Your teaching style is such a universal gift, Mr Danya, so good

Something I really enjoy about these videos is the sense of positivity about the position. Chess can be pretty stressful if you feel like you're one thoughtless move away from throwing it all away. When I watch these videos, I always appreciate when you restate that "We have a good position" or similar sentiments. It puts me at ease compared to other GMs who keep saying that they "blundered" or "misplayed this" or "shouldn't have allowed that".

Danya at 7:51: "give me 30 seconds in silence". Danya at 7:53: *LOUD TALKING*. His own worst enemy.

This is a small anecdote for anyone interested. I just play a game with the exact position and move order as 29:06 but I did not know the continuation. I naively played e5 instead of d5 and quickly got a much worse position - it felt right to strike the centre but I just didn't know the right way to go about it. After the game I had foggy memory that you covered this position at some point and knew that if I search through through this playlist I was sure to find it so that I could get some perspective from Daniel. And if you are reading it then you know I did indeed find it. I find these opening themed speedruns very helpful for learning so a thanks to Daniel that you have helped to improve at least one persons play ;)

Not half a mil, you deserve 10x that amount at least Danya with the amount of instructive content you have put out, all for free! Thank you so much for being the chess teacher we all need but don't deserve!

Understanding opening theory helps you I think in two ways. First of all it shows you the kind of thinking that goes into good chess play in general, and gets you used to the considerations if you actually understand the opening. Second of all it helps you even if your opponent has no idea about theory because you are able to evaluate positions based on comparisons to actual openings.

Danya, I used to have a really big weakness when visualising lines, but watching every video you put out, seeing you calculate out longer sequences I suddenly realised today that I have a lot less trouble following along. I believe you are the best chess teacher on the internet, and I recommend your videos to everyone looking to improve. Keep doing what you're doing, I'm sure many people like myself are inspired by your hard work and dedication to teaching us this game :)

I recently picked up the Sicilian myself and these videos are a wealth of knowledge to digest. I can't thank you enough for it. Amazing explanations!

Another great video! You are brengen so much joy and knowledge into the chess community. I love watching your videos and I’ve improved a lot from it. Especially the endgame course (and im only three videos in).

Internets number one chess intructor! Thank you Danya for all your hard work. You’ve made learning chess so enjoyable for me and in the year since joining this channel went from 1200-1800 just from watching your videos and understanding your thought process

GM Daniel I love your coaching style! So refreshing to get a sound, logical, honest & proven advice to improve at chess from you, that means studying & analysis & playing & not chasing quick & weaker ways to improve by not studying chess. Many thanks for your fine coaching & playing & best wishes ;-)

as always a great instructive video, thanks for the coaching!

Just wanted to let you know how much the speed run has influenced and inspired my repertoire. Went out and got the Wesley So e4 course with video and my Wesley impression has skyrocketed to native Filipino ESL levels. Thanks so much for the inspiration. Working on Ivanchuk theory next

These videos are solid gooold. Thanks for sharing so much knowledge!

Love your videos, Daniel! 💯

Thanks for the intro bit, Danya! I'm far from as experienced as you masters that make such wonderful KZfaq content, but my experience is that it really doesn't matter all that much which specific openings you pick as long as it either is reputable at a high level or (like the Stafford) has so many tricks and intricacies that learning the opening gives you a huge advantage over people who only know one or two lines. Just pick a solid repertoire and learn it, ignore what other people say about your opening unless you can incorporate some lines they know. Knowing the theory *at all* puts you above most of the people you'll face at your level, and most openings are pretty decent at a low- to mid-level.

EXCELLENT!! as always, many thanks.

This was fantastic!! Thank you!

Nice one Danya, especially enjoyed the analysis section

Great analysis! Thanks!

Dear GM Naroditsky, thankyou so much. Really enjoyed this, and very grateful for this expert commentary. I will continue to watch and enjoy the learning process. best wishes

Loved your 'opening' monolog here Danya. Just because a chess youtuber says you should or shouldn't do something is not the end all be all. Every chess player is different and should adapt themselves to the play in which most benefits them, and they most enjoy. Not EVERY single player needs to have the goal of reaching GM level. I feel like people who are relatively new to the chess community believe that they should just play the GM lines and openings, and that restricts soooo many people from enjoying the GAME of chess. Play whatever you want to play folks! Just have fun!!

