This Puzzle Just Blew My Mind - Insane Chess Problem

[@nickcellino1503]

I have never seen another puzzle like this one. It's absolutely fascinating. No one annotates these puzzles better than Nelson.

[@kirillzakharov7336]

there is a video of his which covers a 130 move study that forcibly ends in checkmate.

[@EdinoRemerido]

I solved the puzzle in 2 minutes

[@prukyyy]

@@EdinoRemerido yeah sure you did buddy

[@Hallands.]

@@EdinoRemerido What took you so long?

[@EdinoRemerido]

@@Hallands. GOD DAMN IT

[@prawnydagrate]

What's even crazier to me is that Stockfish instantly saw that whole sequence of mate in 24

[@condor07uk]

more like mate in 18

[@caudravan]

​@@condor07ukno, that is mate in 24

[@JimBalter]

of course ... other moves for white lead to obviously lost positions so it quickly finds the ones that don't

[@grassrootsflshp]

One of the most beautiful and instructive puzzle i've ever seen! Indispensable and subtle chess principles as sustaining tempo, move sequences and maneuvering, and zugzwang were all demonstrated. Loved this.

[@deepfriedsammich]

The sustaining of tempo was unnecessary after the pawn promoted to a queen. The game is ended in white's favor in fewer moves by Qf8, followed by Qg7 mate, no matter what black does. Edit: I was wrong. Qf8 leaves black with Qa1 ch.

[@second1387]

The Queen Dance Checkmate👸

[@Thaileable]

Hehe

[@GameristicForce]

Disney movie momento:

[@dromeus21]

ABBA fan

[@Hi.GuysBs]

yyes

[@second1387]

@@dromeus21 Bruh it took me days to realize the meaning of your comment💀 🎶Dancing Queen👑🎵

[@alexandrucirtu6506]

fascinating puzzle! all of the moves are so intuitive, yet they create quite the interesting combination :D

[@Ulkomaalainen]

More or less my idea. It is quite possible that I would have found every individual move over the board in that given position - not being sure whether it would win the game.

[@Alan.92n]

Absolutely brilliant. Shows the endless possibilities of Chess moves, the power of the Queen, and finding the way to win!

[@Amoeby]

Love the geometry of the queen moves. I was surprised how far I could calculate this without seeing the position. 1. Re7+ Kf8 2. d7 Kg8 3. Re8+ Kh7 4. Rxd8 d1=Q 5. Rh8+ Kxh8 6. d8=Q+ Kh7 7. Qc7+ Kh6 8. Qxf4+ Kh7 9. Qh2+ Kg8 10. Qb8+ Kh7 11. Qxa7+ Kh6 12. Qxe3+ Kh7 13. Qh3+ Kg8 14. Qc8+ Kh7 Here I decided to set the position on the board to calculate from that because I wasn't too sure where the next couple of moves were leading. That was very helpful. 15. Qd7+ Kh6 16. Qh3+ Qh5 17. Qe3+ g5 18. Qxd3 (queen has to guard g6 square so there are only two moves - g4 and Qe8) g4 19. Qe3+ Kh7 20. Qe7+ Kh6/Kh8/Kg8 21. Qg7# 18. ... Qe8 19. Qh3+ Qh5 20. Qf5 (threatening Qxg5+ -> Qg7# and Qg6# so black's queen is paralysed) g4 21. Qf4+ Kh7 22. Qc7+ Kh6/Kh8/Kg8 23. Qg7# Gotta say I had a chess orgasm after solving this. As I said before, the geometry of the queen moves is truly fascinating.

[@Amoeby]

@@Arnav-x6m nah, it might look intimidating but in reality all the moves are kinda forced and repetitive so it is easier to follow than the shorter puzzle but with more sublines. At least for me that's how it is.

[@CycleShmeen]

@@Arnav-x6m all of what he said is nonsense. Just typing out the moves. Don't lose yourself in that

[@seeridk4266]

U had a chess orgasm? What

[@tarikay93]

Okay nerd

[@rolanroxas2794]

How long did it take u to write all of these?

[@urshandschin5108]

Outstanding presentation! Videos like this should be used to spread the word about problem chess!

[@arsenic1987]

5:00 - I would have guessed to go Qa1 to check, but I see the king can "escape" to h8, but that does leave open going BACK to h2 for a check to force the same position. So if I was playing this, I would have played Qa1 just in the hopes of a mismove of the king to f8. :P

[@thetaomegatheta]

The only queen that can get to a1 from that position is the black one, but it's white to move, and Qb8 is a check that forces Kh7. There is no opportunity for black queen to go a1. If you want to go a1 with the white queen at some point shortly after, black just takes with their queen and white loses.

