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My problem is that I can do puzzles a lot better than I play actual games, because with puzzles there is always something big (mate in X or win material) but in an actual game a lot of positions are "dead".
Well, while that is true, if you look at grandmasters commenting on top players, it is usually that they can "squeeze" a win or a draw even from drawn/losing positions respectively
I know where the problem is, it's because several more Gap in intuitively ELO rating contains. Igor made this from scaling middle to be an end game, then.. if you able to picturing any end game you familiar with to be designed from the opening happened on each game you face, trust me: "Your ELO should be measured above 2600+ or GM level..!!" The more precise, the higher ELO you experienced and of course, 2800-3200+ could be gained very soon. These can be checked on way alpha zero learning itself, he is almostly correlate end game possible to come from Early beginning of each game!🙂 Too far step for our mind to describe 😅🎉👍
somewhere between 1000-1200 level. I correctly assessed the initial state of the board, saw that the check with the bishop was not the best move and saw the free knight, which led me to see the potential checkmate. That's where it stops for me though, so I need to put more effort into assessing my opponents potential moves, it seems.
I additionally saw the queen check and that the king should ein downwards around the pawns to get away from it. But I didn't see the queen defense move after the check and didn't see the knight check at all. After seeing that my king could run away from the queen checks I decided to take the knight. Even if the checkmate threat could be countries, I would at least catch up in material.
@@joachimfrank4134 I would take the knight..seeing the queen AND horse check possibility, also my own check threat. But not all along until the bisshop blocked the tower check...Also found correct that I was a tower short. But I know I would have seen it at that moment...Would estimate me at maybe 1500 in this puzzle. Official I 've no rating at all because I'm never playing chess tournaments since my schooldays, 50 years ago...My game was bridge...and in that I scored points.
Thank you, Igor. I’ve seen many videos that say “try to think what your opponent would do” but this really makes it concrete. The good thing is that I was 1,200 in both of your “rating” videos, which is both consistent and above my online rating of 1,050. That gives me some confidence to go and find some stronger players and kick some butt!
I'm at 2450 at lichess, and i got almost everything instantly EXCEPT the bishop block at the end. I had to calc for about 1 min to see if i was safe enough by the end of every variation. Excelent Puzzle and avaliation.
I believe that being higher rating in chess is more about learning good openings and the ideas behind each move, mastering endgame, than visualizing on tactics. For example, I was able to visualize until bishop block (not with easy of course) but I'm only 2150 on lichess.
► Chapters 00:00 This Chess Puzzle Determines Your Rating 00:50 First step to solving a chess puzzle 01:09 Your Rating Level is 600 IF... 01:40 Your Rating Level is 800 IF... 02:28 Your Rating Level is 1000 IF... 02:55 Your Rating Level is 1200 IF... 03:49 Your Rating Level is 1800 IF... 05:19 Your Rating Level is 2200 IF... 06:19 Your Rating Level is 2400 IF... 07:47 Your Rating Level is 2570 IF...
FIDE Master here, my ELO fluctuates between 2300-2400 in face-to-face chess. I got 2570 on this puzzle. It took me about 5-7 minutes of thinking to figure this out. I play live tournaments and I know I'm not at the same level as a 2550+ monsters. I think this puzzle tends to overestimate our level a bit, but it was a fun puzzle, thanks ! 😊
Puzzles overestimate mainly because of two factors: 1) We can take as much time as we want 2) We know it is a puzzle and we know there is a "solution" and after some puzzles you also know what to look for. But in when you play the position might or might not have something in it. And the solution isn't "just treat every move in a real game like a puzzle: Let's take this puzzle and black's move where he sacrifices the second knight to get an attack with his rook. In a puzzle situation you always look for sacrifices because you know that that is often required. But in "normal" situations, sacrifices are rarely a good idea. And you simply don't have the time to calculate every line of every possible sacrifice every turn. 3) Third reason would be that opening theory and generally having a nuanced game structure is much more important than solving puzzles that are thrown at you. By now I am pretty good at puzzles and when watching GMs playing I can often predict the next moves correctly, however, that's something very different when you are on your own, have no idea how to proceed and the opponent forces lines upon you. That GM game you are watching will always be like on rails with only slight deviations. But when you play yourself you are constantly in unknown territory and you probably threw a lot of chess principles out of the window by turn 10 to have a crazy position.
Not that far if you consider that the ratings range from 800 beginners all the way to world champion at 2800, that's 2000 possible elo. Getting 100 or 200 off is fairly accurate.
I got 2570 on this one. I don't have a rating level but have been playing off and on since age 11. I'm 65 now. I've always been an aggressive player and for about the last year have been subscribed to GM Smirnovs RCA videos. They are a great learning tool and he explains everything in a very user friendly way. I do miss the cat! LOL. Thanks again and keep the great tutorials coming!
Very accurate. I have always estimated my rating to be 1600-1700... depending on whether I am currently playing or not (since chess is an on and off thing for me). And with this puzzle I got nearly all the 1800 stuff, but not quite as clearly fleshed out. So, very accurate I think. Really surprised me actually... at the beginning I thought it would be a waste of time lol.
Just come across your channel- this was the second of these puzzles I've seen-it's one of the most useful aids to seeing not only where you're at in terms of your level,but WHY. Galliing when one sees the higher-rated parts,though,but misses intermediate stages & so a higher rating--but that,of course,is educational in itself. Showing clearly the DIFFERENCES IN THINKING is key-so many training vids don't & trying to follow analysis on GM games is too much,too quick.Really excellent.thanks.
Crazy, do I call myself a GM now? Ha ha ha. I used to play chess more than 25 years ago when I was a teenager and stopped due to studies, lack of sponsorship, etc. Now found renewed interest after watching videos and teach my son (now in mid 40s). yes I did win some tournaments too but never really reached those grand stages. Your videos are always informative, quality ones and I enjoy a lot. Thank you very much.
These are great, I'd love to see more of these! As for me, my rating over the board is about 1800-1900, but according to this I'm almost GM, since I did see the bishop block. I did not see the Qh8 check (1. .. Qxd4 2. Qxb7+ Kf6 (?) Qh8+!), because I calculated (1. ... Qxd4 2. Qxb7+ Kf8 3. Qa8+ Kg7 Qf3) instead, and thus the king was safe. So the question is, should I "deduct" my rating for not considering 2.. Kf6 (?)? I spent most of my time calculating the 1. ... Qxd4 2. Nd5+ exd5 line, and both 3. Qxb7 (King gets to safety on g7) and 3 Re1+ (Be4 block seemed strong) looked winning to me (though I stopped there). I think the biggest hurdle for me is to actually take the time at critical junctions (like this one) and calculate thoroughly. If someone would stop me and tell me this is a puzzle position, I would have a lot higher rating!
Hello mister, Let's keep things simple ! In order to get one rating here, you HAVE TO see everything under this rating, if you missed one combinaison or calculation, then you're not of this rating but the one under it. Glad you saw later the Bishop block, but that doesn't change what happened before, and it makes sense, cos seeing this move while missing what's before won't change anything It's just good you saw it in some variations, but this variations will not happen here anyway, cos the path was wrong. So you're not an almost GM and not by far, since you missed the Qh8 + for example. So, if you get everything before this famous Qh8+, in your case your rating shoud be around 1800, which is a really decent/good chess club player. And i don't get the last comment, since especially here, the title, and the video is all about telling you : "this is a puzzle position"... Btw, i think that someone of some level needs some time to find the solution but not too much, if they take hours to find finally a path to go from 1600 to 1800 for example, objectively speaking they're still 1600 but with potential to climb. Because time matter so much in chess, no one can't say he find the solution by taking hours and hours. ^^" So he should be almost natural (with some calculations) to get quite fast every variables until your max level. Wish you the best in your climbing path mate ;)
@@koukouchi7 Thanks! In terms of time, I spent around 2-3 minutes. You do have a point in that I didn't consider all moves. After the queen check, I only considered Kf8 as a response, not Kf6, and seeing that Kf8 was good, I didn't backtrack to find out why Kf6 was horrible. I should note that I shouldn't consider just one branch when I find a good one but also track other choices. As far as the "this is a puzzle position!" comment, what I mean is that I have a hard time (over the board) spending enough resources on the right moves. When reviewing my games, I can see that I sometimes pick the wrong move simply because I underestimated the potential in the position. In a 15-minute game, I can't spend 2-3 minutes on *every* move. So, how do IMs and GMs know when they need to spend more time on a move?
