because these videos are for everyone and I'm sure there's a few viewers who didn't see that fork, yes, he should say directly why and not show an entire variation which doesn't work but still
I love winning by the underpromotion to a knight. I did it once and achieved a smothered checkmate! Felt amazing. The fork idea in this video is even more clever.
I knew that Qf3 was the only winning move based on none of the other options working, but I couldn't calculate the position after Pf4. That was fun seeing how it rolled out and glad I was able to get as far as I did!
I failed to see both the promotion to a knight and the game plan overall. Once you put the white Queen at f2, I did solve the Kc3 move, but the brilliant move to Qf2 was beyond my vision. I didn't think about freezing the Black Queen and forcing a pawn move. Good puzzle.
Very cool position and nice explanation. In my opinion it was not so hard to figure it out because there are not so many pieces on the board, but it's still cool.
Author stops explaining variants too early. After 1. Qe3 f4 2. Qf2 it is important to show 2. … f3 3. Qe3 and black have a bunch of options: f2, g4, Kd1, but white a good answer to all of them
Like others say: love the statistics in the opening. Still working on my endgame so not so good on this one but got a couple of the questions right. Here to learn. 🙂
I love a good chess puzzle, but I rarely have the time to follow an analysis all the way through - especially while having to take notes as to the proper sequence of moves. Would it be possible, in future videos, to perhaps show the complete solution before the closing credits, or in the notes that are hidden under the "...more" tag? Thank you.
I got a couple of moves, and I must say the thing about chess puzzles that often gets me is that I know its a puzzle so often times the obvious move doesn't occur to me because I'm thinking, "Well, it can't be the obvious move because its a puzzle!"
Then I *HIGHLY* suggest that next time you consider the "obvious" moves first and eliminate them. It's always a wonder to me how many players sincerely seem to think that they could have EASILY solved the puzzle ONCE they see have seen the solution, because it's "so obvious," but strangely are never able to solve the puzzle BEFORE seeing the solution...
I set the position up to try out KC3 on stockfish, feeling very please with myself having worked out all the moves to mate, and 0.25 seconds later discovered my error.
Queen to D4. Mate in 1. Gode out black rook or Queen to challenge by forcing pawn move to D1. Then Queen to B1 on knight or B2. Game won by white. 2 move Mate. Black had no chance to win.
Not a mate in 1. Kd2. The space is now open since the pawn moved down and promoted to a queen. King escapes and you might white might be losing. He gave the ONLY correct answer in the video.
When he promotes the pawn he cannot leave the black pawn in C2 open (as anything in D1 that cannot move to C2 means Q to C2 checkmate). But what about promotion to Bishop? I thought that through as well. And all that does is delay the end. K to C3 again forces black to make a move they would not want to do, be it move the bishop (no matter where they move it Q to G1 check and the only response is bishop back to D1, then Q to G5 taking the pawn, the pawn in F4 is locked so bishop has to move again, Q to F4 taking second pawn check and it's over from there) or move the pawns (F4 to F3 means Q takes pawn in G5 check and down they go .. or G5 to G4 means Q to F2 and after than no matter the pawn or bishop move the queen can get the diagonal check on the king forcing it to B1 and it all starts to collapse).
But what if black would not promote to a queen on d1 after white played Qg2 (4:15) rather move an other pawn or promote to a knight? i really would like to see how these variations played out.
If black moves a different pawn besides that one for example, f4 pawn to f3, then white will pin the pawn to the king again by going to e3. Maybe the black king could go to d1 after that, to threaten to promote the pawn behind it, but once the white queen moves down again, black king would be forced to move to e2, and then white king takes the pawn on c2 and the other pawn just gets eaten because once the white queen moves to d1 it's defended by the king (I say it like this because, promoting that pawn would now be a wast of a move).. and now black is in a losing endgame Same scenario but if g5 pawn moves to g4, White queen takes f4 pawn, pins the pawn to the king, but if king moves to d1, now it's checkmate, so black is forced to go to b1 if they hope to use the pawns closer to promoting. BUT now we have white king to c3, and after that if black promotes to a queen we have mate in two for white. (Pawn promotes to Queen, white queen to a6, and every king move for black is checkmate) Note underpromoting to a knight allows the white king to move back (which the knight can't make a check next turn) and now you are down a pawn in a losing endgame. But more specifically if your knight moves to any squares like, f2, e3.. the queen would take it before moving to the 2nd rank again. so.. becareful of that. And knight b2 is mate in 1 for white, in that position. BUT why is the second rank important here? If you promote the f2 pawn to anything besides a horse, it's gg. But if you did, in optimal play white would eventually win. Because the queen would take the pawn, and it's a 2 Knight vs Queen endgame. And a queen has more counter play than two knights. But blundering the queen to a fork would be easy, and if you do a trade it's a draw. Or you know... if they move any other pawn white can just go to f1, force out a queen promote and go back to f2.....
