An "Easy" Checkmate Challenge?

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[@lordtony8276]

The only reason I solved 9 and 10 is because I see those positions so often in Sicilian opening games.

[@shalekthewise]

Especially the last 2

[@jayrussell3796]

Yes...that would happen alot, especially when you raise under the gun, preflop.

[@animeandchess]

wut

[@viniciusamancio8009]

Especially when you have 10 Bishops from another universe on L9

[@TomBarrister]

Are you sure you're commenting on the correct video?

[@Jgm101music]

This is certainly a... "Wait why is it not check mate? The bishop 1000km away" moment.

[@xuanlangzheng5529]

Checkmate is one word

[@zanti4132]

This is a good idea for teaching new players. I would expand on it slightly: make the move, and then ask the student if the position is (a) checkmate, (b) stalemate, or (c) neither. ("Neither" would mean there is still a legal move available.) A lot of students have trouble recognizing stalemate positions, so a set of puzzles that include some stalemates or near stalemates would be a good training tool. (I think I'd also make all the positions legal - like, the last two positions in your quiz are obviously not legal - but maybe that is quibbling.)

[@zzzaphod8507]

You could even make the last couple positions in the set even more difficult with 4 options. (a) checkmate, (b) stalemate, (c) checkmate is possible in one move for the opponent (the player who didn't just move), or (d) none of the above (play continues). (Not sure how easy it is to set a position where a player is in check but he can checkmate the opponent right away while getting out of check--maybe that's not practical.)

[@TechnoMageB5]

I like this. I can't tell you how frustrating it is when you're bearing down on an opponent and all of a sudden you miss a stalemate trap and fall in. On the flip side, I've surprised my opponents a few times with setting up perpetual checks while a piece down. 😏

[@blacklight683]

Totally not clickbait

[@StephenKnox92]

9/10 Can't believe I let en passant get me .Should have been paying attention to the actual move instead of just positions. Good one!

[@nishantbhardwajofficial]

Same 😅

[@S2Pot_Gaming]

With the timer, I got 8/10; I missed number 2 and 9. I did get 4 right for the wrong reasons, though, so maybe my score is properly 7/10. Fun challenge! I’d watch more videos like this.

[@iluxa-4000]

Almost exactly the same, but I did evaluate #4 correctly. That sneaky rook in number 2 tho

[@lolzor_live]

I got 9/10. I also missed number 2. The rook was really sneaky.

[@lokolb]

I missed the exact same two answers, So 8/10 with the timer. And that took in #2 was really sneaky

[@alpacino5466]

Literally the same for me

[@crazyrun2024]

I actaully got them all in time. It was pretty easy.

[@Real_Potato_Man]

"In front of you is a plate with the most delicious food ever. Will you eat it? Well, of course, you'd eat it. *_However, if you look up, you can see a dying neutron star willing to detonate once you touch the food."_*

[@EpicRblxShortd]

this got me good af

[@GigaBaconGaming]

6:35 the queen takes rook checkmate

[@criscrisan8569]

Yeah. But the position shown is not check matte. Just check

[@Todd-um9bo]

He said, "Is it CHECKMATE, not CHECK read before commenting something stupid.

[@gergaplayz8584]

10/10, I thought it would be much harder, but it was fun and that last puzzle kinda tricked my brain for a second since I didn’t see the queen pinning the knight. Thanks!

[@crazyrun2024]

yeah it was really easy for me too.

[@gamergamingdarshss1103]

Me three

[@VOLTIC_XZ]

me four got all right and found all the reasons why except the one you said didn't even realize that knight existed

[@BopSlap-oh3ui]

Same

[@shoopi1234]

Yeah honestly I'm all for easier puzzles but I think the difficulty could have been slightly higher. Though that might be difficult to do with mate in 1's haha. By the way, the last two positions are very, very illegal. Just a side note :)

[@ragingflasker14]

Since Martin never misses mate in 1, you should make the hardest ever checkmate in one puzzles ever! I got a 8/10. I missed number 7 because I forgot about en passant. And number 9 because I for some reason just assumed that D4 square would somehow be controlled. That was a fun challenge. Hopefully we will see more Martin videos in the future ❤

[@peytonkirchhoff6335]

I missed the same ones for the same exact reasons lol

[@christopherheckman7957]

That's the reason why I missed #9. Of course, that position would never occur in a game.

