5 Insane Problems You Probably Can't Solve

Mate-in-2, Zugzwang, Underpromotion, and more! These fantastic puzzles will definitely amaze you! Enjoy!
👕 New Shirts! 👕
Chessvibes.shop
✅ Courses! ✅
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
The Ultimate King's Indian:
chessvibescourses.thinkific.c...
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
1000 - 1500 Strategic Thinking Chess Course:
chessvibescourses.thinkific.c...
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
Patreon tournaments with Nelson:
🔶 / chessvibes 🔶
☑️ Play Chess Here:
chess.com?ref_id=5885046
☑️ Join Our Discord Here:
/ discord
☑️ Support Nelson Here:
paypal.me/ChessVibes

[@FrostyFrosto]

Thank you for not having a stupidly long intro and just getting into the video right away. I really appreciate it.

[@RaviKumar-pr5dv]

My

[@alexwallis5791]

I agree with you

[@lilmy1es356]

9:29 whatchu mean by that 😂😂😂😂

[@alekhinesgun9997]

💀💀💀

[@roblodocus2539]

I love these. Who’d have thought a knight could cover almost all of a bishops squares on an empty board?! Another change up of pieces back there again as well I see. I’m kind of fascinated by all these sets. How many sets does Nelson have? What actually were those ghostly looking ones from last episode? Reminded me of the haunted house Laurel and Hardy.

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

Those ghost ones my parents just recently sent me... They had them in a shoe box and found them when moving. Not sure where they came from!

[@Jivvi]

A knight is really strong three squares away from a bishop on the edge of the board, but that only controls four of its escape squares. I've never seen it control so many squares just because the position of the king makes all those forks possible. That position was amazing.

[@33.anhtuanletran48]

@@ChessVibesOfficial không

[@33.anhtuanletran48]

Qwertyuiiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm

[@diogenes_of_sinope]

Just mind blowing puzzles, thank you for the great videos, keep on making such wonderful content, you're great!

[@crazypomp927]

In position 3 with the kings and one pawn each, playing Kf2 first does still win, but it takes a few extra moves. The line given by SF14 NNUE is: Kf2 Kh2 Kf3 Kh3 Kf4 Kh4 b4 g5+ Ke3! g4 b5 g3 b6 g2 Kf2 g1=Q+ Kxg1 then white queens and wins. After Ke3! if black at any point tries moving the king instead of pushing their pawn then black just loses a tempo and loses a couple moves sooner. For example, g5+ Ke3! g4 b5 g3 b6 Kh3 b7 g2 Kf2 and black can't queen because if they try Kh2 then b8=Q+. So yeah Kf2 first still works as long as after g5+ white avoids Kf3?? and plays Ke3!

[@martinvanderende7941]

Exactly what my solution was as well

[@goodspellr1057]

Cool video. I love these kinds of problems and am currently working through a book of award-winning Mate In 2 puzzles. I set the puzzle up on a board in the living room so that anyone passing through can try to solve it.

[@richardlefaive1944]

For puzzle 1: WQ to F4 is almost as elegant , its mate in 2 for all Black options except BPwn form A7 to A5. That's mate in 3.

[@amaarquadri]

For the puzzle at 3:45, I was trying Kf2 to lure the black king to h2 but the issue is both sides lose a tempo because of the check. I tried to find a win after g3+ Kf3 g2 b7 g8=Q b8=Q+ Kh8 but even though black is stuck in the corner there's no way to force mate. The key is that by playing Ke2 we force black to h2 without stepping on the f file.

[@alekhinesgun9997]

Kf2 also wins but for a different reason, if you play Kf2 Kh2 Kf3 Kh3 Kf4 Kh4 b4! g5 Ke3! And you’ve created a similar situation where you can either catch the pawn or you’ll eventually force the king back to h2 and create the same position

[@keymasta3260]

5:03 Ke2 mate in 16 Kf2 mate in 19

[@bunpeishiratori5849]

Yeah, after showing this puzzle to a bunch of people for the past month, I engine checked it and discovered that Kf2 also wins. I'm disappointed and kind of embarrassed.