Okay, I see a minor flaw in your final setup: black pawn promotes to queen, white queen to f2, black pawn to g4, white queen to f4; at this point you have the black king retreating to b1, but what if the black queen blocks at d2? The white king can't capture and MUST run away (b3, b4, or c4) and black's next move is to capture white's queen. Just sayin'.
Bruh.... almost embarrassed to point this out. ... man... king can't but that white queen can. White queen to d2. Check. Followed 2 moves later by checkmate. Just saying. (Seriously delete your comment. It's so cringe.)
I wonder how a Queen to A7 start would pan out. Because after they promote, you can bring down to A1 for the check. I think black can wiggle out of it, but I’d be interested in knowing the path.
Queen a7, black promotes to queen, and now the queen on a7 is really bad for white. Because the black king escapes to the center, and the pawn is defended by the queen. So then black would have two queens unless you trade queens but then you'd still be at a loss as white, because now you're versing a queen and a king...
At the start of the final sequence, shown at 4:35. What about black moving Qd3+? It's White force move to Kb4. Then black moves Kb1 and is on track for another promotion.
After Black playing Qd3+, White plays Kxd3, not Kb4. The Black pawns are moving down the board, not up; and therefore, the Black queen is not protected from a White king attack on the square d3.
7:00 what is stopping blach going qd3+ Am i missing something obvious? Edit: nvm i was looking at it the wrong eay and thought it was defended by the pawn
Awesome video! However not without faults. at 5:27 if you are black, you can just move your queen to D3 and check the king. The white has to move away. Also at 3:40 if you are white you can move your queen to C3, and if black makes queen you just checkmate by moving queen to B2. If black moves king or doesnt promote to queen you can just pick off the pawns. :)
Kinda embarrassing that you said "not without faults" and then gave two examples of how your chess game is not very strong. Queen to D3... you just sacrificed the Queen. You do understand the king can take pieces? Queen to C3 then B2 isn't checkmate because after the pawn promotes to Queen there is an open space at D2 for the King to go ton and escape.
Embarrassing to point this out but queen to d3 ... congrats kd3 and you just bizarrely sacrificed your queen. I don't understand your logic. What is your move after that?
I am wondering why Qc5 is not a better move? if pawn advances to D1 and promotes to knight, Qc2 is checkmate. If pawn is promoted to Queen on D1, Qa3 is check and mate in the next move. If king moves to d1, Q c2 is checkmate. Am I missing something?🤔
Qa7, if pawn promotes it's checkmate in one with Qa1. If king moves towards the A file, it's Qa2 checkmate. If king d1, king takes pawn, pawn promotes, queen takes pawn checkmate (Before watching the video)
the last sequence doesnt work out, the king cant take the pawn, its still protected by the king on d1. also, how is the pawn supposed to promote with the king then standing in the way?
At 4:56 you claim that Black is in "Zugzwang" but I'd suggest that black can now play Kb1. This will allow him to get yet another queen on C1 next move and I can't see any way that white can stop it. Once black has two queens I think it's game over for white. It's also quite possible that I'm blundering something here because I'm quite good at that.
… or „tsoogtsvung“, with the „u“ representing a sound like in „swung“ or „undo“. Being a German native speaker, I was unaware of „Zugzwang“ as part of the English Chess terminology (and being a chess rookie, even more unaware of the chance to apply the idea here 😬). It is such a nicely concise expression that it is also used figuratively in German (the state of being forced into action with hardly or no beneficial options).
At 3:50 why not Qc3? I'm not usually good at this so I may be missing something but I don't see what black should do in that position. Best I see is Kd1 followed by white's Qxc2 and what would likely be a chase around the board but I think it would still be a win for white no?
@@dustydog4527 No, *of course* Black does not have to promote his pawn. Black can make *any* legal move he wants. But EVERY SINGLE ONE of them leads to his eventual defeat. If Black moves his pawn to f3, White responds with Queen back to e3, pinning the pawn on d2. That pawn *cannot* move to d1 and promote to a "horse" because it is pinned; the Black king would be in check if it moved to d1, which means that that is an illegal move.
Actually there are many tricky KQ vs KP positions where it's not clear at all how the KQ side could win. Add three more pawns and it can be a nightmare.
was curious, if black got the knight instead in that position, wouldn't that do the fork you mentioned earlier? EDIT: NVM I am silly and late at night, I see the issue.
