Kevin from the Chess Website

I've made very few chess videos. I'm a stronger player than Kevin (I suspect). No one watches my videos, though. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-QjXO-I-kpUEf1Kpc08qNQ

Not what I expected your voice to sound like.

I for one am glad to see this thread resurrected, had not seen it before. I do view Kevin's videos on openings and do learn from them, but I am low rated. 

@Ziryab, Just watched the first few minutes of "checkmate with heavy pieces" (2 rooks vs K), will watch more as I need some endgame study.

I made those two videos--originally one, but YouTube had a ten minute limit when I uploaded them--for children. The presentation strikes me as extremely slow paced. For seven year old chess beginners, it may be the right pace.

Always hilarious. Literally impossible to tell the trolls from legit posters. 

In that case I won't waste my time. Thanks for the info. 

In one of his videos I saw, what I think is an interesting line that should've been considered, but I'm a 1250~1300 elo player and I know I'm not always that thorough with my analysis. Besides, the line becomes more complicated if black chose, what I'd consider the better move, which is definitely not to take the pawn and expose the queen to an attack by the rook. Of course, you don't know what I'm talking about. For those that are curious or care to look at it, or both, this is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLQtOWt4Jzs&t=1151s

And, this is my comment on it:

(At the moment of writing I go by the name of ElectricEssence on YouTube)

From around 17:35: "I couldn't find a way to overload this pawn". I'm just a 1250~1300 elo player but looking at it, can't you just move the b-pawn? If the black pawn captures that pawn, you can go ahead and capture the queen. He will then hit back either by his a-rook or bishop, or hit your other rook with the pawn (in which case you have to move the a-rook to a save place, which would either be the b or h-file (I prefer b-file, which also attacks the bishop). After having attacked your rook with his pawn, and after you've placed your rook to a save place (I imagine b-file in this case), his rook may come done to protect the advanced pawn which is one move away from promotion, so you have to deal with that. The king in this line is on g1 (not g2, as that was the line played instead of the b-pawn move that I suggested). If black decides not to take my advanced b-pawn with his pawn (and does another move*), you can then capture the black pawn with your rook and the place would be a nice outpost for your rook (protected by your advanced b-pawn). Black would then need to put his queen to safety, which would give you the opportunity to gobble up his 2 rooks with the attack with your rook and queen (Ra4xa8, Rdxa8. Qdxa8+, with possibly Kh7). Obviously, to prevent this onslaught, black would move his queen to d4... *As for the other move, I haven't looked at what this other move may be, but it may already be the move Qd5 with the prospect of exchanging queens.

Like I said, I'm a 1250~1300 elo player, and the line may not even be worth the mention, but I found it an interesting, and less boring line.

When I found this line (advancing b-pawn) however was the moment I didn't care about his videos anymore...

i know this is an old thread, but Kevin Butler "kevin from thechesswebsite" has had a ratin of +2000 on FIDE. might not be the same Kevin Butler,

Nyahhhh...some of us are both, DOC! Try the Buffchix Mode. #cantbeatthebuffchix!

Pretty certain that anyone 2000+ would not make the kind of inane comments that are found in the videos. Unless, he is 2500 strength tactically and held under master due to positional; incompetence.

What? If white plays b3 black plays a3 and his passer is strong and defended.

I'm sure he saw it in the game and recognized it was a bad idea, and didn't mention it in the video. 

Yeah, I guess you're probably right. I used to watch his videos when I was first starting to really get into chess. but then again, I was watching many analitical videos. Now I'd rather read a good chess book, or even study players on my own. I have been enjoying Matojelics videos as of late, he's concise, informative and quite funny. I'm at the point in my chess that I need to get a chess tutor, from a small town with no real chess clubs, and the closest tutor is about 300 miles away -.-  

Sorry to bump an old thread.

Just wanted to say I found his youtube presentations very good if you are just trying to get a handle on basic openings and tactics.

Also noticed that his profile has been shit-canned for 'violating fair play rules'

https://www.chess.com/member/thechesswebsite

Wonder what that was about.

There's an old saying usually misattributed, "it's not what you don't know that's the problem, it's what you know that isn't so."

"Kevin" offers plenty of value, but when things get out of book and he can no longer rely on the analysis of masters, he's on his own. At that point, much of what he offers cultivates the sort of defect that will prove to eradicate. If his videos were the only ones on YouTube, or the only alternative to the "Backyard Professor", they might be worth your time.

However, there are many much stronger players who also are phenomenal teachers. "Kevin" fills a gap that does not exist. In doing so, he leads aspiring students of chess away from better teachers.

 ^Fair enough.

I guess for an average player like me just wanting to get a general understanding of basics like the Sicilian, QG, Slav etc his videos are well suited.

His vocal presentation style makes it feel involving too.

If you like his style and it keeps you interested, then that may be more important than the small errors he perpetrates.

An example of his errors is in his description of checkmate with a knight and bishop. At one point, the bishop moves to lose a tempo--keeping the position fundamentally the same, while transferring the move to Black. Kevin says, "the bishop improves its position". His nonsense denies him the opportunity to comment on the bishop's fundamental strength in many endgames. Nonetheless, he gets the moves right and it is possible to learn this checkmate watching his video and practicing.

On the other hand, there are other videos on YouTube that are vastly superior for this checkmate.

IM Danny Rensch of this website: https://youtu.be/ur3mVl0bdog

and my friend NM Elliott Neff https://youtu.be/hr8qV0iia8Y

Try watching Agadmator on youtube. I've been watching all his content lately. he uploads every day and has a deep knowledge of players and the history of the game. He's also quite the chess player.

^thanks, yes, I have come across agadmator already. He does great game commentary and is presentation style is also very good.

I have not explored his channel fully but the only videos I have seen are game commentary's. They are interesting but learning about specific openings or tactics are the main thing I am interested in.

Whenever I google a named defence or opening Kevin's usually has a video and it usually seems to be the first hit on the search engine.

If Agadmator also has named opening/defense discussions I will dig them out.

After a horrible video from thechesswebsite was linked I was just looking for info on this and lol, we picked the exact same rating.

I was thinking 1500, maybe lower, but I wasn't sure.