Amazing. This is now my favorite chess position. Seeing this, though, just shows how far away I am from playing perfect(ish) end-games, even when they seem to simple.
@@rene5939 Especially if they encounter these positions in one of those stupid rushed games. I don't think they will manage to find the solution in time.
There was one fascinating study by Mario Matous where at the end, the bishop had to stay in one diagonal only, so you had to figure out what square in the diagonal is the best. And it came down to zugzwang. You had literally 2 available squares and one loses the game like 6 moves later and the other one wins. It was truly amazing.
Something that might be helpful for videos like this would be to post a lichess link to the opening position so players can easily try this for themselves vs the AI.
Aaron Smith: Of if you want to try it, you could just set up the board position and try it against any strong program or strong online AI. There are only 7 pieces, after all.
@10:45 I couldn't figure out at first why the bishop would not just sack itself for e6 check, causing pawn captures bishop and the black king would always be in the square to stop the pawns. But then I realized you could just move to e7 and you'd have all the time in the world to wait for your own king to come give backup. The king can never capture the f6 pawn without allowing a queen.
@@RMF49 yeah true but ultimately the white pawn will promote because in any case the black king cannot take either of the pawns, one is protected by the other and taking the f6 pawn leads to promotion so in any case its a loss
theejd013: At first, just looking at the board (and not starting the video), I was looking at it as black to move and draw. So it was obvious black had to move the bishop to b3 where it could be protected by the pawn, and that forced black to keep the king within the square of the pawn. Then looking, I see that if the black king stays in front of the white pawn complex, white can't win. So that's too easy. But with white to move first, once e6 is played, it's completely different. What a fantastic example of a "simple" endgame where you have to know a LOT to play it right!
Triangulation is so tricky like this. Most players dont have 5 minutes to use on one move when playing at rapid TCs. Despite having a consistent 2k+ rating I am somewhat weak because I avoid endgames.
You never brought up term for this type of strategy zugswang, where you keep putting opponent into position to have to make bad move. A simple example is when you have K and pawn against K and are able to maintain opposition with your K against opponent K, ultimately forcing him to move out of the way. Care must always be taken on each move to maintain the zugswang. One bad move on your part and the situation can be reversed.
2:32 I assumed that the move was played for a Zugzwang but I didnt know the exact idea ( And I was right at 7:56) At 8:46 I knew that c2 and b1 were right... At 9:51 also I was right that we should stay near the pawn on the black diagnol... I am so happy...
9:10 “this one is a little bit tricky so be careful” 😄 thank you for always taking care of us Maestro 😄 beautiful video!! now seriously thank you for your teaching and asking us to pause the video to decide the move I know I said this before but this not only makes us part of the video but helps us improve even more 😉
Just amazing!!...I wonder if we're struggling to solve this even after knowing this is a probelm and it has a solution..then what would it have taken for the composer to create this beauty..
I played a blinded ultrabullet against Stockfish once and I had that position! I intuitively avoided the white squares with my king because I felt that the white Bishop could be dangerous and I won
At time, 10:00, I think the white king can take the pawn because when the black bishop pull back from h7 to g8, the white could simply push the white pawn from f6 to f7 instead of the other pawn from e6 to e7. The would force the black bishop to either back off from g8 back to h7 again or force it to trade the bishop with the pawn. Either way, the white pawn will become the queen. In fact, I believe this the quicker way to end the game than your suggested route.
I think u confused which side’s turn it was. The black bishop was already on g8 before the white king captured pawn. If the white king captures the pawn at that time, then the bishop will move to h7.
Still 4:58 was an interesting position If Black king eat pawn at Kf6, the pawn at E7 can promoted to queen At 10:31 black can try Kg5, result no pawn move work again
You might want to get Rafael Kofman's 1981 "The selected studies of Sergey Kaminer and Mark Liburkin" in Russian ("Izbrannye etyudi Kaminera i Liburkina")
I was struggling to understand why, @ 10:45 the bishop couldn't just sacrifice itself and then let the king finish the pawns. There is no way for the pawns to advance without being taken out by black's king. Then I realised white can leave the pawns side-by-side after taking the bishop and instead move the king up to support the pawns.
