Very instructional! When underpromotions work, they bring such satisfaction 😄

Levy sir I want to ask as you are not playing competitive chess now so can you show your opening repertoire. Btw big fan sir. Love from India

There were a series of chess rules made in the 1800s. One was the instant pawn promotion. Before that, a promotion was the use of one turn. However, the rule stated, the player could promote to ANY piece. Then came a chess puzzle where the winning move was to promote to an opposite colored knight to block off the opponent's king in a discovered checkmate. To figure that out so quickly is how one becomes a chess god.

"If you accidentally manage to promote to a bishop successfully in a game , you are just a chess god , I don't know what else to tell you" - Levy 🙂 . Does accidentally underpromoting in a bullet game and winning on time count ?

the fabiano one was so badass and savage and i just like how he calmly put the bishop on the board like a damn boss, in the interview he just said he has never done it so he just loved doing it lol

I got so happy when I saw rook h2 right away and levy was stumped, felt like I was a grandmaster, until I went on to have a completely losing position in the opening of a game I started minutes after I watched this.

"Down 18 points of material, which I'm sure you're familiar with (the position)" cheers fair enough

I once promoted a pawn to a second king and then my original king started popping off and attacking like a maniac because he knew a second king was on behind him....also, I was on shrooms and I don't even have a chessboard.

Great examples when to underpromote and how underpromotion can go wrong. I have seen otb that a player placed a pawn on the 8th rank without promoting it to something and pressed the clock too fast without placing a new piece. In that case the player will not choose but get a queen and the opponent will get 2 minutes because the other player made an illegal move.( a pawn can not be on the 8th rank at the end of the turn)

Trust me, an under promotion Checkmate is one of the sweetest feelings in chess.

SUGGESTION FOR CONTENT: Don't we all love scientific experiments? I surely do. You could make a series of scientific experiments (one experiment per video), where you would invite people to play against each other without them knowing the rating of their opponent, or actually having their rating changed on purpose. The aim of this would be to assess how much influence knowing the rating actually has on the probability of winning. For example, does an IM play considerably better against a GM if they don't know against whom they are playing? Of course to answer such question you would have to invite many many people. There may be a more convenient way to set up the experiment. Unfortunately you couldn't be playing because you'd know (i.e., it needs to be a double-blind controlled experiment). P.S.: Sorry for the caps lock at the beginning. I just had this idea and I think it would be quite cool. No one doubts that there is a difference in skill very much correlated to the rating, but on the other hand the rating sometimes seems to have a psychological effect that makes things harder for the lower rated person (as you have described plenty of times).

I never thought I’d be wondering if three knights vs one knight was winable

WHAT'S MORE IMPORTANT THAN A QUEEN? It's obviously Levy's content. Thank you for your hard work and daily content! ♥

It's so small, but I absolutely love how Levy used the physical pawns with him in the intro to help introduce the topic.

Isn’t there that one puzzle requiring two knight underpromotions? Zurakhov would not be the only one.

I wish that someday Levy will end up in a Batman comic as a crazy chess themed villain

I had a game once where I actually was able to promote to anything I want, rook and queen would have been mate with the promotion and bishop and knight would have been mate one move later. And the best thing is that my opponent couldnt do anything about it because he could only move his pawn on the other side of the board. I think if I would have promoted to a knight/bishop, he would have promoted as well but still couldnt do anything against mate. Unfortunately he resigned one move before I promoted my pawn... :/

Levi saying "Mads Andersen is easier pronounced made my danish heart chuckle. Even Swedes and Norwegians would have a tough time pronouncing the soft D in Mads

There’s this awesome puzzle, I think it’s on Chess Vibes, where on each different king move by black you can only win by promoting to a different piece. The puzzle includes all of knight, bishop, rook, queen. It’s an incredible position (which’ll likely never happen in real games, but still). Love the examples here, very nice! 😍

Bro gotham you’re so damn funny I swear your videos are awesome because they are a mix of entertainment and information. And considering how bland educational chess videos were in 2015/2016, your videos revolutionize the idea of educational chess commentary. Keep up the grind man

Really glad to see more instructional content like this again! Looking forward to seeing more of it in the future

The last dude took the "4 knights game" literally

Great timing, I bad mannered someone with a bishop promotion (queen would've worked) just yesterday and it felt so good

I wanna hear more about Levy walking into a pool with a phone in his hand

Punching the opponent in the face when pawn reaches 8th rank should be a new variant.

