I’ve always liked and admired Magnus, but never truly loved his playing style. Until this past year. Now he’s become an otherworldly magician. It’s like his old self has died since abdicating the crown, and he’s been reborn. Magnus the Grey is now Magnus the White. (Gandalf reference.)

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

As a huge LOTR fan this is the best comment I’ve seen all day I gotta pin this one

@thalanoth

6 ай бұрын

Thanks, as if all of us nerds wouldn't get that reference...

@skkkr5815

6 ай бұрын

that's exactly why he stopped playing classical. there's not as much room for creativity at the top level of chess. granted, there are many super grandmasters with unique playing styles, but none of them are going to be able to reach #1 unless they play extremely solid and precise like magnus in classical games. rapid allows players to make more mistakes, giving us beautiful games like this.

@DieFlabbergast

6 ай бұрын

Aha! So you are a White Supremacist! :)

@henrikjohannesson3098

6 ай бұрын

❤ only nerds around here in abundance

After years of analyzation, Ive come to the conclusion that Magnus Carlsen is good at chess.

@why_n

6 ай бұрын

Hes alright

@stephenmccormick6584

6 ай бұрын

Nah, he’ll never make it

@raysharp1204

6 ай бұрын

The word is analysis

@peterritchie2990

6 ай бұрын

He ain’t human.

@matthewmierski4062

6 ай бұрын

What if it turns out he was just lucky every single game

When I played chess for the first time, this was my opening move. You could say I was a chess prodigy

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

haha if only you'd have carried on!

@Pian588

5 ай бұрын

I've been playing this opening since I was 8, I'm 30 now.

@Alekhine01

5 ай бұрын

I just said the same comment. My variation involved sacrificing the exchange sometime before sacrficing the game (it is disrespectful to beat your dad-that’s my excuse)! I was three or four!

@pappyfiddle

5 ай бұрын

Playing with my friends around age 8, we often worked on busting the rooks out first

@Lazarus-nw1ve

4 ай бұрын

@@pappyfiddlethe difficulty are the squared lines the rooks play way early in an opening. Slices and diagonals cut thru those squared lines at the early game. I still like the corner-pawn-games however. Look real close and play them close and the knight/Bishop/pawns trio make a fantastic formidable foe. Yep, love the Corner Pawn Game. Always have!

"And the players agreed to a draw." I nearly had a heart attack. Well done.

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Haha sorry about that one!

@AURON2401

6 ай бұрын

@@epicchess2021 Chadnus does not draw.

@Ro-12-21

6 ай бұрын

Literally why I subbed. Brilliant lol

@ezekielbrockmann114

6 ай бұрын

​@@epicchess2021 I first thought, "ARGH! These blitz games all end the same way: INCONCLUSIVELY!" But no. You got me, mate! Good one.

@gabrielsanchez5553

5 ай бұрын

I screamed inside my head the loudest WTF!! I have ever thought of.

...I nearly had a heart attack when you said _they agreed a draw_ 😆

@simplicity_007

6 ай бұрын

Same here!! I literally felt felt my heart sinking out of my chest area.... 😂😂😂

@aoustenaloysious8324

6 ай бұрын

Same here mate

@igorfujs7349

6 ай бұрын

Me too.

@bradnail99

6 ай бұрын

Yeah, that was an epic (!) troll.

@davkirk8741

6 ай бұрын

😂

Magnus has put a lot of life back into chess.

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Yeah!

@charleshash4919

6 ай бұрын

As has Hikaru!

@MislavIvkovic-sx8vd

6 ай бұрын

​@@epicchess2021this is his foult bcs if somebody play a5 play a6 or h5 play h6 my trener say

@KravMagoo

6 ай бұрын

Oh, the irony of that comment...what with all the pelts he's taken. ☠☠☠

@grin4803

6 ай бұрын

​@@KravMagooWhen things get too stale, sometimes losing can light your fire back

“Agreed to a draw” I damn near jumped into the screen to start throwing hands! You got me good!

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Hahaha

"for a while I thought we were even, but I'm royally forked now and will just resign" -Reza probably.

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Haha

The sickest part of that three-way fork is that you don’t even have to take the queen. It’s kg6 and then M2 *with pawns* after that.

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Yeah I didn't even realise that when analysing was only when I've seen a few people comment! I didn't even bother to look because it's so horrible at the end but yeah that is a great finish no even taking the queen

my goodness that final move was insane, took an undefended pawn, forked the rook and queen AND mated u, bro treated him like he never played a game of chess in his life...

