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Quality of game review in this channel is so far ahead of what you get on those popular channel. Amazing stuff indeed from Daniel. Great game from Pragg(or middling one from Ding). Ding is yet to show how good he is as a world champion.
yes he is the best. just knows so much about how opening evolved, great understanding and not saying "Stockfish" or "engine" all the time because he doesn't need it to explain the ideas of the game.
I met Pragg two weeks back! He is now sponsored by a company where I work, sneaked in to meet him with coach R B Ramesh. Such a shy person Pragg is! Both him and GM Ramesh are absolute gem. So humble. Took out 5 mins to chat with me on controversies around the chess world and future of Indian chess. Absolutely thrilled about Indian chess at international level.
Yes, it is a win with black against the world champion, but it still took a great opening, very good middle game plan and good endgame technique to overcome Ding.
Love the examples of how the pawn structures can arise from the different openings really great to learn how similar plans can be used because of this. Amazing as always!
Now, I'm not even remotely qualified to assess this sort of things. But I remember watching experts talking about how WCC GM Ding Liren was still a little bit "weak" in the endgame phase, at the very early stages of his career, when he was already otherwise recognized as a complete prodigy. Maybe his months of absence from high level OTB tournaments, after winning the World Championship, is showing just in that phase of the game that comes slightly less natural to him? (I thought about this in comparison to what a similar situation could mean for a player like Carlsen, whose strength in the endgame has been a feature since he was a kid) Thanks for your videos!
"Who knows what's going on with Ding at the moment?" ..was such a perfectly elegant subtlety... I'm not remotely kidding .. the MORE one knows about Ding and his History over the last few years, the More you share common thoughts with Mr. King (thoughts of concern and community and actual curiosity.. even a sense of playfulness) and the LESS one knows about Ding, the MORE it's over one's Head, none of one's Business and ultimately can only be taken on face value. ..for me, as an American, there's always a subtext on this channel .. that I'm going to learn something about civility or demeanor or aspects of gentlemanliness ... I even learn more about Storytelling skills ...
Thanks for the great coverage! Giving away the winner spoils it for me. Perhaps, it's worth running a poll on your channel (if you haven't already) to learn how many people are concerned about it as well?
Sometimes I leave viewers in suspense, sometimes I don't. I am not the quickest with my reports, so it is surprising if those watching are unaware of the result. I'll continue as I am: judging it each time according to my mood :)
It's rather incredible to me that the position after c5 is so mirrored in many ways, but it feels like black won some moves along the way. The knights are mirrored, the bishops are mirrored, kings and queens are mirrored; white has played Re1 and black has played Rb8. And yet somehow, black has three pawns on the fourth rank to two for white, and both players have three on the second rank. It feels crazy to ask this, but if the a6 b5 ideas allow black to so cleanly win at least one full tempo off the world champion playing white, had Ding already misplayed to reach that position, or is the Spanish just white giving away a clean tempo to preserve that Spanish bishop on a good square like c2? If black gets to put the bishop on a similarly good diagonal... what gives?
There are of course huge amounts of subleties both in the Ruy and the Giucco Piano, and in the comparison between both. Very general, though: One of the ideas of the Ruy is to provoke the advance of black's queenside pawns, as those later on can often prove to become weaknesses. And, white's King is often in less danger than in the Giucco Piano. But, yes: 5.d3 is more a line to get a playable, complicated, and equal position than a way to go for any opening advantage: - Bc1-e3 instead of Carlsen's d3-d4 already tips the balance in black's favor.
@@Badbentham Thanks for the response! Knowing to look more closely at 5.d3 as the culprit is helpful, as I do normally like the 5.d3 ideas. Black also gets d6, but still wins a tempo in there somewhere, but I definitely believe you d3 is the move that "loses the tempo." Seems a steep price to avoid the open.
Smooth N' Easy is the wat Capablanca played the Spanish Game as did Fischer, Karpov and Magnus. So now we can add Pragg to the list. Will he become Champion like his famous predecessors??
It's Pragg who should inspire Magnus to return to classical, not Alizera. By that, when he returns, Pragg could be a monster. His biggest advantage compared to Wesley, another chess genius, is that he has had a great mentor in the person of GM Ramesh, whose instructional book I just found. Wesley So had a great GM coach from Ukraine. It was a fruitful partnership but unfortunately lasted only 1.5 years. Wesley needs someone like Ramesh. He's already 30. Pragg is maybe 18. Pragg at 21-22, and Magnus at 36-37, it will be an advantage to Pragg. Either he or Alireza, if they both continue to develop, could likely dethrone Magnus. And in 15-18 years, it might be the coronation of that 8-year old girl Bodhana(?) from England.
the best ad for the kalashnikow you could think of. what a simple midgame for black. that's why I don't like the Sicilian as an e4 player. black gets early fun on the semiopen c file and quite obvious minority attacks on the queen side while white should come up with creative ways of breaking open the king side. so I avoid the open Sicilian. this however looked even worse. white had no activity at all.
There is no video of that game! I just mentioned it at the end as it fitted the theme. However, I did include it in my book on the Kalashnikov: www.newinchess.com/king-s-kalashnikov-sicilian ...and also my Chessable course on the Kalashnikov: www.chessable.com/kings-kalashnikov-sicilian/course/78873/
@@PowerPlayChess Thanks GM King, unfortunately I am a Sicilian dragon player. Your ChessBase powerplay series has been quite helpful for me otherwise. Thanks for the speedy response.
One thing that is evident here is complete lack of energy from white side. Ding tried to defend with best moves, instead he should have tried to be dynamic, maybe attack. The whole game was very depressing. The opening from white side is suspect if one suboptimal moves bring on miserable hours for white.
Pragg will dethrone someone, whoever he is, in 2026 or 2028. But in 12-16 years, this 8-year old girl from England will beat them all. Time to switch to Fischer Random Classical to stop the teenager deluge. No memorised openings, no technology advantage. Pure talent will rise. This will happen, no kidding!
Pragg.🌟 But I sincerely hope that Gukesh instead of being the swashbuckler ALL the time developes the patience to play positionally as well and be ready to grind it out if need be.
Carlsen move a4 takes b5 is the one to be done, ,Ding didn't want to move that just bc Carlsen said it, just infantile!!! Ding never took the initiative with white, that's not champion material, even I can say that( 400pusher here. )Ding's move Be3 was the bridge to no where and to lose both bishops.. Next time move like daddy Carlsen say!!!, ok??
Not to take away from Pray, he's a great player. But Ding really isn't a world champion caliber. He has the title, but barely. His match against Nepo was so disappointing. They both kept losing by blunders. Ding got lucky the last game to win. I still can't believe Nepo made it back to the championship. His match against was one sided as well. Sorry, Ding is a great person. But I don't believe he's at champion level and will lose the championship to the next candidate. I could be wrong.
