3 Chess Positions To Amaze You

[@tomoelrich6713]

Thank you for these wonderful studies

[@roblodocus2539]

A little something for baby Lopez! Congrats again!

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

Wow, thanks Rob!! Maybe I'll buy him a chess set =P

[@dentonyoung4314]

Honestly, if I had an over-the-board endgame where I was down a rook, I'd be more than happy to escape with a draw. :) The fact White can win that last position is amazing.

[@levistepanian5341]

If you see a good move look for a better one, there are frequently unique positions which cause strange nature of positions to be achieved.

[@dash_r_media]

I liked the second study best, but lord, that third one was chock full of twists

[@mattt.4395]

white has 2 extra pawns and the black knight is hanging at the beginning, so it is an even material position. by not taking the knight, white is "sacrificing" a knight in order to get a better position to win. but white can choose to take the knight and have it be an even position. so white is not "down a full rook" at the beginning.

[@stephenwitherington879]

I've been exchanging messages with another recently stressing Capablanca's advice of studying the endgame first. This is correct due to the fact that it is fine if you emerge unscathed from the opening & progress well in the middle game; but, then, having exchanged further pieces, you enter the unfamiliarity of an endgame where your technique is woeful to put it mildly; simply because you're too wrapped up in the first two phases of the game. My endgame has always been reasonable, but lately I have watched videos & studied elsewhere &, you've guessed it, I found all the key moves in all three positions here!! Isn't that fantastic stuff, & many thanks to the gentleman presenting this series of tutorials. Keep up the fine work, & best of luck to all budding GMs.

[@luqmaanhay4957]

Okay

[@christopherheckman5392]

9:47 White can't play Nd4 just yet. Black can reroute his bishop to g2 and h3 before White can move his king and push his pawn the two squares; this mechanism is similar to the one where Black plays Bh5-g4 at 9:59. So White has to play Ke7 first, do the knight and bishop dance, and THEN can move Nd4. 11:48 Can Black draw if the pawn on a5 is removed from the board? It seems its only purpose was to take away ...Ka5.

[@hardrock3786]

16:40 what if black plays b6 bishop will be fall down 100%

[@danielnelson9411]

Hi. Been a while since I checked out your channel. Lately I have been using the Halloween Gambit and having a lot of success with it. Thanks for showing the Halloween Gambit a while back. I need to start watching these again so I can improve my chess game.

[@joelwitick]

At 5:37 in the video does king to f6 also work ?

[@kats7930]

That Kasparian 1930 one, omg that was insanely complicated and brilliant!!! 😮😮😮

[@neelsharma3962]

these positions are so instructive and mind boggling!! amazing video filled with content

[@enderwar206]

5:07 if u push the pawn its defended by the bishop

[@jasonruff1270]

your videos are such a relief to see

[@waxberry4]

Watching one of your clips gets me more knowledge and skill than reading 20 pages of chess book.

[@salenali9701]

Those positions are so helpful thanks for the tips as well

[@chriswaudby1084]

Unbelievable endgame position there

[@Smartness_itself]

These are some great positions where you can see that sometimes a bishop is stronger than a knight and sometimes a knight is stronger than a bishop.

[@Lovuschka]

Composers today: Gleb Nikolaevich Zakhodyakin (7 July 1912 - 6 March 1982), Russian composer of direct mates (i.e. White to move and checkmate in x moves), helpmates (both players cooperate) and endgame studies. Jan Lerch (???). Unclear if identical to Jan Sikora Lerch. Genrikh Kasparyan (27 February 1910 - 27 December 1995), Georgian/Soviet chess master, multiple times playing in the Soviet Chess Championship. One of the most prolific and qualitatively high endgame study composers. Three times winner of the Tbilisi (Tiflis) Chess Championship, ten times winner of the Armenian Chess Championship, both in practical play.

[@Аскудије]

16:42 isn't b6 winning for black?

[@hardrock3786]

i think so

[@iradiakalenz4225]

there were 2 positions in this video that were similar in material (K+N+P vs K+B+P), but one was a win and another was a draw (13:02). How does one know in a game, which is a draw and which is gonna be a victory in some 13 moves?