[@rhyderwu4897]

Martin actually missed m1 for me lol

[@nischalpavan1150]

U are right

[@xuanlangzheng5529]

I love Martin stuff

[@n0bl3hunt3r]

9/10 because of the en passant. But I relied mostly on vibes so it probably should have been lower. This was nicely interactive so makes a good change from more complex chess puzzles which I am not at all tempted to try and solve.

[@h-noonyt9741]

10/10 really fun challenge tbh, no pause needed, would like to see more of these type of video 😊

[@snowyandwispa3890]

Had a position just like level 10 last week😂

[@burrenwaffet7742]

😂😂

[@luisllamas9959]

Well number 10 is an impossible position. It's not chess

[@user-pv9mc9ts9x]

It s Ohio chess ♟️ 💀💀

[@flyurs1675]

first, let's cook some rice

[@Jothamvvw]

No 11th nor Arsenal player Declan, sadge.

[@redknight07_]

​@@Jothamvvwah yes a fellow football fan

[@danielely7437]

I like rice

[@come.inside.me.join.now.]

You mean the cheater who caused Nelsi's first lose in cilimbing the elo?

[@Scrolte6174]

@@danielely7437 Śàmè

[@MarcosVinicius-jf5jz]

Great video! Seeing checkmate isn’t always an easy thing, so the first step is to know what is and what isn’t checkmate instead. By the way, from the 11 puzzles (also counting the one from the intro), I’ve got 10 correctly. The only one I missed was, of course, the one in the intro, which means I still need to practice more. And, obviously, your videos are good for practicing and learning. Great content!

[@jessefunk2763]

7 out of 10, I am beginner too but after watching so many of your videos and playing games with my missus, I am improving :) Thanks Nelson

[@realteamwall]

Level 1 - Correct Level 2 - Incorrect, i missed the rook Level 3 - Correct Level 4 - Correct Level 5 - Correct Level 6 - Correct Level 7 - Correct Level 8 - Correct Level 9 - Correct Level 10 - Correct

[@flyurs1675]

same

[@stevencrabbe]

same

[@Keldor314]

I missed problem 2 (because apparently I couldn't see that the rook could move that far! Mind blown! 😂), and the en passent one since I didn't even register that the move in question was a 2 space pawn move. I also missed the potential knight move to block on the last puzzle, so if the queen hadn't been back there pinning it, I would have missed that one too.

[@christopherheckman7957]

What would have been interesting is that position without the White pawn on h2. Then, en passant is illegal, because the pawn is pinned!

[@jpc812]

Great stuff. Learning a lot from you. I still have blind spots for some reason. Maybe it's my impatience, but I overlook obvious things all the time. Puzzle#2 when I was just warming up my brain, I completely missed the rook on G2. I make mistakes like this all the time and it overall hinders my game. I can't figure out how to train these blind spots out of my mind. Hope you are healing up well!

[@ziziorens348]

I only missed the en passant, but I had to pause for the last two. I love these kinds of videos, not only are they fun, but I also feel like I'm learning something little by little!

[@davidjames149]

9/10! i only missed number 2 because i'd literally just woken up and assumed level 2 would be super basic so i didn't even look at the rook 🤣somehow i knew that en passant was gonna be the move before you even pushed that pawn. Cool idea, would love a part 2 with a higher degree of difficulty

[@fuegokiller911]

same haha

[@SSS_T]

Same

[@sgwa11]

Same here! I was so ashamed of myself. But I have to say, if I didn't get that one wrong I would have gotten a later one wrong with a long ranged sniper b/c I am quite blind to those. It made me sit up and pay attention to the rest.

[@DanksterPaws]

Literally same… I didnt even wanna admit it

[@DanksterPaws]

Literally same… i didnt even wanna admit it

[@randomusernot4u2know]

I loved this style of video, plz make more! (Maybe featuring draws like stalemates)

[@qownson4410]

What a fun and engaging video format. Very rare concept to test the audience on a 10 part pop quiz.

[@gillesbouthenot7696]

Really great challenge ! Thank you Nelson !

[@SpinyBadger]

10/10. Quite a nice workout, combining basics and positional familiarity with rapid assessment of some crazy positions later on. I wonder how many were suckered by the a2 rook in the second puzzle. That was probably the one I was most likely to fail on, because the position looked simple apart from that oddly placed rook.

