"If you want to see some terrible games and you're in the audience, you can go upstairs. if you're at home, you can look at your own games." LMFAO Ben is so Savage. he was on fire this lecture
People who say Morphy would suck if he came back today aren't thinking clearly... That's only true if he's not allowed to go on the computer or open a book.
Exactly the same as if someone said Beethoven came back alive(young, not the old deaf ego), he wouldn't make good music unless he opens a book or listen to other music.
I know. I hate this argument. They make the same argument in all sports, "Babe Ruth would suck today." It never occurs to them that some of these legendary athletes would actually be even better today. People forget Morphy quit playing chess when he was 21 because there was no money in it back then, and it wasn't respected in the US. He basically taught himself to play with no books or anything. It's unbelievable.
Don't listen to the people who say your ego gets in the way of your teaching, or your humor, if anything, I think it makes for a BETTER learning experience! I've learned so much from your classes it's remarkable! Keep up the awesome lectures and keep the crowd laughing! Humor makes the game less tedious and really makes you seem like a cool guy to learn from. Build connection and really makes the videos entertaining. Make more!
Don't Hit The Ben humor is fine but belittling others is a negative trait. I've had teachers who called some students dumb and they failed. But when I had a teacher who helped the dumb kid get smarter and not insult him, he gets better and passes. Maybe if this guy was not insulting he would be a viable coach.
It's clear that Justin Norman has no sense of humor whatsoever lol. If you honestly thing that he is belittling his students instead of joking with them then you are not listening. If you're trolling, good work
@ Justin Norman, anything can be taken out of context if you do not have all the information. You don't know the relationship between Ben and his students. Maybe they give him hell off camera. Perhaps, you need to work on not being so judgmental.
Ask “GM" Ken West if he's upset, lol. He takes the mickey out of the people watching let alone his students, GM Finegold is a great teacher that uses humour to make his point. I've learnt a tremendous amount about chess from this guy.
- On this move, you should think here for an hour. - But Mr. Finegold, why should I think for an hour? - It's Grandmaster Finegold and I get paid by the hour. LOL.
This is an excellent lecture, not only because of using Morphy's games, (because they are extremely instructive to class level players), also this is one of GM Finegold's best presentations.
14:40 "if you want to see some really terrible games, in the live audience, you can walk upstairs, if you re at home you can look at your own games" you can write a Bible from Finegold s quotes.
Excellent lecture. Finegold's bluster is, as some fail to realize, a funny running joke. His sensitivity to the historical context in which Morphy played actually indicates a great deal of humility. It's those individuals who farm content from posting every tedious game of "the next big thing" in chess, games often interesting only to master-level players, who are engaged in "the enormous condescension of history", in E.P. Thompson's words, when they haughtily dismiss someone who couldn't help it if the GMs of Europe of the day were far below his talent. Morphy: a one-of-a-kind talent whose games are a gift to us all.
as far as recorded history, Paul Morphy was the first great chess grand master. a true champion. he could not control the quality of his opponents. often giving them a piece or some type of odds. and morphy played many a simultaneous games while blindfolded. at the height of his greatness, he got bored with the game and distanced himself from competitive matches. all chess legends owe paul morphy for setting the chess standard. history itself will always paint the picture for the one who came "first".
I already know what he was.... "considered". I was merely commenting on the time-travel joke Locutus made regarding Tal / Morphy. And then, in my opinion, Morphy was a superior force..... Although all we TRULY have is ppl's "opinions" and "considerations"......
Whenever Tal played any1 serious and was not in a blitz he got obliterated (yes, yes, he beat Botvinik in 1960). Morphy played against the best in the world too..... it just so happens they were not wearing the little tiara of "FIDE world champion". I also hope you understand that my previous statement of "a little, pathetic, kitty" might have been a slight exaggeration on my part but you get my drift.....
Then you know nothing about Tal. It takes engine-like move (20 - 30 move ahead) to defend against Tal's attack and to beat Tal, Botvinik had to spend few years preparing the most defensive, boring position + Tal's kidney problem. Remember at that time, Botvinik is dominating everyone in the world
Tal frequently lost to almost every1. So we remember how he gave his rook VERY early on against Karpov for the exchange and then beat him. We remember these games a) because they are beautiful, b) they are instructive and c) because they are rare. 20-30 moves ahead by a computer? rubbish. Botvinik had to prepare a few years? rubbish (he prepared all his life). Tal had kidney failure? fact.
Brad F lol I wish I could play him just to show how close a "1000 rated player" can get to beating him. Of course he will most likely beat me but it would be close and he's been playing longer than i lived .
At 7:10, is the move Rook from F4 to G4 good? After the rook sacrifice with the knight on H6, the queen can take the knight and build the attack. then eventually bring the other rook on F6.