At about 7 minutes in, you're discussing why King to C1 wouldn't work, because after King B1, Bishop H7, you still can't push the pawns. What if you were to go King A2? Avoiding Bishop taking on F5 with check. If bishop back to G8, king takes A pawn. I'm not good at chess at all, just curious why it wouldn't work.
Actually, at 3:20, they would not capture the pawn as not to lose bishop. They could play bishop H7, which allows the pawn through to create a Queen and checkmate.
But in puzzles, the opponent will always make the best move. Playing Bh7 is a blunder as it’ll allow us to promote the pawn easily. Black would rather sacrifice the bishop to prevent all your other pawns from promoting than to save a bishop and let you get a queen. This would allow black to get a draw instead of losing
After !. e6 Black has 5 Move choices. 1. e6 Bf7 2. exf7 1. e6 Bxe6 2. fxe6 1. e6 Bh7 2. e7 1. e6 Kh7 2. Kc3 1. e6 a4 2. Kd1 ? Black has 5 Move choices again! The same 4 useless ones, and a3. Well now we see a theme here, ... What to do to make the fifth Move useless also!? To leave Black with only the FOUR bad Move choices!
I think white can just push 1 pawn up. Black king cannot take the backward pawn because that would allow the other pawn to promote, and the front pawn is already protected by backward pawn so it can’t be taken. So white king just needs to make their way up to promote the pawn
Cant black do bishop takes e6. pawn takes bishop. king g8. Pawn f7 check. king f8. pawn e7 check. Kings takes either pawn. pawn promotes. king takes (draw.)
After pawn f7 check, king f8. White starts moving their king over there to help escort the pawns. Black king cannot take e6 pawn because that would allow f7 pawn to promote, and f7 pawn is defended by e6 pawn so it can’t be taken either, allowing white to have time to move their king over.
But at 10:02, after Bh7, we can go f7 instead of e7. Wouldn't that win? The bishop will be trapped because he can't go to g8 nor g6, so the black king has to go to g7 to prevent our promotion, and then we move our back pawn to f6 to kick the king from g7, the king has to move down (Kxf6 or Kg6) and we get a queen! :-) Am I missing something?
If white goes f7 after Bh7 then black can simply move its king to g7 and again block pawn push (ideas like giving check with f6 won't work because then black king can go f8. After this black bishop will just re-route itself behind white pawns and eat them up eventually). EDIT: Just read your comment carefully. You and I saw the same line but you missed that the black king can move up instead of down
10:39, why would black retreat their king onto h6 when they could start threatening your pawns with the king by moving to g5? If white takes the pawn then the situation plays out like before, black takes the e6 pawn, you're in check so you take the bishop with the f5 pawn - now the black king can eat your pawns forcing a draw. If you don't take the bishop and retreat, at best black takes your f5 pawn and now you have one pawn and the black king can easily chase it down. Now lets say the white king doesn't take the pawn and moves to block instead, well now the black king can start eating white's pawns with nothing white can do about it. Sure, they can take the pawn but there's no way they're getting a queen. Game ends in a draw. Either way it's either a draw or a loss for white. Unless I'm mistaken that is.
King g5 is a blunder because white plays pawn f7, and now pawn promotion is unstoppable. If bishop takes, then pawn on e6 recaptures and it is out of the kings reach. If blacks king just starts taking pawns, then white captures the bishop and gets a queen.
White can eat the pawn and secure e6 before king has time to eat all white pawns! White 5 moves to secure e6 AND eat black pawn. Black 6 moves to eat 2 white!
Hey Nelson. In your honest opinion, do you think someone like Magnus would have been able to figure this out in game? How much time would it have taken for him? Obviously you don’t know for sure but what is your opinion?
True the world of chess is so vast, they say there are millions of possible moves within the 64 squares of the chess board, which really titillates the brain nerves, hence a very good massage of the brain to prevent Alzheimer's disease!