4:16 after Qe2 Nelson assumed black HAS TO make a queen which is not true. Black can move pawn to f3 and while white is still in better position stockfish sees M21. Definately harder than M5 after making a queen by black.
Or.... instead of retreating the white king takes black queen and it is an easy win for white after that. Before you say the d3 is protected by a pawn... it's not because pawns are going down not up.
In the initial position I found king C3, but didn't even consider that the pawn can promote to a knight. pinning the pawn to the king didn't seem convincing enough, because I couldn't find the continuation. 4:42 I did find the Zugzwang.
So what if black makes a knight? Wouldn't that force the white king to move allowing for the black king to move and have a chance at also getting a queen? Leaving the lateral pawns in a defensible position. I am just casual viewer, so sorry if there is some obvious answer that I am missing
The white king only moves to c3 *after* black has promoted his d pawn, never ever before, in order to avoid just what you are talking about. So if black makes a knight it does *not* force the white king to move. The white king is not in check if it is still on b3.
What if Queen moves F2D4, then pawn d2d1, then queen d4 to b2 or a1. Or Qf2d4, Kc1d1, qd4a1, kd1e2, kb3c2, then qa1d1 then attack the pawns then move king and queen over to force checkmate.
On the first example after qa1 or b2 it's black king escapes to d2 and you are going to lose. I didn't bother with your second example after seeing your first. The ONLY correct move is in the video as he explains. It's an 100 year old puzzle with a 100 year old solution. You ain't coming up with a solution no one ever thought of.
That's a nice puzzle. Though, with the variation chosen for the win, the promoted pawn could still promote to Knight, which attacks the Queen, and the King could not go to Kc3 which prevents that variation from working.
Bruh... you are moving the pawn that is blocking the queen from checkmating the king? You are not allowed to make that move. The pawn is pinned in that spot.
It took me some time to realize that you said „Zugzwang“ which I should understand because I’m German 😅 But it sounds quite funny the way you pronounce it 👍🏻
Yeah not a legal move. You can't move the pawn to promote and allow your king to be taken by the queen. The pawn has to stay there to protect the king.
@@mxicklejx7233 So I was thinking about getting my queen to a1 but I saw that after d1=Q then the king could go to d2 so I thought about putting my queen somewhere and then play Kc3 but I saw the problem that I would only be able to play Kc3 AFTER black queens and it could put my king in check. So I started thinking on how to stop all the checks at the same time when I bring my king to c3 and I saw the only checks the queen had were e1, d2 and f3 so after thinking for a while I found Qf2 to block all those checks
I got stuck at f5f4 when looking at the thumbnail. No way to prevent black promoting a pawn. Qf2 is the only option, it’s a forced move, but I couldn’t see that it leaves black with no options. Fun exercise.
Winning move has to be preventing the queen with Qe3, right? We're not trading because then we can't win, and we're not letting them get and keep a queen because that would just be giving them 3 pawns advantage.
This reminds me of a game I once played. There were more pieces on the board but I could not decide what to do so I decided to take a piece & put the king in check. My opponent made the only move he could blocking my queen and i again took a piece and put him in check again but now it was the only move I could make ... I stumbled into it doing the same thing again and again. Each move was the only move i could do until mate
White position king c3 queenf3 and black is king c3 pawn B3 queen D4 pawn f4 and g5 black move will be queen to D3 check white king will move only square B4 so white cannot win right?😅
It would take over 41 years in Hong Kong if you ate at one new restaurant every day, 273 years in Shanghai but the king is Tokyo where it would take 375 years!
I recently got interested in chess and love your channel. I have a question though, at 4:33 the white king moves to c3. What happens if black moves queen to d3. It seems that this will eliminate any advantage white will have. Am I missing something about this?
In the latter half of the puzzle, insted of promoting the d2 pawn to a queen, would promoting it to a knight prevent the option of moving the white queen to b2 for mate?
No because when pawn promotes to queen you are screwed as it's in immediate danger and you will have to move it and Black will start to check your king. you want Qf2 as your next move has to be Kc3.
Yep you can't pass a round on either chess (international chess, counter to Chinese chess) or the Chinese chess. Therefore a zugzwang may happen. This is different from GO chess.
wait what about black moves the queen to d3? checking the white king and move him out of that area? then u also can promote the other pawn later on or something, instead of black moving the king
I knew you had to play Kc3 at some point and that you have to cover the checks from their queen with our queen but i was stuck if it was Qe2, Qf2, Qf3, Qe4 3:50
What about Ka2? The idea is to threaten the checkmate if Black promotes to anything but the Knight, while also threatening the pawns. What do I overlook?
