A Viewer Tricked Me With This Puzzle 😡

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Puzzle FEN:
3k4/8/7p/2p1p1pP/1pPpPpP1/1P1P1P2/N7/2K5 w - - 0 1
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[@Skeepers192]

I found the idea on h4 pretty quick but definitely didn't have the patience to realize the way the knight had to get there

[@szymongrobelski2713]

same i saw it almost instantly but after that i kinda blanked on how to get there... then i tought for some reason that if tkaes my knight on a3 he will make a queen cause i put my king in the wrong position so i f'd up a bit

[@123duelist]

My idea is to get the Knight to h3, sacrifice on g5, then push the h pawn

[@Thruey]

You gotta go across the board in zigzag(first solution in video) i figured that in a min from thumbnail i just followed a path and it worked

[@AngelNearDestruction]

I kinda had the opposite happen. I looked at the position and saw that the only way to make actual progress was to get the knight to a4 but with perfect play I couldn't figure out as quickly what the new idea was. Only then did I realize that there was a weakness on h4 and I could actually move my knight there now.

[@amazeed8532]

same samee

[@Figgy20000]

As soon as I realized the knight could be on A3 without being captured the rest of the puzzle was very straightforward. Easy but still well composed, the best kind of puzzles.

[@jono5744]

Your comment was the hint that I needed, after spending almost an hour on this.

[@sepulvedagalviscristian6686]

Do you mean C1?

[@jeffreyjohnson7359]

Yeah. Easy.

[@electricmaster23]

Thanks! My intention in composing this was to be a puzzle that looked simple but would have an elaborate solution.

[@rayaanansari4834]

@@electricmaster23 very nice!

[@a_doggo]

That's just absolutely wild. Great puzzle! Reminds me of those "Leela thinks it can win even though this is drawn" positions.

[@electricmaster23]

Thank you kindly! :)

[@teambellavsteamalice]

I remember this puzzle stomped me when I first saw it. What I struggled with is seeing right away what pawn endgames are winning. I vaguely recall your opponent can win if it places the king in direct opposition, but not sure when that counts and when it doesn't....

[@oenrn]

In this case opposition doesn't matter much, once the white king can get past the blockade it can just sweep up the black pawns to free more of its own pawns, and the opponent can't stop all of them.

[@abebuckingham8198]

I would strongly encourage you to study the endgame. Once you can identify a winning king-and-pawn ending achieving one is essentially a free win. Josh Waitzkin did an excellent endgame course for Chessmaster a few years back and you can find it on KZbin. It really improved my game.

[@thechugg4372]

@@oenrn wait isnt the opposite also possible?

[@lks8977]

I thoight u can Ann Pesannt

[@ringring7469]

tysm i hate getting into this position

[@himanshuplayz2375]

Tf💀

[@w_e_i_l_k_a]

And then he sacrificed THE KNIIIIIIIIGHT!!!!

[@Rocky64]

For those wondering about en passant, there's a problem convention that deals with such a possibility. The rule is that making an e.p. capture as the first move is ILLEGAL, unless it can be proved by retro-analysis that the previous move must have been a double-step by the pawn to be captured. In this case, Black's previous move could have been made by the king and was not necessarily any pawn double-step, so it's forbidden to start with an e.p. capture.

[@Arthas30000]

I thought EP here was losing, because the Black King gets to g6 too fast, and you can't protect that pawn fast enough

[@Rocky64]

@@Arthas30000 I just checked with Stockfish and it finds a win for White if 1.hxg6 e.p. were legal. 1...Ke7 2.Nxb4! and if 2...cxb4 then 3.c5, and the black king can't handle both passed pawns. If instead 2...Kf6, then 3.Na6 Kxg6 4.Nxc5, another easy win.

[@Arthas30000]

@@Rocky64 Wow. That's a cool solution! Ty for letting me know :D

[@electricmaster23]

Thanks! Puzzle creator here. This is exactly right. Thanks for pointing this out. I've had to answer literally dozens of people thinking "why not en passant"?

[@electricmaster23]

@@Rocky64 Yeah, that's how I found it as well. When I was creating it, I didn't actually think it helped until I used Stockfish. Beautiful little distraction motif.

[@japphan]

So, I looked at the puzzle, and said to myself: just get the knight to H4. When I saw the sollution, I realized getting the pony there was slightly more intricate than just getting it there. Great explanation of a nice puzzle. Cheers!

