We come to the end… Intermediate Opening Tier List: The End

GM Hikaru Nakamura and IM Levy Rozman use @tiermaker to create Part 3 of a Chess Opening TIER LIST from the point of view of an intermediate player (1200-1800).

Part 1:
Part 2:

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0:00 Intro
0:04 King’s Gambit
3:22 King’s Indian Defence (KID)
4:20 Latvian Gambit
6:18 London System
7:43 Marshall Attack (Ruy Lopez/Spanish)
10:47 Nadjorf (Sicilian)
12:58 Nakhmanson Gambit
16:36 Nimzo Indian
17:45 Nimzo Larsen
18:43 Orangutan/Polish
21:38 Petrov’s Defense
25:14 Phiidor Defense
26:12 Pirc Defense
28:05 Ponziani Opening
29:06 Portugese Gambit
30:28 Queen’s Gambit
31:23 Reti Opening
32:27 Rossolimo
34:16 Ruy Lopez
35:40 Scandinavian
37:45 Scotch
38:46 Sicilian Defense
39:11 Slav
40:30 Smith Morra Gambit
42:15: Sodium Attack
43:10 Stonewall
45:17 Tromposky Attack
48:05 Vienna Gambit
50:12 Advanced French

Thanks to HolyExcalibur for the timestamps

#gmhikaru #chess #chessopenings

164 Comments

  1. The computer going nuts during the Nakhmanson was actually hilarious

  2. I think I should learn the cock ring Gambit. If I win it'll be a hidden f you to the opponent when he checks what the opening was when he analyse.

  3. I'm a 25 yr old playing the Marshall and Levy just burned me….

  4. 40:43 “Gambits don’t generally get regarded as solid.”

    Evan’s gambit WRITE THAT DOWN! WRITE THAT DOWN!

    (Why do people like the Evan’s gambit so much? Like even computers love it.)

  5. 22:48 Uh uh Levy. Don't think you fooled us. You missed Nf3 and played f4 instead, at first. Nice try

  6. Lmao I tried the Orangutan against Xqc bot and I finally won

  7. Orangutan is an awesome opening, magnus can beat you with it.

  8. Have you guys ever made a Tier List for end games from Essential to Esoteric?

  9. the way he pronounced portuguese wrong both on this tier list and the beginner tier list is incredible LOL

  10. How can kings gambit be that low its a legendary opening

  11. How about doing an opening tier list for 2000-2300?

  12. Please explain. You're basically saying don't play the Italian unless you're going for Evans gambit? I don't see anyone playing it, but the main lines are quite popular which you seem to dislike. I personally think the Italian is very solid and development feels natural.

  13. Yo i love your content Hikaru keep the good work up

  14. When all my openings are between garbage and maybe not

  15. Hope you learned more about the Stonewall Riot.

  16. They always rate the Caro-Kann so much higher than the French, and yet the French is more popular at EVERY level.

  17. 39:25 Yes, you can make fun of Russians.
    FIDE literally removed their flag from all their tournaments.

  18. Vienna Game? Modern Defense? Where would those fall? Is the Vienna Game same tier as it's Gambit? Is the Modern Same enough as the Sicil ? — If others comment please just name your rating 🙂

  19. Why is Kasparov behind the Accelerated Dragon?

  20. This video is very very good. However, this tier list lacks info for which side each opening is good or bad. If an opening is Legendary for white, it should be garbage for black, and vice versa. In this tier list, it is not clear at all for which side an opening is good. Only when listening to the commentary and knowing a bit about each opening and which move gives it the name, you know how to read the tier list.

  21. 1 min 1 sec on my fav opening SMH, but it got put in high legit so I don’t mind

  22. Is there a Sicilian that is particularly good to play at intermediate level?

  23. even at intermediate level the Breyer and Chigorin can feel a bit depressing. the advantage of the Marshall is that you often get anti Marshalls with easier play for black compared to Breyer and Chigorin. Nakamura is absolutly right imo. I think in the cozio or smyslov followed by the open spanish you get the most bang for your buck at the intermediate level but it is not to everyones taste. i also wanted to mention that you dont need to study the Marshall extensivly at this level because white players on this level dont book up in the Marshall. Booked up players play 6.d6 (Martinez variation) or an Anti-Marshall.

