It’s actually a lot longer than it looks. I’ve played on and off for a long time (36 years old). I hadn’t really played in quite some time, but I really enjoyed the Guess the Elo series by Gothamchess on YouTube, so I decided to hop back on. Turns out I had lost access to the old account/email (I think it was around mid 1600’s), so I created a new account. In the past I normally played the Accelerated Dragon Sicilian, King’s Indian Defense, & Vienna. My main problem was that I was just memorizing moves. If someone played into what I memorized then I was usually golden, but deviations normally lead to disaster. Gothamchess had recommended the Caro Kann, so I looked into it. I also found your channel where the ideas of the openings & positions were being explained which really helped things click in my mind. I still play the KID against d4/c4, the Vienna (when black lets me), but the Caro is now my preferred response to e4. I still have memorized quite a few lines (it’s just how my brain works), but now I have a much better understanding of the actual ideas and game plans in the positions (why certain moves are not good & how to exploit them, what squares are the main focus of the positions, typical attacking patterns, etc.) so I’m able to actually “play chess” when taken out of my comfort zones. The Skool lessons as well as YouTube videos have really helped in these regards. I still have a lot to improve on (end game execution is probably my weakest area), but that’s how my growth has happened thus far.

Yeah, it’s as if they started playing a Caro and decided they’d rather play a French down like 3 tempo 😂

Very helpful! I’ve played many Vienna games to great success, but the way you verbalized & explained the importance of d6 really helped it “click” for me. It’s obvious when you think about the Vienna Gambit accepted as an “Ideal King’s Gambit” and how Bobby Fischer said that d6 refutes the King’s Gambit.

@Alexander Iskauskas yes, having a checklist sort of big ideas to watch for looks like it will be super helpful for reinforcing the more detailed nuances.

Definitely! Vienna is awesome!