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

00:00 Intro
00:09 First Move
14:12 Analysis
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Edited by ‪@ClydeBarber‬ (check out some of my original music on YT)
#speedrun #grandmaster #chess

[@chessicles99]

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

[@xx-cj6ew]

The opponent: wow that was so nice of my opponent let me blunder my Knight back as thanks

[@brockpiano]

@@xx-cj6ew *pushes pawn*

[@MadGunny]

@@brockpiano lmao

[@Daywalkr]

lmfao i hate this game

[@Blinkers2007GameDev]

@@brockpiano Opponent: Blunders mate

[@evanmaier2551]

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

[@paularized1]

Not true…..I got crushed for 2 weeks before giving up.

[@11Duff]

Man, I wasnt ready for that amount of truth this morning.

[@biharek7595]

Catalan is a very good opening, and that is not the right approach. If you get crushed, you gotta take steps to make it better

[@mastod0n1]

@biharek as a 900 player I tried learning the Catalan as something different to use and it's more theory heavy than other openings I've tried learning Edit: 8:08 even Danya says it's conceptually complicated and he doesn't understand 90% of the main ideas. Almost any opening can be good if you study it well enough but the Catalan seems to require more study than others. Fine for GMs, not good for beginners/intermediates

[@biharek7595]

@@mastod0n1 it's hard, yes, but I think it just makes it more interesting. I myself am still studying it rn (hence I watched this video) so I can't yet say whether it will do me good or not, but I'll try it. Because, is not being 2000+ ELO any reason not to learn this opening? I think not, there's also the fact that even if you're not good at chess, your opponents will be neither - that's how ELO works! My point is that even if you don't understand all the aspects of the catalan, your opponent might neither, thus liquidating the disadvantage from not understanding it well. I will at least try to understand it though, as it only takes a lot of studying, a lot of practice, but surely in the end it will be worthwile, as catalan can lead to great positions for white with very good practical chances and low risk.

[@danjeory3659]

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

[@impishlyit9780]

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

[@kesetokaiba]

Same here! Seeing the "last video" for the night and then this video uploaded, so of course here I am instead :)

[@Creature9566]

It really be like that

[@PaperTigerLive]

How much time do you guys spend on KZbin? For me it’s way too much but still I can always fit in a Danya video

[@impishlyit9780]

@@PaperTigerLive A couple hours, usually. Depends on the day. The main problem is that I don't watch the childish variety creators or rage streamers that a lot of people do, so I end up catching up on all the content I actually care about and just browse random stuff until I'm bored. Comes with having been on the platform for half your life, you stop being so amazed at how much stuff there is since it's so repetitive.

[@kesetokaiba]

@@PaperTigerLive Some (maybe 1 or 2 hours a day), but admittingly I'm pretty new to YT. I only created a YT account (I watched some before creating an account, but barely watched much) when I needed it to try chess streaming a while ago. A lot of my YT watching is on a second tab when I'm working on something else (especially when the YT video is review for me). p.s. most of my subscribed channels are non-chess related. Danya is worth subscribing to though :)

[@twelveclouds292]

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

[@winstoonwin798]

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

[@lyingcat9022]

Well you could try ;)

[@bloodycrepe]

Danya has helped me so much too! Definitely go with his services to get any chess investment advice.

[@kevingallagher3742]

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"

[@websterman100]

More catalan sensei! Learning these positional concepts is so useful

[@jasonfuqua4284]

Love seeing Catalan games!

[@carlosalbertodoria7568]

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

[@bensloan9019]

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

[@jonshive5482]

You might try King's Indian Attack. It doesn't usually lead to White advantage but it's solid. Gets a little boring though which is why I try Catalan against an early ...Nc6 blocking Black's c-pawn. And sometimes just for the heck of it. As in this game it's really, really subtle. Gotta be patient unless the opponent makes a mistake.

[@lukastux3024]

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.

[@blaze8817]

I must completely agree on that one. Choosing to commit to the Queen's Gambit did the exact same thing for me. Many players say openings don't matter for beginners but that isn't necessarily true. I think that the satisfaction of taking a slightly more active position or one with a slight lead in development to creating a weakness for my opponent, to pressuring and exploiting my positional advantages, to grinding that weakness to an advantage of material, to converting it. I also recently learned the Caro, at 2200 you need to know too much Sicilian theory. With a tournament coming up, I decided to drop it and learn tons of theory in the past few days. I've come to like the opening and my first Caro-Kann game in a year was simple and beautiful.

