Don't let black sacrifice his rook on our pawn!

[@davidkovacs5614]

For anyone wanting the full „picture“ (in this case a study): This position shown in the video is AFTER the first two moves in the original study. Bishop is on f4 and there was white pawn on a3. Black starts with his King being on a7 and rook being on a1. Therefore the actual first moves are: 1. Be3+ Kb7 2. e7 Rxa3 and then as shown in the video. Just wanting to throw that in here; otherwise great video, keep it up;)

[@rizka7945]

8/k7/4P3/4K3/5B2/P7/8/r7 w - - 0 1

[@skepley]

What a great puzzle. Every time I thought I was done there was another try for black. Sadly, I missed the final test and played Ke4 which does avoid the draw but not the way we want.

[@brettmccann3403]

That was a very fun ride. I found the first move and worked through several of the possibilities before giving in to exhaustion. All in all, it was a satisfying adventure.

[@rogerkearns8094]

A fairly easy key move, but with stunning, hard to see variations to follow. Such a great study - with only five men!

[@UTU49]

I'm glad I spotted the bishop move, but, as usual, I'm not a strong enough chess analyst to see the following complications.

[@timhuson4800]

6:50 "If we move our king, we are settling for a draw." How about king to e4? If rook checks, then interpose the bishop at e3.

[@bhgtree]

A wonderful endgame study, so rich and challenging considering so few pieces, thanks.

[@azuarc]

7:18 Why not king E4? If rook goes to E1, then you move the bishop to E3. If rook goes anywhere else, you push the pawn safely.

[@baconarmy123isthebest8]

I checked with stock fish and after Ke4 black can just go Kxa7 and if you promote black will go Re1 check and win the queen

[@16_rafi44]

ah i forgot about the black king

[@anomaly3215]

the king just takes your bishop dude, why would you blindly assume they'll blunder? even 500 elo you learn to always expect the best move

[@quebeccityoliver4742]

I think he should have explained the problem with this move, even if it had been explained earlier

[@mchammer5026]

​@@anomaly3215what a pointless comment

[@IanMcGarrett]

I was rather pleased with myself, solving that from the thumbnail.

[@chaosincursion]

saw the first move from the thumbnail and scrolled away but went back to calculate black's defenses, very cool endgame puzzle i got some variations correct and didnt check some others

[@SmileyMikey]

Got it in 60 seconds. I'm getting a bit better at these! Thanks, Chess Strategy channel.

[@DionAhm]

7:21 why is Ke4 drawing? it has the same idea as before, if Re1+ then Be3 & white's winning, am I missing something?

[@DionAhm]

nvm saw the answer through a comment, what a great puzzle!

[@BillHimmel]

Saw the first move, but not the follow-up!😢 Nice study though!

[@poro3246]

Same here, after every move I'm like, okay now we can promote. But then I keep forgetting to attack the rook to set up the follow up.

[@xismxist]

i had bishop b6 instead of a7 for the first (also winning i think) but then i nailed the other two moves

[@RamKumar-gy9nb]

Excellent variation; if someone is an attacking player, he should find the first move right away. Thank you very much and God bless you

[@avshiloh2438]

Excellent explanation!

[@CliffordGate-uo2gk]

Waw. End games are carrying the day😂 One swallow does not make summer and one rook doesn't make draw😊

[@jesinor1]

Very very Nice! To fe fair I remembered the study but enjoyed it very much again.

[@muskyoxes]

After Ba7 Ra1, it took me a bit to see that Ke4 isn't as good as Kf4 due to Kxa7 Ke3 Re1 white is one move too slow. Then i saw that three thousand other people said the same thing

[@НиколайВалерьевич-ъ8з]

I was about to say the same, but you were quick enough to explain before I started speaking .·)) It's interesting that _in the video_ the fact that Ke4, instead of Kf4, is a blunder is not mentioned!

[@MichaelDBritton]

I'm just super-excited to have correctly identified the key move (I almost never figure it out). After that, I just went along for the ride. And what a ride! 😁

[@troubleshooter24]

The bishops a true bro

[@donc9836]

Bishop! We thank you for your service and sacrifice! 😄

[@michiiloleze6499]

Lb6! (If black takes Kb6, then e8D; If Ta8 then Ld8 and the pawn is shielded)

[@moritz1932]

I thought so too, but IT doesn't work. After King Takes bishop and promotion comes Te3 and black gets the queen

[@volodyanarchist]

6:54 Why not K e4? If rook checks, we defend with the bishop.

[@volodyanarchist]

Ok, i understood it myself. Black just takes the bishop with their king. Great puzzle.

[@tykemorris]

If we move the bishop from a7, black just goes Ra8 so we can't promote. We can't prevent the rook from capturing our pawn two moves later so it is a draw.

[@volodyanarchist]

@tykemorris Rook F1 to A8 is not a legal move.

[@paulgoogol2652]

yea you just walk into a "self skewer" comparable to the more famous self pin.

[@williambunter3311]

Surely after the initial B-a7, black could take the bishop with his King?

[@Chess-strategy]

The answer is in the video...

[@williambunter3311]

@@Chess-strategy Thanks friend. You are quite right. I love your videos.

[@jannikmuller5162]

Ich checked with stockfish at high depth. It says forced checkmate for white in 40 mooves. Queen vs rook endgame. Humans whould draw this but engines wont.

