How good is the Backyard Professor?

His OTB is under 800.

Ziryab.  He does not pretend to be an expert on anything.  He appeals to the beginning player.  He motivates them to want to learn more.  He makes learning fun and therefore chess fun.  He is not for you, and that is well.  You should be reading and studying Dovererski and Chess Informant..  But beginners are not at your level.  The problems they face are things so basic to you that you do those things without thinking about them.  Allowing a smother mate is ridiculous to you; to them, it is the most brilliant move they have ever seen.  In short, he speaks and understands beginner; you understand trainer language.

And if he added "chess knowledge" to this list he'd be a good chess teacher.

I just threw up in my mouth a little.

If he teaches factually incorrect information, then the rating of those watching makes no difference. He is a bad teacher for everyone.

People who think he's not unbearable tend to be lower rated players who confuse his charisma and enthusiasm for worthwhile instruction.

I watched Akobian and Seirawan videos aimed at 1400-1600 ish players, and felt like Iearned something, because they present high quality games, and make high quality comments.

I don't dislike BYP because he's not talking about complicated ideas, I dislike BYP because he gives factually incorrect information.

(Full disclosure, I haven't seen any of his new videos, so who knows, maybe he's gotten better?)

I estimate if even one person doesn't notice your account is only minutes old, and a troll account, then that will be 1 too many.

I found his rating in the USCF database. He is less than 800. He only played in two events. All of the games are posted at https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/the-backyard-professors-uscf-rated-games

I've watched his videos. He speaks with authority, but he is wrong. 

For instance, he offers a game with the Fried Liver Attack. He lacks even the most basic understanding of the strategic and tactical ideas in the opening, claims (incorrectly) that Jeremy Silman teaches not to worry about the material, and wholly misjudges almost everything that is happening on the board. Read the comments below the video. Players with some sense have dissected the errors.

His focus is on what Silman teaches. He presents Silman's teachings incorrectly, and with a poorly chosen example that undermines the point that he credits to Silman.


Also, he chose the title "backyard professor". Those of us who have taught college know how the term is used casually by students to refer to all teachers, and how the term also denotes a ranking system: Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor.

He might as well call himself Doktor She*skopf.

Say what?!

My advice to beginners, watch him yourself.  See if you like him.  Learning is about fun and encouragement to learn more.  If BYP leads you on that path, enjoy it. .  If he doesn't, find someone else.  Alot of other presenters online.  Find one you like and understand.

When he communicates stuff the players said, or the GM analysis, obviously those are good comments.

But the other 80% of what he says is just filler. Like "look at this powerful pawn formation. That's going to be very important later"

But there's nothing powerful about it, and it doesn't matter later, he's just ad libbing nonsense.

He's an 1800 rated storyteller, sure.

Probably closer to GM level.

I randomly clicked through, but just for example, at one point he's talking about how white has extra space, and how that's probably a good thing to mention because Silman sometimes talks about space too.

In fact he's so excited that Silman mentioned space that you might think Silman came up with the idea, but the three classic elements were space, time, and force. This is going back to Capablanca's time at least.

Yeah I caught that, but since I know you're a troll getting me to bite is a lost cause.

Haha, yeah, he says stuff like that too. That's the ad libbing I was talking about.

1800 storyteller maybe.

Steinitz and Tarrasch both discuss these in books published while Capablanca was a child. Staunton discusses time. BTW, if you want to find a chess teacher who barely cracks 1800, look to Staunton.

BYP doesn't even correctly distinguish ?! from !?. Maybe he's drunk.

Troll, yes, but why precisely 1800 USCF equal to 1000 FIDE? That's a bit over the top.

Your storyteller rating though, not quite 1800...

Ziryab, I'm a 1562 FIDE. Be very afraid.

Gentle.  First, let me concede that he is not nor pretends to be of 1800 USCF;.  Nevertheless, both his explanation of the game and humor turn a very technical ending into one which is un derstandable to beginners.  This example you gave is a very good example of what I was talking about. . He took a very difficult concept and explained it in simple terms. Ateacher gathers information, selects, presents i n his style. That is exactly what he does.  In this video, he took a subtle concept and explained  endgame theory in a very simple way, hard to do.

I realize that you made the claim.  I am conceding to those who are protesting that he is 1800.  But, he demonstrates that even a beginner can make a good teacher.