[@blaze8817]

May I ask, what is your current rating? I'm curious if this approach can possibly be the strongest.

[@Alex_Deam]

What resources did you use to get better at the Caro-Kann? Did you just google around etc, or was there anything specific that really helped?

[@blaze8817]

@@Alex_Deam Assuming the question is directed towards me, don't bother trying to do what I did unless you're 2000+. I explored white's choices and chose my responses. I looked into the lines as well as they games with these lines to get a hold of the ideas. The free Caro-Kann chess course also helped establish a basis for my deep preperation.

[@jayure1346]

cool! if you don't mind, what's your rating? (I'm asking @Lukas Tux btw)

[@ChoateGo]

love the explanations of Catalan, massive kudos Danya!

[@ZimK230]

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

[@sneakyonthebeat]

As a catalan main I enjoyed this

[@growwithsomangshu1463]

Same here what's your rating?

[@growwithsomangshu1463]

Mine is mid 1800 rapid

[@sneakyonthebeat]

@@growwithsomangshu1463 1400 blitz and bullet, 1300 rapid but i often play with players 1800-2000. I’ve only ever won against a 2000 rated player with the Catalan

[@growwithsomangshu1463]

Oh ok

[@simonkucera3987]

hey man, im a 1450 and i cant succeed with the catalan. any tips?

[@asansfakeaccound5466]

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

[@enochix3502]

Love your content Danya! Keep up the great vibes!

[@enochix3502]

Also, how do you remember all these opening position names?

[@Alex73758]

Always looking forward to these

[@i.g.l.z.9215]

Fascinating, lots of learning to absorb, thank you Daniel!

[@grants9168]

Been trying to learn the Catalan recently so this was very helpful, thanks Danya!

[@lasker500]

very instructiv, like usual, thank you!

[@shawncleaver5734]

Absolutely love your vids Dayna! Thanks you so much

[@chessgains8075]

A few more 1.D4 games would be nice!

[@MjrLeegInfidel]

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

[@nilaydas9165]

Danya the master of speedrun has come to give one another masterclass.

[@osqeqsmaadal4722]

Perfect video! You are a smart, amazing person!

[@Fearless_Figure]

Danya please play more of the Catalan, it is very strategical and it will help a lot of improving chess players

[@monstermagnet3150]

But only when they are strong enough to understand the ideas nearly by themselves because other way it's not that useful

[@TheBuddhaBilly]

Beautifully explained again! This speedrun should last forever ;)

[@NickMaovich]

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

[@londncallin]

Most informative speedrun on youtube

[@Ducks2]

Great video! I play D4 and thought the Catalan was a good beginner opening. Nice to know that it's way more advanced than I thought!

[@joshinnc9882]

best series on all of youtube

[@1001011011010]

I actually love the Catalan and those types of positional games!

[@SquidBobCircleJeans]

I feel like I agree with Danya, playing openings that you're not that comfortable actually makes me think differently and I also enjoy the once in a while change! I'd like to see more of these d4 vids! Thx Danya! I'm near 1800 and it's mostly thanks to you!

[@thomascarros]

im a d4 player and i would love more content like this!

[@willpeacock8979]

I’m pretty off and on with watching chess content, and I’m currently experiencing an off stage towards it, but your content is the exception… your videos are my favorite videos to watch, I really feel like I can tune out the world for the duration of your video and just focus on the game, and I’m very grateful for this content

[@tibbar7459]

Great video

[@wiggininin]

Really enjoyed the Catalan discussion

[@AhmedHussain-qk7fi]

Everytime Danya drops a new video I'm hoping it's a 30+, this man's content is out of this world!!!

[@bcmerr]

thank you prophet

[@benjaminphilip9737]

these are my fav chess vids

[@eliaspetrov]

Nice!

[@ruthxk7844]

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!!

[@cjelliscloudy5903]

I've been waiting so long for you to play the Catalan, it's my go to! A great complement to this vid would be the Rubinstein Tarrasch! You'll run into it a lot shooting for the Catalan style.

[@DBLDIPD]

ayyyy d4 let’s goooo

[@CarsonHinson2]

Love the new lens you have. Super crispy. White boy fro in tha house!!! There's only a few chess channels I watch and yours is one. Love the content man. Thanks for giving your GM level knowledge for free.