Yep, but actually black has a better move to make. If white pushed their pawn to f7 at that time, then the black bishop would just capture that pawn instead. If white recaptures, then black’s king will move to g7 to guard the pawn, preparing to capture both of white’s pawns. White also cannot push their pawn to e7 because the black bishop already guards that square, so it won’t accomplish much, and black’s king will come to capture both pawns.
Argh, I swear, I thought about this for like 5minutes and only 5 seconds after posting I realized that after takes on e6 , the pawn goes to E7 and the king can't take on f6 anymore because then he is too late to stop the e-pawn.
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It's incredible to me that there are composers who dedicate themselves to creating beautiful studies like this. The world of chess is so vast.
If chess was a video game, the composers would've been called modders.
@@Moldylocks Hey... i like that :)
It was the Great Depression, there wasn't much else to do ;P
@@SamuelPearlman Mark Libiurkin lived and died in Russia/Soviet Union.
@@MrSyntheticSmile The great depression wasn't an American thing, it was worldwide. TYL!
Amazing. This is now my favorite chess position. Seeing this, though, just shows how far away I am from playing perfect(ish) end-games, even when they seem to simple.
Don’t worry, I don’t think top grandmasters would find these lines in a few minutes in a game.
@@rene5939
Especially if they encounter these positions in one of those stupid rushed games. I don't think they will manage to find the solution in time.
There was one fascinating study by Mario Matous where at the end, the bishop had to stay in one diagonal only, so you had to figure out what square in the diagonal is the best. And it came down to zugzwang. You had literally 2 available squares and one loses the game like 6 moves later and the other one wins. It was truly amazing.
Mm⁰
Wow this study is beautiful, this really makes me smile knowing how beautiful our world of 64 squares really is
If somebody figure out this in a real game.. It would be a direct ticket to the hall of fame :)
Amazing.. beautiful and super tricky
Magnus surely can 😂
@@nabyly7283 any 2400+ ELOs can
Not sure they could, after an intense game, you think you have it wrapped up. A computer could do it though.
@@nabyly7283 even he can't
But black draws this game. At 11:25 bishop takes pawn, pxB, Kg6 and draw
Something that might be helpful for videos like this would be to post a lichess link to the opening position so players can easily try this for themselves vs the AI.
Aaron Smith: Of if you want to try it, you could just set up the board position and try it against any strong program or strong online AI. There are only 7 pieces, after all.
really a position like this you should just try and figure out and understand the concept then visualize to the end.
It's take under a minute to put this position
Lichess has a board editor where you can set up any position you want, after which you can analyse it or play against a friend or engine
Surely he can set the position but yt-uber providing link is more good
@10:45 I couldn't figure out at first why the bishop would not just sack itself for e6 check, causing pawn captures bishop and the black king would always be in the square to stop the pawns. But then I realized you could just move to e7 and you'd have all the time in the world to wait for your own king to come give backup. The king can never capture the f6 pawn without allowing a queen.
@theejd013 if bishop takes we take back with the pawn, then the black king cannot stop promotion
Bxe6 f5xe6 | Kg6 e7 | Kxf6 e8 queen
@@1hpgaming235 Black king can stop promotion until the white king arrives by playing Kf7 instead of Kxf6.
@@RMF49 yeah true but ultimately the white pawn will promote because in any case the black king cannot take either of the pawns, one is protected by the other and taking the f6 pawn leads to promotion so in any case its a loss
theejd013: At first, just looking at the board (and not starting the video), I was looking at it as black to move and draw. So it was obvious black had to move the bishop to b3 where it could be protected by the pawn, and that forced black to keep the king within the square of the pawn. Then looking, I see that if the black king stays in front of the white pawn complex, white can't win. So that's too easy.
But with white to move first, once e6 is played, it's completely different. What a fantastic example of a "simple" endgame where you have to know a LOT to play it right!
the white king would eventually reach the pawns to defend them
Amazing explanation . If possible please make series of this end game
I agree! A very amazing study.