[@electricmaster23]

Pony had to pay his taxes to the King! ;)

[@armandbier2502]

1:50 what is stopping the black king from going down left and still defending both positions?

[@electricmaster23]

It's critical that Black defends the backward pawn on c5; meanwhile, White is covering c5 and c6, so a waiting move puts Black in zugzwang and forces them to allow White's knight into their position.

[@zer5034]

that square is attacked by the C4 pawn

[@pauln7869]

When you said "tricked", I wondered if the H pawn had to take the G pawn en passant - the puzzle doesn't say whether this move is available!

[@awatermelone9436]

all the pawns are past the 2nd rank tho

[@pauln7869]

@@awatermelone9436 If black's last move was to move a pawn from G7 to G5 then white can take it by moving a pawn from H5 to G6.

[@awatermelone9436]

@@pauln7869 the king can get the pawn before promotion and not move the h pawn to keep pawn structure ig

[@electricmaster23]

Yeah, that would've been a mean prank lol. You can only do that if you know that Black's last move g5. If you see a puzzle composition with no indication that the last move allows en passant, then it's not available. Interestingly, moving Black's King around doesn't stop them from losing to an en passant. The question is: if you could do en passant and Black played Ke8, what would your follow-up be? And, yes, there is a win for White, which I didn't realise for a good while after composing the puzzle (as I didn't need to check it).

[@michaellv426]

First thing that comes to mind is that Horsey can get to a4, beside a fellow white pawn, by first going to a small expanse on the right side of the board, doing a small maneuver, and going back left. As soon as it gets to a4, it can start enthusiastically stampeding black pawns, starting from c5, if Black King is not careful. Or just go through behind enemy lines and cause mayhem there. This requires a more precise look. Black King can not block Horsey's breakthrough by constantly guarding on a5, because the king is the only black piece that is not stuck, so it has to constantly move. And this is an enormous advantage the white player has here. Eventually once Horsey arrives to a4, if Black King will be at a6 at that time, he will not be able to move to b6 and save the c5 pawn, because b6 will be under attack by Horsey. Moving from a6 to a5 will scare Horsey into attacking c5 pawn. I don't know if it is desirable for Black King at this point or not. Probably Black King will instead want to stick around between c6 and d6, to guard c5 pawn from being hit outright, and from losing too quickly. In this case, when Black King will be on d6, Horsey will be safe and free! It can go from a4 to b6, and then almost anywhere it likes. If it will be able to outmaneuver the King, who will probably be chasing it, if he is not suicidal, Horsey will be able to safely stampede one of the pawns on 5th row or on h6, and let one or more of the white pawns through. To find out if one of the white pawns will be able to promote, it requires more calculation, I'll excitedly watch if there's another way. This is a very clever riddle.

[@ConfectionerCat]

I could've sworn I've seen a similar puzzle, where the trick was to first find en passant, followed by a knight sacrifice, creating two passed pawns 🧐 This is a bit of a different one, because the knight can actually get behind the lines _(no white pawn on a4)._ Regardless, a very nice puzzle!

[@electricmaster23]

Thanks! Yeah, no cheap tricks here!

[@Ridlay_]

I knew there would be some way to win because of that piece advantage and ways of breaking through, but dang that was way more complicated than expected.

[@dentonyoung4314]

That was a truly remarkable endgame study.

[@electricmaster23]

Thank you very much, Denton! I'm so glad so many people got to appreciate my work.

[@chrwner]

I think it is worth noting, that at 3:09, if black waits for the opposition with Ka6, then Kxa3 Ka5, b4+ cxb4+, Kb3 still is a won endgame.

[@danielskrivan6921]

What was the trick by the viewer? That was the one thing promised by the title of the video, and you didn't deliver.

[@oenrn]

The trick is you have to make the correct sequence of knight moves.

[@danielskrivan6921]

@@oenrn That is a trick, but it doesn't mean he was tricked.

[@electricmaster23]

@@danielskrivan6921 I think he meant tricked in the "stumped" sense of the word.

[@danielskrivan6921]

@@electricmaster23 I've never heard it used that way.

[@electricmaster23]

@@danielskrivan6921 Well, it's synonymous with words like "bamboozled" or "outwitted", which I think are a good fit. In any case, the algorithm loves this video, so I wouldn't change a thing if I were Chess Vibes! Ride that gravy train into Gravyville, baby!