[@PrometheanConsulting]

Apart from the pawn-clearing, I recognized this pattern from the outset. The first 3 moves were literally my first try and it took me a moment to work out the specific tactics at 2 of the checkpoints. A queen out of position is no queen at all. A very instructive video on how powerful the King is in a mating attack in the endgame.

[@1184-w7u]

Queen deserves a rest after all that eating

[@WarAxe]

Your chess videos are immensely superior. You explain it well, and illustrate it well. I learn something every time.

[@TerjeMathisen]

I immediately saw the first move and the next few logical continuations, but I had absolutely no idea of the subsequent complications. Very nice!

[@jacobwansleeben]

At 3:20 I was convinced that the next move for White was to move Queen to F8, but then I saw that Black can just move Queen to A1 to Check.

[@inyobill]

Oh. Duh (me, not you).

[@luqmaanhay4957]

Okay

[@shreyjain3197]

i would literally ragequit chess if this happened to me like usually you'd think the queen checks would end after a while but they dont and then u realise that the queen is taking all your pawns and piece slowly, with check and when u think it might be a draw it becomes a checkmate

[@Trip_Fontaine]

Wow, like 9 mini puzzles in one position. Amazing composition. I love how your channel has unusual puzzles like this.

[@luqmaanhay4957]

Okay

[@lutimstrickshots9253]

Incredible position! Black had so many pieces and was forced to lose all of them. Crazy! Amazing video as always Nelson!

[@emiliomartinez7915]

Excellent demo. Very instructive. Congratulations

[@cwjalexx]

Puzzles like this make me wonder how many times people have resigned seemingly obviously “lost” positions when in reality they had a forced win.

[@hx823]

Judging from the opening position, the key for white was a series of forcing moves. And what's more forcing than a check? QED

[@los-lobos]

10:09 what if black does Queen F3 which pins the Queen to the king

[@thetaomegatheta]

White takes with their queen.

[@robo3007]

I was thinking the same thing

[@ipostrandomstuff2497]

You take the queen and it is not stalemate

[@pianotm]

I had no idea what the moves were supposed to be, but I did know one thing: don't stop checking. Check every move, no matter what.

[@DoddyIshamel]

Perfectly shows the power of the queen and the importance of tempo.

[@DJNightchild]

Also, for those who like to use software which cannot 1. Import games 2. Edit the board. Use this moveset: 1. Nc3 Nc6 2. Rb1 Rb8 3. e4 Nf6 4. Bc4 g6 5. Ke2 h6 6. Be6 dxe6 7. Kf3 Qxd2 8. Nd5 Nd8 9. Nxe7 Qxc2 10. Kf4 Qc4 11. Nc6 bxc6 12. Ke5 Ba6 13. Qd5 cxd5 14. Bxh6 d4 15. Bxf8 Nd5 16. Bd6 Rxh2 17. b3 Rxb3 18. axb3 Rxg2 19. Rh5 Rxf2 20. bxc4 Rf5+ 21. exf5 d3 22. Rb7 d2 23. cxd5 Bd3 24. Kf6 cxd6 25. fxg6 fxg6 26. Rf5 exf5 27. Nf3 f4 28. Ne5 dxe5 29. Rd7 e4 30. d6 e3

[@liorberman7240]

Amazing puzzle, easy to follow and understand yet still complex and full of small details

[@wynlewis5357]

Thanks for all these wonderful puzzles and explaining them so clearly.

[@bmakepeacekamen3082]

At 10:20, ...Qf7+ forced White to take. It's still a mate, but because the mate is not 1 move later, it's the only "tactic" left for Black to pull off a stalemate if White isn't exacting. It's again mate, but it's worth noting how this final stab Black takes heightens the level of how exacting White must be all the more so, up to this last ditch effort.

[@chengalvalavenkata2401]

Black has a pawn. No stalemate.

[@stephendevore]

At 2:16 Black should NOT promote the pawn to queen, but move the bishop back to attack that White pawn down near the end! There's no way for White to protect the pawn. In that position, it would seem that Black would win if it could (after Sacrificing the bishop and taking the white pawn) promote a pawn to a queen.

