Original subtitles

hi everyone this is Grandmaster Eugene Perelshteyn

and welcome to today's chess lecture

now

today is a very common topic to a lot of chess players

myself

including how to play a perfect game or a good game

and only to spoil it in the end

and I am a grandmaster

and yet this is what happened to me

at the very recent tournament

the US Chess Championship qualifier in Oklahoma

I was playing white against a very strong

I am who is the GM elect

actually Vinnie Bot from California

and let's start with this game d 4 d 5

so typically I play either e 4 or d 4

and my opponent plays for the main line

of the Slav defense knight c 3

knight of 6 and now

I usually avoid the main line of the Slav defense

if I can

after night of 3 d

take C for example or black

can choose to play e six

and go for the super sharp Moscow stuff

which I don't wanna go into details as well

and the way to get rid of all of these uh

hundreds and hundreds of lines of theories

with the simple move e three

so e 6 knight of 3 Knight b d 7

and now we are in the so called Miran variation

so Bishop d 3 is the main move in the Miran variation

and I play Queen c two

and you're gonna see shortly why Bishop d 6 and now

I play g 4

this is the super sharp way to play the Queen

c 2 Miran variation

as a matter of fact

originally it was played by none other but by

but Shirov and together with Shabalov

they came up with this idea

very sharp position uh active attacking players

and then Kasparov picked it up

and actually won a beautiful game against

I believe it was deep junior

uh back a few years ago so

G4

sort of grew into a very powerful opening on its own

so let me talk a little bit about this g 4 move

as this is anti chess

so to say if you are looking at it hundred years ago

you're moving from a king side pawn

where potentially you can castle after move

such as bishop d 3 and castles

instead

you're moving a king side pawn weaken in your position

but more importantly white

black can just take the pawn

okay so let's go over the night take first

so rook g 1

and now the problem is after night takes

night takes bishop take rook take g 7

and it's not so easy for black to find a good plan

h 7 pawn is hanging

if you play move such as a h 5 for example

well I have several options

I can even play rook h 7 and go in this

for this kind of position

some players

might wanna play knight f 6 and defend the pawn

in this case

I can play f 4 and completely win the bishop on h 2

because it doesn't have a way back

so this is very dangerous to accept the pawn sacrifice

basically

that's the bottom line and black in recent uh

developments

came up with a few good ways to counter G4

such as Bishop before move fighting for the e 4 square

for example g 5 night e 4

this is one way

another way is to take control

over the center and play night

g 5 queen e 7

or even e 5 with this position

or as in a played against me h six

very very simple way of fighting this G4 advance

because now black stops G5

has a very fluid position

keeps the center and has a lot of options open

whereas white now has to figure out how is

am I gonna take care of this weak g 4 pawn

if I can't play g 5 so I play rook g 1

defending the pawn and potentially

getting ready to play g 5 in the right moment

so moves such as castles are really really dangerous

I can either play g 5 and open up the g file

or play h 4 fold by g five and very powerful attack

and as a rule of thumb

whenever somebody attacks you on the side

you should counter strike in the center

and as a matter of fact

E5 is what played by my opponent

so let's see if my strategy completely faltered

so I played g 4 Rook g 1

I completely neglected the development of my bishops

and to castle and yet

I believe that white still has a very promising

position

so let's take a look what happened in the game

so C takes d

C takes d and now I play night b 5

so I wanna get rid of that d 6 bishop

which is bothering me

now Bishop b 8 is played in the game

what happens if Bishop b 4 check

well in this case

I really wanna change my bad dark for a bishop right

and now if bishop takes

I can either take with the queen or the knight

and with the threat of 96 and 97

this is very very good

so for example

knight takes and white has a good position

so Bishop b 8 makes more sense

and now black is really

one move away from getting a very good position

black wants to play a six

so if I make some slow move

such as a developing move

bishop e 2 or bishop d 2

I really don't like a 6 and

it's hard to justify my advances

so I play aggressively I play G5

H takes Z G Knight takes

take a look at this position

wow

this is 21st century chess

white has neglected everything

white has neglected the development

white is playing too much with the Knights

without really justifying why

and really white is losing the control over the center

