The Backyard Professor

oh, okay. lol.

specific.

2000? Ya gotta be kidding me.

Your claim that a player under 2000 may need to learn makes sense. What you fail to explain is how a teacher who cannot get his OTB rating over 800 is capable of providing this lesson.

+1

Interesting thing I found...

There are two ways to interpret these comments. I won't comment. This is the video it was found in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX_CGGaNz54

Additionally. his "experiment" in this video (giving up rooks to make his opponent overconfident), allegedly played in the style of Alekhine, was..... I N T E R E S T I N G. In fairness, it was a casual game and he said he wouldn't play something like this in rated game.....I know, personally that I've played some  I N T E R E S T I N G  ideas in unrated games

Either it was some way to justify his blunder, or he genuinely  believed he could win from that position based on "psychology". As a huge fan of Bobby Fischer (him, not me), I'd expect him to know Bobby Fischer's famous quote, "I don't believe in psychology, I believe in good moves".....although the BYP sometimes has a errr...unique understanding of chess principles. Some of this comments on the game were....equally unique. The game was pretty fun though and he presented it enthusiastically, despite the numerous errors in the analysis.

That being said, I think its fair to say everyone has a different opinion on the BYP, I don't think it's worth arguing over anymore....he's just trying his best to make videos.

Anyways, after that long "rant" (if you would call it that 😅), unfollowing this topic  Over and out! ✌️

He’s made an awful lot of videos documenting the first ten feet of a 10,000 mile journey. For anyone looking for instruction, observing that journey is an abysmal waste of time. For most viewers on a similar journey, he’s guiding them backwards.

I think robbie and YGIW know BYP is garbage instruction. I think they're just wanting attention by posting nonsense here.

Normally I'd ignore them, but for the posterity of any beginners who read topics like this I think it's important to push back. Beginners don't know enough to realize these comments are just joking around. Beginners don't know enough to realize BYP is full of it.

oh, okay

I mean, I know there have been some who really do try to defend him, but the ones I've seen admit he makes gross mistakes, but argue that it doesn't matter because it's more important for a beginner to maintain interest, and that BYP helps them maintain interest in chess, and that as soon as they start improving they'll move on to better videos.

Well, having a wrong interpretation of the game (or principles, for that matter) is like running a race in the opposite direction of the finish line -- it will take even longer to get to the end, because you first have to un-learn all the mistakes that are now part of your intuition.

By the way, at that time I remember they were challenging us to critique a more recent video, so I did.

Since he reads from a book the overall quality is definitely better (not a high bar).

But he still ad libs. He has his own interpretation of moves and themes (as any beginner would). So there is still a lot of superficial and wrong analysis.

And I'm not trying to single him out. There are a few well known youtube chess people who I don't like. I'm within 400 rating points of some of them, so I can spot errors they make too. I can feel when they're stretching things... compare to if an IM or GM makes a video, it all seems perfect to me.

For instance, Kevin on thechesswebsite. He also reads from books, although he doesn't tell you he's doing so. When he goes off-script, he sometimes offers the kind of insights you might expect from someone struggling to break into Class C.

Interestingly, he claims to be approximately 1950, but the only USCF rated chess player in Texas sharing his name had a rating near the USCF floor in 2010, the last time he played a rated event. Like BYP, he has two events to his credit.

Kevin's videos are leagues better than BYP, but the errors and misunderstandings are frequent enough that I would not recommend them.

Oh yeah, thechesswebsite.

The first time I came across it I had been studying the QGD and trying to make a repertoire. There were some St Louis videos that helped (GM lecturers of course) and I was using a database to explore other lines.

So a friend (who doesn't play chess) sent me a video on the QGD from that chesswebsite guy, and like you said, it was really bad. What really stuck with me was how he'd stop randomly in the middle of a line and give some superficial evaluation then move on. I didn't realize he was reading from books without giving credit. I have to assume the books were better and he was stopping at random places to save time.

+1 yeah. I watched their video on the Evans Gambit (when I first started), and I was confused when I started to score really badly in lines where "white had more than enough compensation for the pawn" or where "white should have a comfortable game"

I'd take Ziryab over BYP if BYP had piece odds.  Any takers?

I play 100 games a year against my students, almost all of whom are much stronger than BYP. I give up a few draws most years and sometimes lose one.

Of course you can. I’ll die before we can finish such a series. I’ve quit playing correspondence chess, however. Too much foul play.

Arrange the match with BYP. I’ll be happy to play him. He’s a nice guy, and I might enjoy giving him lessons. Maybe after the lessons, I can give him some tips that might redeem his videos, too.

His technical production skills are very good. That alone makes it understandable that his channel is popular, despite his horrid misunderstanding of the chess books he is reading and his tactical failures. He also communicates reasonably well and with enthusiasm.

His main problem is that he fails miserably at self-diagnosing the weaknesses in his play, and hence does not adequately target those weaknesses. Then, in the documenting of his journey, he fails to correctly locate himself on the map and thinks that he is far further along the path. With a better map and compass and a bit more objectivity, he might be able to start a series that could be instructive.

Of course, he’d be better off with a teacher but there are not many players in his region with the requisite skills. I think there is one player in the southern 2/3rds of Idaho rated over 2000 USCF. There was an IM a few years ago, but he moved to California. I don’t think online lessons are his style. I could be wrong, though. Maybe he’s just not willing to shell out the cash for such lessons.

On a completely unrelated sidenote, research the Dunning-Kruger Effect

He could call himself the D-K Professor, and I would be among his followers.