The English Opening – Chess Openings Explained

22.09.2024

Jonathan Schrantz explores the fourth most popular opening: the English. But what to do on move two? Learn several lines from three strong games. Join in the holiday cheer with Jonathan and 1. c4!

2015.11.30
Mikhail Botvinnik vs Lajos Portisch, Monte Carlo (1968): A22 English, Bremen, reverse dragon
Dana Reizniece-Ozala vs Sergey Karjakin, Vladimir Petrov Memorial (Rapid) (2015): A29 English, four knights, kingside fianchetto
Hikaru Nakamura vs Samuel Sevian, Millionaire Chess (2015): A20 English opening

50 Comments

  2. Great video! Learned a lot. One bit of advice. The camera change around the 34th minute was ill-advised. Otherwise, very useful information here. Thanks!

  3. This flower is distracting me…

  6. U don’t ve to ask anyone to subscribe ,, the content is so good that it’s an automatic option

  7. 5:58 black will just développe knights and white is just gonna take the knight in the center of the board

  8. Schrantz merges AD and the Reverse Dragon the same way I do in my brain. I thought it could be controversial but if STL endorses it then I guess not.

  9. I don't tend to play this opening often but I frequently watch the start of this video jus for the flowers

  10. I have no idea what he said the first 4 minutes, just stared at the flowers.

  11. Wow it's been four years since I studied chess and I lost 400 ELO. here we go again learning the basics of the english opening, thanks for the content!

  13. I'm sorry, but after reading the comments, i can't not look at the poinsettia 😂

  14. At 05:59, rather than Nf3 after black plays Nc6, I don't understand how Nd5 doesn't simply win black's knight.

  15. BAD MOVE Dc4+,,IF KxT f7 (BECAUSE BLACK D GO ON d5 IF WHITE xDb5 LOST game)LOOK AFTER 14MIN AND 50 sec..

  16. I wiah they woulda tried this flower move with Benny Boi Finegold!!! Lmao

  17. 5:59 – "it is not popular today, usually black just developes knight" isn't it a free knight to white then? D5 knight protected only with queen but attacked twice.

  18. Hi Johnatan, simple question: what would be the best opening for whites against blacks? Thanks.

  19. Flower lift @4:29 was a brilliant move. Almost impossible to see(!)

  20. What were the flowers meant to hide? They immediately gave him an allergy with a tempo! They were an absolute pin to his face.

  23. Is this the Poinsettia Opening?

  24. what a meme move at the start! the pot of flower in your face start.

  27. These moves are questionable: C4 E5 kc3 Flower to J8

  28. 0:20 and that's how duck chess was invented 💐🦆

  29. Slight mistake on 5:57. Knight is hanging, so it has to move to b6 before Nc6

  30. My favorite opening with white by far, as it is way more unique and unpredictable. Opponent will most likely have less prep to this than u

  31. I had to skip ahead to see if the flowers were going to stay there. What the hell was that about lmao

  32. 7:15–7:40 a pawn is won is material. I don't understand why not take the black queen with the white queen forcing a check then take the knight?

    You win a knight instead of pawn. This doesn't bring their rook to an open file. Then helps to free up a file for White's rook.

    Is because White's pieces aren't that well developed?

  33. 'Usually, black will just develop Knights' (5:58)?? Oops! White can TAKE his d5 Knight without any retaliation!

  34. Flowers messed it up

  35. Came here for the comments and not disappointed

  36. It feels like the flower was an office prank. Strong move.

  37. He was glad to have two people in the room. Bet he never expected this video to have over 500k views seven years later.

  38. Ah…the typically aggressive Poinsettia Defense. Completely discredits the speakers' sense of judgment as it forces him to peek over the floral arrangement for over 4-minute tempo. Bravo! The hate in his eyes when he says "that's enough of that."

  39. i've been studying the flora gambit my whole life and never have I seen such a brilliant display of confidence in the opening, you absolutely took advantage of the misplaced piece, and disregarded the attack, waiting to make your capture when the time was right.

  40. Sorry, did you say pawnsettia to e4

  41. Poor guy was so nervous

  42. It's horrible to hear and watch. He talks like a machine gun, making little nervous noises and making clear miscalculations. What is wrong with him?

  43. This is the funniest video I’ve watched in awhile

  44. Why? Just, why would…?

    The flowers!

  45. What's wrong with Qe3?

  46. At 6m why did white not take the knight on D5? it was not protected

  47. The flower opening. Lit

  48. I come to learn something about the English opening and end up laughing at this blunder in the first move.

  49. What lovely lovely flowers! I'd say flower to c4, immediately putting pressure on the flower guarding e3. This is standard when playing the Florist's Gambit. Red declines the gambit by playing flower to c4, attacking the c4 flower. And a then yellow flower continues with development.

  50. The flowers are very annoying here. He could just chew them while lecturing.

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