I wish I could find it, but NM Lopez (aka ChessVibes) discussed an amazing puzzle where, for White to play and win, they had to promote to a rook, a knight, and a bishop over 22 moves. If you can find it, it's mind-blowing.

the deathstare at the start is my favurite part

"The ponds will bully the king" THAT CAUGHT ME LAUGHING ON THE FLOOR 🤣🤣🤣🤣😂🤣🤣🤣😂🤣🤣

Would you rather get a sound knight under-promotion or sound bishop under-promotion?

Honestly, this is such a creative video, Levy, and I'm enjoying these types of videos way more than any tournament recap. Love to see that you're back on making new content. Keep it up!

Levi always manages to both educate and entertain, but I love it when he manages to surprise as well. I saw the first couple of bishop promotion games and thought, “If I ever get a situation to promote to a bishop, I am sure I won’t have the skill to see it, I would bungle it, guaranteed!”. Then he showed the Ray v Fabiano game. It’s beautiful because the idea is both brilliant and simple at the same time.

27:15 Hikaru once promoted like 6 pawns to knights and then checkmated with them just to flex on his opponent

It's been fun watching and learning chess from you discovered you after you embarrassed Ludwig atrioc and stanz and have enjoyed learning chess from you basically never really played it as a kid but using it in my free time to stimulate my brain has been fun so. Thank you

Gotham never retire, I lived in nyc for a while and you are such a good commentator and teacher. Play tournaments if it sounds fun for you but at the end of the day your analysis is one reason I’ve come to love chess again

When I was younger we would always play so you could only promote to one of your pieces that had previously been captured. (even after we knew that wasn't the official rule) It's only recently that I found out that some people in Europe were using that as their 'default' version of the rules before there was a near-universal "official" one. I still think that's a good way to play chess, even if it sometimes makes strategies a little screwy.

Loved this format and all the fun it contained across all levels of games. Thanks for sharingx

Discovered your channel a few days ago. My wife was never taught how to play chess so now with channels like yours I will help her learn. Watching your enthusiasm for chess has reignited my love it.

Gotham, your hilarious, joking, explanations of the game, in depth analysis, and other things about how you make videos, is the only reason why I continue to enjoy chess, study openings, and even try and get better. Keep being you, keep uploading videos, keep being yourself. Thank you for all of your content and how you go about teaching for free with videos on youtube.

A while ago, I found this crazy puzzle. You have to promote to a Queen, then a knight, then a bishop, then a rook.

You are the man! I am trying these tricks and ideas to win games. Thx so much Levy!

This was so much fun to watch, I feel like I learned so much!

20:40 "... Down 18 points of material, which I'm sure you're familiar with" LOOOOLLLL HOW DID YOU FIND THAT REALLY QUICKLY! THAT REFERS TO THE GAME : Naroditsky vs Firouzja game, where Firouzja was up 18 points of material and accidentally stalemated Daniel Naroditsky HAHAHAHAHA NICE ONE LEVY!!! Keep the spirit on!

"Compelling!!" Super instructional episode! Sadly, underpromoting would only give me a new way to lose. Guess I'm banned from Chess' Mount Olympus! Nice review and great games!!

You actually should have a forced mate in the Andersen-Hjartarson game after promoting to the bishop with Bg6+, forcing either Kg8 or Kh8 into Rd8+ which forces Qe8 and then Re8#, or it forces queen takes bishop on g6 followed by pawn takes queen which forces the king onto the back rank again because the pawn is protected by the knight, and Rd8 is just a mate.