@@mrengstad Sure thing ! ^^ For IM or GM, i think they know what to do for many reasons : experience, intuition, acknowledging positions or openings, being able to gain time by recognizing some typical situation. Sometimes even, it s not even logical/rationnal, we all get absorbed by a position, and want to think deeply into it, and we use to much times (happens even to top 10 in the world), or we're unsure and we don't know why, even if everything have been considered. It's funny, it's a part of chess'life i guess. ^^
What do you think of the strategy to play the pieces on the other site, so you can train the "opponent perspective" better? i tried and it's really hard to play like this, but i think it's a key to get more understanding of what the opponent is up to.
It might work. My coach used to use puzzles which had winning strategies for both players depending on who was to move. We only solved to puzzle if we found both solutions. It also helped a lot to analyze games without knowing the players or which color won. it really kept us critical of both sides of the game, thinking about the strategies both players are using. One of my big complaints about a lot of chess puzzles (including this one) is that you know it's a puzzle. You know there is a solution somewhere, and can focus on finding it. At the actual board, you can't treat every move as a puzzle, most positions don't have a "solution". The key is to keep strategies and plans you want to execute, and consider your opponents strategies and plans. This is why opening theory is so important. You want to know the common strategies and traps well enough that even if you can't predict exactly what moves your opponent might do, you can still predict their general ideas and plans.
@@varmituofm I liked that the question was: Evaluate the position. Not: Find a win for white. So it was not sure if there was a tactic for white, or if black would keep its additional rook.
My rating is 1907, My Rating level is 2570! The Highest Level My peak rating is around 2076. So far from Normal Chess Player Still trying to improve my level. I am getting terrible at chess these days, In 2022 I defeated many actual rated players, One with a 2276 Tho! My highest opponent I beated. Good luck for your upcoming videos.
Love the channel and love the videos. I learn alot here and watch all your videos. One question. When trying to solve a puzzle can I set up the puzzle on my chessboard and actually move pieces the way I think to see how it unfolds and then try different lines until I solve the puzzles best moves? Or do I have to do all of it in my head?
I'm really, really bad. I have a rating of 400 and blunder everything all the time. I noticed Queen takes the Knight, mate in one, knew that white would do something with their Queen and I crossed my fingers.
I tried this puzzle while playing against myself, I had to make white do meaningful moves that I would actually do if I were white , while ensuring that in the end black was Victorious. I’m not that good in chess , so this is how I did it 😅 Black: Qxd4 [ The queen takes knight] White: Nd5+ [ There is check using the knight] Black: Kd6 [ Doesn't use pawn to kill knight as it is a defence area where the king may go if Queen is after him ] White: Ne3[ Defends knight while blocking Queen from trying to stop king from killing knight and therefore also defending the king] Black: Qxa1+ [ Takes advantage of knight not blocking rook and takes room, therefore making a check as well] White: Ke2 [ Easily avoids check by moving diagonally as it’s the only way possible] Black: Ke5 [ King is gonna take part in trapping the other king, however it will be very careful as white queen will be after him now] White: Qb8+ [ Does check] Black: Ke4 [ avoids check but still stays near white king at the same time] White: Qxb7+ [ Opponent Starts gaining some confidence as they have removed a pawn.They also do check] Black: Kd4 [ avoids check] White: Qxa7 [ Does same method as last move, gains some more confidence] Black: Ke4 [ Does repetitive move] White: Qd7 [ Decides to play a different tactic , and moves over to and area where pawns come under threat. Soon queen can come closer to King to do check ] Black: Bh5 [ Uses bishop to do checkmate] Here I had used bishop a bit differently but it worked! Pls tell if I have written a move wrong, or I did any blunders or mistakes. But in my opinion this is how black checks , my strategy includes giving white confidence and making them think they will win,so they do a blunder and black can check
Thanks Igor, for putting this up. I've done three similar games in a row and found the ultimate solution everytime.I'm 65years old and been playing chess in around 100hours throughout my life. I allways played per intuition and never trained. Last time 7 years ago. Never saw myself as specialy good. But this made me realize why I lost so many games and I could become ok at this. I'll certainly watch your free master class and more of these puzzles. Then your free courses and then I'll join a club. Thanks again Igor🙏🕊
Somewhere between 1200 and 1800 because I did find the queen covering the king but I didn't calculate the line properly. Its actually really annoying because I know the two things I really need to work on is calculation and blunder checks. I peaked at 1550 and fell back to about 1300. I really need to train my thinking system and overhaul my opening repertoire at the same time.
So what rating am i, if i calculate queen takes d4, then kight goes to d1 to cover the checkmate on f2, followed by check on d3 with the bisho, kingt to e4, then checkmate with queen g1?
It's my second exercise 🎉 it took me 20 min, this one was complicated because of the Nd4+ !! And Re1 + but at the end Be4 !!! save black and give them the win. So in this exercise 2570 🎉 I was a fide Master about 2300 ... But I stopped for a while and now I discover those exercise ❤ I really appreciate the formt, wait for new exercises...
2400, but I know that's 1400 higher than what I probably am. Perhaps evaluating a puzzle can be easier than a game position because there's not the mental exhaustion to arrive there, play a few games beforehand, etc. These are great, Igor, thank you, it's interesting to see how you think.
Quite right! these puzzles are purely about tactics from a given position, but you also need a plan to get there to reach higher ratings. "Tactics is about what to do when there is something to do; strategy is about what to do when there is nothing to do." Or as a baffled Spielmann said of Alekhine, "I can see the final combinations as well as he can, but I can't get into the same positions."
More of this type of videos...ill be looking forward to this...imo, this isba better exercise than puzzles. Maybe you can make a book out of this concept. Im sure you can
I had a totally different line of thinking on this one. Sac the knight first and force the doubled pawns, then check with the bishop. Depending on where the king moves, you have Queen captures Knight for check, or White blocks the rook from having e1. At this point, unless White can infinitely check you, you should be able to use Qe5 check and Qg3 check to move White's king into a position where you win the rook. If White makes the mistake of moving toward the center with the king, you have g4 check with the pawn and possibly mate soon after. I didn't think the whole thing out so I'm sure there are countermoves everywhere. Since the actual line was so different than what I saw, I'd put myself in the 1200 group.
