to improve your vision

[krruger79]

I would extend analysis on second move with a king to Ke8 instead of Ke6.

So 1. Rxb4 axb4 2. Bc5+ Ke8 3. Bc6+ Rd7[or 3. ...Nd7 4. Qd5! Qc7 5.Bd6 Qa7 6.Qxe5X]4.Qxf6! gxf6(checkmatre was threatening on e7) 5.Bxd7+ Kd8 6.Bb5+ Kc8 [6. ...Kc7 7.Bd6+ white is left with extra piece] 7.Ba6+ Kc7 8.Bd6+ with extra piece for white

[aednil]

why does black have to block with the rock to d6 ? (at 5:39 in the video)

[Robotman42]

I initially rejected Rb4 because of exd4 (White doesn't have a winning attack and loses the bishop pair), but didn't realize that White has a much preferable position after the recapture.

[princeshaban]

why at 5:31 bking go to e8 then if wbishiop to c6 knight to d7 with 2 defenders and advanced pieces??

[mikeusat]

The engines kind of ruined the mystique of chess for me. I grew up playing when the belief was that man would always be able to beat a machine because of his creativity. It's kind of depressing to know that no matter how good someone is, he will lose to the machine.

[JIZZZification]

@mikeusat dude if you were to belief that... i ur dreams... machines are made to do perfect jobs... this jobs have consistency, rules, etc... like chess have rules... that when u plug it in a machine it knows all right and wrong... it is logic not creativity... u already beat machines by creativity cause machines dont have creative thinking

[ledzeppeman]

@mikeusat You should look at deep blue or deep junior games. It really interesting. Kasparov plays them very well.

[lfroggyl]

i caught it right when the video spotted. That diagnal was so weak and all white had to do was remove the defender of it with a piece sac to get going

[RaulSmen]

that move wasn`t very hard to find, because it brings the black king into the open, making it easy to be attacked by the active queen + bishop + the other rook

[spdemegillo77]

Other variations after Ra1 is e4...possibly BXe4 white still in advantage...

[kwanhui1990]

will black be safe if he moves his king to

E8 instead?

[VitalSigns1]

I see a brilliant move black could have done to stop whites attack. Black taking white's rook was no blunder at all. The next move was Bc5, Ke6. Then RA1...NOW, black could have played e4! Using his pawn to attack and block whites queen (queen can't capture the pawn because of the black night)...if white checks the black king at a6, the black queen can simply move to c7, attacking BOTH of whites bishops in a way that can't be defended against!!! I'm awesome!!!

[knightblade87x]

@VitalSigns1 moving the black queen to c7 won't alleviate the check situation...?

[VitalSigns1]

I meant as soon as he gets a chance to...all he has to do to get out of check is move his king...eventually he'll get a chance to move his queen to c7

[Blzzzrd1]

@VitalSigns1 After black moves pawn to e4, white would have captured with the bishop and would eventually end up at least a rook ahead in material

[spdemegillo77]

How about BXe4? after e4...I think white has the advantage...

[aeroswiftly]

And how would that block the check? -1 internet for you, Sir.

[stuffyfreerunner]

i play chess for nearly 5 month now and i started after 3 month to play against shredder on his highest level so i could see some moves... for training its not bad to play against such a strong comp

anyway you have to play against lower level some times to see a bad move of your opponent...

[drydyboy]

I suggest you to note your moves to understand your mistakes when you lost.

I do that and I feel stupid when I see my mistakes. :P

[stuffyfreerunner]

thx ill try that one x)

[Faramarzrastin]

Avraks What software do you use Fritz or Shredder?

[SlashBanAll]

After the first bishop check, couldn't he just of traded rooks? Thereafter a series of checks would follow which would result in checkmate.

[stuffyfreerunner]

well i assume the king was in check wasnt he?

[Chaoslover26]

ur like my indirect mentor, love all ur vids, it helps with some of my own tactics and really helped me with my games, although my board site needs work, i just got back from a school match and i lost to like a version of the fools mate, and when i saw the position i had a much better move where id be a pawn and a knight ahead and stil have very consistent position i was so mad

[yorgosioannima]

Nice one,thanks.

[avraks]

I am trying to learn how to play Chess well, using a game called Chess Titans. However, I am a little demoralized by how well the comp plays at even level 5/10. It seems to me that the main thing I learn from playing against a computer is good positioning. I do not learn how to execute offensive plans, because the comp never has "holes" in its lines, and never makes mistakes. Only through slowly taking "territory" can I beat it. My question is whether a comp plays very differently from a human?