[@tykemorris]

I started the same but had a different variation. At the 3 minute mark after black Ng7 I had white Kf7. This prevented any moves by the Black King, protected the pawn by the king thus freeing the Bishop and giving black only one move to save his knight (black Nh5). Next I pushed the pawn to Pg6. This put us one move from checkmate forcing the knight to bounce back and forth between Nh5 and Ng7. White Bishop then wastes a move while staying on the same diagonal to force the knight back to Nh5. Then W Bf5, followed by B Ng7 again. Then W Bg4 forces the knight to move into a capture. B Ng7 at 3 minute in video. W Kf7 prevents all further movements by Black King. B Nh5 only move to save knight W Pg6 threatens checkmate B Ng7 W Bc2 to waste a move while black moves the knight again. B Nh5 W Bf5 B Ng7 W Bg4 B Ne8 W Ke8 x knight B Kg7 W Bf5 protects pawn until white king can get back to g file to escort the pawn to queen.

[@andyclark8991]

I love your video, this reminds me of a similar game I had (which I won) With a bishop and a pawn vs Knight. In the end got a Queen and won the game mate. Love your video.

[@krzysztofanonimowe7957]

5:18 how about white King to g6? Wouldn't it Just force black to loose theier knight and than win the game faster?

[@MisterLx]

No one explains this in such detail as Nelson.

[@lonewolf42923]

At 7:56, if white king tries a triangulation, Kc4 hoping for Bb5 followed by Kc5, I guess black defense is Ka3 making the a4 square available for the bishop and white cannot win anymore.

[@alexanderxyz6146]

5:00 Hmm wouldn't a triangle king move by white solve the dilemma of the black king being "one move ahead"? [edit yea *it works! see edit* ] Just check it out for fun: First, say from G4, you go back to E5. Now we will start our journey back to G4, but instead of going the same way, you go to E4 first. The triangle is F4->E5->E4. This will add one move to you, and the black king will be at the top this time, like when he did the "easy for us" Kh8 move at first. The point is: Black doesn't have this method. And btw: That triangle is covering the escape f5 of black knight perfectly. Mindblown? -Of course I might be wrong, not the first time,- but also I got stuff right not the first time. [Edit: I just tested my idea VS stockfish 10, and it works, stockfish had to move his knight and lost, despite putting the King to H7 at first (the difficult way). So again, the test was done from the position at 5:00 which you said wasn't working for white, and the method I explained had solved it. Of course you could do it better righ away, but I think from that timestamp it's a good prove it works. Btw: here is the FEN if you wanna try it, too 8/5Bnk/8/6P1/6K1/8/8/8 w - - 0 1 Have fun This is way too fascinating and occupies me, I needed to and now still need to do something else xD (good bye for now)

[@KingVaughn007]

Just watched your vid on corresponding squares and it was put to use again in your first study love to see it

[@andyclark8991]

10:39 Knight e3 to c2

[@jonahabramson3648]

6:42 what if king to B3 then bishop to C4 then it would be a draw right

[@Formula7Driver]

First position got me confused real good... The h8 square is black, so we have the wrong colored bishop, so it means that it's a draw... And after 6 minutes I figured out that the pawn was on the g file

[@RMF49]

Omg same. Thought he made a mistake when he said if we can win the N that’s one way to win.

[@extra...]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bishop perform so bad against a knight considering they’re one of the fastest traveling pieces, even faster than a rook.

[@bradylikesgames7395]

Chess really is amazing! In position 3 I honestly can barely believe that there is a STALEMATE with a ROOK on the board for black! Crazy.

[@MountainPieEnjoyer]

4:52 I know I'm wrong somehow, but why can't you go pawn g6+, black king has to go back, push your king, then they have to move their knight?

[@RealKayd3nYT]

Nice try, but black plays king to h6

[@glaciergaming4487]

I got a ques:what if we get a knight at 13:47

[@unicorneater6111]

That's what I'M SAYING (not in a rude way)

[@Vivekkrishnaseshadri]

At 8:37, the black king can move to d5 to threaten capture of pawn and so you can’t take the bishop in the fork

[@isaacchris81]

well no bc after knight takes, the king wont be allowed to capture the pawn as the knight would be defending the pawn

[@bobica100]

At 15:06 we actually get a bishop,its a draw if we promote to a rook

[@FEELosofiya]

15:01 I knew it! There's a reason why the promotion to a queen is not the best every time

[@Volt_Bolt]

5:07 if pawn moves to g5 it’s protected by the bishop so its check mate

[@HTen-sh1nc]

It's not checkmate yet

[@kilakshd4804]

No

[@trollar8810]

2/3 I'm getting better So i have a bit of a problem in all my games i usually get the opening very well and keep the pressure till the middle-game But then in the mid to end game i just blunder heavily and then in the endgame im down a rook or something

[@whateverfitshere]

5:00 Just make the pawn to G6 move as before? It would be the same position.