Saw that Black could take the White Knight on d4 and realised that it's a good starting move based on the idea that it takes one Knight, pins the other to the Rook and stops the White King going after the Black Knight. I noticed that it would go 1. Q x d5 2. Q x b7 +, K f8 3. Q (any of a8, b8 or c8) +, K g7 (ending White's counter attack) That's as far as I got because I couldn't visualise precisely where White's Queen would be after move 3 and had no idea what possible moves White had at their disposal. I completely failed to realise that Black was threatening Q f2 # after Q x d5 and couldn't see a way to continue the attack after getting the King to safety. I got the right starting move but for the wrong reason, focusing on pinning the Knight rather than preparing to deliver checkmate. It's a problem of mine, I've watched enough chess videos (Mostly yours) to know how to get into a reasonably good position but don't know how to recognise how good my position is or how to take advantage of a good position once I have it. I can't seem to figure out how to ruthlessly finish an opponent. There have been times in games against a computer when I tried just putting a King in check and achieved checkmate without realising it was checkmate. I missed seeing any of the mating threats in the entire video. I didn't see Q f2 #. I didn't see either of the variations after B d3 + in the 1800 rating section. That means I got around 1100, I guess (Due to noticing the capture and having a reason behind thinking it's a good move but not seeing that it threatens to checkmate the White King - I was surprised when it was pointed out). However, due to never having played competitively and thus having no data to work from other than games against the chess program in a Nintendo DS 42 All Time Classics game (All I know is that 9 times out of 10 I can beat it's hardest setting and I very rarely lose to it), I have no idea what my rating would be in real life or how I'd fare across the board from an actual person.
Here's one from an unrated (never got around to finding out), occasional player - I got up to the halfway point before you started in with the more involved reasoning. Excellent video - thanks!
I'm 900, I was a bit lazy/missed a sideline on some ends of the calculations but I saw the secondary threat of Bd3 leading to mate and also the Nd5 sacrifice, though i wasn't sure how to address it and didn't calculate enough to find out that you can escape. Of course i did evaluate we were down a rook and that the knight was hanging, at least.
I often see parts (moves) but not the whole very well. My calculation is dodgy. I can also be careless in the ways you describe. I need to take more time and watch possibilities of opponent. I did see the initial possibilities, but not the later ones. Thank you, GM Igor. very helpful.
I am 1200 i saw extra rook first but thinking my knight is probably traped then i saw the free knight i thought for sure white is winning if it is there move but it being black to move i saw just take the knight mate in one is the and you will pick up the rook then i was thinking about the knight sack withe the rook check but i wasnt convinsed due to th3 bishop blok the qween check somehow i didnt see on b7 i thought for sure black is wining this took me 28 min 52s and was so fun
I don't have any idea what my current rating is as I don't play ladder matches. I used to play a lot as a youth and I was around 1300 @ 13. I did find the following line Qxd4 Nd5+, exd5 Re1+, Be4 Qxb7+ I was pretty confident on that solution but totally missed that I wouldn't be able to move Kf6 due to Qh8+ skewering the queen. Instinctually I just wanted to bring the bishop forward improving my position.
i saw the hanging knight, i do calculate opponents moves and doesn't always move king in check ..try to block with other pieces..i guess aprox 1k rating ...but this puzzle and your explanation tickled my mind and heart both ..loved it ..need more of them
As someone, who doesn't play chess, I got around 1000-1200 xP I saw the free knight and the white queen's follow up, as well as the king's escape from it.
This time, it went better 🙂However, I cannot tell my rating, because my moves are a kind of between : Qxd4, Qxb2, Kf6, Qf3+, then either Bf5 or Qf4. I couldn't find a checkmate even if I saw the combination Qd4 and Bd3 to attack the Queen. Kf8, then Kg2 was a lost of time, that's why I choosed Kf3. I like this kind of puzzle; thanks!
Hmm, well, based on your grading system, I'm at 1800, as I didn't see the rook-check eventuality. I was more focused on the rook's threat to the black knight on H1, while trying to hunt for that checkmate. I didn't think knight to D5 looked all that great, so that eventuality didn't occur to me. At least just from looking at the starting positions. I would have played the winning line as black, but I did not see the knight to D5 + rook-check wrinkle IN that line from the start. I would have thought white would be more focused on getting king to E2 or queen to B7 for check (and to get the queen out of that box and into play). At the end, wouldn't king to F6 be quicker than bishop to E4? It removes all checking options from white in 1 move, leaving only the final press on white's king. It's not a matter of being stuck in the mindset of moving out of check, it's a matter of anticipating & avoiding the obvious queen to B7 check, so I'm free to press the checkmate sooner rather than later. Anyway, playing the computer I'm only about an 1100.
I didn't even get a rating, I tried Ng3+ lol I calculated a lot in the three lines: 1- Ng3+ hxg3 Bd3+ Kg1 Qxd4+ Kh2 (or Kh1) Qh4+ Kg1 and in this line I thought that white couldn't stop g4 g3 and Qh2# and that my king was safe. 2-Ng3+ hxg3 Bd3+ Kf2 Qd4+ If Kf3 Qf4# (For Ke1 instead of Kf3 I calculated the next line) 3-Ng3+ hxg3 Bd3+ Ke1 Qxd4 (Taking and pinning the knight on c3 to the rook and also threatening Qg1# and I thought that was winning. Turns out they don't have to take the knight 😂😂 Also they just block the check with Bd3 using the knight lol
I saw everything up to 2200-2400! Unfortunately, I didn't calculate where to move the K properly, nor did I calculate blocking the checking rook with Bd4. Now, my rapid rating is only 1100... I felt great 😊 knowing that my view of this particular puzzle put me as high as 2400! Will you please continue doing these exercises as they are very practical. I want to try as many as possible and I know that I'm not alone! I also know that the law of averages will bring my actual elo down closer to
I saw the knight check move but forget that the pawn could protect the bishop eventually, so I calculated not taking the knight and running with the king in d6 (d7 is mate in a few moves) and then hiding in the boarders after some checks
Somewhere between 1200 and 1800, according to this. I found the bishop block without actually calculating the queen moves. I just reckoned that white wouldn't trade a rook for a bishop, and I'd keep the tempo, because after bishop block, white has no forcing moves.
Very interesting, i haven't played properly in a long time and never been rated but i saw the bishop check and the knight blocking continuation so i found the queen capture and mate threat. I also saw the kings retreat line and the eventual black checkmate. While i was looking at the knight moves i saw the white check threat and continuation however my instinct was to move the king to d3 avoiding the queen capturing the pawn with check, i didn't get as far as solving that before the video caught me up as i suspect there was a series of checks white could give resulting in a loss for black, i suspect i would have got to bishop blocks eventually. I doubt i'd have a high rating as i was maybe 10 seconds infront of your explaination for a lot of this but was a fun journey.
I caught everything but the R check, to include stopping the Q momentum. If I had time I think I would have seen the B block as well. But I doubt I would have seen all that in an actual game!
Calculating is easy. I totally agree that you need to calculate the best response of your opponent. Most of my mistakes come by premoves expecting my opponent to make a good move, or I give a chance to see if they can find the best sequence leading to checkmate.
1800 for me. I saw the knight move but didnt see that after pawn captures night, the rook can give a check. Even if I had seen that it wouldve been too much perhaps for me to calculate after that. Loved this puzzle though. Can you recommend any material with stuff like this so I can improve my calculation power? I have your entire course and if anything in there is useful in this regard, let me know please
Problem with puzzles is that it’s quite clear there is ‘something to solve’ as opposed to just being stuck in a closed equal position. The fact it’s a puzzle at all is a big clue. This I figured out at the grand master level, but only because I knew it was a puzzle with likely varying degrees of complexity. In a real game if I reached this position, I think I would intuitively played the better moves. But I’m a mere 1600 rated player who mainly plays 3 min blitz.
Got Qd4 cleanly through to Bd3 for a questionable 1800 (sloppy because didn't see Qg1 for mate - instead forced the white Q away with pawn to g4 - is that a missed win?). But never even thought of white Ng5! Thank you - these are great.