[Ratd0g28]

In my experience a comp plays very different than a human. For example if you set a comp to a certain level it may always see an average of 4 moves ahead. It will never not see less than that average so long as it has enough time to complete it's calculation.The only way to really consistently beat it is to think more moves ahead than it does.

continued...

[Ratd0g28]

A human on the other hand is different. Through out the game they may see 7 moves ahead and at another point miss a good move that is only 2 moves away. And they may just blunder completely. If you happen to be seeing 5 moves at a point when he is seeing only 2 moves you might beat someone who is above your level.

Computers don't have this problem, they are consistent. So turn the level down so you are about equal and then continue to play it, while turning it's level up slowly over time

cont.

[Ratd0g28]

Doing this can help. Also you can replay the same opening position over and over while finding the mistakes in your game and eliminating them.

To win consistently while using different openings your only real chance is to simply think ahead more moves than the comp does, through out the ENTIRE game.

This is how I see it, it may be wrong, but there you go. Good luck. :)

[avraks]

Thank you very much for the extensive reply!

Slowly increasing difficulty is what I have been doing so far, and at this point I can easily beat the computer at level 4, but I am having great trouble on level 5. I probably just have to think more moves ahead, as you say, but that's harder than it sounds :/ I can simulate 3 or 4 moves well in my mind, but more than that is really hard :/ Also, this only works in situations where I can be more or less certain of the opponents move...

[avraks]

I asume the computer simulates every POSSIBLE move, while I can only simulate the likely ones .. Perhaps I really need to find some human opponents, but they make me nervous *sigh*

[rotnakleugim]

I'm not that good at chess, actually for that matter I suck, but anyway, if you say the comp never makes mistakes then it's completely different from a human being, though maybe if you play with someone very good, he/she will mostly do the right moves, though I personally think the computer is totally different.

[MrMarson123456]

from what i know thay play differently becouse people have personalitys in the game. some like bishops more then knights some dont but relly good players generally dont have instent good moves aganst them

[GetMeThere1]

Great!

[cballx26]

How do you deal with an over agressive person?? I meet alot of people online like this and people I play at school

[DeadBeatProz]

great info....thanks

[pawnymany]

thanx jrobi great video

[lgzster]

I completely missed the move. I would have played Bb6 which is obviously inferior.

[jrro0t]

wat does vlogging mean?

[jrobichess]

Like blogging but with video. Thanks for checking out the vid!

[pati6882]

@jrobichess

thanks jrobi

ur videos are so professional

simply love it !

[Mathview]

Nice series, thanks for posting. AND I paused as you suggested and found the move! Yea. I saw the continuation with the 'correct' response by GM Aronian. Which seemed good enough. You are right about the mistake. Too many bishops and too many checks for black to survive.

[Nemesishk]

keep up the good work jrobi these vids are great and u can learn a lot from them :)

[LifeChalice]

OK, I can call myself a chessmaster now! I could easily anticipate this move that is actually the same as recommendation of my chess engine.

[KronicDemon442]

hi everyone im trying to get better at this and am playing games on google against others online. my score is 9-4. I usually allign my pawns like:

-_-_-_-_- some top some bottom. i feel whenever i

zxcvbvb defend i do better then attacking. Is this bad or no?

[xPesKa]

watch some opening videos that jrobichess posted, they are pretty good and useful.

[jayjay101840]

Lol, I have the same problem as jjaco19, I see all these great combinations in games, but when I play a game of my own I get so caught up in capturing stuff that I don't really see the "right" move and end up suffering a devastating punishment for a mistake I did. I know practice makes perfect, but i've played a lot of games and still can't get used to looking for combinations

[jjaco19]

I am very young but i still luv to play chess and that kind of stuff.. but for some reason i can never find the absolute right move like all these grandmasters. But some of the chess tourneys i go to, i see these kids w/ ratings of 2000 and always make the perfect move. The thing is with chess tactics, You always know there is an exact, perfect move but in games i miss them cuz im not looking for them... if you have any suggestions to this problem let me know, but if you don't thts okay too.....

[whatbefalls13]

Practise always helps you improve your chess knowledge and playing ability, regardless of your level.

Also, you can't really say "perfect" because it's physically impossible for a move to be flawless.

Anyways, I recommend starting to get into the habit of setting small goals throughout the whole game to accomplish things one at a time.

And of course, keep watching videos like these (jrobichess rules!) and maybe go to the local chess club every so often.

