One question: this list is for beginners, intermediate, advanced or master players? Feels like you've mixed perspectives of the different level players. In my opinion, it is strange to put theory-heavy Grunfeld as no.1, but rank Semi-Tarrasch, Ragozin and Nimzo-Indian lower than top 5.
NO WAY!! The Polish defense is ABSOLUTELY NOT D-Tier. I played almost 50 games with this opening (yes I checked), and I won 33/48 of them. Its harder to study compared to other openings but if you know it well u can play it commonly against D4. Cmon, give it AT LEAST a B+
Idk where to rank it to be honest. Though I will tell you, the polish is not a good opening. But at 99.99% of the rating ladder. If you know how to play it and your opponent doesn’t it is like Sicilian tier.
Problem with it is that it leads to all the different pawn structures.. Benoni, isolated, hanging and so on. This is ALOT of learning and you'll lose a lot of games until you know all these. Also you rarely get a mainline at a lower level and is very likely to have to face both the Catalan or some Bogo Indian variations. At the GM level it's the best opening but for us mortals it's a different story.
@danielholta5721 the point of the Nimzo-Indian is that it leads to a lot of pawn srtuctures, so it's a great way to learn to play completely different positions, and actually improve instead of just winning.
@@joycongripyou sound like a 1300, probably won a few games with it and you think it’s godly. definitely not, anyone above 1700 will easily be able to take advantage of it with a kingside pawn storm or other attacks such as the grand prix or pirc defense etc. the opening, though it may seem structurally sound, it has major flaws in areas that aren’t overlooked by 1700+.
#3 The Marshall Gambit (4.e4) is one of the main deterrents against the Noteboom in the 3.Nc3 move order. While Black has good theoretical standing, it requires so much precision to survive the opening and White has an excellent score in practice.
Not definitely bad tier list to see from other perspectives than I have. I can clearly see, that you are player, which doesn't like hypermodern approach that much as normal big center fights. For instance classic queen's gambit declined, tarrasch, ragozin, semi slav or slav and so on are more fighting approaches with trying maintaining center and somehow making symetrical positions. On the other hand Indiana games, modern defense, benoni and so on are more hypermodern games, where you try chop whites center and attack it from flank with c,b,f,g pawns or just with fianchetto bishops. Your tier list more prefers those classic openings, which is fine, still when you look at how strong openings are and what they give you, you can clearly see that for example Nimzo-Indian is much less risky to play and more solid in it's nature than for example King's indian defense or Grunfeld. Ragozin is more risky but more ambitious way to play than for example semi-slav defense, because of more open position with your pieces already developed and maintained in attack. Playing black is usually about getting things in control, you always start one move after white so obviously white has upper hand. Your main objective as black is trying to get things in control and focus on stability of your position. That's what many people forget and that's why you can say things like modern defense is a boring way to play. Yea, it definitely isn't as attractive as queens gambit declined and so on, but it is solid, it follows principles and in fact having a center can be a disadvantage when your opponent is gonna chopping it from flanks. So yea, in fact okey tier list, Ragozin is definitely higher, it is in fact one of the most ambitious and good ways playing gueens gambit, all indiana games are at least top 15, because they are all solid, maintain many moves, which you can play and in Bogo-Indian you showed not the best move, the best move after bishop d2 is usually retreating it on e7 and just develop, because white made a move and after knight f6, they usually wont got for bishop g5, because it is next move with bishop and knight is already defended by e7 bishop. All in all okey tier list, I like others people perspectives and I also sub you just for Mexican defense being so high, Black knights tango is definitely in my top 5 openings for black's, I'm mainly indiana games player, so I really prefer those kind of openings, very underrated opening with great ideas in mind. 😇
Big disagree on the QGA. Some grandmasters, like Vachier-Lagrave, play this (with classical time control) and the engine gives an evaluation on par with most popular defense. It's perfectly good.
the point of haurtlaub-charlick gambit is to play Nc6, Bg4, Qe7, and O-O-O. one trick they might fall for is Bxh2+ and you grab the queen with your rook and if they dont fall for it you can go h5 and start a big attack and you can use the bishop as a fishing pole too if they play h3. and if they dont play nf3 in opening and play ne2 instead then you will have a high chance of greek gift sac, and in the opening you always play the same setup i mentioned before. all in all its a great long term attack gambit.
The Greco Variation is probably the most dangerous line in the QGA to face as white and one of the best ways to play for a win as black at a high level (assuming your opponent plays 3. e4). Additionally, the QGA as a whole is incredibly practical as you'll get in almost every 1. d4 game and it avoids the Catalan and other annoying systems.