[@leonardocavalieri526]

I just started watching your videos and they really are some amazing puzzles, very interesting stuff. Keep it up!

[@johannesbluemink4581]

I learned so much in so little time. Mind boggling! I still have the book with all Sam Lloyd's problems.

[@awang_ir]

Yes, I gotta love chess AND this channel! Thank you again for amazing puzzles

[@1a1u0g9t4s2u]

Enjoyed this also enjoyed the knight one you mentioned when it originally posted. Perhaps you may consider including problem solving on games where StockFish indicates the game advantage has switched due to a poor move.

[@francomedina6038]

Amazing video just one thing, in 13:05 you said that no mather what happend we stealmate the opponent, but what if we don't make a queen in the first place? Love your videos

[@domin3k535]

Thats what i think of

[@meemog916]

I checked, and it ends up being a stalemate

[@konamiboyfool]

Promoting to a Rook, Knight or Queen results in either a stalemate, perpetual check or draw by insufficient materia. Promoting to a bishop is a loss.

[@turel528]

Kf2 is also winning. Two moves difference - Ke2 - mate in 16 and Kf2 - mate in 18

[@johnathanpatrick6118]

All those stalemate possibilities in the last puzzle...and to think that an *underpromotion* was the best option to avoid many or most if not all of those traps. Good stuff. 😁😁

[@BlazeRhodon]

Great puzzles, I've found solution for the first two (mate in two moves), third (although with a slightly different line but I won and analized it) and fifth puzzle. But in fourth puzzle I've found the first move but I missed this fantastic move Ka1 because my opponent played different move (Kb7) intstead of Kc5, but I've found an idea, this knight in the center is a beast.

[@Diebeiden67]

Thank you! Wonderful video.

[@avshiloh2438]

Excellent. Thanks!

[@NerdyWordyMatt]

Mind-blowing. Keep them coming.

[@daboffey]

In the first puzzle, my first thought was: this is a retroanalysis problem trying to prove the black pawns are going up the board. In the final problem, you gave the situation of the black king taking the knight, whereon the white pawn is able to promote. What about if the black king took the pawn, leaving white with just a knight, which is insufficient material to force a mate?

[@kristofferkarlsson4260]

09:12 Wow! That´s so cool - Kh1!! 10:56 Yes, this is why we love chess!

[@LudosErgoSum]

Whenever my friend bring out the old cheese, I know he's going for the «That's stale, mate.» trap😑

[@mrdetonia]

Great video, these were tricky. I still can't figure out what's going on with the changing colour chess set; you can just tell us where the treasure is buried right?

[@chikezienestor3394]

Sir Nelson, these chess puzzles are really mind blowing. Chess is really deep.

[@bartoszpajak5672]

I found a sick mate in 1st puzzle that starts with Rxb7 followed by Nb6 check (if bishop takes) and queen mates on the back rank

[@kurtdustinbajar713]

12:57 correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't an underpromotion to a knight be a win for white since it covers the b7 square?

[@nebulagod7896]

At 13:13 can't the pawn promote to a knight and that can then take the rook if it takes the b7 pawn but I still think black wins because his king is closer to the pawns

[@alexanderxyz6146]

4:10 oh i could find that fairly quickly, I played the wrong move first vs computer (no analyzation just play it out wrong first) to see what's going on in the position (inability to kick the black pawn with our king because he can just "follow" us, plus the pawn can check us with tempo - these were the 2 problems) and then Ithought about what if I lure the black king into the check position on h2 and stop my hunt there. Ofc without us getting into a check by the pawn. Thanks to the diagonal walk capability! To be fair I only thought about all that thanks to your other puzzle videos and 3 step processes and your puzzle run with explanations. I really appreciate your lowplayer-friendly videos. Also just nicely made. Thanks. edit: same for nr.2: I found the check as you revealed later and by that an unkickable knight and I only won vs the AI. Never had to play King to H1, hmm.

