'Let Switch It Up and Play D4!!' | Catalan Opening | The Sensei Speedrun | GM Naroditsky

00:00 Intro
00:09 First Move
14:12 Analysis

Edited by @ClydeBarber (check out some of my original music on YT)

#speedrun #grandmaster #chess

[chessicles]

danya: we have a pawn majority so it's game over
me: i have this extra pawn so let me just blunder my rook

[danjeory]

This is the difference between learning a bunch of opening moves and learning what both sides are looking for from an opening.... Brilliant.

[evanmaier]

I think every intermediate player has picked up the Catalan for a week, gotten crushed, and then given it up

[twelveclouds]

This was such a good game, I want some more Catalan

[impishlyit]

Ah, just as I was getting bored of YouTube, my favorite chess instructor dropped a new lesson! Thanks, Sensei Danya!

[winstoonwin]

Danya has helped my chess so much. I can't thank him enough.

[websterman]

More catalan sensei! Learning these positional concepts is so useful

[kevingallagher]

My chess has definitely improved watching this channel but now I hear Danya's voice over the board... "We don't have to rush this move; we do NOT have to rush this move"

[paularized]

So happy to hear that even Danya barely knows the Catalan. I’ve been playing it for a year and still frequently getting into trouble. Sometimes I need to play a London to keep my sanity.

[carlosalbertodoria]

I think Danya is the best teacher I have ever seen on youtube. And I don't mean chess teacher, but teacher in general

[discosugar]

Danya: "I've only scratched the surface"
Also Danya: * shows entire blue print of Catalan opening *

[lukastux]

12:00 I have done this. I play(ed) the Caro-Kann even though I like aggressive chess. Playing the Caro-Kann was the best that ever happened to my chess, as it made me much stronger strategically. I now know how to maneuver pieces, how to navigate diverse middle game structures, such as IQP, hanging pawns, Carlsbad structure, classical Caro-Structure, doubled f-pawns, advance-variation-structure and so on, including what to do there (pawn breaks, minrority attack/creation of weaknesses, trading minor pieces and blocking squared against IQP, ...). I even began to enjoy the positional grinds occasionally, taking the opponent out of their comfort zone and winning a better endgame utilizing their weaknesses to my advantage.

I can only recommend this approach.

[ZimK]

Hello Danya Im SO glad that you introduced the catalan opening in your speedrun !!
It is my repertoire and I struggle so hard to find accessible content on videos or books
I understand that this opening is really hard to explain but pls if you can make several videos on it I would just love it <3

[enochix]

Love your content Danya! Keep up the great vibes!

[ruthxk]

Very interesting lesson. I know the Catalan was not invented by a Catalan, but truly Tartakower did a good job of homaging our character. The idea of giving away a pawn in favour of counterattack later on, though very subtly, with strong commitment with long-term positional play... yes, that's a good way to explain our character.

I'm kind of a "beginner" so the Catalan is probably kind of beyond my reach right now, but I'd like to play it someday. I guess before that I should learn some King and Queen's Indian's though.

Greetings from Barcelona, and thanks again!!

[MjrLeegInfidel]

As an aspiring catalan player I love that you did this video!

[bensloan]

I tried learning the catalan when I was getting into openings and I was disappointed how few resources there was on youtube. Then I got good enough to understand how much Ill never understand and switched to e4. but I love this content. I would watch a whole speedrun on the catalan but I might be in the minority. TY Danya

[asansfakeaccound]

What i noticed since i started playing catalan is that opponents at least on my about 1800 elo very often tend to lose on time while having worse position. They do it much often than in any other opening, probably because most of people on low/intermidiate level are not really used to slow positional grinding play

[ChoateGo]

love the explanations of Catalan, massive kudos Danya!

[NickMaovich]

Damn, the way Danya talks about chess is something out of this world.

The best teacher <3