[@FreewayChess]

3:02 pawn to g6 Its a faster way to checkmate

[@turtleasaurus769]

In the last puzzle, if you were to promote the pawn to a knight, wouldn’t that be a checkmate in one move if you go to b7?

[@nez14526]

If black didn't move, then yes. But black will move the knight, opening up the b6 escape square. If we could transport our knight to c4, that would be mate, but that's not possible from d8.

[@Racerx215]

So at 5:18 why didn’t you just move king to g6 and trap the knight??

[@sargunmarwan5313]

At 5:07 you Can Play g6 and then with the king g5

[@Rocky64]

Nah, g6+ allows Black to draw with ...Kh6!

[@andyclark8991]

6:25. Win for white

[@danielcastillotamayo]

14:32 couldnt he simply the pawn on c3?

[@Friedfoodie]

You have rekindled my interest in chess. Great analysis and tremendous fun.

[@NoBodyNotACrime]

Cant bishop go on c4 after king then push the pawn so king cant kill and its checkmate?

[@darius-m3p]

13:55 Would d8=N draw?

[@Yvoyalaruina]

Thanks!

[@butlazgazempropan-butan11k87]

13:25 what if black wont takr the rook ??

[@unicorneater6111]

Then they lack IQ

[@kirilkondratov1964]

I wonder, why black cannot move knight to f5 on 3:28?

[@generalginyu8594]

Because White gave check.

[@fantomghost6213]

Great puzzles

[@andyclark8991]

13:12 I would take the rook straight away, straight away, take the rook with my bishop. Bishop C4 to F7

[@timothybrown7623]

why dose no taking the pawn with horse and not rock with rock no be draw? 13:23

[@bradylikesgames7395]

@Timothy Brown "I'm assuming you mean why does knight takes d6 rather than rook takes rook not work?" It doesn't work because simply rook takes knight is a winning endgame, because the passed pawn can be escorted by the pieces, and black's pawn is too slow, so black will have to sacrifice the rook for the pawn/promoted piece, and R, B, and king vs king and pawn is a very easy win. I hope this was helpful! ☺ ❤

[@timothybrown7623]

@@bradylikesgames7395 oh I see it now. Thanks. that one was a bit hard to see since I not very good at chess

[@nautilus269]

Kh8 check from bishop on F7? Maybe brilliant. But it’s another king sacrifice, in addition to that infamous one.

[@unicorneater6111]

For the third one, why can't you just get a knight to avoid the fork?

[@andyclark8991]

I love your videos

[@Kathleengrace_]

That was 3 puzzles and all them were mind boggling I almost got the last one tho but blundered at the end 😅

[@vladislavchessmate1567]

Oh, thank you for video

[@kamnasharma6143]

One of the most amazing endgame positions I've seen! Had a question: Which book do you recommend the most to improve in Chess or learn Chess Openings?

[@dash_r_media]

You weren't asking me, so feel free to disregard my suggestion. For context, I am 1600+ rated USCF and 1800+ at FICS. Two books to start with, both by Yasser Seirawan: Winning Chess Tactics (WCT) and Winning Chess Strategies (WCS). WCT is about the short-term attack and developing the ability to recognize those situations. WCS is about putting pieces on their best squares, planning, pawn structure, how to play with a material advantage (or deficit). Since you asked book, as in one book, I would go with the second book WCS.

[@reubenmanzo2054]

3:05 Our goal is to move the knight away, isn't it? So why not Kf7? Black's king can't move, you have to move the knight.

