Just wanted to say your tutorials on the Pirc's defense have greatly improved my positional play while playing against opponents rated higher than me who play e4. My middle game has improved a lot, almost won the two games I played against people rated 200 points higher than me using the Pirc's, had I not blundered the endgame due to time constraints. Hopefully the Alekhine's defense also helps me improve my response to e4. :) Keep up the great work, love from Kansas :).
Thank you very much. Comments like these make me feel like the channel makes sense:) I'm very happy to hear that the videos helped you improve and play better! One suggestion though. Even though the Pirc and the Alekhine are both modern openings and go against the classical principles, they are quite different too. Beware of creating an opening repertoire you can't learn well and fail to keep up with. If you can master both though, amazing! Good luck and love from Croatia!
@@HangingPawns At my family reunion last November, I played chess with my cousin who first taught me chess and he pointed out how easily I could be manipulated on the sicilian. I got back to playing Chess last June actually after a 2 year break. The pirc's actually gave me a better alternative to play mostly because I play King's Indian Defense and the Grunfeld a lot, I plan on using the Alekhine as a surprise defense once I am comfortable with it :). Once again thank you :)
Your channel is wonderful. And the Alekhine defense is weird as fuck. I learned from you the modern defense and understood that in my elo, rarely things go like in your vids. I learned how Pirc's, modern and Sicilian (sicilian in really minor ways when white makes the error of not pushing immediately both pawns in the middle leaving for space for black's C5) are interconnected and meeting on my way a defense like Alekhine feels like a little bit if the circle il somehow closing on hypermodernism. Starting my road on hypermodernism created in my mind a solid point on creativity and long term plays. All of that thanks to you! Well done again. This channel is gold. Cheers from Italy!
Very nice video. I don't often see the Alekhines defence but the Four Pawns is my go to variation when I do. There's a real lack of material online for this opening so it's really helpful to have a video like this!
I did a video on trading pieces. Watch that and let me know if you think it's covered well enough. Any feedback is appreciated! ua-cam.com/video/6BdxKQvtbbg/v-deo.html
Hello, good video. Neitherless, could be relevant to mention that Houdini against Ribka played 5...Bf5 not playing Nc6 after but waited the right moment to play ...d5
Hey man. UA-cam kept recommending some of your videos but I never clicked on them before for reasons I don't know. I'm glad I just did, it's both well explained and well organized. A few months back I wanted to play the Alekhine but I found nothing well done in videos, so I studied it myself, basically doing what you did here. I still learnt a few things about variations for white that I didn't know about. I'm just surprised you didn't talk about 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.c4 Nb6 4.d4 d6 5.f4 de 6.fe Nc6 7.Nf3 usually, it seems believed (from what I read here and there) that 7...Bg4 here and black equalizes, but it's far from that easy in my experience. The arising positions are kind of wild. for example after 8.Be3 e6 9.Nc3 which are natural (and computer-approved) it's not so clear 9...Bxf3 10.Qxf3 wins a pawn as b7 is hanging and the queen can be somewhat annoying there. Also 9....Bxf3 10.gxf3 Qh4+ 11.Bf2 Qf4 runs into the points you mentions but the engines believes both 10....Bb4 (renewing the threat of Qh4+ as c5 will be met by Nd5) and 10....Be7 (threatening to harass white king on e1-h4 diagonal and removing the right to castle in a position with a very fluid center). It might seem like a detail, but everyone seems to say that 7.Nf3 is a bad move and should be avoided as white, but really in practice it's quite easy to go wrong with black, and with good play black only seems to achieve an equal position with a space disadvantage and that ugly b6 knight so typical to the Alekhine. These positions also are so unique they will likely reward the player who is best prepared in them. It deserves mention as I really got to the position after 7.Nf3 often during the few months I was playing the Alekhine. Anyways, you gained a sub my friend, a well deserved one.
Thanks for the feedback, for subbing and for the input! The line you mentioned I don't know well. I will look into it. I used to play against the Alekhine with Nf3 all the time, in various setups. I like the move a lot. I spke to gm from Croatia recently who played 1...Nf6 for a looong time and he told me that the biggest issue for black is when the knight is developed late or developed to e2. That's why I often overlook Nf3 lines. Anyway, thanks I'll have a look into it.
@@HangingPawns Oh that's quite interesting! I don't remember having issues against Ne2 setups, but I'm also miles away from playing at GM strength haha! I switched to learning the caro-kann since then so I won't make my homework yet on this, but whenever I'll need a surprise weapon I'll sure investigate what you're talking about. I just love this defense!