[@dontich]

Yeah I saw the h4 part but getting it there looked super tough; completely missed the jumping around transposition on the other side

[@abarette_]

before clicking the video I tried to solve it: Basically you need to get the Knight on B2 -> A4 to move safely from the pawns so from the start you move king to B1, then Knight to C1 -> E2 -> G1 -> H3 -> F2 -> D1 -> B2 The massive problem is that in the meantime, Black King may move to A5, thus blocking your Knight from all options that aren't -> C5 Actually getting your Knight to checkmate the King might be tough++ I might be missing something big but that's my first shot at it

[@electricmaster23]

What did you think of the solution? :)

[@irjake]

Seems like you'd need to do a long knight maneuver c1 e2 g1 h3 f2 d1 b3 a4 to get the knight behind black and the get to some weakness.

[@electricmaster23]

It's a good start ;)

[@kelvinblanco6211]

As a 1200, I was very happy to find that the knight needed to arrive upon h4. The way for it to get there, would have taken me like 20 minutes to find

[@varchasvupadhayay5042]

Another way I cld think about was taking the knight to h3 and then capturing the pawn on g5 **while** the king is somewhere to the left of the board, black pawn captures g5, and our h line pawn has a chance to promote if the king is far away by enough.

[@electricmaster23]

Yes, but this impossible if Black defends properly.

[@joezerneem]

3:43 A funny thing I noticed, is that white can play the immediate Nh4 with the King still on d1. It doesn't matter where black's King is at that moment. For example, with the black King on f6: Nh4 gxh4 Ke1 Kg5 Kf1 h3 Kg1 Kh4 Kh2 etc. Or with the black King on f7: Nh4 gxh4 Ke1 Kf6 Kf1 Kg5 Kg1 h3 Kh1! Kh4 Kh2 etc.

[@electricmaster23]

Yeah. It is ironic, though, that it’s a slower solution. Nevertheless, the triangulation motif is definitely a fun one.

[@Overkill9991]

I have actually seen this puzzle before. The hardest part is just maneuvering the into the black territory to get some pawns.

[@Patrick__M]

I’m insanely rusty(25+ years), but I’m struggling to see how that is a winning king/pawn combo at the end. Wish you played it all out I keep seeing is black forcing a draw.

[@electricmaster23]

You can run some engine analysis, but it’s pretty easy to see that White is mopping up.

[@jeffthemagicalpufferfishco9006]

You're right it's not a king pawn endgame for the h file. H file pawns will almost always become a stalemate, but since your kings moved to that side of the board you can push blacks king back to his back row and then move to take blacks pawn on e5. The e4 pawn can be passed to the end

[@DaDitka]

I love looking at chess puzzles, though I am no good at them. This was really intriguing. Thank you.

[@johnmcbruce215]

That's cool, this was the first video where I've been able to pause & find all the correct moves, although the explanations of the positions prior definitely contributed to that, but I did come up with everything up to the knight a3 point from the pause

[@electricmaster23]

That's good. I think it's a sign of a good teacher that @Chess Vibes could break it down for you and lead you in the right direction.

[@kavyagajera440]

The first time I saw the puzzle, my first thought was if en passant was possible, Anyways Nice puzzle

[@electricmaster23]

Thanks :)

[@AgentSmith911]

I tried to run it with Stockfish but it's a bit too deep 🤔

[@electricmaster23]

Try giving it to lichess with 10 seconds per move. ;) 14.1 NNUE fares better than 15 (ironically).

[@fcolecumberri]

I remembee this puzzle, it was featured by the spanish youtuber "Circulo de ajedrez Jose Raul Capablanca" as a puzzle that machines (at that moment) could not solve like 5 years ago.

[@electricmaster23]

Thanks! I will check it out!

[@CertifiedClapaholic]

There is a way. Black has to actively want to lose and not use their king to defend the 5 line pawns

[@electricmaster23]

Technically correct. The best kind of correct!

[@HansLemurson]

At the "pause and think" section, I looked around and saw that if the Knight can get to B2, then it can hop past the pawn line. That'll take like 7-8 moves though, so the enemy king can definitely get into position to protect C5. But maybe with a wild knight behind the lines there'd be a way to break the pawn chain and force a victory.

[@andrewlopshire8442]

There is!