#49 is a trendy mainline of the QGA right now. (3.e4 b5!? 4.a4 c6 5.axb5 cxb5 6.Nc3 Qb6!) #51 3.e4 Nc6 is a serious line as well. It is not as popular, but it does not have a clear refutation and has been played by many strong GMs.
This is an excellent video, but I have to disagree with you on the Albin Countergambit. I managed to draw an IM with it and the d4 pawn was a huge asset that actually allowed me to have a winning position (I blundered it into a draw, sadly). Also, playing e3 or e4 isn't easy to achieve for white, which is why the mainline is g3 or a3
The win rate with black against 1500's are very high according to lichess statistics. So it belongs very far up. Even that gothamchess guy changed his mind about this after he made his "mediocre" opening tier list video with Hikaru.
@@mullerreus145 if you're a beginner then it doesn't really matter what opening you play. My opponents are all booked up, and I play some sideline of the Grunfeld that my opponents probably wouldn't have looked at, giving me a strong advantage.
@@PickleCODM-hw6cj It sort of matters from my experience of starting out. Most beginners learn dubious traps that are very easy to fall into, but easy to refute when you learn them. Overall, though, it is tactics that will win and lose you games.
I agree with this, but I do believe the Dutch Leningrad deserves a much better ranking- the bishop might not have the world's best future, but if you carry out the king side attack( Dutch Leningrad theory) correctly, there is a 0% chance that white will survive.
@@Sparta-hg1pl the grunfeld is a more direct and sharp way to attack the centre, but the modern is much more complex and undetermined. Grunfeld has a lot of theory because it is so sharp
I'm sorry but the Englund Gambit at 47 is way too low on the list. I won many games using it. It throws d4 players off balance by creating a more open game with attacking lines they're not used to seeing.
Bro just read anything on the modern defence. It's not comparable at all with the pirc. It's easy to transposition between them and pawn break ideas can be similar but the modern has many more crazy ideas. Try playing it a little
Lil bro likes the benoni but doesn't like the modern 💀 even though the benoni doesn't necessarily lead to the position he likes whereas you could guarantee it with the modern, bruh. Please read up on the modern
When people play nf3 instead of nc3 so I can’t play the nimzo I’ll play b6 and then you can transpose into lots of nimzo Indians bc they play nc3 a lot of the time and a common idea in the nimzo Is fianchettoing the light squared bishop anyways
Volclus: the King's Indian Defense guarantees you a safe king.
Friedrich Sämisch: Are You Sure About That?
wait until you find about yuri semiaverbakh
One question: this list is for beginners, intermediate, advanced or master players? Feels like you've mixed perspectives of the different level players. In my opinion, it is strange to put theory-heavy Grunfeld as no.1, but rank Semi-Tarrasch, Ragozin and Nimzo-Indian lower than top 5.
Grünfeld isn’t nearly as theory heavy as it looks. You only need to know the basic idea of the opening and maybe one or two lines of theory.
Ah I'm late, I didn't got notis 😩
I will watch it and put the Timestamps asap!
Here you Go!
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:04 Borg Gambit
0:20 Medusa Gambit
0:35 Zilbermints Gambit
0:59 Schwartz Defense
1:31 Australian Defense (Sorry Aussies 😂)
1:52 Modern Defense (d5)
2:19 Pyrenees Gambit
2:38 Greco Variation
3:05 Slav Gambit
3:17 Englund Gambit
3:36 Doery Defense
4:00 Soller Gambit (Lmao the Sfx 😂)
4:30 Maddigan Gambit
4:54 Gunsberg Defense
5:26 Polish Defense
5:59 Baltic Defense
6:27 Rubinstein Variation
6:58 Marshall Defense
7:30 Alkhine System
8:01 Rosenthal Variation
8:08 Chigorin Defense
8:46 Ragozin Defense
9:27 Queen's Gambit Accepted
10:02 Hartlaub Charlick Gambit (What's this Name Bro 😂)
10:33 Anti-Torre
10:55 Mikenas Defense
11:24 English Defense
11:46 Albin Counter Gambit (No 😭)
12:36 Tan Gambit (Get Tanned or Tan them)
13:10 Fajarowicz Variation
14:00 Austrian Defense
14:30 Tarrasch Defense (TARRASCH 🗣)
15:01 Dutch Stonewall (Bro Threw Up and Died 😶)
15:55 Krause Variation
16:27 Semi Tarrasch (Not Trash ❌)
16:48 Bogo-Indian Defense
17:19 Modern Defense (g6)
17:45 Steinitz Counter Gambit (Punish the London)
18:21 Queen's Indian Defense
18:53 Spielmann Indian
19:12 Leningrad Dutch (Things getting Good)
19:57 Mexican Defense ("Get Whitewashed" -👴🏿)
20:33 Nimzo Indian Defense (Bro did Nimzo dirty 😭)
21:34 Budapest Gambit (😶)
22:37 McDonnell Defense (McDonald's 🍟¬ Good)
23:32 Semi-Slav Defense (Bro Didn't Threw Up?🤨)
24:14 Old Benoni
24:57 Queen's Gambit Declined
25:31 Classical Dutch
26:12 Slav Defense
26:45 Dutch Defense
27:18 Benoni Defense
28:11 Benko Gambit
29:01 Noteboom Variation (💣
30:19 King's Indian Defense (Bro thinks He's HIKARU 🗣)
31:03 Grunfeld Defense (#1)
31:56 Outro + Shoutouts
32:12 Brooo!! I was watching on TV 😭 MY LOVE?? caught me off guard...