because d 5 and e 5 pawns are given

black almost full control over the center

so you might ask ask yourself a question

why am I playing this way

is this really anti chess

or is this a new way of playing chess

and the answer is modern chess is very concrete

with Knight takes g 5

I actually set up a very very tricky trap

if black plays so sort of say normal move

normal looking a 6 so if black plays a 6

the game is over immediately on the spot

with a beautiful move night e 6

this is really a marvel type of a move

it's really hard to come up with example

in the practical game that after 13 moves

black is totally busted in this fashion

if pawn takes knight queen g 6

king f 8 or king g seven

and this is over

unbelievable

and if black doesn't take the knight

for example queen a 5 check

then after bishop d 2 black is totally hopeless

and they can't play queen a 7

because of queen takes c 8

so really knight e 6 is curtains

so my opponent here thought for a while

and he played the good nor so good move

and actually normal looking move e four

this moves this move makes perfect sense

sort of say

so let's try to justify this informal so first of all

black cut off white queen to go to G6

and black is cutting off the knight on g 5

from going backwards

and kind of hanging in there on g 5

furthermore black gets more space on the king side

opens the b 8 bishop and h 2 pawn is hit

so this move actually makes perfect sense

and now I play Bishop d 2

completely ignoring the h 2 point

I'm really fighting for the c file

and for the b 4 square

where my bishop will help my knight on b

5 to create dangerous threat

so bot plays a 6

and now if I play knight back

well I'm just completely busted

he can take the pawn either with the rook or the bishop

and there is no justification for my whole

extravagant opening strategy

but the key here is

I have one move that keeps me in the game

more I should say

this move gives me an edge

rook c one hitting the c 8 bishop

so of course bishop takes h 2

that's what he played

attacking my rook and defending the c 8 bishop

this makes perfect sense again

night c 7 check

Bishop takes

queen takes so I'm going into an endgame down the pawn

so queen takes rook takes and now simply castles

so we have reached this very

very unusual endgame if you can say endgame

because really

there are a lot of pieces left on the board

where white is simply down a pawn

the rooks for example c 7 and g 1

are not yet coordinated to play for an attack

and really all I have for a pawn is an open c file

and a bishop pair

but

let me tell you this

it's really hard to evaluate this position

but appears that black is just better up a pawn

kind of safe king and position is closed

so almost everyone looking at this at first will say

oh black is slightly better

but actually this is far from it as a matter of fact

you're gonna see shortly what happens

so I play bishop b 4

hitting the rook rook e 8 covering the e 7 square

and now I would like to ask a question

what is Black's black's next move

so let's all think about it

and try to find the next move for black

it turns out that

it's really hard to find the next move here

the knight on g 7 can't go anywhere

because of seven pawns hanging

the Niron F6 can only go to h 7

but even then

I can simply take and play Bishop H three

and black is in trouble

wow this is not so easy to find the next move

so the knights can't go anywhere

Bishop is stuck the rook on e 8 again

doesn't have much of a choice where to go

so really

the only active plan is to try to play a five

and try to create some kind of counterplay on the

queenside

so the idea that springs to my mind is

black is almost in zugzwang

so if I lock the queen side

black is gonna have nowhere to go

and the correct move here is a four

so if he plays a 5 I can simply play Bishop a 3

and now I got myself the B5 outpost

and if black goes for b 5 in the future

I can always close with a 5

so this is very logical move

with a simple

idea that black really doesn't have that many options

so rook b eight

probably the only way to try to play actively

is to play for the rook

swap with b 6 or b 5 and rook b 7

and I simply develop my bishop

bishop e two

b 5 he's gotta do something so he activates

the rook to go to B seven

and of course I can take a takes b

a takes b and play against the weak b 5 point

but I don't want to give

even concede one single square to black

I'm not conceding the b 6 square

and I lock the queen side completely

wow

this is not so easy at all for black to find the move

Rook b 7 is really the only move

and now I simply play Rook c 6 again

no exchanges I'm hitting the a 6 pawn

and my opponent simply plays rook b eight

this is really amazing white is down a pawn

we're only 20 moves into the position

this is an endgame

but it's one of those complex endgames

