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Brendan, that 6-mover is really improbable! I would *never* play 2. Nd2, but of course 2. c4. Playing for that kind of trap seems silly.

I used to face the Budapest quite often, as a strong player at a chess club regularly employed it, and never fell into any traps.
There's a more plausible "Budapest trap" here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfa3PXq2-sU&t=7s

but even in that main line, White can return the pawn and keep the Bishop pair with a slightly better position.

The mate by Knight in the latter trap *is* something that can snare Black if he botches a Caro-Kann. For instance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3YTp0naekI

As a C-K player I had to become aware of that kind of situation!

Thanks Geeker, that mate in 5 is excellent - I definitely would have fallen for it!

Watching the Early "Titled Tuesday" blitz tourney. Due to it being an off-day for the FIDE World Cup, an awesome array of super-GMs are competing.
Nakamura does not seem to be broadcasting (he recently got married), so I'm watching the stream of IGM Gata Kamsky, the famous "FFL".

Hi Geeker,

I too have been following the FIDE World Cup but on an off day I've been continuing my search for a channel to follow and have found a couple I'm really enjoying, one is Epic Chess and the other Chess School - I don't know if you or Paul are familiar with them so far so good.

This morning on Epic Chess I watched Magnus play Levan Pantsulaia. I'm not sure the match or tournament but it's the one where MC sacrificed a Rook to get a forced mate in 3 and the commentator exclaims "it's on the board!"

You're no doubt already familiar with it but just in case ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESGTl5SugEQ

The Epic Chess guy is James Gardner, a fellow member of Bedford Chess Club. I think he still puts up something every day. I don't know how he manages it with two young children. He also plays rugby for Olney (home of the annual Pancake Race). He told me he likes to keep the commentary light and get straight into the game without too much preamble. He reckons you can lose viewers in the first few seconds with too much guff. He won this year's Bedford Championship thanks to me missing a winning line in what turned out to be a crucial game. I might dig out the game and show you the position in Forsyth notation (is it called a Fen String nowadays?)

Paul

Sorry for the delay but I have been away.

Steve Jones was in the Cheshire team that won the Counties U18 about 10 years ago. The top board was Martin Brown but I dont know if he is still playing. Interesting that Adams featured his game with Jones in the Telegraph on Saturday. It was level for a long time apparently. Nice that Jones got an IM norm. I dont usually read the column, way above my level.

Short was about 40 miles north of here, Going back a bit further, Vic Knox and Richard Eales were brilliant juniors from nearby villages.

Hi Paul,

Your friend James is absolutely correct about there being too much waffle at the start of most videos on YouTube which is one of the main reasons I have been searching for a channel that gets straight to the point, and why I was so pleased to come across Epic Chess.

I'm sure many of us here would like to see your game against him - I'm not familiar with FEN but no doubt I'll get the hang of it:-)

Paul, Geeker, have either of you ever given any thought to creating your own YT channel?

Brendan, I was watching the World Cup that day. Switching between games and men/women, so did not see the Carlsen sac live and apparently didn't have the video on, but played through the game a few minutes after it ended. Very nice combination! The clip was shown on many chess sites with their round report.

I've seen several Epic Chess videos, by coincidence all of them Carlsen games. He's a big enough Youtuber that algorithms recommend him to me (thumbnails show up in the column at the right of Youtube screens).

I think I've seen a video or two from Chess School, but they didn't stick in my mind. He doesn't seem get suggested by the algorithms. I just watched a short Latvian Gambit video of his, which is pretty good.

There are oodles of good chess presenters on the Internet, it's basically a matter of taste. But far too much bandwidth devoted to arcane opening traps for use in bullet / blitz.

I'm neither telegenic nor good enough in chess to consider Youtubing. If I really wanted to post chess content, an ideal is something along the lines of Neil Blackburn's "simaginfan" blogs on chess.com; he's an erudite chess researcher. But that's a lot of work!

Neil's latest column is at
https://www.chess.com/blog/simaginfan/alekhine-at-san-remo-1930-one-of-chess-historys-greatest-performances-part-two

jigjag, brendan, geeker re @44, 45, 46, 47

Yes, jigjag, I had forgotten that Vic Knox died as long ago as 2001 in his fifties. 3rd in British Championship at Rhyl 1969 - I was there in the Major Open.

brendan, geeker (and anyone else interested): here is that position I had v James Gardner of Epic Chess. In case you haven't met Forsyth notation you sit as White and read the board like a book, from the top, left to right and line by line. Lower case letters for Black, upper case for white, numbers for consecutive empty squares.
rr2bbk1
1qp4p
2p1p1p1p
3n4
3R1PP1
1P1Q4
1B1N2BP
2K1R4
Position after 25 e5-e6 fxe6.
White to move and gain decisive advantage. I got it wrong and James went on to win this game and eventually the club championship with 6/8 ahead of me on 5/8.

No, definitely not me for becoming a youtuber.