[@claxmma9570]

Ive been on a roll catching these early. HIghlight of my year so far lol

[@chh_mumu]

Just decide to learn the Catalan and this video appears! Danya is the GOAT

[@chh_mumu]

@zux good luck bro! Wish us all the best

[@pepega3344]

Don't learn this meme and play e4

[@pepega3344]

Even Danya says you should play qg or london if d4

[@monstermagnet3150]

@zux Then give it a try, you are good enough 😄

[@ericem782]

Great Video as always, would also love to see the English or Dutch defense some time :)

[@markwesley9346]

Found this particularly useful as an adjunct to Matt Jensen's excellent ChessGoals catalan course.

[@DudeRandom1]

I don’t know what to say. But Danya must be the greatest chess instructor in modern era. I would love him to just analyze all levels blitz/rapid games and I can watch that all day all night 24/7. His insights on theories, positions, piece placements, tactics and the way he spotted inaccuracies or mistakes right away are just insane.

[@alexf0101]

thanks

[@michaelwhinnery164]

OMG... I just went up one more step in understanding my lack of understanding this game... Thank you Sensei

[@onnihuuskonen1250]

I liked to watch this positional and instructional game.

[@arezzo5340]

Complex openings like this indeed don't teach us as much as "simpler" openings like 4 knights, but now we understand a little bit better the difficulty of chess and that just makes me wanna play it more.

[@Socrates...]

Thanks

[@NitroNovaMusic]

I was really hoping you'd do a series like this. I'm not a Catalan player, but I do play 1.Nf3 and I can take a lot of the ideas in here.

[@qwertywarrior]

As always, Thank you based Danya.

[@disco_sugar]

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

[@jonshive5482]

Well, there's a whole buncha theory after ...dxc4. Among other things.

[@bluedregs2745]

wow this lesson was really informative

[@kmbm23]

hey Danya Have you considered teaching a book? Going through everything page by page and explaining the concepts and examples... Maybe your book, or My System or some other intermediate - upper intermediate level book. I would pay for that. What we lack is an actually good and accessible coach especially where I'm from. We dont even have an IM in our country, so yeah. And i'm sure there's quite a few people who would agree. Food for thought.

[@unacarstensen3181]

Ooooh, I love your idea!

[@Cretan1000]

I feel like a video series like a few he's been doing will be better than a book, more accessible, easier to follow, more engaging

[@ivandunnachie1612]

Why not just read a book

[@louismyers8845]

Babe wake up a new Danya speedrun video just dropped!

[@freewheelburning8834]

I like your sound advice

[@LordSoviet]

Please play more D4,C4 openings. Much love Danya

[@joegreenwood86]

I once flew 12 hours from HK to London and downloaded 12 hours worth of danya speedruns beforehand. Didn't get bored 😛It will be the same next time for sure. #longhaulsolution

[@lamsimpson5215]

19:20 Qxc3 does actually work tactically because after Ne4 white can simply play the queen back to c2 and after Nxg5 Nxg5, white is threatening mate and the bishop on b7

[@jaycee5333]

As D4 player I've been patiently waiting!!!

[@acousticmeatus8141]

And here I was already studying the Catalan as if it was nothing and now I know that this opening is CRAAAZZZYY

[@northlord804]

I love your vid!!!!

[@wesleytabak1190]

I would love to see you play another Catalan game.

[@jfjf-yn6wj]

Great game , one of the best In a while. Nice to get an opponent who doesn’t crumble in the opening or mid game lol

[@PaperTigerLive]

I would like to play the Catalan because it has a cool name and the structure looks sweet

[@monstermagnet3150]

Very cool games but sometimes it's hard to find a way to win, and it's hard to find plans when you are under 2300 I guess

[@wholemilky]

Go for it! There's a perception in the chess community about the Catalan being heavily theoretical, but unless you're over 2200, you won't encounter much of it (you can pretty much neglect 4.dxc4 for instance, and that's like 50% of theory). Familiarize yourself with the main ideas + structures which arises and Black's main sources of counterplay (e.g. ...c5 and ...e5 pawn breaks, queenside expansion trying to hang onto the pawn, and so on), and with some experience you'll feel confident in the opening after a bit I reckon. I changed from the English (1.c4 2.Nc3 3.g3 with a slow d4) to the 1.d4 2.c4 3.g3, and the difference in my results is certainly there. I began the Catalan in early 2023 at 1950 Elo, and now a bit over 2100. I credit the Catalan for a significant part of this jump since my main focus in chess was playing and studying this opening (plus learning how to play positionally and solid, rather than tactically). My stats highlight the difference: with 1.c4, I have a 51% win rate and a performance rating of 1854, while with 1.d4, it's a 64% win rate (with 4% draws) and a performance of 2101, and that's with 413 15+10 games with c4 and 187 15+10 games with d4.