This is why endgames are my favourite part of chess. Every move has to be calculated with precision and a single wrong move can cost you the game.
Triangulation is so tricky like this. Most players dont have 5 minutes to use on one move when playing at rapid TCs. Despite having a consistent 2k+ rating I am somewhat weak because I avoid endgames.
You never brought up term for this type of strategy zugswang, where you keep putting opponent into position to have to make bad move. A simple example is when you have K and pawn against K and are able to maintain opposition with your K against opponent K, ultimately forcing him to move out of the way. Care must always be taken on each move to maintain the zugswang. One bad move on your part and the situation can be reversed.
I believe endgame studies are one of the best ways to really deep understanding of chess. Thanks for the video!
Quick reminder to say whose move it is before you start explaining 👍
2:32 I assumed that the move was played for a Zugzwang but I didnt know the exact idea ( And I was right at 7:56)
At 8:46 I knew that c2 and b1 were right...
At 9:51 also I was right that we should stay near the pawn on the black diagnol...
I am so happy...
9:10 “this one is a little bit tricky so be careful” 😄 thank you for always taking care of us Maestro 😄
beautiful video!! now seriously thank you for your teaching and asking us to pause the video to decide the move I know I said this before but this not only makes us part of the video but helps us improve even more 😉
This video format should stay forever!
Thanks Nelson, these kinds of problems are perfect to study!
I do not really understand chess all that much, but the way he talks about the details makes it fascinating to watch his videos.
Brilliant! Please more videos about compositions.
Great puzzle, you're a very good teacher, thank you.
A very good puzzle 👌
I am improving small small calculations because of you
The scary thing is how GMs realize these pitfall positions in a split second several moves ahead.
Beautiful study, most of these motifs can be found in the horde variant endgames.
basically its all about zugzwang? amazing
That was fun and it illustrated how careful play can exploit the weakness of having a single Bishop.
Just amazing!!...I wonder if we're struggling to solve this even after knowing this is a probelm and it has a solution..then what would it have taken for the composer to create this beauty..
Super instructive!! Your a fantastic teacher
I really enjoy these videos of weird and interesting endgames :)
Wow so cool! This is one of my favorite puzzles!
Incredible! King moves are often the hardest one to find.
Thanks for featuring my comment! And what an amazing position!
Thanks for pointing out Liburkin, been loving his studies!
First thing you showed that stumped me at first was this puzzle. Mark is excellent..
This was probably the most fascinating endgame study I've ever seen.
I played a blinded ultrabullet against Stockfish once and I had that position! I intuitively avoided the white squares with my king because I felt that the white Bishop could be dangerous and I won
The ultimate "no u" puzzle
I love these endgame studies
At 11:27 forward, isn’t it still a draw. Black has Bxe6, Fxe6, Kg6 and from there both pawns can be taken leading to a draw.
White can just play e7 then move its king close.
Truly amazing. Thank you for sharing.
Super super the way you explained it !!! 👌👌👌👏👏👏👏👏
At time, 10:00, I think the white king can take the pawn because when the black bishop pull back from h7 to g8, the white could simply push the white pawn from f6 to f7 instead of the other pawn from e6 to e7. The would force the black bishop to either back off from g8 back to h7 again or force it to trade the bishop with the pawn. Either way, the white pawn will become the queen. In fact, I believe this the quicker way to end the game than your suggested route.
I think u confused which side’s turn it was. The black bishop was already on g8 before the white king captured pawn. If the white king captures the pawn at that time, then the bishop will move to h7.
Brilliant study about the importance of "whose turn is it".
Still 4:58 was an interesting position
If Black king eat pawn at Kf6, the pawn at E7 can promoted to queen
At 10:31 black can try Kg5, result no pawn move work again
You might want to get Rafael Kofman's 1981 "The selected studies of Sergey Kaminer and Mark Liburkin" in Russian ("Izbrannye etyudi Kaminera i Liburkina")
Thank you for another great video. This puzzle is fantastic!