This was amazing to watch.. just unreal. Magnus is still the cutting edge.. he is a certified prodigy and cemented as a legend maybe THE Legend

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Yeah he's so much fun to watch these days messing with openings!!

@dutchguyfull123

6 ай бұрын

@epicchess2021 magnus himself said his idea was bishop takes g 6 and if fxg6 then queen takes d4 queen takes d4 and then knight e 6 check winning back the queen

@Nulrom

6 ай бұрын

In a computer era Magnus is the one still playing like a human and winning. Or the opposite😅

It's one thing doing something like this in a blitz game. It's another thing entirely doing this to a very strong grandmaster in a tournament for it to be analyzed by computers and KZreadrs, and come out flawlessly.

Magnus is never late. He arrives precisely when he means to.

@epicchess2021

4 ай бұрын

haha love it, my all time favourite films!

You nailed it @9:49 and I was stunned and shocked for a few seconds. ROFL! Alireza was constantly slapped by Magnus. What a game!

This Magnus guy inventing new openings is fun.It's always warm to see new players rise. If he reads a bit of opening theory, he will go a long way in chess some day.

We saw this with Bobby Fischer getting bored with studying opening lines and coming up with random chess. Ironically, I think chess engines right now help Magnus to come up with completely new opening lines and ideas that are either 1) not too bad and/or 2) hard to punish for humans. As a viewer, it's great that chess is back to being unpredictable. I hate watching 20 moves of opening theory hoping someone makes a tiny mistake somewhere so that the game doesn't result in a draw.

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Yeah absolutely history repeating in that sense and yeah I love these games it’s so much more fresh and exciting

@NorThenX047

2 ай бұрын

If given the chance , people will optimize the fun out of every game. Same goes for chess. I think strategic theory is more important than memorizing openings and creating tactics mid game will always be more fun than following someone else's idea

@alang253

13 күн бұрын

I think this is why Magnus is a proponent of chess960/freestyle chess? it is so entertaining to not watch opening prep, dead even mid game and eventually a draw

The fork isn't the issue... it's the mate in 2 that ended the game. If black doesn't resign, he is forced into: 1... Kg6 (forced). 2. h5+, Rxh5 (forced). 3. g4xR#.

Great recap👍! What's interesting to me is that people wonder about Magnus's capabilities when he performs poorly (like Qatar). But he's got nothing to prove with his accomplishments. He now plays for the sport. Plus, he (like so many of the old school players) are up against a new generation bred on powerful chess engines. It seems like he's adapting to the change. Trying new things. Still able to show why his mastery with results like this.

@KNNY61

6 ай бұрын

I've said it before... Magnus is BORED with long memorization of boring openings. He'd much rather play these fun openings that immediately imbalance the game, even if he's worse. Yeah, if he has to 'win', he could play the 'best' lines. And often does, in more serious otb tournaments. But this type of entertainment... I have a strong suspicion it won't end anytime soon. I give him kudos for finding a way to stay engaged. I think he won't go down the road Fischer did, but I am pretty sure he came close to blowing off chess for other reasons, and ironically I think chess engines may have given an assist in keeping him doing what he does.

@supernova743

2 ай бұрын

When youve trained to beat the masters sometimes a new strategy will completely throw you. Masters dont just play a few strategies. Theyve trained to controll any situation. Playing unorthodox strategies and still maintaining control is the mark of a true master.

@user-of8gd2ix5i

2 ай бұрын

+++

This is what I like about Magnus. He will play anything and get away with it.

I understand Magnus critique against modern chess. I think all spectators want chess to be about skill and imagination, not only memorizing databases. Memorization has a place of course, but this kind of chess is more entertaining.

Wow, Magnus is so good he invented an opening that already has a name.

I just screamed WHAT! after he said the players agreed to a draw

That is actually the opening that every children who starts learning chess for the first time plays.

I paused and spent 5 minutes staring at the board and gave up... ... pawn G4. Brilliant.

the rook at 9:05 is like the protagonist in a kung fu movie swatting away the npcs

@bazeye

6 ай бұрын

😂

Nice touch with prophylaxis, προφύλαξις etymology-mention, a word that we Greeks use commonly even today.

@simplicity_007

6 ай бұрын

It's a word that is often also used in medicine.... That's where I first heard it, as in, "malaria prophylaxis" (my Dad was a doctor and always happy to explain strange words to me)❤

This is literally the same opening I've been using every game since middle school.

