Chess in Dhar Mann- What Happens Next Is Shocking

This blog will analyze a chess game in the Dhar Mann episode titled Nerd GETS REVENGE On MEAN GIRLS, What Happens Is Shocking. While this does stray away from my usual content, I thought it might be interesting to diverge from that and see where this goes. This isn't the first time Dhar Mann featured a chess game in one of his videos, but it is the first time I thought I'd write about it. You can find another episode featuring chess here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNxsHRK_nRo&pp=ygUPZGhhciBtYW5uIGNoZXNz

The episode starts off with two "nerds" playing a game of chess in school. The mean girls approach them and, based off of any other Dhar Mann episode, you can probably make some sort of estimation as to what follows. 

Analysis

Because of the camera, the picture on the video is mirrored. The game above is the unmirrored version of the game. There are only 3 moves shown in the episode, with one of them being a sub-100 rataed move. The game, as we see it, begins with Rf5. As she moves the piece, she smiles with a devious grin on her face. The opponent then, for some mysterious reason, plays Bd7, literally handing her opponent mate in 1. White then plays Ra5, as assumed, ending the game. 

Overview

There were some egregious moves made here, which make me question how these girls are even considered "nerds." For starters, there is a hanging rook on B2. Instead of moving out of the bishops way, the girl decides to play Rf5. But then, her opponent doesn't even take it, she moves her other bishop to d7. Like, what was the point of that? There was no gain there, with the exception of threatening the rook. An unambiguous blunder. Finally, white plays Ra5, the only good move here. 

To conclude, I'm very disappointed with how Dhar Mann portrayed the game of chess. Not only did he show it as a nerdy thing to do (which it's not), but also the girls playing it didn't even play it well. While he [Dhar Mann] does focus on other things in his videos, this was a major flaw that had to be addressed. The video itself was pretty entertaining, and had a good moral, per the usual. While this checkmate could have been averted with a simple Bb2, the rest of the video made up for it.