Danya makes learning openings, and chess in general, fun instead of boring

Hi Daniel! I Thank-you for your videos! I have learnt so much from them! Recently I played on my second ever otb tournament, and it was the first time I decided to try my best. In my games, as I was making my recap videos and analyzing with my opponents, I came to conclusion that I had a solid opening thanks to the videos you have uploaded, but in most cases, I'll make a huge 1 move blunder that gives away a huge advantage and I will lose. After this speed run series, will you make more of your middle game videos and/or adjusting to otb after playing only online chess. Thank you!!

You are a born teacher. One among the few. Thank you very much!!!

danya, i just want to thank you so much, you are an incredibly good teacher, certainly the best and a tefiffic player!!!

Good Game, Great Lesson ! Thanks brother !

Often played the opening in the past as blak. Currently a bit rusty seeing I am no longer a club player. When looking up the opening to regain some knowledge I came across your video on the opening. You really have a refreshing way of showing in a “What-happens-if” manner. Have now joined your channel to learn more…. Thanks

As a 1800-2000 ish player, who has always loved learning opening theory, I’ve never understood the hate on teaching it to those who want to improve. Of course, players need to study their endgames and improve their middlegame senses (where I myself might lack), but I feel like learning openings in your 1000s gives you opportunities to reach positions that allow you to improve your technique

Thank you for this great content! I took away a lot from this.

very instructive

I love the opening of the English, Indian King, Defense and Sicilian, and your explanation is wonderful. I want advice about what you mentioned earlier

Great crash course on the accelerated!

a study-like finish, very nice

Keep it up Danya!!!

I'm utterly convinced that memorizing positions and moves exercises some of the same gray matter needed for calculation, to the point where studying theory aids in learning to calculate more deeply and accurately.

I love how you just get on with the chess and don't bother with all the, "look at me, I'm clever" stuff... Thanks for a real lesson

beautiful teaching.

Yea, this is how I want to play chess now. You're my new favorite youtuber Dannyboi. You get a sub today.

Hi Daniel, great video again. You often want to get double bishop as an advantage which I get as a rule, but in reality it's often hard to utilize this little advantage. Have you thought about making a video just about that? I feel like it would be really nice. Have a good one!

I would like to hear some more high level descriptions of dragon / accel dragon / hyper accel dragon, how they’re different, what the pros and cons are, why you chose the accelerated over the other two as your recommendation

i was like 800-900 for a long time and just memorizing a couple of the moves of the main line rocketed me to 1200 almost instantly. i feel like at 800 i was stuck in this purgatory where i was just doing random stuff in the opening and i would just randomly lose before i even got to really start playing the game. now i can make it to a midgame where i'm not already down bad and get to actually play the game, it's way more fun

Thanks!

Me at 2000+ CC, hearing Danya emphasize the importance of studying openings, knowing full well I didn’t study all that much theory: *Intense sweating*

I'm not an expert (not yet but will be) at chess however I've read and collected chess books since 1972. Even wrote a chess column for the Kansas City Star in 1974. And of course in over 50 years I've checked out instructors like Fischer, Spassky, and many others. My point is that DN is unreal great in my opinion. He's the best commentator I've ever heard period. DN's commentary of the Hikaru vs Kasparov game was incredibly instructive but what makes Naroditsky a genius is his talent for getting inside the head of folks like Kasparov and articulating their thought processes! I'm looking forward to reaching expert and beyond very quickly now.

Lovely bit of commentary 8 minutes in where Danya spends a minute or doing his best Hikaru impression: "If this then this, this, this, this... actually let's just castle". Great video as ever though, Danya, you have a special talent for teaching chess.

I was having a boring night, then I got the notification for this vid. Thanks Danya!

I have been your biggest fan man. Thanks for existing

31:38 I thought he was gonna say "... so let me check the engine" 🤣

I totally agree on the learning theory part. I started playing at a chess club last year and managed to beat a 2200 OTB in classical, this year I beat another 2200 and a 2150 aswell and drew against an IM. I don't consistently do this ofcourse. The problem I notice is that I encounter new openings for me at sometimes even move 1, while my opponents know theory for at least 10 moves which gives them a big time advantage and for the first moves they'll pretty much play like a computer unless you go out of their prep while you have to figure out everything in an opening that is totally new to you. That's why a 2200 is just as hard to beat for me as a 1900. When I beat those 2200s I went out of their prep and it was an equal game.

23:58 I'd like to call this the "3D Checkmate": Discovered Double Dovetail Checkmate

Danke!