[@BingeThinker1814]

You're a legend bro. One of the GOATs for making chess theory accessible

[@awequayzngs1780]

Easy. Thanks for sharing.

[@aaronchan1088]

14:31 b8=N+!! I had a game where I underpromoted to a knight to force mate on the spot, and another game where I underpromoted to rook to thwart my opponent's stalemate trick. That is why I always have auto queen disabled at chess.com.

[@kellamyoshikage286]

8:44 I get that Kc5 leads to the star move and all that and there's no flashy win against Kb7, but while I found Kh1 I didn't see anything in that line better than moving the knight to b3 at some point and getting a winning endgame if/when the king tries to contest the pawn.

[@dasweq3806]

black needs to maintain tempo since white king can capture the pawn, resulting endgame not trivial but still winning for white

[@alex_zetsu]

7:14 wait was it discussed on this channel before? I couldn't find the video since it gets hard to navigate channels after they removed pages for the videos on a channel (it starts to get sluggish as you scroll down). Of course, if we'll go over it again in a future video, that's fine too.

[@24B791]

Recently picked up chess and I'm loving this channel bro

[@whaddup691]

Last puzzle in the first line you show with all the stalemates, could you underpromote to a rook? Or would their counter play change and make it a draw/loss for white?

[@darwizzy_nunezz]

5:02 I found King to E2 as I know that in endgame is there is this move called “OPPOSITION” In this case, distant opposition does not work and if black tries not to be distant, he blocked his own pawn’s way

[@darwizzy_nunezz]

I wrote this answer without looking at the solution

[@darwizzy_nunezz]

10:51 The true power of a knight

[@arrowofkira5658]

10:58 and they say a bishop is comparatively a strictly better piece than a knight. Don't talk to my horsey ever again! :P

[@pjoazure]

Great puzzles!

[@charlesmrader]

I'm used to the standard that the white pawns move from bottom to top, and black pawns from top to bottom. When you present a puzzle, before asking us to think, it would be nice to know if you are using the opposite convention.

[@bananananana811]

For first problem, Ra6 also works. If pawn takes, Qe4+, Bb7, Qe8+, Bc8 and Qxe8# Any other moves by black, like taking the knight or moving another pawn will lead to Rxa7+, Kb8 and Ra8# This works, just that it takes more moves. I think.

[@georgegeorgopoulos1861]

Remember it is a mate in 2 problem. Only Qc6 mates in 2 moves. Other moves may mate in more moves but only one in 2 moves.

[@kinghammyxvii]

“what are you gonna do if ur black?” ten quotes before disaster

[@vincentpeer5188]

Man, great puzzles.

[@Jivvi]

12:16 Isn't Black winning? The king can go to c5, b4, and win the pawn while defending his own pawn, and the white king is too far away to stop it. Basically the same situation as 15:14 in reverse.

[@2010sunshine]

Very educative!

[@robertf6344]

Love these vids :)

[@Petey-The-Cat]

12:56 what if white gets a rook or a knight instead?

[@helloboiz9257]

8:44 I wonder what is king move to b7 instead it will block the pawn from moving and there is no knight check even black going to lose because the pawn is lose but a stalemate is always existed but Ik it not gonna be stalemate if the player know how to move correctly but if doesn’t then it stalemate and ofc it will be long depend on the player so they find good move or not

[@shdj512]

Bro mind blowing video more of these please

[@AbouTaim-Lille]

Just an answer to the last question . If the king is ahead of a pawn in the column A or H and he is mirrored by a black king on the knight column or if the black king is any way in the rectangle determined by the white king and the corner with the 2 adjacent columns then the white king is stuck and can't make way for the pawn to be promoted.

[@imi___]

11:00 what about kb3? Shouldn't that win too? If the king chases the knight, white runs with the pawn, if the king goes to b5 white just takes the pawn on H2 and wait for the king to come down. If the bishop goes to D2, allow it to swap the bishop for the pawn and win with the knight and the other pawn..