[@lenalittle4193]

No, get the queen was blacks best move. 1. Re7+ Kf8 2. d7 Kg8 3. Re8+ Kh7 4. Rxd8 Bb5 5. Rh8+ Kxh8 6. d8=Q+ Kh7 (6... Be8 7. Qxe8+ Kh7 8. Qxg6+ Kh8 9. Qg7#) 7. Qf8 e2 8. Qg7#

[@homesandlifesyle]

so this is how you win a level 12 computer since they do not make mistakes like humans and play the best possible moves. I'll keep watching these videos to beat it. Thanks a lot

[@jasonanno3881]

This is like a reverse psychology puzzle. I feel like the super obvious moves are never right in higher level puzzles but that was the case a few times here

[@bjornlangoren3002]

Reverse is the key. I suspect the puzzle is indeed designed with the ending first, and then rolled up with forced move after forced move, and putting down black pieces in the path of destruction as you go.

[@Obinaab_Kenoobi]

Thank you so much for so instructive moves on that puzzle :) Stay sharp, play smart ! Luvit !

[@marktisdale8058]

Watching these puzzles is helping. I actually came up with the correct moves this time.

[@rog944]

Amazing puzzle! Thanks for this great explanation.

[@kausikdas530]

Superb puzzle & analysis.

[@3RAN7ON]

ABC: always be checking!

[@empdisaster10]

I saw a simpler solution with king g7 and let black promote since you can check mate with rook E7. Basically cut off the king. The king can’t move and if black moves the knight moves to check the king simply move the king to g8 which avoids the knight while keeping the pin on the king. Then when they promote since they don’t really have any other option, check mate with the rook since it’s protected and the king can’t enter the squares next to your king. The pawn promotion does nothing since it’s blocked my tbe bishop and by the time it moves to defend it’s too late

[@thetaomegatheta]

'king g7' Kg7 Kxd7 White is left with no rook, no way to defend their pawn, against a table full of black pieces, with a pawn ready to promote. 'The king can’t move' The king can take white rook.

[@thetaomegatheta]

@@williammayson5270 The pawn does not protect the rook. Pawns do not protect what is right in front of them on the same file.

[@williammayson5270]

@@thetaomegatheta I see. I was assuming black would promote its pawn rather than take the rook.

[@AutPen38]

When I first saw this, I got the first couple of moves pretty quickly and realised a rook sac might be necessary to allow a white queen to arrive. I thought that White's ability to threaten mate might mean that black wouldn't even have time to promote his pawn, but it turns out that black can make a queen, but white will still win because his own new queen can get active immediately. Tempo is so important. It pans out a bit differently if it is black to play at the start.

[@joejones625]

Awesome!!! That’s bud. I really enjoy learning from you.

[@UberOcelot]

I think I learned more about end game positioning in this one video than all the other resources I've seen. Of course there are endgames with no queens and just knights and pawns. But it's these sort repeated check opportunities that demonstrate how you can hang on without feeling compelled to resign.

[@jimtheone286]

What happens if black goes g5 instead of queening? The f pawn is now protected and the white king blocks its own queen from attacking the g pawn if the same strategy is applied.

[@AegidiusREX]

Il y aurait mat en quatre coups : Th8+ Rxh8 d8=D+ Rh7 Dd7+ suivi du mat en g7 ou h3. Bien à vous

[@wanderlustwarrior]

I thought there was a simpler position for checkmate in 6 white moves from the initial position, diverging at 2:09, but that's because I didn't see that black's bishop was there to prevent that exact ending. At least I'm getting better about seeing paths and solutions!

[@TheCOrnbread4]

It looks like start of the video white can play two moves for checkmate

[@BigDBrian]

At 4:05 why not Qc7+? king goes down, now you play Qh2, they have to block with queen, Qf4+ they have to block with queen again or they get checkmated by the lines shown in the video, but you can just take it. edit: the pawn can block that last check and there's no good follow up

[@BigDBrian]

@@juniorgaming_0926 edited. It's annoying I can't see the chess board while typing a comment on mobile

[@00001Htheprogrammer]

Why not Qc7+? Well, it's Qc7+?, so...

[@danielyuan9862]

I had the exact same question and didn't realize the pawn.

[@realndex]

The can block with the pawns

[@kurtwpg]

Easier: Check my post above. At 3:30 go Qf8 and it's mate in 1.

[@itskiwibird]

i’m so proud of myself, i actually saw almost all the moves as nelson explained it

[@cumhuryozcan]

At 5:00 , Qc7 is a faster mate I guess because although we give black a free move, nothing it can do will prevent a mate in 1. Am I missing something?

[@thetaomegatheta]

Black responds with stuff like Qa1+ or Qf1+, and begins to perpetually check white, or even mate.