I've seen Nxd5 intuitively but stopped, no follow-up, once I ve seen Re1+, I ve seen that Be4 is the best move. I recently played online blitz against an ELO 2177 and didn t have much of a chance, so I guess I m around 2000-2100, Lichess: 2250-2350
Sorry for a stupid question, but can anyone explain why black wins in the end? It looks like white trade the rook for the bishop, and then immediately start running with the king. There is no bishop anymore to block the diagonal, and the king has just enough time to hide behind the pawns a2-b3-c4. We end up with the queen against the queen and the knight, which is not an obvious win to me.
Thanks for the question. Queen against Queen and Knight is winning. Especially since Black's King is safer and Queen and Knight work together well. Black can either trade queens and win with an extra knight or Black will eventually checkmate White when he brings his Knight into play.
so I literally solved the puzzle correctly, didn’t notice white was up a rook, nor did I see the immediate queen check on b7 or calculated king escape squares, my answer just felt right up 2 knights with the bishop blocking the rook check, I guess you take the average of all that and it gets me to my OTB rating of 1200
What does Kb3 rate seeing the white possibility of check after taking the pawn and also the possibility of the knight check following that delaying but possibly losing the chance to steal a knight.
Here's my take; I was thinking about Bd3 at first but then I was like "Wait the king can still move." So then I was like Qd4? But then white Qa7 it's a check, so I just kept thinking if Qd4 was good or not because my whole idea after Qd4 is Bd3. What do you think?
What if I found the queen move, saw the king could escape whites initial counter check, but didn't bother to calculate it any further because I know it's a puzzle and will have a forced win and I know there was no better move than the initial queen move, so why do any more work since I'm lazy?
I would get an 1800 by the criteria, but I looked and realized I initially picked a slightly different path for the king to get to g7, to escape the checks of the white queen, but that allows Qf3+, which allows the queen to defend the checkmate. however, I saw the checkmates for black. I will claim laziness a bit too and it being early in the morning, with absolutely no warm up and having had not played in a while. I think the rating system is accurate, since I probably play somewhere between 1600-1900 typically, with flashes of brilliance to near the master level.
I'm ~1900 and saw everything (and also found a concrete win for white in the line where Igor was too lazy). I think it's quite likely that I wouldn't look at Nxd5+ in an actual game, however, since knowing it was an exercise made me feel that there had to be something more or else it was too easy.
I saw white's main threat of Nd5+ and rook E1+ followed by the eventual Qxb7 (2400 level), but because I missed the Be4 move after the rook check, I didn't see a win for black and couldn't come up with a move.
Wow, dead on! I stopped at 1200, which is my rapid rating on a good day. My burning question is how do you learn to visualize the board after all these moves and captures? Is that something you can learn or is that just a gift....
I was able to see Queen takes Knight and I also saw the potential checkmating follow-up and that the black king had an avenue to run away from the opposing queen. I didn't see that white was up a rook or that the rook could check the king after Nd5+, PxN. I have no idea what my rating would be. I don't play like I did when I was younger. I used to be about 1400-1500 I guess (I've never had an offical rating even when I was on my HS chess team.) but i'd guess now-a-days i'm less than 1000. Cool video though. It's was fun to try to solve the puzzle with the understanding that what I got right or wrong could be apply to a rating in a general way.
I scored 1800. In all honesty in tournament play even grandmasters would likely blunder in a position like this. But creating complications like this is how stronger players beat less strong players. It's fun to play chess with oversized pieces in a shopping center and win every single game and people think you are a master. Most people "in the public" try silly wing attacks and don't develop their pieces right (or pin after castling in e4 openings, etc).
i missed that the knight could block the check with the bishop, I thought I could give the check first and then take the knight. but I did see the queen check after taking b7, and the knight check with the following rook check after exd5… maybe in another life I could have been a chess master, but I have too many responsibilities at this point in my life to make it happen. and I’m only like 800 or so right now because I frequently miss ideas in my games
I did spend some time and saw the bishop move. My bcf grade 25 years ago was 130, maybe about 1500. Haven't played s lot in the meanwhile but very interested by your channel, it's great
Okay I got between 1200 and 1800. Saw the free knight and followup, was able to see a route for my king to not die if the queen took the pawn and started getting checks, since said queen didn't have any extra support. Also saw Re1 was a major problem if I didn't start doing something aggressive. Didn't quite calculate if continuing the attack was possible but knew aggressive play is the only way to not die here.
I got some of the elements of the 1800+ variations. I don't think I'm great at chess but mostly because I get bored or find it too taxing to visualize all the variations. The just play the occasional blitz game online and that isn't enough time for me to consider moves. Furthermore I'll just play quickly even with time because I want a good paced game. It means my play is varied between blunders and decently strong play. I generally get into winning positions but have no idea how to cash in on them.
I saw that queen to d4 would pin the knight to the rook, as well as the followup bishop check, but I missed the checkmate in 1. Does that make me 600 or 1600?
I have a question, i found it all except the queen h8 wins a queen but i decided to move my bishop at e4. As best Variation anyway. What does that mean? I saw the escape route after that. And that the queen cant go back to g3. 😅
Another great video, I captured the free knight, then didn't really think too much after that. But as you went through the variations, I at least went to block the rook with the bishop out of instict or luck I guess. I'm 680 at the moment.
![How to Calculate in Chess? [Find Tactics in Your Games]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/5sYM5x2Z2VA/mqdefault.jpg)
![How to Calculate in Chess? [Find Tactics in Your Games]](/img/tr.png)
![Chess Puzzle Rating Test [Quiz]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/PPWf3SdviLo/mqdefault.jpg)
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Where did you find this puzzle ?
I was able to find these moves and my puzzle rating is 2500+ but still my blitz rating is
@vr U should play your game the same way you do puzzles
Please Sir teach us THE IMBALANCE THEORY. I request to you as your 2 year subscriber.
I am 600, 800, 1000 and 1200 all in 1 person😅
My problem is that I can do puzzles a lot better than I play actual games, because with puzzles there is always something big (mate in X or win material) but in an actual game a lot of positions are "dead".
I think everyone can do puzzles better tbh
You should try to think if u can make the current position a puzzle or something
Well, while that is true, if you look at grandmasters commenting on top players, it is usually that they can "squeeze" a win or a draw even from drawn/losing positions respectively
I know where the problem is, it's because several more Gap in intuitively ELO rating contains.
Igor made this from scaling middle to be an end game, then.. if you able to picturing any end game you familiar with to be designed from the opening happened on each game you face, trust me: "Your ELO should be measured above 2600+ or GM level..!!"
The more precise, the higher ELO you experienced and of course, 2800-3200+ could be gained very soon.
These can be checked on way alpha zero learning itself, he is almostly correlate end game possible to come from Early beginning of each game!🙂
Too far step for our mind to describe 😅🎉👍
@@darknightmare6661Say you are in 10 minute game, you may not have all the time in the world to think through this.
somewhere between 1000-1200 level. I correctly assessed the initial state of the board, saw that the check with the bishop was not the best move and saw the free knight, which led me to see the potential checkmate. That's where it stops for me though, so I need to put more effort into assessing my opponents potential moves, it seems.
I see the same thing.
Same here. Did not foresee white counter attacking and was focused on creating a mating net. Much work to do!
I additionally saw the queen check and that the king should ein downwards around the pawns to get away from it. But I didn't see the queen defense move after the check and didn't see the knight check at all. After seeing that my king could run away from the queen checks I decided to take the knight. Even if the checkmate threat could be countries, I would at least catch up in material.
@@joachimfrank4134 I would take the knight..seeing the queen AND horse check possibility, also my own check threat. But not all along until the bisshop blocked the tower check...Also found correct that I was a tower short.
But I know I would have seen it at that moment...Would estimate me at maybe 1500 in this puzzle.