[@PaperTigerLive]

@@wholemilky your comment isn't going unnoticed. Thank you.

[@tanya8628]

THANK YOU DANYA :))

[@witheringhs7766]

learn the catalan.. got it... thanks again Danya

[@danny208YT]

Best chess coach on the internet and it's free. Thanks Danny boy

[@elgrek0249]

Best teacher

[@StewartUSAF]

I play the Catalan (sub 1k USCF), and the concepts and ideas you were explaining in this video make perfect sense. I'm a little odd in that I see the positional ideas better than the crazy tactical shots.

[@twin_peaks]

We need more Catalan!

[@user-us1ro6js4z]

Finally some catalan on the speedrun! Suprisingly, at 1150 I've had pretty good success with this beast, mostly because my low rated peers just can't handle the complexity a lot of the time. I also found that it helps me play a lot more in the slow positional style you've been preaching, which I personally find way more satisfying. It's quite encouraging to see that even you struggle with it a bit. Keep up the good work!

[@MultiTrace22]

The best teacher just dropped a new vid let’s go!!

[@ardadinkci8898]

Thanks for nice videos! I would like to see you sticking into 1.e4 because since your rating is increased, i want to see how the same openings are holding up against the more serious opponents

[@TheStealthPawn]

somehow I was just thinking in my head the other day I want to see a Catalan and magically my wish was granted

[@walterbrownstone8017]

The thing I've noticed with hypermodern openings is your not going to get a crushing position by move 15 as often as you do with classical openings.

[@nicoboero15]

Danya how do u edcept me to catch every concept when u post at 1 am... im never sober for thiss

[@scheimong]

I'm quite proud that I saw Nf4 during the game and was wondering what to do against it 😄 Thanks to whoever saw that move in Twitch chat and asked!

[@flatterswhite]

just in time

[@BishopStars]

Catalan is unstoppable

[@carlkligerman1981]

More Catalan please

[@PAPPADASH]

I play the london and caro mostly, but I also play the catalan sometimes. I'm only 1200 and I know it's ideas are complex and there is a ton of theory in the catalan. But my opponents at 1200 don't know the ideas either, and just generally it's a super solid positional opening, it does well for me. I wish there was a good video course for it, I would buy it instantly.

[@tommypiffington3374]

Good time too Holmes

[@hamarthomas48]

Recently I tried learning the Catalan as a 1200 rated player. I did it only because it felt cool to know the Catalan, since all the GM's are playing it. It didn't take me long to understand I wouldn't be able to do that. Since then I've stayed with queen's gambit.

[@bestdocincanada6620]

Lol same

[@hjhjhjwh]

I started playing stonewall ...then catalan opening ...but after playing some games i came to knew its a very positional opening ...lots of ideas .. But if you are not able to cope up with pawn lost on c4 ...your opponent will crush you with the pawn storm from queenside ....if you are able to get the pawn or dynamics of the pieces in compensation then its ok ....well its a hard opening to master ...quite risky too....now i switched to Queens gamit

[@ivandunnachie1612]

Queens gambit exchange variation is the rolls Royce of d4 openings

[@himanshudubey5265]

Wow he said catalan is so tough at even this 2000 level. Nice!!

[@alexwiththeglasses]

Interesting how there may be some openings that have so many more viable responses than others.

[@leszekebertowski3419]

Danya is no.1 for sure.!!! Thank You Daniel ...(btw 1.d4 please could you play a Colle opening some day ? best regards :)

[@piousmuffin5285]

As a d4 player this is a pleasant surprise. Especially since I started working on a new Catalan-based repertoire just a few days ago. 19:17 Qxc3 does actually work. 14. Qxc3 Ne5 15. Qc2 Bxg5 16. Nxg5 and white has a double attack on the e4 knight which is pinned to the bishop on b7, so Qxg5 is forced. If 15. ...Nxg5 then 16. Nxg5 threatens checkmate with a discovery against the b7 bishop, and Bxg5 is forced.

[@ivandunnachie1612]

Nice find

[@piotrbugaj5179]

Uuu! Catalan, catalan! Something I actually play, finally!

[@ishandhawan9011]

Hahhaa now i get to watch my main repertoire as well

[@thethinker3888]

Does anyone know which “newer” Catalan book Danya was referring to? Last time I checked the latest one appears to still be pretty old, it’s released back in 2015. ( ->Grandmaster Repertoire - The Catalan by Boris Avrukh )

[@milklover2830]

I really want to see what other GMs say about this speedrun and how they analyze the positions Danya gets.