[@ОлександрШишкін-м5р]

Yes. Black will start checking us (Qa1+) and we'll lose this

[@indranildas8929]

Superb... Keep posting this kind of puzzles

[@Mihail-TeodorianGeorgescu]

I don't know if someone will believe me but I am very glad to say that I managed to see each move of this fabulous puzzle. I exercise pretty often by doing chess puzzles but this is by far the greatest that I've ever solved.

[@ecospider5]

Great job. I couldn’t tell I was going to win until the last 5 moves. But I was able to pause and figure out each move he did.

[@Mihail-TeodorianGeorgescu]

@@ecospider5 That's good. The most difficult it seemed to me to realize the plan and the moment with the queen moving it to the lighted squares.

[@arekkrolak6320]

Really cool puzzle, beginning was easy but that final trick with repositioning queen escaped me

[@mrpokefan8369]

Mindblowing is the correct expression, thanks a lot for this wonderful puzzle

[@brunomaelstrom8823]

Excellent !

[@TraeFittz]

*SENSATIONAL* 😎

[@drziggyabdelmalak1439]

Good stuff, Nelson!

[@Pshady]

That would be so unsatisfyingly if all those moves lead to stalemate

[@inigomontoya603]

It almost looks like you can move the queen from D1 to D2, and that would win also.. but it doesn't, K to h6 hides the king from any further check moves from the queen.. black queen then blocks, and the queen would have to move two moves to mate.. giving black an extra tempo, which is all they need to win the game

[@thetaomegatheta]

What are you talking about? Only the black queen is ever on d1, and you seem to imply that it's white queen that is there.

[@bastiaan0741]

I improvised the win, but was surprised it took so long.

[@techstudy1746]

Superb video! thanks for so nice content and best of luck for your new year

[@MegaBurcho]

Nelson,thank you for sharing this gorgeous puzzle.

[@lillithplays6514]

5:44 What if Black under promoted to a knight?

[@thetaomegatheta]

Black loses the ability to immediately start putting white in check, giving white a lot more freedom to do stuff.

[@danielyuan9862]

That's a good question to ask. But the answer is very simple. If it's a knight, then it's no longer a queen, so instead of going to c7, the white queen goes to d7 and delivers mate on h3, because there is no queen to block it

[@ОлександрШишкін-м5р]

Then after Rook sacrifice and d8=Q+ Kh7 you play Qf8 and black can't stop Qg7#

[@prakashholla7331]

Fascinating. Thanks.

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@damnthisisabadname]

As a 900, I am proud to say that I found the first half of the moves

[@captainkeyboard1007]

Nice show! I hope your channel will remain longer without another interruption.

[@robinstrength_]

The greatest chess puzzle I've ever seen in my life.

[@hosseinmohammadi8776]

Really nice and educational

[@jairowens118]

BEAUTIFUL!!

[@alibalik4481]

the intereisting thing is that a lot of players will play every move but nearly noone of them sees from the beginnint to the end. For me it was oh lets play Re7 i dont see to the end but it looks nice and after that d7 seemed the only one not loosing imidiately and so on . i found each single move but most of them because they where the only ones holding white into the game and not because i saw the checkmate.

[@xelayntolobas]

Was nice, thank you!

[@kennethgee2004]

So this demonstrates the concepts of king safety and tempo

[@horvathrenata968]

Love this timing!

[@LiudmilaSydney]

On the 2nd puzzle you should have went down to the white square because from there there is a checkmate in 3 or 4

[@tomzalmstra8276]

with the help of SF14: This is a true Mate in 24 for white! All other moves are Mate in at most 12 for black. Amazing,

[@bushanmehra9885]

Indeed ,i saw many puzzles,but this one looks like a match's middle game,truely magnifisant.

[@lucasbo3904]

I have a strong feeling that you dont need to leave the black diagonal and check mate faster. Going to c7, forcing the king to h6, and then h1, you reproduce the check mate pattern faster. The black queen has to defend, then queen to f4 forcing the king to h7. But now the king is blocked by its own queen and the check mate comes naturally at this point. Am I wrong ?

[@thetaomegatheta]

A queen can't go to h1 from c7, nor can a queen go from h1 to f4. This queen can also not go from c7 to h2 right away because of the pawn on f4.

[@lucasbo3904]

@@thetaomegatheta OK I'll give my solution from my computer it will be easier

[@thetaomegatheta]

@@lucasbo3904 Well?

[@vladimirvolodarskya1904]

The nice sample of the meaning of Tempo and using bad position of the black king .

[@perpetualbystander4516]

After white queen on d7 checks black's king on h7 (at 7:30) and forces it to go to h6, and then follow it up by going to g7, forcing the king to h5, the queen then simply could checkmate the king by going to h8.