24:00 That's a beautiful one, both queens attacked, but can't take both at the same time :)

That painting goes unbelievably hard

Hey Daniel, you should do a series where you face the highest level of Stockfish using various openings. Then analyze the game afterwards, explaining the ideas that Stockfish and you were trying to implement. I think it would be really fun and fascinating to watch Stockfish play against a grandmaster and then having a grandmaster who's also a great teacher like yourself explain all the ideas. Especially since some of the ideas Stockfish comes up with are completely counter-intuitive and can go against all basic principles. It could be a great learning experience for you and us and who knows, you might even win a game!

personally i absolutely love studying theory and openings, almost more than playing chess. ive spent well over 100 hours studying in the najdorf alone at 1500, and even though i dont see it all the time i love the studying and learned so much from it that can be applied generally

Man do I appreciate your channel more and more every day, I've been on a binge. World class is all I can say 💜

Even in the Maroczy Bind, black has a new line that scores quite well, playing a5 and a4, attacking the base of whites pawn chain on the queenside instead of the head of the pawn chain.

Hell yeah brother

In my opinion you are the best chess KZfaqr. You will hit 1M some day. You already deserves it.

Me as intermediary player: I so agree with you Dany!!! And by studying I mean mainly know what will be the plans. Build a repertoire according to your streangth. I played the Grunfeld and it is at our level that the opponent make mistakes!

"when you're up a piece you can basically do whatever the heck you want" you underestimate my ability to throw the game away

My thoughts have always been, is that if you aren't expected to know the Grunfeld (or comparable complex opening) at your level because it's too complex, wouldn't it also mean that neither would your opponent? Sure your opponent could memorize an obscure line but as a Grunfeld player myself the vast majority of people at intermediate and above just play into the typical Exchange Variation or occasionally some sort of Russian System. Your opponent isn't going into some obscure 20 move deep line to crush you, so why is it any different then playing an opening like the Italian or Ruy Lopez that has immense theory but is still recommended to intermediate and above players. The Grunfeld may be very theoretical but if you study the main continuations and ideas, it's completely viable at intermediate as long as you learn as you go and look at the engine after games that went into territory that you didn't know.

24:01 I find to be a very cool mate. Both queens are on “defended” squares but it doesn’t matter.

You will hit 400k in no time master danya. keep it up. very educational video.

@Danya, how do you save your dark squared bishop if white plays an early Bh6, after creating a battery with Qd2? That hits me in Sicicilan and KID setups where you have the same king side structure...

Always castle on move 7, says Peter Lalic in this book about de AC/D. It seems to be a good tip.

Learning openings helped me improve immensely. At first it was just memorization, but once I started getting more games under my belt, each opening has given me different ideas to use even when I’m completely out of theory. Do it first, and then you will come to better understand it.

Those (hypothetical) mates with the pawn and/or queen promotion are so unncessary harsh. I like it. Doing something in a game shows complete domination. Yeah, both my queens are hanging, but you can take neither.

I just wish that these speed runs will never come to an end :)

Fianchettoed bishop and knight combo. Great pattern to remember Ng4 Bh6 as black or Ng5 Bh4 as white. Brilliant.

I am pretty sure you had a check mate in 3 at 22:20 just by chasing the king with your queen since the rock and pawn of your opponent were in the way of the king

Hi Danya, Hikaru said the grunfeld is not suitable for the intermediate level is that the concepts are not obvious and giving up the center is generally not easy to handle

I've been playing the standard dragon for several years and this really makes me consider switching

Jees, I hope we get to see Danya suited up like in the thumbnail,

this is exactly how my elo rating got so high in bullet. People often do robotic premoves in bullet and you can catch some people off guard with the fianchetto bishop

As someone who’s been playing d4 for the last year and currently around 1400 USCF, I’ve actually found that the Grunfeld at my level puts a lot more onus on white to understand the plans. I’ve both won and lost OTB games in it where even if you have a perfectly fine position everything LOOKS scary and you have to calculate absolutely EVERYTHING, especially since you get it a lot fewer games than other openings. Meanwhile the player playing black I feel has a lot of thematic ideas they can throw at you in different combinations to test you, and if you mess up then they can convert their advantage pretty quickly. I’ve definitely considered taking it up from the black side for all these reasons.

I would like to suggest my own way of choosing openings, I also thought that I should avoid some openings because it's a lot of theory but it's not always like that. I decided to pick my openings and lines based on me being able to control how the opening continues, for example: sicilian, Grand Prix; caro-kann, Fantasy, French, KIA. Or from different move orders with d4: Queen's Gambit declined, Nf3 because I play the Catalan; I play d4 e6 c4 g3 to avoid some Queen's indian lines and other unique lines against other stuff. But with black is bit more difficult, basically you have to respond to the oponent but it doesn't have to be complicated and just learn a little at a time.

