In this class, we continue mastering the art of attacking our opponent’s king when castled on opposite sides. After a few lessons on this topic, we are finally going to learn how to deal with the f7-g7-h6 pawn structure. You should know by now that we are supposed to use our g-pawn in order to make contact and open lines for our pieces to attack our opponent’s king. However, in this lesson we are going to review a game where a Chess master creates an excellent attack by castling to the opposite side and targeting the h6 pawn. I hope you find it valuable and as always, feel free to ask me any comments you might have!
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My Book Recommendations:
First tactics book:
Mixed tactics book:
Advanced tactics book:
Advanced tactics book (II):
Carlsen’s book (excellent):
Kramnik’s book (excellent):
Pirc Defense book:
Endgames book:
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Chess is an intellectual battle where players are exposed to numerous mental processes such as analysis, attention to detail, synthesis, concentration, planning and foresight. Psychological factors are also present on and off the board; playing Chess stimulates our imagination and creativity. Every single move a player makes is the result of a deep analysis based on the elements presented on the battlefield.
Chess in its essence teaches us psychological, sociological and even moral values. In a Chess game, both players start with the same amount of material and time. The fact that the white pieces move first is considered to be practically irrelevant —especially because a player typically plays one game as white and one game as black. Consequently, the final result of the battle solely depends on each player. It doesn’t matter if you win by taking advantage of your opponent’s mistakes or by simply avoiding mistakes yourself. Truth is that Chess is an extremely individual sport and our defeats can only be blamed on ourselves and no one else. And this, in the end, only benefits us because we learn to be and feel responsible for our actions and never come up with excuses to justify ourselves.
We also learn that when it comes to our victories on the board, our opponent’s mistakes play a more significant role than our own skills. Let’s not forget that a Chess game without any mistakes would be a draw. This way, Chess provides us with another valuable life lesson: be humble at all times.
About National Master Robert Ramirez:
With an outstanding background as a professional Chess player and over 8 years of teaching experience, Robert Ramirez brings both his passion and his expertise to the board, helping you believe & achieve!
Robert Ramirez was introduced to the fascinating world of Chess when he was 5 years old and has participated in prestigious tournaments such as the World Open Chess Tournament and the Pan American Intercollegiate Team Championships. Thanks to his performance, he has earned his National Master title from the United States Chess Federation.
Currently, NM Ramirez and his carefully selected team teach at several private schools in the counties of Miami-Dade and Broward and they also offer private lessons. He says the key to their success as Chess coaches is their ability to adapt to every student and to make lessons fun and interesting for students and even their family members.
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Thanks a lot for the lessons!… I tested Rxg1+ in the engine and it's forced mate in 9 ! 👏
Great video to wrap-up the opposite side castling series! Thank you!
Great video! I learned a lot!
10:38 I think black should have taken the bishop. There’s no way white can mate black after (unless black makes a mistake). Can you prove me wrong? Great video’s btw!
Great video. Love seeing the tactics to crack the castled king. Will definitely think more carefully before I play h6 as black! It’s great in queens gambit lines vs bishop but not so good just to kick a knight
At 5:12 g4 is such an ugly looking move. I love it – but I find I often don't have the courage to try this type of move over the board. Do you ever find that g4 works in situations where Black has yet to castle?
At 5:37 it looks like black could try g5 himself so that white cannot play g5. Maybe white can play Nxg5 in this situation followed by h4?
I know it's difficult to generalize, but do you find the pawn structure h6, g7, f7 or h7, g6, f7 to be weaker on average?
At 8:00, Why is Qg3 not considered as a candidate move? It immediately pushes mate with an attack on the bishop which if used to block, will pin itself and be attacked by the f or h pawns. If black plays 1 … Ng4, then white follows up with 2. Qxh3 Nxf2 3.Rxg7+ Kxg7 4. Qxh6+ Kg8 4. Qh7++
Why is it ok to castle long in the london but not the Czech? Should we be using our castled king wall to perform the pawn storm on the white kingside when playing the Czech since long castling is not advised? Also, it seems that the regular fianchetto Pirc cannot possibly attack the white kingside because the fianchetto points to the queen side and the removal of the pawns defeats the purpose of the fianchetto.
Dear mr Robert, thank you so much for your lessons! My ten year old kept beating me in chess (which should just not happen ;)) so I had to do something. That led me to your lessons. Now my son and I are both watching your instructions so I still have a hard time beating him, but at least I know what I am doing a bit better. Big thank-you from a happy mother! May God bless you!
