Chess Grandmasters Solve Puzzles In 10 Seconds!

We tested the world's best chess grandmasters to see how quickly they could solve some tricky puzzle positions! With just 10 seconds on the clock, here's how @GMHikaru, @AnishGiriOfficial, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Wesley So, and Sam Sevian got on when @akaNemsko tested their puzzle skills...
Director: Phong Tran
Producer: Chandler Toffa
Editor: Emily Cole
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#chess #puzzles #gmhikaru

[@Fajowski50]

Hikaru: "Very straightforward, It's obviously x y and z checkmate" "sorry, incorrect" Hikaru: "I knew it wouldn't be that easy" XD

[@sujay750]

Peak autism

[@joebennett7174]

I think he meant the solution he found was too easy to be the actual answer, he probably thought that somewhere in his mind.

[@marianorivera3272]

@@joebennett7174 OR, he’s just a showoff who got caught on his bullshit.

[@Chamojcs]

@@marianorivera3272 bro called hikaru a showoff 💀💀💀💀

[@jettaeschroff6924]

chat, i don't care. i don't care chat, i really don't care. i just don't care chat. chat, i really just don't care

[@darkrai4627]

Anish is the type who would offer a draw to a puzzle💀

[@darkrai4627]

@@tfwthewhen offering a draw and finding a draw ina 'puzzle' is a different thing 😂 but yeah..

[@ashtimbo]

@@tfwthewhen anish would find a way

[@augustarcana]

@@tfwthewhen its... a joke

[@PantheraLe0]

😂😂😂😭

[@pb6270]

​@@tfwthewhen it really does though. the absurdity of offering a draw 'to a puzzle' is the key element in the joke. he wants to draw so much that he will do such a thing, treating even the forced win puzzle as yet another opportunity to draw.

[@Gaxar913]

Duda aboslutely nailed it

[@yellowslime4145]

Polska Gurom

[@kryst1492]

Tak, polska gurom

[@FirstnameLastname-hg5gt]

sin duda (read it in Spanish)

[@bergrugu]

EVERYBODY SING A SONG

[@oasky6793]

aboslutely

[@rando9232]

2:07 "I'll go for Ne2+, which is just perpetual" Anish never disappoints.

[@amiramir-fk3bj]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@HassleHoffer372]

Bro gave a draw to a puzzle

[@D.U.D.E-]

Drawgiri strikes again

[@vitojohn8168]

Drawish giri

[@clementdenis4212]

Best sense of humour in the circuit.

[@nlaszg]

Anish Giri: where the hell is a draw?

[@ChessMasterNate]

Cut him some slack. He has not been playing drawish chess lately.

[@AlbertZonneveld]

You do not get to 2790 drawing much unless you only play Magnus and then drawing is fine

[@rinslow]

bahahaha

[@redskins973]

Those jokes got old years ago. He deserved some shit after the 2016 candidates, but he’s no longer the most drawish top player. He wasn’t even the most drawish player in the video (Wesley’s chess has less fight than Anish’s)

[@sagittarius5466]

Same old joke

[@Philson]

Hikaru would have got it if he didn't premove.

[@pheronactus]

legendary comment

[@whannabi]

This man litteraly doesn't care, that's what you don't understand

[@c2c001]

gchh

[@brickathon7322]

@@whannabi how do they not understand? They obviously made a joke unless you jokeception me

[@oasky6793]

looks like he didn’t ask his magical ceiling for help

[@GearsDatapacks]

Everybody else if they can't get it: Think about it for a long time Hikaru if he can't get it: "I can't get it without thinking so just tell me"

[@fdart5854]

Balancing the desire not to lose with the desire not to think

[@Epyxoid]

@@fdart5854 And the second one is important because of faster time controls. So he basically just sets the bar high for himself as a speed demon. It's classic Hikaru. Always worrying about his speed 😁

[@swsmp]

he didnt want to think too much so he just castled

[@CrAzzyWak]

Well he's not a chess player anymore, he has a REAL job now, so it's not like he's going to waste his time thinking or anything.

[@janhetjoch]

He just doesn't care

[@zarbilzerian]

ok

[@maaarcosfavelaa1696]

So accurate hahaha

[@Krzyslawus]

peak comedy

[@ThreeDings]

what the hell how did u know i was eating LOL

[@xerofire]

Me reading this while eating dinner: 😯

[@williamalberto4284]

Hahaha

[@DanacaoZumbi]

it's crazy that at certain level the players see so much of the same moves, even the same "mistakes". Super interesting!