I remember trying out the ol' Plow opening on my wedding night.

@epicchess2021

5 ай бұрын

Lol no comment

"And here, the players agreed a draw." -Brilliant!!! :)

Love this video! And previous ones. Thanks for making/keeping chess fun . Great presentation!

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed thanks for watching!

He also invented a new defense. It’s called “if-you-beat-me-I-claim-you-cheated-and-so-I-still-win” defense. It is literally unbeatable and he is a genius.

"Look of this trio of miserable pieces...stuck on the back rank." It's this kind of commentary that shows you're a strong player. Stockfish can't tell you how to say that. Thanks as always for the exciting new games and the excellent commentary. And also..."this one, that one goes," ha ha. I like that touch. Keep up the good work!

@REASONvsRANDOM

6 ай бұрын

Right, stockfish cant. That’s what GPTs do.

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Thanks watteau

Gotta like these fresh, if dubious, openings Magnus plays in blitz.

I like to eat pizza

Hahah you got me with, 'this is where the players agreed to a draw' bit! 😂

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Haha sneaky one sorry 😆

@jamesoshea580

6 ай бұрын

@epicchess2021 Haha, it was funny, I nearly woke my daughter shouting, "No way!" at my phone, though.

The fact that a GM did not see a mate in 6 with 8 seconds left on the clock makes me gain some confidence in myself after not seeing mate in 2 in a 15 min game lol

“Here the players agree to a draw” 😂😂😂😂

The fake draw totally got me! Nice one

I like how the position just transposed into something relatively normal, but with the extra spice of that looming rook. I love to see it.

It is not the invention of Magnus, it was first used regularly by the hungarian chess master Kádas, and the opening holds his name.

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

yeah only playing, you are right, thanks!

His games are so fun to watch unfold.

"And here the players agreed to a draw" Man, you had me going there!

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Haha 😁

@Censeo

6 ай бұрын

@@epicchess2021 well played, sir

You know you're screwed when Magnus surrounds his king with his pieces and nonchalantly marches everything to your face robbing you of any good legal move.

moving the king proactively sounds very similar to shogi castling. Very interesting to see tactical convergence in two very similar games!

Happy to see your channel growing!! Awesome videos one after another

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Thanks a lot and glad you enjoyed thanks a lot for watching!

Really, you are such a superb chess commentator! Thank you for each and every story!

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed thanks a lot for watching!

Nigel Short faced the "Plough" back in 2015 against Vovk. It was a blitz game with plenty of blunders. White's h-pawn went all the way to h6.

Magnus is so good he conquered classical chess and decided to play awkwardly just to give himself more of a challenge…against the rest of the world’s greatest chess players! This guy is unreal.

Isn't it mate in 2 at the end?

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Oh yeah good point, I didn’t even bother analyzing the kill tbh as it is so lost!

I feel like this game was less about 1. h4 and moreso about the fact that alireza gave magnus e4 & d4. This was an instructional game on how difficult it is to play with less space in a blitz game.

Truly incredible commentary. I’m new to chess and you make this top-level play extremely digestible and entertaining. And I legitimately laughed out loud at the draw fake out. You earned a sub man, nice job

@epicchess2021

2 ай бұрын

Thanks a lot appreciate it!

You really got me with the “and here the players agree on a draw…. Just kidding!” dude I was a millisecond from clicking away

The plow opening did seem to catch Alireza off guard seemed like a chaotic game to a point with those attacking moves by Magnus he had a lot of pieces around that Black King the Fork was killer im kind of surprised Alireza didn’t spot that one coming not sure he could’ve stopped it Thanks for the Game James enjoy rest of your day

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed thanks a lot for watching as always, Michael

After employing the plow I have rosen from 560 to 571 rating, mind blowing stuff!

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Haha progress then!

Love how you stop and ask what we would do. I’m not a chess player but I chose the same things which made me feel a little smart (or lucky 😊).

That was truly impressive on Magnus' part.

Thanks for clarifying why Firouzja couldn't capture the bishop at 8:29. 👍Unfortunately Levy failed to explain that in his recap. 🙁

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

No problem thanks for watching!

I thought everyone accepted that the proper reply to 1. h4 was d5 But i guess firouzja still has things to learn

Man you got me with the draw xD

h4 has some alternate names such as Kádas Opening (after Gabor Kádas, a Hungarian player), Anti-Borg Opening, Samurai Opening and Harry's Opening.

