Amazing how Black's light square bishop initially seemed doomed to passivity, but then it got to h3 and turned into a monster, staying there the whole rest of the game menacing the white king.
Not just restricting the white king, but defending e6 square preventing any useful checks by white queens. if it didn't defend that square, 2 white queens would easily checkmate the black king.
Static piece value is ultimately a pretty lame system… at best it applies in simple endgames, but in the opening, minor pieces are worth more than rooks and in the endgame two connected pawns are worth equal or more than a rook. The ruthless geometry of the 64 squares never ceases to impress.
Doesn't matter in simple endgames either. If you're down a piece/the exchange often your best chance of drawing is to get rid of all the pawns. You can be up "+6" with two knights and still have a draw lol, and at a noob level getting to Bishop + Knight often has great practical chances. Rook vs Queen is technically a win but sometimes can't even be won in the 50 move rule. The specific material imbalance matters way more than the actual point count.
Awesome game. Besides everything discussed in the video, it's a step towards redemption for the 4. Bd2 variation of the Nimzoindian, which makes a lot of intuitive sense but has generally been dismissed as weak. The first chess book I ever read (a reprint of some little "Chess for the Beginner" thing which I think was written by Frank Marshall) set the queen at 10 points, but nearly every other book I've seen sets it at 9. The second chess book I ever read (I. A. Horowitz's "Chess for Beginners") set it at 9, and justified that by showing that two _connected_ rooks generally beat a queen.
Man, I wish Wesley had a lot more time, like few hours, to think about how to utilize his queens in the best way. The position, where NOT capturing a rook with promotion is better and then NOT capturing the newly promoted queen is better is just mindblowing, I so loved that.
I was always taught that queen is worth 9. I know its not preciselly said and it depends from situation, but everyone was saying that queen is 9, not 10
I believe he could have blocked with the knight at the end with knight to e4. After any trades with the bishop going firsts the king could move to help after the rook allowed him f2 by white moving it to help out otherwise. The end game would have had black down a bishop and that may be why he didn't even try it.
I was looking to suggest u this game bro. But you are too good and even faster to show this masterpiece. I Watched this game live at 2 am Indian time. Love from India . PS- Levon is my favorite chess player.
I think 3 light pieces roughly balance a queen, even better if they are well coordinated. However, always the specific position has priority. So a queen is 9± and a light piece is 3± depending on the position.
On paper two Queens sounds like utter domination of your opponent. But nothing is certain in Chess, the Sands are always moving and no one can accurately predict the outcome. A really compelling game and excellent analysis, thkz Agad.
I thought for a second that So would make another spectacular save after Levon played Qf6. He also was losing against Xiong on their second game before finding a Bf1 move that just saved what seemed to be a completely lost game. GGs to both tho, I know they both were a little out of form after failing to qualify for the candidates.
Ah, where two queens was basically the same as two rooks since all the action was going on in files; the ability to move diagonally did not come in handy for white.
And it was in this position, right before dinner was served, that Medo stole the fish and had a great dinner! As for the game, can you imagine having 2 queens and losing? As white too? That's gonna leave a mark.
Once you told us the story of the three -gadmators: one was Agadmator and there were two others. You should make Medo the FOURTH -gadmator and you could call him Mgadmator.
That bishop on h3 and rooks on f file was so powerful it made up for extra queens. The knight was also reduced to passivity so it didn't matter if white had an extra queen since everything was needed to stop him from being mated. Most powerful threat in chess is checkmate, points or extra queens don't mean anything when checkmate is the threat and you have no mate threat of your own.
@@trequor yeah my point was even the extra queen didn't help in the end, the rook was stronger than the queen due to the position and other minor pieces like the monster bishop on h3
@@TheFilipFonky king can move to 8 different squares like the knight and bishop but also can castle giving it a slight advantage over the knight and bishop.
I have always thought it a bit strange when some people fixate on the points that chess pieces have been given. Even more so people obsess with some point value given by an engine. Stockfish "says" it is plus three means almost nothing unless you are going to play all the same moves as stockfish. Bottom line is there are no points in single game of chess. There is a king to be captured, there is no prize for having the most pieces on the board at any stage of the game.
Couldn't believe that two super grand masters play a completely locked center and queen side ...one of them went on to make another queen ..and then lost..! What a game.!!
