Pirc Defence | The Sensei Speedrun | GM Naroditsky

[@thechosenone2163]

This guy is hands down the best chess instructor alive

[@SahnigReingeloetet]

I feel like Danny, Ben and Stjepan have single-handedly increased my Elo by 600 points 😂

[@sh3lton]

How many chess instructors do you know?

[@andrew_owens7680]

Agreed. Although I don't laugh as much as when I watch Ben Finegold.

[@SahnigReingeloetet]

@@andrew_owens7680 Ben is a treasure

[@andrew_owens7680]

@@SahnigReingeloetet My favorite Finegold quote: "Remember, when you move a piece, it isn't where it was before you moved it." LOL When calculating combinations, remember where all the pieces are after every move!

[@scottpatrick8645]

Danya, my rating has gone from 860 to 864 since watching your videos. You da man!!!

[@SahnigReingeloetet]

💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪

[@jaeometryjones5000]

Lol wait bro you won 1 game

[@matymasaryk]

@@jaeometryjones5000 4 points? He probably drew

[@lonewolf6327]

@@matymasaryk There are no draws at that level

[@ZZuluZ]

Ahahaha 👍

[@mydogbanjogames]

Hey man, I’m 29 I taught myself chess at like 12 or whatever and kinda fell off it forever but after finding your videos like 1-2 months ago I’ve been obsessed again, I’m joining my local chess club just to play every week. Thanks for lighting this fire, passion in me again. Gives me something to do and it’s a great hobbie.

[@khaluu2000]

Welcome to the chess community.

[@SahnigReingeloetet]

Good choice and welcome

[@theafricanmask8513]

Hobby*

[@Lord7979]

I wish I had a local chess club closest one to me is an hour drive away :(

[@khaluu2000]

@@Lord7979 damn i feel for you. It’s a completely different atmosphere to play someone over a board vs online. Maybe start your own club? My friends did that with music club and anime club

[@Jonper-GD]

Danya: "This system exists..." Translation: Its quite shiet and we are already winning.

[@SuperYtc1]

"You don't need any skill to see that, you just sort of see it." - Super grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky, who has been playing chess since he was in nappies.

[@drewleibel153]

Watching Danya tear apart one of my favorite openings is amazing and humbling. Thank you for the amazing lesson and analysis.

[@kaidoChess]

I love when Danya casually annihilates overly aggressive players

[@sirrys]

He annihilates them with FACTS and LOGIC

[@kaidoChess]

@@sirrys that’s right

[@rhyssdeacon1845]

Gotta say I recently watched a video of someone explaining the ideas of the pirc and you truly are amazing to watch. What really impresses me about grandmasters is the way you counter things before they even happen simply because you are familiar with setups and the ideas behind them. Amazing

[@kenbagwell8551]

Thank you Danya for your generosity in giving these awesome lessons!

[@fermatslasttheorem6298]

I feel smart seeing the queen move at 7:10. Mostly because I’m familiar with the queen-knight checkmate pattern so I just thought about that.

[@enochix3502]

Hello, Daniel! Thanks for all your content I watch daily on my lunch break! thanks for all you do sincerely, a 848 elo player lol

[@dahudge9]

"There aren't no pieces on the queenside" meme level stuff. Right after the chapter called "Frankfurt Airport Moves" in the Book of Danya.

[@user-m8k9d]

my issue with the Pirc for beginners is that anything White does is okay at least. Theres no threats and traps and all you do is react to Whites moves.

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

Excellent, so helpful, thank you!

[@jinjurbreadman]

thanks for going over Nxh5 at 14:00 I was curious about that myself

[@immaleaf4964]

"So..this..this system exists." The polite disappointment

[@izzymarz6788]

exactly what i was thinking

[@FEEBOLDEN]

Amazing videos per usual definitely the best on KZbin. Thank you so much for these videos!

[@soongchi5048]

thanks, i have been using the pirc defence as black and i always found it hard to transition after kingside castle. I am 1300 and this video explains a lot. Appreciate it!

[@gregp13]

Excellent, as always. Thanks Daniel!