[@bradylikesgames7395]

You are correct, Ruben. The knight does have to move. However the knight can escape by moving to h5. That is why we had to play Bg4 to take away that square. When the king moves, it controlls that square you were talking about

[@bradylikesgames7395]

* Bg6 not Bg4 sorry*

[@WHAT-gm1xm]

How to think like GM any tips & strategy

[@sebastianmatuszewski6412]

Hi chess geeks. In Kasparian 1930 position shown in time 14:00 the Chess Vibes Master said it's a draw. I am not sure I mean this requires a seperate study, where white king aims for e7 and black king for c7, and after reaching this white cannot promote cause rook will take and it will be a bishop against the rook so white cannot promote cause they would lose. Because of that there is an idea to bring white pawn to c5 to threaten black rook to force it to trade for white pawn on d7, so white could remain with a bishop, and this I think could be a win. But it is not sure if white would manage a pawn to make it c5 on time.Looks complex and this could make a separate chess problem.

[@dieschachbrettfee2060]

If white attacks the black rook it will just move along the d line.

[@jaideepshekhar4621]

At 4:49, why not just g6? The black king can't move, the knight is captured either way. Edit: Nevermind, it escapes to h5.

[@zakhariasolesen3521]

no it dosent

[@angelatheist]

It's because of Ne6, if Bxe6 it's stalemate.

[@roblodocus2539]

Great video! I hope one day I play a game where I have to under promote for the win, and see it.

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

Make sure you share it when it happens!

[@roblodocus2539]

Will do! I had my first smothered mate recently. Not quite as rare, but very satisfying!

[@danielmclean3733]

I feel like you walked through the line at 4:40 but it was a stalemate

[@meanderingmarley3910]

I'm confused on the first one. Why doesn't the black king just go straight for the white pawn? I mean, the best he could've hoped for was a draw, right? 🤔

[@manpreet9766]

How can black king get to the pawn? The king cannot cross the 6th file in a straightforward way. In that time the knight would be long lost. And once it reaches the pawn we can simply move the pawn up and it will be defended by the bishop.

[@meanderingmarley3910]

@@manpreet9766 Maybe my thinking is wrong. I thought that the only way White could win is by promoting the pawn. I was thinking that a King/Bishop vs King/Knight endgame was always a draw. If that's not true, then that is what is hanging me up.

[@eriksteffahn6172]

@@meanderingmarley3910 Yes, white has to promote the pawn to win. If black could capture the pawn, it would be a draw, but it's not possible. The knight is more or less trapped (like seen in the video) and the king would need at least 5 moves to even attack the pawn (h8-g7-f7-e6-e5-f4), which would give white more than enough time to win the knight and move the pawn to g6 where it's protected by the bishop.

[@meanderingmarley3910]

@@eriksteffahn6172 I gotcha. Thanks!

[@GeorgeJosephKarimpanamannil]

Hope these thinking would help in the chess Olympiad.. 👍

[@impostor9168]

Hey Nelson! Haven't watched the vid yet but it looks really cool and I really enjoy these! I was wondering could you make more proof game videos? That would be great! Edit: I finished watching and it was amazing!

[@shailendrajadhav4706]

The titles overlapping chess board are major obstacles..can not see the board and concentrate

[@perkeyser2032]

You really do have a hardon for the word zugzwang. :)

[@2010sunshine]

Wonderful.

[@williambettis2961]

Really cool Nelson, thanks.

[@mr.scream2934]

Insane

[@Amoeby]

Why am I again solving chess puzzles in the middle of the night instead of sleeping? Anyway, the first puzzle. If I didn't mess it up it should be 1. Kc5 Nc7 2. Kd6 Ne8+ 3. Ke7 Ng7 4. Bg6 Kg8 5. Bf7+ Kh7 6. Kf6 Kh8 7. Ke5 Kh7 8. Kf4 Kh8 9. Ke4 Kh7 10. Ke5 Kh8 11. Kf4 Kh7 12. Kg4 Kh8 13. g6 and king is stalemated and all of the squares where the knight can move are under white's control. The 5. ... Kh8 subline is very similar: 5. ... Kh8 6. Kf6 Kh7 7. Ke5 Kh8 8. Kf4 Kh7 9. Kg4 Kh8 10. g6 and it's the same position as in the main line. And the last subline I checked was Nc7 on the third move but this one is very short: 3. ... Nc7 4. Kf7 and white's threatening g6 and g7# which is unstoppable unless black's knight sacrifices itself. The second puzzle. 1. d6 Be8 2. Nf6 Bc6 3. Kc5 Bb5 4. Kb6 Kb4 5. Nd5+ Kc4 6. Ne3+ Kb4 7. Nc2+ Ka4 8. Kc7 Be8 9. Kd8 Bc6 10. Nd4 and in order to preserve bishop on the board black must move it away from the a5-e8 diagonal but then white goes Ke7 and promotes the pawn. Kinda funny that normally when bishop is on a 5 squares long diagonal it can draw the game vs the knight and the king even without the help of its own king. However, here black's king shortens a4-e8 diagonal. Also there are several sublines leading to a fork with a threat of trading or winning the bishop. Now I really want to sleep (it's 3:23 am here fgs) and I'll leave the remaining puzzles for tomorrow. Thanks for sharing good puzzles, these are not easy to crack.