[@liternix]

00:40 This position is why I don't play Sicilian

[@TimEssDub]

I've been doing puzzles over the past year and am looking to increase my rating in the ~500 range to 1000 by the end of this year. This weekend, I went on a puzzle binge. That practice helped me here in spotting if a certain checkmate pattern was going to be a checkmate.

[@BopSlap-oh3ui]

I got 10/10 with the timer I really enjoyed the puzzles. I would enjoy more videos like this.☺

[@zzolie]

Great video! I noticed the escape square on puzzle 9 in the last moment, but missed the rook on the 2nd puzzle

[@chickenghost8023]

Same 🤣🤣

[@-chess_player-]

I also got 10/10 and noticed the escape square on puzzle 9 with 5 seconds remaining. Everything else I got right in

[@RoundShades]

It's weird, they were all easy except sniper rook,

[@zzolie]

@@RoundShades Sniper bishop must be very proud of sniper rook :D

[@HeDoMo3r]

Well, that was easier than I thought it to be. Got 9/10, missing the 2nd one. In these simple positions I tend to miss these easy-to-spot ways to turn the game around.

[@arrly]

Really cool video! I got 10/10 and I really enjoyed this original piece of content, I hope you make more of these

[@Irdanwen]

Oh! This is fun! You could do a thousand more videos like this and I would watch them all as they came out. I said 'this is fun', because I'm only at the fifth problem so far. I wanted to get at least five so I'm already happy, and now I am truly curious to see how many if any of the remaining five I can get. I must say the fifth one I personally found already quite difficult. Well done, this is an excellent idea!

[@RemyWillard]

I played this a little differently. Since I don't do well under time pressure but also didn't want to make this too easy for myself, I paused before the move so that I could try to predict the move and see if it was checkmate. I was successful in predicting 9 of the 10 moves (Position #9 was the outlier, but the Knight move that was played was one of the options I had considered) and correctly called all 10 positions as to whether or not they were actually checkmate. Love the video. Will definitely watch more like it. Probably won't do as well in future challenges.

[@BrooksMoses]

Oh, that's a great way to make it an interesting non-timed challenge! Wish I'd thought of it. And congratulations on the high score too.

[@RemyWillard]

@@BrooksMoses Thank ye. 😄

[@snowyandwispa3890]

Solved 7 out of 10 while sticking to time limit

[@bitzibaerlie]

Spotted the safe square on #9 too late but got all the others. Loved this, particularly #7. Was hoping to see even more traps thrown in there.

[@seilaoquemvc2]

Missed the en passant one because haven really paid attention to the move you made… just looked at the position afterwards haha

[@kenthartig7065]

8/10 here. Missed the rook in 6 and the space on 9. That was a pretty fun exercise

[@ilqfuture7029]

9/10, the 8th one was very surprising because of the un passant in a checkmate pattern. But all of others are pretty basic in my opinion, only beginners probably won’t solve them.

[@user-xh4tx3li3e]

Aggre

[@RedGallardo]

The king looks vulnerable until you zoom out and see the rest 15 figures.

[@mimikyoo]

This looks like a fun chess variant, where a scramble of pieces are set up before a game such that the position is equal, and players have to play each game by ear

[@Gadolinium64]

I'm very surprised that I got all 10! I almost missed one because yeah it's still checkmate but checkmate in two, I corrected myself before you said anything so I'll take it as a 1100 lol

[@christopherheckman7957]

Maybe one of the videos in the future should be: a player makes a move, is it mate on their next move? (Basically a Mate-in-2 puzzle where the first move is shown.)

[@Gadolinium64]

​@@christopherheckman7957I like that idea

[@dr.sergei4175]

Good job, Nelson! 10 out of 10

[@holymeto9981]

Yeah the puzzle was easy

[@luchsi4566]

these puzzles always get me with en passent

[@chiepah2]

This was fun, I missed 8 and 9, the timer really made it challenging, but that is the sort of constraint you would face in a real game, even if they may not have been real positions.

[@soundtripsajeep7977]

Do more of these please. Sending love from Ph

[@dimoooooch]

good video! 10/10 but here are many tricks so not everyone could solve this. i'd be glad to see more videos like that!

[@johndoh1000]

Cool concept

[@drivers99]

This is really eye opening because I keep forgetting to check basic things.