[@hannieei]

hello Danya, I love your videos and streams but since I'm an EU viewer I can almost never catch your streams so I have to watch your vods. However, since the twitch vods update you have not been recording/posting the vods anymore on twitch. Could you please consider posting the vods again in the future? thank you for the speedrun regardless :D

[@walterbrownstone8017]

Danya is so fast! He can even pull up old games in a second.

[@mg7509]

Man, I watch and like every video. There is no other chess youtuber I like as much as the prophet himself, just the best in all aspects IMHO. я тебя благодарю на русском также.

[@luiscarrasco603]

I just won a game thanks to this video, my opponent played almost the same line (it was pretty easy, my opponent resigned in move 16, i had a pretty easy to find mate in 5). He was 1652, i was 1520.

[@garbour456]

your videos are so friggin bomb. Thanks for all the amazing content Danya

[@Amoeby]

7:40 I see another idea. 1. Bc4+ d5 2. Rh3 and we are doubling the rooks on the h file and there is not enough time for black to defend or take on a2 because our bishop defending it. So continuing the line 2. ... dxc4 3. Rdh1 Nh7 4. Rxh7 Qxa2 5. Rh8# or 2. ... Rfc8 3. Rdh1 Kf8 4. Rh8+ Bxh8 5. Rxh8+ Ng8 6. Rxg8#

[@chuckgravity7616]

Thanks for sharing another outstanding video!

[@Bankai2169]

I have a tournament match this week and my opponent loves to play the Pirc from my research. Thank you for helping me out! UPDATE: I ended up winning my match

[@spark5010]

Wow same

[@SahnigReingeloetet]

Yeah the Austrian is a very solid weapon, although I prefer the 150 Attack against weaker Pirc player because of how straightforward it is

[@Hsel-lc1wt]

Look up the Bg5 trap, they'll probably fall for it :p

[@Bankai2169]

@@Hsel-lc1wt my opponent like the Czech variation so the Bg5 trap won’t work sadly

[@alexwiththeglasses]

Seems another a story of playing an opening without knowing the essentials first, seeing as how the Austrian is common enough. But again some folks prefer the learn by playing approach - not my bag. Interesting to see the white squares/pawns around the king being the target. I’m used to seeing that bishop & queen battering ram taking out the black bishop guarding the king. Nice, strong & swift attack!

[@SahnigReingeloetet]

Very true! The more accurate approach by Black is actually to castle queenside in order to calm the position down, 0-0 was probably the losing mistake

[@anmax]

Your videos are the best part of my day

[@bldjln3158]

Yay! New video. My rating is almost perfectly improving with these videos. I was at 1600 a few episodes, I’m at 1640 now.

[@SahnigReingeloetet]

Congrats!

[@Mike072]

Love your videos Danya. Much love from Holland. You and Robert Ramirez are my favorites to watch. And he will be happy to see you covered the Pirc in your videos 😉

[@thejames666]

Ha! I was just thinking about RobRam! He’s an excellent teacher. But there are levels… and Danya takes the cake.

[@Mike072]

@@thejames666 absolutely!

[@brunilda]

Wait, Robert Ramirez is the Pirc guy (and Czech Pirc) isn't he? Let's show him this video :-D

[@kroeterichNo1]

so glad i was able to spot qc3, these types of positions usually screw me over- reminds me of the immortal game a bit with the double rook sac.

[@Kokurorokuko]

Thinking in terms of weak squares instead of weak pieces changes a lot!

[@SahnigReingeloetet]

Hanging Pawns has a very instructive video on it with the topic of Petrosian, if you‘d like to explore the concept further I‘d recommend you check it out!

[@depan55]

Holy moley, an upload before 1am? :)

[@BlazeShomida]

I know this video is old by now but do you know the Qb6 trap where you win the queen? 11:22 , you can play a3 instead of Qd2 (key because they’re best move will be to take your rook which you’ll need to defend with your queen) and if they take b2 you play Na4 and their queen is trapped if I’m not mistaken, it’s similar to a position I’ll get with the jobava london

[@liljackypaper]

Great video as always! Just a heads up, the correct pronunciation of Pirc is Peerts 👍🏻

[@damandarin5415]

Im curious, the Pirc (maybe not this variation) is so similar to the Kings Indian, while the KID is so much more reputable and considered way more deadly than the Pirc, what are the differences that make the Pirc so much worse? (yes I know one starts with d4 and e4, but e4 is played soon enough later)

[@lubomirnovotny9653]

I do not think it is much worse. You can find games played by Kasparov an other greats. Why would they play bad opening?