[@electricmaster23]

@@andrewlopshire8442 and, ironically, it’s not broken behind enemy lines, as you know. ;)

[@vinesthemonkey]

fancy seeing an old RDFer here :)

[@HansLemurson]

@@vinesthemonkey Oh man, that takes me back! I'm actually a computer science tutor these days, and convinced one of my students to build a redstone CPU. :)

[@vinesthemonkey]

@@HansLemurson That's a great job. I've long thought about getting back into redstone, but it's been too long and I feel out of practice

[@bandicootsav2270]

This is the benefit of a completely closed system. With open-mindedness one just has to see the positive fact that while there seemingly little one can do to win it just means less possible moves to pick from to possibly win.

[@jono5744]

What stumped me is not realizing that Nc2 opens up new possibilities; and the only way to c2 was from a3. I didn't even look at Nc2. I thought I had exhausted all possibilities.

[@Shadow-hm3uq]

N? What does N stand for?

[@jono5744]

Knight

[@AnusAnnihialator26]

Here’s a possible alternative: If black’s G pawn’s last move was a double move, then white’s H pawn can take en passant after Nb4. If black takes, there are two pass pawns that black has to juggle, leading at least one to promote. If black doesn’t take, then Na6 and Nc5, having the same effect. If the king comes down to defend his C pawn, then white’s H pawn easily promotes. Hopefully I thought this through properly😅

[@electricmaster23]

This would work if en passant were allowed, yes, but it’s not allowed in this puzzle.

[@luuke96]

Hey Nelson, just wanted to tell you how amazing your videos are. I just found your channel very recently, but you became my favourite chess youtuber within seconds. Keep on going

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

Thanks, Lukas! Welcome aboard!

[@electricmaster23]

@@ChessVibesOfficial Hope your flooding situation is being sorted out, Nelson. I'm blown away that this is closing in on a million views and that the people I respect and admire are appreciating it. Cheers, -Ben

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

@@electricmaster23 Thanks, buddy! Yeah the algorithm likes this one!

[@electricmaster23]

Thanks, I'll look out for my check in the mail! ;) Ha ha.

[@andrewb3882]

That only works if black makes two mistakes… the key for black is don’t capture anything with the pawns, allow you to take the base pawn with the knight and capturing your knight with his king. Then block the pawn with his king and if it advances take it since whites king cannot advance through the gap.

[@adityaprasad2822]

I'm thinking how tf did someone get to this position in an actual game😂

[@oenrn]

It's not hard to get to something like this if you never trade pawns and just push them forward together until they're blocked.

[@electricmaster23]

@@oenrn Yeah, quite a few people like to tell me that this position wouldn't happen in a real game, but it's not the most absurd-looking position in the world, as Chinese walls (as Suren calls them) do happen fairly often, although rarely this long, I'll admit.

[@aqdjbcr]

Glad both ideas work since I saw them both. I was like ‘one of these has to have something I’m missing’ but no. Both work

[@Rooklifter]

I would probably lose with white, i am pretty bad in closed positions

[@GregoriousApartment]

no you wouldn't lose, you'll draw most probably. the blockade is too drawish

[@Rooklifter]

Iˋll find a way

[@fos1451]

If you lost with whit Erin this position, you’re as amazing as stockfish

[@Near_Void]

You want to get your knight to b2

[@electricmaster23]

@@Rooklifter I feel that.

[@jameeztherandomguy5418]

I haven't watched the video solution, but heres what I think you should do. Move the king to h3 then manuever knight to e2 and sacrifice on f4. gxf4, and then Kh4 after the g pawn is gone. then offer a pawn trade on g5 and black can't stop either g or h pawn from promoting Edit 1: I totally missed the knight manuevering to a4 idea. currenty at 2:27 i dont know what to do at this point except find away to take h6 without getting captured after safe spot f5 and then consequently take g5 (where you can get captured) but your king is there to make it the same scenario as above Edit 2: man i was pretty close

[@V_ChessGuy]

Awesome

[@lol101lol101lol10199]

The title made me think the puzzle was a trick and White can't actually win. I then looked for creative ways to give Black a chance to blunder so White wins anyway, like "what if you sac on f4 and hope Black recaptures with the wrong pawn". The basic idea of "knight-sac would be worth it if it could somehow make Black not have a g-pawn" occurred very quickly. The Nh4 idea occurred to me partway through the video when it became clear that there was in fact supposed to be a solution. (The Na3 idea had by then already been revealed).

