Grandmaster Solves Intermediate-Level Puzzles 

puzzle: appears for 2 nanoseconds danya: oh yeah this one's a classic

Video idea: Playing while down material. You sacrifice or give piece odds early in the game and show how positional principles can compensate for material disadvantages. I've lost a number of games to higher rated players after I've come up with a tactic to win material, but their experience and positional knowledge ultimately prevails. I'm sure many of us would benefit from seeing that type of play broken down by an expert. Thanks for the excellent content!

In the time it takes Daniel to solve the puzzle, I've usually figured out if it's black's move or white's.

DAMN DANIEL, BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH THE BANGER SERIES

This is probably the most instructive video you have ever made, at least for me. Thanks for the effort!

23:00 what if after Nxe5, the opponent plays Bxc8? Im assuming i missed something dumb but i cant find what

Thank you Daddy Naroditsky

I've learned so much from watching your puzzle videos Danya; as a low rated player watching you break down these positions has been immensely helpful. I'm currently 1700 puzzle rating and striving for higher. Thank you sensei!

what if bxc8 instead of dxe5 in the last puzzle?

You should've mentioned what happens if white takes on c8 in the final puzzle

I love these, they're so instructive! Thanks, Danya!!

Wake up, wife. New Danya dropped

In that last puzzle, does white really have to recapture the knight on E5 on the next move? What if instead white takes the bishop on C8 first?

I may be missing something obvious or mis counting, but why in the last puzzle can opponent not take your bishop first and delay recapturing the knight to avoid some of the issues with that pin/discovery? Good video BTW, you make great content .

23:00 is there a reason white can't trade bishops first? This trades whites endangered bishop and then he can take the knight with pawn afterwards. Why is pawn takes knight right away forced? Nc4 is too strong?

(spoiler) Why on the puzzle at 17:00 does the black rook on F8 have to take the pawn on (F5) in response to our rook move? Is there nothing else that black could have done to prevent the tactic, what if black just moves say King G8 or King H7?

Physically less real estate for the king. Great choice of words.

Wow, great video. You're a great teacher. Some of the other high ranked players aren't able to articulate their thoughts this well.

i don't think i'd *ever* play these moves in a real game. that's insane how Daniel saw the idea in like 1 second. if my opponent would have mated me like that i'd just congratulate him.

bro how does he just instantly know the solution. it takes me like 6 seconds and it takes him literally 0,3 sec. wtf

In the last puzzle, what happens after Nxe5 Bxc8? I couldn't find anything for black

Enjoyable and educational video. I recently got back into chess and your videos has helped me become a stronger player - whilst also having a good time. Can't wait to learn more and become better. Thanks Daniel.

if only daniel could build a masterclass online, where he teaches hundreds of ppl simultaneously. i'd participate and pay any amount of money

Ah finally. Need more of this! Intermediate and Advanced level puzzles

Beautiful content! You sharing your thoughts to us is fantastic. Please keep doing your speed runs and puzzles as well.(For me personally I'd like to see some more advanced puzzles, maybe you should do a puzzle rush because it demostrate all level of puzzles!)

Andrea: “Bam… bam…. And bam” Danya: “Boom… boom… and boom”

Your explanations are out of this world. It is incomprehensible to me, how a grandmaster at your level can explain concepts on a basic level so that even the weakest of chess players like me can immediately grasp it. And as ashamed as I am to confess it, I checked your channel several days ago, thinking that you will be similar like the rest of the GMs with RU-vid channel - videos dedicated to fellow GMs that we amateurs cannot understand. My assumption was so far form the truth. The good news is that I will now start watching all of your videos on both RU-vid and Twitch, which means that I will be having a quality chess content to deal with in the next couple of weeks. Cheers from Bulgaria....

23:09 Well after knight takes knight, white has bishop takes bishop on c8 thus the position does not really favor black if white plays the best move.

Didn't Know Wentworth Miller Played Chess!

17:36 - since black taking the g pawn leads to a bad outcome...why does he take it? Why not just move the king to g8, and if the rook takes on h6, take back with the pawn?

Watched this video and tried thinking/talking out loud my observations the same way in puzzles and hit 2100 in puzzles for the first time thanks Danya

15:05 - loved this puzzle that was absolutely beautiful, I didn't find the move myself, I knew I missed something but didn't know what.

In the last puzzle, why did you assume that he would just recapture the knight right away with out exploring any possible in between moves like capturing your other knight with the bishop, or trading bishops, etc..?

Entertaining & instructive-what more could you ask for? Thank you, Danya!!

In the last puzzle, after N*N, what happens if Bishop takes C8? I think it would be great if you explained this.

Got hung up on other critical variations as in the last puzzle after 1.. Nxe5 what about 2. Bxc8?

This series serves as better educational chess material than anything I've ever seen. It's fantastic. Keep it up Danya

He sees the moves so clearly. Please do more!

23:11 I don't see why white has to take back the knight and can't they first take on c8 with the bishop to avoid getting their queen into the xray. What is the move for black then? Help me haha

In the last puzzle, after Nxe5 can't white play Bxc8?