[@janpham2591]

I feel like white has an easier time attacking against the Pirc than against the KID (however even the King's Indian has been pushed out of the GM level lately)

[@cpf2566]

The only difference is that White has pawn on c4 and d4 in the King's Indian (and virtually always plays e4) while in the Pirc they're on d4 and e4 (with the possibility of f4 later, but only in some lines). Ofc that small changes leads to completely different games, but thematically they're about as similar as it gets. And I'm not sure it is much worse. The King's Indian is perhaps better known and has a...bigger reputation (I hesitate to say "better" because of all the people who claim incorrectly that it's been refuted) but it doesn't get played any more at the top level whereas it's not that uncommon to see GMs choosing a Pirc. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean it's better - openings go in and out of fashion for all sorts of reasons - but it can't be objectively much worse. I imagine it's more a matter of taste. Hard to play =/= bad.

[@Danumurti18]

lmao, Pirc played by Magnus as well against GMs. Pirc is bad only if you're playing against Super GM.

[@enkor9591]

Closed center

[@Llanchlo]

Odd way for B to handle Pirc. We know that the best response to Austrian is c5. By doing c6 and g6 you have immediately lost a tempo for c5. c6 is OK if going to the Czech Pirc (although that may struggle itsef at 1500+) . Here, as there is no Nf3 yet, Blacks options should be 3... e5 or 3 ... Nf6 if the Pirc is your defence of choice to1. e4. g6 is not significantloy worse on the engine, perhaps, but you will be outside your usual Pirc strategies from move 4 and white's lines are clear. Strategically B seems to be hedging between Pirc and Czech Pirc. Sometimes that is possible but not comfortable here.

[@rokastverijonas8721]

As my man Grischuk once said, even the best Pirc leads to a bad position or sth like that.

[@LQVaughn]

Thanks for the nice video! Next time you run into the pirc could you play the 150 attack?

[@alexglase765]

GingerGM was promoting a line of the Pirc called the Black Lion, centered around a very aggressive kingside attack. Definitely a useable surprise against your non-grandmaster opponents online.

[@JonDanMay]

Danya is top 3 in the world, probably in history, faster player visualizing complex attacks. This video where he explains his thought process is pure gold.

[@k.l6122]

No way

[@datobip]

"a Frankfurt Airport move" :D good one

[@banzaiburger9589]

Would love to see Daniel play the Pirc as black. It would be very instructive to see how to deal with these ideas from White.

[@subschool5]

the modern defense is such an improved opening from this family of defenses

[@SahnigReingeloetet]

Yes and no. I wouldn‘t necessarily compare the Pirc and the Modern, in general they‘re quite different from each other

[@subschool5]

@@SahnigReingeloetet Yes not no.

[@zachingram04]

@@subschool5 The modern is awesome, and a lot of times you have more flexibility and can fare a bit better in some of the main lines. But white *also* has more flexibility. There are also some tricky moves that white can get away with against the modern but not the Pirc that can be really challenging for lower ELO players to deal with, and even if you respond to them correctly if white is fairly competent you will probably have a slight advantage at best and usually just manage to equalize.

[@wujeonghyun6865]

08:01 how about e4, and then bishop c4 if black takes? I think it rules out bishop c4 check being blocked by the d6 pawn.

[@goshicrazy]

@ 2:10 What difference does Qd2 make in regards of Rb1 as a response to queen takes pawn? Couldn't it be played just the same if the queen hadn't moved / moved elsewhere? Thanks!

[@joelmitchell2861]

Yes!!’ I live for this content

[@andrew_owens7680]

The first time I saw the Pirc, I thought I was playing a rank beginner. I got crushed. Now I give it the proper amount of respect it deserves (some, but not a whole lot) and assume that my opponent is booked up on it. I have now a better result.

