This is the problem with chess puzzles. You tell me it’s a puzzle and white has a winning move. I find it somewhat easily. But in a game I’d never see it.
Speak for yourself. YOU are the one who will never see it. A good chess player with hundreds of games in his record could easily find the winning move just by being aware of the terrible position of the black king.
@@eduardoroman2691 Depends on how you define "good." Theoretically better than 95% of all players and played literally thousands of games OTB or blitz/rapid plus solved thousands of puzzles over decades but only saw the first move. Missed the second skewer, doggonit. (Just an old lion these days, but as Nimzovitch said "If you put your head in my mouth I'll bite it off.")
Brilliant! Black has 2 simultaneous threats: check mate with Qa1 and taking the rock with Kf4. White with the Ra4 move negates both threat, and in itself creates another 2 threat towards black: taking the queen with Ra8 and checkmate with Rh3. Thats why it is such a brilliant move: with one move you negate 2 threats and create another 2 threats yourself. This puzzle should be named "double edged sword" and the reason: having the 2 kings opposite of each other is actually good and bad for both sides at the same time...
Don't feel bad. Chess tactics may be "the foundation of everything else" (as per GM Nicolas Huschenbeth) but probably 95% of all rated players won't see it. You gotta have an intuitive grasp for such unique powers of pieces and pawns. As the saying goes, "Chess is easy to learn, but difficult to master."
White King: I defeated Black King having his Queen threatening me with a checkmate in one move with just my two Rooks, though sacrificing one. They called me a madman
Hello Mikael 🖐😊 Greetings from St Louis 🇺🇸 I just found your channel. Thank you for making these videos. I'm 60 years old and am only an intermediate level player, but am trying to learn better strategies so I can become a stronger player. I just play for my hobby and have never played in tournaments. But I do play every day. I should be better than I am since I've been playing for over 40 years. Your channel is very helpful. I have subscribed. 👊RESPECT👊 Mark
Looking at the puzzle seems white can win through a temporary rook sacrifice due to the vulnerable position of Black’s king by.. 1.Ra4!, QxR 2. Rh3+, King must go to 4th rank then 3. Ra4 (skewering K & Q), K moves anywhere 4. RxQ. Good puzzle!
My ELO rating is only 1200, but I saw the solution from the thumbnail. The winning move is Ra4! If Black captures that white rook with Qxa4, then White uses the other rook to skewer the black king and queen with Rh3+! followed by Rh4+!! If the black queen tries to cover the h3 square with Qc8, then White plays Rh3+!, anyway, and after Black plays Qxh3, White plays Ra3+! to skewer the black king and queen, and White will go on to win with a winning king and rook versus bare king endgame. This is probably the only puzzle on this channel that I solved by myself.
After capturing the queen, Mr. Von Bargen said that he believes we are all capable of winning as white from that point. I beg to differ. I reasoned that capturing the queen via skewer was the way to go, yet still couldn't accomplish it, and doubt if I would have found the correct first move in 1000 years. Could I have won with only rook vs king? I seriously doubt it. : (
The trick to checkmating with rook and king vs. a lone king is to get the opposing king to one of the 4 edges of the board by moving the king and rook in tandem then cutting off the opposing king's escape by placing your rook on the 7th rank, 7th column, 2nd column, or 2nd rank so the opposing king cannot get out. From there you move your own king to get it to the 6th rank, 6th column, 3rd rank, or 3rd column. Once the opposing king moves to a square that is 2 straight lines away from your king you move the rook to deliver checkmate if it is far enough away and cannot be captured by the opposing king. One thing to note in this process is that you do not only move your king, you can also move your rook to put the opponent in zugzwang, which is a term in chess that means a player MUST make a move, but all of their moves are bad.
@brettmccann3403 May I suggest using any free chess engine and free gui to set up these kind of checkmates, (and as you progress more advanced positions), play against the chess engine as practice.
Yes he said that because for certain mates like rook vs lone king, or queen vs king, there are just simple algorithms you follow - a set procedure with only a few rules and you can do it every time. Just read articles about those two mates.
