I have waited 13.7 billion years for this lecture

Did someone really pay Mr. Finegold to do this lecture? That's borderline sadistic.

It couldn't be more apparent that talking about the bongcloud is physically painful for Ben.

"Practically speaking, The Bongcloud isn't as bad as it is." -GM Benjamin Finegold, 2022

My takeaway from this is that Ben Finegold recommends the bongcloud.

Finally, they did it. The madlads absolutely did it. They made Finegold cover the Bongcloud

The most famous game of all time, beating the opera game: Carlsen-Nakamura 1.e4 e5 2.Ke2 Ke7 3.Ke1 Ke8 4.Ke2 Ke7 5.Ke1 Ke8 6.Ke2 Ke7 1/2-1/2 You did miss a teachable moment here, though. This game was drawn by threefold repetition when the position after move 6 repeated the position after moves 2 and 4. Why wasn't the game drawn after move 5 repeated the position after moves 1 and 3? (Because in the position after move 1, both sides can castle, while after moves 3 and 5, both sides cannot.)

A 47 minute lecture about the bongcloud??? Im in

"Your opponent willingly makes a mistake and you get angry because you can't punish it" Oh boy this hits home. That's why I end up watching every video with dubious gambits and catchy titles about traps so I can find the proper refutation. But every single time I end up in a new trap I didn't know before.

Now we just need a jerome lecture and we're set

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Ben struggle to even give this lecture. It goes against every fiber of his being.

5:01 Favorite quote of the lecture: "This is the way I feel... with perfect play, after Ke2, probably white's losing. And it's also possible white is just much worse."

I think normally serious players doing this is good for chess. It shows how it doesn't always have to be super serious and predictable. Finding effective ways to punish openings like these is also fun. It makes chess feel more human and fun.

I find this idea of "playin for fun" intriguing but suspicious.

the fact that the hotbox variation exists is magical.

The most disappointing part of the Magnus Hikaru double Bong Cloud was they went into a very early repetition instead of playing it out. The fact that they did a double Bong Cloud was epic on its own, but if they played the game through after that it would have been legendary.

After watching this lecture, I was inspired to play the bongcloud in a 1-minute game and lost. Since Ben told us not to blame him, I blame Danny.

19:18 Follow Anarchy Chess for some of these kinds of openings. I saw one called the Unga Bunga, and when I ran it through the engine the critical move drops the analysis from +.6 to +.8 (Unga Bunga is a black opening out of the Caro). I've been playing it (blitz 1600ish) and it destroys people there, as it looks SO STUPID but they have to be precise, and it pulls them out of opening prep, which is a big advantage for you if you familiarize yourself with the opening. It only comes up if they play 2.Nf3 and advance the e pawn. Unga Bunga is: 1.e4 c6, 2.Nf3 d5, 3.e5 d4 From here the most common response that I've seen is c3. You need a high depth, or a trololol mindset to find the equalizing move, d3. From there the opening has as much complexity as your typical main line with hundreds of years of theory. You need to explore it yourself, usually by messing it up and analyzing your games in post, just like every other opening. They will get your d pawn, but they have to spend a lot of time to do it, and they can't get away with just ignoring it, usually. Some of black's best move lines involve even more absolutely stupid looking moves, such as Qd5 before moving any other minor pieces, so you've pushed one pawn 3 times, and moved your Queen out early, and it tends to make people REALLY mad 🤣. The Unga Bunga is probably objectively a draw even though it looks ridiculous and breaks most opening principles.

I've decided to start getting serious with my chess, this lecture is a valuable resource.

Ke2 - resigns, what a cool ending to a Bongcloud.

Watched this at half speed so that I could take notes

"On the internet, silly things happen." GM Benjamin Finegold, 2022

Ah yes, the Bongcloud Opening……. named after Grandmaster Cloud

Happy birthday, Ben! You are by far the most entertaining streamer I’ve been seeing lately. Hope you have a wonderful day.

Finally, a good opening!

The Double Bongcloud opening, also known as hey, let's play chess without the castling rules. Why? Because we're bored and want to see something different for a change.

I was secretly hoping Ben would cover this and the Jerome. Whoa. Thank you sponsor!

I really enjoyed this. Ending w Ke2 was great.

Classic opening. Great lecture. Highly recommended.

This is the ultimate "I'm going to out tactic you" throw down... Intentional handicap

F3 Kf2 has been around for decades. I was introduced to it in the 90's. Grandmasters played it in the Master challenge events against members of the World Chess Network and was called "The King Can Attack Too" opening.

One of the best lectures .. and then some.

To 16:30, after Qh4+, I learned that playing d5 idea Bg4, pinning the knight once it moves to f3, was sound and if the knight on c3 took on d5, you would quickly castle queenside and develop an attack on the exposed king.

"It's a good opening, but only if you're the guy who hasn't moved his king." xD

Ben said "Chess could be fun too" like 20 times, it's like you know he's about to smash his head into the wall after this video.

The definition of is joke was amazing, I’m 21 but man, that joke landed nice 😂

13:58 OMG i watched that Chang - Lendl game live too... was 35 years ago but damn that was still one of the craziest and most heroic fights ever...

The first GM to win with this in competition will be legend.

Clicked on this so hard I broke my wrist!

I'm surprised you didn't cover Simon Williams' win with f3 Kf2 against Martin Simons, would've been a great addition to the lecture.

not the lecture we deserved but the lecture we needed

Funny and educational lecture on this legendary opening!

i started playing joke opening after boring myself playing E4 or D4 all the time. its fun in blitz and bullet. The grob (g4) is my favorite

Thanks for the entertainment!

Finally a good lecture!

