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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 😅🎉👍
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!
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.
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.
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 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!
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.
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 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.
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.
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."
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.
I'm used to playing on an app called Chess Royale which allows 1 minute per move, so I don't think beyond the immediate (it just takes too much effort) so I guess that confirms I'm 1000 to 1200.
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.
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
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 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.
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 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).
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?
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
I could go upto 1800, but failed to see the checkmate for both variations. So I would say, am about 1600-1700 level for this puzzle and my rapid rating of around 1600 justifies that.
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 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
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
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!
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!
My rating was about 1900 USCF when I stopped playing tournaments 30 years ago. I keep active re my chess tactics and theory re TH-cam videos like this, but only play against computers, so I suspect my real rating is somewhat similar now. My rating on this puzzle was 1800 because I saw all the stuff re black winning, but didn't consider that sharp white knight move and what THAT unleashes. (Speaking of lazy or just plain stupid...) So to me, this seems to correlate rather well to real world ratings, especially for a single puzzle. Bravo.
I was satisfied at a conclusion which brought me to the 1800 level which is probably a good estimate of my actual rating. I did not think about Nd5+ but should have.
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.
I'm either somewhere below 1800 or just a lazy 1800. I assumed the king could escape towards d1 and missed after Qg1+ the bishop on d3 would prevent the interposing Qf1 (should have seen that). Instead I assumed Qxd2 was the biggest threat instead of Bd3. I kinda assumed the bishop would come in next and white would still lose (as I didn't see any good ideas). (I don't think I'd ever found the knight move followed by the check with the rook... )
I found all the lines, but the variation after the knight sac and Re1check nearly beat me. In a game I would not have gotten it, however as I knew the puzzle must have a solution after trying everything else I hit on the bishop move out of desperation and then was able to calculate the win.
1000. I'm a real newbie and thanks for the (now obvious to me, duh) advice that you have to calculate your opponent's advantage too, as far out as you can.
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
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 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!
I failed to notice the rook as extra material, but I had calculated both the attack with the queen and bishop, and counter play sacrificing the knight.. I would estimate my rating to be around 1200-1300, but I don't have an ELO rating.
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
I'm 1476 in rapid. After some thought I decided queen eating horsey was the best move, maybe the only way i can save my own horsey and i force them to defend from potential checkmate, sure they can take my pawn with check but that's all, my bishop will come alive soon..
I can say confidently between 1600 to 1800 ... somewhere between that... which matches my puzzle rating in Lichess actually. So ye, that's a pretty good way to estimate ur level
I will ordain myself an 1,100. I saw the 1. ... Qxd4 move and how it gains material and protects the A7 pawn. I saw that the black King is safe if the white Rook stays out of the fray. I failed to see the checkmate on F2.
I only got 1200 on this one, need to focus more on my opponent's tactics as well. That's about my actual rating, though I've scored higher on others. Maybe time to take a course =) Great puzzle!
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?
Great test - thanks a lot! I have not calculated Qf3 but all the other variants also the last one! My current chess rating ist just a little above 1500...
1800 I was taking into consideration this white knight grabing black pawn, but rather as a move prolonging whites' agony. Maybe this Rf1+ was in my range, but not this time. By the way, excellent content and nice voice, You are doing great job.
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 had e5 chase the knight away while continuing to protect b7. if they bring the rook over instead of running away, then it's the same game, but otherwise Bd3 force the other knight to protect the king, then Be4, threatening the first knight while taking over guarding b7 to free up the queen.
I figured it through to bishop blocks rook, and most likely black could escape further attacks (but I didn't work through them). I have no real rating -- I just play the Lichess "puzzle streak" games. My guess is that I'd lose to a 1400 rating player since I don't know openings well enough.
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.
What if I didn't calculate the 1800 level variation but I definitely spent a lot of time considering Nd5/Re1+, including the conclusion that Be4 is the best defense?
The weird thing for me was I couldn't work out who had more material which you said was 600 but I could see queen takes knight threatening mate in 1. I could also see that my opponent could deliver a check with his queen because once you'd moved the queen to take the knight I could see my pawn was ungaurded and knew how to get out of it bujt I lacked the killer instinct of someone higher rated for example once you brought back the queen I had zero idea of how to solve it .
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?