Awesome video btw, jrobi. 5/5

[jrobichess]

Awesome comment whatbefalls13!

Thanks for sharing your advice and checking out the vid!

[Justice1337]

I don't want to seem arrogant, but I remember thinking the same thing when I was in high school chess club.

It's important to study tactics, but the path-of-least-resistance approach to tactics puzzles will get you into trouble in a game.

With puzzles, you know there is an explosive combination. Some newspaper style puzzles even involve impossible positions saying "mate in 3" for example.

First off, this forgets the first fifteen-ish moves that led up to the given position. Second,

[Justice1337]

Second, the real trick is putting it all together and learning not just what but also when there is a combination. Games should be where you add positional study to tactics.

That's why I think Jrobi's approach is so good - taking tactical situations from actual games.

Puzzles isolate tactics, but one should not approach games like tactics puzzles. First, learn to develop a position that lends itself to combinations, only then should you take 12mins to look for them like the GM here did

[jrobichess]

Very good comments Justice!

[jerkhead777]

Beatifully said, and i agree with you 100%

thank you for the words of wisdon

[WikeyWo]

jrobi, these chess videos really got me into chess. I'm learning a lot just from watching your videos. I know this is a noob question, but what is that raiting thing you were talking about early in the video?

[jrobichess]

Glad to hear that W! Rating is assigned based on win/loss/draw. It's never hard to pull up with solid play and lots of wins, but it can dip quite low especially when you first get going. I would say it would take around 30-50 games to hit a reliable spot to reference. Check out my Free Internet Chess server video on how to get setup there to play and get a rating.  Hope that helps and thanks for checking out the vid!

[WikeyWo]

I did, im all signed up. thanks! From your videos im decent in the openings and end games. I'm still having a little trouble during mid games. But i think ill get better. Btw, my record is 2 wins and 6 losses

[jrobichess]

That's awesome! I plan on making some middle game vids so hopefully those will help both of us. Also, when you play FICS always play rated games otherwise you will end up playing a lot of computers. Enjoy FICS and maybe we can hook up for a game sometime when we're both on. My user name there is jrobi.

[WikeyWo]

okay. that sounds like fun! is there a way i would be able to send you a friend request?

[jrobichess]

You can add me to your notify list and it will give you a beep whenever I come online. I think it's just "notify name" or "gnotify name" to make that happen.

[dhundupdolker]

yah pretty easy to see this one.

[rouncer81]

great move, great game.

Whenever I play nothing exciting like this happens, its why i quit. :)

[numbcore]

Nice videos man, but you talk a little and analyze a little too much for my taste

[markfitz93]

this time i got the best move out of it

[jrobichess]

Nice catch markfitz93!

[TheWallabee123]

Bleh. When I paused the video to find the move, I calculated the play after axb4, but I couldn't find any good continuation if black just took the Bishop...I spent so much time looking for some BETTER, more brilliant move than Rxb4 -_- only to find out that Aronian blundered. hah

[mcscheijgrond79]

yes i enjoyed the video

[jrobichess]

Thanks for checking it out mcscheijgrond79!

[gamegenie11]

that was a sweet move

[pinkyfrogs23]

Jrobi can you please make a video on the middle game or how to do the queen rook checkmate

[budakgetah1]

i noticed something...

grandmasters aren't afraid to makes big moves.

i would never even consider taking the openent's bishop with my rook.

[BenBlunt1]

never be afraid my friend... the objective of the chess game is to checkmate the king, not retain the most pieces on board.

sacrifical tactics are useful, and btw i took less than a minute to spot that move, before proceeding with the video to double-check my hypothesis.

[dieptube08]

I have seen many video that you made, but

I haven't seen your picture yet.

[dieptube08]

Thank you very much Jrobichess!!!

[vijaysuri]

too much i say....actually realising Ra1 is impossible for anyone but GMs

[nonameofkoh]

i would of done the rook capture bishop too.

[Lpietr0]

Great job Jrobi! I really enjoy your videos - you have a good way of making videos and explaining the situations on the board. Keep up the good work.

[jrobichess]

Thanks Lpietr0!

[Pelaaja93]

what program do you use?

[jrobichess]

I have a bunch listed on my main web site - check them out.

[lutzzze]

Nice, it was actually the move i thought of. Couldnt see the whole continuation though :), great videos...

[jrobichess]

Awesome! Thanks for checking out the vid!

[v3zah]

great vids and superb site nice work

[jrobichess]

Thanks v3zah!