The whole "points" system for the value of pieces is like a lie-to-children (see wikipedia article on what that means... essentially, it's a simpler but wrong version of the truth, to help young people understand difficult concepts in a step by step process) In truth, a pawn can be worth more than a queen, even without promoting, if that pawn is about to assist in a checkmate of a trapped king. The value of pieces on the losing side is absolutely nothing if there is a forced mate on the board, while the value of the checkmating pieces and pawns on the winning side is infinite. But only in those positions. Or in positions where a pawn is forced to be traded for a queen to prevent promotion, things like that, where you are winning positionally even if down "material" because in order to prevent an immediate loss, the losing side has to trade away their material advantage. So the value of all pieces and pawns is variable, it is directly related to how well they are positioned to win and how poorly the opposing pieces and pawns are positioned to prevent a loss. When black has a massive attack on the queenside, a blocked center, but getting checkmated on the kingside, and both kings have castled kingside, what is the value of black's queenside pieces, which cannot reposition in time to defend the black king? They essentially do not exist, like a trapped rook or bishop. They are on the board but they no longer matter. That is why attackers can dump pieces and pawns for an attack, it is because the resulting vulnerable king loses to the remaining material close enough to attack that king, and won't be reinforced in time before checkmate. Position of the pieces and pawns are related to the time it takes for those pieces and pawns to either win the game with checkmate, or win enough material that a win is inevitable, or to defend their own king. If they cannot accomplish any of those things before the opposing army can, then their value is nearly nothing. Pieces have value if they can make something happen in time for the material imbalance to become irrelevant. If there is no winning tactic, no checkmate, and no danger of being checkmated, then and only then do the relative values of the pieces and pawns begin to matter. And even then, a blockaded bishop or a trapped rook isn't worth as much as a knight in certain positions. Chess is complicated. In order to dumb it down for us non-titled players, we are taught to memorize that this piece is worth more than that one. But in order to become better players we have to unlearn that rule, and learn that this pawn in this position is better than your queen, and that it is okay to let your queen hang if the pawn is about to promote and mate, or mate a trapped king. That these knights and bishops and rook versus a king are worth more than lost material elsewhere. That a couple pieces are worth more than the entire opposing army, in this position. But only if you can make those positions happen and there is no refutation. Which means we need to be able to calculate it out so we know there's no refuting it. Until we can do that, we need to remember the relative value of pieces. But even at the start, we are told the value of the king is infinite, so even with the lie to children of the value of pieces, if we can checkmate, then material is irrelevant. So there's still a kernel of truth in the lie.
This is why I always have a hard time understanding why so many players think that being down the exchange means they lose. If you are able to mount an attack in the midgame where your Knight/Bishop will matter more than the opposing Rook, the exchange is easily worth it. Similarly, if you can force a relatively closed position and offer no open lines, Rooks are almost useless.
Excellent agadmator. You're chess analysis really gets the point across in a way that makes my chess game better. Quite enjoyable to watch these videos. Thank you.
At 7:48, I was childish. I thought Qd4+ and king had no squares and the world missed this easy tactic but forgot there is the h1 square the king can move into.
At 8:55 I guess Agad was wondering why it's not Rook H to f6. Well because rook on e8 is pinned. And what an incredible game btw. This is the next level of chess I guess. Let's call the 23rd century chess.
Black's bishop here is a total underdog. All the time it was on h3 yelling it's friends "Guys let's pile up on the white king, I have got him in jail" And everyone started coming near white king because bishop had everyone's back.
Amazing how Black's light square bishop initially seemed doomed to passivity, but then it got to h3 and turned into a monster, staying there the whole rest of the game menacing the white king.
Not just restricting the white king, but defending e6 square preventing any useful checks by white queens. if it didn't defend that square, 2 white queens would easily checkmate the black king.
Yeah it was definitely a 5 point bishop that game
Story of a Phoenix Bishop raising from the ashes
@@paperfart3988 It had the makings of a Varsity player
@@mikekokomomike Definitely not a hothouse flower
That Medo backstory is essential to the channel.
Really appreciate that status update on Medo. Thanks!!! Although I'll have to agree that I do the same whenever fish 🐠 is being cooked at home.
Thought the same thing about medo
Is it medo, or meadow?
@@yuallisone3460 dont know, all i know is that im afraid of dogs, but he is a good boy
@@yuallisone3460 I was unsure on a previous video, but I learned that Medo sounds like the Croatian word for bear, so it’s a popular dog name
@@yuallisone3460 I have seen everyone use 'Medo'
I love Agadmator videos with my first cup of coffee. After that game I’m ready for whatever life throws at me today!
Ironically nothing fishy about the position here, medo simply accepts the gambitted fish, he is just awaiting his meal. Completely winning position.