[@yunusemrekarabyk8390]

Danya hi im a 1700 and play the pirc regularly isn't the pircs one of the main ideas is attacking the strong white center with a move like e5 or getting rid of the c3 knight (or pinning it earlier) and pressure the e4 square. The opponent did not pressure the center whatsoever and gave it all to you where do you think he/she missed the last opportunity to attack

[@SahnigReingeloetet]

The setups involving c6 (in particular the Czech Defense) often work with moves such as an early Qa5 pinning the c3 Knight and cross-pinning with the Bishop in order to make e5 more powerful

[@yunusemrekarabyk8390]

@@SahnigReingeloetet yes this is what I meant with pressuring the center. I like playing these setups and that's actually why I wanted to learn where did he missed his last chance

[@brunilda]

@@SahnigReingeloetet And you have to play e5 with black very quickly after Qa5 or you will get a very bad position. e5 by black is, as you say, the key move in the Czech Pirc and cannot be delayed.

[@brunilda]

@@yunusemrekarabyk8390 I think once Black played g6, e5 ceases to be an option in that position with the pawn in f4, it's very easy for white to prevent it tactically and if black plays it they will lose material. And Bg7 followed by Bg4 seems to me the wrong plan in the position. I have played the Czech Pirc quite a bit (with very little success!) and I always play d6 Nf6 c6 Qa5 e5 (but you obviously know this, from your comment). Just an illustration of the importance of knowing how each move choice closes down some avenues and opens up others. One needs to know how one';s move choice and often one;'s move order affect which plans are viable in the resulting positions. Then one can feel comfortable surviving the opening and getting crushed in the middlegame! :-D

[@yunusemrekarabyk8390]

@@brunilda yes I think you're right thank you. I wanted to check with the engine but analysing this way comes more natural. The fish always have some weird tactics which my brain can not comprehend :D

[@the1barbarian781]

What makes you not recommend the pirc but recommend the kings Indian which looks like a very similar opening?

[@IlluviumGaming]

This as just my opinion so take this with a grain of salt. The goal of the Pirc is to prevent white from playing e5 (literally the entire point of d6), and preparing pawn breaks on either e5 yourself or c5, attempting to control the center. If white develops the queen side, you often push queen side pawns (c6 b6 Nd7 Nb6 Nc4 is a common plan) in order to dissuade queen side castle. The KID, however, is ok with a queen side castle. Often times if white is unprepared for the Pirc, you do end up with a similar line of attack as the KID with the eventual f5 break etc. The Pirc is very flexible in terms of not necessarily committing to castling either side right away. This flexibility may sound like a benefit, but the drawback is obviously that there's more opportunity for the player to make a mistake. This also means there's a lot of theory for the Pirc, as Danya said there are a million ways to play for white, and if you play the Pirc you have to know how to respond to every white attack. The KID is about fast development and attacking the king, usually in a race. The games are a bit more straightforward in game plans, whereas you have to be very flexible as a Pirc player. Playing the Pirc as black is like a worse Ruy Lopez as white - tons of theory you have to study and the opponent only has to know a more narrow way to play against it - but unlike the Ruy Lopez with white, black can't equalize with the Pirc as easily if the opponent plays well.

[@Tim_Ayers]

Im by no means a strong player but I would assume it's because in the KID White plays c4 early (either first or second move), which improves the centre but makes Queenside castling dangerous so Black can go for his same-side castling attack which the KID is known for. In the Pirc, the c pawn is back on c7, protecting the king and making queenside castling a very strong move. In essence, the KID is focused on Kingside counterplay while the Pirc is focused on Queenside counterplay.

[@SerLaama]

KID is also horrible until a very high level.

[@Hopefully2025]

...his mic was acting up. I should add in this edit that this is a great video as always!

[@theroaman8759]

For a 1300 who runs the Pirc when playing black, what would you recommend as a better option?

[@zachingram04]

Just have a plan against white's most common choices at the very least. This would be like playing the French but not knowing what to do against the advance variation. The Austrian attack is one of white's best/most common replies, if you are already caught off guard at this point then you definitely need some more studying. The Pirc is a fun opening, but due to its nature you will need to accept that you may have to memorize some lines/ideas, as Danya said it's a fine opening but often making a single opening mistake can cost you the game. If you really want to play the c6 variations of the Pirc like this, then I would recommend watching NM Robert Ramirez's videos on it, he does quite a good job of covering the basic ideas and making it digestible. However, I (and many players stronger than I) would recommend you play lines without the early c6 (in a few lines you might need to play c6 but most of the time it is avoided). There is a free Pirc course on Chessable that teaches you some solid lines against most of white's replies and gives good explanations of the moves and the underlying ideas.