I did look at Ra4 but saw queen and king not being on same rank/file afterwards (meaning no easy skewer), and did not see I could push the king to that rank. Seeing 3 moves ahead surely brings more opportunities than just 2 moves ahead :)
Ah, like it! I see it. Took a minute or so though. In any case white should not resign here. Make black mate you. Q vs R is only trivial to win if you have good technique and are not in time trouble. That’s not the case for most players. Resigning just guarantees you lose every time and you learn nothing about how to save worse/lost positions. One of the reasons that good players are hard to beat even when your position is objectively winning is that they don’t just give up when they find themselves at a disadvantage.
That was relatively easy . Black king is in horrible position and it means to avoid immediate mate black will lose his queen For example 1.Ra4 Qc7 to avoid mate , but white is going to play Rh3+ anyway 2. Rh3+ Qxh3 3. Ra3+ Kf4 4 . Rxh3 If 1.Ra4 Qxa4 2. Rh3+ Kd4 3.Rh4+ Ke5 4.Rxa4
Saw it pretty quick, Rook Fa4, threatening Rook H3 Checkmate, if queen takes on A4, Rook H3 Check, King has to move to the 4th rank, then H4 Check Skewers the Queen and you win. And if they do Queen C8 to Cover H3, Check on H3 anyways and Skewer with the other Rook on A3.
I think the issue here is that the black queen is too far away. The puzzle is nice (I didn't see the magic move), but is it likely to come up in a real game? I'd say maybe there was some piece in the corner that Black took in the previous move and that's the only reason the queen is in that spot. In an actual game, against two rooks the player would want to keep his queen close.
No. I knew the solution. This is ancient coffee. Every study composer knows this idea.This is so famous and so old. Many other study composer in the past had made a study with this idea. E.g. Tigran Borisovich Gorgiev.
My brilliant move is the top rook to A four. Followed by check, then another check to skewer and win the queen. (Which, I'm guessing, is probably the first move he will say "...But That's Not Right.")
Honestly, when I saw that white's winning, I saw the correct move before even starting the video, but I'd get it only if I had 10 mins in a classical. Cool puzzle tho
This is the problem with chess puzzles. You tell me it’s a puzzle and white has a winning move. I find it somewhat easily. But in a game I’d never see it.
Speak for yourself. YOU are the one who will never see it. A good chess player with hundreds of games in his record could easily find the winning move just by being aware of the terrible position of the black king.
@ That’s what I said. But I do appreciate the comment.
@@eduardoroman2691harsh
@@eduardoroman2691 Depends on how you define "good." Theoretically better than 95% of all players and played literally thousands of games OTB or blitz/rapid plus solved thousands of puzzles over decades but only saw the first move. Missed the second skewer, doggonit. (Just an old lion these days, but as Nimzovitch said "If you put your head in my mouth I'll bite it off.")
@@jonshive5482 A normal 1900 rapid online will see the first move in a few seconds, the next move in a minute at most
Brilliant!
Black has 2 simultaneous threats: check mate with Qa1 and taking the rock with Kf4.
White with the Ra4 move negates both threat, and in itself creates another 2 threat towards black: taking the queen with Ra8 and checkmate with Rh3. Thats why it is such a brilliant move: with one move you negate 2 threats and create another 2 threats yourself.
This puzzle should be named "double edged sword" and the reason: having the 2 kings opposite of each other is actually good and bad for both sides at the same time...
Excellent puzzle, the beauty lies in finding the right variations. Just brilliant. Thank you very much and God bless you.
I didn't see that. Good puzzle.
Don't feel bad. Chess tactics may be "the foundation of everything else" (as per GM Nicolas Huschenbeth) but probably 95% of all rated players won't see it. You gotta have an intuitive grasp for such unique powers of pieces and pawns. As the saying goes, "Chess is easy to learn, but difficult to master."