Never ever thought even after 2 queens for white, black would win
Same
Static piece value is ultimately a pretty lame system… at best it applies in simple endgames, but in the opening, minor pieces are worth more than rooks and in the endgame two connected pawns are worth equal or more than a rook. The ruthless geometry of the 64 squares never ceases to impress.
Two passed pawns on 6 rank outplays rook
But not if they are below 5th rank
Doesn't matter in simple endgames either. If you're down a piece/the exchange often your best chance of drawing is to get rid of all the pawns. You can be up "+6" with two knights and still have a draw lol, and at a noob level getting to Bishop + Knight often has great practical chances. Rook vs Queen is technically a win but sometimes can't even be won in the 50 move rule. The specific material imbalance matters way more than the actual point count.
1:09 and it was in this position that Medo found a completely new hobby
Props to mator for going straight to the middle of going to the good stuff.
Loved the intro, that was hilarious. Nice shout out to Guy Lafleur in the contributions.
Antonio thank you so much for your chess daily videos, they have certainly have improved my days over the past few years :)
We were indeed wondering about Medo so thank you for that
Awesome game. Besides everything discussed in the video, it's a step towards redemption for the 4. Bd2 variation of the Nimzoindian, which makes a lot of intuitive sense but has generally been dismissed as weak.
The first chess book I ever read (a reprint of some little "Chess for the Beginner" thing which I think was written by Frank Marshall) set the queen at 10 points, but nearly every other book I've seen sets it at 9. The second chess book I ever read (I. A. Horowitz's "Chess for Beginners") set it at 9, and justified that by showing that two _connected_ rooks generally beat a queen.
14:09 What if Wesley played bishop to e4 instead in this position ?
Man, I wish Wesley had a lot more time, like few hours, to think about how to utilize his queens in the best way. The position, where NOT capturing a rook with promotion is better and then NOT capturing the newly promoted queen is better is just mindblowing, I so loved that.
I was always taught that queen is worth 9. I know its not preciselly said and it depends from situation, but everyone was saying that queen is 9, not 10
I believe he could have blocked with the knight at the end with knight to e4.
After any trades with the bishop going firsts the king could move to help
after the rook allowed him f2 by white moving it to help out otherwise.
The end game would have had black down a bishop
and that may be why he didn't even try it.
Thanks agadmator for making my day. I was getting bored and your upload definitely energised me😊
This is an old type of comment.
At 12:13 after qd4+ why can’t Wesley play Kh1 ?? Instead of qe3 blocking ?
It's not that he can't play it but he simply blundered due to time trouble.
At 9:13 I was anticipating the queen moving to h5, not e4. Not sure if that would have been better.
I can't say I've ever seen a queen pinned to another queen before, let alone while simultaneously being pinned to the king.
We attribute arbitrary values to the chess pieces to rank their worth, but Medo knows true worth: the cooking fish
I've never resigned with two queens. That's impressive
What if White at 6:08 plays QC2 instead of QxF1? Isn't It better as you have check and you pick up the bishop with the queen and you avoid QD4 check?
Eh probably still draw but you lose h2 pawn
the piece of info about medo attracts me the most :333
I was looking to suggest u this game bro. But you are too good and even faster to show this masterpiece. I Watched this game live at 2 am Indian time. Love from India .
PS- Levon is my favorite chess player.
I think 3 light pieces roughly balance a queen, even better if they are well coordinated. However, always the specific position has priority. So a queen is 9± and a light piece is 3± depending on the position.
On paper two Queens sounds like utter domination of your opponent. But nothing is certain in Chess, the Sands are always moving and no one can accurately predict the outcome. A really compelling game and excellent analysis, thkz Agad.
"Yeah, I forced Wesley So to resign when he had 2 Queens on the board." --LA
Wesley So: "I have a second queen!"
Everyone: "What did it cost?"
Wesley So: "Everything..."
Levon ... this guy is a real beast
Nothing is impossible even if ure opponent has 2 queens
This is truly beautiful game from Levon.😍
That bishop on h3 is the real hero
I thought for a second that So would make another spectacular save after Levon played Qf6. He also was losing against Xiong on their second game before finding a Bf1 move that just saved what seemed to be a completely lost game. GGs to both tho, I know they both were a little out of form after failing to qualify for the candidates.
Definition of positional. Positional masterclass by Levon
Ah, where two queens was basically the same as two rooks since all the action was going on in files; the ability to move diagonally did not come in handy for white.
So, as I thought of immediate King to G1 as well, am I atleast as good as defeated Wesley So?😀
Holy shit I got a heart attack after you started with "if you're wondering why Medo isn't here .." glad he is fine and craving for fish 🐟
at 11:30, can white go Qe6+ to force a queen trade?