[UNCLEDAD800]

Thanks I am just starting to play chess and I love it. I try to play at least once a day. I never knew how much fun and pain could be in one game.

[jrobichess]

I totally hear what you're saying! =)

[valfitness]

@UNCLEDAD800 try playing poker!

[ewhsdavism]

Hey man, I just wanted to say that I enjoyed this video greatly! Thank you for uploading this situation. It truly is amazing that even in the level of grandmasters that mistakes are still over looked.

[jrobichess]

Thanks ewhsdavism! And the mistakes still happen at the top levels, which is a great thing for the state of the game in my opinion. "Perfect" chess can stay in the realm of the machines. =)

[BenBlunt1]

i am afraid i have to disagree with you, machines are not perfect chess players too, when it come to analysing move they tends to 'count beans' (and yes they counts at a very very fast rate), but when it comes to making intuitional sensible moves, human minds are still better, they have no emotion and cannot simply switch plan as and when they want to.

[MoIsMyNameNow]

cause if he doesnt it will push the king into to a very powerful check and with the rooks will push the king into checkmate at the bottom of the board

[quickstrike93]

Why does black have to block at 5:38

[ataggake]

Because White is threatening Ra6+ Kd7 Qc6 mate. Other attempts to prevent this are abortive:

..e4 Ra6+ Ke5 Qf4 mate or

..e4 Ra6+ Kd7 Qf5+ Ke8 Re6+ fe6 (Kd7 Re7 mate) Qe6 mate

..Nd5 Ra6+ Kd7 Qxd5+ Ke8 Re6+ fxe6 Qxe6 mate

.. Basically anything which allows Ra6+ allows mate

[PFTECHMETAL]

Thank you for these vids. I needed some new insight. My wife has been kicking my ass now for a week straight.

[Masamune314]

It was easy for me to spot the move now since i watched the game when it was played in Bilbao and remembered the move. I didn't see the move when Magnus played it though...

[Matthew2400]

wow...

[matthewmcewan]

well i have to say brilliant move but if i was black what i would have done and im not saying its the best move im only a basic player is have his pawn move to e4 then white needs to move his queen or losing it thus black can get rid of one of whites bishops with his queen and i would say give black the advantage another move i think white couldve done in that position is d4 to c5 but then black wouldve just taken the bishop from there theres a couple of moves but end result would be the same

[UnderDog988]

it look good but all white has to do is capture the horse now black cant capture the bishop whit the king so he has to capture the bishop whit the peon ( double peon but that not my point) the queen take the peon the king can only go on f8 then u take the rook and the move ur rook and ur up material

[Matthew2400]

No because either way after taking the rook black is gonna move bishop to c5+ then clutter blacks position and also white gets to keep the rook so white wins by even more.

[perkl1234]

Rxb4 e4 Bc5+ and black can choose between getting mated or losing a lot of material.

F. ex. Ke6 Rb5+ Ke5 Qf4++ (black can wiggle a bit longer by putting stuff on e5 but loss is still imminent) or Ke8 Bc6+ Rd7 Bxd7 Nxd7 Qxe4+ and loss is imminent.

[fzvibe]

Wow that was absolutely brilliant

[harshvgaus]

great commentary, if aronian hadnt taken the sucker punch he would have drawn easily.

aronian should have seen that to be very fair to him, maybe time was a factor nearing 40 moves.

[badjaeaux]

jrobi i owe u one burger +D

[BlitzShaft]

Woah new intro. Its intense.

[msleeb]

hahaha!

[spartanica]

jrobi, i like the video, but when you say that it's totally boring watching computers play i agree, but sometimes i still like to do it, because every so often i'll see them make a move, and it's a brain twister for me to try to see why they could and chose to make that move,

other than that, sometimes i'll go online to FICS and face my favorite chess engine off against other chess engines playing on FICS, and i find that kinda fun too lol :)

[jrobichess]

I enjoy reading the results of engine vs engine play - as in which one is dominating, etc. But those games where you have tons of moves in the end with each computer trying to play the position perfectly are the ones I find rather boring.

[BrooklynNY1992]

Never let your opponent have a bishop pair!

[Gebonner]

Miss the old intro music, great tactic by the way took me a couple minutes to spot it.

[IEatNubs6]

nice

[Alternate555]

Hmm... That's basically the other guy's fault, even I saw that the bishop posed a threat.

[pinkyfrogs23]

Jrobi can you make a video on the sicillian defense please?