[@lotzy6107]

I think boggle and boggling are your favorite words

[@alexanderxyz6146]

Very nice video as always. Thanks. Your chess videos - and pausing them and studying the positions and trying myself even though it was hard - really helped my chess understanding, I can follow the stuff much easier now or better come up with the correct moves. It's quite a fun way to do it.

[@raiedfadhil6248]

Now I only see your channel

[@RD-uk6wt]

I recognized that most chess videos in web and youtube and so on, its about white and white to win and white to move and the perspective of black is near completly going down. In computer chess, too, their the most videos are about white and in 99 percent of this videos its allways white who wins. I mean, chess has two colors. Dear chess vibes, can you make more videos about black to play, black to win and so on? Greetings from germany.

[@rosiefay7283]

There is no need. Any position with White to win can be adapted to Black by swapping White and Black (that is, by reflecting the position and replacing white units by black and black ones by white). So if someone composing a problem or study found that Black can win, they'd swap White and Black, so as to present it as White to win, as is customary.

[@gabrieledibella7769]

5:17 can't you just play king g6?

[@RealKayd3nYT]

?

[@nikhilpatil2641]

Isn't that an illegal move at 8:05? The pawn is defending that square.

[@vosacz]

The black pawn goes from a5 to a4

[@nikhilpatil2641]

@@vosacz what do you mean?

[@vosacz]

@@nikhilpatil2641 if you meant the black pawn then the black pawn is going to bottom and it cant go back

[@nikhilpatil2641]

@@vosacz Yeah, I misunderstood it.

[@p.jhodeflea789]

If one wonders what piece is better , Bishop or Knight ? The answer is in these 2 first studies. The first one is domination of the Bishop on the Knight, the second one is the opposite. It is all relativity! 🤗

[@johnathanpatrick6118]

Sneaky stalemate trap in position #3. So you gotta underpromote... 🤭🤭

[@nelsonlopez1228]

Nice❤!

[@Yabs06]

Can't you just move the king to g6 ??? In the first puzzle

[@ghostban3743]

Hello friends, can you force the three pawns-attack (pirc) with white? I love this if it comes on board :-)

[@andyclark8991]

12:18 is the toughest, toughest one. (Out of the lot) black has extra rook, you have extras pawns near to getting a queen. Not sure on this one, a draw or win for white not sure

[@wyattmeche2378]

I bet first move is somewhere

[@lassikokkonen5618]

Ah couldn't find kc7

[@viktoraxa8963]

My low rates brain thought that the move horse to a3 looked good bc if king takes then our oing recaptures the bishop and white wins the pawn race + the horse attacks the bishop 🤷‍♂️

[@Nootn-otnoot]

I looking at possision 1 and saw all moves am I gm?🤔🤣

[@cdmgameplays2049]

brilliance in it's beauties ❤️❤️

[@MagnusJonsson82]

What is your nick on lichess? Really would like play couple of games against you 👍

[@barza-gaming445]

14:30 *me doing something with my teeth( Him:”til you realize it’s a stalemate” Me:*jaws dropping* how the freaking f is that a stalemate? Even tho NO ONE WOULD HAVE FOUND THAT even Magnus Carlsen because Manaus Carlsen would not go on this bad position and under Manchus Carlsen don’t get than bad position and other below would NEVER SEE IT

[@andyclark8991]

0:14 White to win.

[@fredricgriffin6070]

What is your name, age, politics, spirituality, physicality, educationality, etc.??? LMK…

[@_Gigz]

W

[@cheesydinos]

Oooo

[@KurasakiBleachigo1]

This is why I hate knights