[@extrusix969]

Its because they all recognize the same patterns. To solve the second puzzle for example, you first analyse all the checks and you will quickly see that 1. Ra3+ bxa3 2. b3+ Ka5 3. Be2+ is almost mate but the King has a6 as an escape square. So you think of changing up the order to cut off the king's escape route and you come up with Be2. Now you have a mate threat already and you check if there are any ways to stop that threat. Rg3 to stop it was just not that easy to spot which is why most of them thought they hat solved it. After Rg3 I personally gave up and couldnt find Qf3. Hikaru shouldve tried a bit harder because it is quite poor for his level to only think as far as a 1600 like me.

[@TristanSune]

@@extrusix969 And did you analyze it all in 10 seconds?

[@BlackMoonMaster]

@@TristanSune i mean hikaru has double his elo, that's a gigantic difference

[@mytwinkiepie]

@@TristanSune he analyzed with shown answers for 10 minutes. so yeah, hikaru is 1600))

[@TristanSune]

@@mytwinkiepie exactly))

[@SAM_UL]

The most incredible part of this video is how they memorize the positions in their head after looking at it for 10 seconds.

[@dhammarosi]

For just that they prolly needed like two seconds 😅

[@tobiasvanavelon9684]

What's really interesting is WHY. It's also why they can consider a position for a few seconds and note that it's probably constructed rather than coming from a real game. There is a purpose to placing each piece on each square in a game, and you can reconstruct several variations for how you might have gotten to a given position. Thus, some positions that are invented for puzzles will have a distinctly unnatural look that is obvious only to someone who has seen those patterns over and over again and can thus notice their lack. So memorizing the board is not memorizing the board as much as it is noting which tactics have been employed so far. Once you've done that, there are only a few pieces left to remember the coordinate position for - a now-isolated pawn that has moved 3 squares forward for example or a bishop that is in the center of the board because the position is post-capture and it has not yet been repositioned. Having an understanding of the flow of the game in this way makes it relatively simple to play with your eyes closed, or blindfolded, because your understanding enables you to not need to remember.

[@KatieLifts]

@@tobiasvanavelon9684 I believe there was a study which conducted that chess masters are way better at memorising positions that could've been reached in a normal game compared to a normal player. However, when the position is very chaotic (perhaps, randomly-generated), there is suddenly little to no difference between the memorisation skills of a normal player and a master. This really highlights how much of a pattern recognition game chess is.

[@fos1451]

@@KatieLifts I need a definition of what normal players are and what masters are, because as a 1700 I wouldn’t be able to remember these positions in my head and these are not chaotic position

[@KatieLifts]

@@fos1451 well, in this case I meant most untitled players as "normal". I'm not sure where the division begins, but as a 2100 (lichess), I'm unable to memorise those positions as well. It probably all depends on the amount of time you have spent studying chess.

[@theunknown21329]

It takes me 10 seconds just to figure out which side I'm supposed to play

[@followufollowme]

Wesley is so funny, it seems that when it is his day off... he's totally off!

[@krisztianfekete3277]

I think he just got distracted lol

[@slushie3061]

@@krisztianfekete3277 what he got distracted at🤔

[@hardstuck6200]

@@slushie3061 qiyu 💀💀

[@arsenusthearsenalswagus4200]

He had a tough run after the disappointing performance of Team USA at the last Chennai olympiad (outside his win at the Chesscom global championship, I guess). I think he mentioned before that he tends to underperform when he does not get enough rest time in between tourneys, or something like that. So yea, I guess when he's tired, he is really off.

[@mitchelloeth4247]

No Wesley is So

[@jackberding7654]

Don’t be deceived guys, Wesley is much better when he’s not multitasking (that being figuring out the chess position and figuring out how to be cute af around Nemo)

[@dav5593]

LOL

[@Fluxion11]

I think she threw them all off. Lol

[@justinbieber8028]

Nemo the baddest fr

[@Monkey_Luffy01]

😂😳🤭

[@DavidKfilmmaker]

Should have seeen when she interviewed him after he won this

[@kaigankaigankaigan3905]

Make this a regular content! It's always good when GMs try to solve these

[@zenystyfn5670]

WE NEED MAGNUS

[@pugsnhogz]

Duda's clarity of tactical reasoning and practical approach to problem-solving is one reason (of many) why he's produced some of the most brilliant games over the past few years, even against the strongest opponents

[@TheJayMoses]

I love how Duda crushes them all then admits to not liking puzzles. He’s THAT good.

