and samuel is right
gotham says to play basic system easy openings or play some bogus line that is refutable to catch your opponent off guard
¨why on earth are you playing the ruy lopez, its like trying to make a gourmet meal when you cant even make toast¨ as gotham chess said
he discourages learning theory and common lines and instead tries to get people to go for uncommon lines that typically give black equal or trap lines that are flat out losing that you must hope nobody knows
he discourages learning theory and common lines and instead tries to get people to go for uncommon lines that typically give black equal or trap lines that are flat out losing that you must hope nobody knows
Basing a repertoire on trap lines makes little sense, it's not good advice tbh.
On the other hand not going for 2700+ choices everywhere while remaining in the territory of sound openings with a lot of ideas and play left though makes sense. A 2700+ repertoire is high maintenance and it's not really needed either
Levy (much as I hate to admit it) isn't as incompetent as you say. He actually does recommend changing the moves depending on what Black plays (e.g. if Black gets the LSB out of the pawn chain, c4 and Qb3 rather than c3 and Qc2)
I don't think he's an incompetent player but I think he's an incompetent chess coach. He has a particular style which has got him so far but that style has limits.
he discourages learning theory and common lines and instead tries to get people to go for uncommon lines that typically give black equal or trap lines that are flat out losing that you must hope nobody knows
Basing a repertoire on trap lines makes little sense, it's not good advice tbh.
On the other hand not going for 2700+ choices everywhere while remaining in the territory of sound openings with a lot of ideas and play left though makes sense. A 2700+ repertoire is high maintenance and it's not really needed either
you dont need a 2700 rep regardless if you did have it you would be crushing everyone
you can simply adopt a rep like this
the gotham style is that you should adopt a uncommon rep to make your opponent uncomfortable and beat them because of them being confused, but that only goes so far
Saying that certain openings are exclusive to 2700+ GMs makes essentially no sense. Sure a lot of lower rated players won't know how to play some of these offbeat lines but actually the same applies to these main lines. It doesn't make much of a difference but learning best play and how to punish inferior play is the way forward.
It's also best to play the openings which are most fun, like the Ruy Lopez and Sicilian Najdorf, and play for the win rather than some grandmaster psychological bore weapon to try to be smart.
the gotham style is that you should adopt a uncommon rep to make your opponent uncomfortable and beat them because of them being confused, but that only goes so far
Yes like the Englund Gambit and Blackburne-Kloosterboer Gambit, lol.
"Don't play the Sicilian, play the Blackburne-Kloosterboer Gambit and the opponent will be totally flabbergasted and have no idea what they're doing and lose."
yeah and with gotham being so popular nowadays i think the ruy could be super op due to so many gotham fans and gotham telling others to not play it
yeah and with gotham being so popular nowadays i think the ruy could be super op due to so many gotham fans and gotham telling others to not play it
Exactly, if Gotham fans ever played a Najdorf or Ruy Lopez game then they probably would have no idea what they're doing and lose because they believe in not learning anything about it. The theoretical becomes the non-theoretical.
That gambit looks like Danish for special needs people.
💀
he discourages learning theory and common lines and instead tries to get people to go for uncommon lines that typically give black equal or trap lines that are flat out losing that you must hope nobody knows
Basing a repertoire on trap lines makes little sense, it's not good advice tbh.
On the other hand not going for 2700+ choices everywhere while remaining in the territory of sound openings with a lot of ideas and play left though makes sense. A 2700+ repertoire is high maintenance and it's not really needed either
It doesn't have to be one extreme or the other, he recommends less common (at least at lower levels) but sound openings like the Caro and Trompowsky that you should know better than your opponent, and this also applies to many hypermodern setups although those take more skill to play.
Not that I agree with most of his opening advice, but he delivers gems sometimes
Levy (much as I hate to admit it) isn't as incompetent as you say. He actually does recommend changing the moves depending on what Black plays (e.g. if Black gets the LSB out of the pawn chain, c4 and Qb3 rather than c3 and Qc2)
I don't think he's an incompetent player but I think he's an incompetent chess coach. He has a particular style which has got him so far but that style has limits.
He actually might be a good coach. But I assume that his main audience are predominantly beginners who aren't really interested in studying 1000 mate in 2 puzzles to get better long term, but rather in getting a sequence of opening moves that they can memorize in 10 minutes and that makes them feel good.
The stuff he plays OTB though shows serious opening preparation, perhaps it's different to what he presents in his videos (?)
Levy posted a recent video where he showcased some titled tuesday games against much stronger players. In all of the games he showed, he was extremely well off, or winning out of the opening (he won none of the games he showed), so I wouldn't be surprised if he was very well-prepared OTB.
the gotham style is that you should adopt a uncommon rep to make your opponent uncomfortable and beat them because of them being confused, but that only goes so far
It can take you quite far.
the gotham style is that you should adopt a uncommon rep to make your opponent uncomfortable and beat them because of them being confused, but that only goes so far
It can take you quite far.
Well you would know abotu beating ppl with bad openings 😏
both give black equality