Great commentary 👌🏽

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed thanks a lot for watching!

Thank you so much for not yelling. Gotham chess likes to scream the pieces, and your approach is more suttle.

Magnus played a beautiful game, his wedge formation was rock solid and well supported.

The mid game was great as expected though it seems the opening greatly benefits from the very passive opening by his opponent.

Dude your engagement is through the ROOF!! Well merited. Congratulations!!!

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

thanks a lot glad you enjoyed!

The plow / cadence opening is actually just a slight variation on the swedish kroner. In the swedish kroner the rook isnt activated, or pushes the A pawn. this allows the B pawn to be further utilized in the centre isle defence . But still genius by carlton.

I like the corner pawn opening, giving me the opportunity of a corner castle or releasing other pieces if needed. Very versitile.

That "the players agree to a draw" part got me good 😂

@epicchess2021

5 ай бұрын

Haha

There’s to many times Magnus be missing mates. I’m convinced he just loves playing chess and know he gone win regardless

Kadas Opening, your name is better, seems slightly better than the Bongcloud Attack for white. As always, brilliant video, perfect length, entertaining and instructive. Thank you.

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Haha thanks a lot, glad you enjoyed

Very entertaining video, also had a heart attack when you said draw, but indeed Magnus does know how to finish his dinner, what a fork. Subscribed!

@epicchess2021

4 ай бұрын

Haha sorry and thanks a lot

It’s hilarious to find out Magnus HUGE opening, is the same opening everyone used in checkers in grade school.

I've been using that starting move for years. Guess I should have done competitions... LOL

@3:40, thank you for the Latin root explanation. I have a more complete picture of that word now.

All chess openings already exist. You cannot “invent” them. But you can “discover” them!

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Yeah haha, and true just having a bit of fun really!

Interesting to see how a top player deals with a situation where there is a pawn gridlock in the center of the board and all of your opponent's pieces are protected.

9:46😂😂😂 agreed to a draw😂😂😂 u got me anyways good vid man..keep it up

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Haha thanks a lot glad you enjoyed

Great way to take control of center, one of the first key strategies I was taught in chess. I’ll have to give this a try.

I thought an aneurysm was forthcoming once you stated that a draw was agreed upon. Perfectly executed!

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Haha sorry 😆 glad you enjoyed thanks for watching

I'm surprised people haven't at least done the prep for the first 6 moves of this, given he's played it several times.

This Opening I saw already in 1989 in many games

Man...I wouldn't be surprised if you actually gone viral with your dry humor commentary. Keep it up! Subscribed!

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Haha thanks a lot glad you enjoyed!

haha you troll, agree to a draw I nearly fell for it GG James

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

hahaha

3:20 Thanks for the Latin and Greek lesson as well as the chess one!

My jaw jropped when you said they agreed to a jraw 😅

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Haha 😆

You really had me with the draw bit I can't lie.

@epicchess2021

5 ай бұрын

Lol sorry

Been doin this for years, it’s called the Zerg rush thank you

Lol love the bits of comedy u throw in!

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed thanks a lot for watching!

You got me with "the player agreed to a draw." I was like no way man

@epicchess2021

13 күн бұрын

Haha

Wait this is how I start all my matches when I play chess but I never played competitively or very regularly at all

That pe5 move by Magnus was funny but very good for his performance 😂

Subscribed :) Great breakdown. Kept me interested, was informative, and to the point. No bs. Thank you!!

@epicchess2021

6 ай бұрын

Thanks very much glad you enjoyed!

these videos are great, just come across your channel - fantastic commentary style, really clear

@epicchess2021

3 ай бұрын

Thanks a lot glad you enjoyed! Cheers for watching

Lol! You got me with that draw!

When you said the game was a draw I believed you for a split second and felt very betrayed

@epicchess2021

4 ай бұрын

Haha sorry!

he really did fork those pieces up

i thought of the plow before him but i just moved the rooks out and aligned them so it was double straight into the enemy king and just ram and if they take my tower i just use my other

seems like in blitz playing a provocative move in the opening can throw off your opponent. All they need to do is still to good opening principles but when you have no book to rely on you might feel tempted to respond by trying to punish the weird opening right away just to end up under-developed or over-extended.

If you hadn't named this so euphoriously I wouldn't have been so excited to try it.

@epicchess2021

4 ай бұрын

Haha I wish you great success with it, I’ve certainly not had much 😆

Suprising that Alireza continued to let the bloodbath reign on his army.