Nf6 is just wrong and after Be3 black is far from equalizing with white enjoying a pleasant position with fast development to come while black wastes time trying to get the pawn back Also black has significant developing problems with his a8 rook and light square bishop being out of the game for a while and lastly the obvious Qxc3+ gives a pretty big advantage to white after Kf2

You assert without evidence. Stockfish evaluates this as very close to 0. My database contains more than 900 games; more than 550 ended with a draw. Many of those games were high level corr. games. So who am I gonna believe? Btw 10.Be3 is met with O-O 11.Qb3 Nfd7 12.Bb5 Na6 or 12.a4 Qc7. Good luck showing that Black is far from equalizing. One move analysis won't help you.

@@marknieuweboer8099 my evidence is stockfish 16 at depth 32 that evaluates the position as +0.6 for white after 12.Nh3 actually, but since it’s an opening giving engine evaluation too much credit isn’t really too important. What I was trying to say is that the position does not look like dead equal for me, and I think that white enjoys a tiny advantage. Of course my opinion is rather subjective and I just meant to share it. Also the more I analyze the position more I get curious on why 9.Ne2 is preferred over 9.Nf6, as both the engine and the database data seem to ever so slightly prefer white in the Nf6 line (9.Ne7 24% white win 63% draw 13% black win; 9.Nf6 18% white win 69% draw 12% black win) Maybe it has to do with the fact that I’m currently using the lichess database which surely isn’t the most updated out there but it’s what I have to work with for now. Anyway it you’re still reading thanks for the patience just wanted to share what I think of it.

after Qh4+, g3, Qxe4 white loses a rook

@@josecarlosvieiragomes7281 e4 is defended by the pawn on f3. Qh4+ is losing here. Check it with the engine.

@@baixinho7 fxe4 fxe4 before Qg4+

At what depth? 4... d6 seems dubious to me bc we get close to a Kings Indian saemisch structure where black is missing his dark squared bishop

@@teseotorras1315 It is considered one of the best moves because it transposes to 4...d6 5.e4 c5 6.d5 b5

@@Khanattila Ah ok, good point. Hadn't thought of that. Thanks

He just offers a great overview over most openings for free. If you are a beginner like me and don't know what you should start with, you can learn the basics and characteristics of every opening. Imagine buying a book for an opening immediately and then noticing that you hate the positions that arise from the opening. Obviously a Grandmaster can't learn that much from him, but most players can. And he gets his knowledge from books as well (as far as I know), so there is definitely some great knowledge behind this. Of course he can't put decades of opening theory into 20 min. videos, but the information given is great imho.

A couple of thoughts: - why is a grandmaster qualified, surely a GM who wins prestigious FIDE-tournaments would be better suited. What I am trying to say is that you cannot for certain tie the quality of the content to FIDE titles. - in the videos stjepan doesn't claim he understands every point of theory. He tries to give an overview of each variations and briefly touch on some aspects of each variation, like why certain (but not all) things are the way they are. Personal preferences are also just that, personal - him saying that white is better than black in this position might be right - it might be wrong. It is _your_ job to get input from several sources (ie. watch several youtubers, get a book and watch the video) and then get the best out of everything. Every authors work, be it in written form or as a video, get to that point of incompleteness, so you're concerned about the credibility of the content, then you compare it to a book dedicated to opening theory but you have to be careful about this comparison: if you compare 5-6 20-minute videos about an opening to a book written about that opening, you can expect the book the have a bit more content. Compare the videos to one book about all openings, and you basicly have the same amount of content. Without stating which book you're refering to, AND without checking the credibility of that author, you might've fallen victim to "books are always better because they're books and books are for educated people". - videos can communicate differently because of intonation and visualization, so videos can get some points across faster than text - then fail in other areas because written text can be polished, rephrased and worked out so it communicates exactly the right point. Then some people have an easier time learning visually than textually.

way to back-handedly insult someone for putting a lot of effort into free introductions to a wide range of openings. Do whatever you want. Read a book. get a coach, but learn to show more graciousness.