I feel like Eric plays in different galaxy then me. When I play 10mins, I feel like I rush and then I loose 2 minutes on opponent. Eric calmly describes every move, sip tea and still has plenty of time
probably because these never go into endgames where you make the pawns dance around with rooks or some minor pieces creating complications. when you can pretty much always checkmate around middle game, 10 mins is plenty.
Hi Eric, just wanna say that you are the best chess content creator out there and I hope to see you more and more and more. I love how you explain all the process and I would love to watch some 20/30 min guide on every opening with specific detail and your preparation. Happy to say that just by watching you I gain 200 points in blitz. (I'm still trash but enjoying the game thanks to you)
I like your word choice of "taunt" to describe when a piece (especially an undefended or valuable piece) provokes an enemy piece that would have easily captured it if only it wasn't pinned
Maybe we can expand upon that with an absolute taunt and a relative taunt, depending on if tauntee is pinned or if taking the taunter is legal but a massive blunder (e.g. "on no my queen" at 30:00) respectively. The important criteria of course is that the taunter can't be threatening the tauntee... just taunting it. So maybe 30:00, the queen is technically threatening to take the pawn but not in practice so I think might qualify.
There was a funny line after Nb3 at 6:05 - Nc4 (oh no my bishop😯) if white takes the bishop on c5 there is Qd6 forking the knight and Qg3# then everything for white except for moving the queen away from the king is forced mate i think 🤔
Another amazing video! This series has really helped inspire me to expand my openings repertoire from always playing D4 to including E4 as well and I've watched you explain how to punish the caro bishop f5 move, but I don't think it really cemented until this video.. this really helps as I now play the two knights and I play carokann as black and I struggle against the two knights the most! It's so nice to learn why it's bad when playing as both black and white.
Its funny to hear Eric talk about all these gambits and positional ideas , tactics....meanwhile the opponent is thinking " I see a check so...check ! " or " I see an undefended pawn , ok Ill take it " Its like listening to a guy describe how his opponent could build a jet fighter and fire missles ....while the opponent is just looking around for a rock to throw.
I have been trying to figure out why I enjoy watching and listening to Eric but I cannot pinpoint the reason. His voice is boring and a bit monotone yet I love listening to him, the content itself is basically the same format usually and I do not get tired at all from it. So I am not exactly sure as to why I love his content and hope it will never change.
I don't think the guy in 2nd game blundered on last move. It was probably on purpose to see if you were cheating. Good thing he'll get the message and rating points back. I sometimes do that to see how fast opponent will take the free piece when I get thoughtfully dominated even though I thought I was playing well.
17:05 If c6 Qb7 Nd7 Nxd7, black has a couple of difficult only moves to keep the advantage. The first one is Nf3+, where the knight can't be taken due to Qg5+. And after Kh1 there's Bd6, with ideas of Qh4 and Rd8 to win the knight.
On that second game, I think I've had this position sometimes with Black, and I think I never found Ng5 winning a piece, very instructive!! keep it up !!
Hi Eric, I clicked on this video because on the thumbnail, I saw the caro kann line I had recently prepared for a tournament game. You showed the line with Qh5... after the game, I just wanted to point out that Qf3 actually is better than Bc4 since after Qf3 Nf6 Qb3 you will win the b7 pawn, whilst after Bc4 e6 Qe2 is going to be able to hold onto all their pawns. Though it is to note that after Qf3 Nf6 Qb3 Nd5 Qxb7 Nb6 you need to know the cutting edge lines going something like a4/b4 to save your queen. So I agree that this Bc4 line is definetly good but if you want to play this in a serious situation you should definetly look at this Qb3 line. I dont want to be the smarthead here but I was just excited to finally add my wisdom 😂😂😂 Oh also I forgot if your opponent goes Qd5 instead of Nd5 you can give up your knight so you really really need to know the theory there
Better move at 8:29 may have been Black Knight on F6, to E4, which threatens White Knight on H3 and the Rook on H1 (on the next move). Of course Eric wins anyway, so there’s that...
Oh!! Snap!! Rosen is taunting Hans Nieman! Calling out poor Hans to show up at the st louis club, since thats the only invitation hans will ever get there!
The Caro-Kann seems to have a lot of traps. I usually go for Fantasy variation as white, but nowadays most players at my level don't play into it, probably suffered too many bad defeats. Opting for unusual moves that are hard for me to organize a game plan against, since they are many variations. I still however have more success against C-K than I used to when I first started playing online. The C-K, the Sicillian and the French used to give me trouble. I now have moderate success against Sicilian with an unusual but legit opening close to 50%-50% evaluation. The French is still trouble for me. I should learn some Greek Gifts Ideas...
Good luck to all your opponents on the 24th, I wish I could make it but I work weekend duty. I’m stationed at Scott AFB in Illinois! Thanks for the great content buddy
I would come, but I have to study for the Bar Exam which is on Tuesday. Say hi to Julian, Caleb, John, and Jacob for me tho (also Carlos if you know who that is)
8:56 Isn't there Qxf4 instead? I know there's still Qd3 but there's other choices like Bf5 attacking the queen and allowing the a rook to come out with tempo
and ya love to see it. i used to find the Caro Kann so boring and tough to play against but these days there's like an 80% chance a CK player has no idea what they're doing. thanks, Levy!
You would be wrong about scholar's mate at this level. This is my level mid 1300's. I actually play SM as white. I think it's a legit opening. I rarely have anybody fall for it on move 4 thought sometimes win by move 8 - 12. But really I play it because I know it so well and have my best winning % with it, even if no quick wins.
c5 is playable and keeps the advantage, but white's queen goes back to b5, forcing black to block with the knight and gives white the initiative. Better are Bd6 and Nd7, though it can get quite sharp after that.