2:54 this is exactly what I wanna say to my opponent when he plays stuff like this xD edit: I analyzed the position on the 17:30 with Stockfish 14.1 and it gives white a 0.87 advantage at the depth 50 and the main move for black here is Rae8. But I checked the MegaBase and in this position the only move was played since 1927 is, of course, Rad8 which is the second line and here the evaluation is 1.00. So what do you think about it?
Well 0.13 of difference is almost nothing, also analyzing for 50 moves of depth seems a bit too much, no human has such a brainpower, you will never play like a macchine (the evaluation is based on the machine's moves since than)
4:44 For anyone interested, after 8.fxe5 I play and strongly recommend 8... Bb4 (preventing any d5 ideas by white), here white usually goes for 9.Be3 and now you cán break with 9...c5, which I prefer over having to play f6 and get the e6 weakness. It's a rare line, but sound. You should get almost any opponent on unfamiliar territory. Great video once again Stjephan!
Idk, feels like a counter productive move to me, first instinct is to play a3 and you just wasted a tempo going back to Be7 since taking just gives white the centre. Plus it just goes against the spirit of the Alekhine's development, it poses no threat to the centre, attacks nothing, and induces no weakness. I'm sure it is playable but I don't see much reason behind it.
@@alainvandervelden3616 What would you do after the recapture then? I assume c5 but then Bd3 and white consolidates and seizes the initiative, feels like black is just watching the game unfold. Thinking about it, it might be even better to just play Bd3 instead of a3 to take advantage of black's slow move, what would you do there?
The problem, as was mentioned in the video, is 9. Bd3, which scores extremely well for white. If black plays ...c5 now, white takes on f5 and gets a comfortable position. If black takes on d3 before pushing ...c5, white just castles and instead of taking back on d4, plays Ne4 and uses the extra tempo to place black in a bind. It's a decent try for black if you have an opponent that does not know the theory though.
@@zelandakhniteblade5436 nice engine line, but indeed, practically this is very playable. Carlsen even beat Hikaru Nakamura in this line with black in an over the board game
Hello first thanks for your teaching, i am a new follower on your lichess account, could you make a vidéo on how to defend your castleling position and how to attack your oponent's castleling position? i am a beginner i have been playing for only 3 months, didin' play since my teen years in the seventies so a long time ago. I am actually 1400 point on lichess, 1050 on chess com and i was 1495 points on chees 24 ( magnus weeb site) before a drop in my points on this site that i use more for training.. i played around 400 games since the beginnig. i am thinking about playing in the real life in a chess club in september do you think i have chances to win some games or will i be crushed by every oponent? i don't know what to think about these ranking on the web compared with the real fide or elo real ranking in real life thanks again and what about your road to GM and your ranking actually regards from france
Mayhem in middle games? A great opening for berserkers? The four pawns looks much better for white, forcing black to play high risk or unsound moves. I will try with the Pirc for a while before trying the Alekhine. Thank you for another thought provoking lesson.
Here is a game that might help www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1085046 an attack from white which Seirawan defended nicely and went on to win like a boss:D
How do I play against someone who isn't aware of any specific strategies and moves very unpredictably? It definitely messes me up when I have certain moves planned out and my attention is immediately removed elsewhere on the board from an odd play. I'm embarrassed to say that it's become a real thorn in my side 😅
Well Sakil, what can I say. We all do. I covered the French already. I covered all key variations, you can find it on the channel. The Scandinavian is coming right after the Alekhine:)
5…dxe5 6:36
6…Nc6 11:30 mainline
6…c5 8:06
6…Bf5 7:10
5…Bf5 Trifunovic variation 4:00
5…g6 fianchetto variation 5:03
5…g5 Cambridge gambit 3:10
Just wanted to say your tutorials on the Pirc's defense have greatly improved my positional play while playing against opponents rated higher than me who play e4. My middle game has improved a lot, almost won the two games I played against people rated 200 points higher than me using the Pirc's, had I not blundered the endgame due to time constraints. Hopefully the Alekhine's defense also helps me improve my response to e4. :) Keep up the great work, love from Kansas :).
Thank you very much. Comments like these make me feel like the channel makes sense:) I'm very happy to hear that the videos helped you improve and play better! One suggestion though. Even though the Pirc and the Alekhine are both modern openings and go against the classical principles, they are quite different too. Beware of creating an opening repertoire you can't learn well and fail to keep up with. If you can master both though, amazing! Good luck and love from Croatia!
