The stupid, gratuitous insults of Fischer, who was obviously mentally ill at that point, are just Ben embarrassing himself. What a disgrace. It's surprising St. Louis Chess would include this video on their site.
Yeah!!! Ben is back!!! And Arjun! Hit the like button before even watching. Ben you are the best chess youtuber on the planet. Please launch your own channel.
+Jonathan Marin Just this one for now but there are 2 more videos in the Finegold playlist that are "private" so I would guess these would come out over the next few days.
+Maks Rosebuster He went through an episode where he deleted his youtube channel, twitter etc... guess he needed time to get over whatever was bothering him. www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/3rr4uj/ben_finegolds_yt_account_is_deleted/
At 18:34 "Korchnoi and his trainers hadn't solved the dragon yet" that may be due to the fact that Korchnoi was being stonewalled by other GMs who refused to help him, in part because Petrosian claimed Korchnoi could never defeat Fischer. It's impossible to say whether Korchnoi would've won the match if he did have top level seconds helping him, but instead eventually had to settle for the assistance of two British IMs and still wound up almost drawing the match. Karpov used to be one of my favorite players, but it seems his staid nationalism and the behavior of his contemporaries to prevent Korchnoi from having a fair match, has left a perturbed taste in my mouth. (Whatever perturbed tastes like...)
I learned what the "Karpov style of play" was here through the examples given in the Korchnoi/Karpov lecture. By the way, I totally agree that if you can't see through the complications of counterplay and you have a winning advantage already, there is no need to take the sacrifice.
They did believe at the time that this was the championship. Fischer had resigned the world title in June 1974. Robert Byrne went around telling everybody in Moscow during this match that they were in fact playing for the World Championship. Fischer himself admitted that his 9-9 tie clause was unfair, but that he wasn't going to back down anyway. (See Chess Life & Review, July 1975). In hindsight it looks like Fischer wasn't going to play anybody, under any circumstances. (That's why he resigned the title before his challenger was selected, so people couldn't say he was ducking any one specific person). Fischer never intended to give up the title over the 9-9 clause. He resigned the title right after FIDE had voted to limit the match to 36 games. Fischer wanted to give up the title over the Unlimited Match, which, despite how badly it worked out, I still think was worth trying. Had that happened, history would have been a lot kinder to Fischer. (The Unlimited Match isn't *unfair*, just a bad idea) But when FIDE relented at the 11th hour, and granted the Unlimited Match, the admittedly unfair 9-9 clause was the only thing left to walk out over.
In 75 Karpov certainly would have had a decent chance v Fischer. Was Fischer really up for playing him after a break, and if so why didn't he? Did he not have some mental instability? Would he automatically have been as good as in 69-72? And even if so, Karpov was no pushover. Kasparov improved through playing Karpov, who would surely have improved by playing Fischer, though he demonstrated his great quality over the next decade. Anyway, enjoyable video, thanks.
All matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration. We are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Right, Arjen?
21:08 - best moment! I always thought Anish Giri games were boring, but my word doesn't mean much. Now I'm backed by GM Ben Finegold. I also have a friend who's strong and also thinks Giri's games are rarely interesting to follow. But when I criticise Giri's play style for being boring, people in the chats usually say rubbish like "if you don't like Giri's games, it means you don't understand chess"... Pfff... Terrible.
It's strange how Korchnoi seemed to be the 2nd best (active) player in the 1970s when he was in his 40s, yet I haven't heard much mention of him during his 20s and 30s in the Botvinik-Petrosian-Spassky era when presumably he would be have been a little stronger? I know there were a ton of strong Soviets at that time but he never seems to be mentioned among them.
Interesting question but, given Korchnoi's extremely long career, almost impossible to answer. Maybe he was less naturally talented than f.i. Petrosian, Tal or Spassky, but, already as a young kid, he decided to devote his life to chess and nothing but chess, so he kept on studying, learning, battling, struggling and surviving. Born in 1931, USSR youth champion in 1947, and 6th in his first USSR overall championship in 1952 (ahead of f.i. Bronstein, Smyslov and Keres!), Korchnoi finally won his first famous tournament in 1956 (Hastings), became USSR champion in 1960, was with the leading pack during the Candidates Tournament of Curaçao 1962 where he eventually fell tired because of the extreme tropical circumstances. He suffered from an ulcer, took a rest, came back and was incredibly strong in the 2nd half of the 1960s. USSR champion again in 1965 (ahead of Bronstein, Tal, Stein, Cholmov, Shamkovich and Averbach) and winning huge tournaments in Erevan 1965 (ahead of f.i. Petrosian, Stein, Portisch, Filip and Averbach), Gyula 1965 (14,5 points out of 15 games!), Sochi 1966 (ahead of Polugeavsky, Krogius and Spassky), Leningrad 1967 and Wijk aan Zee 1968 (just to mention a few). He qualified again for the candidates matches, beating Reshevsky and Tal, and lost the final against Spassky. Qualified again 3 years later, defeating Mecking and losing the semi-finals to Petrosian. Already around that time, 1971/1972, some chess insiders said "Viktor is now 40+ of age, we think that he will never be able to become world champion, despite the fact that he's been a top player for 20 years already." But the 'West World' only really got to know him after 1976, when he won the Amsterdam tournament and asked for policital asylum afterwards. Apparently the 'old man' felt free and liberated after that decision and he became an even stronger player at the age of 45 already… well, I guess that Korchnoi's story after his escape from the USSR and eventually becoming a Swiss citizen, is very well documented and well known in the international chess world. I've always been a huge fan of his ferocious battling attitude, but I think he was also a very complex and difficult person. He was also known for his daunting 'battles' with the chess clock. Korchnoi was really famous for his time trouble problems. Along with Tarrasch, Bronstein and Keres, Korchnoi was among the best chess players who never became world champion. When I heard he died, I really felt sad. But Korchnoi will for ever remain immortal, thanks to his games. Rarely settling for a draw, and always searching for the most complex solutions, both for his opponent and himself.
Ben you have simply got the best and real answer about the reason why Fischer/Karpov match didn't happen.. It's a sad truth for many chess fans but unfortunately that's exactly what happened... The whole US and especially the US chess confederation should have taken Fischer's illness more seriously instead of chasing him and exiling him from his own country. And of course you know who was the moron behind those punishments ==> Bush.
i really like your videos and all of the channel but these videos are ways too large, it doesnt have to go for more than 20-30 minutes max in order to be a practice way to learn, thanks