God... I was not able to solve one puzzle after pausing. I was often close, but did not solve it.

i played knight forking queen and king with Knight sacrifice that i learned from your vienna game

Great video Danya, you really know how to explain those concepts and make them easy!

My puzzle rating is 2100 but my rapid is only 1100 and blitz and bullet are both under 1000

In the last puzzle, after Nxe5, what if white plays Bxc8?

At 14:45 kf2 bg3 would be good too right? I'm pretty low ELO jw

Even Russell Crowe would say that Danya has a Beautiful Mind.

15:12 gr8 m8 I r8 8/8

Anyone knows what's the source of this epic theme at the very beginning?

Danya's speed in solving is remarkable! Instantaneous!

I figured out the puzzle at 10:50 before the Grandmaster did. I am pro

I like the mix of stream and RU-vid specific stuff! Covers a lot of different types of learning styles.

Noraditsky: I’ll be doing so puzzles rated 1800-2200 so you know intermediate. Me being a 1800 rated chess player: 😣

Before video: Woo! More Daniel videos After video: crying myself to sleep

At the last puzzle, what happens if black captures your bishop on c8 instead of recapturing the knight

Thank you Danny ♥️♥️ love from India

Wow thank you for this i'm kind of stuck at 1500 puzzle rating and these questions and answers really allowed me to see the thought process behind solving more complex puzzles :)

22:35 and what if 1... Ne5, 2. Bxc8?

Daniel, have you ever played chess on psychedelics?

Daniel is a very good teacher.

For the last puzzle, one should also consider 1..Nxe5 2.Bxc8, after which I'm not immediately sure about the response, but perhaps 2..Nc4 hitting both pawns is possible. There's also 2..Rxc8 3.exf6 Qxe3+ 4.Qe2 Qxd4 threatening Re8 to win the queen.

“Intermediate” 1800-2200 lol

21:38 you didn't explain why if Nxd5, white can't play bxc8. We don't understand these things as quickly as you do and I think it's important to explain that while you make the video. I saw nc4 but it took awhile. Just a comment! Great video Danya

Nice, I'm off to do some puzzles now :)

in the last puzzle, what happens when the white bishop captures our bishop first instead of recapturing the knight? if black then captures the bishop, white can capture the knight and the queen is never forced into the skewer. Similarly if black moves the knight away then white moves the bishop and again we just had a fair trade.

Thank you so much! All your videos are great: instructive, interesting and informative while being entertaining. You are definitively my chess hero... seriously! Thanks again...

16:58 Black can't just play Kg8 as that would hang his rook. He has to play Rxf1+ first.

You are the greatest chess teacher of all time for sure.

Thank for making this video. It has finally gotten me unstuck from ~2000--just hit 2100 for the first time tonight!

this is the first time i hear about the arabian mate, AND I FUCKING LOVE IT !!!

one slight doubt is what happens if in the last puzzle after Nxe5 black takes the bishop. i think it is important to explain what happens also in that position. I guess it is Nf3+ followed by Qxe3 winning a pawn and letting black without the right to castle?

tripled pawns are called "irisches Bauernzentrum" in german (meaning "irish pawncenter").

Today I found out I am not yet an intermediate.

TFW when he says it's a nice puzzle about a second after seeing the position while I'm still getting my bearings.

@Daniel Naroditsky Are you aware that the joke 'Irish pawns' -- which is of course at face value trivial -- is couched in anti-Irish sentiment and consistent with the type of slurs that were and probably still are quite common, particularly in England? The term was first coined by the first English grandmaster Tony Miles as a joke and has since seemingly been perpetuated by subsequent English grandmasters like Simon Williams, David Howell and Daniel King.

17:00 "Black can even move the king aside to g8." Hangs f5, like a pro B)

Great video, ty so much

this is really helpful in terms of thinking process - quality. Cheers Danya.

So what's up with Irish pawns?

I think I am smarter now

Great video please make more of these

Danya i love u mate. Ur the best

Such an Awesome video

Legit one of the most helpful videos I’ve watched for improving puzzles. Thanks!!

you are truly a genius, Daniel.

Thanks a lot for these videos! I started playing chess last summer and with your guidance I've reached 1500. These were exactly the type of puzzles I was struggling with at the moment and this video really helped me.

Wow, chess is so beautiful

Excellent video. He solves the puzzles while well explaining what is going on. In most cases, listening to him you can tell what the line is going to be before he says it because of the explanation.

dang that was interesting. my favortie type of chess video now! going over these and really talking about them not racing along. well done

22:39 What if Bxc8?

That last puzzle sucked

great video !!!!!! thanks

I was literally rewatching the puzzle series yesterday. Damn!

1800 to 2200 is intermediate apparently Wow

Your explanations are so clear to me, its just a pleasure to watch this videos, thank you Danya!!

Truly, the best teacher

I really like this series.

By far my favourite puzzle instructor.

Hey Danya, I took a chess break but these vids are my fav so I came back for this

Daniel makes everything so easy lol. My coach gives straight up evil puzzles