[@alexf0101]

thanks

[@davidborger9711]

An horizontal Qg2 move "blocking" the bishop has already happened before in the speedrun. Can't remember the episode though

[@SaidWLYT]

*looks away from my phone for 2 minutes* Danya: And we're all ready completely winning.. excuse me whaaat 💀😂

[@kevinalexis5648]

My boy got that eye

[@steveboblefinagin]

Anyone else notice that these speed runs are re-uploads? I’ve seen the past couple videos before

[@GaliReax]

Hey Danya. At 2:50 why not push the middle pawn to e5? If he takes and we take wth the d pawn we should be winning a knight, or no? I'm new to chess so I might be seeing things.

[@NitinPatelIndia]

I imagine Danya would say the because of the order of priorities, we haven't castled yet, opening up the center while our king is still in the center might be risky, especially since the opponents queen is aggressively looking at our b2 pawn.

[@jakeraju5084]

Love the vids danya

[@skijumperwannabe]

Pirc is pronounced Peerts and not pirck. All the best from Slovenia, Pirc's home country. All the best.

[@KF1]

Ben Finegold: never play f3 Daniel Naroditsky: always play f4

[@cyanhallows7809]

Perfect Harmony

[@swift8821]

Jesus, you blew that poor man off the board.

[@Speedster___]

Scicilian Modern? Or QGD Semi Tarrasch

[@Solly2201]

how about a3 instead of Qd2 at 1:58? if queen takes b2, Na4 traps it

[@brunilda]

I think the point would be that a3 is not a helpful move there and you would be hoping the b2 pawn is taken, otherwise you have just wasted a tempo and given a hook to black if they decide to push pawns. That may be enough to tilt the balance ever so slightly in black's favor. You may go from +1 to 0 with a3

[@brunilda]

I just checked it with Stockfish 14 and it's actually a +1.5 to +0.3 if you play a3. I suspect the reason is that from that position, best play is what Danya did which is castling long and attacking on the queenside. After a3, Stockfish says OK, now white's best plan is to attack on the queenside with b4, but it's not very strong at all.

[@Solly2201]

@@brunilda true well, i was just going for the traps i suppose

[@riqzo]

9:19 "This is why I dont recommend pirc at this level, because this is often what happens" says a grandmaster after demolishing a 1680 in a flexible opening with little to no advantage lol

[@Altair584]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but white seemed to have an overwhelming centre within the first 7-8 moves. This was not a game won through increasing subtleties in the position that only a GM would know about lol. I fail to see where white had little to no advantage.

[@riqzo]

@@Altair584 Dude the joke went through the roof, over your head and the whole entire universe.

[@luker4815]

I’ve accidentally played the Pirc in a bunch of my games, no wonder I’m rated 300.

[@Kokurorokuko]

Did you mean to play King's Indian Defense?

[@LordLentils]

@@Kokurorokuko I don't know.

[@MoonJung82]

No wonder the higher level computer keeps ripping me apart when I play Pirc (anything above 1500 > me, basically). It doesn't help that I treat un-timed matches as speed chess though.

[@TheWaxlemon]

i was pathetically pleased with myself for seeing Qg2 ngl

[@geomdc6513]

this perc is very dubious

[@paulgoogol2652]

On Qg2 being difficult to find: I saw g6 was weak so I wanted to play Rg1 seeing it can't be defended. Then he asked what piece I'd like to have on g6 and then I thought of a knight first and only then of the queen. It's fascinating how with over 10 years of experience I still fail to use simple logic :)

[@PeterChessPupil]

excellent been waiting on this for a hot second. Only criticism I have is that it appears you never play it as black. That would be requested, it's mysterious why you never play it.

[@walterbrownstone8017]

I keep watching these hypermodern openings but I'm never comfortable playing them.

[@robertlepine2346]

10 minute game, 16 minute video… before even watching this I’m sure Danya is gonna destroy. Lol

[@mariabernadettebredfeldtle4934]

Anytime I see a video of him, i think he's playing whatever the title says, instead he is playing against it...

