Push Only Pawns And Win A Chess Game 

Really different game played here, a lesson for those who think pawns are worthless

I feel like this guy made it a life goal to win a game by going against every opening principle possible.

only moves pawns, develops queen first, castles long, sacs 3 exchanges, wins by resignation. LEGEND!!!

The issue is that because everyone generally follow the opening principles, we rarely practice what to do if our opponent does not.

Is it weird that I think that a pawn only game fits the look of Emil Diemer? He looks like an ancient chess master who lives in the mountains who is approached by an ambitious young chess prodigy and is like "Son, you are not ready yet." and beats him with only pawns.

The reason this was such a good breakdown is that you showed why certain moves weren't played. You played out what would happen if they were. That was good for seeing what was really happening - in the mental arena. You uncovered the mental battle ground. Your commentary on the chess computer's opinion at each point was great too. It built anticipation fantastically while educating on the facts. I came back again to comment because I loved this.

It's amazing how the pawns sent the knights to retreat and ended up locking the knights and their Bishops from moving forward.

I love that the B2 pawn never moved the whole game

This was exactly why I said the pawn is the most powerful piece on the board, their disposable, promotable and very easy to use for both offence and defense at the same time. This guy maximized the potential of the pawns showing their overlooked advantages at its finest 👏👏

I feel like there is a backstory to this game. They probably knew each other & Diemer know Thomas would be passive. He used that to his advantage.

I just won 3 out of 5 games by pushing only pawns....seemed like it really threw people a curve ball.

Diemer was a chess fanatic and open tournament nomad. This game was played in the 80s at an Open in Nürnberg. Because he missed the price money (there were several GM and IM playing, and the tournament was short) he couldn't pay his hotel bill - so there was a "fundraiser" among the players in the end :D. Heiling was about Oberliga strength (below 2nd Bundesliga). Diemer's agressive and unconventional play made him very dangerous against weaker players. Especially young players often derive a lot of their strength from theory knowledge. Leaving these paths early diminished these players' strength, and reduced them to their own thinking and tactical prowess. Also imagine the psychological burden of being at the receiving end of such a line. Very uncomfortable. It was not the only unconventional game he played in this tournament, but the most spectacular. His entertainment value was definitely high, so the fundraiser was successful.

When your main line experienced members are on a LUNCH BREAK & you have to manage the war with NEW JOINEE INTERNS!

That was an incredible game! Thank you for sharing this. I was utterly kind blown and on the edge of my seat watching it unfold

Very interesting game using a strategy I might have used after too many drinks, but hell, it worked! I guess it threw Heiling off his game trying to figure out what in the hell Diemer was doing. Enjoyed your breakdown. Subbed.

Is it just me or does anyone get a brain cramp when watching players make super quick moves? This content is perfect for me. Great video

when i first started playing i would do something like this, advancing pawns like a madman and i got to 650. Then I started to learn a bit of theory and "properly" develop. This is when I started to lose games and i got quickly to 400s.

New to chess, this is definitely the best breakdown of a game I've ever watched

Pawns are more powerful than people give credit. Yeah they move vertical unless when capturing, but the thing that makes them powerful is that anyone of them can be promoted to either a bishop, castle or queen.

Very interesting game. I'm surprised I've never seen it analyzed before. I really appreciate you sharing this.

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This probably one of the weirdest games ive seen but then became one of the more complex one with beautiful complicated moves by white. That was very impressive play by both but specially Heiling. Thx for sharing this :)

Happy to find your channel, was looking for videos on pushing/passing pawns even though I shouldn't I have been having fun opening with pushing and developing as little as possible for a while, just to focus on pawns for a bit. It has been Really Fun, and caused some fun games. Great Video, thanks for sharing it. I just subbed and shared it with a buddy. cheers.

I want everyone to know. This guy woke up 1 day and decided he wanted to go down in history by humiliating someone else.

Man Thomas missed some incredible simple pawn steals

Thank you very much for your explanations of the what ifs. That was really great!

Well done. Clear, concise, informative. Subscribed.

Great video, comprehensive explanation of game and alternative moves. One of the best I've seen.

Great video, really like the fact that you showed how certain scenarios would play out in case of a specific move.

In hindsight, black should have slaughtered some of those pawns earlier instead of playing footsies.

Thank you for posting this! I've run into this strategy a couple of times, and it's been tricky as hell to figure out how to respond. Having this game to study will be a big help. 🙂👍

Subbed. This was the first vid I've seen from your channel and I really enjoyed the game, your delivery and pace!

Wow! He mastered him. Simplicity is so powerful. Like drops of water.

Using only pawns will eventually get you in trouble with a skilled chess player.

Incredible game, thanks for the pointer's on why certain moves weren't played.

Thank you for the detailed explanation and strageies. It was really helpful.

In Starcraft, this would be like Zealot rushing early so hard that you prevent your opponent's natural expansion.

That was a great game! I like the play that tests the limits of strategy!

Legendary match! Great video, thanks for posting!