[Rickko8]

I also 2nd this, There is Wayyy too many ways of doing the sicillian which gets players like me confused...even today more sicilians are coming out!?! I would like to see after ..c5 also ...Nc6 and also the other one which is ...d6

[jrobichess]

It's definitely on my list of future projects. Thanks for the comments and checking out the vid!

[pinkyfrogs23]

Thank you for the video Jrobichess

[kingscrusher]

Great video Jrobi - and funny enough I have been thinking the same kind of thoughts myself - that even if super GMs are playing, they can still crush each other. Do you think Chess is in effect harder than say getting a PHD or anything academic?! - because you are battling againat someone else's mind ?!

[yushis]

I hardly play chess and stumbled upon your videos and I think this is great. It makes want to take the dust off my old chess set and give it a go. Looking forward to your next release.

[theabyscalls]

Yeah. This really inspired me to restart playing chess. Thanks, and keep up the good work!

[jrobichess]

That's great! Thanks for the comments and checking out the vid!

[manfredoxyz]

what level of chess player are you?

[jrobichess]

That wouldn't work out unfortunately. The line would go RxB4 RxD4 RBxD4 ExD4 ExD4 and white has a much stronger position. Interesting idea though - thanks for posting!

[ddstar]

I wish you would just get into it rather than talking a lot.. half your video is just talking.. lol

[misterfisherman]

when are the other tactics going to discussed? yes,the foul tactics.such as mocking your opponent whilst they plan their next move,etc

[pagpmike]

wow nice vid

[CodeNameT3rror]

Weird offensive play, Aronian you've lost it because you wanted an advantage.LOLOL

[mguse123]

this game is sooooo complicated yet so simple.

thanks for all of your videos

[jrobichess]

Totally agree - thanks for checking it out!

[L0r3x]

another great video,thanks and keep up the good work:)

[jrobichess]

Thanks L0r3x!

[moponyo]

you are the best J,brilliant vid

[jrobichess]

Thanks moponyo!

[owl4man]

your a great teacher. THanks for the lessons.

[jrobichess]

Thanks owl4man - I enjoyed going over this one. Very interesting tournament!

[Hussambani]

Great Vid really liked it

[jrobichess]

Thanks!

[KazaBullx]

Oh yes, gotta love the opening music. :P Great video! I always look forward to new videos from you and others to keep me thinking about Chess.

[jrobichess]

Thanks for checking it out KazaBullx!

[Devilsnightforlife]

Took you too long to post a new video x)

but good to see your not dead yet and still delivers.

[jrobichess]

Thanks Devilsnightforlife!

[jrobichess]

Thanks SombreSeraph! This game was definitely exciting from start to finish, and was awesome to see take place at such a high level tournament!

[foodope]

Nice video and thanks for providing the PGN. You might want to check the .zip though, it containes the whole path to the folder on your computer including your real name. Peace.

[jrobichess]

Thanks foodope - I had to put the file together which took a little time. The released PGN's were broken down by round and there was inconsistencies in the PGN text that had to be cleaned up in order to get the thing working. Totally missed the folder information though - not a big deal but should be fixed now. Good catch!

[Bluejet99]

that was good!

[jrobichess]

Thanks Bluejet99 - this was a fun position to look at.

[StrokaviMozak]

Good one mate..keep em coming.

[jrobichess]

Thanks for checking it out StrokaviMozak!

[slinkyhot]

another great vid m8

[jrobichess]

Thanks!

[trixapete]

nice video jrobi good to see another in the series!

[jrobichess]

Thanks trixapete!

[mavaddat]

Do you know if Magnus Carlsen plays as AlexanderMagnus online?

[jrobichess]

Not sure what his online handle is but I know he plays on ICC, and recently did a simul online there. I don't have an account there so I can't confirm his actual handle. Thanks for checking out the vid!

[GreenCastleBlock]

Nice video

The exchange sac 1.Rxb4 was rather obvious, I'm sure Aronian saw it, but the move he missed must have been 3.Ra1! After 3.Qc6+ the Black King has to go to f5, and Aronian may have spent most of his time trying to ascertain whether the Black King would be okay over there, perhaps he forgot to check for alternatives at move 3. Carlsen's 3.Ra1 was a really neat move.

Carlsen's 5.Qc6+ forces the Queen trade. That is why it is better than the immediate 5.Ra8.

[jrobichess]

Excellent comment Castle - I agree with your thoughts on Aronian's mindset in that position in regards to the safety of his king. Definitely a very wild looking position!