[@Smartness_itself]

This is an example of a position where a knigh is more powerful than a bishop.

[@swewunna]

Easy. Get the Knight to a4. Then gain extra tempo with King. Once the Knight is in, it can be manoeuvre to attack c5, e5 and h6 pawns. Once base of pawn chain is gone, the rest is history. First vacate c1 square. Then Nc1-e2-g1-h3-f2-d1-b2-a4.

[@electricmaster23]

Not so easy, eh? ;)

[@Jesusls]

I mean pawn to g6 doing an en passant is the only real move in this situation, the horse is merely a ruse to hide the truth

[@electricmaster23]

Haha. 😂

[@Romashka_Sov]

I know chess moves very bad so i stuck with "Knight goes to A4", but didn't know what to do next because i thought pawns can eat backwards. Once i knew they can't, it was easy: open path for one of two upper pawns (C5 or E5) with Knight, move it to the end of the board, defending with Knight and skipping bad moves with the King if needed, maybe unlocking path for another pawn, and win. Strategy in video was not what i expected

[@alearnedman]

Knight traveled almost the whole board just to get sacrificed. Chess, baby

[@electricmaster23]

That's Wizard's Chess, that is! ;)

[@Eftelingannie]

I've tried the end game after scraficing the knight. In the last position in the video it's black to play. He can block the pawn by gooing h6 or h7. However you end up in a situation where white has to loose his pawn otherwise the game ends in a draw. The only way (in my oppinion) to win after sacraficing the night is to push forward with the pawn on h5 but after sacraficing the pawn the king can return to take out 2 black pawns on c5 and e5. Then black can't defend both white pawns at c4 and e4 from promoting cause of the defending by the white king. Please enlighten me if i made an error in my thinking.

[@electricmaster23]

That's right. Black is overloaded and can't handle all the threats. Even if it tries blockade the h-pawn, White can attack Black's pawn base as you say.

[@braidenbarr1726]

I’m just curious, if black moved last you can maybe en passant the pawn on H5 to G6 and promote to a queen? That would make it easier to get the rest of your pawns going

[@electricmaster23]

Yes, but you can only do that if you _know_ that Black's last move g5. If you see a puzzle composition with no indication that the last move allows en passant, then it's not available. Interestingly, moving Black's King around doesn't stop them from losing to an en passant. The question is: if you could do en passant and Black played Ke8, what would your follow-up be? And, yes, there _is_ a win for White, which I didn't realise for a good while after composing the puzzle (as I didn't need to check it).

[@whatdoinamethischannel9749]

Tbh I just thought of moving the knight to g5 sacrificing it allowing the pawn to promote The only issue with this solution is that if black realizes what I'm doing it's not going to work out unless I then move my knight to be if they don't take then a6 then capture c5 and back to a6 and move the pawn on c4 to c5 protecting it then capture on b4 freeing up another pawn that will assist in guarding your c file pawn then move c pawn to c6 then move knight to a6 and make sure the guard pawn is protecting the c pawn which you can move to c7 then c8 and promote to a queen But that depends on the position of the black king if it always plays the perfect move

[@trillionbones89]

Zugzwang is German for the situation of being forced to waste a move. Thanks to the consonants it is difficult to pronounce. Zoog Zv(uh)ng for you English speakers

[@Martin1519]

2:29 I was thinking knight to C7, then knight to A6, then knight takes C5 pawn, but then the king could probably take the knight there unless the opponent didn’t know what you were doing.

[@PatrickMcF]

I think we all got the knight out, but the sacrifice eluded most. Good puzzle 👍

[@jerrygraves6531]

I saw the sacrifice almost immediately. I was too lazy to figure out how to get the knight there though. I just clicked play and had the video tell me 😎

[@Melorama2000]

I remember this one from my childhood ... a classic! Of course I couldn't understand it back then. I do now! Thx!

[@electricmaster23]

Your childhood? I made this in 2017. Either you’re mixing it up with another puzzle or I’m just getting old!

[@Melorama2000]

@@electricmaster23 Yeah -- probably the former. I saw the other puzzle in late 1970's in a library book. The pawn structures were very similar if not identical. And there was a single white piece that was also stuck -- but there was a long way out. Either way -- great enjoyable puzzle you created.

[@electricmaster23]

@@Melorama2000 it’s all good. Thanks for your kind words. There have obviously been puzzles with similar structures to this, but it doesn’t exist in any books or databases.