Thank you for the Guide 🗣
NO WAY!! The Polish defense is ABSOLUTELY NOT D-Tier. I played almost 50 games with this opening (yes I checked), and I won 33/48 of them. Its harder to study compared to other openings but if you know it well u can play it commonly against D4. Cmon, give it AT LEAST a B+
I absolutely agree with you
As some one who played the polish as white and black until 1200, it makes me sad to say but they are trash
I'll give maybe high C low B because it's take people out of theory and it's decent
Idk where to rank it to be honest. Though I will tell you, the polish is not a good opening. But at 99.99% of the rating ladder. If you know how to play it and your opponent doesn’t it is like Sicilian tier.
you're almost losing after any normal play
The Nimzo Indian being at 14 is too low.
Problem with it is that it leads to all the different pawn structures.. Benoni, isolated, hanging and so on. This is ALOT of learning and you'll lose a lot of games until you know all these. Also you rarely get a mainline at a lower level and is very likely to have to face both the Catalan or some Bogo Indian variations. At the GM level it's the best opening but for us mortals it's a different story.
Nimzo and qgd are both top 2 and there’s no question about it
@danielholta5721 the point of the Nimzo-Indian is that it leads to a lot of pawn srtuctures, so it's a great way to learn to play completely different positions, and actually improve instead of just winning.
@@danielholta5721 lol
@@joycongripyou sound like a 1300, probably won a few games with it and you think it’s godly. definitely not, anyone above 1700 will easily be able to take advantage of it with a kingside pawn storm or other attacks such as the grand prix or pirc defense etc. the opening, though it may seem structurally sound, it has major flaws in areas that aren’t overlooked by 1700+.
Nimzo-Indian at 14th? You're completely insane lol
#3 The Marshall Gambit (4.e4) is one of the main deterrents against the Noteboom in the 3.Nc3 move order. While Black has good theoretical standing, it requires so much precision to survive the opening and White has an excellent score in practice.
You’re actually insane. The amount of research and time these videos must take is crazy.
ikr! bro deserves atleast 1M subs if not more
15:36 What bro doing ? 😂😂
I remember the time me and my opponent had 17 book moves combined when playing the Grünfeld
Particularely enjoyed your random screams on the Dutch stonewall.
Another great video! I admire the way you've broken into the chess scene on UA-cam with these tier lists, informative and entertaining!