There is a bishop on h3 that will capture it.
And it was in this position, right before dinner was served, that Medo stole the fish and had a great dinner!
As for the game, can you imagine having 2 queens and losing? As white too? That's gonna leave a mark.
I am so glad that Agad put a game with Levon winning.
Info corner though 💯💯💯❣️❣️🔥🔥🔥
Once you told us the story of the three -gadmators: one was Agadmator and there were two others.
You should make Medo the FOURTH -gadmator and you could call him Mgadmator.
Or Adogmator
@@philipr1567 Very good.
For those of you who are a fan of the French move, skip to 4:53
It is so important to not to scared when you're opponent has two queens,said levon
Did Meadow eat the fish?
Indeed
i almost chocked by the Medo comment, thanks Agad!
That bishop on h3 and rooks on f file was so powerful it made up for extra queens. The knight was also reduced to passivity so it didn't matter if white had an extra queen since everything was needed to stop him from being mated.
Most powerful threat in chess is checkmate, points or extra queens don't mean anything when checkmate is the threat and you have no mate threat of your own.
I think the extra queen was actually necessary to mount this kind of defence. I dont think a rook could have held off checkmate for so long.
@@trequor yeah my point was even the extra queen didn't help in the end, the rook was stronger than the queen due to the position and other minor pieces like the monster bishop on h3
Great video as always.
Btw, Ding Liren reached 30 games 👀
#suggestion Show Ding's 30th game that qualified him for the Candidates
He already had 4 so he qualified a while ago
@@dennoplit he needed 30 so four isn't exactly close, he played 28 in April
Medo is taking a break from fighting ghosts to smell fish being cooked. Acceptable Medo.
You never know who's gonna win from his appearances in the discussion
Such a shame what happened to Levon with the candidates. He is one of my favorite modern players, his games are almost always entertaining to watch.
He seems to choke.. no reason he shouldn't of made it ..especially after beating hikaru the first game of the second leg
@@hdmotivated I would say he’s the only one who _doesn’t_ choke when playing Magnus
@@rhwing5095 well it doesn't translate to the big events..this like the 3rd time he choked going to the candidates
You first need to realize that the queen can't move before you dare to attack the most powerful and monstrous piece on a chessboard.
Very nice tactic.
Although its rapid, getting beaten with 2 queens on the board is absolute savagery.
The King is priceless, that's the point. Be a king not a simp
King is worth 3.2
@@garrysekelli6776 Nope ♾
@@garrysekelli6776 King is infinite
@@TheFilipFonky king can move to 8 different squares like the knight and bishop but also can castle giving it a slight advantage over the knight and bishop.
@@garrysekelli6776 you cant give a value to the king, it's just different
13:43 beautiful move
Wow, one of the best games recently showed!
Best Channel Ever ❤️
I have always thought it a bit strange when some people fixate on the points that chess pieces have been given. Even more so people obsess with some point value given by an engine. Stockfish "says" it is plus three means almost nothing unless you are going to play all the same moves as stockfish. Bottom line is there are no points in single game of chess. There is a king to be captured, there is no prize for having the most pieces on the board at any stage of the game.
Wait, the objective is to capture the king??
This is why we love Levon
What about knight to e4 ?
Does Rook to f3 also work? Looks like it does but I don't have an engine for analysis ( or talent)
Thank you
In the last position, would it not be possible for Wesley So to play bishop to e4 to defend?
Do botvinnik vs smyslov 1954 game 7 brilliant game from smyslov
Great game. Complicated enough to interest these two great tacticians.
Couldn't believe that two super grand masters play a completely locked center and queen side ...one of them went on to make another queen ..and then lost..! What a game.!!
it was in this video that Medo have a completely new routine when Antonio is recording a video
Agad:"I mean....WOW😏"
Me:wooooow
Thanks as always! I miss Medo
This is one of the rare occasions where I have seen the player with two queens lose (!!)
What if knight blocked on e4?
Yeah, like he said "No matter what he tries". What? He doesn't mention it. Ag is slipping. He needs Medo on the couch where he belongs.
Are you cooking that fish in any kind of stock? Then you can have Stockfish for dinner!!!!! I'll see myself out.....
"the whole is greater than the sum of its parts"
This was a beautiful game 👍🏻 thank u
The bishop at h3 plays a major supporting role in this game.
another amazing video!
The whole "points" system for the value of pieces is like a lie-to-children (see wikipedia article on what that means... essentially, it's a simpler but wrong version of the truth, to help young people understand difficult concepts in a step by step process)
In truth, a pawn can be worth more than a queen, even without promoting, if that pawn is about to assist in a checkmate of a trapped king. The value of pieces on the losing side is absolutely nothing if there is a forced mate on the board, while the value of the checkmating pieces and pawns on the winning side is infinite.