[@thelosts9940]

More interesting for more advanced players is trying to find the amount of moves checkmate would take in the ones where its not checkmate or find the actual checkmate when there is one thats not played.

[@arthurrtang9670]

Nice! I got 10/10 within the allotted time. Last two was a little tricky but I was able to see the moves pretty quickly.

[@nidoking042]

I managed them all before you gave the answers, although I finished my thinking on a few during the "All right, time is up" lead-up.

[@Buthless69]

With the timer Flawless!

[@XuanchiXuan-ys2rf]

It is a fun challenge indeed, i got 10/10 and i wish Nelson did more of these challenges

[@learningisfun2108]

Very instructive video. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Timers stress me out! Brain freeze. But fun!

[@Lordmewtwo151]

6:29 It's still checkmate next turn (either Qxb6 or xb6). In the position before you made the move, it was M2

[@jesus3268]

I got 8 out of 10 in the time,in the last one I missed the bishop in the lefthand corner . This was good fun, cheers Nelson.

[@aikijanka]

I'm 46 and just started to watch your videos. Before that played chess only as a child with my father. Tried at some point around 20yrs ago to play against my mobile phone, but missed a lots of attacks and couldn't win. Recently accidentally watched one of your videos and found some love for chess again. Looks like my play against a machine has improved also, at least with bots I can play up to 1800 rating, but haven't tried to play against real people :D This was a fun puzzle set and I even got 7-8 right with timer. In the last one I missed the possible knight move, so can't say I got it 100% right ).

[@BEN-ys6gu]

1300 elo, 10/10 In the last one I didn't actively notice the knight is pinned to the queen, but it is possible my board vision picked that up subconsciously. I liked the challenge because at first I was just looking for random moves my opponent can play, but by the end I became more systematic and confident by checking for the 3 things you mentioned at first, in order

[@marcalgiltorrente7554]

More exercises like this I loved it 10/10 I really liked the en pasant one

[@thekidwizschesschannel3529]

10/10, but final 5 were very tricky! Thank You!

[@Jackaboy3695]

10/10. Solved some of the last ones before the timer started because it took so long, and the last one I solved before question 1.

[@nikiyen6]

One of the worst feelings in chess is when you make a move expecting it to be checkmate, and it isn't, and you're scrambling to see why not

[@RahulDevika]

Yes make another one like this

[@austinbobo1344]

I dont really play chess and somehow i only got the en passent question wring because i looked exclusively at board state and presence whilst not paying much attention to which piece move how much.

[@alvossozaandronito6]

I prefer my own definition of checkmate which is “no matter what you do, I’m capturing your king next move”

[@jameshogge]

I got 9/10 with the timer and without any guessing. Messed up the 3rd one because in my head the black pawn could take diagonally... Backwards 😂

[@grantfraser5430]

I missed the timer on #9 by one second because it took me 4 seconds to find the white king. Kind of fun. I like that the video is aimed at newer players, hope you do that from time to time. Maybe a rating system can be established for future videos saying what level of player is the target audience.

[@TheLostArchangel666]

6:31 I got that one right, but I think a more accurate way of putting it is that it isn't checkmate yet. Once that move is made, black can take with the pawn and then I believe it IS checkmate.

[@BHARAT_6_3_05]

thanks for bringing such a nice content we want more (9/10)

[@HackerManXD2000]

10/10 was fun thank you :)

[@barneym2516]

2 & 7 were tricky. Fun video!

[@usmansiddiqui1384]

9/10, it wasn’t as difficult as I expected. Forgot enough passant was an option - more like I was only looking at the final position rather than the move you made. That position would have been checkmate if the move wasn’t a double pawn forward, technically. It was a very fun puzzle!

[@WafleEnterprises]

When playing with actual pieces, I’m almost always playing against people who don’t even like the idea of allowing castling, much less En Passant. So I always forget that tricky pawn tactic.

[@Ox1326]

I got all of them, except I saw the knight can’t block at the last moment.

[@quitlongtimeago]

Only got the 8th position wrong and that is because I didnt even look at what move nelson played lmao

[@Vearru]

I didn’t get all of them correct but only because I was multitasking I missed number 2 because I’ve seen many similar puzzles and positions and didn’t see the rook since people basically never put the room there in games. I also missed the en passant one since I didn’t pay attention to where the pawn came from.