[@GunsNRoses87AXL]

After the knight moves ro B6 why would the king move to e6 instead of c6? It can just stick close to the knight/pawn

[@electricmaster23]

Good question. The answer is that Black must defend both sides of the board. Moving left as you described is a blunder that allows White to maneuver their knight to take on h6.

[@pakasokoste]

Chess vibes: very rarely do I feature puzzles on my channel. Also chess vibes: *channel is full of cool puzzles.*

[@Saiyajin47621]

Too complicated. I’ll just move my king left and right until it draw 😂

[@AKANI32]

I saw up until a4 had no idea after (gave up quick) but really really really cooooool puzzle. Thank you!

[@electricmaster23]

Thank you! ❤

[@INFJ-ThaneTr]

Pawn: 1, Rook: 5, Bishop: 3, Queen: 9, .... Knight: 9000+

[@electricmaster23]

Good one! Haha

[@WhiteGandalfs]

My bet: The knight can turn at h3, then escape at a4. Then, on the white side, since the distance between the outermost hanging pawns is 5 and the knight needs only 3 moves from one side to the other, somehow force the king to defend on one side, then hop to the other side without the king being able to follow. But to imagine those moves in the head is out of my abilities :D

[@erikknowles995]

Instead of bringing the knight back to left side after moving the king, use the knight take the black pawn furthest top, using king and knight to guard to protect that white pawn, queen the pawn, annihilate all pawns, queen remains white pawns, white wins

[@Ciccoman23]

(Before watching the video) If black is "unaware", then white can have a chance bringing the knight in h3, and sacrificing in g5 But, if black is smart enough to predict it, it would bring the king straight in h8 to wait to eat the incoming pedestrian. Also, black's pedestrians are more advanced than white's, so the knight can't get sacrificed in the central lines, because black has an advantage there. (After watching the video) Checkpoint 1: i realized that i underestimated the knight. I think the knight can now go in c7. The black king can't go in e6, because it's controlled by the knight. If the king doesn't go left in e7, the game is over, since the knight will have the time to eat in c5 without any problem. If it does go in e7, then the knight can go back to d5, threatening the king. The king will be forced to approach the knight in e6, the knight will be able to hop in c7, threatening the king again. Perhaps the king needs to protect the pedestrians while counter-attacking, so basically the knight will take the lead of a "dance", and finally will be able to eat the pedestrian in g5, and give time for the pedestrian in h5 to proceed and get promoted in time? (End) Ok, i definitely wouldn't have been able to see these strats, that's really fascinating indeed!

[@electricmaster23]

Thanks! ;)

[@citrosoda5370]

Quite surprised an NM couldn't find the idea, but I suppose that may be from the unusualness of the position

[@epicgamerkid4411]

king b1, Knight c1, Knight e2, Knight g1, Knight h3, Knight f2, Knight d1, Knight b2, Knight a4.

[@electricmaster23]

you're halfway there! ;)

[@simpudney8191]

Took a couple of minutes thinking but this one seemed much more straightforward than some of your other puzzles. Still very enjoyable though!

[@electricmaster23]

Really? I wouldn’t call this straightforward at all. And if you really did this in just a couple of minutes without any hints, you must be very strong.

[@pwnmeisterage]

At 2:06 ... knight moves to b6 ... black king moves to d6 This seems like a weak move. Black king to c6 seems like the correct move.

[@electricmaster23]

Actually, he played the right move. In fact, c6 is actually a blunder, since White can snap off Black's h-pawn, which Black won't be in time to stop.

[@alexis34270]

Idea before seeing the solution : 1 bring the knight to a4 (Nc1-e2-g1-h3-f2-d1-b2-a4). Black's king will have to guard c5 by playing Kc6-Kd6 2 when Black play Kd6, infiltrate the Knight with Nb6 3 win black's pawns thanks to the mobility of the knight

[@electricmaster23]

It was a good start, and I don’t blame you for seeing the entire solution.

[@rebr4nd]

My option was maneuver the knight until it can take the pawn at h6, and from there clear enough pawns to checkmate with one of them

[@electricmaster23]

Easier said than done. ;)

[@CeRz]

Easy concept. End games are easy to spot. The moves are finite. My problem and weakness is middle games. I can get a good position out of the opening, still blunder middle game and most of the time win or draw anyways because of my supreme endgames.