[@cyanhallows7809]

It’s pronounced more peurtz rather than perk

[@lillemy5062]

I always thought pirc was a kings indian but with funny move order

[@cpf2566]

They're very similiar. In the Pirc White has pawns on d4 and e4 (and often plays f4 later). In the K.I.D the pawns are on d4 and c4 (and virtually always White plays e4 later).

[@nardo12]

Hey Danya, maybe just as a side note. Pirc is a slovenian surname and it's pronounced Pirts

[@goodchinyin]

Keep it up! I am dropping 1 song a week for the next 3 years straight. It has never been done in music. Come along for the ride if you want. Stay blessed ! - Bryan

[@flowerinkplant]

C5 is the way to play again austrian attack

[@Vincentovich89]

Is it really called a "perk" or is it pronounced "Peerts" defense, like the player's name?

[@Grannyknockers]

That guy got destroyed

[@cristianlopezcamelo6900]

Pirc is my main against e4............ now im scared.

[@binitrupakheti4246]

I just realized you look like a young Jake Gylenhall

[@zannimo1]

This is why I stopped playing the Pirc. It’s purely based on counterattack, and if white knows what to do, you are just relegated to a defensive position, since you either lose the center war and/or weaken your king. Many pirc players are “believers” and still go for the attack simply because they have nothing else to play for, hoping they are faster of their opponent but that is not generally the case (excluding blunders). Or they just need to memorise lines just to keep an edge. White’s coming up with a plan is also very clear and not so hard, so I do not see objective benefits of choosing this opening. Maybe in blitz works but that’s it. I have recently been using the accelerated dragon, which has some similar ideas and it is much more active and dynamic.

[@dimitriuss]

queen g2 was def not on my radar. I was a bit tunnel visioned on how to better coordinate my other pieces. While i saw the pawn was unprotected, It wasnt occurring to me to make it my main target for attack. Something i guess i just need to work on myself

[@mathijs1987j]

Isn't this more a Modern Defence, rather than a Pirc?

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

Not to be THAT guy, but it's pronounced "peerts" rather than "perk."

[@RaptureReady2025]

Technically yes, but really who in the internet gives a shit lol 😂 more people say “pirK” so if ya can’t beat them, join ‘em!

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

@@RaptureReady2025 Normally I wouldn't care, but since the opening is named after an actual guy it seems a bit rude to just continually mispronounce his name.

[@fredwalter923]

@@jonathanhenderson9422 well first off u can stop crying over words, second, he said he already knows how to pronounce it, but he says it in a way that people understand what hes talking about. Get a life

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

@@fredwalter923 First off there was no "crying" involved, I simply noted the correct pronunciation and that was it. If anything you're the one crying over it. Second, maybe Danya has said this before, but it wasn't in this video, and if that was the reason he gave then I can respond with the old "if everyone was jumping off a bridge" cliche. You're the one who clearly needs to get a life if my innocuous comment has upset you this much.

[@yakncast7530]

@@jonathanhenderson9422 Maybe the guy should have learned how to pronounce his own name correctly.

[@slowelk095]

I play the Pirc and don’t see why you’d commit to an early C6 like that.

[@cyanhallows7809]

I don’t see why you would play the Pirc at all. It’s a bit shit

[@jabeavers]

I think your mic had some problems, too. I kept hearing a click every so often.....

[@scheimong]

❤

[@juananaosin7638]

I just wish danya was more consistent with his uploads, the content he provides is god tier

[@kevinalexis5648]

Educating during a live game... that's diff

[@divergentlife493]

How can you know there is exactly one million ways to position pieces (as stated in 1:06)? If saying a million ways as a figure of speech, then it is figuratively. Figure of speech = figurative. Opposite of literally.

[@Richard_Stroker]

it's pronounced *peerts*

[@matthewmarkose]

Frankfort airport 😂

[@salazarkarlyurir.4235]

perc

[@shrinivas105]

I have played pirc defence as black and I can say it is one of the worst opening atleast for beginners and intermediate players...White can get advantage even with normal moves but as black you need to be precise...

[@TipsyFlipper]

But but I really want to Pirc though

[@jamesannetts4449]

😊