This was a weird one for me. I saw that bishop to d3 was not a good move and opted for taking the knight. I also saw that after taking, white could give checks with the queen but concluded that it wasn't threatening. I did see the check with the knight but wasn't able to calculate the line afterwards. Ig it's 1000-1200 for me.
i have an 1800 rating and i saw knight to d5 check but I think almost all 1800 will see that move tbh amazing video i did not see the bishop blocking the rook check hehe I love your content please upload a video about how to actually study chess openings
I figured out the puzzle to 1800 but apparently I’m 600 because I never realized I was down in material. I just figured since it’s a puzzle I had to find the best solution regardless - and that’s always the quickest solution possible - or DIE of checkmate!
I'm 1,400 on a 10 minute clock and 1,200 on a 5 minute clock because I lose on time a lot. I was able to calculate all the best moves until I missed white's knight sacrifice and the queen skewer.
![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.
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!
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.
Keep doing these puzzles mate, I love solving them. My rating was 1800 ✌
👍
Your channel is amazing
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
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🤦🏾♂️
Missed the 1st part? Watch it now - th-cam.com/video/ch4slan6M-w/w-d-xo.html
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
This is my favorite chess content on TH-cam. Very interesting and educational. Thank you.
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
WE NEED THIS MORE !!!
More puzzles please
These puzzles and your explanation are really useful learning material, Igor! Very good video!
I started chess this year and slowly but surely with the help of this great channel my rating should be 800. Thank you.
The recent videos highlighting the importance of paying more attention to your opponent's options/plans have been really helpful. Tks!
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.
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.
KEEP DOING THESE PLEASE. I LEARN A LOT FROM YOU IGOR
Thank you!
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.
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.
You’re my favorite chess teacher on TH-cam
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.
👍 Nice one! Nd5+ was obvious. Stopped after the Re1+ to see what I would do with the Bishop. Thinking Q2+, Kf6…
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."
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.
I'm used to playing on an app called Chess Royale which allows 1 minute per move, so I don't think beyond the immediate (it just takes too much effort) so I guess that confirms I'm 1000 to 1200.
He sounded so hopeful for the future of chess, and then remembered why he treats us all like we’re dumb
Sir your channel is amazing
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.
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
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 could calculate the 1200 part but I didn’t see the extra rook so what would my rating be?
Whats about: Be4 first; then Nxe4; Qxf4 now after Qxb7 the King can escape (f8)and matt on a1 or f2 cant Prevent?
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. :-)
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 failed to think hardly for my opponent, so ended up somewhere at 1200+.
That is a great lesson for me. Thank you!
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 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).
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?
Should put more videos like this. Great video.
Great video, helped me see a lot clearer in under ten minutes.
SPASIBA FOR THE INSIGHT INTO how TO CALCULATE
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
I didn't consider Nd5+ but I saw the variations after you mentioned it
Nice! Learnt something here!
I could go upto 1800, but failed to see the checkmate for both variations. So I would say, am about 1600-1700 level for this puzzle and my rapid rating of around 1600 justifies that.
Many beginners play checks without thinking of a follow up move.
Always think at least 2 moves ahead.
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 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
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
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!
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!
Love these. More, more MORE!
My rating was about 1900 USCF when I stopped playing tournaments 30 years ago. I keep active re my chess tactics and theory re TH-cam videos like this, but only play against computers, so I suspect my real rating is somewhat similar now.
My rating on this puzzle was 1800 because I saw all the stuff re black winning, but didn't consider that sharp white knight move and what THAT unleashes. (Speaking of lazy or just plain stupid...) So to me, this seems to correlate rather well to real world ratings, especially for a single puzzle. Bravo.
I would continue after Be4 for more rating if they see after Re2 Qf6+ and after King moves to any place Qa1 2800 :)
I was satisfied at a conclusion which brought me to the 1800 level which is probably a good estimate of my actual rating. I did not think about Nd5+ but should have.
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.
I'm either somewhere below 1800 or just a lazy 1800. I assumed the king could escape towards d1 and missed after Qg1+ the bishop on d3 would prevent the interposing Qf1 (should have seen that).
Instead I assumed Qxd2 was the biggest threat instead of Bd3. I kinda assumed the bishop would come in next and white would still lose (as I didn't see any good ideas).
