Don't give up as white. You win this!

[@billcook4768]

This is the problem with chess puzzles. You tell me it’s a puzzle and white has a winning move. I find it somewhat easily. But in a game I’d never see it.

[@eduardoroman2691]

Speak for yourself. YOU are the one who will never see it. A good chess player with hundreds of games in his record could easily find the winning move just by being aware of the terrible position of the black king.

[@billcook4768]

@ That’s what I said. But I do appreciate the comment.

[@Mnil52]

@@eduardoroman2691harsh

[@jonshive5482]

@@eduardoroman2691 Depends on how you define "good." Theoretically better than 95% of all players and played literally thousands of games OTB or blitz/rapid plus solved thousands of puzzles over decades but only saw the first move. Missed the second skewer, doggonit. (Just an old lion these days, but as Nimzovitch said "If you put your head in my mouth I'll bite it off.")

[@lessen37]

​@@jonshive5482 A normal 1900 rapid online will see the first move in a few seconds, the next move in a minute at most

[@taleladar]

A classic example of, "I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me!"

[@captaingabi]

Brilliant! Black has 2 simultaneous threats: check mate with Qa1 and taking the rock with Kf4. White with the Ra4 move negates both threat, and in itself creates another 2 threat towards black: taking the queen with Ra8 and checkmate with Rh3. Thats why it is such a brilliant move: with one move you negate 2 threats and create another 2 threats yourself. This puzzle should be named "double edged sword" and the reason: having the 2 kings opposite of each other is actually good and bad for both sides at the same time...

[@benjaminkuch2558]

You don't sacrifice the rook. You sacrifice THE ROOOOOOOOOOOOOK!

[@RamKumar-gy9nb]

Excellent puzzle, the beauty lies in finding the right variations. Just brilliant. Thank you very much and God bless you.

[@rolandomartinez9076]

I didn't see that. Good puzzle.

[@jonshive5482]

Don't feel bad. Chess tactics may be "the foundation of everything else" (as per GM Nicolas Huschenbeth) but probably 95% of all rated players won't see it. You gotta have an intuitive grasp for such unique powers of pieces and pawns. As the saying goes, "Chess is easy to learn, but difficult to master."

[@general_paul]

White King: I defeated Black King having his Queen threatening me with a checkmate in one move with just my two Rooks, though sacrificing one. They called me a madman

[@TottenvilleMiddleSchool]

My ELO rating is only 1200, but I saw the solution from the thumbnail. The winning move is Ra4! If Black captures that white rook with Qxa4, then White uses the other rook to skewer the black king and queen with Rh3+! followed by Rh4+!! If the black queen tries to cover the h3 square with Qc8, then White plays Rh3+!, anyway, and after Black plays Qxh3, White plays Ra3+! to skewer the black king and queen, and White will go on to win with a winning king and rook versus bare king endgame. This is probably the only puzzle on this channel that I solved by myself.

[@Ebobster]

Looking at the puzzle seems white can win through a temporary rook sacrifice due to the vulnerable position of Black’s king by.. 1.Ra4!, QxR 2. Rh3+, King must go to 4th rank then 3. Ra4 (skewering K & Q), K moves anywhere 4. RxQ. Good puzzle!

[@donc9836]

i found it too!! nice puzzle! 😊

[@droal.]

Levy sacrifing the rook with this one🗣️🔥

[@ryans8081]

Saw it pretty quick, Rook Fa4, threatening Rook H3 Checkmate, if queen takes on A4, Rook H3 Check, King has to move to the 4th rank, then H4 Check Skewers the Queen and you win. And if they do Queen C8 to Cover H3, Check on H3 anyways and Skewer with the other Rook on A3.

[@eduardoroman2691]

Actually after black's Qc8, the move is Rh3+!, followed by Ra3+ and Rxh3

[@senbatifanola]

Notation is not Rook Fa4 but just Rook a4 since only one rook can go to a4 (in 1 move).

[@ryans8081]

@@eduardoroman2691 Sorry, I made a typo, I meant to say "check on H3 anyways" and skewer the queen with the other rook on A3.

[@stagna1959]

That was relatively easy . Black king is in horrible position and it means to avoid immediate mate black will lose his queen For example 1.Ra4 Qc7 to avoid mate , but white is going to play Rh3+ anyway 2. Rh3+ Qxh3 3. Ra3+ Kf4 4 . Rxh3 If 1.Ra4 Qxa4 2. Rh3+ Kd4 3.Rh4+ Ke5 4.Rxa4

[@brettmccann3403]

After capturing the queen, Mr. Von Bargen said that he believes we are all capable of winning as white from that point. I beg to differ. I reasoned that capturing the queen via skewer was the way to go, yet still couldn't accomplish it, and doubt if I would have found the correct first move in 1000 years. Could I have won with only rook vs king? I seriously doubt it. : (

[@giovannicorno1247]

Let me encourage you to practise and learn this mate, it is not difficult and it is useful also in real games.

[@brettmccann3403]

@@giovannicorno1247 I shall keep at it. Thanks.