[@richardsmith9615]

He clearly has put in the practice despite not liking them, very good lesson for us amateurs, really.

[@MaskedDeath_]

Nah, this is how chess is taught in Poland. You are pretty much forced to do puzzles a lot, this is why he hates doing them. And that's also why he said he remembered each one.

[@soisaus564]

1:22 hikaru droppin straight up calculation bars 🔥

[@hardikjuneja1]

Holy sh8

[@ranjeetrajput4577]

This is interesting concept,i would like to see more of it.

[@julbor9002]

there already is a first one of these on the channel :)

[@joharysalim8586]

Sam Sevian is so underrated and underappreciated he'd easily solved it and no one talks about it.

[@GamersUnityPH]

Cannot disagree

[@LePingouin92]

Absolutely

[@derkuhschubser6488]

But just with a 7up in his hands

[@Phurngirathaana]

​@@derkuhschubser6488 I'm winning!

[@KenFullman]

He's the only one I'd never heard of, until this video. He's obviously very good. It's a name I'll now remember.

[@jefft5854]

The second one was very hard. It's amazing to see how quick Duda and Giri reach the solution.

[@Caracazz2]

"It's OBVIOUSLY bishop d2... so easy" "Wrong" "Oh..." Priceless

[@alfaro30]

I love how Hikaru says “its obviusly” and gets it wrong

[@benjamin11235]

it’s not just knowing what to do that blows my mind, it’s that they can keep the position in their mind after looking at the board for 10 seconds.

[@bluedoggo483]

me too, i cant even remember what i ate this morning

[@Kavan5797]

Duda knows the board like back of his hand. This guy is crushing it. Answers like yeaaaa man it’s Wednesday what’s up

[@Em4gdn1m]

Anish: "If it were my game, I'd go Ne2, but that's just a perpetual no?" Yep. Sounds like Anish.

[@natethegreat7395]

"It's chess, right?" Anish, you are the best.

[@camreese]

These are great we can see them in real time calculating and how their personalities differ love these vids

[@charliehegarty5478]

This was great, they seemed down to do more puzzles as well and we'd love to see that

[@Clifton100]

Such a great video. Do this again!

[@chessloversonly]

Awesome video! Love how Nemsko is the interviewer! Keep up it!!

[@tahmidjahangir7527]

So wholesome. Feels good to see great minds work

[@froyo11]

Wow! It's actually very cool to see all of these high level players getting the same answer wrong, but also having the same answer. It's amazing.

[@hermaeusmora424]

The second puzzle is actually insane, because while I like duda's explanation and how they showed it play out, it only plays out like that if black "blunders" and takes the queen. I wondered if it is possible to survive by not taking the queen and instead running away with the king which turns out to be the best attempt at delaying the mate in 6. If you do that it plays out like this: Qf3 Ka5 Ra3+ Ba4 Qxb7 b3+ Rxb3 b5 Rxb5+ Bxb5 Qxb5#

[@tomd9819]

Isn’t Qb3 faster than Qxb7 there? King has nowhere to go

[@Ringcaat]

@@tomd9819 Ah, but what about ...Qc6, guarding the pinned bishop?

[@TheLivingJon]

You seem to understand this second puzzle better than me, can you help me understand why they were making such a big deal of Bd2, Rxg2? Wouldn't white still have mate in 2 with Ra3, bxa3; b3#? Edit: I Just realized after posting this that the move was Bd2, Rg3; not Bd2, Rxg2. Oops.

[@drunkpanda7661]

@@TheLivingJon ah legend, this was giving me a headache, had the same predicament

[@anivibes7466]

We need more kind of content like that! :)

[@jacovermeulen8739]

Would love to see more of this !

[@zedarmy4444]

Do more we loved it!!!!

[@derekrios8691]

Wesley is so 😁funny... "obviously this is the training that I needed " 😆 🤣

[@leeh2503]

Should get Magnus vs Neimann in puzzles

[@MajorAddiction]

Beads or no

[@florentino5486]

@@MajorAddiction puzzle speaks for itself?