Official I 've no rating at all because I'm never playing chess tournaments since my schooldays, 50 years ago...My game was bridge...and in that I scored points.
Thank you, Igor. I’ve seen many videos that say “try to think what your opponent would do” but this really makes it concrete. The good thing is that I was 1,200 in both of your “rating” videos, which is both consistent and above my online rating of 1,050. That gives me some confidence to go and find some stronger players and kick some butt!
I'm at 2450 at lichess, and i got almost everything instantly EXCEPT the bishop block at the end. I had to calc for about 1 min to see if i was safe enough by the end of every variation. Excelent Puzzle and avaliation.
I believe that being higher rating in chess is more about learning good openings and the ideas behind each move, mastering endgame, than visualizing on tactics. For example, I was able to visualize until bishop block (not with easy of course) but I'm only 2150 on lichess.
► Chapters
00:00 This Chess Puzzle Determines Your Rating
00:50 First step to solving a chess puzzle
01:09 Your Rating Level is 600 IF...
01:40 Your Rating Level is 800 IF...
02:28 Your Rating Level is 1000 IF...
02:55 Your Rating Level is 1200 IF...
03:49 Your Rating Level is 1800 IF...
05:19 Your Rating Level is 2200 IF...
06:19 Your Rating Level is 2400 IF...
07:47 Your Rating Level is 2570 IF...
OMG I am on the GM level when I have enough time to think all moves through!
FIDE Master here, my ELO fluctuates between 2300-2400 in face-to-face chess. I got 2570 on this puzzle. It took me about 5-7 minutes of thinking to figure this out. I play live tournaments and I know I'm not at the same level as a 2550+ monsters. I think this puzzle tends to overestimate our level a bit, but it was a fun puzzle, thanks ! 😊
Pro
Puzzles overestimate mainly because of two factors: 1) We can take as much time as we want 2) We know it is a puzzle and we know there is a "solution" and after some puzzles you also know what to look for. But in when you play the position might or might not have something in it. And the solution isn't "just treat every move in a real game like a puzzle: Let's take this puzzle and black's move where he sacrifices the second knight to get an attack with his rook. In a puzzle situation you always look for sacrifices because you know that that is often required. But in "normal" situations, sacrifices are rarely a good idea. And you simply don't have the time to calculate every line of every possible sacrifice every turn.
3) Third reason would be that opening theory and generally having a nuanced game structure is much more important than solving puzzles that are thrown at you. By now I am pretty good at puzzles and when watching GMs playing I can often predict the next moves correctly, however, that's something very different when you are on your own, have no idea how to proceed and the opponent forces lines upon you. That GM game you are watching will always be like on rails with only slight deviations. But when you play yourself you are constantly in unknown territory and you probably threw a lot of chess principles out of the window by turn 10 to have a crazy position.
True@@Puschit1
Not that far if you consider that the ratings range from 800 beginners all the way to world champion at 2800, that's 2000 possible elo. Getting 100 or 200 off is fairly accurate.
Keep doing these puzzles mate, I love solving them. My rating was 1800 ✌
👍
Your channel is amazing
I got 2570 on this one. I don't have a rating level but have been playing off and on since age 11. I'm 65 now. I've always been an aggressive player and for about the last year have been subscribed to GM Smirnovs RCA videos. They are a great learning tool and he explains everything in a very user friendly way. I do miss the cat! LOL. Thanks again and keep the great tutorials coming!
You don't play online? Where do you play?
Hi, Have not played online. Typically just play friends. Looking at joining local chess club. @@jestes7
Very accurate. I have always estimated my rating to be 1600-1700... depending on whether I am currently playing or not (since chess is an on and off thing for me). And with this puzzle I got nearly all the 1800 stuff, but not quite as clearly fleshed out. So, very accurate I think. Really surprised me actually... at the beginning I thought it would be a waste of time lol.
I like your honest answer and appreciation ! WIsh you to climb even more ! ;)
I agree my estimate is 2500+ and with this puzzle i got 2570.
I agree my estimate is 2800+ and with this puzzle I got 2950. Overtaking Magnus Carlsen
@@eurko111🤦🏾♂️
This is my favorite chess content on UA-cam. Very interesting and educational. Thank you.
Just come across your channel- this was the second of these puzzles I've seen-it's one of the most useful aids to seeing not only where you're at in terms of your level,but WHY.
Galliing when one sees the higher-rated parts,though,but misses intermediate stages & so a higher rating--but that,of course,is educational in itself.
Showing clearly the DIFFERENCES IN THINKING is key-so many training vids don't & trying to follow analysis on GM games is too much,too quick.Really excellent.thanks.
I came up with 2200 and my actual rating in rapid is about 1800 :) Love this type of videos, thank you!
Same here, actually found the knight-rook combo for white right away, but i’m rated 1250.
Same here, but I’m rated 800
@@ZYP- Stop the cap guys. let's be honest to ourselves.
@@alex.j87 Be honest to yourself. Did you really find such a high level move? I doubt so.
@@epiccrumbs8312 I’m almost 1500, found the 2200 thing, but without the rook follow up
Crazy, do I call myself a GM now? Ha ha ha. I used to play chess more than 25 years ago when I was a teenager and stopped due to studies, lack of sponsorship, etc. Now found renewed interest after watching videos and teach my son (now in mid 40s). yes I did win some tournaments too but never really reached those grand stages.
Your videos are always informative, quality ones and I enjoy a lot. Thank you very much.
WE NEED THIS MORE !!!
I really love this format, please keep doing it, it's so engaging!
I started chess this year and slowly but surely with the help of this great channel my rating should be 800. Thank you.
These are great, I'd love to see more of these! As for me, my rating over the board is about 1800-1900, but according to this I'm almost GM, since I did see the bishop block. I did not see the Qh8 check (1. .. Qxd4 2. Qxb7+ Kf6 (?) Qh8+!), because I calculated (1. ... Qxd4 2. Qxb7+ Kf8 3. Qa8+ Kg7 Qf3) instead, and thus the king was safe. So the question is, should I "deduct" my rating for not considering 2.. Kf6 (?)? I spent most of my time calculating the 1. ... Qxd4 2. Nd5+ exd5 line, and both 3. Qxb7 (King gets to safety on g7) and 3 Re1+ (Be4 block seemed strong) looked winning to me (though I stopped there).
I think the biggest hurdle for me is to actually take the time at critical junctions (like this one) and calculate thoroughly. If someone would stop me and tell me this is a puzzle position, I would have a lot higher rating!
Hello mister,
Let's keep things simple ! In order to get one rating here, you HAVE TO see everything under this rating, if you missed one combinaison or calculation, then you're not of this rating but the one under it.
Glad you saw later the Bishop block, but that doesn't change what happened before, and it makes sense, cos seeing this move while missing what's before won't change anything It's just good you saw it in some variations, but this variations will not happen here anyway, cos the path was wrong. So you're not an almost GM and not by far, since you missed the Qh8 + for example.
So, if you get everything before this famous Qh8+, in your case your rating shoud be around 1800, which is a really decent/good chess club player.
And i don't get the last comment, since especially here, the title, and the video is all about telling you : "this is a puzzle position"...
Btw, i think that someone of some level needs some time to find the solution but not too much, if they take hours to find finally a path to go from 1600 to 1800 for example, objectively speaking they're still 1600 but with potential to climb. Because time matter so much in chess, no one can't say he find the solution by taking hours and hours. ^^"
So he should be almost natural (with some calculations) to get quite fast every variables until your max level.
