Grandmaster Solves Master-Level Puzzles

The strategy for solving chess puzzles in this video will be useful for beginners and intermediate players.
Follow Daniel on Twitter at / gmnaroditsky
Daniel streams regularly on Twitch at / gmnaroditsky
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#Puzzles #Grandmaster #Naroditsky

[@ethan073]

Highly recommend pausing, trying to solve, then letting Danya explain AFTER you’ve thought about it for a while yourself.

[@jonsitter9052]

Just to cause a youtube argument: on the other hand, I did this for a few puzzles (and solved them after a few minutes) but Danya seems to have euristics for solving that I’d like to use instead of practicing less efficient habits

[@akusalonen7512]

Good tip

[@GMBethHarmon]

Yep. This is a good tip for his speed-runs too, by the way.

[@ethan073]

@@jonsitter9052 you are welcome to your opinion - sorry to disappoint! 😂😂

[@deltalima6703]

@@ethan073 im scared. Solved two, blew the third, scared to look at more.

[@krishras23]

I think this is a much better series for youtube only, and this will only help your channel growth. I know many people look forward to these including myself, and I just wanted to say thanks. Thanks Danya for streaming, teaching, commentating, and being the best bullet player. 😃

[@James-Cook]

Yeah he's a great teacher, but my favourite content remains 30 sec chess

[@somasundaramsankaranarayan4592]

@@James-Cook Wow. I am jealous. How do you follow 30s chess. It's too fast.

[@James-Cook]

@@somasundaramsankaranarayan4592 ahah I don't know, probably because when I started watching chess on YT there where only videos of GM's playing fast chess, so I started playing fast chess and now I feel like I'm learning just watching them playing

[@FrankTic-kx4hm]

I am loving this series, the way you take us through every puzzle logically is amazing to watch even if I'm a sub 1000 scrub

[@goper1408]

What happened to your face tho?

[@larseunic]

Yeah your face is messed up are you alright ?

[@aboveinfu3nce844]

Just keep watching and you will become a 1300 scrub like me

[@Wonkess_Chonkess]

Believe me, I'm 1800 right now and have been playing for 5 months. But I still feel like a scrub when seeing these grandmaster play and if I ever (probably not) reach master level strength I'm sure I'll feel just the same way.

[@aravindsfirst]

I feel like my ELO rises every time I watch one of your videos. No one else can explain a high level puzzle to a 1100 and have it make perfect sense

[@turtle207]

Same (although Im 1800+ on lichess).

[@kukuhaplus]

After all that "Grandmaster Solves Puzzles" I made it up through my 1600 puzzle ceiling. This guy seems to be an excellent trainer.

[@theunknown21329]

2nd puzzle was very instructive. I did see the main solution of Qh6 and Qg5 but I thought about calculating Qh6 Kg8 and Rh4 threatening mate on h7 and h8. But black plays Rd1+ Kh2 and then Nf3+!!. If you capture gxf3 then Qf2# and Rxf3 leads to Qe1+ Rf2 Qe5!. Blacks Queen gets back in time to defend the mate. Interestingly if you play Rd1+ Kh2 and then Qg1+ then white is winning because after Rf2 black no longer has the e5 square for the queen. A clearance for defence.

[@AnCoSt1]

this is a BRILLIANT series please make these at least once per week. i would love to see you solve 3000-3500 puzzles

[@CHESSGUY950]

Isn't it hard for humans to calculate? That far

[@tomjohnstone8655]

Amazing content, you make the tactics seem completely elementary! I love your style of asking the right questions - obviously for less talented players, a challenge is coming up with the right questions in each position, but the way you logically and methodically solve these is just brilliant and crystal clear.

[@aravindsfirst]

It was very neat when you mentioned the Queen pin at 19:22. But what really blew my mind was the concept of wasting the opponent's tempi at 20:45, that is absolutely insane!!

[@ryanshi6254]

Hi Daniel, I'd been doing chess puzzles for ages with kinda slow progress but after watching this series sometimes when I do puzzles I remember some of the patterns you analysed and I feel sometimes I can even hear you say "The most attractive move might not be the right move"... thanks! It's helped me in so many puzzles already :)

[@isavenewspapers8890]

7:59 Master-level puzzle from what is most likely a game between two 600 rated players

[@RG001100]

17:46 wow, that was quite a puzzle! Very complex.