[@stephbug1619]

i think the "poor" guy is not i:n a good shape right now, wonder why ;)

[@lucoa460]

@@stephbug1619 he is butthurt

[@virtualfairy9784]

1. d4 Nf6 White to play and make Black resign

[@Jeffwaifei]

We need more of this ❤️

[@FT029]

For each position I gave a wrong move that one of the grandmasters (at first) suggested. The 2nd one was completely shocking, great puzzle selection and really liked the interviews!

[@PartidasInmortalesdeAjedrez]

It is incredible their capacity to solve puzzles.

[@simkool77]

really enjoyed this content!

[@rafinha15d]

Interviewer: "a..." Hikaru: "It's obvious"

[@EduardoMarra84]

This is so fun, should be a playlist...

[@rossgeller6650]

Hikaru is a freakin machine ..his brain premoves automatically lol

[@TomJones-tx7pb]

I would love more videos like this.

[@natebrown2111]

Finally a longer version of these videos

[@musayevmurodjon6859]

All of them respectful chess players. Anish and Hikaru are always funny men.

[@ScuzzMB]

Ah, GMs sometimes make the same mistakes we do. Nice to see. That queen move to mate is insane in the second or third puzzle. I could have studied that for 2 hours without finding that.

[@larsdev.271]

The point is to cut off the rook on the third file while allowing the rook to checkmate because of the bishop pin. I would have found the bishop move but QF3 is just too much man.

[@swuser293]

@@larsdev.271 they just have 10s to look at the board and have less than 1 min to solve it cuz they dont wanna wast time

[@richardhaizenberg9352]

Great format pls keep going!

[@jarethozb07]

Do more of this !

[@greatvaluebleach7606]

My boy Duda killing it

[@eddylopez76133]

this was so much fun to watch

[@MessiahFromR6]

Need more of this.

[@wesamnadir665]

You just have to do more of this Great content

[@aarontigner6500]

That Qf3 puzzle was insane.

[@juancabral2003]

Hikaru on disrespect: "you are so bad, can't believe you guys" Hikaru in front of Nemo: "sorry miss Nemo, you get me anxious"

[@mixowski9071]

Duda absolutely nailed it

[@Krzysio290]

Every top player is great player, but I really like the Duda's chess style, aggressive, creative, risky. Beat regards to all you!

[@sptc7616]

2:10 Drawnish Giri instinctively looks for perpetual check.

[@rizaabila4865]

Duda is underrated person in chess... Just him can beat magnus winning strike in classical chess..

[@RyanHarris77]

My favorite in this competition is Wesley because I can relate.

[@3alexander3]

"...here's how Hikaru Nakamura, Anish Giri, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and more got on..." Was it too hard to write two more name? What's the name of the guy sitting down right?

[@bidilz]

bottom right is Sam Sevian and top left is Wesley So

[@sottx8268]

The description is disgraceful.... Thanks for the answer

[@domwitsauce]

comment I was looking for

[@3alexander3]

Thanks! I didn‘t know how Sam Sevian looked like and couldn‘t find a way to understand who that dude was)

[@wesleyb1458]

Hikaru blitzing out everything lol this was a cool video!

[@jeff-8511]

Amazing how they can calculate without even seeing the board anymore. They just memorize the position so quick

[@hans1783]

It's always something unique like sacrificing queen as part of the answer. Basically these puzzles makes them get used to thinking outside the box cause that's where the best answer lies.

[@rip8867]

ngl its a similar playstyle to cheaters

[@elementsofphysicalreality]

It’s crazy that Wesley is as good as he is and possibly doesn’t train as hard at tactics.

[@lx4302]

because there's a distraction

[@OhWaker]

​@@lx4302 oh this is probably why women's chess is a separate category. There's that distraction element that can make people not think with as much focus

[@rogerbalasubas6437]

Wesley is a diesel engine . Needs time to warm-up and he's unstoppable after .

[@ym1359]

As usual, Hikaru became overconfident in the 2nd puzzle.

[@richardsrensen4219]

this shows how hard it is to calculate precise in chess even among those top GMs

[@colescalisthenics]

That's insane that he can look at it that shortly and then memorize where the peices are!!!

