Grandmasters Struggle To Solve This Bishop Endgame Puzzle | Can You Do It?

[@ChessCrafters-lk4dv]

Did you managed to solve this puzzle?

[@winoodlesnoodles1984]

As a beginner, I thought there were many solutions, with the bishop being the first move in all of them. However, as a beginner, I failed to see the rush to corner for black and would have been stalemated every time despite having the instincts to know the bishop's first move was the critical one. Great video and thanks for the complete analysis!

[@abababa7483]

That was a tough one. Well done.👍

[@ChessCrafters-lk4dv]

It was one of the most difficult puzzles i ever solved

[@literallylegendary]

I didn't manage to solve this one, but it's a very interesting puzzle and I enjoyed you commentating the solution

[@ChessCrafters-lk4dv]

I am glad you enjoyed the video

[@ruzenorkyouma2848]

Very tricky puzzle Surprised to know that the trick to solving the puzzle is the awareness that even the vulnerable, weak pawn also controls squares against the enemy king

[@ChessCrafters-lk4dv]

Indeed, as I said in the video, the key of solving this puzzle is to see that g4-g5-f5 control when pawn's on h4, and the g6-g7-f7 control when pawn is on h6, to force the black king to take the longer way around

[@christopherstokes9393]

Beautiful puzzle! I've heard it said that "weak players think primarily in terms of pieces; strong players think primarily in terms of squares". And this puzzle is an excellent test of a player's ability to think in terms of squares.

[@ChessCrafters-lk4dv]

Very well said. this is exactly how I learn chess, I am thinking John Bartholomew have a video regarding this concept

[@ertugkaya919]

Brilliant video as always, thank you

[@ChessCrafters-lk4dv]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@tykemorris]

I feel good about solving this one. I had Bd7 as my starting move to allow the Be8 blockade later. I even saw if Black was on f4 instead of e4 for his second move then Kd4 Was The killer move. This wasn't easy. Nice puzzle.

[@ChessCrafters-lk4dv]

Congratulations on solving the puzzle, it's not an easy task and very few people were able to solve it.

[@alexandroyassuhiro6514]

The ideas are: King's opposition, square rule and blockade. I only saw the opposition after bishop b4.

[@ChessCrafters-lk4dv]

It's a tricky one

[@elindauer]

Difficult puzzle. I tried 1. Bd7! Ke3 2. h4 Ke4! (2...Kf4 3Kd4 zugzwang 1-0) 3. h5 Ke5 4. h6 Kf6 5. Be8! zugzwang 1-0

[@danh945]

Oh, I thought we were going to see some GMs play through it. Nice puzzle tho.

[@tomlewis645]

very useful

[@ChessCrafters-lk4dv]

I am glad you found them useful!

[@frankcoverjr.-jz3ne]

Saw this one a couple weeks ago on a different channel!😊

[@ace00752]

White will win in 14 moves. Bd7 Ke3 h4 Ke4 h5 Ke5 h6 Kf6 Be8 Ke7 h7 Kxe8 H8Q

[@tbcstuff3634]

Huh, auto win?

[@humanrightsadvocate]

Stalemate should be a win.

[@austinbryan6759]

Couldn't agree less. If you are up 4 queens but aren't able to checkmate, no way in hell do you deserve a win. Stalemate keeps chess interesting.

[@ChessCrafters-lk4dv]

Sometimes it is

[@humanrightsadvocate]

@@austinbryan6759 It makes no sense for stalemate to be a draw. We already know that if you leave your king in check, or move your king into check you automatically lose the game. Therefore, why would it be a draw if all your possible moves will result in the immediate capture of your king? It is illogical.

[@misharatkevich9808]

@@humanrightsadvocate First of all, consider the position of white king on a8, white pawn on a7, black king on c7. Who wins there? :P But the bigger problem is that stalemate being a win would make almost every "king+pawn vs king" endgame a win for the king/pawn side (excluding cases like the one I just mentioned, which sane players wouldn't end up in), meaning that a single-pawn advantage suddenly matters much more. This just encourages thriftier, drier play on higher levels. "Stalemate is a draw" might've once been a weird idea that didn't really make much sense (although Lasker hypothesized that the idea of sanctuary might've served as a prototype for stalemates), but IMO it ends up benefiting the overall game balance more than it hurts the logic of the wargaming simulation.

[@FahimHoq]

No, it should not

[@perfectionbox]

Damn that's crafty. But AIs can solve it right?

[@ChessCrafters-lk4dv]

Als? meaning artificial intelligent? Yes, stockfish doesn't have any problem solving this

[@stevenrix7024]

Won’t need AI to calculate the win, if you are a computer. Brute force analysis should work very quickly, with so few pieces on the board.

[@petersiegfriedkrug]

I have only sen the picture and now immediatly without looking the video, that only 1.Bd7 wins. I´ve memorised thousand and thousand of endgame studies therefore it is easy for me to find the solution. Only if you bring a new study from the tournament I have to think. But this endgame study which you brought here is extremly old. I knew this, when I was 14 years old.

[@ChessCrafters-lk4dv]

It's from dvoretsky's endgame manual, I wouldn't say it's that old, but if you are a chess enthusiast you would know about this. I am glad you remembered the study and are able to solve it.

[@drziggyabdelmalak1439]

Heavens Forbid that you'd have to think!!! Is it too exhausting for you?

[@dariogreggio7981]

ok man we understood, you comment under every video

[@humphreyblogut672]

Yawn…

[@jimfeyenoord01]

Then after you've composed a few thousand endgames, while being the absolute chess goat that you are, you still find the time to write these types of comments on small chess youtube videos. Never heard such a load of aboslute BS before