Don’t forget to LIKE, SUBSCRIBE and turn on notifications for more chess content and openings! :)

Buy a chess.com membership: https://go.chess.com/SammyChess

Follow me…
SECOND CHANNEL:    / @sammychess  
TWITCH:   / sammychess  
X:   / sammychess1  

The English Opening is a chess opening that begins with the move, 1. c4. A flank opening, it is the fourth most popular and, according to various databases, one of the four most successful of White's twenty possible first moves. White begins the fight for the centre by staking a claim to the d5square from the wing, in hypermodern style. Botvinnik used almost exclusively queenside pawn openings with the white pieces. In his eight World Championship matches, he never started a game with an e4opening, and his usual choices as White were the English Opening or Queen's Gambit.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:09 Keres
06:51 Spielmann
10:01 Sherbakov
14:21 Yudovich
18:20 Portisch

Game 1: Mikhail Botvinnik vs Paul Keres, Alekhine Memorial 1966
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bc5 5. Nxe5 Bxf2+ 6. Kxf2 Nxe5 7. e4 c5 8. d3 d6 9. h3 h5 10. Be2 Nh7 11. Kg2 h4 12. g4 Ng5 13. Be3 Bd7 14. Qd2 Ne6 15. b4 b6 16. Rab1 Bc6 17. Rhf1 Bb7 18. Kg1 Nc6 19. Nd5 Ncd4 20. Bd1 f6 21. Kh2 Bc6 22. a4 a5 23. bxa5 bxa5 24. Qf2 Ra7 25. g5 OO 26. g6 f5 27. Rb8 10

Game 2: Mikhail Botvinnik vs Rudolf Spielman, Moscow 1935
1. c4 c6 2. e4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 Qb6 7. cxd5 Qxb2 8. Rc1 Nb4 9. Na4 Qxa2 10. Bc4 Bg4 11. Nf3 Bxf3 12. gxf3 10

Game 3: Mikhail Botvinnik vs Sherbakov, National Championship 1955
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 OO 5. e4 d6 6. Nge2 e5 7. OO Nbd7 8. d3 Nc5 9. f4 c6 10. h3 Ne6 11. f5 Nd4 12. g4 Ne8 13. Be3 a6 14. Qd2 b5 15. Bg5 Bf6 16. Bxf6 Nxf6 17. Nxd4 exd4 18. Ne2 Qb6 19. cxb5 axb5 20. Qh6 Bd7 21. g5 Nh5 22. Nf4 Ng7 23. f6 10

Game 4: Mikhail Botvinnik vs Mikhail Yudovich, National Championship 1933
1. c4 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 c6 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bd2 OO 8. e4 Nb6 9. Rd1 N8d7 10. a4 a5 11. Be3 Qc7 12. Be2 Qd6 13. Na2 e6 14. OO h6 15. Rc1 f5 16. Nc3 Kh7 17. Rfd1 fxe4 18. Nxe4 Qb4 19. Qc2 Qxa4 20. b3 Qa3 21. Nh4 Qe7 22. Nxg6 Kxg6 23. Bh5+ 10

Game 5: Mikhail Botvinnik vs Lajos Portisch, Monte Carlo 1968
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bg2 Be6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. OO Nb6 8. d3 Be7 9. a3 a5 10. Be3 OO 11. Na4 Nxa4 12. Qxa4 Bd5 13. Rfc1 Re8 14. Rc2 Bf8 15. Rac1 Nb8 16. Rxc7 Bc6 17. R1xc6 bxc6 18. Rxf7 h6 19. Rb7 Qc8 20. Qc4+ Kh8 21. Nh4 Qxb7 22. Ng6+ Kh7 23. Be4 Bd6 24. Nxe5+ g6 25. Bxg6+ Kg7 26. Bxh6+ 10

#chess