[@yurigagarine6998]

Play a better game nerd.

[@pikawilliam11]

3:06 I don't understand. In black side position, I would move the pawn of A3 to A2 anyway, because the white king cannot come close to me (B1) without my pawn kill him. So next turn, I would move my pawn from A2 to A1 to retrieve a black queen to be able to clean up these white pawns and left the black king alone. In my head, this is a good strategy... Instead, the video shows the black king moving... Why doing this bad move instead?

[@Rocky64]

After ...a2, Kb2 stops the pawn.

[@pikawilliam11]

@@Rocky64 No before that. If the pawn moved to a2 instead of the king, the king would never reach b1 (was at c1 before the crappy move). If the pawn moved on a2 before the king reached b1, the game would be completely different.

[@Rocky64]

@@pikawilliam11 Read it again: Kb2, not Kb1.

[@pikawilliam11]

@@Rocky64 Ah crap, nevermind. I see it now. Even if the pawn moved to a2 as I said, the king could just moved to b2. Then, no matter what the pawn will do, the king will kill it anyway. I misread the perspectives, my bad. Btw, what do you mean by kb2? I'm not a hardcore in chess, just played hours and hours in elementary schools and high schools, not further. Sorry for the confusion.

[@Rocky64]

@@pikawilliam11 No worries!

[@flaviusaetius5701]

Could get knight on g5 depending if black king is in range or not might have to do a little finessing to pull it off could get pawn to Queen before King stops it

[@electricmaster23]

Not possible against best defence, sadly.

[@SamuelPearlman]

Those Knights are tricky bastards!! (feat. Agadmator)

[@racheddar]

Before watching - move king so you can get knight over to capture G5 pawn. You can then get the rightmost pawn to the end? Unless King blocks.

[@浪人-v2l]

I’m impressed this isn’t clickbait. Great video

[@electricmaster23]

Thanks. The real trick was making a bunch of people think it must be en passant.

[@浪人-v2l]

@@electricmaster23 lol

[@josemarti7487]

A black king without a knight don't hit back!

[@VArsovski10]

Not that hard to see why, white can move both the Knight and the King, and the black can only move the King So it's kinda easy to see the way: King to whereever (say B1), then start the Knight sequence from A2 to, C1, E2, G1, H3, and then back F2, D1, B2, A4 The catch though is, what if the black King is guarding the position by alternating A5 and B5 ?, is that enough to win ?

[@asy527yearsago9]

Lets thank for the knight to sacrifice his life just for the king can walk with his new wife

[@llcoolmartine]

Great study! I figured out that the point of entry for the Knight was h4 but they way to get there was simply too beautiful for my dumb brain to see 😅

[@electricmaster23]

Thanks! Don't beat yourself up. It took Ginger GM about 10 minutes to solve. :)

[@CodySmith-nv9bb]

Lmao. I haven't even tried to play chess in like 6 years. This got randomly recommended to me, and it baffles me how many people are able to look and make plans for losing situations. Great video nevertheless

[@MercurialDecree]

I paused on 0:41 okay so I think that the horse trades with the pawn on 4, then when the pawn takes Horse to moves out of the way of the other pawn allowing to to reach the other side of the board OR the white king can simple walk behind the pawns and kill them freely or guard the white pawn approaching the enemy king. Ez dubs F well didn't think that one put properly. Shyyyyyytt

[@electricmaster23]

Yeah, it’s not so simple. ;)

[@studychess8465]

I am solving this problem with out seen answer so planning night mano wring for b2 square so here right move is kc2 Nc1 Ne2 Ng1 Nh3 Nf2 Nd1 now night comes to the b2 square 👍

[@wiscorpio72]

For a long time I was opening this puzzle with Kb1 but now I actually got to like Kd2 better. The reason why is it's a mate in 45 but Kd2 gives the possibility of mate in 43 if 2 tempos don't have to be played. You are right when the N is on a4, the king could defend on c6, if it's already on d6 you don't have to tempo the king but if it is, you do. And I choose Kd1 to keep it on the d file. There is another wading move, if the king goes to e7, white playes Nd5+, the king could go to e6. There are 2 things white has to watch out for if black plays b4xNa3, the white king has to at least be on the d file to go over and take the promoted queen, AND it has to be far enough over incase the black king comes over and defends the pawn. The white king will be in zugzwang, black will play Kxa3 and sweep the next white pawn, march the black pawn and win. So, to prevent the black king from protecting it's pawn, another tempo on the d file puts black and zugzwang and forces Kf7. The black king can never let the knight get past because it would get to Nxh6 and the win would be so much sooner. If the white king is on the c file, the black king on e6 isn't an issue then but if the white king is still on c2, you do have to clear the path for the knight, when knight is on d5, decision on Kc2 or either d square depends on where the black king is. I used to like to play the king BCD but now I like DDD for the possibility it may make 1 move to D and be mate in 43, it keeps the knight's path clear and you are right to play the king to g2 then h3 preparing for the knight to g2 then h4. If the knight is on g2, the king has to go under it, which is 1 extra move. Kg2 first saves a move.

