1. e4 e5: A Discussion (Eventually Middlegames) - GM Ben Finegold 

I'm amazed at how many jokes Ben is able to make and how quickly he thinks of them. I think he analyzes joke variations as much as chess variations!

"You don't have to master the middlegame you can 1500 the middlegame"

"Because in movies, grandmaster games end in five moves."

33:50 Ben Finegold: “My pawn structure is a little raggedy but I have a nice bishop” Eric Rosen: “I gave away a queen for two pawns but I have a nice knight”

Me: “Hey, that’s my favorite opening!” Ben: “You will never see this opening in GrandMaster levels, you’ll see this often in kid matches” Me: Oh 🙂

"that's correct. Wait, how are you correct? You feeling alright?"

i like this guy

One of GM Finegolds finest lectures. Not just because of the amount of jokes. So many lines to learn from, and stories to keep you entertained. Keep coming back to this every once in a while. So much to see, it's like a Waldo.

Ben is such an excellent speaker, huge knowledge, witty as hell, what a delight.

"After Nf6, I may have died, and he would have won the game" That's his explanation to why his opponent should have played a losing move rather than resigning. This guy is fucking hilarious.

man. these lectures are so easy to watch. can just binge em alllll day

_"...But since I won the game, do you think I accepted the draw?" _"that's right, you're paying attention" lol

I love this guy, it's like binge watching Netflix. Such a good lecturer, it's amazing.

36:45 holy crap. ben remembers every move of some random game he played in 1988.

This is one of the best lectures I've ever seen. Cheers to GM Ben.. Humorous and well informed fellow

Idk why but after that guy at 29:30 coughed and Ben said "thank you" I started laughing

Ben is hilarious! When someone doesn't know the answer to one of his questions, he gives them a hard time. When someone answers correctly, he still gives them a hard time and asks them if they're feeling ok. LOL

you know its Finegold when someone asks the topic of the lecture after 23:49

No one could ever believe how entertaining chess could be!

This is just a great all around video. I played this for my wife, my 6 year old and my 3 year old. I enjoyed this as a review too! I recommend this to players of all levels and all ages. That is pretty to make a video that can be useful to such a wide spectrum of players.

LOL. Waited 14 minutes for the mention of "Mike Kummer!"

I love this. Ben should try standup comedy!

Thank you for shouting out The Lutzhin Defense. I watched it after you mentioned it, and I quite enjoyed it actually. Very obscure chess film. I love Turturro. I also love the internet for having these kinds of videos for me to learn from. Thanks for the mention and the awesome e4,e5 discussion.

23:43 That "Temporary confusion" made someone in the room forget what was happening there entirely! hah!

after 20:00 the analysis is so funny it brought tears to my eyes for the next 5 mins

3 year anniversary of this video, and a Clemson joke is funnier than ever. Finegold analyzes those joke lines like a GM.

Two thumbs up, great content, verifiable by those in know, video recommended thank you!

"Bb5: Too Sophisticated!" LMAO

‘Cheat like a Grandmaster’ had me spitting out my fruit loops. Hilarious. Would surely be a bestseller, Ben should write it!

Wait, so "Cheat Like a Grandmaster" by GM Ben Finegold was just a joke? Nooooo!

15:01 The engine gives Nf7 a surprisingly high score, as the second best move after d4. It sacrifices a piece to gain tempo, which gets the black king out into the open where it can be harassed with Qf3.

...slightly less violent...slightly less...

This channel needs more subs and also deserve it

Ben spitting fire and taking shots as usual. Alex "not guilty" Serzer. lost it

He is actually right about Spanish vs Italian game. And it goes as far as national masters at least. I myself prefer Italian. Especially in blitz which I happen to play the most. If I play Spanish it is because I have saw grandmasters doing it. In fact I rarale even play e4-e5 from both sides nowadays. Since I stick to D4 with white and Sicilian or Carrocan with black in response to E4.

I was crying from laughter by minute 22 or so. Hilarious analysis

"Many of you are familiar with Steve Davis, the snooker player." Ben never fails to make me laugh, often within the first minute of his videos xD

2nd comment... @4:14.... GM Ben Finegold is preaching the truth right here. In fact, I find myself laughing.

Don’t who is who, just stumbled into this and I could not get past how much drink the speaker can gulp in one talk. Wholly cow !

"Wait for my book Cheat like a grandmaster. Co-written by Borislav Ivanov- *shakes fist at the sky* -who's not a grandmaster!"

13:55 Love how Ben likes to break the fourth wall.

These are great lessons, entertaining, and engaging. Thank you.

Ben you explain things good buddy. Keep it up and thank you 👍

Funny how people never took about "greed" when it's good to take something - only when it's a mistake.

