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Kalashnikov + Sicilian sidelines and you're set against 1.e4. Thanks Mr.King!

I am very much looking forward to this Book. I already have the Kalashnikov book from you which I find excellent.

Thank you @Daniel King 😁 You are a great teacher and your videos are amazing. I have bought the King's Gambit course, the Kalashnikov book and now am looking forward to the anti-Sicilian book ❤

Very interesting. Didn't see Ra7. Nope. Topalov playing the Sicilian, rarely disappoints. Thanks for the lesson! Looking forward to the book's release. The course has helped me a lot.

A very impressive game by Topalov … made even more so by the fact that it was blindfold and rapid ! I would have been happy to play such a game even in the old days of postal chess where one had 3 days to find a move . Very nice example to illustrate the power of the knight on d4 .

Wow, that book seems the dream of the

Wow, who would've thought that a rapid blindfolded tournament could produce such a gem! Very nice game by Veselin and great finding by you, Daniel. Thank you very much, greetings from Brazil 🇧🇷

I find excellent the Kalashnikov book. I'm waiting for the book "King's Anti-Sicilians for Black". Thank you.

Ra7 reminds me of Matthew Saddler always pointing out the rook to the third rank lifts and seeing the open 7th rank made me think of that move, not as my first but I did concider it

The Rook's maneuver from a8 to e7 anticipating whites g5 and Qc3 was sick. Specially in a blindfold game. I think Kramnik is tipping.

Great game, thank you!

I didn't see the point of ...Ra7 when you asked the question, but things always make sense in hindsight: the Rossolimo has a tendency to behave like a Nimzo-Indian with colours reversed, and in the Saemisch variation this idea of playing Ra1-a2 and swinging over to the Kingside is well-known.

We are excitedly anticipating the book version! I have already read your Kalashnikov book and have to say that it helped me a lot to gain some FIDE rating points!

@PowerPlayChess

5 ай бұрын

I am delighted to hear that!

Never would consider Ra7 but makes intuitive sense once you see it played. Happy my move Be6 is at least on the radar, I had felt like there was no need to make a committal pawn move so ruled out a3 / b5. Very much looking forward to the book's publication!

Beautiful post🎉🎉❤❤❤

Beautiful game❤

I also preferred b5. I did consider Ra7 with the idea to defend the seventh rank, and possibly double on the a-file, but it didn't seem good enough - I just completely overlooked Re7 protecting the e5-pawn. I am enjoying very much your chessable course ... aber ich habe Ihren Deutsch-Anti-Sizilianisch-Kurs gekauft, weil ich auch mein Deutsch verbessern möchte 😄

I did not think of that move. i thought of something else you di not mention, after checking it out for long enough i realised it does not work. This on the other hand was a good strategy. Thanks Daniel.

Now I feel proud that I actually did consider Ra7:) But admittedly it was not based on such deep ideas but rather felt like a possible move - maybe it could be useful to swing the rook to d7 or f7 at some point? I discarded it and my personal guess was Ne8 because I wanted to either get the knight to d4 or maybe, e.g. after Rb1, I had c4 d:c4 Qc5 Nc3 Nd6 in mind. That all sounds good but I completely missed that after Qf3 f6 g5 Black would have to take back on f6 with the King in order to defend e5. The engine even says it's ok, but ... In that light Ra7 (before Ne8) with the main idea to defend e5 as in the game becomes way more logical. Very instructive game and great analysis!

Thankyou. The game was interesting and helpful. No I did not think of Ra7 either.

Although Topalov's R relocation permitted discussion of other typical themes, I doubt that...Ra7-e7 itself is particularly thematic in the sense that it's something you'd commonly do. As this line had already been tried as White by Shirov, my guess is that Topolov prepared a line which Karajakin would not have considered. It's a very disorienting line, but still a very decent one, ideal to spring in a blindfold game. Interestingly, ...Re8 to guard e5 is sometimes seen, but this takes a R away from the f-file: Ra7-e7 lets the other R stay on f8. And White is likely to prevent the a-file opening, so the QR might as well go elsewhere.