Fantastic ! Also very realistic situation, not contrived
The theme of this scenario is, as Aaron Burr would say, "Wait for it."
Just these few pieces got my head hurting
No one
Stockfish:ah yes my favourite simple position
New favorite endgame position. holy crap that was mindbending fun
Interesting study 🔥 this also made an appearance in a chessbase video published a few days ago where Vidit solved it blindfolded
I was struggling to understand why, @ 10:45 the bishop couldn't just sacrifice itself and then let the king finish the pawns.
There is no way for the pawns to advance without being taken out by black's king.
Then I realised white can leave the pawns side-by-side after taking the bishop and instead move the king up to support the pawns.
Indeed.
It’s super interesting.
Thanks again for sharing.
At about 7 minutes in, you're discussing why King to C1 wouldn't work, because after King B1, Bishop H7, you still can't push the pawns. What if you were to go King A2? Avoiding Bishop taking on F5 with check. If bishop back to G8, king takes A pawn. I'm not good at chess at all, just curious why it wouldn't work.
Great video thanks :) wish more are coming
Actually, at 3:20, they would not capture the pawn as not to lose bishop. They could play bishop H7, which allows the pawn through to create a Queen and checkmate.
But in puzzles, the opponent will always make the best move. Playing Bh7 is a blunder as it’ll allow us to promote the pawn easily. Black would rather sacrifice the bishop to prevent all your other pawns from promoting than to save a bishop and let you get a queen. This would allow black to get a draw instead of losing
This kind of deceptive, seemingly-simple situation reminds me why I hate chess...and love it, too.
Thank you for your giving clear and flexible ideas.
The position relies on Zugzwang! Now that's cool
After !. e6 Black has 5 Move choices.
1. e6 Bf7
2. exf7
1. e6 Bxe6
2. fxe6
1. e6 Bh7
2. e7
1. e6 Kh7
2. Kc3
1. e6 a4
2. Kd1 ?
Black has 5 Move choices again!
The same 4 useless ones, and a3.
Well now we see a theme here, ...
What to do to make the fifth Move useless also!?
To leave Black with only the FOUR bad Move choices!
At 10:45 black can force a draw by Bxe6 then pxB and the king can catch the other pawn by Kg6
I think white can just push 1 pawn up. Black king cannot take the backward pawn because that would allow the other pawn to promote, and the front pawn is already protected by backward pawn so it can’t be taken. So white king just needs to make their way up to promote the pawn
Excellent...well thought composition 👌👍
endgames are extremely tricky, 1 wrong move and you lose a winning game
8:52
The most amazing thing about this puzzle is the king sacrifice on b2.
This makes a classic zugzwang example.
Once found the idea one can create wonderful situations.
Sometimes the greatest complexities occur in the simplest of positions.
After the king takes the black pawn, why can’t the king move up to deal with that bishop that eas going to go back and forth?
I just started looking into chess, it's interesting how much parity tempo comes up.
Cant black do bishop takes e6. pawn takes bishop. king g8. Pawn f7 check. king f8. pawn e7 check. Kings takes either pawn. pawn promotes. king takes (draw.)
After pawn f7 check, king f8. White starts moving their king over there to help escort the pawns. Black king cannot take e6 pawn because that would allow f7 pawn to promote, and f7 pawn is defended by e6 pawn so it can’t be taken either, allowing white to have time to move their king over.
Instead of taking the pawn, just leave your king in the corner, put the bishop in check and ouala you have a queen
Very instructive. Thanks
But at 10:02, after Bh7, we can go f7 instead of e7. Wouldn't that win?
The bishop will be trapped because he can't go to g8 nor g6, so the black king has to go to g7 to prevent our promotion, and then we move our back pawn to f6 to kick the king from g7, the king has to move down (Kxf6 or Kg6) and we get a queen! :-)
Am I missing something?
If white goes f7 after Bh7 then black can simply move its king to g7 and again block pawn push (ideas like giving check with f6 won't work because then black king can go f8. After this black bishop will just re-route itself behind white pawns and eat them up eventually).