[@RG001100]

@Najdorf z what sarcasm? The puzzle involves first trading off the queens in the right way, carefully making sure black doesn’t make it to the pawn, and then careful maneuvering of the bishop. It’s at least three places where the right move is hard to find. I.e. a puzzle made up of multiple parts, or “complex”.

[@lance4377]

That was crazy. Blocking the passed pawn to make a massive L barrier is a move I wont make in a million years

[@robertnewmaniii6966]

Danya you are the best! Thank you so much for all the instructive content you provide. This series, like all the others, is nothing short of amazing

[@b.f.skinner4383]

You're a phenomenal teacher, this series is extremely instructive. Keep up the good work

[@maxshing4265]

Man you can't imagine how I appreciate these kind of videos. How many time I have been struggling in solving a single problem? Thinking about 40mins and still get it WRONG. Although I cannot exactly fully copy what you have done, but I saw you really find the solution first (full series of moves) then answer, not just try this move and that move and explain every detail we should pay at attention for. really appreciate for that.

[@Pablordef]

Great way to start my weekend! I'm loving the speedrun series, your way to share your thoughts and knowledge is very instructive. Glad to see you're starting some KZbin only series too! I understand content creation is not your first priority but every single one of your uploads is so enriching, can't stop watching.

[@owenallenaz]

Despite watching him clearly explain and solve every puzzle I still conclude that this is black magic.

[@uroskuzmanovic3317]

I strongly recommend you the book from Lisicin. Its called Chess Tactics and Strategy. It has 3 big parts an 2 are on tactics. It is crazy how I improved going only through book No.1. I've solved these tactics even faster than Daniel :-) and before I was really average in calculations..... Cheers...

[@TheRealBlueSwan]

@@uroskuzmanovic3317 Could you provide a link to this book. I cannot find it using google. Maybe it is not called exactly what you wrote?

[@onatkorucu842]

@@uroskuzmanovic3317 Is it "Key Elements of Chess Tactics" and "Key Elements of Chess Strategy" by Georgy Lisitsin?

[@sportsjefe]

0:01 Intro Timestamps below This could spoil the difficulty You've been warned 1:18 Puzzle 1 3:55 Puzzle 2 7:59 Puzzle 3 11:18 Puzzle 4 15:24 Puzzle 5 17:46 Puzzle 6 24:08 Puzzle 7

[@juanmiguelposadaarrieta3078]

Your Awesome Daniel, your videos are so good, I learn a lot from them, keep up the good work, soon you will get to 1 million subs!!!!!

[@souravhasan240]

this has become my favorite series here on KZbin. i really like this series. this helps a lot. i believe this series will help him getting more and more subscribes.

[@EmanuelKatwik]

I had no idea that the famous wrong color bishop endgame is nuanced! You learn something new every day, honestly when you reached the position I'd thought you'd just dismiss it by quickly mentioning why it's clearly a draw, then backtrack and look for an extra tempo or something, amazing stuff man

[@icecolddr-pepper4486]

I don't usually care for puzzle videos, but you explain your thinking so well I can't stop watching

[@TheDuma89]

Well done Danya! This series is absolutely amazing, very well explained and we all hope more of such content is coming in the future ! :)

[@tomtomsiesie5436]

Followed you since you started this channel. One of the best content creators on KZbin and Twitch overall.

[@drewmiddleton9715]

Best chess coach on youtube. love your stuff and love this series. Doing hard puzzles with no coach is frustrating, but trying them and then following up with your explanations was really fun and informative

[@Pain420]

Danya speaks very eloquently. Probably one of the best explainers I've heard for any subject.

[@Shawn-on6wm]

I just got back into chess after 20 years and LOVE this content. You've got a gift for teaching my friend.

[@CorvoKM]

Daniel this series is awesome, so instructive and yet entertaining! Please do more of these :)

[@shobhitshrivastav9226]

Most helpful chess videos available on KZbin..kudos to you

[@hatterson]

On the 6th puzzle (the one that was the transition to the endgame and pushing the a pawn to promotion 20:00), one thing I didn't see at first and had to spend some time calculating was the difference between 3. a5 and 3. Kxc4 The idea behind Kxc4 is simply to bring your own king closer to the corner and thus shoulder out the black king and promote. When I too a while longer to look at it I realized that in that case 3. Kxc4 is responded to by Qxd4 forcing Kxd4 and then although you can win the race to control the corner you can't do it with enough time to prevent your king from being trapped against the edge of the board in one of the classic king vs. king+a/h pawn draws. My questions in regards to this is that since you didn't mention Kxc4 (at least until the very end of the puzzle), was it simply something you immediately discarded because you recognized the pattern or did you do a quick mental calculation on it and just not mention it? Just trying to understand if it was a "I made the calculation and rejected it" decision or more along the lines of "I didn't even have to consider it because I knew what the pattern/solution was from experience"

[@shcottam]

Love this series. You make these puzzles seem so easy!