[@dark_rit]

The trick to checkmating with rook and king vs. a lone king is to get the opposing king to one of the 4 edges of the board by moving the king and rook in tandem then cutting off the opposing king's escape by placing your rook on the 7th rank, 7th column, 2nd column, or 2nd rank so the opposing king cannot get out. From there you move your own king to get it to the 6th rank, 6th column, 3rd rank, or 3rd column. Once the opposing king moves to a square that is 2 straight lines away from your king you move the rook to deliver checkmate if it is far enough away and cannot be captured by the opposing king. One thing to note in this process is that you do not only move your king, you can also move your rook to put the opponent in zugzwang, which is a term in chess that means a player MUST make a move, but all of their moves are bad.

[@bhgtree]

@brettmccann3403 May I suggest using any free chess engine and free gui to set up these kind of checkmates, (and as you progress more advanced positions), play against the chess engine as practice.

[@LearnMusclescom]

Great puzzle!

[@itsxela9617]

Damn, i found Ra4 Qc8 and then somehow didn't find the second obvious skewer

[@nickmorton9938]

Same here

[@bobagorof]

I love this solution. I don't think this particular scenario will come up very often though.

[@johnfrancis4401]

So improbable but absolutely brilliant

[@CST1992]

I think the issue here is that the black queen is too far away. The puzzle is nice (I didn't see the magic move), but is it likely to come up in a real game? I'd say maybe there was some piece in the corner that Black took in the previous move and that's the only reason the queen is in that spot. In an actual game, against two rooks the player would want to keep his queen close.

[@Magnuscarlsen-2831]

NGL as a 2831 its a piece of a cake for me

[@markpeller1384]

It took me only a few seconds to realize the themes of this puzzle. Yes, easy, but pretty.

[@bbbbbzzzzzzzzzz5431]

It took me a just few milliseconds 😉 what a nice puzzle

[@andreasnystrom1998]

Sweet! 👍👍

[@tau93]

I knew that the rooks wouldn't be able to fork, but I totally forgot about a skewer!

[@OmneAurumNon]

It took me a minute, but that's really nice. Good puzzle!

[@petersiegfriedkrug]

No. I knew the solution. This is ancient coffee. Every study composer knows this idea.This is so famous and so old. Many other study composer in the past had made a study with this idea. E.g. Tigran Borisovich Gorgiev.

[@LemonCh1ffon]

King e2 mate in one 😎

[@chonamallari4080]

😅rook sacrifice then check the queen will capture

[@sissysakura7676]

Took about 1 minute , this is a simple one...

[@abhijiths5237]

found first move easily but took a minute for the 2nd one

[@Boolard-ln2pu]

SPOILER BLOCKER 🚫

[@andrewjenery1783]

Didn't see it at all until watching this. Very deceptive.

[@daNorse]

K->f1->g2?

[@pagedprawn3760]

Is the winning move Ra4?

[@DrewWest-c9q]

The intro pic is so painful😖, how the heck do you let a pawn go by???

[@robertpesevski1641]

Very sweet problem, I solved that!

[@davidgriffiths7696]

Not forced Qc8 instead

[@anafro_ru]

Rf3?

[@drysten887]

I saw this before he even made the video

[@rodrigoqteixeira]

Is there a special name for pinning a piece to the king?

[@0ldMatty2]

HOLY COW 🐄🤯

[@thewarlordscalling6537]

I'm not good @ these puzzles

[@rkclinite]

I do feel like im getting good at these 😂.

[@joyghosh8610]

Bishop !!!

[@uranuss7095]

yes, white winning

[@91thewatcher23]

So many sweaty comments😂

[@DeaconCheung-eh5jg]

I saw it in the first 10 seconds.

[@michaelpustilnik6914]

I got this one!

[@kona744]

RA4!!

[@wira2562]

Ra4!!

[@MichaelDBritton]

I got one! Woohoo!

[@giovannicorno1247]

Yessss, crazy rook😊

[@akdevendraswamy141]

Ra4

[@علويالجفري-س2ج]

Good🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@baureihe218freak2]

"Pause your video and see if you can find it." Not necessary, I found it in a few seconds

[@iwersonsch5131]

Look, I saw the move. I just didn't like it. You are not a psychic.

[@Nonedaless]

I analyzed it by the thumbnail while listening to dubstep and notice Ra4 cause king can't go back and is forced to be aligned with the queen.

[@jopekpl3986]

Honestly, when I saw that white's winning, I saw the correct move before even starting the video, but I'd get it only if I had 10 mins in a classical. Cool puzzle tho

[@zvmvbn3126]

Saw it from the first second.

[@Surreal_Wizard]

My brilliant move is the top rook to A four. Followed by check, then another check to skewer and win the queen. (Which, I'm guessing, is probably the first move he will say "...But That's Not Right.")

[@bradnail99]

I saw the solution instantly. That feels good because I utterly failed on the last few puzzles.

[@DrewWest-c9q]

The intro pic is so painful😖, how the heck do you let a pawn go by???