"When you're on your own in a Sicilian, bad things tend to happen".

I love the sound effect on 34:40. I will be using it every time I pin a queen.

The position plays for itself.

@30:44 So is g4 a good restricting move? I know it will need two defenders after d6 where the e5 pawn becomes shakey for white.

I thought the top response in that Reddit thread was a great rundown of why the Grunfeld was a poor option for a 1500. Obviously Danya knows more then I do, but it was a great counterpoint.

I just got 2200 online rating today. My 1000-1800 journey was seriously not that hard with self study and random youtube videos/ chess books, but cracking 2000 has always been such a challenge till I started binging Danya! He truly has helped me with so much and he gave me much insight on things that I never would've been aware if not for all his speedrun videos and the puzzle videos. I really think this shouldn't be free not gonna lie but ayyy not gonna complain. I hope to see more educational stuff from you in the future. Keep doing what you're doing :D ALSO Please publish (another) book! It would be very cool

About Levy and Hikaru saying the Gruenfeld is garbage, based on the video, some precisions: - Levy always have reservations on very theoretical openings, but voted for classified it as "maybe not", not garbage. - Hikaru seems to have really bad souvenirs about the Gruenfeld a be traumatised. He voted garbage and had the last word. Everyone has their bias and they at least have been clear about it.

In the past year or two Anand played a young Indian GM (Pragg?) with this opening as black and the dark square bishop was traded early, but Anand won in convincing manner in the end game. Hopefully Danya can annotate that game as well.

Lol. I also saw the reddit post. Seeing how you read the post, I think you are reading the comments here as well. ;) Anyway, don't worry about it. I didn't really give the post a lot of thought, since I trust you. It is probably the same for a lot of your viewers. The Naroditsky club will make the grunfeld a fearsome opening as black, even at the intermediate level.

8:00 My preparation in this position in 1...Ng4 2.Nxc6 bxc6 3.Bd4 Bh6 4.Qe2 e5 5.Bc5 Rb8 6.Qxg4 e6 and the position is equal

Can you do a positional speed run? With openings like the closed Sicilian or the Vienna with g3

28:48 difference between a dragon and an accelerated dragon

So freaky seeing the Reddit post, commenting on it, then seeing it referenced in a vid

at 33:21, after castles, can black play the move Bh6 and trade the dark squared bishop?

Yes, I agree: playing the mainline Sicilian is the best way to learn the arts of attack and defense. Of course, for casual and amateur players there is so much theory that the strong temptation is to learn a cute sideline. For me, that diversion was the Wing Gambit (1. e4, c5; 2. b4). And, as my buddies improved and climbed the ladder, I stayed stuck in one place (until I learned to play the Najdorf). I still derive pleasure playing chess, but I would have been a much better player if hadn't been so afraid of the Sicilian Defense.

31.20 does black actually win exchange? what happens after Bc5 in reply from white?

As a 1300 rapid player thats been playing for like two years im at that point of crossing from beginner to intermediate and I actually like studying theory. The problem I have is at my level we are out of it in most games by like move 5 and then it feels like all the study was for nothing. And I know if my opponents didnt play theory it means the played a less optimal move, but I cant see how to capitalize on that most of the time. What I feel like would be really helpful at my level is a lesson on how to punish non-theory plays in the opening that are not obvious blunders.

the world's chess teacher

Why not play Nf6 before g6? Doesn't this move order avoid the Maroczy? What is the reasoning?

As someone who was around 1200 for while and before getting a coach - I was almost unable to learn openings from many sources. I simply did not understand what the point of the moves was, I was around 1600 when I first started to feel that I understood what the threats in the position really were and what certain moves did. I think it's essential that the first couple of moves are clear, but it's really hard to learn openings without the supporting knowledge because the opponents at 1200 will play an off the line move at move 5 - it's probably a really bad move, but if you don't understand why it's bad - it's hard to use it. It's very hard to even look at master games / stockfish because not all moves threaten to win material - it's important to know positional advantages and how those positional advantages turn into wins, only then can the opening really be understood. I think that's one of the things that happens once you reach an extremely high level at something - it becomes almost unfathomable that some things are not understood by others. For you it's super basic, but for others they are not even seeing it not to even speak of understanding it in a deep way.

Opening theory is fun

"Main line Dargon and accelerated Dragon are 2 completely different animals...well they're the same animal, they're the Dragon". !!!