Want to become 1200 at Chess? 

After this video I finaly reached 1200. I was stuck at 1700 for months

Can confirm, this video made me go from 1500 to 1200

Please don’t let your How To Win At Chess series die! It’s so informative!

As a London player in the low 1000's, I almost never see an early C5 - 99% of my opponents play knight C6 first. This is why Levy is blowing up: he teaches the correct moves, but he also teaches you how to deal with the moves that most people see in their actual games.

Bro, now imma be honest If Levy didn't have the RU-vid channel and only improved on himself he'd be definitely be a GM but instead he carries us in this journey. Huge respect Gotham🗿

Levy is, single-handedly, the person that made the popularity of chess explode over the past couple og years with his exceptional content and made me go from hating chess to LOVING it!!

Hearing levi give me a compliment about my skills at 950 feels so good

13:39 this is solid advice I mean I was stuck in the 700s for months and I only finally made it to the 800s because I stopped freaking out whenever I got paired with an 800 and started playing against higher rated opponents like they were lower rated than me and it works like 70% of the time. Elo anxiety isn’t an easy thing to overcome but as soon as I was like “if I were playing against Martin in this position what would I do?” I started winning more games. I mean I still lose but it’s not as bad because I lose a game where I fought back instead of defending the whole time and I find comfort in that.

No thanks, I don’t want to lose 2 rating points.

I’m at 1180 right now so this video was literally perfect for me. Thank you 🙏 ❤

I was 1100 one year ago. Now I’m 1560 thanks to Gotham videos, a few Hikaru, and Eric Rosen’s london course

12:44 - 23:39 Congrats to 5implekiw1 for an amazingly well played game. 👌

Cheers to us watching this above 1200 rating, we worked hard for it, should be really proud.. But we can do much much better, Let's not limit our potential rating.. We go Kings, 👑

The way he goes gets through the defence in game 2 with 9 seconds on the clock is crazy. So controlled, nothing overly aggressive or sacrifices. Just small steps forward that capitalised on slight inaccuracies.

Levy: "I'm not here to flex" Levy: flexes by unnecessarily sacrificing his queen before delivering checkmate.

Thanks for the video Levy, I've been going over and under 1200 (1170-1220) repeatedly and this video's really useful for improving. Hopefully I reach 1300 sometime soon

recently chess has blown up in my area, people play it before, but it has never been so popular, therefore, i am CRAVING for videos for improvement, coincidentally, Levys been uploading those quite often recently! thank you so much man, appreciate it, ur always fun and entertaining to watch!

great video, I went from 1901 to 1200 because of this video, ty LEVY, what a great teacher

no I'd rather not decrease my rating Levy

I've been stuck between 1000 and 1200... this was exactly what I needed currently! Thanks, Levy!

today's stare was interesting. Levy looked dissapointed in us, but also kind of thoughtful, as if he has a philosopfical question for us but his mind just got baked. I give it a 7/10

I am 1800 but I still watched the video because I always watch your videos, they are simply amazing❤ I just want to say thank you for everything you have tought me: you got me into chess and by watching your videos I went from an 800 in 2021 to an 1800 in 2023... I hope I can reach 2000 one day, I don't know if I can, but one thing is for sure: if I reach 2000, I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you Levy for getting me into and teaching me this amazing game❤❤

bro i need to watch this so badly, in the last six months, I've gone from 1350 to 1192

Thank you Gotham chess for teaching me most of all that I know! I’m climbing up and just got 900 elo. It was like a month or two ago and I tilted down to the garbage 480 or so and I’ve grinded. Thanks for the entertainment ing and instructive content!

I love how Levy can make common mistakes on purpose and then still absolutely crush these guys

Levy, thank you for making me understand chess better, I started 4 months back, I faced a lot of difficulties but somehow, I adapted and now I'm 1000 elo. ❤️

Since I’m hovering around 1200 range right now. I love videos like this. Even though I’m already at 1200, it is a good learning experience to understand how to more consistently beat higher rated players and lower rated players than me.

Thank you levy, I could never get past 1900, but FINALLY I'm 1200!

Hello Levy. Remember the Luka bot with 400 ELO that you bullied? Well he is now rated better than Magnus Carles himself (and Hikaru Nakamura).

This video got me from 1625 to 1200.Thanks Levy,👏👏👏👏👏

love these videos, i like it way more to actually watch levy play chess other then when he just revieuws a played game

Best vid ever. I watched thsi and my first game on after I played someone 150 elo higher than me. I came out rlly aggressive and got almost the excact same position as you where the bishops were staring at the castles king and the knight was on g5. This video might be what gets me out of the elo I’m stuck at. Thanks

As a former 3800, this video has made me finally become the 1100 I always knew I could be

Thanks Levy, I was struggling at 1500 rapid, but after learning from your clip I've managed to achieve the important milestone of 1200 elo !

Thanks for this video. I've been hard-walled at the higher 1100s for a while, always painstakingly getting to 1190ish, only to quickly fall down to the lower 1000s. This was a very instructive video. Hopefully, we'll break that 1200s barrier soon.