I think many people don't get GM Feingold's joke about Morphy's opponents being "terrible" -- they were only terrible for their time. Many of the bad moves were considered "book moves" at the time. Morphy's genius is that he arrived at the modern style on his own!!!
I can’t understand the first Morphy game still. At 8:14 Ben is talking about him finding Qh4 but what happens after that? Can’t black still trade down? Like what happens if black plays Rf8? Thanks for any help understanding. 😄👍🏼
Justin, I agree completely. Some people just have an innate feel for the game. It wouldn't matter how many years I played the game or how much I studied, I would never be a Morphy. Remember, he played incredibly quickly. If he stopped to calculate, he could have been as good as anyone. He destroyed Adolf Anderson, probably the best of his day. He would have killed Staunton. I just regret that he played such a short time. What amazing games we have lost.
Paul Morphy is my favorite chess player ever. It must have been fun trashing noobs back in his day. All these greedy morons got schooled so well. Just awesome.
The reasons why players are better today than in the 1800s are not only improved communications and transport, but also knowledge people accumulated since then. Players of today have a ton more games to analyse than Morphy, and they have computers to do it! He had to make do without all the openings and theory chess players can study today from books written since then. Imho that makes Morphy's accomplishment of taking the game to an entire new level truly remarkable.
34:51 Why not pawn on d4 to c3 and then if takes with knight then wins a rook and if doesn't take then simply pushes the pawn forward winning the queen?
Ben, I've heard you say "check mate 'with advantage'" a few times. I'm not sure if it's a joke or if there is such a thing. I'm not even sure what "with advantage" means. May I have an explanation please?
It's definitely a joke. Making an especially good move gives you an advantage in the game. Checkmate is the ultimate "advantage" because it's game over. Just a little trademarked Finegold humor
. . . but if ur giving a lecture to convey 'meaning' to a beginner (like meee) it seems counterproductive to confuse the issue with extra unnessessary filler words? players who already understand chess may find it entertaining or amusing but i was discombobulated by his 'pleonasm' :)
My computer is recommending d6 over Qg6 in that first game. Idk why. It could have been because I didn't remove the knight prior to analyzing the game however.
the funny thing is morphy didnt fully concentrate on chess i cant remember i think he was a lawyer or something and retired from chess rather early, imagine if he did more and actually focused on chess!
Yes, he was a lawyer and because he retired early when he was so dominant he is referred to as the pride and sorrow of chess. I agree with Finegold that Morphy was the best chess player ever due to his absurd advantage above everyone else in his time. Only two other players come close which are Bobby Fischer and Raul Capablanca. Of course, over time chess players got better but we can't discard the natural talent people possessed in a time when they had very limited resources to learn chess.
This lecture was filmed shortly after Finegold got his grandmaster title, making him the oldest ever chess player to become a GM. So it’s actually a self-deprecating bit that he keeps mentioning it, and it’s absolutely hilarious.
Any relation to Chad Hill ? Chad was a master who frequently played blitz games with Finegold at the old East Detroit chess club, and they were both " that good " their games were fast, fun, and if you kept up with them, you could learn something, if you weren't cracking up with laughter. They were a comedy team for the ages.
E1 says Morphy doesnt know how to play chess because after he loses a pawn every engine says the game is lost, then the better the engine gets they start to play like Morphy. Its insane how could he play like this with nothing to teach him how to play but looking at the board.its just insane. no chess theory no engines no nothing just himself
If you plug this game into a modern engine, you can see Morphy played the top engine move about 90% of the time. This also becomes clear, if you plug his other games into an engine.
My calculating skills are improving. In the first game I first looked at Rf8+ followed by Qxf8 and for some reason followed up with Rxf8+ and after Rxf8 began looking at checks I could give with the queen but obviously there were no mates let alone perpetuals. So then I looked at Qg5+ and calculated ... Qg6, Qd5+ Kg7 (because if black plays Qf7 to block the check it's mate in 1 with Qxf7#), Rf7+ Kh6. Here I thought I found the mate but then realized 'oh yeah I don't have checkmate here because I moved my rook off of the 4th Rank.' Then I also figured out after all that black can actually block Qd5+ w/ Be6 and White's attack is in shambles. I also realized Qg6 by black is really throwing a hammer into my mating ideas and had a eureka moment of combining my original idea with my new idea. Playing Rf8+ first, saccing my rook to get the Queen off the diagonal to be able to block the check on the g6 square and instead forced to block on the g7 square. So then the new line I was able to calculate was Rf8+ Qxf8, Qg5+ Qg7, Qd5+ Be6 (The bishop block in this line is a pointless means of defense since black's Queen isn't on the g6 square to protect it), Qxe6+ Qf7, Qxf7#.