I rather like this Nf6 line. Good luck finishing the book and it sounds like it should be good. You touched on this early on, but it seems to me that a good approach for white is to play 5. e5 Ng4; 6. Bxc6 dc; 7. h3 Nh6; and then solid moves such as O-O, d3, Ne4 and Qe2. Ne4 would allow c3 to kick away the knight from d4.

@PowerPlayChess

5 ай бұрын

That’s probably the most common approach, but there is always a problem with c3: the d3 pawn is weakened. Of course this is all thoroughly discussed in the book.

I saw Ra7 just before you mentioned it, mainly because you'd dispensed with the sensible alternatives, but I hadn't got to Re7 which I don't think would have occurred to me.

My move was Re8, which also bolsters the e-pawn... Ra7 I didn't think of.

I actually like black's position better in this middlegame. Black has a bishop, and if you look at the pawn structure, white has no outposts for his knights because of the doubled pawn at c6 and the other pawn at g6. But on the other hand black has a couple of really nice outpost spots for his knight, one of which he eventually got to in this game with crushing effect. I know the position is probably objectively even but if I were black I would be happy to get to that middlegame any day of the week.

@PowerPlayChess

5 ай бұрын

In that case I warmly recommend 3…Nf6

I must admit I saw Ra7 :) But only because you said that it's not an obvious move. Every other move in that position was rather obvious, so I thought about Ra7. But to be fair, it wasn't clear for me what would be the purpose of it so I didn't pursue that line further.

My immediate thought , even before ...a7-a5 : "Always useful to develop the rook via ...Ra8-a7; - after all, this becomes even more true since the rise of the engines, who love such maneuvers. " - Danny asking : " So, none of the obvious, like ...Ra8-a7, a4-a3, or Be6. What could it be, though? Does dropping a pawn speculatively with ...c5-c4 even work ?!" 😁

love it!. Is there a way to order the book autographed by You personally? I would love to add my favorite chess commentator to my signed book collection. I would place you right between Sir Edmund Hillary and Paulo Coelho....

Definitely didn't consider Ra7. I was focused on Ng8 to consolidate some of the kingside dark squares and avoid any shenanigans with g5 being a fork. Now h6+Be6 lets me attack on the queenside with a clear conscience.

8:30 is c4 a good move trying to break the structure and taking advantage of the unstable e pawn

I have bought the Chessable course. It is excellent! Can we hope, that all improvements will be incorporated into the chessable course too?

@PowerPlayChess

5 ай бұрын

If you go through the Chessable course you will see that I have commented on most questions and suggestions that viewers have made; and in that way improvements have been incorporated.

Hello, Daniel any idea when the book version will be on the market?

Great coverage as always from the King! I am surprised at the maneuver Ra7 and Re7 though. It doesn't make much sense to me and I feel that it is rather artificial. Would you agree that had it been an amateur that played this as black instead of Topalov, with the idea of worrying about his kingside, he would have been told off by his coach for being afraid of ghosts? Be6 or b5 are simply better moves and the computer seems to agree (I promised I only checked what the computer thought of it after typing this comment!)

@PowerPlayChess

5 ай бұрын

I don’t think it is artificial: it showed that the kingside counterattack is another valid strategy in the position.

Danny, what is your opinion about Classical slav and Chebenko slav? Which one is less theoretical and can be played for a win below 2200 level? Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

@PowerPlayChess

5 ай бұрын

Both are excellent openings and both can be played for a win below 2200, or indeed at other levels. Remember that most openings are a question of taste, not objective merit.

8:54 I thought Ne8, Nc7, Ne6, Nd4

20th diablos … how do you like that ?

On which online-chess-page are you playing, when you play online chess games?

@PowerPlayChess

5 ай бұрын

I don't play online.

Karjakin would have had a Ukrainian flag at that time, rather than a Russian one. Hypocrite that he is.