[@MAML_]

3:56 this is like the puzzle from the road to nowhere fisherman

[@onniruusunen9444]

actually in the puzzle 3:45 kf2 also wins and it has similar idea that black king has to go h2 and you can queen and chess tablebase confirms this

[@botsjeh]

Objective was to mate in 2 moves, not just mate.

[@stepstar865]

The king and pawn endgame one was pretty easy but still a great puzzle

[@alexanderxyz6146]

[Edit2: I looked at it occasionally again, and today I found it! M2! nice.] 2:39 (mate-in-2) Damn I tried every move that I could imagine - nothing just M3 -, so hard for me! - and I loved some of your other ones. *I wish you'd give another hint after the pause!* For those that couldn't find it, so they could try one more time with that new clue. (the better thinkers would simply go on without taking the 2nd pause). PS: I took more time for the other ones (in another video such as queen staircase), but you said these here are for warming up 😲 - Edit: I have watched your "3 step process to solve chess problems/puzzles" video now, still too hard. I will bookmark that timestamp one and try another day. (or you could give a second clue)

[@mrchess8522]

BTW in the puzzle 12:31 , you didnt include the part where 3. .... R:D2, where you can't promote to a queen due to RD1, but promote to a knight and win.

[@mahbluebird]

For the record, it HAS to specifically be a Knight to get the win in the last puzzle. As mentioned the Queen forces the stalemate with rook d7. But if you get a rook, black puts their rook in a7 and wins with checkmate. If you get a Bishop to counter a7, black moves their rook to d8 and YOU are stalemated and cannot move anything. Only the Knight wins the game, with the fork.

[@kisslas]

13:09 Underpromoting to a knight seems winnable to me, actually. I think White can force Black's king away from the A-file and win the pawn to eventually promote the A-pawn.

[@reubenmanzo2054]

I would've thought promote to a rook to prevent the stalemate.

[@konamiboyfool]

If you underpromote to a Knight. The Rook takes the "a" pawn next move and will sacrifice itself for the "b" pawn. The white Knight will then have to sacrifice itself as well for the black pawn and it will be only Kings on board.

[@ednelson2501]

Amazing , learn something new everyday.

[@FatherManus]

2:26 What about Queen F3 and then Knight E4? The King still can’t move after F3 and the Knight checkmates regardless of the other moves from Black. Edit: Nevermind, Black’s only move is Rook D4 which takes Knight. But if they don’t see the Knight move its Mate in 2.

[@xenaguy01]

2:15 First puzzle: After Qc6, Black has 6 possible moves. ... BxN, Qxb7# ... Pb7xQ, Rb8# ... Pc7xR, QxB# ... Pa7xR, Qa4# ... a6, Rxa6# (Pb7 is pinned) ... a5, Ra6# (Pb7 is pinned) I think you covered them all.

[@alexanderxyz6146]

14:50 weird, I didn't need to find Nb2! (which is just another amazing calculation among the already amazing stuff in puzzle3) Because the 3200 AI let me win by playing my knight to Nb8 or even other stuff. (such as Nb5 and back to e7) But I did get to the knight transformation and ofcourse won with what I did , I felt that was an accomplishment. Anyways until now I felt this was the most tricky one with lots of stuff to look out for.. for instance I put my king to c7 in some tries and got my a** kicked to the draw because of the check.

[@renukakumari3740]

13:10 can we just make a rook in that position

[@thierryrobichaud2603]

your vidéo are addictive I hope you will continue doing this for a long time 👍

[@m1k4c]

these problems are awesome!

[@kisslas]

I thought there was another solution to the 2nd one: 1. Kf2 Kh2 2. Kf3 Kh3 3. Kf4 Kh4 4. Kf5 Kh5 5. b4 (because at this point, if we both get queens, we can mate on the next move with Qh8). But that actually doesn't work because of 5. - g6+, forcing our king off the spot making mate possible, and once we've moved the king, both sides again get queens and it's a draw.