Not definitely bad tier list to see from other perspectives than I have. I can clearly see, that you are player, which doesn't like hypermodern approach that much as normal big center fights. For instance classic queen's gambit declined, tarrasch, ragozin, semi slav or slav and so on are more fighting approaches with trying maintaining center and somehow making symetrical positions. On the other hand Indiana games, modern defense, benoni and so on are more hypermodern games, where you try chop whites center and attack it from flank with c,b,f,g pawns or just with fianchetto bishops. Your tier list more prefers those classic openings, which is fine, still when you look at how strong openings are and what they give you, you can clearly see that for example Nimzo-Indian is much less risky to play and more solid in it's nature than for example King's indian defense or Grunfeld. Ragozin is more risky but more ambitious way to play than for example semi-slav defense, because of more open position with your pieces already developed and maintained in attack. Playing black is usually about getting things in control, you always start one move after white so obviously white has upper hand. Your main objective as black is trying to get things in control and focus on stability of your position. That's what many people forget and that's why you can say things like modern defense is a boring way to play. Yea, it definitely isn't as attractive as queens gambit declined and so on, but it is solid, it follows principles and in fact having a center can be a disadvantage when your opponent is gonna chopping it from flanks. So yea, in fact okey tier list, Ragozin is definitely higher, it is in fact one of the most ambitious and good ways playing gueens gambit, all indiana games are at least top 15, because they are all solid, maintain many moves, which you can play and in Bogo-Indian you showed not the best move, the best move after bishop d2 is usually retreating it on e7 and just develop, because white made a move and after knight f6, they usually wont got for bishop g5, because it is next move with bishop and knight is already defended by e7 bishop. All in all okey tier list, I like others people perspectives and I also sub you just for Mexican defense being so high, Black knights tango is definitely in my top 5 openings for black's, I'm mainly indiana games player, so I really prefer those kind of openings, very underrated opening with great ideas in mind. 😇
I aint reading allat
No actually his top 2 are hyper modern openings. Grunfeld and Kings Indian Defense
as for the regular QGA, the move you should play after they go e4 is 3. . .e5
I love this type of series! Please do all responses to Caro Kann because it's a very solid opening and almost no way to force a gambit around those...
Big disagree on the QGA. Some grandmasters, like Vachier-Lagrave, play this (with classical time control) and the engine gives an evaluation on par with most popular defense. It's perfectly good.
aint no way you put king’s indian in #2 and nimzo in #14
Putting the nimzo indian worse than any gambit is really wild
Greco Variation is an interesting opening I've looked at. Engines can't beat it, and there's only a few lines you need to know.
people like dutch, where as hate bird's opening even though bird's opening is just dutch with an extra tempo
the point of haurtlaub-charlick gambit is to play Nc6, Bg4, Qe7, and O-O-O. one trick they might fall for is Bxh2+ and you grab the queen with your rook and if they dont fall for it you can go h5 and start a big attack and you can use the bishop as a fishing pole too if they play h3. and if they dont play nf3 in opening and play ne2 instead then you will have a high chance of greek gift sac, and in the opening you always play the same setup i mentioned before. all in all its a great long term attack gambit.
Any resources on this? Been trying to study the Hartlaub-Charlick forever but it’s hard to find material for since it’s so fringe.
@@tessa8230There must be one or two quite recent videos by GM Smirnov on the Remote Chess Academy YT.
@@tessa8230it’s refuted
The Greco Variation is probably the most dangerous line in the QGA to face as white and one of the best ways to play for a win as black at a high level (assuming your opponent plays 3. e4). Additionally, the QGA as a whole is incredibly practical as you'll get in almost every 1. d4 game and it avoids the Catalan and other annoying systems.
Interesting. Gotta say i love how many interesting suggestions this channels comment section suggests. You dont see it anywhere else.
15:31 I was heavily surprised when he described the bishop as *GWƏÜØŒ*, nevertheless I have to agree with him, e5 is indeed *JLĄÆÊÏGHÕ*
Hey Great Video very informative would like to see one ranking the responses to the sicilian defense
#49 is a trendy mainline of the QGA right now. (3.e4 b5!? 4.a4 c6 5.axb5 cxb5 6.Nc3 Qb6!)
#51 3.e4 Nc6 is a serious line as well. It is not as popular, but it does not have a clear refutation and has been played by many strong GMs.
15:32 peak comentary right there 💀‼️
So you are on a mission to become the number 1 Chess youtuber. I think you will succeed. These vids are far better than anything else around.
In the Spielmann Indian, I found a trap which goes☝🏻:
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. Bf4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. (Be3/Nf3 6.exd4/exf4) Bxe5 Qa5+ 6. Nc3 Qxe5.
This is an excellent video, but I have to disagree with you on the Albin Countergambit. I managed to draw an IM with it and the d4 pawn was a huge asset that actually allowed me to have a winning position (I blundered it into a draw, sadly). Also, playing e3 or e4 isn't easy to achieve for white, which is why the mainline is g3 or a3
29:00 - Noteboom variation looks nice
My favourite is the Rosen Trap that comes from the Englund Gambit
Where is the Vienna variation of the QGD?
You should do one now where you rank openings by just how fun they are to play
Thank you for not covering the janowski, i was worried about my favorite line being exposed
yo, what about the Nimzo-Indian or queens-Indian?
it's there look for the timestamps that I commented!
Old Benoni ranking ahead of the Nimzo is fun
Grunfeld no.1? Maybe for GMs. There's way too much theory no?