Yes, Levy, your videos are compelling, which is why we keep returning. I have played two games where I have trapped my opponent's King on one edge of the board, and if I was to promote a Pawn to a Queen, it would have been a stalemate. I did not want this to happen, so I promoted to a Rook in both games, and won them. I have never promoted to a Knight or Bishop before, and I hope to do so now that I have watched this video.

I once promoted to a Knight with check and it was the only move that not only prevented my defeat but allowed me to win!

Really cool video. I promoted a pawn to a knight once, but I never thought promoting to a rook or bishop could have a use. Glad to have been proven wrong, and that Zurakhov-Koblents match was a gem!

Excellent plugging of the clips channel, very fluid transition Mr.Gotham.

Thanks a lot for the videos Levy. Im going through a tough time and chess content takes my mind off everything for a bit.

Levy, are you feeling more relaxed now? Less stressed? I hope so. You make wonderful content! Your infectious enthusiasm and your energy drive the content and the commentary/recaps. And I really admire your honesty! Best to you and Lucy.

I have no idea why, but the delivery of the punch your opponent in the face joke at the start was hilarious, I had to pause the video I was laughing so hard

Zurakhov took the 4 knights game too directly

5:56 if bishop takes f5 pawn it forces the rook to move buying time and when c6 pawn makes it a Queen is good to make

Well there's one very common situation, which wasn't mentioned in this video, but well known in quite many tactics - pawn and King vs Rook and Kings, when promoting to a queen leads to immediate checkmate, and the only one saving move is promoting to a knight with check. Smth like this PGN positiom: 4K3/5P2/4k3/r7/8/8/8/8 . And I had this situation in live rapid game, and I was quite happy to finish the game with two new things in my chess career - underpromoting, and calling the arbiter for move count. And holding this, of course, even if this wasn't very easy :)

I love your vids. They calm me when I'm sick all the time and I'm learning chess moves too. So it's a win win.

Mildly disappointed that you didn't include the Lasker trap in the "Knights" section. Anyway, great video!

When I went to my normal place for summer there was an old man that I always played with me, I was little like 12 years old... Since for some weird reason I was always sacrificing my bishops for knights every time that he could promote he bmed me to teach me the power of bishops... So he promoted everytime that he was on a clear advantadge to a bishop xD

I wish I could punch my opponent in the face when I promote

That was very fun and entertaining to watch and educational too. Great finds and presentation!

Yes, Levy, my friend, your videos are COMPELLING 22:18 I can't get enough of it. Thanks for the amazing content, it's helping me A LOT.

Anyone remember the game between Bogolyubov and Alekhine, a Dutch defense where Black under promoted to knight twice and won brilliantly?

Not long after Fabi promoted to a bishop, I was playing a quick rated tournament and had the same scenario. I promoted to a bishop with check and my opponent, who was maybe 8 or 9 asked me during the game if I meant to promote to a bishop.

Man Levy I honestly appreciate your content more than you know. God bless you brother.

Fantastic video! The last example reminded that me that 23 years I mated someone in a competitive game in a three knights endgame. Such BM.

Levy in the rook situation u could make a queen then that’s check mate because the queen is covering all the squares for the king to move except h4 but the pawn is cowering that too so check mate

They are for sure compelling Levy. You got us here like Gotham-junkies! Waiting to watch the next video of yours 😁

20:10 I read online that there are no positions where a bishop promotion is the only winning move. So I looked over this Andersen vs. Hjartson sequence again, and I thought I found a loophole. I thought, "Wait, why can't the king move to f8 after the queen sacrifice (Qf7+ followed by Nxf7 and exf7+)? It turns out, white can follow up with Ng6+, checking the king and forcing black to lose his queen. Then I looked again: "Is Nxf7 the only defense against white's queen attack?" The answer was yes - if the king moves to any of the h-file squares, it's mate in one for white. So that loophole backfired too. If white promotes to a knight and follows up with Nf6+, forking the queen and king, the pawn can just take the knight. That leaves only one other option: White would have to promote to a rook, and somehow beat black's queen with his knight and rook. And I don't know if that's possible without black making blunders. So... are those sources wrong after all? There really are positions where you have to make a bishop? And I just wasted over a half hour re-analyzing a chess sequence for nothing?