[@hovhadovah]

That sixth puzzle with the skewer and passed pawns was a great learning experience! I saw the moves but failed to calculate that black's king could've moved up and caught up with the pawn.

[@tsukishiro_mai]

Thanks for the content Danya, just wanted to point out the possibility of stalemate at 23:40 if Bb6+ Kc8, after which repeating Ba7 would be the only move that avoids a draw. Perhaps Kb7 would be safer than moving the bishop immediately, may be helpful for some newer players!

[@ravendon]

We need many more. It shows us GM thinking, candidates move selection and tactics.

[@steinanderson]

Your organisation of the bookshelf is making my brain implode!

[@reef6826]

You always learn something new, idk why I never thought of going for a higher value piece in a situation where both queens are hanging, so simple, yet I always would have just jumped to take his queen first in that situation!

[@UragonKadi]

Thank you for sharing. Since I tried solving puzzles, my game improves. I am becoming sharper to tactics and even create themes that I am familiar with.

[@nomadelog]

Thank you, Grand Master Naroditsky. Sharing your analysis like this is just so awesome....!!!! You enlighten where darkness reigned.....!!!!

[@ryanboyd4770]

A lovely idea, well presented and - as always - instructional. Cheers Danya.

[@Brut4lChr0nic9]

Just wanted to say you do a great job at explaining/teaching.

[@Kirisame312]

17:25 it took me a solid minute to see the checkmate and Danya saw it instantly. Clearly I need to do more puzzles.

[@henrymccoy2306]

For a sec I thought this was a joke and the master level puzzle was just the chess board on turn 0 lol. 0:01

[@Ricardo-zv8or]

danya at 23:22 you said you cant make moves, but if you hit the analysis button below you can. Dont know if you didn't know that because you're not used to do it or if you just chose not to, but it would be interesting to see some variations after you solve the puzzles

[@shehannanayakkara4162]

It's basically then just a matter of advancing your king, making sure to keep opposition when their king is on the c-file and outflanking on the b-file if they move to the d-file, until you get your own king to b7, then moving bishop out of the way and promoting.

[@chris_harvey]

Really enjoying these. Please keep making them and just cycle through puzzle ratings.

[@fujiapple9675]

15:02 *LITERALLY*

[@shanastroskyphazer8172]

Totally awesome . I paused before every problem, thanks, enjoyed. feels great to practice the calculation & visualization skills with some counter intuitive themes. 19:20 reminds me of the game Shankland vs Xiong , wow cool tactics.

[@antcif]

Please do more of these! Awesome series thank you Danya

[@animantus]

I can watch it all day long. Even though I've managed somehow to get my puzzle rating to 3000, I'm still finding this video extremely educational.

[@suninlaw]

More advanced content please! This is awesome. Seriously; not everyone can stream advanced content. You do it well, and not just because you're a GM.

[@cookiekilbane5989]

Loving these so much man cheers, please please do more

[@LittleChan]

MINDBLOWING DANIEL! I would watch these high level puzzles explained all day, for not being able to solve them by myself.

[@trent797]

I think engines underpromote to a bishop because they calculate that it loses less material than if they promoted to a queen. It doesn't make sense as a human, but that is how the engine math works.

[@inemanja]

Interesting assumption...

[@ahmadaliraja7426]

Great way of explaining the complex positions. Wonderful series...

[@donvitoslav1137]

The best chess series on KZbin! Please continue...

[@Ammyai]

I like also like puzzles where you are in check to start with. Thanks Danya!

[@jeffronas9122]

Absolutely loving this series!

[@william7yifans]

this is the elo i get for my daily puzzles, and ive seen a few of these before, and danya's explanations are very clean and easy to understand

[@akusalonen7512]

I LOVE this series!

[@michaeltaylor7160]

I love the slight pauses in the beggining of these 😂

[@EugenikusPro]

A very interesting video, please make more videos like this! :)

[@FruitGod]

Great stuff Danya, keep it up!