Theory doesn't matter when you play against people who also don't know it lol. Otherwise nobody would play the Ruy Lopez
The win rate with black against 1500's are very high according to lichess statistics. So it belongs very far up. Even that gothamchess guy changed his mind about this after he made his "mediocre" opening tier list video with Hikaru.
@@danielholta5721 makes sense, black gets a lot of easy pressure. But if white isn't 1500 they are completely fine
@@mullerreus145 if you're a beginner then it doesn't really matter what opening you play. My opponents are all booked up, and I play some sideline of the Grunfeld that my opponents probably wouldn't have looked at, giving me a strong advantage.
@@PickleCODM-hw6cj It sort of matters from my experience of starting out. Most beginners learn dubious traps that are very easy to fall into, but easy to refute when you learn them. Overall, though, it is tactics that will win and lose you games.
i don't think nimzo indian should be on 14th place, it deserves top 5
I agree with this, but I do believe the Dutch Leningrad deserves a much better ranking- the bishop might not have the world's best future, but if you carry out the king side attack( Dutch Leningrad theory) correctly, there is a 0% chance that white will survive.
Actually No. 49 and 43 both variations of the qga aren’t even bad. This d4 d5 c4 dxc e4 b5 is regularly played by leinier Dominguez
Borg is so stylish
borg gambit is underrated it has a lot of traps and tricks that if your opponent is not prepared for he will fall for some trap most of the time.
The last openings were the best.😎
I will always play these against D4.🤠
Male sibling loves the grunfeld but hates the modern 💀💀💀 even though these are kindred openings with potential transposition between the two
Grünfeld is way better than the modern
@@Sparta-hg1pl the grunfeld is a more direct and sharp way to attack the centre, but the modern is much more complex and undetermined. Grunfeld has a lot of theory because it is so sharp
Something tells me you didn't spend more than 2 minutes looking at most of the openings on this list
you put the mexican defense above leningrad dutch??? what reasoning leningrad dutch should be top 10 at least
What about the horwitz?
I'm sorry but the Englund Gambit at 47 is way too low on the list. I won many games using it. It throws d4 players off balance by creating a more open game with attacking lines they're not used to seeing.
Where is the scletcher defense ? ...in the slav ?
GG Bro 👍👍👍
Please, please make more about Noteboom for Black.
So many bad moves possible in the Queen's Gambit Accepted 😂
Both the Greco and the Alekhine system aren't bad, he's just yapping
ended the video after you said e3 was a move in the albin, e3 loses in majority of variations
I do not see the English Rat in your video (1. d4 d6 2. c4 e5), soooo.... :)
Dutch defense: Stone wall variation >>> all defenses
Thanks, I will study that later. ❤
my secret weapon is the norwegian gambit
no way budapest gambit is rated higher than nimzo indian defense 💀 at least benoni is ranked high
Hell yeah love the grunfeld
Grünfeld and Benoni over nimzo is a crime
I've always really liked Grünfeld
Ragozin and QGA in lower half? 😆
Hartlaub-Charlic Gambit ahead of Ragozin is disgusting
But my beloved Grunfeld at #1 is a good choice
This list just tells me you don’t appreciate the positional aspect of the game.
the fact that you pit englund gambit at f tier AGGREVATES me ive played it many times and not gotten the trap and still won.
FELLOW BENONI ENJOYER
Borg is goated.
It's resistance is futile. 😢
LETS GOOOOOO
Bro just read anything on the modern defence. It's not comparable at all with the pirc. It's easy to transposition between them and pawn break ideas can be similar but the modern has many more crazy ideas. Try playing it a little
Isn't Caro-Kann also good vs. 1. d4?
Benoni doesn't belong in S tier imo. So many opportunities for you to lose the entire game, very few for white.
BRUH loves the KID but hates the modern, make it make sense pleeeeease💀
niiiiiiccccccceeeeeeeeee
Lil bro likes the benoni but doesn't like the modern 💀 even though the benoni doesn't necessarily lead to the position he likes whereas you could guarantee it with the modern, bruh. Please read up on the modern
6th
First
boring asf
yeah its boring if u got attention span of a carrot
@@anxsh Lol you did bro dirty
When people play nf3 instead of nc3 so I can’t play the nimzo I’ll play b6 and then you can transpose into lots of nimzo Indians bc they play nc3 a lot of the time and a common idea in the nimzo Is fianchettoing the light squared bishop anyways
What about the Vienna Variation
missed it, looks decent, B tier