Here's why having the bishop pair is a big advantage when attacking · Training Game

The bishop pair can be a menacing attacking force. Especially the unoposed bishop once it gets near to the opponent's king.

This was a wild game, and we both made very serious mistakes. The game could have gone either way since both kings were weak, but what proved to be decisive was my bishop pair which completely dominated his kingside and made defending impossible.

#chess

[exxxplainer]

a3 against Nimzo-Indian is one of the lines Kasparov loved to play, when he was young.
In particular, he used to take on d5 right away. If then black recaptures with the pawn, the b7 bishop is kinda passive. And if black takes with the knight, there is Qc2 with the idea of e4 with a strong center and good attacking prospects.
I really recommend watching his games, they are very exciting.

[olivers.]

4:56 I thought about 10. Ne5 which could challenge the opponent into taking on e5 woth their knight they just played.

Apparently the engine doesn't hate this move so I probably would have tried it.

[billschaefer]

Stjepan, for your English opening series, would you consider discussing the pros and cons of entering the English via the move order 1.Nf3 and after 1…d5 2.e3 followed by 3.c4 in most cases. This, of course, avoids the King’s English lines after 1…e5 but gives up the kingside fianchetto option (Neo-Catalan) for White since we have committed to an early e2-e3. It seems more efficient in terms of reducing the number of lines to learn (King's English) and also Black players are sometimes less familiar with the 1.Nf3 2.e3 move order and tend to resort to a standard, main-line 1.d4 defense such as the QGD, Slav, etc. In my opinion, the tradeoff of this move order is when Black responds 1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 c5 reinforcing the threat of …d4 (which is the main reason for the 2.e3 move order) and leading White down the path of a Nimzo-Larsen queenside fianchetto and potentially Bb5. From a White perspective, it seems to boil down to whether White has more interesting chances in the King's English (or even Neo-Catalan with a kingside fianchetto) versus the Nimzo-Larsen type of setups (for example: 1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 c5 3.b3 Nf6 4. Bb2 Nc6 5.Bb5 lines)?

[michaelf]

Congrats on 200k subs! I always find your OTB recap videos informative and gripping!

[TrebuL]

"so I either play ok moves or I make terrible moves."
that just about sums up my chess experience too 😆

[jeff-]

I really like this time control and him explaining every move!

[MatsMatsuo]

24:55 Qf3, doest it work? Hitting bishop on a3 and f7. Or even Bxf7 similar idea. I thought if ever rook takes c8 queen takes was forced.

[unhlysda]

3:08 what about 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Bd3 (... Nxc3 9. bxc3 ) O-O 9. e4 Or 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bb5+ ? Be2 feels a bit passive, especially with no bishop coming to g4, since it's on b7. I suppose it frees up the queen in case you want to place Qc2.

[ДанилаТыринов]

Great game! Also happy to hear about the english&bird series. Gl with your tournament!

[archaicnymph]

Hi Stjepan, Please make a video on the Carls-Botvinnik Caro-Kann from the perspective of black. There are currently not a ton of resources related to the opening that are available.

[roywhaley]

Please do the Vienna Stanley variation, when you cover the Vienna

[agentbr]

I think it would be really helpful if you visualized your calculations.

[DhavallRaja]

You should consider playing Classical Time controls for these streams like 30+20 or 30+0

[bluefin.]

That was precarious, but blundering second to last gave you the advantage. :-)

BTW, I don't think you covered the triangle in your Slav series (or was it a separate Semi-Slav series?). That would be a nice addition.

[jaydub]

Really hoping to see the Carls-Bremen system highlighted when you get to the English.

[Schmated]

I love these training games. I always fine I play better when I go through a period of watching these lots.

[pablourosa]

I have to be honest I don't know anything about the Queen's indian, but as soon as your opponent played d5, it seemed like an almost normal QGD with a fianchettoed bishop, that's why I think Bg5 and Bd3 were more natural moves.

[stanaklol]

Visually, Bb2 allowing him to double your f-pawns AND isolate your d-pawn looked really bad.

[LG-fpji]

I think 21. Bd5 gaining a tempo on the queen and then Bc6 or Rc6 would have been pretty great

[smolsprout]

Rapid 2300 is huge cant wait for 2400 in the near future