Wish you the best in your climbing path mate ;)
@@koukouchi7 Thanks! In terms of time, I spent around 2-3 minutes. You do have a point in that I didn't consider all moves. After the queen check, I only considered Kf8 as a response, not Kf6, and seeing that Kf8 was good, I didn't backtrack to find out why Kf6 was horrible. I should note that I shouldn't consider just one branch when I find a good one but also track other choices.
As far as the "this is a puzzle position!" comment, what I mean is that I have a hard time (over the board) spending enough resources on the right moves. When reviewing my games, I can see that I sometimes pick the wrong move simply because I underestimated the potential in the position. In a 15-minute game, I can't spend 2-3 minutes on *every* move.
So, how do IMs and GMs know when they need to spend more time on a move?
@@mrengstad Sure thing ! ^^
For IM or GM, i think they know what to do for many reasons : experience, intuition, acknowledging positions or openings, being able to gain time by recognizing some typical situation.
Sometimes even, it s not even logical/rationnal, we all get absorbed by a position, and want to think deeply into it, and we use to much times (happens even to top 10 in the world), or we're unsure and we don't know why, even if everything have been considered.
It's funny, it's a part of chess'life i guess. ^^
What do you think of the strategy to play the pieces on the other site, so you can train the "opponent perspective" better? i tried and it's really hard to play like this, but i think it's a key to get more understanding of what the opponent is up to.
It might work. My coach used to use puzzles which had winning strategies for both players depending on who was to move. We only solved to puzzle if we found both solutions. It also helped a lot to analyze games without knowing the players or which color won. it really kept us critical of both sides of the game, thinking about the strategies both players are using.
One of my big complaints about a lot of chess puzzles (including this one) is that you know it's a puzzle. You know there is a solution somewhere, and can focus on finding it. At the actual board, you can't treat every move as a puzzle, most positions don't have a "solution". The key is to keep strategies and plans you want to execute, and consider your opponents strategies and plans. This is why opening theory is so important. You want to know the common strategies and traps well enough that even if you can't predict exactly what moves your opponent might do, you can still predict their general ideas and plans.
@@varmituofm I liked that the question was: Evaluate the position. Not: Find a win for white.
So it was not sure if there was a tactic for white, or if black would keep its additional rook.
The recent videos highlighting the importance of paying more attention to your opponent's options/plans have been really helpful. Tks!
These puzzles and your explanation are really useful learning material, Igor! Very good video!
This was surprisingly accurate. I am around 1700 and I failed to realize what happens after Nd5, Re1 and dismissed Nd5 without analyzing
Exactly, very accurate ranking measurment.
My rating is 1907, My Rating level is 2570! The Highest Level My peak rating is around 2076. So far from Normal Chess Player Still trying to improve my level. I am getting terrible at chess these days, In 2022 I defeated many actual rated players, One with a 2276 Tho! My highest opponent I beated. Good luck for your upcoming videos.
I could calculate the 1200 part but I didn’t see the extra rook so what would my rating be?
Love the channel and love the videos. I learn alot here and watch all your videos. One question. When trying to solve a puzzle can I set up the puzzle on my chessboard and actually move pieces the way I think to see how it unfolds and then try different lines until I solve the puzzles best moves? Or do I have to do all of it in my head?
I'm really, really bad. I have a rating of 400 and blunder everything all the time. I noticed Queen takes the Knight, mate in one, knew that white would do something with their Queen and I crossed my fingers.
I tried this puzzle while playing against myself, I had to make white do meaningful moves that I would actually do if I were white , while ensuring that in the end black was Victorious.
I’m not that good in chess , so this is how I did it 😅
Black: Qxd4 [ The queen takes knight]
White: Nd5+ [ There is check using the knight]
Black: Kd6 [ Doesn't use pawn to kill knight as it is a defence area where the king may go if Queen is after him ]
White: Ne3[ Defends knight while blocking Queen from trying to stop king from killing knight and therefore also defending the king]
Black: Qxa1+ [ Takes advantage of knight not blocking rook and takes room, therefore making a check as well]
White: Ke2 [ Easily avoids check by moving diagonally as it’s the only way possible]
Black: Ke5 [ King is gonna take part in trapping the other king, however it will be very careful as white queen will be after him now]
White: Qb8+ [ Does check]
Black: Ke4 [ avoids check but still stays near white king at the same time]
White: Qxb7+ [ Opponent Starts gaining some confidence as they have removed a pawn.They also do check]
Black: Kd4 [ avoids check]
White: Qxa7 [ Does same method as last move, gains some more confidence]
Black: Ke4 [ Does repetitive move]
White: Qd7 [ Decides to play a different tactic , and moves over to and area where pawns come under threat. Soon queen can come closer to King to do check ]
Black: Bh5 [ Uses bishop to do checkmate]
Here I had used bishop a bit differently but it worked!
Pls tell if I have written a move wrong, or I did any blunders or mistakes. But in my opinion this is how black checks , my strategy includes giving white confidence and making them think they will win,so they do a blunder and black can check
Btw there might be one or two grammar mistakes . ‘Room’ ment rook
4:40 what about Bishop to h5? The Queen has no way to defend mate. Is there a counter that im missing?
Thanks Igor, for putting this up. I've done three similar games in a row and found the ultimate solution everytime.I'm 65years old and been playing chess in around 100hours throughout my life. I allways played per intuition and never trained. Last time 7 years ago. Never saw myself as specialy good. But this made me realize why I lost so many games and I could become ok at this. I'll certainly watch your free master class and more of these puzzles. Then your free courses and then I'll join a club. Thanks again Igor🙏🕊
Looking forward to having you in the master class and for your chess journey!
Somewhere between 1200 and 1800 because I did find the queen covering the king but I didn't calculate the line properly.
Its actually really annoying because I know the two things I really need to work on is calculation and blunder checks. I peaked at 1550 and fell back to about 1300. I really need to train my thinking system and overhaul my opening repertoire at the same time.
More puzzles please
So what rating am i, if i calculate queen takes d4, then kight goes to d1 to cover the checkmate on f2, followed by check on d3 with the bisho, kingt to e4, then checkmate with queen g1?
He sounded so hopeful for the future of chess, and then remembered why he treats us all like we’re dumb
It's my second exercise 🎉 it took me 20 min, this one was complicated because of the Nd4+ !! And Re1 + but at the end Be4 !!! save black and give them the win. So in this exercise 2570 🎉
I was a fide Master about 2300 ... But I stopped for a while and now I discover those exercise ❤ I really appreciate the formt, wait for new exercises...
LOVE YOUR VIDEOS ❤❤❤
2400, but I know that's 1400 higher than what I probably am.
Perhaps evaluating a puzzle can be easier than a game position because there's not the mental exhaustion to arrive there, play a few games beforehand, etc.
These are great, Igor, thank you, it's interesting to see how you think.
Quite right! these puzzles are purely about tactics from a given position, but you also need a plan to get there to reach higher ratings. "Tactics is about what to do when there is something to do; strategy is about what to do when there is nothing to do." Or as a baffled Spielmann said of Alekhine, "I can see the final combinations as well as he can, but I can't get into the same positions."
Whats about: Be4 first; then Nxe4; Qxf4 now after Qxb7 the King can escape (f8)and matt on a1 or f2 cant Prevent?
More of this type of videos...ill be looking forward to this...imo, this isba better exercise than puzzles. Maybe you can make a book out of this concept. Im sure you can
I had a totally different line of thinking on this one. Sac the knight first and force the doubled pawns, then check with the bishop. Depending on where the king moves, you have Queen captures Knight for check, or White blocks the rook from having e1. At this point, unless White can infinitely check you, you should be able to use Qe5 check and Qg3 check to move White's king into a position where you win the rook. If White makes the mistake of moving toward the center with the king, you have g4 check with the pawn and possibly mate soon after. I didn't think the whole thing out so I'm sure there are countermoves everywhere. Since the actual line was so different than what I saw, I'd put myself in the 1200 group.
