The way I like to think about principles is "follow the principles unless you can explain why you don't"

At 19:00, Qe6 still allows Qh3 next move. That was, in fact, my choice. Let him think I am defending the bishop; that might give me another move to attack his king.

Took me years to realize that Ruy Lopez wasn’t actually called the Royal Opus

The author made an interesting point as well when white plays 10.Bb3 saying that the defensive move 10.Be2, placing the bishop where he overlooks two diagonals, is preferable. It’s not something I used to consider a lot and would usually retreat my bishops to the edges of the board to stay on the long diagonals. And I’d do that without really considering/realising the central retreat as an option. And in this case white would’ve had more support on the kingside’s weak light squares.

Hi Nelson, I have two ideas for videos that would be helpful for myself (1950) & hopefully many others: 1) How to flag well. The idea being avoid simplifications which help your opponent process faster & move quicker, instead looking for active moves which further complicate the position, even if they’re not the best moves. 2) When to play g5 in the Italian as black. I feel there’s little instructional middle game content for black in the Italian, so this could even be a series of plans black can go for depending on the specific setup white goes for in the quiet Italian positions. Thanks for the awesome instructional content & congrats on reaching 2300!

Love it. Had the book sitting gathering dust for years. Nice to work along side you with this. Great stuff. Need more of these in the future.

Great series, thank you!!

This is an amazing lesson. Thanks for posting it.

Thank you for this series, Nelson!

Thanks for the great videos Nelson, I always thought your explanations are the clearest on chess youtube. 2 questions: 16:00 I and probably other lower players would be tempted to play Bh3 for the tempo on the rook. I guess it's bad because it doesn't lock the f pawn in place? 19:00 Doesn't Qe6 creates the same checkmate threat Qf5?

Thank you NM Nelson!

Nelson is my favorite chess player and coach of all time

so here is my question: isnt it better at 14:32 to first move the bishop on d6 before developping the knight, and than go on. because, if we play Knight f6 first he has time for g3 bishop f4 no?

at 14:10 would it not be better to play bishop to d6 creating an immediate checkmate threat and the only way black can defend is to move the pawns in front of the king?

My problem (in that sac the bishop for mate threat) is that there’s often 1 move I’m missing that saves the position for my opponent. Or at least that’s in my head, so I play it safe and protect the bishop. I think maybe I should start flipping the board and start playing those positions as my opponent.

Good series. Thank you

Thank you. Always

Awesome!

I got the book some time ago but maybe I wasn’t ready for it. However, Nelson’s videos are perfect now, great series!

Hi Nelson - I'm rated around 1500 and this series is very helpful to me. Question - at 14:33, on move 10 for black, would it be better to play Bd6 instead of Nf6? Bd6 has the benefit of coming along with a threat as well as tempo and can be easily followed by Nf6 on the next move. Nf6 is also a developing move, but doesn't seem to create an immediate threat.

Excellent Episodes I’m learning and understanding a lot more with your explanations. My question in game 6 is move 14 Qf5. Is move Qh5 equal? Is it to make opponent think you are attacking his bishop?

Instead of Qf5, could you also have played Qe6, keeping the option to retake the bishop in case something unexpected happens?

14:30, how would the game play out if the bishop retreat to e2 instead of b3? Would the checkmate still happen or would white has better chance of defending?

Hey Nelson, I have possible move for white after black plays Qxe5. It is a3. a3 stops castling and also prevents Bb4 from black. Does it work?

At 19:01, isn't Qe6 also fine as it threatens Qh3 anyway?

What about Qh5 instead of Qf5

After white Nxe5, would black's pawn to g6 stop the Queen attack? It changes the order of things since if e5xg6 then h7xg6 opens the h file for the rook. It looks like g6 blunts the whole attack.

Question: at 18:45 why queen f5 so much better than quuen e6? Defending the bishop and making that treath at the same time? I can’t find the difference

14:23 What if white play Bishop e2, it that better moves like Bishop b3?

17:55 I am only thinking of bringing the queen to h3 even if I have to sac a piece, so I am watching Qh5(oh I forgot that h-pawn can push forward and blocks the queen😅) and Qf5(Qe6 also works but it is not a bishop sacrifice) 20:23 not only the annoying pawn, that bishop on b5 is also pinning the d7 pawn so black can not develop their light square bishop

There are a couple of theories I want to talk about. 19:39 Bc5 attacks the knight, and white still can't save the game because black takes the knight with the bishop, and still gets checkmated, but I do see that the only way white could delay it is with a queen sack on Qd1. Would there be a tactic I'm missing from here on white? Also, for the queen moves just before (right after white plays Bf4), would Qe3 work the same since the queen is still on the same diagonal?