[@erekletsartsidze1428]

keep making this kind of videos, your approach is extremely useful for beginners

[@ferociouspterodactyl520]

I'm a 1500 on lichess, the highest tactical rating I had was 2209, I really enjoy puzzles from 1800 and above, but 2300 puzzles are too much, I will maybe find the first couple of turns in the calculation but then stuff up the continuation. This has been enlightening. Subbed

[@epb0394]

Digging this. I started playing chess a couple of months ago and to be honest I enjoy puzzles more than anything. I just broke 1500 puzzle rating yesterday. My rapid rating is horrible by comparison, but I love the problem solving aspect of puzzles.

[@DerangedAussieMan]

Looking forward to the Grandmaster Solves Grandmaster-Level Puzzles video!

[@gilwolff6785]

Awesome content Danya, can you also do a video on time scramble tips and tricks? I feel like that would be such fun content

[@dxfifa]

You gotta go back and do each level for multiple parts, such a great series. Beginner puzzles part 2 next?

[@venkyman4985]

Not even kidding, after watching this series, my rating in puzzle rush went up 500(900 to 1400) . THANKS man !

[@remi.bolduc]

That serie made me subscribe to your channel. Highly instructive for a lower rated player like me.

[@sazzad7558]

Congrats on 200k

[@nathancavenor316]

Great content, could watch this for hours

[@pokerstar2926]

Plot twist. Daniel designs these puzzles. That's why hes able to solve them so effortlessly 😂

[@martinkarnalov453]

Love your content, thank you a lot, keep it up.

[@xenoalvis7866]

Just noticed you got to 200k subs congrats!

[@kingdimitrieclips5125]

this was very instructional. great video

[@Halibut86]

Wow this is great! Daniel makes it sound so easy :)

[@kitetm7596]

It's nice to hear your thought process

[@biankaj.v.2218]

For the puzzle at 8:00 i was looking at bishop f2 king d2 bishop e3 (bc king e3 is mate in one) and lost myself looking for mate which i couldnt find later on (even tho the king ends up on h4). I was so sure that this had to be it haha. Would have been pretty tho.

[@aeroquil]

That Ba7 idea is beautiful, I never would have seen that

[@SEAKPhotog]

That was terrific. Thanks! And wow, I even managed to solve that last problem. 🙂

[@gdbku6600]

This makes it look easier than it actually is

[@danielyanofsky277]

improving my chess and vocab

[@michelbehr]

Dear Daniel: please continue

[@GK-il3fn]

Love that last puzzle

[@Scarter63]

Thanks for this video. I learned a lot.

[@Snekmenn]

My favourite series!

[@vincerafaelcastro5778]

Great content Danya!

[@shawman5676]

Love this series. I definitely see Danya's subs going Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

[@PiganticGenis]

I'm flattered. My current puzzle rating is 2950~ and I've only been playing for 11 months. "Master Level". This made my day.

[@samvchess6266]

GM: *see mate in 9 me:* winning, up material +12 and gets backrank checkmated.

[@MasterJack2]

I could watch videos like this every days forever.

[@ulisesx1605]

Amazing teaching!

[@ShadowBeta]

YAY! THIS SERIES IS AMAZING!!

[@dr.cosine2022]

Can you please post a video with the hardest problems available and solving them?

[@JakeLYT]

Yay more puzzles! Love these!

[@Don_Artie]

so at 21:04 my initial thought was not to push the pawn while holding the fork, but picking up the pawn with the king first. then after taking the queen the next turn bring the king over to the left of the board. would this have worked too?

[@thebigbadwolf2146]

Always great content Danya!

[@massimoseveri3600]

Amazing content… as usual. Thanks

[@timnauwelaers6876]

Amazing once again

[@Luper1billion]

This helps us see our blind spots when it comes to calculations

[@andrewschultz6608]

I really like the note about not being too scared of 2500 puzzles. Some are "only" 3 moves one you know the solutions, and learning I can solve a 2900 puzzle helps me feel less intimidated by, say, an opponent rated 2200.

[@eliasvonbrille]

You have to understand that the Ratings are not the same. Not even similar. You can generally assume the Puzzle Ratings to be around 1000 points overrated and to be directed at being solved very quickly (in the 70% speed bonus range). You should be scared of a 2200 rated player when you can only sometimes solve 2900 rated Puzzles because at least when it comes to tactics the 2200 rated player will be in an entirely different Universe. (I am 1900 Rapid and above 3000 in Puzzles. I am a lot more proud of my Rapid rating).