Saw that Black could take the White Knight on d4 and realised that it's a good starting move based on the idea that it takes one Knight, pins the other to the Rook and stops the White King going after the Black Knight. I noticed that it would go
1. Q x d5
2. Q x b7 +, K f8
3. Q (any of a8, b8 or c8) +, K g7 (ending White's counter attack)
That's as far as I got because I couldn't visualise precisely where White's Queen would be after move 3 and had no idea what possible moves White had at their disposal. I completely failed to realise that Black was threatening Q f2 # after Q x d5 and couldn't see a way to continue the attack after getting the King to safety. I got the right starting move but for the wrong reason, focusing on pinning the Knight rather than preparing to deliver checkmate. It's a problem of mine, I've watched enough chess videos (Mostly yours) to know how to get into a reasonably good position but don't know how to recognise how good my position is or how to take advantage of a good position once I have it. I can't seem to figure out how to ruthlessly finish an opponent. There have been times in games against a computer when I tried just putting a King in check and achieved checkmate without realising it was checkmate. I missed seeing any of the mating threats in the entire video. I didn't see Q f2 #. I didn't see either of the variations after B d3 + in the 1800 rating section.
That means I got around 1100, I guess (Due to noticing the capture and having a reason behind thinking it's a good move but not seeing that it threatens to checkmate the White King - I was surprised when it was pointed out). However, due to never having played competitively and thus having no data to work from other than games against the chess program in a Nintendo DS 42 All Time Classics game (All I know is that 9 times out of 10 I can beat it's hardest setting and I very rarely lose to it), I have no idea what my rating would be in real life or how I'd fare across the board from an actual person.
Should put more videos like this. Great video.
👍 Nice one! Nd5+ was obvious. Stopped after the Re1+ to see what I would do with the Bishop. Thinking Q2+, Kf6…
Here's one from an unrated (never got around to finding out), occasional player - I got up to the halfway point before you started in with the more involved reasoning. Excellent video - thanks!
Good stuff!
I'm 900, I was a bit lazy/missed a sideline on some ends of the calculations but I saw the secondary threat of Bd3 leading to mate and also the Nd5 sacrifice, though i wasn't sure how to address it and didn't calculate enough to find out that you can escape. Of course i did evaluate we were down a rook and that the knight was hanging, at least.
Myr rating is 2040. But I don't think that I am a master
Sir your channel is amazing
I often see parts (moves) but not the whole very well. My calculation is dodgy. I can also be careless in the ways you describe. I need to take more time and watch possibilities of opponent. I did see the initial possibilities, but not the later ones. Thank you, GM Igor. very helpful.
Great video, helped me see a lot clearer in under ten minutes.
Please show more of these puzzles
I am 1200 i saw extra rook first but thinking my knight is probably traped then i saw the free knight i thought for sure white is winning if it is there move but it being black to move i saw just take the knight mate in one is the and you will pick up the rook then i was thinking about the knight sack withe the rook check but i wasnt convinsed due to th3 bishop blok the qween check somehow i didnt see on b7 i thought for sure black is wining this took me 28 min 52s and was so fun
I don't have any idea what my current rating is as I don't play ladder matches. I used to play a lot as a youth and I was around 1300 @ 13.
I did find the following line
Qxd4 Nd5+, exd5 Re1+, Be4 Qxb7+
I was pretty confident on that solution but totally missed that I wouldn't be able to move Kf6 due to Qh8+ skewering the queen. Instinctually I just wanted to bring the bishop forward improving my position.
i saw the hanging knight, i do calculate opponents moves and doesn't always move king in check ..try to block with other pieces..i guess aprox 1k rating ...but this puzzle and your explanation tickled my mind and heart both ..loved it ..need more of them
As someone, who doesn't play chess, I got around 1000-1200 xP
I saw the free knight and the white queen's follow up, as well as the king's escape from it.
This time, it went better 🙂However, I cannot tell my rating, because my moves are a kind of between : Qxd4, Qxb2, Kf6, Qf3+, then either Bf5 or Qf4. I couldn't find a checkmate even if I saw the combination Qd4 and Bd3 to attack the Queen. Kf8, then Kg2 was a lost of time, that's why I choosed Kf3. I like this kind of puzzle; thanks!
Thank you!
I figured out fragments of each different levels. The problem is, I missed a lot of stuff even on most basic level. Fun video and exercise though. :-)
Man, I'm stuck at 1800 for this puzzle and the other one. It's very close to my actual rating, so now I see an area where I need to improve
Hmm, well, based on your grading system, I'm at 1800, as I didn't see the rook-check eventuality. I was more focused on the rook's threat to the black knight on H1, while trying to hunt for that checkmate. I didn't think knight to D5 looked all that great, so that eventuality didn't occur to me. At least just from looking at the starting positions. I would have played the winning line as black, but I did not see the knight to D5 + rook-check wrinkle IN that line from the start. I would have thought white would be more focused on getting king to E2 or queen to B7 for check (and to get the queen out of that box and into play).
At the end, wouldn't king to F6 be quicker than bishop to E4? It removes all checking options from white in 1 move, leaving only the final press on white's king. It's not a matter of being stuck in the mindset of moving out of check, it's a matter of anticipating & avoiding the obvious queen to B7 check, so I'm free to press the checkmate sooner rather than later.
Anyway, playing the computer I'm only about an 1100.
I didn't even get a rating, I tried Ng3+ lol
I calculated a lot in the three lines:
1- Ng3+ hxg3 Bd3+ Kg1 Qxd4+ Kh2 (or Kh1) Qh4+ Kg1 and in this line I thought that white couldn't stop g4 g3 and Qh2# and that my king was safe.
2-Ng3+ hxg3 Bd3+ Kf2 Qd4+ If Kf3 Qf4# (For Ke1 instead of Kf3 I calculated the next line)
3-Ng3+ hxg3 Bd3+ Ke1 Qxd4 (Taking and pinning the knight on c3 to the rook and also threatening Qg1# and I thought that was winning.
Turns out they don't have to take the knight 😂😂 Also they just block the check with Bd3 using the knight lol
I failed to think hardly for my opponent, so ended up somewhere at 1200+.
That is a great lesson for me. Thank you!
I saw everything up to 2200-2400! Unfortunately, I didn't calculate where to move the K properly, nor did I calculate blocking the checking rook with Bd4.
Now, my rapid rating is only 1100... I felt great 😊 knowing that my view of this particular puzzle put me as high as 2400!
Will you please continue doing these exercises as they are very practical. I want to try as many as possible and I know that I'm not alone! I also know that the law of averages will bring my actual elo down closer to
Hello,
Which move of Knight didn t you calculate properly ? i'm lost ^^"
if you couldnt find bd4 then I highly doubt you actually calculated everything. Calculating the move and line after Nd5 check is difficult
I saw the knight check move but forget that the pawn could protect the bishop eventually, so I calculated not taking the knight and running with the king in d6 (d7 is mate in a few moves) and then hiding in the boarders after some checks
Somewhere between 1200 and 1800, according to this. I found the bishop block without actually calculating the queen moves. I just reckoned that white wouldn't trade a rook for a bishop, and I'd keep the tempo, because after bishop block, white has no forcing moves.
Very interesting, i haven't played properly in a long time and never been rated but i saw the bishop check and the knight blocking continuation so i found the queen capture and mate threat. I also saw the kings retreat line and the eventual black checkmate.
