I thought it was a nice thematic touch that Ben delivered the whole lecture in English. Sort of makes his lectures on the French, the Dutch, and the Danish seem a bit low-effort though.
In one of Ben's earlier lectures at St. Louis he started out with "Bonjour to la classe" then followed it up with "Today I prepared you for French with the obvious opening: the QGD Chigorin variation".
1st game: the thing about the Reversed Dragon is that a lot of the hyper aggressive plans that white could normally use against a Sicilian Dragon aren't available to the black side of the Reversed Dragon. Black just doesn't have enough time to use them. Tactically there are refutations everywhere, and basically all exist because white has an extra tempo (sometimes two, if white can play d4 without playing d3, which can easily happen if black doesn't take care to prevent it.)
Damn Yasser really beats up on all the greats in this lecture. I always think of Yasser when I think of the english bc of your lectures and his lectures
This is an interesting approach to presenting the English. I wouldn't call this video an instruction how to play the English because there's almost no consistent structure to the moves, and in a way that's what makes the English so unique... The transpositional opportunities and that an entire White repertoire can be built on the English that supports a wide variety of styles and types of positions. The games Ben chose for this video are all open lines but there are also many closed lines. There are highly chaotic lines, there are lines for players that prefer a dominating center and there are lines that take the hypermodern approach that allows the opponent to take the center only to then be destroyed. There are lines that aim for every kind of advantage imaginable like good and bad knights and bishops, the bishop pair or even dominating knights. In general, the English is best suited for the player that believes he's the stronger positional player rather than testing theoretical preparation although there are certainly a number of forcing sharp lines that require home prep.
5th game: the e3 system is a flexible amalgam of classical and hypermodern ideas. Often white will defend the queen knight with 5.Qc2, allowing black the chance to trade, then fianchetto the QB. I played this opening once, losing a long game as a 14 year old against a 2100. This game reminds me why I liked it so much.
A great selection of games, I liked the Dreev game especially. A really nice plan that shows there are just so many ways to play. Maybe I'll throw that curveball at some caro player in the future.
Your shirt defines 'vegan' as a noun, but the definition provided suggests a verb. Should probably read: '*A person who is* asked where they get their protein like 20 times a day'.
6th game: this line is really fun to play against an unprepared opponent. It's not a gambit, but it plays like one, and you need that sort of mindset to do well. Don't play it against bots though, you'll get the wrong impression.
4th game: this is known as the Rubenstein system, against which White takes the drastic measure of giving up his fianchettoed king bishop. Now, Ben is always saying that if you play g3, you need a bishop on g2, and I agree. Giving up that bishop for a knight with no compensation apart from the doubled c-pawns is crazy. Seirawan always seemed to have a tactical resource in this game to save him, so brilliant play by him, but not a tightrope I'd recommend for the average player.
Why are there no closed games? The English is famous for things like the Great Snake variation, which is a reversed Closed Sicilian. I'm sure Yasser has a game or two in that line.
Interesting opening, but does seem a little complex for me right now. Also, I was wondering why black doesn't push e5 to e4 and attack white's knight on f3. I'm sure there is a reason, but that is the move 99% of players under 2000 would make.
If the opponents knight is on F6 then the queen is blocked and white can just play kG5 and attack the E4 pawn three times (knight on c3 + fiancettoed bishop)
That move is pretty uncommon, actually. Black has some tricky tries after 3...e4 (for example, 4...c6 or 4...b5, and you need to be prepared against these moves), but most of the times, if some lower rated player goes e4 he will just lose a pawn and get no compensation whatsoever. There are many occasions in which black can play e4 a bit later, but white is always fine. E. g.: 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Nd5 e4 6. Nh4 O-O 7. Bg2 d6 8. b3, and now 8...g5 traps our knight, but white has the strong 9. Bb2! When a delicate and sharp position arises; white may lose a knight, but black may lose the king.
2nd game: there's a lot of theory on 4.d4, but it's all old. These days 4.d4 is just about considered an error. If white wants to play an early d4, e3 should be played first.
The first game ends with an assessment that White has a positional advantage, but as far as computer evals are considered black is doing more than fine. Sure, you have to follow up accurately, but I think it isn't an objective take. Black lost because he made a bad move later on.
3rd game: ew. Terrible. This is like what a pawn grabbing bot would play. Also, this is a Caro-Kann, not an English. Advice to the black player who likes the Slav systems but not the C-K: play Nf6 first.
I was watching this and after a while started thinking ... why would anyone think to ask you where you get your protein from. Just saying, doesnt seem like an obvious question.