[@nickthompson1812]

The sacrifice. It seems obvious once pointed out.

[@MrBmarx]

Once again a stunning puzzle! I warmly thank you for all these interesting problems. For this one, in the beginning, how about putting the black rook on a5?

[@aajas]

6:33 why not Ke4, and then Be3 if ..Re1? I don't see any other moves for black besides Re1 that don't immediately lose

[@ZannnXD]

Black would prob play KxA7 if white plays Ke4 which after that move if pawn promote then black would pull Re1+, winning the queen

[@aajas]

@@ZannnXDah that makes sense, thank you

[@ZannnXD]

@@aajas no prob

[@mayyyyyy18]

How about Ke4?

[@GTron13]

Black sacrificed THE ROOOOOOOOOK

[@johnfrancis4401]

Great stuff

[@dexdexter9452]

6:35 what about Ke4

[@Chess-strategy]

Hi, I forgot to show this. After Ke4 black simply takes the bishop with his king and Re1 will follow next move regardless of white´s response. This is winning for black.

[@alanclarke4646]

Me, as white: offer draw immediately.

[@jaytep5647]

6:54 why Ke4 not okay move because you have block with bishop?

[@Other_Kev]

Black king would then take a7 bishop, and if you then promote the pawn, rook goes e1+ and king has to get out of the way and lose the queen.

[@DiamondWolfX]

5:50 Why not Ke4? Then there's no checks that you can't block with a protected bishop

[@damienknight5655]

Blacks idea will be to go Ra1 Re1

[@DiamondWolfX]

​@@damienknight5655White responds with Be3

[@damienknight5655]

Didn't show all the moves, just have the idea.. White can't respond with Be3 because of Kxa7 before Re1.. What I meant was Ke4 allows Re1.. Series of moves: Ba7 Ra1 Ke4 Kxa7 (doesn't matter what white plays) Re1

[@bayramyenikaya1383]

After Ra1 why Ke4 doesn't work?

[@Chess-strategy]

@@bayramyenikaya1383 because black plays Kxa7 and next move Re1.

[@joshajay]

Ke4 is replied with Kxa7 and you can't queen as Re1+ skewers

[@prostoy_chel]

White always goes first so just move pawn forward and promote

[@wookie19822007]

Great puzzle

[@bobforeman8924]

6:48 how come you can't put the King on e4?

[@ddichny]

King captures bishop.

[@bobforeman8924]

@ddichny and then pawn Queens

[@bobforeman8924]

@ddichny sorry I'm 600 ELO player

[@colin5197]

@@bobforeman8924 It's all good man. We all looked at that move. You have to run through all the options to find the best move. If you promote your pawn after the black king takes your bishop. The black rook then skewers your king to your new queen. Now you aren't even drawing, you're losing.

[@wolfgangkoller4495]

Afte 1. ... Ra1 what about 2. Ke4! And again after 2. Kf4 Rf1 3.Ke4!

[@malharmanagoli]

Unfortunately, black can play Kxa7 as a response and white cannot defend against Re1.

[@wolfgangkoller4495]

@malharmanagoli ok, see it now. But this should have been covered.

[@daNorse]

Thanks a lot every day! :) Just curious, are you Norwegian? I am...

[@Doodloper]

Ecxellent vid by the legendary Mikael "Micky" von Bargen, the Swedish chess Volvo

[@topmaths0.69]

instead of Bf2, why not Ke4 ?

[@Omer-dv2ef]

King takes bishop now opponent threatning skwear You move away your King but it is too late Rook gets to e file and simply you lost your last hope.

[@RamKumar-gy9nb]

I just feel I have seen the same puzzle in your videos many months ago. Thats why the variation is not completely new to me.

[@nickbham1]

I'm proud of myself...I actually got this one lol

[@petersiegfriedkrug]

Certaninly I knew this study. There´s nothing to solve for me!

[@tykemorris]

I solved it pretty quickly but it looked familiar.

[@ilomilo850]

It must be from that other guy who speaks about this puzzle

[@tawhv]

1. Ba7 blocks the rock.

[@matheuscastello6554]

6:19 can't black to back to a1 and threaten draw by move repetition?

[@chesstroller]

Queen promotes after Ra1

[@JSSTyger]

I'll say bishop F4

[@TottenvilleMiddleSchool]

I saw Ba7

[@chonamallari4080]

Bishop a7

[@burlingwoodau7277]

i am willing to bet 99 % here 😂 will not win with Q vs R

Even a nigerian can donthat

Even a nigerian can

[@nicolasbergeron9228]

Over 1400 elo, you should be able to win it...

[@l0v0l78]

Even grandmasters struggle to win a Queen vs Rook

[@nicolasbergeron9228]

@@l0v0l78 In very specific ones, yes. But with so few pawns left and no tricks left, its very easy.

[@UlyssesDrax]

Too easy

[@akdevendraswamy141]

Ba7

[@akdevendraswamy141]

Ra7

[@ThePeterDislikeShow]

Are you kidding? I saw it in 2 seconds and in fact I hardly noticed any of the trick moves.

[@anomaly3215]

why act condescending? kinda screams insecurity tbh

[@zandrobalangen6886]

Ba7 key move

[@rolandojacob9688]

Ba7