While i was looking at the knight moves i saw the white check threat and continuation however my instinct was to move the king to d3 avoiding the queen capturing the pawn with check, i didn't get as far as solving that before the video caught me up as i suspect there was a series of checks white could give resulting in a loss for black, i suspect i would have got to bishop blocks eventually.
I doubt i'd have a high rating as i was maybe 10 seconds infront of your explaination for a lot of this but was a fun journey.
You’re my favorite chess teacher on UA-cam
I caught everything but the R check, to include stopping the Q momentum. If I had time I think I would have seen the B block as well. But I doubt I would have seen all that in an actual game!
Calculating is easy. I totally agree that you need to calculate the best response of your opponent. Most of my mistakes come by premoves expecting my opponent to make a good move, or I give a chance to see if they can find the best sequence leading to checkmate.
1800 for me. I saw the knight move but didnt see that after pawn captures night, the rook can give a check. Even if I had seen that it wouldve been too much perhaps for me to calculate after that. Loved this puzzle though. Can you recommend any material with stuff like this so I can improve my calculation power? I have your entire course and if anything in there is useful in this regard, let me know please
Problem with puzzles is that it’s quite clear there is ‘something to solve’ as opposed to just being stuck in a closed equal position. The fact it’s a puzzle at all is a big clue. This I figured out at the grand master level, but only because I knew it was a puzzle with likely varying degrees of complexity. In a real game if I reached this position, I think I would intuitively played the better moves. But I’m a mere 1600 rated player who mainly plays 3 min blitz.
I appreciate your teaching style
Got Qd4 cleanly through to Bd3 for a questionable 1800 (sloppy because didn't see Qg1 for mate - instead forced the white Q away with pawn to g4 - is that a missed win?). But never even thought of white Ng5! Thank you - these are great.
I've seen Nxd5 intuitively but stopped, no follow-up, once I ve seen Re1+, I ve seen that Be4 is the best move. I recently played online blitz against an ELO 2177 and didn t have much of a chance, so I guess I m around 2000-2100, Lichess: 2250-2350
Sorry for a stupid question, but can anyone explain why black wins in the end? It looks like white trade the rook for the bishop, and then immediately start running with the king. There is no bishop anymore to block the diagonal, and the king has just enough time to hide behind the pawns a2-b3-c4. We end up with the queen against the queen and the knight, which is not an obvious win to me.
Thanks for the question. Queen against Queen and Knight is winning. Especially since Black's King is safer and Queen and Knight work together well. Black can either trade queens and win with an extra knight or Black will eventually checkmate White when he brings his Knight into play.
@@GMIgorSmirnov Thank you! I definitely should study endgame better
so I literally solved the puzzle correctly, didn’t notice white was up a rook, nor did I see the immediate queen check on b7 or calculated king escape squares, my answer just felt right up 2 knights with the bishop blocking the rook check, I guess you take the average of all that and it gets me to my OTB rating of 1200
What does Kb3 rate seeing the white possibility of check after taking the pawn and also the possibility of the knight check following that delaying but possibly losing the chance to steal a knight.
Here's my take;
I was thinking about Bd3 at first but then I was like "Wait the king can still move."
So then I was like Qd4? But then white Qa7 it's a check, so I just kept thinking if Qd4 was good or not because my whole idea after Qd4 is Bd3.
What do you think?
What if I found the queen move, saw the king could escape whites initial counter check, but didn't bother to calculate it any further because I know it's a puzzle and will have a forced win and I know there was no better move than the initial queen move, so why do any more work since I'm lazy?
I would get an 1800 by the criteria, but I looked and realized I initially picked a slightly different path for the king to get to g7, to escape the checks of the white queen, but that allows Qf3+, which allows the queen to defend the checkmate. however, I saw the checkmates for black. I will claim laziness a bit too and it being early in the morning, with absolutely no warm up and having had not played in a while. I think the rating system is accurate, since I probably play somewhere between 1600-1900 typically, with flashes of brilliance to near the master level.
Really impressed with this type of video. Thank you so much Igor
Then would you like to explain how I can directly think of 2400 elo moves without considering lower rating solutions?
Nice! Learnt something here!
Your puzzles consistently guess my elo correctly, when I was 1600 I got 1600, now I'm 1800 and I got 1800
A factor to, is time, how much time do you have for this calculation.
I'm ~1900 and saw everything (and also found a concrete win for white in the line where Igor was too lazy). I think it's quite likely that I wouldn't look at Nxd5+ in an actual game, however, since knowing it was an exercise made me feel that there had to be something more or else it was too easy.
I saw white's main threat of Nd5+ and rook E1+ followed by the eventual Qxb7 (2400 level), but because I missed the Be4 move after the rook check, I didn't see a win for black and couldn't come up with a move.
at the end so if white plays rook e2 that should save white from check mate- right?
Love these. More, more MORE!
Wow, dead on! I stopped at 1200, which is my rapid rating on a good day. My burning question is how do you learn to visualize the board after all these moves and captures? Is that something you can learn or is that just a gift....
I was able to see Queen takes Knight and I also saw the potential checkmating follow-up and that the black king had an avenue to run away from the opposing queen. I didn't see that white was up a rook or that the rook could check the king after Nd5+, PxN. I have no idea what my rating would be. I don't play like I did when I was younger. I used to be about 1400-1500 I guess (I've never had an offical rating even when I was on my HS chess team.) but i'd guess now-a-days i'm less than 1000.
Cool video though. It's was fun to try to solve the puzzle with the understanding that what I got right or wrong could be apply to a rating in a general way.
Great learning experience!
Please.... do more like this !
I scored 1800. In all honesty in tournament play even grandmasters would likely blunder in a position like this. But creating complications like this is how stronger players beat less strong players. It's fun to play chess with oversized pieces in a shopping center and win every single game and people think you are a master. Most people "in the public" try silly wing attacks and don't develop their pieces right (or pin after castling in e4 openings, etc).
I’m surprised how accurate this is.
i missed that the knight could block the check with the bishop, I thought I could give the check first and then take the knight. but I did see the queen check after taking b7, and the knight check with the following rook check after exd5… maybe in another life I could have been a chess master, but I have too many responsibilities at this point in my life to make it happen. and I’m only like 800 or so right now because I frequently miss ideas in my games
I did spend some time and saw the bishop move. My bcf grade 25 years ago was 130, maybe about 1500. Haven't played s lot in the meanwhile but very interested by your channel, it's great
Okay I got between 1200 and 1800. Saw the free knight and followup, was able to see a route for my king to not die if the queen took the pawn and started getting checks, since said queen didn't have any extra support. Also saw Re1 was a major problem if I didn't start doing something aggressive. Didn't quite calculate if continuing the attack was possible but knew aggressive play is the only way to not die here.
I got some of the elements of the 1800+ variations. I don't think I'm great at chess but mostly because I get bored or find it too taxing to visualize all the variations. The just play the occasional blitz game online and that isn't enough time for me to consider moves. Furthermore I'll just play quickly even with time because I want a good paced game. It means my play is varied between blunders and decently strong play. I generally get into winning positions but have no idea how to cash in on them.
I saw that queen to d4 would pin the knight to the rook, as well as the followup bishop check, but I missed the checkmate in 1. Does that make me 600 or 1600?
I have a question, i found it all except the queen h8 wins a queen but i decided to move my bishop at e4. As best Variation anyway.
What does that mean? I saw the escape route after that. And that the queen cant go back to g3. 😅
Another great video, I captured the free knight, then didn't really think too much after that. But as you went through the variations, I at least went to block the rook with the bishop out of instict or luck I guess. I'm 680 at the moment.
I was under 600. It took me a while to realize this was chess and not checkers.