[@ClockManOfficial]

I got all but the last one in the allotted time. I just saw the pin on the knight as you said "no".

[@gregshonle2072]

The issue I had with 8 is that he hadn't indicated if the pawn had moved two squares (allowing the en passant capture), or if it had been advanced in two moves, which would eliminate the en passant capture.

[@Lordmewtwo151]

If you look at the board before he made the move, the pawn was on its home rank. The starting square of the move (g2) was even highlighted in yellow for a second after the pawn was placed on g4.

[@BenPearson_kd7uiy]

I'll call it 8 and 2 halves. I thought I had one, but realized a sneaky move that caused it to not be mate after I had confidently made my decision, and while I was right on another, I missed one thing I should have considered. This was a very helpful exercise!

[@RoundShades]

Was it en passante? I love that puzzle even before this vid, but was little sleepy and somehow just nodded along LMAO.

[@BenPearson_kd7uiy]

@@RoundShades I saw that. I missed the second one, and last I missed something I should have seen.

[@chuckmanion1128]

9/10 I missed number 2. 1 was so easy, that I didn't put much thought into 2. Once my brain was warmed up though, I found them all easy enough.

[@MooseBoys42]

9/10, missing #2 because I didn’t see the advanced rook. That was probably the most challenging one as it’s *almost* a classic checkmate position I’ve seen thousands of times, whereas the others were all relatively novel positions.

[@manishenglishgamingmeg2123]

Bro gave us the easiest puzzles and asking us if its easy😂

[@LonyEditzz]

The only reason i had one mistake at 9 is bc i thought that pawn was controlling that last square 💀💀💀

[@thefan06]

10/10 really nice challenge! :)

[@Qoko88]

10/10 within the time limit... as 1840 so perhaps that's not entirely fair 😆. However, there are definitely some useful patterns in here, h7 and f2 checkmates, the smothered mate from the Caro-Kann, the mating net in the Damiano and last but not least, the final two position do help with board vision: is everything covered and where are the pins? Great tool for any level I'd say, depending on how tough they are.

[@matlefou2]

Hi ! i expected some tricks where the move is purely illegal (the moving piece is pined for instance), could be interesting !

[@FermisAxiom]

It may look like you're about to score with the girl of dreams... but when you zoom out you will find that you are being cockblocked by 5 hairy dudes with machetes

[@darekisrael469]

8 of 10 correct. I missed the easy one with the rook on the second rank able to take the black queen and the en passant one. Did it all within the timer too no pausing as you recommended. That last one almost got me with the sneaky bishop in the corner.

[@JLvatron]

Excellent video! I got 8/10. What confused me most was that the puzzles weren’t consistent with which colour was attacking; sometimes White, others Black. The En Passant was a genius trick!

[@user-iy6hi6ie2o]

anyone else notice before the timer ran out that 7 was mate in 2 before Nelson made the move, and mate in 1 after. i wound up 10/10

[@user-uj9vu6fh8u]

10/10 with timer (I'm about ~1600 on lichess) but missed some details like the queen pinning the knight in the last one.

[@andst4]

Nice video idea! I've solved 9 out of 10, I've missed the one with en passant move - I didn't pay attention to the last move and only analyzed the situation on board! ;)

[@solararias]

I missed # 2 and the rest I focused 🤣

[@giuliosf]

"Is this chackmate?" "Wait... where is the king? 🤔"

[@tsuruo1203]

I was half way expecting something like… “No, this is an illegal move… i moved a piece while your king was already in check…”

[@Namse1]

I am about 1400 and only missed the one escape square in the appropriate time in puzzle 9. You could also do more videos like that but I would most like if the chess adventure continue very soon instead.

[@Halibut86]

10/10 and felt time pressured on the last one only 1k-1200~ With my extra time I was looking for forced checkmates when it didn't work out! I really like example #2 2:10 since it highlights board vision blindspots!

[@Gimlet42]

It's been 40ish years since I have played, but I got 6 of 10 in the allotted time. I found the last 2 easy, but didn't have the time I needed to see the whole board on the earlier scenarios.

[@user-qg7wu3xn6u]

i saw em all besides the an passant one... completely forgot that pawn in the corner...

[@pudellok9319]

That was really fun, got 8/10, lost to en passant for not paying attention to the black pawn, and to the third level for nor seeing the bishop at a 1