"Bongcloud spirit", best two words ever !!

i remember watching this game live with an engine eval and Levy and Anna covering the game. It was hilarious

It's like giving odds. I usually move to king bishop square not k2.

Ben we need more bongcloud lectures

This concept around minute 18 of throwing opponent off balance, Tal did that to Botvinnik in one of the world championship matches with his famously anti-positional recapture.

15:50 I can't believe I used to think the King's Gambit was such a cool opening.

If you like this you might like the Hokey Pokey System. It has two main variants, the King's Hokey Pokey (nf3, ng1) and the Queen's Hokey Pokey (nc3 nb1).

39:00 onwards "Troll-value" lol. "That's a good, you know, circular... something..." Ahhh. I am relieved, Thank you, Dr. Finegold.

I like to do a version of the bongcloud with f4, nf3, kf2. You then play as a Bird's opening but you artificially castle instead. At least one advantage of that is moving the rook to E1 instead of its default square F1, but you're wasting tempo with the king moves anyway so it's actually not a real advantage.

A great lecture on gaming psychology in general

One thing is that it could be used simply to take an opponent out of their prep. Maybe the opponent has great opening prep, but they aren't as strong tactically? In blitz this could be an advantage of sorts.

The only chess lectute i am going to attend.

15:30 hey, that's my variation in the King's Gambit -- and actually i can totally recommend it against amateur players... NOBODY knows what to do against it... it's official name is the Mason-Keres Variation. Nowadays I prefer playing the Vienna Gambit, but I came to the Vienna via the Mason-Keres. EDIT: and yes, Qh4+ *is* the best move, but then Stockfish recommends to move it back to e7. Most people go on a wild attack but the king actually is okay on e2, and meanwhile White gets a nice center and after a well-timed Nb5 White will often be in trouble. Very underrated variation.

there's also the kinda famous old game Lindemann - Echtermeyer (Kiel 1893) which goes 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Ke2 Qe4#. The story goes that Lindemann played an illegal move and, by the rules back then, had to move his king instead, so he had to play Ke2. May well qualify for forst moves in chess history :)

39:04 Damn, dude actually made an Alekhine's gun. fucking awesome

"Maybe there's some bongcloud in the air where they live" I literally spat out my drink 😂

Ba6 is probably the most common mouseslip usually from the Ruy Lopez. .

Ben Finegold, you are the best!

There is definitely some bongcloud in the air where I live.

Truly a GM level masterclass

16:36 According to the engine the h4 check with the queen is the top move. The only other top move is pawn d7-d5, and it transposes into the same line! There is an interesting sequence of top engine moves from that point on: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nc3 Qh4+ 4. Ke2 d5 5. Nxd5 Bg4+ 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Nxc7+ Kd8 8. Nxa8 Ne5 9. Qe1 Nxf3 10. Qxh4+ Nxh4+ 11. Ke1 *

28:17 I'm sure the 2020 STL Rapid and Blitz was on the internet, and indeed not over the board. At least the official broadcast showed players in different appartments staring at monitors. But that might have been to confuse the audience.

Happy Birthday Ben!

I saw this title and thought there’s no way in hell this happened. Bravo 👏

This man actually just had a Finegold lecture cut short. He heard "you should move your king up the board in the e... bssshhcchh .. bvvvvvvvt... pssssshhhhee ... ame."

well done!

Ke2 on move 2, opponent laughs while secretly stressing out. Ke2 later on in the game, opponent resigns. Always repeat.

15:01 to start the lecture.

“It’s a good opening, but only if you’re the one who didn’t move your king”😂that got me

~ 15:08 KGA: Nc3, Qh4. Kh4, Ke2

“a bong cloud of your own at home” 😂

I love BEN. I so, enjoy his video's!

This lesson is the best course ever

"Immortal Draw" in the Vienna would be a nice game to show for why you need to be careful about opening the king so early

1:56 -- the "lighter" side of chess; I see what you did there

Can we get a lecture on the Duras gambit and the Tumbleweed?

Ben is the best teacher ever!

You need to open up something on the Southside of Atlanta...McDonough maybe.

Now this is content

TCEC double bongcloud championship!!!! and then let's see how engines develop around that opening.

I conjecture that, if we somehow had perfect knowledge (i.e. a 32 piece tablebase) that with perfect play, the bongcloud is still holding a draw as either color. It's not obvious I think, but since it is presumably true that the opening position is probably a "tablebase" draw, I think it's not so unreasonable that these moves are not losing enough.

"I can't really make jokes because the truth is jokes" accurately describes Finegold''s behavior most of the time

I'm a casual chess player and watched while high. Could not stop laughing, such an interesting perspective on internet culture. Please let this go viral

Finally, I can learn how to counter this insane opening 🤔

This was recommended 5 months later

I will say this again: 2.Ke2 is actually an advanced strategic move. The Whole point of Le Bongcloud is to 1.Lock the centre. 2. Mobilise ALL your pieces to the Kingside and attack once your opponent castles kingside. Ke2 actually helps connect the rooks. And you want to trade the bishop on h3

😂 I got it when you slid in that POTUS joke.

3. Kf3: "Taking another hit"

Winning when playing the bongcloud is better then any drug

Was hoping to get your take on Hans Niemann cheating accusations today

I would have loved this video more if it was 30 seconds and it was just Ben saying "... DON'T BLUNDER!!!..."

Actually it's pretty good opening for below 1500, because they try to attack you with only their queen and they end up with worse position having queen chased all over the board with tempo, while you get free development. Ben had great observation about below 1500 level.

Ole Slick Willy was a true politician the day he asked "depends what you definition of is... Is" lol

I will pause before this starts... and make a cloud with a bong.

You're the greatest, you really are.