and black is in complete zugzwang

with almost all of his pieces intact

this is very very unusual

and very good example

how chess has changed in the past

you know

20 years or even 30 years

a lot of new ideas

so now let's realize that

it's hard for white to make progress too

so he's just gonna go back and forth with the rook

maybe even try to play Bishop b 7 in the right moment

and at the same time

it's hard for white to find an active plan

but one thing you gotta keep in mind is

whenever your opponent is in zugzwang

you have to play it slow

you know he really has only 2

3 moves

he can play without really giving you much trouble

and you can improve your position slowly

sometimes it's a good idea to repeat a few times

as the great Capablanca used to do

but for now I improve my position starting with my king

king d 2

so potentially

I wanna double up my rooks on the c file

to play rook g to c one

or if I change my mind

I might even concede the C file to black

and double up on the g file and go for the top

so king d 2 is a very useful move

and now let's try to find the next move for black

well as a matter of fact

there is really not that many moves

there is either bishop b 7 or rook a eight

and if you think that you can get away with night h 7

you better think again I have a very nasty trap

knight takes king takes and bishop h 5

and look how the bishops are really

killing off black

the bishop on d 4 takes control of the f

8 and e 7 square

and the rook on e 8 is completely lost

so Knight can't move

so Bishop b 7 could have been played

and I'm not afraid of this move

I can simply play rooksy 7

and take control over the c file

so my opponent is playing so called waiting game

rook 8 back

he wants to see my plan

because really in order for me to execute any sort of

constructive plan I have to move one of my pieces

such as maybe the knight or the bishop

or the other rook and he might get

freed up on either the king side or the queen side

and again

what's the key idea here

is to play slow and slowly improve the position

and how do you do that

well no rush simply rook c 7

I know he might go back rook b 8

rook b 7 I'm not afraid

in the meantime

I know my rook is slightly better place on c

7 than on c six

well my opponent plays rook b 8

and now

I improve my position with the following little move

b 3

and to explain to you why b 3 is a useful move is

imagine that in some lines

when the g 5 and f 6 knights

for example

are changed and my rooks are doubled on the c file

I play bishop g four

I don't want black to have night b 6 with idea to

to play a tempo move night c 4

the in between check does the b 3 move

so this is a prophylactic move

if you started nimzowitsch

I defend against possible future threats

which could happen 5 10 moves from now

and of course

I know that black really has no active plan

so I can do whatever I want

so he plays rook to seven and rook c 6

no exchanges rook a 7 so it doesn't really matter

he can you know

do circles with his rook all he wants on a 8

b 8 b 7

a seven

and now I simply double up on the c file

and hit in the bishop

really bishop b 7 looks ugly and he plays rook a 8 back

okay

so now I play Roxy 7 again

slowly but surely I'm making progress

and now

Vinay plays G6

so this is actually playable move and it doesn't really

hinder his position as a little bit

opening up of the dark squares

but he wants to play possibly king g 7

knight h 7

or king g 7 and rook h eight

I really don't like the night h 7 idea

and I go rook h one

paralyzing his position

he plays rook b 8

and now I play rook a 7 I take over the key square

so the rook on b 8 is paralyzed and he plays King G7

and now the zugzwang is in its most beautiful

sort of say

face black is completely and totally paralyzed

all I need to make is one move

and his position collapses like a stack of cards

and the move is bishop to d six

as you see this is the ultimate strategy

that he could have probably played a little bit better

earlier but with going back and forth

I would eventually dominate

and take over the key squares

and now he has to give up the exchange or the pawn

he decides to give up the pawn on a 6

another alternative was to give up the exchange

and try to isolate my A7 rook

but really this is just a matter of time

I play rooksy 1 rooksy 7 and I win quite nicely

and now after rook be 7

I take the pawn

and I am totally winning

not only are we even in material

but the queen side pawns are totally weak

especially the b 5 pawn

my pawn on a five is a protected passer

I got the two bishops

and he's still in some kind of passive position

so now up to this point

I can say I played the perfect game

it's really unclear where black played wrong

in the opening and the endgame

the result in endgame was really

difficult to play for black

and as everybody