[@stmochi157]

8:55 So uses his engine in his pocket to solve it real quick

[@neerajchauhan3790]

Please do this type of videos with grandmaster ( and invite Magnus if possible) loved it so muchhhh💙 Duda played amazingly Felt bad for Wesley Give that guy more puzzle😂💙

[@Dots3rd]

Make a escape room that requires people to solve chess related puzzles somehow for them to escape, would be cool to see.

[@brianrichardson3980]

With the interference and clearance themes on these, the level of calculation after a 10 second glance is *extremely* impressive. I had a discussion/debate with a 2200 stating that calculation speed is directly proportional to strength. He opined that chess erudition was more important. Thinking about it, it's all of the above!

[@blueboy4803]

Duda is a beast! Damn!

[@williamhenning4320]

So and Giri didn’t know the checklist of checks, captures, and attacks lol

[@aldelatorre9775]

well thats a 2900+ rated puzzle yeah konda hard but yeah hahah

[@th6n]

@@aldelatorre9775 No lol I solve 3000 rated puzzles for fun. The puzzles in the video are a million times harder.

[@thegreatgojousatoru5846]

@@th6n whats ur elo

[@apaarshrivastava]

Giri solved 2

[@th6n]

@@thegreatgojousatoru5846 1900 in both blitz and rapid

[@TruthHurtsFAFO]

As a borderline expert player it boggles my mind how effortlessly these GMs can complete this. No way I could memorize this position in 10 seconds let alone solve it

[@methdxman]

What’s your rating?

[@lucoa460]

@@methdxman 1

[@HexxuSz]

@@lucoa460 mittens detected

[@docxyz1042]

​@@lucoa460 most dangerous rating of all time

[@infinitrixtv5847]

Wesley So shows his Filipino side when he was off duty. That funny aspect of a barkada is something that could easily lighten the day.

[@someday777777]

more of these !!

[@mixowski9071]

Damn Duda nailed this puzzles!!

[@gcdsuite8471]

Krzysztof Duda is definitely badass

[@messi10messi30]

Hikaru first short was too impressive . I just want that type of speed of confidence level in my life ❤❤❤❤

[@peterpupe8352]

I struggle so hard with order of operation in puzzles. I was close to solving the second puzzle (of course i gave myself more like a minute), but didnt see the rook-move that had to be stopped with the very first queen-move.

[@sydneysitwala]

Getting Nemo to do this is brilliant for many reasons.

[@princevonny]

Sam Sevian is an absolute beast.

[@richardsmith9615]

not just grandmasters, Super Grandmasters! Incredible players all of them.

[@rakshanm834]

Wesley is nice and vibing and also has lot of humour sense

[@dragondish904]

Anish had to checkmate and not draw the position... Most difficult if you ask me 😂😂

[@MarkB-vp9ki]

Duda nailed this but shout out to Sam who did a great job too.

[@Rosario2488]

Everyone: puzzle is solved. Me: uhh what colour to move?

[@nathanweston9681]

Lovely Wesley! I don't recognise the GM in the bottom right, could anyone help me please?

[@louielogronio3463]

US GM Sam Sevian

[@noahdelarosa4485]

Sam sevian

[@discharm210]

You can see that the type of tactical player like Duda can solve this more easily

[@DanBorries]

this somehow makes me feel better about my own chess skills

[@jonasbartels839]

Hikaru: did anyone else get the second one? Everyone else: got the second one

[@NiX_xD]

He sacrifices… THE ROOKKKK

[@garlicbread8116]

Hikari; i wonder who else struggled withe the second Everyone else: YES i got it

[@eduardobuitrago]

Wesley answering correctly after adjusting the antenna of the wireless device in his pocket. You have to be incredulous nowadays 😂

[@murdermatics]

Hearing their process out loud is cool so different

[@ugomarsolais]

It's mind-blowing, not only that they can commit a position into their minds in 10 seconds or less, but then go through permutations of pieces, threats and countermoves all inside their heads. I'd be sweating bullets just trying to remember a position after looking at it for like 5 minutes, but then don't ask me to start moving these pieces around in my head because then I'll just lose the whole position 🤣😂

[@SergeiInyushkin]

It's all done more or less automatically after enough training and chess training is the only thing these guys do in their life. They solve so many puzzles that Duda even remembered the 3rd one as already solved some time ago :)

[@jurjenvanderhoek316]

@@SergeiInyushkin Nothing goes automatically. You definitely need (a lot of) talent also.