Loved this...thank you Levy!

What I find impressive is that Levy wins these games while spending half his time talking to us.

I would definitely like to see more, especially pointing towards those who want to be 1500

10:33 Zwischenzug ✖️ Swischensug ✔️

great lesson Levy ! thanks ! awesome. I also enjoy to highlight the dead pieces and squares and the beast mode pieces !

I definitely love videos like these. It really helps those who just began their journey on chess. Thank you, Gotham Sir

This type of content is my favourite content. No shenanigans with bots or old Magnus games, just content to improve for players like me!

I love these videos so much! Theyre very instructive, it’s very useful to hear you though process and evaluation throughout each stage of the games ❤

I love this video because it’s way more informative and a learning experience instead of insane plays by magnus or something

I grew over 500 elo in the past 6 months just by watching your videos, currently at 1000, love this

Today's stare was short, but it was to the point. My soul could feel the deep stare as i sat frozen at this profound expression of the legendary Gotham. I would give this a generous rating of 7.5, left me with many answers, and many more questions.

Really love these rating climb videos. Very helpfull

You asked whether this was a good new type of video. I think you should make many more of these, it was very entertaining, interesting, hooking and highest of all educating. Thank you Levy, keep it up!

Screw Magnus, this is the type of content I actually learn from! Love the way you explain you thoughtproces in these games 🙌

Thanks Levy! I went from 1550 to 1200 in the span of 30 minutes!

Great content! I would've like it even more if the games had a longer time control, so there would be more educational part. I'm sure that Levy can win these games even with 5 seconds on the clock, but I'm getting nothing out of speed chess except general ideas like "attack, be confident and consistent". Hope you'll get back longer time controls in some of the next videos.

Thank you Levy, loved this video!!

A clean stare today, dragging your attention to the video as always! 9/10

Literally 1150 rn the timing couldn't be better. Thanks Levy!

15:50, En Croissant, as they say in Düsseldorf (which is obviously not in France, but in Switzerland)

i think the queen sacrifice in the second game was actually necessary for the mate because other wise the queen would block. just to put it our there i am 700 so i could be wrong and there may be mate after but the queen sac was not just for style :)

Fun fact: the second game Levy played, he was exactly twice his opponents rating

1600 here. The way I broke through was doing exactly what Levy says: focused purely on minimizing my errors and very quickly managed to rise in Elo

me a 1600 rapid and 1450 blitz: A GOTHAM VIDEO YESSSSSS

Going to play in my first tournament in a while watching levy is gonna help a lot

As a 1040 rated player this was a godsend at the exact right moment. Thanks for the informative and educational content you keep making Levy. You rock lol.

“You can’t stop an avalanche with a horse” - Levy 2023

Hey Levy, I got in to chess in August of last year for the first time and for the first few weeks I truly sucked but from mainly looking at your videos im around 1550 rapid. Your videos made me stick around and I enjoy chess more and more each month that goes by so I wanted to thank you. I also want to ask, at my level what should be my focus when it comes to practicing and improving? as of right now Im not sure how to really practice chess efficiently - if you had some advice on that would greatly appreciate it!

These are my favorite vids. Very informative. Wish you would do 10 minute games so you can continue your insightful commentary while not being under pressure from the clock.

Thanks Levi. I lost 800 ELO because of this video.

Pretty solid stare, really gives the audience a chance to rethink the life choices that lead them to watching this video. 8.6 / 10

10:52 I am a bit less than 1200 rapid but I think the zwischenzug of the knight is something I should be able to see. I have studied things like that from an intermediate chess book and RU-vid and although I often overlook things I wouldn't put myself in the category of people who shouldn't be able to see that trick. It is still pretty much a one-mover you don't have to calculate 3 moves ahead - if it is, then I see I legitimately come up short due to my lack of working memory, but any one mover trick I should see. Not seeing it is my failure of not paying enough attention. Generally, it is interesting to see what an average 1200 rapid should be able to do, but I should be rated higher according to these criteria. It is just that I am unable to see these tactics in games, but conceptually while analysing the game afterwards etc. I clearly see I should have seen certain things coming. I think a good example of a similar case was my granddad, who studied chess from a chess book at age 70, previously knowing very little about the game in order to teach me. He knew many concepts from the book I didn't know, but whenever we played I just mauled him as he wasn't able to protect his hanging pieces - he simply didn't see the whole board and at age 70 it is just impossible to start seeing it. So with superior knowledge, he just still got humiliated every single game. For instance, I would fianchetto both my bishops and he was sure to move his g pawn at some point and each time I would almost bump into his hand still on the board, impatient to smash his rook in the corner with the bishop. He would always tell me to calm down, to stop acting like a madman.

Levy's haircut looks like one of those potatoes that you left in the pantry for a little too long but is growing a lot of little sprouts instead of a few large ones

1

Love this; it's basically the abandoned series Chess Steps. Excellent; please do more!

Your videos are the ones I truly learned chess from. You're a great teacher and I've climbed my way to 1250 elo and I beat a 1300 in rapid few days ago. Thank you for everything!

