How Magnus REINVENTED Chess and Became #1 

One of the most epiphany-level realizations I had in my quest for a 2200 rating was that the purpose of the opening was NOT to get an advantage (it's great if you do!), but to simply get a sound middlegame that I knew "how to play". How-to-play means that you understand 1) where the pieces are best placed in relation to the pawn structure 2) what the most common tactical motifs are in the position 3) where the pawn breaks and levers are and 4) where your king is the safest. This last one is a hallmark of Magnus's play -- his king is always safe BEFORE he does anything active. If you combine all this this with studying pawn structures and pawn theory (holes, weak squares, color complexes, backward pawns, open files, etc.) and basic endgame theory (knights vs bishops, basic rook endings, king triangulation and critical squares, etc.), your rating will explode -- guaranteed.

It's amazing how quickly Magnus makes a 2700 player look like an amateur

You do produce very informative and compelling commentaries. Thank you very much.

Fischer was also a master of the end game.

Solid information and well presented. Thanks for the video! I would enjoy watching a Nezhmetdinov or Tal game from you as well

Magnus does one thing. Target opponent ponds. Have more pawns at the end game so you can promote to queen

This is becoming my favourite chess channel, just after a few videos seen.

than you for the great clarification.

Club level players spend far too much energy and time on the opening because let’s face it, it’s the most “fun” part of the game. Just getting a playable game and focusing on middle/end game is the way to go, at least it did for me. Thanks for the game John!

Fantastic lesson! Didn't his dad write an endgame book or something?

Great comments and good game has been chosen as well. Thank you.

i think kasparov said of Magnus, he is a deadly combination of karpov and Fischer

How about Bobby Fischer...he invented the Fischer Random Chess or the so-called Chess 960? Only him introduced this kind of chess game...wherein chess pieces at the back rank are placed in a non-standard positions.

No immediate check advantage of atleast on move. Nice game to watch,thanks.

Clear explanation. Very instructive, thank you

That's why Magnus has no Rival like Hikaru Nakamura said!

A very comprehensible breakdown of an interesting game, thank you!

Another useful tip. More than a tip -- a game strategy. Thanks CD!

amazing content, congrats!

thanks so much for the time that you put into this production

Love your videos brother. Wonder if you would give us your opinion on the current candidate's situation. A few players are making custom tournaments to artificially boost their ratings and sneak into the candidates via the rating slots.

Actually Qd3 is still theory

Is it at all possible for you to give us a few seconds to guess Magnus’s NEXT MOVE! The ENGINE SAYS! Thanx

At 3:51 - why does black mit Take the pawn at F2?

Criminally Black didn't bring his queen side rook into the game until it was too late. Get all your pieces working! Create more threats and bring more power to the point of trade. A piece just sitting there looking pretty might as well be off the board.

In chess, the openings and middle games are just distractions. Only the END GAME matters.

There’s nothing unique (to chess) about the way Magnus approached the game, and it was frankly the obvious thing to do. Lots of strategy-based competitions have cyclical plans of attack. In American football, there was a formation called the wildcat that was effective decades ago (the ball gets hiked to a running back, effectively giving the offense an extra player under the circumstances). It fell out of favor when opposing coaches solved it. Then, when the formation and all its plays faded past the institutional memory of all the practicing coaches, the Miami Dolphins brought it back and made the playoffs for the first time in forever. By leveling up his end games, Magnus did sort of the same a thing. Oh- you guys only know how to play great openings now? Welp.. what if I don’t cooperate? Guess what. I’m gonna force you to beat me in an end game if you hope to win. That’s what I’VE been practicing because I decided that Grandmaster A beating Grandmaster B because A knew the first 14 moves of an obscure opening when B only knew the first 13. That’s not chess. You guys are just having flowchart memorization match-ups and it’s boring. (Obviously i don’t know his actual thought process, but that’s how it poetically plays out in my mind lol)

Thank-you

great channel

Double flank and multifaceted time overlap geometry

I don't know why, but you look like my best friend or close relative!!

Ben finegold,jodith polgar, Kasparov..are early mentor of magnus when he is 10 years old.

good video

nice

2nd. Call me the king. Gambit this. Castles long. Open game. BacROT

tell me how they train the computer games, don't they just study past games? and can't come up with their own original game?

Magnus is a boring robot

Great analysis

Nice game sir❤❤

Well, one thing you missed to point out is that Magnus knows most of openings. He adopted this style in order to provoke an imbalance and to build on it. But he could not do this if he was not expert in openings also. He needs to know the opening in order to assess when is the optimal time to deviate from it.

I like Magnus and Fischer games best- Good job

I love your postings. 80% because your analysis is so instructive, 10% because you do games I remember from my youth (you know, when you said things like p-K4) and not just the stars, and the final 10% because I just luv that akcent - sounds like a real cowboy to my terribly British ear, old chap.

It's unbelievable. I have seen Etienne litterally crush so many players. He's a real great great champion. But Magnus is playing on God level...

Spectacular example of the GOAT's methods. Cold blooded efficiency.

"I don't think the opening is that important. It's what you do after it that counts." - Magnus

Great stuff dawg!

Couldn't you argue that Kramnik's style of play also emphasized the endgame before Carlsen became one of the best players in the world?

I'm 750 so I'm not gonna pretend to know anything. I enjoy the endgame though. In my skill level, aka the land of blunders, anything is possible lol

I love this channel and I would like to know the name of this chess commentator because his analyzes are excellent.

i guess the computer games have evolved, I think they are just following new grand master play

Magnus really took what I taught him and blossomed with it...