EDIT: Just read your comment carefully. You and I saw the same line but you missed that the black king can move up instead of down
@@gauravpandey7232 thanks for the response. I think you're right, I didn't consider the black king going to f8 to block the promotion.
very interesting study, thank you
Strong NM never heard about famous chess composer.
Chances of thinking this much is 0.000001%
I set this board up with my family. Played e6 followed by f7. Got at least 2 queens on the board.
10:39, why would black retreat their king onto h6 when they could start threatening your pawns with the king by moving to g5? If white takes the pawn then the situation plays out like before, black takes the e6 pawn, you're in check so you take the bishop with the f5 pawn - now the black king can eat your pawns forcing a draw. If you don't take the bishop and retreat, at best black takes your f5 pawn and now you have one pawn and the black king can easily chase it down.
Now lets say the white king doesn't take the pawn and moves to block instead, well now the black king can start eating white's pawns with nothing white can do about it. Sure, they can take the pawn but there's no way they're getting a queen. Game ends in a draw.
Either way it's either a draw or a loss for white. Unless I'm mistaken that is.
King g5 is a blunder because white plays pawn f7, and now pawn promotion is unstoppable. If bishop takes, then pawn on e6 recaptures and it is out of the kings reach. If blacks king just starts taking pawns, then white captures the bishop and gets a queen.
@@Adventurer-te8fl Ahhh I see. I don't know how I missed pawn f7, but I did all the same. Thank you for correcting me.
White can eat the pawn and secure e6 before king has time to eat all white pawns! White 5 moves to secure e6 AND eat black pawn. Black 6 moves to eat 2 white!
Hey Nelson. In your honest opinion, do you think someone like Magnus would have been able to figure this out in game? How much time would it have taken for him? Obviously you don’t know for sure but what is your opinion?
Completely mind blowing
0:49 black don't win because he only has a bishop and wrong rook pawn!
Thanks, e and f pawn triad, remebered it ;)
8:52, King, *B1. Hope it helps.
Those turn wasting moves are for the best players.
Very nice, thanks!
Can't black sacrifice the bishop and black king takes both white pawns before white king can come over?
Just saw, question was already answered before. Sorry.
Mark Libiurkin lived in poverty and died in poverty, and many of his compositions which remained in manuscripts have been lost. He died young.
Fantastic. Thanks.
Black last move could be 1 step forward not back.
You should have start with who's turn it is.
Oh, so THAT’s how you apply a zugzwang
True the world of chess is so vast, they say there are millions of possible moves within the 64 squares of the chess board, which really titillates the brain nerves, hence a very good massage of the brain to prevent Alzheimer's disease!
12:03 i am watching the vídeo with no sound so i dont know what you saying but f7 Bh7 f8 Bg8 f6 Kh7 or a3 Qg7 isnt check mate?
Yep, but actually black has a better move to make.
If white pushed their pawn to f7 at that time, then the black bishop would just capture that pawn instead. If white recaptures, then black’s king will move to g7 to guard the pawn, preparing to capture both of white’s pawns. White also cannot push their pawn to e7 because the black bishop already guards that square, so it won’t accomplish much, and black’s king will come to capture both pawns.
*I meant black’s bishop guards e8 so pushing to e7 won’t do much since u cannot promote safely
OMG... crazy position... amazing
This is fascinating.
Amazing find
at 7:28, why couldn't white king go to A1? would avoid the check because he's a turn ahead
The pawns would still be blockaded and it’ll end in a draw
Ehh.. I don't get it. 1:58 bishop just takes the pawn on e6 and it's a draw. What am I missing?
Argh, I swear, I thought about this for like 5minutes and only 5 seconds after posting I realized that after takes on e6 , the pawn goes to E7 and the king can't take on f6 anymore because then he is too late to stop the e-pawn.
Mark Liburkin was a genius.
Why couldn’t we play Kd3 instead of Kd1?