But only in those positions. Or in positions where a pawn is forced to be traded for a queen to prevent promotion, things like that, where you are winning positionally even if down "material" because in order to prevent an immediate loss, the losing side has to trade away their material advantage.
So the value of all pieces and pawns is variable, it is directly related to how well they are positioned to win and how poorly the opposing pieces and pawns are positioned to prevent a loss.
When black has a massive attack on the queenside, a blocked center, but getting checkmated on the kingside, and both kings have castled kingside, what is the value of black's queenside pieces, which cannot reposition in time to defend the black king? They essentially do not exist, like a trapped rook or bishop. They are on the board but they no longer matter.
That is why attackers can dump pieces and pawns for an attack, it is because the resulting vulnerable king loses to the remaining material close enough to attack that king, and won't be reinforced in time before checkmate.
Position of the pieces and pawns are related to the time it takes for those pieces and pawns to either win the game with checkmate, or win enough material that a win is inevitable, or to defend their own king. If they cannot accomplish any of those things before the opposing army can, then their value is nearly nothing.
Pieces have value if they can make something happen in time for the material imbalance to become irrelevant.
If there is no winning tactic, no checkmate, and no danger of being checkmated, then and only then do the relative values of the pieces and pawns begin to matter. And even then, a blockaded bishop or a trapped rook isn't worth as much as a knight in certain positions.
Chess is complicated. In order to dumb it down for us non-titled players, we are taught to memorize that this piece is worth more than that one.
But in order to become better players we have to unlearn that rule, and learn that this pawn in this position is better than your queen, and that it is okay to let your queen hang if the pawn is about to promote and mate, or mate a trapped king. That these knights and bishops and rook versus a king are worth more than lost material elsewhere. That a couple pieces are worth more than the entire opposing army, in this position. But only if you can make those positions happen and there is no refutation.
Which means we need to be able to calculate it out so we know there's no refuting it. Until we can do that, we need to remember the relative value of pieces.
But even at the start, we are told the value of the king is infinite, so even with the lie to children of the value of pieces, if we can checkmate, then material is irrelevant. So there's still a kernel of truth in the lie.
In the final position on the board in this video, black's rooks were better than white's queens.
This is why I always have a hard time understanding why so many players think that being down the exchange means they lose. If you are able to mount an attack in the midgame where your Knight/Bishop will matter more than the opposing Rook, the exchange is easily worth it. Similarly, if you can force a relatively closed position and offer no open lines, Rooks are almost useless.
Well in this game, pinning is winning.
medo ! my grampa and i feel better when we know where medo is and what he’s doing. 👍
Excellent agadmator. You're chess analysis really gets the point across in a way that makes my chess game better. Quite enjoyable to watch these videos. Thank you.
What happens if he block a checkmate with a knight or a bishop?
8:17 why not Qe3?
the lesson is when you have more points never take winning for granted
I have always been told that a queen is worth 9 points?
True
At 7:48, I was childish. I thought Qd4+ and king had no squares and the world missed this easy tactic but forgot there is the h1 square the king can move into.
Activity modifier to your piece points can be HUGE!!
Medo is on the case, lunch is safe from intruders.
Aron Nimzowitsch talking about passed pawn.
Meanwhile Cebuanos who call en passant as pass-pawn: i never knew we could do that in chess.
Medo studying stockfish
i was expecting a 'sorry about thar' after he opens with D4....
for some reason, agad is always sorry about something whenever the game starts with D4
Its all about piece quality
On move 35 Why not Qe6 check to force a queen trade??
At 8:55 I guess Agad was wondering why it's not Rook H to f6. Well because rook on e8 is pinned. And what an incredible game btw. This is the next level of chess I guess. Let's call the 23rd century chess.
If agad did not cover this match,it would be a crime to chess🤪🤪🤪!!!
What a game❤️❤️❤️!!!
Agadmator: Talks about Stockfish.
Medo: Stalks fish.
Me: Settles for fish sticks.
I am a N.Y. Rangers fan. Why are you bringing the Islanders into the conversation.
The possible mates had me chucklin
This is the only game that agadmator is not excited for pawn to b4
Black's bishop here is a total underdog. All the time it was on h3 yelling it's friends "Guys let's pile up on the white king, I have got him in jail" And everyone started coming near white king because bishop had everyone's back.
My specialty is giving my opponent a second queen, but losing the game.
Even a pawn is worth more than the queen in some situations