[@kisslas]

Actually, no, that does work. After 5. ... g6+, we can go 6. Kf4. Black can't just do 6. ... g5+ because of 7. Kg3, and if 6. ... Kh4, they lose a tempo which wins us the game (7. b5 g5+ 8. Kf3 Kh3 9. b6 g4+ 10. Kf2 Kh2 11. b7 g3+ 12. Kf3 g2 13. b8Q+ etc). The idea is sort of the same, the black king is forced to end up on h2 which means we promote with check and thus can prevent Black also promoting.

[@harryf9885]

Here is a promotion hierarchy based on these puzzle videos I came up with: 1. Queen: most powerful piece. 90%+ promotions. Best to think of it as the default promotion and justify others in comparison. It’s only weaknesses are it cannot recreate the coverage of a Knight and needs at least two turns to recreate its movement, and it is the most likely promotion to stalemate your opponent in what otherwise would be a position with a chance to win. 2. Knight: vast majority of other promotions because of its unique movement. Look to use it to immediately threaten/stop/create checkmates/perpetual check/forks/forced trades/fortresses/defense that no other piece could accomplish. It is also the best piece for stalemating yourself. 3. Rook: Selected only when the additional coverage of a Queen creates an undesired stalemate threat, and there is nothing for a knight to do immediately. In this scenario, now the Rook becomes the default selection because it is better long term than a knight or bishop. 4.Only selected in the same circumstances as the rook, but with the additional condition that it stops/creates/threatens checkmates/defense of a piece or promotion square/forks that a Rook cannot. Definitely other people have had all of these ideas before me. At least the ones that are correct lol. I’m interested to hear other peoples input on this.

[@patrickexiler9255]

First of all, why does the white have to block the pawn at 09:15? Would it not be better to just take it with the king? Also what happens at 8:32 if Black plays King to B7 instead of C5 like in the video? I think White can do nothing then to prevent Black from moving the King to A6 with the next move and then taking the pawn on A5. I think that would result in a draw

[@FuturePast2019]

Mr Lopez forgot King B7... Chessmaster move....

[@chesschasersaddozai]

Superb!

[@danielbillings1876]

“You gotta love chess”…damn right!

[@this_commenter_had_a_stroke]

Umm, in the 3rd position, what if we do the first line he showed (which leads to a stalemate) but instead of queen promotion we promote to a rook? If black tries the same trick, it won't be a stalemate because the king will have B6 to move to

[@mahbluebird]

Black captures the pawn, then goes to b4 and you end up playing a rook vs rook chess game.

[@FloydMaxwell]

Came very close on the fourth one -- I wanted to take the black pawn, but that would have given black a tempo

[@dominickmiller9528]

5 insane problems you probably cant solve 1. You are morbidly obese 2. You have crippling depression 3. You play league of legends 4. You are on the FBI most wanted list 5. Some chess puzzle

[@junsoojang5618]

10:26 that is why knight and bishop is same points since knight can control so many squares even it can jump around

[@aaronchan1088]

12:56 white must underpromote to rook as queening the pawn leads to Rxb7+!! a forced draw.

[@nitinbhaipatel4458]

Very nice finishing moves

[@BlazeRhodon]

4:44 Actually Kf2 in this position also winning, because white still can stop black pawn. But I agree that Ke2 is better to play (I admit I missed it).

[@Small_Schlonng_9000]

How can it stop the pawn

[@cliffordgate7344]

Awesome. Gorgeous! Best smart chess channel ever

[@kevinmorford5032]

In the very first puzzle, why isn't Q a6 also a win? If bishop takes night, then Q B7 is mate. The a pawn is pinned. The b pawn is blocked from advancing. If the b pawn takes Q, then R b8 is mate. If the c pawn takes the rook, then Q x B is mate. If the c pawn takes the K, then Q x the b pawn is also mate. What am I missing?

[@live_neck]

Bishop is covering b pawn, after Q a6, C pawn takes rook, white's queen is hanging and there's no mate because the bishop still covers b7

[@JoWovrin]

Holy shit that last problem is so cool!