@@HangingPawns At my family reunion last November, I played chess with my cousin who first taught me chess and he pointed out how easily I could be manipulated on the sicilian. I got back to playing Chess last June actually after a 2 year break. The pirc's actually gave me a better alternative to play mostly because I play King's Indian Defense and the Grunfeld a lot, I plan on using the Alekhine as a surprise defense once I am comfortable with it :). Once again thank you :)
@@anotherrandomer That's a good plan! No problem:) I'm glad to help.
Your channel is wonderful. And the Alekhine defense is weird as fuck. I learned from you the modern defense and understood that in my elo, rarely things go like in your vids. I learned how Pirc's, modern and Sicilian (sicilian in really minor ways when white makes the error of not pushing immediately both pawns in the middle leaving for space for black's C5) are interconnected and meeting on my way a defense like Alekhine feels like a little bit if the circle il somehow closing on hypermodernism.
Starting my road on hypermodernism created in my mind a solid point on creativity and long term plays. All of that thanks to you! Well done again. This channel is gold.
Cheers from Italy!
Very nice video. I don't often see the Alekhines defence but the Four Pawns is my go to variation when I do. There's a real lack of material online for this opening so it's really helpful to have a video like this!
Thank you very much for sharing your great work
Thank you for watching and supporting me Enrique:)
15:15 what about the 15. Qg4 line? I'm seeing Grischuk vs. Svidler went down that route
Great video keep it up !
Thanks AI Sir:)
Make series on how to trade pecies perfectly and get maximum benefit of trade
I did a video on trading pieces. Watch that and let me know if you think it's covered well enough. Any feedback is appreciated! ua-cam.com/video/6BdxKQvtbbg/v-deo.html
Hello, good video. Neitherless, could be relevant to mention that Houdini against Ribka played 5...Bf5 not playing Nc6 after but waited the right moment to play ...d5
Hey man.
UA-cam kept recommending some of your videos but I never clicked on them before for reasons I don't know. I'm glad I just did, it's both well explained and well organized.
A few months back I wanted to play the Alekhine but I found nothing well done in videos, so I studied it myself, basically doing what you did here. I still learnt a few things about variations for white that I didn't know about.
I'm just surprised you didn't talk about 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.c4 Nb6 4.d4 d6 5.f4 de 6.fe Nc6 7.Nf3
usually, it seems believed (from what I read here and there) that 7...Bg4 here and black equalizes, but it's far from that easy in my experience. The arising positions are kind of wild. for example after 8.Be3 e6 9.Nc3 which are natural (and computer-approved) it's not so clear 9...Bxf3 10.Qxf3 wins a pawn as b7 is hanging and the queen can be somewhat annoying there. Also 9....Bxf3 10.gxf3 Qh4+ 11.Bf2 Qf4 runs into the points you mentions but the engines believes both 10....Bb4 (renewing the threat of Qh4+ as c5 will be met by Nd5) and 10....Be7 (threatening to harass white king on e1-h4 diagonal and removing the right to castle in a position with a very fluid center).
It might seem like a detail, but everyone seems to say that 7.Nf3 is a bad move and should be avoided as white, but really in practice it's quite easy to go wrong with black, and with good play black only seems to achieve an equal position with a space disadvantage and that ugly b6 knight so typical to the Alekhine. These positions also are so unique they will likely reward the player who is best prepared in them. It deserves mention as I really got to the position after 7.Nf3 often during the few months I was playing the Alekhine.
Anyways, you gained a sub my friend, a well deserved one.
Thanks for the feedback, for subbing and for the input! The line you mentioned I don't know well. I will look into it. I used to play against the Alekhine with Nf3 all the time, in various setups. I like the move a lot. I spke to gm from Croatia recently who played 1...Nf6 for a looong time and he told me that the biggest issue for black is when the knight is developed late or developed to e2. That's why I often overlook Nf3 lines. Anyway, thanks I'll have a look into it.
@@HangingPawns Oh that's quite interesting! I don't remember having issues against Ne2 setups, but I'm also miles away from playing at GM strength haha!
I switched to learning the caro-kann since then so I won't make my homework yet on this, but whenever I'll need a surprise weapon I'll sure investigate what you're talking about. I just love this defense!