[@electricmaster23]

Nice observation and was thought about in my composition. ;) (Also, I've changed my user name since sending this to Nelson.)

[@mkII.]

Knight to c3 forcing either the b or d file black pawn capture. If the b pawn captures then the white king has a path to enter and create a passed pawn? If the d file pawn captures it's king to c2 with a similar idea after you play white pawn to d4? It looks like a couple of forced captures are the only way to make progress though.

[@electricmaster23]

Nice try. Sadly, he rebuts your idea in the first few seconds lol.

[@TheLookingGlassAU]

Knight c1, e2, g1, h3, f2, h1, g3. Move king as needed. Same finish.

[@electricmaster23]

Doesn't work... haha.

[@BobChess]

This is very great example that knight love the close position

[@tristanmahardhikawinedar4347]

Man, I thought sacrificing a knight is the best way.

[@dashiellgillingham4579]

King to c2, knight to c1, e2, g1, h3… uhh… f2, d1, b2, a4, b6, then chase the king around until you catch it.

[@dashiellgillingham4579]

2:27 Uhh… I think you start breaking open the pawn defense and start going for however many queens it takes to get a checkmate.

[@Akitrom]

By my count, that's 23 moves without a capture or a pawn move, well under the 50-move rule.

[@electricmaster23]

Right you are, sir!

[@jijimann2902]

dats why you can move around with king til it goes there

[@jijimann2902]

i did the other edge and i won

[@JohnRandomness105]

Not having done anything with Chess other than Chess-move restrictions in Sudoku for many years, and never any good back then, the only thing that I can think of off-hand is to sacrifice the knightto allow a pawn through.

[@arcadealchemist]

at 0:40 i'm thinking king to D1 then knight to C1 then creep the knight to H3, knight then takes G5 and black takes G5 knight this leaves pawn H5 open to crown in 3 movies unless the king can defend at G8. again the black kings placement could defend against the single pawn but because of the move being odd even odd even it's all about the correct pawn to take i'd assume. i really am armature at chess. 5:25 this is why i suck at chess.

[@wmqkla]

Before watching whole wideo, I see it's possible to move the knight around on the bottom part of the board and eventually getting it to A4. From there it would be quite easy.

[@electricmaster23]

Guess it wasn't so easy. ;)

[@clarenceyoung271]

I have learned SO much by watching your puzzles. Thank you. Sincerely......

[@Whimsical_Inquiror]

I also have an extra trick of using en-passant when possible.

[@bloooddmooonn]

I do believe that there was a move at the very start that could speed the whole thing up a bit, but not too sure, starting move knight to C3

[@electricmaster23]

Black could take and it would be a dead draw.

[@Tylorean]

I found that if you sacrifice the knight on c3, white wins no matter how black takes. And of black doesn’t take, you can get your knight to safety and attack from behind.

[@electricmaster23]

Does work. Try against Stockfish! ;)

[@S3P7]

I actually won in that same exact position a few times. It's kind of fun.

[@electricmaster23]

😂

[@severnkariuki9129]

The first time I saw this I thought its the 'knight captures, push pawns, queen a knight, capture some pawn, queen a queen and win' that I saw somewhere in an ECE book.

[@electricmaster23]

What's an ECE book? Do you remember what it was called? I'm the composer and would be _very_ interested in reading it. Cheers!

[@marselshtylla]

The winning move is black because he has more time you took to long to think and now he flagged you

[@electricmaster23]

loool

[@speedy_brennan]

I had to count the moves without moving a pawn or capturing a pawn just to make sure the 25 move limit wasn't hit.

[@electricmaster23]

It’s a 50-move rule (100 plies), so you’d be safe anyway. :)