nice endgame

"Bd4 Bh6 would be a little embarrassing... it's not a good way to lose a chess game..."

Good one!

congratulations, sam. great game and video

Very nice endgame. 

Looks good to me.  Great analysis Sam.

Sorry guys- forgot my notes at that moment.

If white plays Kf6! instead of Kg6, the e7 square is not available to the black king. Play might continue Ke8 Kg7 Be5+ Kg8 Bd4 h4- and now white has gained the crucial tempo.

Other than that, I think my analysis was solid enough... thanks all for the feedback!

Sam Shankland

helpful n enjoyable 

helpful n enjoyable !!

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Very interesting endgame.  I agree that ...Kf6 draws at 26:12.  White can try Bd3 to keep the king out, but then black just starts moving the bishop back and forth waiting for white to make progress.  Since h5 Kg5 Be2 f1=Q is a draw, white would have to play something like Kh7, but Kh7 Ba7 h5 Kg5 h6 Kh5 and black is still holding the draw:

@Constantine73 No that does not work either. The bishop can be distracted by f1Q. Then the queen has to be taken, allowing the king to get to the corner. In my opinion, that line is simply drawn whatever white tries ... @Nezhmet there not THAT many comments that you could not have read them !

At 26:12 what occurs if black tries ...Kf6

Hello All!

Congrats to Sam on ANOTHER well-deserved "Game of The Week Award"!

It's truly amazing just how "easy" he makes these brilliant games look! But I think that that's precisely WHY they ARE so brilliant! 

A very "Carlsen-esque" style of play in that way IMO.

What I mean is, in the way that he plays such a solid all-around game "waiting" for his opponents to play "inferior" 2nd and even 3rd "best" moves, while he (and this is what is so brilliant! ) CONTINUES TO CONSISTENTLY play The BETTER/BEST moves/responses throughout!

Just relentlessly "chipping away" until "the gap" is big enough to continue forward with his well-timed attack and win!

IMO, THAT'S Carlsen's greatest strength, and definitely his too!

Which is what makes "it look" so easy! And that is the brilliance to me!

Great game Sam and thanks for sharing your thoughts and insights with us!

Very much appreciated!

JS/BF

P.S. I can't wait for yours and Danny's "prop bet" to play out based on the talk yesterday on "Blunders". Should be a lot of fun to watch!

what type of opening is this ?

Yes, I agree with cLiPPi.  I think that instead of Kg7 in the line that Sam gives, the simple h4 wins as the black King can't make any more progress toward the h file (the bishop controls g8 and the white King controls g7.  So white can just push the h pawn down the board, no?

Great game and great analysis, Sam!  You described the forest without getting the viewer lost in the trees.  A lot of interesting strategical points in this one -- especially, I thought, about you and your opponent's decisions in the opening.

Hey Sam - again a very nice game - but I do not see how white wins at 26:13. That h-pawn promotion plan simply does not work! Black can walk his king to it via f6-g5 and take it, and neither the bishop nor the king are very helpful in protecting it.