Does a fianchettoed bishop still count as weakness for king side pawn formations?

I've been using the Scandinavian vs e4 openings to change things up since I watched one of your videos on it, but it throws me when someone doesn't take the pawn and they just push to e5. Can you do a video on how to handle that please? Thanks!

11:25 I guess the problem with the e6 pawn is that if you take it with the queen, queens will be exchanged and then there's this really weak pawn on d4 without any compensating attack. If you take with bishop, your bishop's placed awkwardly.

Hi, good videos, my question is on the finishing moves why not play Qe6 instead of Qf5, it will look like you trying to save the bisof and you can finish the game in two moves

19:00 Personally I would go Qe6 to make it look like I want to save the bishop. Is this inaccurate?

0:37 Lmao he was about to say “too furious”

18:05 Hey Nelson, I have a question for you. Is Qh5 has the same effectiveness as Qf5?

After white castled, why didn't black set up the bishop queen battery straight away?

14 : 15 can white play f4

In game 5, after Qxg3 - takes pawn, you suggested Bf5 yet after Qh5 White has advantage as Black can't take knight which makes Black a piece down!

18:47 But what if black play 1. ...Qe6 2. Bxd6 Qh3 ?

15:11 instead of pawn move to g3 why not one to f4? Even if en passant by black happens, there is a rook fork on e8 after queen takes bishop e3

17:11 Shouldn’t white play queen d4 trying to get a queen trade and after black plays queen h5 you can play h4. And black can’t take advantage of the pawn move?

@15:00 since the knight was gone, what about pawn f3 or f4 to stop queen checkmate!?

9:25 can’t white play Qh5+ after black takes the knight on e5? Then after black moves their knight Bc4.

In 17:15, wouldn't Qh5 also work out for black? It also threatens to go to h3 and checkmate the king, and if h4 is played, wouldn't g5 open up the white king?

14:27 why couldn’t white take d5 pawn? Yeah you’d be down 3 points but it’s better than having to deal with the annoying pawn structure as you said.

in 18:45, is Queen h5 a good move?

On time no: 15:10 When g3 was played to stop 🛑 checkmate the weaknesses were created but if they play Re1 We play Q_h2+ they can play Kf1 and Qh1+ king goes Ke2 there’s no mate. But you told us g3 is the only way possible to stop checkmate but it is wrong is it true though Right???

After Bg4 , what about f3. It saves whites game . I think.U can also sac the rook if things get out of hand.

15:19 why do you play g3 and weaken the king. Isnt f4 better because the dark squared bishop cant quite het to the diagonal with the bishop in the way

Well, as a Jaenisch devotee, my only concern about this game is : How to cope with the annoying white piece sacrifice after : 6 dxNe5 c6 7.Nc3! (instead of Bc4) and the game is getting messy, and very difficult from the black side !!

I understand the reason he move his Qf5 and not Qh5. …h4 stops the Queen attack.

17:48 here there’s no need to defend that bishop, there’s a checkmate threat here. Qe6, Qf5 and Qh5 all threaten checkmate. Although Qh5 can get blocked by h4 so don’t consider Qh5, do one of the other 2 moves. Forget about the dark square bishop, you’ve got something far tastier in the position.

15:05 what if he play move like f4

19:00 is there a reason why Qh5 is bad? I feel like Qh5 and Qf5 accomplish the same thing

Challenge: Game against Martin but the c, d, e, and f pawns are all flank pawns (c + d pawns are on the a file and e + f pawns are on the h file)

At the point of Qf5, why isn't Qh5 better? Qh5 followed by Ng4 locks up the mate doesn't it?

Interesting series, but curious about Bobby Fisherman

if pawn en passant we can take back with queen and bishop

Let's gooooo

4:28 Black playing d6 misses a chance to win the knight and instead lises their knight for a pawn move

Great explanations, very clear. Also helps when you keep the title of the video simple, normally this helps to get more views!

In 15:08, why not f4

Ole ole ole, fil de mejik in de er, odading mang ole

Why didn't wight play f5 to stop checkmate

"When you look at this position as a h*e, what is the most important thing in the position?" Nice quotes rught there.

19:01 whats wrong with Qh5? I tought that was he move. But Qf5 also works

Black had created a hole on d6

"A h*e can be easily chased by a pawn."

First viewer

Each like on this comment with prevent somebody from creating a push-up per like comment

I’ll do one push up for every like this comment gets!

Tip 2 about 8 minutes in.