(I don't think I'd ever found the knight move followed by the check with the rook... )
I found all the lines, but the variation after the knight sac and Re1check nearly beat me. In a game I would not have gotten it, however as I knew the puzzle must have a solution after trying everything else I hit on the bishop move out of desperation and then was able to calculate the win.
In classical chess I play at a high level. I miss moves like Kf6… Qh8+ in shorter time controls. I got the max level here because I had so much time
1000. I'm a real newbie and thanks for the (now obvious to me, duh) advice that you have to calculate your opponent's advantage too, as far out as you can.
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
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 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!
I’m surprised how accurate this is.
very impressive coaching
I failed to notice the rook as extra material, but I had calculated both the attack with the queen and bishop, and counter play sacrificing the knight.. I would estimate my rating to be around 1200-1300, but I don't have an ELO rating.
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
I'm 1476 in rapid. After some thought I decided queen eating horsey was the best move, maybe the only way i can save my own horsey and i force them to defend from potential checkmate, sure they can take my pawn with check but that's all, my bishop will come alive soon..
I can say confidently between 1600 to 1800 ... somewhere between that... which matches my puzzle rating in Lichess actually. So ye, that's a pretty good way to estimate ur level
Very good video! Please more of these types of problems!
I agree with all of the above (below) comments. I have some of your courses and plan to buy more. Mick
I will ordain myself an 1,100.
I saw the 1. ... Qxd4 move and how it gains material and protects the A7 pawn. I saw that the black King is safe if the white Rook stays out of the fray.
I failed to see the checkmate on F2.
A factor to, is time, how much time do you have for this calculation.
I only got 1200 on this one, need to focus more on my opponent's tactics as well. That's about my actual rating, though I've scored higher on others. Maybe time to take a course =) Great puzzle!
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?
Great test - thanks a lot! I have not calculated Qf3 but all the other variants also the last one! My current chess rating ist just a little above 1500...
1800 I was taking into consideration this white knight grabing black pawn, but rather as a move prolonging whites' agony. Maybe this Rf1+ was in my range, but not this time.
By the way, excellent content and nice voice, You are doing great job.
Wonderful puzzle!
It works very well, I am 1900 Elo, and I could calculate to 1800 level. I haven't seen the master variants.
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 had e5 chase the knight away while continuing to protect b7.
if they bring the rook over instead of running away, then it's the same game, but otherwise Bd3 force the other knight to protect the king, then Be4, threatening the first knight while taking over guarding b7 to free up the queen.
I figured it through to bishop blocks rook, and most likely black could escape further attacks (but I didn't work through them). I have no real rating -- I just play the Lichess "puzzle streak" games. My guess is that I'd lose to a 1400 rating player since I don't know openings well enough.
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.
What if I didn't calculate the 1800 level variation but I definitely spent a lot of time considering Nd5/Re1+, including the conclusion that Be4 is the best defense?
Excellent post, Thank You!
Amazing analysis
I just did some minor evaluation, played QxN and felt the rest would come from the position.
The weird thing for me was I couldn't work out who had more material which you said was 600 but I could see queen takes knight threatening mate in 1. I could also see that my opponent could deliver a check with his queen because once you'd moved the queen to take the knight I could see my pawn was ungaurded and knew how to get out of it bujt I lacked the killer instinct of someone higher rated for example once you brought back the queen I had zero idea of how to solve it .
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?
This was a weird one for me. I saw that bishop to d3 was not a good move and opted for taking the knight. I also saw that after taking, white could give checks with the queen but concluded that it wasn't threatening. I did see the check with the knight but wasn't able to calculate the line afterwards. Ig it's 1000-1200 for me.
i have an 1800 rating and i saw knight to d5 check but I think almost all 1800 will see that move tbh amazing video i did not see the bishop blocking the rook check hehe I love your content please upload a video about how to actually study chess openings
I figured out the puzzle to 1800 but apparently I’m 600 because I never realized I was down in material. I just figured since it’s a puzzle I had to find the best solution regardless - and that’s always the quickest solution possible - or DIE of checkmate!
Thanks alot
Qd4, but just for saving the knight, not for checkmate
I'm 1,400 on a 10 minute clock and 1,200 on a 5 minute clock because I lose on time a lot.
I was able to calculate all the best moves until I missed white's knight sacrifice and the queen skewer.
I hit 1800.. not impressive, but also not discouraging! Thanks for the video :)