White King: I defeated Black King having his Queen threatening me with a checkmate in one move with just my two Rooks, though sacrificing one. They called me a madman
You don't sacrifice the rook.
You sacrifice THE ROOOOOOOOOOOOOK!
Hello Mikael 🖐😊
Greetings from St Louis 🇺🇸
I just found your channel. Thank you for making these videos. I'm 60 years old and am only an intermediate level player, but am trying to learn better strategies so I can become a stronger player. I just play for my hobby and have never played in tournaments. But I do play every day. I should be better than I am since I've been playing for over 40 years.
Your channel is very helpful. I have subscribed.
👊RESPECT👊
Mark
A classic example of, "I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me!"
i found it too!! nice puzzle! 😊
Looking at the puzzle seems white can win through a temporary rook sacrifice due to the vulnerable position of Black’s king by.. 1.Ra4!, QxR 2. Rh3+, King must go to 4th rank then 3. Ra4 (skewering K & Q), K moves anywhere 4. RxQ. Good puzzle!
1.Ra4!,Qxa4 (to prevent 2.Rh3#) 2.Rh3+,Kf4 3.Rh4+ and 5.Rxa4
My ELO rating is only 1200, but I saw the solution from the thumbnail. The winning move is Ra4! If Black captures that white rook with Qxa4, then White uses the other rook to skewer the black king and queen with Rh3+! followed by Rh4+!! If the black queen tries to cover the h3 square with Qc8, then White plays Rh3+!, anyway, and after Black plays Qxh3, White plays Ra3+! to skewer the black king and queen, and White will go on to win with a winning king and rook versus bare king endgame. This is probably the only puzzle on this channel that I solved by myself.
No way you saw that from thumbnail, it was impossible.
Interesting! Let's start the procedure.
Damn, i found Ra4 Qc8 and then somehow didn't find the second obvious skewer
Same here
Never give up. Win through attrition
Levy sacrifing the rook with this one🗣️🔥
After capturing the queen, Mr. Von Bargen said that he believes we are all capable of winning as white from that point. I beg to differ. I reasoned that capturing the queen via skewer was the way to go, yet still couldn't accomplish it, and doubt if I would have found the correct first move in 1000 years. Could I have won with only rook vs king? I seriously doubt it. : (
Let me encourage you to practise and learn this mate, it is not difficult and it is useful also in real games.
@@giovannicorno1247 I shall keep at it. Thanks.
The trick to checkmating with rook and king vs. a lone king is to get the opposing king to one of the 4 edges of the board by moving the king and rook in tandem then cutting off the opposing king's escape by placing your rook on the 7th rank, 7th column, 2nd column, or 2nd rank so the opposing king cannot get out. From there you move your own king to get it to the 6th rank, 6th column, 3rd rank, or 3rd column. Once the opposing king moves to a square that is 2 straight lines away from your king you move the rook to deliver checkmate if it is far enough away and cannot be captured by the opposing king. One thing to note in this process is that you do not only move your king, you can also move your rook to put the opponent in zugzwang, which is a term in chess that means a player MUST make a move, but all of their moves are bad.
@brettmccann3403 May I suggest using any free chess engine and free gui to set up these kind of checkmates, (and as you progress more advanced positions), play against the chess engine as practice.
Yes he said that because for certain mates like rook vs lone king, or queen vs king, there are just simple algorithms you follow - a set procedure with only a few rules and you can do it every time. Just read articles about those two mates.
I did look at Ra4 but saw queen and king not being on same rank/file afterwards (meaning no easy skewer), and did not see I could push the king to that rank. Seeing 3 moves ahead surely brings more opportunities than just 2 moves ahead :)
So improbable but absolutely brilliant
I would have resigned as white, good puzzle.
Ah, like it! I see it. Took a minute or so though. In any case white should not resign here. Make black mate you. Q vs R is only trivial to win if you have good technique and are not in time trouble. That’s not the case for most players. Resigning just guarantees you lose every time and you learn nothing about how to save worse/lost positions. One of the reasons that good players are hard to beat even when your position is objectively winning is that they don’t just give up when they find themselves at a disadvantage.