This is the most entertaining chess video I've seen in a long time, great thinking and explanation!

Great video bro. Instructive stuff. I've done this in a few of my games 😀

Hey levy can you make a video on petrov's defence for opening and mate with 2 knights as well?

Real chads set their promotion to auto-knight instead of autoqueen for moments like these

Just a holdover from my beginner days, but I discovered a long time ago how easy it was to accidentally stalemate someone with 2 Queens, so if I already have a Queen, more often than not I'll make the next promotion to a Rook. Stalemates are a little less likely. I have under-promoted to a Knight though in the right circumstances.

Epic vid thnx 👏👏 also the homework you did for this one 💪🏻👍🏻

I shouldn't have doubted it but I did and I was wondering if Stockfish can find the right move in Hjatarson-Andersen game and sure enough, it does!

you know why i watch your videos, besides the inflections, funny jokes, compelling material presented, energy? - your NYer attitude including the language, the accent, the gesticulations. i miss that when i used to be in the States. as far as i'm concerned, you are a GM for loving the game so much and making it available to us all. thank you and all the best!

Levy will have for sure promoted to a Knight because its even in some extended opening lines and it's a pretty logical move but I wonder if he's ever promoted to a rook/bishop (when it actually made a difference and wasn't BM) even once in his whole career?

What a generous contribution to Gabriel. You a true grandmaster in life

One of your best videos, very educational!

Compelling? Levy is the GM of his craft. Great video!

19:17 actually at first glance I thought that promoting to a knight wins to because knight is almost trappes but when I tried to beat stockfish in this position there were always stal mate tricks, meaning that instead of 3 moves i takes you 30 to win knight6

We are here to support ou levy. There should be no excuses to put your mental health at risk. Not even if it is something we love. You are an honorable man levy

Always my favorite time of the day when I get the notification that you uploaded! Won't be here during the weekend, taking the wife and kiddos camping. See you Monday!

9:23 I would've moved g5+. Rook is guarding the pawn, so the king can't take it and the rook can't take the pawn either because it's pinned by the other rook.

Hi Gotham! I have my long-awaited vacation in Tenerife. I watch your videos every evening after long days of hiking and swimming. I don't care if you lose in chess tournaments or review other games. Keep doing this! We love you!

fun fact: FM Mike Klein also promoted to two knights in the same game.

Always learn something new from an endgame video. Thank you Levy

This vid is so entertaining keep on levy hoping for so much more

levy , can we have 7th rank rook pawn endgames video ? i need to know how to proceed from that point onwards , have been stuck many a times including loosing of many elo points :)

That Hikaru Kramnik game was crazy

Question:-What makes one chess addict? Answer:- GOTHAMCHESS

Sometimes, I would just wait a few more moves untill I moved my pawn to get a queen so it is not a draw

I loved this video. Really neat to see such a mix of funny and educational content.

I had a game where, with seconds to go, I had to go to preferences, turn off "auto queen", quickly come back and promote to knight. Although I had a winning combination after that, my opponent's flag fell, I think he didn't expect me to see the stalemate trap. Anyway, that was satisfying end to game :)

Back when the LA Times was doing chess puzzles, they had a puzzle where it was white to move and mate in two, and the solution was something like b8=B. b8=Q was a stalemate.

Could have included the hyper bullet game in which Danya beat Magnus with a knight promotion.

The first pronunciation of Hjartarson was actually almost spot on. Only thing I'd say, from my limited knowledge of Icelandic, is to round out the o in son, as in sown

This is a great balance between educational content and entertaining content. Well done sir

that was very fun and helpful thankyou

I already love this video. THIS kind of content is amazing.

There was a Hikaru vs. Stockfish game where Hikaru under promoted to knights several times and ended up making with 5 or 6 knights, if I recall. (Of course, he was just flexing there...).