Truly a pushing P moment

And I thought I was over committing my pawns to often 😂

My two cents: One: the aim of developing one's pieces in chess revolves around the thoughts of power projection, board control, and having pieces defending and supporting each other. Most modern strategies do this by punching holes past one's own pawn line and squeezing their back rank pieces past. Emil simply does this by advancing his pawns. Why does it work here? The back rank pieces are still supporting the pawn structure by simply *being there*. Emil was moving his pawns forward in ways that reflect this. Two: there is one principle that Emil doesn't break. That principle being the importance of pawns in the endgame... Particularly passed pawns. Now all of the early game pawn moves pay off: Emil has more than enough passed pawns to get a key promotion at a critical time putting black in an impossible situation. As an added bonus: there is still a pawn on b2 for the king to hide behind to avoid perpetual rook checks in the endgame.

Now I'm opening with only pawns every game.

This is a great strategy in bullet games. Your baffled opponents will waste time trying to figure out what to do since mostly all they see is book openings.

I was cheering like it was a UFC match. Thanks for making such an enjoyable and suspenseful video

And he sacrifices HIS PIECES DEVELOPMENT!!!!!!!

Thank you for going through this game

I really enjoyed this. Thanks for sharing.

What a great way to see what would happen if he just pushed all your pawns- without actually having to play the game.

9:30 and now diemer decides... to sacrifice... THE ROOOOOK

A great game with an excellent commentary, thank you and good luck with your RU-vid chess site.,

clear and concise. Cheers!

Power of the wee guys, united we stand, divided we fall :) Brilliantly unusual game, thanks!

What if grandmasters were 100 ELO

I've gone nuts with my pawns, but not so crazy it's genius.

Sometimes I think it is the play of the pawns that is the sleeper way to win in this game.

Really unique! Thanks!

Great video and definitely a great game. It's truly one of a kind! Edit: And he sacrifices, THE QUEEN

I love how you explain all the possible moves as I can't see past 2 moves haha you earned my sub sir!!!

You did a very good job explaining.

7:39 Bishop to f4 also traps the black knight on h1. It can be snagged later.

As far as formatting goes, you should position the portraits of the player in relation to their position on the board. Or otherwise color code them. Emil’s portrait should be on the white side of the board or otherwise marked White

This felt like watching a snake slowly squeezing the life out of its victim.

One of the best chess videos on the internet.

Don't try this against Magnus Carlsen

what a great game, very unconventional opening. I'm impressed!

Totally enjoyable and done very well!

Very cool game thanks for showing

Black messed up in the 12th move for not using 6b to eat 5a

I play this way much lately and it is super fun.

Fantastic commentary and an amazing game. Subscribed

Thank you very much that was informative clear concise to the point not a lot of wasting my time so I appreciate that.

And it was in this position, on move number 17, that Diemer pushed another pawn.

I think this guy was just having fun. It’s also good theory to break “rules” like opening theory because it forces new positions and causes chaos. I imagine his opponent was used to playing on auto pilot and Emil took full advantage of that.

Awesome game. Loved & Subbed!

Might as well call this "bishop is manager, horse is general manager; queen, king and castle are general executives"

Emil Joseph Diemer being a Giga-RU-vid this game. Good on him!

Wow incredible really enjoyed this game being it was so different it did look like quite the offensive game by white pushing those pawns he was bringing it to his opposition wonderfully Well done nice change of pace 🤩

very rarely will your opponent play what black played here, in order to allow the steamroll

Fascinating game. Great video

One of the greatest games I played that wow'd me was checkmating my opponent without taking any of his pieces. Wised I took a picture of it but yea, lol. It was a great game for me

Would disagree with the notion that no major pieces were developed early. The two bishops diagonals were quite free just by pushing the pawns away. That should count as development as well :)

Interesting to learn. Thanks🙏

Very instructive!❤

The algorithm brought me here, and this looks good. Hope you get some proper views!

5:37 if he moves his knight to g5 and his queen to f6 white can checkmate correct?

Excellent video. If I could make a suggestion, it would be nice to see the players ELO ratings on the side next to their picture. It’s just an extra nugget of information that makes the story / game more interesting. Also, maybe do like a 1 or 2 minute history background for which the game occurred. Was it an exhibition match? Was it in some tournament? Of course I could look up all that information, but if you provided it that would make the video more appealing. My favorite chess channel is Agadmator’s. He does a lot of those things I just mentioned. Just a suggestion. Great job on the video!

He was like I'm just gonna be a silly guy

Beautiful game and analysis. Buy black basically threw away the game with 16.fxg5 instead of taking back on b5. Allowing connected past pawn is a big mistake. He would have pressure on a5 pawn, semi opened A file. His pieces would come alive and he would be able to castle no matter what white plays.

wait wait wait I reached a similar position to this where I literally locked down his every. single. piece. and then it was hunting time with Bishop entering the game and eating away his pieces he resigned before we could reach such a beautiful end game

Very interesting game. Thank you for sharing with us!

Subbed. Keep up the good work!

Funny this was recommended to me today as last night I was just messing around online and just kept pushing my pawns and ended up winning with a checkmate moving my queen to H8 on move 20 or so (King had not moves and no pieces to block).

Fun game :D I wanna mention, that 4:14 c4 stops black playing c4 and giving him Nc5 ideas to solve the queenside developement.

I've just used the same strategy and completely controlled the game and won with a lot more points. Thanks for the video.

Great video well done. Thank you

I love it when people try this at my rating, im a little over 1000. They end up over extending their pawns, while im developing minor pieces, and it goes down hill from there for them..

Beautiful game. I wonder how often he tried it and it didn't work, though.

Just subscribed. Go do not stop. Great game.

I loved your commentary great work my friend