even GMS it's it's really really hard

to play perfectly and now I start to slip

so my opponent plays

9 b eight

and to mention that he was really low on time

and he realized that he's probably losing

he started to play really fast

this is one mistake that a lot of players do

if your opponent is losing playing fast

you automatically start playing fast too

but I had about 20 minutes left at this moment

plus 30 second increment

and I shouldn't have played fast

instead I could just play slow

and I made a mistake of playing fast

thinking that I'm totally winning

and I started to slip I played rook eight

I think much better is rook b 6

and b 5 pawn is almost surely gonna fall

and black is definitely lost

so I don't know why I didn't play rook b 6

I I kept

I kept on thinking that the game is in my pocket

it's just a matter of time before he resigns

so rook b rook a 8 he plays knight c 6

I play rook c one

hit in the night and he plays Bishop d 7

well I'm still up a pawn on the queen side

with the passer on a five

but now with my next few moves

this is getting harder and harder to win

I play rook a 6

rook a 6 rook c 8

and now the final

spoiling blunder on my end

already this is not as simple as it is before to win

because my rook and a 6 is a little bit cut off

and I calculated this line going back to rook a 8

thinking that after rook b 6 in this position

I simply win

because I calculated that

he has no way to defend against my threat

and I completely overlooked that

he can take the pawn on a 5

this is a complete shocker to me

that he can just take a pawn

threatening knight takes b 3

my rook on b 6 is under attack

and the tables are completely turned

now

all of a sudden

I have to play carefully not to blunder further

and actually to get my knight from g 5 out of there

because he wants to play knight e 8 and f 6 too

wow this is a real shocker to me and uh

unbelievable how I spoiled this game

and after a few moves

Rook b 6 knight takes a five

Rook takes c 8 Rook Bishop takes c 8

I played rook a 6 setting up a trap if knight takes

king c 2 trap in the night

my opponent plays the correct move rook to cell

and now I have nothing better to do but to go back

now night takes b 3

is bad because of King c 2 and Bishop e five

but he can just simply play rook b 7 back

and repeat the position

and now it's even harder for me to win

so I take the pawn Rook takes b 5

knight e eight

again in this position

if he takes on b 5 takes knight takes

I still set up this trap with bishop e five

and now it's not so easy for him to get rid of the spin

so he correctly played knight e eight

I played Bishop before

and now both of us are getting very low on time

he played 96

I took

Bishop takes and I played Bishop C5

so instead of simply winning the game around move 30

something I spoiled it so badly

that now I have to win this endgame

where the materials

even although I have a passed b pawn and two bishops

but it's very very hard

and then in the ensuing time scramble

I managed to really misplayed this position

and ended up almost losing

only to be saved by my opponent

accepting the draw offer

where he missed a winning chance

so I don't wanna show you the rest of the game

you can probably see it online

but this is just unbelievable

how I managed to spoil such a beautiful game

which I played almost perfectly

up to when I started really playing badly after move 32

when I took the point

so what did we learn from this game

No. 1 modern chess openings are very very tricky

and initially you may

what may seem as a simple position for black apple pawn

it's not so simple at all as a matter of fact

black was in complete zugzwang and passive position

for the most of the game

I played quite well to kinda slow

build up my initiative

and finally my my opponent ran out of moves

and then I made a classic classic mistake

No. 1

I played fast in my opponent's time pressure No. 2

I played fast when he started to play fast

No.3 I thought that my game is that the game is over

I relaxed

instead of really trying to figure out how to win

and these are very common problems

even at the grandmaster level like you see in my game

so I hope you Learned a good lesson

especially since this this is my game

and I Learned my lesson

and I hope it's not gonna happen in your games

I will sure try to

not to repeat the same mistakes again

but these are most often seem

seem as the problems in chess

it's to play fast in your opponent's time

pressure is to think that you're winning

when you win material these are no and no

you gotta take your time whenever you win material

relax

and then

gather all your strength and energy

and try to calculate really

really hard how to win because even Botvinnik said

the hardest thing in chess is to win a one game

so thank you very much

and I hope to see you all next time bye bye