Great puzzle!
I love this solution. I don't think this particular scenario will come up very often though.
That was relatively easy . Black king is in horrible position and it means to avoid immediate mate black will lose his queen
For example
1.Ra4 Qc7 to avoid mate , but white is going to play Rh3+ anyway 2. Rh3+ Qxh3 3. Ra3+ Kf4 4 . Rxh3
If 1.Ra4 Qxa4 2. Rh3+ Kd4 3.Rh4+ Ke5 4.Rxa4
It took me only a few seconds to realize the themes of this puzzle. Yes, easy, but pretty.
It took me a just few milliseconds 😉 what a nice puzzle
Saw it pretty quick, Rook Fa4, threatening Rook H3 Checkmate, if queen takes on A4, Rook H3 Check, King has to move to the 4th rank, then H4 Check Skewers the Queen and you win. And if they do Queen C8 to Cover H3, Check on H3 anyways and Skewer with the other Rook on A3.
Actually after black's Qc8, the move is Rh3+!, followed by Ra3+ and Rxh3
Notation is not Rook Fa4 but just Rook a4 since only one rook can go to a4 (in 1 move).
@@eduardoroman2691 Sorry, I made a typo, I meant to say "check on H3 anyways" and skewer the queen with the other rook on A3.
@@ryans8081 There is nothing I must apologize to you, we all make mistakes.👍
found first move easily but took a minute for the 2nd one
😅rook sacrifice then check the queen will capture
I knew that the rooks wouldn't be able to fork, but I totally forgot about a skewer!
I think the issue here is that the black queen is too far away. The puzzle is nice (I didn't see the magic move), but is it likely to come up in a real game? I'd say maybe there was some piece in the corner that Black took in the previous move and that's the only reason the queen is in that spot. In an actual game, against two rooks the player would want to keep his queen close.
Took about 1 minute , this is a simple one...
It took me a minute, but that's really nice. Good puzzle!
Didn't see it at all until watching this. Very deceptive.
Sweet! 👍👍
SPOILER BLOCKER 🚫
NGL as a 2831 its a piece of a cake for me
No. I knew the solution. This is ancient coffee. Every study composer knows this idea.This is so famous and so old. Many other study composer in the past had made a study with this idea. E.g. Tigran Borisovich Gorgiev.
King e2 mate in one 😎
Very sweet problem, I solved that!
I saw this before he even made the video
The intro pic is so painful😖, how the heck do you let a pawn go by???
Not forced Qc8 instead
Is there a special name for pinning a piece to the king?
Is the winning move Ra4?
Rf3?
I do feel like im getting good at these 😂.
I'm not good @ these puzzles
HOLY COW 🐄🤯
Bishop !!!
I solved it!
Rook a4, black has to take, anyway, white is winning
too easy this time
So many sweaty comments😂
K->f1->g2?
Found it in less than 10 seconds and I'm only 1400
Title said white had a winning move. In-game you wouldn't have seen anything
I got one! Woohoo!
I saw it in the first 10 seconds.
yes, white winning
I got this one!
RA4!!
Wild
Yessss, crazy rook😊
Ra4!!
Funny 😁
"Pause your video and see if you can find it." Not necessary, I found it in a few seconds
Good🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Ra4
My brilliant move is the top rook to A four. Followed by check, then another check to skewer and win the queen. (Which, I'm guessing, is probably the first move he will say "...But That's Not Right.")
Look, I saw the move. I just didn't like it. You are not a psychic.
I saw the solution instantly. That feels good because I utterly failed on the last few puzzles.
Saw it from the first second.
I analyzed it by the thumbnail while listening to dubstep and notice Ra4 cause king can't go back and is forced to be aligned with the queen.
Honestly, when I saw that white's winning, I saw the correct move before even starting the video, but I'd get it only if I had 10 mins in a classical. Cool puzzle tho
The intro pic is so painful😖, how the heck do you let a pawn go by???