2:54 this is exactly what I wanna say to my opponent when he plays stuff like this xD
edit: I analyzed the position on the 17:30 with Stockfish 14.1 and it gives white a 0.87 advantage at the depth 50 and the main move for black here is Rae8. But I checked the MegaBase and in this position the only move was played since 1927 is, of course, Rad8 which is the second line and here the evaluation is 1.00. So what do you think about it?
Well 0.13 of difference is almost nothing, also analyzing for 50 moves of depth seems a bit too much, no human has such a brainpower, you will never play like a macchine (the evaluation is based on the machine's moves since than)
4:44 For anyone interested, after 8.fxe5 I play and strongly recommend 8... Bb4 (preventing any d5 ideas by white), here white usually goes for 9.Be3 and now you cán break with 9...c5, which I prefer over having to play f6 and get the e6 weakness. It's a rare line, but sound. You should get almost any opponent on unfamiliar territory. Great video once again Stjephan!
Idk, feels like a counter productive move to me, first instinct is to play a3 and you just wasted a tempo going back to Be7 since taking just gives white the centre. Plus it just goes against the spirit of the Alekhine's development, it poses no threat to the centre, attacks nothing, and induces no weakness. I'm sure it is playable but I don't see much reason behind it.
@@ferko28 i dont think you really understand the position after taking on c3; whites centre is still very much under fire.
@@alainvandervelden3616 What would you do after the recapture then? I assume c5 but then Bd3 and white consolidates and seizes the initiative, feels like black is just watching the game unfold. Thinking about it, it might be even better to just play Bd3 instead of a3 to take advantage of black's slow move, what would you do there?
The problem, as was mentioned in the video, is 9. Bd3, which scores extremely well for white. If black plays ...c5 now, white takes on f5 and gets a comfortable position. If black takes on d3 before pushing ...c5, white just castles and instead of taking back on d4, plays Ne4 and uses the extra tempo to place black in a bind. It's a decent try for black if you have an opponent that does not know the theory though.
@@zelandakhniteblade5436 nice engine line, but indeed, practically this is very playable. Carlsen even beat Hikaru Nakamura in this line with black in an over the board game
Your style is clear and your pacing is excellent.
Magnificent
Hello first thanks for your teaching, i am a new follower on your lichess account, could you make a vidéo on how to defend your castleling position and how to attack your oponent's castleling position? i am a beginner i have been playing for only 3 months, didin' play since my teen years in the seventies so a long time ago. I am actually 1400 point on lichess, 1050 on chess com and i was 1495 points on chees 24 ( magnus weeb site) before a drop in my points on this site that i use more for training.. i played around 400 games since the beginnig. i am thinking about playing in the real life in a chess club in september do you think i have chances to win some games or will i be crushed by every oponent? i don't know what to think about these ranking on the web compared with the real fide or elo real ranking in real life thanks again and what about your road to GM and your ranking actually regards from france
Hi, have you covered the main line 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 in another video? Or it is coming? :-)
Coming up on Thursday or on Sunday:)
Mayhem in middle games? A great opening for berserkers? The four pawns looks much better for white, forcing black to play high risk or unsound moves.
I will try with the Pirc for a while before trying the Alekhine. Thank you for another thought provoking lesson.
Here is a game that might help www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1085046 an attack from white which Seirawan defended nicely and went on to win like a boss:D
@@HangingPawns Wow. Like a boss indeed.
How do I play against someone who isn't aware of any specific strategies and moves very unpredictably? It definitely messes me up when I have certain moves planned out and my attention is immediately removed elsewhere on the board from an odd play. I'm embarrassed to say that it's become a real thorn in my side 😅
That just comes with experience. The more you play an opening the more you will understand why certain moves are weak against it.
The only surviving game of Vladimir Lenin is the 4 pawns attack vs the Alekhine
This was Lenin's favorite opening.
source? please?
I have had good results with 9...Qd7 as well, although the computer also puts it around +1
Sir I am having hard time with Scandinavian and French defense I am a e4 player
Well Sakil, what can I say. We all do. I covered the French already. I covered all key variations, you can find it on the channel. The Scandinavian is coming right after the Alekhine:)
Thank you so much .......Scandinavian series will help me a lot
@@HangingPawns yes, please sir, scandinavian and killing them with 3. Nf3 - not 3. Nc3, thank you sir!
@@HangingPawns Do you plan to talk about the Qd6 scandinavian as well?
3:01 haha the Alekhine sucks...