  24. the fact that at intermediate berlin is garbage but at master its suddenly top tier is so amusing to me

  25. What score is considered intermediate vs beginner? intermediate 1000-1500 range?

  26. = OPENING TIMESTAMPS FOR 1200s-1800s (PART 3: THE END) =

    + Legendary Openings +

    30:28 – (White, d4) Queen's Gambit
    – (White, Giuco Piano Game) Evan's Gambit
    – (Black, against e4) Caro-Kann Defence
    – (White, against the Sicilian) Grand Prix Attack
    – (White) Closed Sicilian
    3:22 – (Black, against d4) King's Indian Defence [KID]

    34:16 – (White) Ruy López [Spanish Game/Opening]

    38:46 – (Black, e4, c6) Sicilian Defense

    48:05 – (White, e4, e5, Nc3) Vienna Gambit

    – (White) Alapin Sicillian

    + Solid Openings +

    37:45 – (White, e4, e5) The Scotch Game

    6:18 – (White, d4 & Bf4 against "anything") London System
    16:36 – (Black, against d4) Nimzo-Indian Defense

    40:30 – (White, against the Sicilian) Smith-Morra Gambit
    17:45 – (White, b3) Nimzo-Larsen Attack
    28:05 – (White, e4, e5) Ponziani Opening

    – (Black, against e4) Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon
    – (Black against the Queen's Gambit) Chigorin Defense
    31:23 – (White, Nf3) Reti Opening

    21:38 – (White, e4, e5) Petrov's Defense
    32:27 – (White, against the Sicilian) Rossolimo

    45:17 – (White, d4, Bg6) Trompowsky Attack

    + Legit Openings +
    – (White, e4, e5) Danish Gambit
    – (White, d4) Catalan Game
    – (Black, against d4) Two Knights Tango
    – (White, against the Sicillian) Marshall Attack
    – (Black, against the Queen's Gambit) Albin-Counter Gambit
    50:12 – (White, e4) Advanced French
    26:12 – (Black, against e4) Pirc Defense

    – (Black, against e4/maybe anything) The Black Lion "Setup"
    – (Black, against the Queen's Gambit) Slav Defense
    – (Black, against e4) French Defense
    – (Black, against d4) Dutch Defense
    43:10 – (White) Stonewall
    – (White, against the Caro-Kann) Hillbilly Attack
    10:47 – (Black, against e4) Sicllian Defense: Nadjorf

  27. Why is the dutch defense so low in this video when it was the top recommendation in the openings for black in response to d4 in the other GothamChess intermediate openings video?

  28. Where is Emil Joseph Diemer gambit where he pushes only pawns? That one deserved it's own opening/gambit spot

  29. If your learning a new opening i just play againsnt wally bot turn on engine which tells me which moves are best i did this while learning sillican when i was 900 and it was incredibly effective i basically just kept playing games and if the comuter said it was a bad move i looked what i was supposed to play(these are moves common i see when playing)

  30. Nakhmanson is unbreakanble for me because when they play nxc6 and we trade, they always take the pawn after and then its just winning after rook e1

  31. They didn't rank the open sicilian, or any of white's choices in those lines. I wonder how they'd rank it compared to the Anti-Sicilians on this list, and if they think intermediates should go down that rabbit hole or stick with the easier-to-learn Anti-Sicilians.

  32. Had a game on lichess that got labelled as Latvian Gambit, where I (black) was never worse at any point in the opening. Puzzled, I went here to check if that opening is supposed to be good or what? The answer: We transposed to a "Latvian Gambit" from the Three Knights' Game. E4, e5, Nf3, Nc6, Nc3, f5. Sort of like a Vienna Gambit with the colours reversed. THAT version is apparently very solid and engine-approved.

  33. I won a whole school tournament with the polish.

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