[@thetaomegatheta]

Qd7+ Kh6 Qg7+ Kh5 Qh8+ Kg4. Your suggestion lacks a checkmate.

[@perpetualbystander4516]

@@thetaomegatheta Ah, the pesky g4 square...😖

[@L.LaszloPal]

after queening, Q-f8! Black is unable to prevent mate, Q-g7 😏😏 the point of the game is to checkmate the King, not (re)gaining material.

[@TheLucanLord]

Qa1+

[@truthcrackers]

Great puzzle!

[@deepfriedsammich]

The only move is NOT queen to C7. Instead of queen to C7, do queen to F8 with mate on the next move. It doesn't matter, at that point that you sacrifice tempo; there is nothing that black can accomplish with any possible move. You WAAY overcomplicated your solution. Edit: Never mind. It's not an option because black can play Qa1 ch.

[@347573]

wow, more than imagined at the beginning!!

[@luispalou217]

Excelente. Baile de Reinas, con una Reina más lista y más astuta que la otra.

[@eliosphotos]

Excellent

[@danc1323]

Brilliant.

[@DaTruDreamers]

Jesus. That was a long explanation. Glad you’ve explained it the whole way!

[@ScrangifyingAEP]

Amazing windmill queen tactic checkmate

[@venkateshas1381]

Mind boggling moves !

[@inventorOz84]

How about from the very first move Rook to check and then white pawn one forward… to block the king? Although this kind of requires for the opponent to fail one move … I like your long sequence … it would come natural…

[@thetaomegatheta]

'How about from the very first move Rook to check and then white pawn one forward… to block the king?' With what?

[@RJSRdg]

For completeness, after white QxB: If black plays Qh1 or Qh2 or Qg4, white can play Qg6 mate. If the Black Queen moves anywhere else on the d1-h5 diagonal, white can take it and has the upper hand. If black plays Pg4, white plays Qe3+, black either plays Qg5 (blocking), then white plays Qxg5, black plays Kh7, white plays Qg7 mate, or black plays Qe7+, if black then plays Kh8, white plays Qg7 mate, if black plays Qf7, white takes with check and it's mate next move whatever black does.

[@diogenes_of_sinope]

Very cool study!

[@ecospider5]

Learning to get check 20 moves in a row really helps win a game like this. If you give them a singe move you will probably loose.

[@robertveith6383]

* lose

[@scottgunderson4643]

Cool puzzle but the simpler solution at 5:10 would be Queen to C7 check, then checkmate in 4 moves without having to capture 3 more pieces.

[@brendanrobertson5966]

You could subtitle this one "whipped between pillar and post"

[@quentincroft6172]

After you take the pawn at f4, why not go QC7 instead of Qh2? Black has to move Kh6,Qh2,Qh5,Qc7,Kh6/Kh8/Kg8,Qg7? Faster, so I must have missed something but we haven't gone over that option in the puzzle.

[@thetaomegatheta]

'Black has to move Kh6,Qh2,Qh5,Qc7,Kh6/Kh8/Kg8,Qg7' White Qc7 after black Qh5 is not a check. This allows black to start checking white.

[@quentincroft6172]

@@thetaomegatheta So obvious when you point it out!

[@caoshishu1468]

What a beautiful windmill combination.

[@thexoxob9448]

2:33 I actually knew that this move was the correct move but it's crazy to think that you would sacrifice a rook to gain a tempo. It's rare that a tempo is more valuable than a rook, but I guess here it is

[@ryanlind5239]

Ho hum, this happens to me every time I am up 3 pawns and a bishop.

[@christopherheckman7957]

However, there is a minor distinction between puzzles and studies. Studies (like this one) could conceivably arise in play; puzzles usually require some convoluted moves. EDIT: The original position actually looks like a puzzle, but the position after ... d1Q looks like a study.

[@patrickdy706]

Awesome puzzle

[@virt1one]

queen on open board with exposed king can often let a skilled player maintain tempo long enough to force a mate

[@dannyosolo2752]

Truly thrilling and Mesmerising

[@nicezumma7792]

What if the black pawn at d1 turns into knight instead of queen, protecting e3 pawn?

[@thetaomegatheta]

An even faster win for white.

[@lucianadiacipriani5220]

Beautiful moves.

[@ChaosZTC]

If I keep checking my opponent would just resign

[@amerikanfutboluanaliz]

2:18 what if black gets a knight instead of queen to protect the e3 pawn?

[@thetaomegatheta]

They lose the ability to threaten checks, which means that white gets enough tempo to end the game even faster.