A effective strategy for winning in chess often involves trading pieces strategically while preserving your pawn structure. It's crucial not to create pawn islands exceeding two. Once achieved, focus on utilizing your king and remaining pawns to secure victory. This approach capitalizes on the fact that many players at lower skill levels struggle in the endgame. By mastering endgame scenarios, you'll gain a significant advantage in your overall chess proficiency.

Cheers Levy, I'm a 600 and have hit my first plateau. Raising my floor as a priority over raising my ceiling is certainly the next step as I have beaten a 1000 and many not far below and have beaten the Skyweb bot after maybe 8 attempts! I keep blundering here and there and that was saveable at 400 but at 700 it's the equivalent of a 1400 bot whereby you quickly fall behind in material and can't catch back up most of the time. Chess is hard, and that's why I love it!

15:35 it would have been so cool if he had done that bd3 qd1 and then greek gift sac with bxh7+ kxh7 ng5+ kg8 qe7

That 2nd game was insane dude. He really played way above his rating. I would love to know the exact %evaluation in this game.

Very useful video Levy. Thank you very much for posting it.

Would be nice to maybe see some of this type of thing for higher rated players(like 1600-2000) Love the educational content, keep it coming :)

can confirm that this video made me go from 2100 to 1200

5:47-5:59 *Or* you could play Nd3+ (as the Bishop no longer guards that square per continuity) and *then* take with the queen. (Obviously since the opponent castled instead, it doesn't work). Edit: I see that you addressed that in the post-game analysis.

26:16 d5 is always a great idea. I count 6 defenders of that square!!

After about a month I have went from 1,100 to 1,200. Thank you Levy for your content, I couldn't have done it without you

I love that in your last video (or 2 videos ago) I Made a comment suggesting more videos analyzing games for more intermediate chess (1000 - 1500) and now you uploaded this video. I'm sure you had this video already made by the time I made that comment so it feels serendipitous haha. Love it

Love the analysis. Do you have a tutorial on using databases to analyze games?

7:38 "I've brought both my rooks to the center my center is rock solid, now maybe we try to bust open the king."-GothamChess 2023 edit: 9:15 "We have the extra bishop, so were gonna gobble."-GothamChess 2023

Even though I’m 1800 this was still helpful from the point of understanding your opponent and having a good mentality

3 months 1300, now target for march is 1500 and learning opening moves helps so much

Thank you for these videos because it helps me improve. I love 1200 videos because I’m at 800-1000

I am really gonna need this as an 2000 player

Levy ‘I’m going to play like a typical 1200’ opens with the Ponziani then sacs the Queen with 5 secs left

Well ive not watched the video but here is my advice that took me from having never played chess outside of a dozen games with friends ages ago-1050 in a couple of months. FIRST this took me a while to learn though it is the most basic and simple rule to follow that i guarantee has been holding back thousands of players, dont play super late at night or when your sleep deprived, dont play while waiting for another game to load, dont let the chess game be one of many things on your mind, nobody is that smart (except like Magnus Carlson or whatever but who even is that am i right) just understand that if you aren’t comfortable and able to give the game the attention it needs, then your chances of winning or even learning from the loss go from probable to 0. Anyway past being a healthy human being and playing while your awake learn an opening for white, not the scholars mate, because past a certain point people simply wont fall for it. Next, play alot, get used to loads of different positions patterns and situations, your rating doesn’t matter right now, just play the game and slowly you will recognise and learn patterns, and checking the engine moves after a game every now and then will teach you how to cope with the patterns you can’t figure out on your own. Boom your now gunna fall a chunk of rating and after a short while climb back up to somewhere between 7 and 9 hundred assuming you started 600 or below, now you have a nice solid understanding if the real basics of chess, you can finish a winning end game with relative ease, your not falling for the scholars mate or getting back ranked anymore, and your queen is no longer role playing the french monarchy (dead). From there watch some tiktoks or RU-vid shorts or whatever just short quick simple chess stuff, learn the little trick being displayed in the clip and go play a game or two see if you get a chance to use it, done. Now your slowly improving indefinitely and are going to rise higher and higher up to at least a thousand, happy days.

I can't believe he was so calm when he was low on time.

How dare you, you broke the unspoken rule. You see en passant, YOU DO IT.

Thanks for the video, Levy. After being stuck at the same rating for months, I have finally changed it, and I'm at 1200 ELO now. I was 2200 ELO previously.

I really appreciate that check on the white queen and not letting the castle, making the rooks not come into the game.

I really like such videos where you explain the game, that is really useful, thank you, Levy, for doing such a great job.

Great, liked to learn new stuff. Thanks 🙏

Great video thanks. I do feel that the second game went over my head, I don't think that I couldn't get anything out of that one. But I learned from the first one ty:))

Your secret about attacking has helped me so much. Never realized how passive and reactive I played until now.

Hey levy, thank you for helping me get better at chess and I was wondering if you could make a new (more recent) how to get better at chess series

i think you should do a game review on all three games after these games to see at what level the opponents and you yourself were playing at to see if the games were fair