23:47 "What's the lecture topic today?" ........TERRIBLE!

Still more Finegold please.

At 15:00, after KxD5 then D4, what is white supposed to do when ExD4? It seems strong for black.

Ah yes, this week's lesson from four years ago. Right on time

20:16 "Black played a move I've never seen before [in the Scotch] 3. . . . d5." . . . If Ben would have read Nimzovich's "My System" he would have seen this move discussed in chapter one.

30:39 He must have an eagle eye to see this desparado. What a legend.

21:49 This kid gave him a heart attack

No one laughs at his jokes but they’re hilarious, I think his crowd is a bit dull

4:52 Finegold has just asked which two players where involved in a Worldchampionshipmatch in the year 2000. He chooses someone among the audience to answer the question. The guy answers Kasparov and Kramnik. Finegold replies that it´s correct, looks slightly surprised and asks the guy if he´s feeling allright. That´ so funny. Had I been the guy I would have said: " - Of course I followed your advice and drank a lot of Ayahuasca! It works man!" Ha Ha Ha

Omg why is no one laughing at these funny af jokes??

Never been to St Louis Chess Club, and think I never will. But I'm SO CURIOUS of where the Kingside Diner Classroom is, and is there Queenside Diner in there?

Joseph Heller wrote Catch 22 if memory serves me correctly.

I swear, Professor Finegold is developing Lectures that are going to make for an amazing tome! Can you imagine how beautiful a 770 page Book entitled: 1. e4 e5: A Discussion (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 20??).

GM Finegold's comedy rating is 3100 ELO. Just hilarious.

I couldn't help but think of curb your enthusiasm when GM Finegold talked about the GM turned lawyer is Sweden... "I got sweeded!"

I never knew uncle Fetzer was such a brilliant mind!!

Just saw the 1st 3min....already may fav presenter !

34:15 This has nothing to do with chess, but the second biggest city in France is Marseille, not Lyon. I had to say something.

@7:13, why does white castle and leave the pawn undefended?

It turns out that e4 e5 is a complex opening, alot of tactics right from the beginning

Whenever he says very suspicious to an obvious blunder😂😂

One of the funniest commentators out there period if biting Wit was an elo Ben would be in the candidates with Jan and Lawrence !

"You are 2/3rds right" .... So sick.

actually marseille is the second biggest city in france i think lyon is fourth after montpellier. but nice content i like to play against the ruy lopez like you

Steve davis won 6 world championships in the 80s but still cool to hear him mentioned here

Does anyone know what chess engine or database that Ben uses?

Terrific video. Thank-you!

what was that kid saying at 40:28 that look on bens face..

I like this just because of what you said about the legend Steve Davis

This is one seriously cool guy :)

Ben is actually so funny in this lecture it hurts

That gulping at 17:30 was serious

"If it's not legal you can try it anyway"

I know its just a quote but rather than say "If you want to become world champion you have to play 1.e4 e5." I would just say to become the best player one can he should learn how to play symmetrical pawn positions and understand the strategies involved in doing so. Two works were very instrumental to me in learning symmetrical pawn positions, Mastering The Spanish by Daniel King and The Middlegame volumes 1 and 2 by Euwe and Kramer. I highly recommend the latter due to the fact that the classical games are very instructive in understanding the errors that were made by those players and how improvements have been made over the years.

39.52 pawn takes queen why is that illegal??

Thanks! Great professor.

Ben, isn't the position where white sacrifes the pawn on b2 for development the Icemandic gambit?

LOL!! I love that the video description says this is an "intriguing talk about the most common amateur opening", even though Wei Yi and Magnus Carlsen played an e4,e5 opening recently and grandmasters have been been playing e4,e5 for decades. Was this description an attempt at irony?

I love both snooker and chess.

I wonder if he's had the same position with white and black at the same time on any of his simus.

This was a good lecture.

At 25:22 bxf2 seems to good to allow for me, what is the refutation?

Hi ! Thank you for the videos ! Why did you move to Belgium in 1988 ? I am half-belgian, half-russian, and I was curious.

Who's the person in Chicago? 😃

What or who is Mycomer, (or is it Mike Hammer?) that he often mentions

It makes me queasy every time he drinks. The mic is too close.

What a elites

Snucker is a new sport to me

What engine and UI are you guys using for your lectures?

Is his enemy Eric??

I'm pretty sure Marseille is the second biggest city in France by a good bit.

At 31:58 why cant the black bishop just take the queen after white plays e5?

Is that Arjun asking those questions?

Thanks, i was actually waiting for this discussion for a long time. I think e4 e5 is still solid, but ofc, out of super gm range.

Isn't Marseille the second largest city in France???

If you’re not sure, then take things. Also, never trade. Only grandmasters can understand such wisdom.