I would like to see you play a game against the chess.com computer rated at 1500. I'm stuck at that level. Thx
Hi coach! I have a question. If they had taken Bxg3 can we play Qg3 and threatening the bishop and mate? 08:40
nice video,
my engine goes from -2 to -4 after 11.g4, I know engine isn't everything, but I couldn't encouraged my students to play like that
Sir. Lessons 59 60 61 are out of this world !!!!!!
What a great series of videos these last few have been!
General question: so, if hypothetically white HAD castled king side, would black have THEN been ok to finally castle kingside as well, even with his pawn on h6? Or is that h6 pawn just too much of a weakness? (said another way — once you see that they've castled the same side as you, is it then ok to push / have pushed h6 with your king side castled? I seem to make that move frequently as a way to limit my oponents mobility as well as an escape hatch for my king, and would like to know if I should start actively avoiding it, or if it's ok to do once I know they can't opposite-side castle anymore..)
More specific question: At 7:45 when you ask us to come up with 3 candidate moves, I really thought Qg3 would be high in the running, attacking the hanging bishop and threatening mate on g7. Would this actually be a poor move for some reason?
As always, thanks so much for this series!!!
Thanks again for a great video. This strategy opened a door into a new chess world for me:)
Only skipped this part in the course and now its become a weakness :{ I am really weak at opposite side castling
I see a pattern repeating that I am losing my cool when I my king gets exposed when opponent gets in a sac , be it good or not
So whats the defensive approach ?
Consider the 90 positions in 9LX where you have to move a rook on 1 side to castle on the other side. What to do about castling then when you can't seem to keep your 'poker face' up re the video 'When to DELAY Castling in Chess!!' (5lVvs0JB5ME) ?
See 'How many Chess960 positions exist in which castling on 1 side does not require moving the rook on the other side?' On Chess Stack Exchange
Learning from your video, watching here in the Philippines
31/10/21
9:39 AM
Awesome. Lots to absorb. Helps me to better prepare for recognizable pawn patterns. Thx.
Hola, profe. Hay ocasiones en las que jugando con la Pirc checa las blancas tienen caballo en f3 y alfil en c4, por lo que uso las ideas de la lección 51 (minuto 14:20) y voy con h6 para desincentivar que lleven el caballo a g5 antes de que haya podido enrocarme. Ejemplo: 1. e4, d6. 2. Nf3, Nf6. 3. Nc3, c6. 4. Bc4, …
Sin embargo, después de este video, lo pienso dos veces antes de ir por h6. ¿Hay forma de conciliar estas ideas o es preferible un movimiento como e6?
Gracias por su canal y arriba Cuba, saludos mexicanos.
Hi, your videos are great 👍🏻. Well I have a question. Can I get fide rating playing online or should I have to play in real life fide rated tournaments? I have been playing for a while on lichess. My question is that is there any website through which you can play fide tournaments?
1:09 at the present structure, I would threaten the Black Knight by rerouting my left Knight to Ne4. If then the White goes to that square it's checkmate for Black.
This lesson very useful to me. Thank you sir
Thank u need that I realized understand the castle 🏰 is one of my weakness because I end up doing it to soon or late. This help.
Your videos are required to be seen repeatedly to get mastery thanks dear
Love from INDIA
Are there any of your videos explaining what to do if they decide not to castle?
I have studied over 100 of Robert's classes, things are starting to sink in and I am starting to win games. I am not to 1000 yet but I think I will be soon. I am probably a slow learner,
Thanks very much for the great ideas. Thanks for sharing the invaluable knowledge. Many bless for GM.
Saw again and prepared notes thanks coach
Love ❤️ from INDIA
8:00 queen h3 ? Treatning mate to win the bishop
Thank you so much for these lessons. I haven't skipped a single one, though I am around 1800. I've been as high as 2000 or so, but I stopped playing for a very long time. Plus I never really learned in a structured way. We learned with books and boards. This is amazing. My kids are doing 30 minutes of chesskids each day, but here sometime soon, I'm going to put them thru this course. Can't say enough good things.
8:40 can you explain how white is winning because black can just cut the white Bishop with the f pawn.
8:40 can you explain how white is winning because black can just cut the white Bishop with the f pawn.
I went back to watch this video and comment. Attacking is really difficult because it sometimes involves sacrifices, which are scary. It's important to visualize well and not sacrifice material and fail because there was a flaw in our calculations.
Robertz should I play 10 minute game or 3 minute???
You have My fav chess lessons on youtube
Another excellent lesson. I will continue to comment on your videos in hopes of giving them more exposure. These are great lessons and everyone deserves to discover them.
Great example & explanation of how to unleash a blistering Kingside attack when the pawn structure was weakened by h6! Bravo
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