[@brunomaelstrom8823]

Third one took me another minute to find Ke2, threatening to stop the black pawn, then if black plays Kh2, the king will be under the check of the incoming queen on b8, loosing a tempo and if they play Kh2 they will block their own pawn thus losing precious tempo …

[@titouanb384]

Really nice video

[@PedraamJam]

More mate in 2s please

[@shrutiranjansahoo652]

10:58 the guy with the black surely won't after seeing a knight beating a bishop in an endgame😂

[@anthonycoer5929]

I think I've watched too many of your videos. I saw that last one and thought it was easy and everything you said I thought to do. And im really bad at chess. I just love watching the games and saying how do they think of this stuff.

[@kcamargopiano]

In 12:52, instead of promoting D pawn to a queen, promote to a Knight. It's a Win for White,

[@arvinderkainth9835]

In the first position, Qc6 was the right move, but can you tell me why Qa6 doesn't work, please?

[@SamuelPearlman]

I've also tried the line, "I've got some _fascinating_ positions to show you!", but somehow it never comes off, hrm...

[@veldhvz]

For the 4th problem; what if after Nd4, Black plays Kb7?

[@picture070]

Ya that's what I'm thinking I barely even considered Kc5 because it just strictly seemed worse.

[@loof311]

Not too sure about the move order, but I think white can defend the a pawn with Nb3, take on h2, and push the f pawn. Black can't take either pawn without sacrificing the bishop, so white can still win with the other pawn.

[@botsjeh]

White takes H pawn and just walks to the other pawn.

[@lilstan2527]

Noob here just barely started understand the intricacies of chess And I have a question on the second puzzle 3:45 into the video I'm feeling like I'm missing something but can't figure it out can you move the queen from E4 to A4 move one Then rook B1 to B5 move two What moves can black did i missed

[@isavenewspapers8890]

Here’s a list! 1…Na7 1…Nb4 1…Nd4 1…Bc4 1…Rd4 1…Rd5 1…Rd7 1…Rd8 For the record, you timestamped the third puzzle, not the second one.

[@zauz_1518]

9:29 amazing move Kh1

[@brunomaelstrom8823]

Could not find solution on the 4th one ! Kh1 mindboggling !

[@athiefinthenight6894]

For puzzle 2 I saw queen to a4 but black has bishop blocking which delays mate a move

[@markiefella]

I thought that too, but I can’t see how the bishop can block after Qa4…?

[@wak-asahan4451]

Thanks bro

[@gamingwithsarik.k69]

Bro in 2nd puzzle if we take Queen to F3 THAN THERE IS ALSO CHECKMATE BY KNIGHT

[@jimfichter7246]

8:35 What if the black king goes to B7 ?

[@aaronchan1088]

The rook and bishop pawns vs a queen is a draw, but only if the opposing king is out of position. If the king is close enough, the player with the queen wins.

[@tonybarfridge4369]

Don't know if u mentioned in the first position, qXpe7, pXr, qb6, mate

[@user-rc8rv4sk2j]

I love these

[@santiagosenoran1217]

I got the second puzzle but I failed to realize the king could take the queen even so the rook could checkmate anyway, but it made realize I only solved the puzzle because I just found an aproximation to the solution but would probably had cost me a queen in a regular game where checkmates aren't granted and most likely I wouldn't been so lucky to have a rook there

[@alexanderxyz6146]

More hints pretty please. So, after the pause. (allowing a 2nd pause which others could skip). It's would be nice to half-solve it instead of getting the solution right away. It still gives the opportunity to fully solve it yourself for advanced users by finding it in the 1st pause. I try to apply all the information and guides you gave in other videos, such as chessmate patterns or step processes and can't really find the M2s myself. Feels unsatisfying when you can't find it yourself not even a bit. I also think that's how good riddle makers and teachers do it, they give small hints when the scholar is not getting close to an answer. As long as you care about those less gifted people - namely your viewers - that is. Which I know you do. Quite a nice channel in general by the way.

[@alexanderxyz6146]

edit: I did find the solution at day2 and actually just after 1 minute of looking at it again. Rather unapparent indeed and the more beautiful.