I really enjoyed this puzzle. It truly shows how endgames in chess can be really fascinating. With that in mind, I happened to stumble upon a short puzzle when analyzing one of my games. It involves a position where white is threatening checkmate in 1 and it may look like black has nothing to do to stop the mate (or mate the white king), black actually has a really nice couple of moves. I know this puzzle is very short (like around 4 moves to complete it), but I still think that it's fascinating. The FEN is this: 6k1/3R4/6pQ/2p2p2/2P2P2/6KP/1P2q3/8 b - - 0 1 I hope that you (or anyone who looks at this position) sees how chess puzzles can appear in a game of chess without you even realizing it. I'm so happy that I analyzed that game as I wouldn't have seen this short puzzle otherwise. I hope that anyone who looks at this is as fascinated as me.

@ChessVibesOfficial

Жыл бұрын

Very nice, Aaron! Pinning this one!

@interesting3956

Жыл бұрын

thats a really nice stalemate trick. You can sac the queen for repetition im sure thats like 8 brilliant moves in a row lol

@NineAweFour904

Жыл бұрын

Also show how unexpected knights can be

@lekhnayak

Жыл бұрын

@@ChessVibesOfficial good

That's not a stalemate, it's a stable mate! Nice vid.

@sashashadowhive6128

Жыл бұрын

stop horsing around mate

@robertb6076

Жыл бұрын

@@sashashadowhive6128 my mane man

@zenaxia8063

Жыл бұрын

Get your arse outta here

@PhO3NiX96

Жыл бұрын

Good one

@jamesk8882

Жыл бұрын

I have more horse jokes in the stable

The underpromotion and the stalemate at the end was completely unexpected. Very cool!

An incredible stalemate. Truly inspirational.

At the GM level, they say the bishop is stronger, but at the sub-1200 level, the knight is a much bigger pain in the ass than the bishop.

@johnathanpatrick6118

Жыл бұрын

The bishop is generally favored over a knight because there are more situations where diagonals are opened up or at least partially opened. A knight is best when dealing with cramped positions, which don't happen quite as often as wide open positions.

@palhotex7863

Жыл бұрын

Im 800 and i think the knight is harder to deal with because we cant really see forks and stuff like that. The only problem with the bishop is that he is chilling somewhere in the board and you dont really see him and end up blundering a queen

@dlucey123

Жыл бұрын

They’re very different pieces to say the least, lots of people hate the forks that knights achieve because they’re hard to spot but in general I agree with Jonathan’s comment that bishops are better in open positions. They can control more squares if they’re not blocked and as long range pieces they can pin, skewer and create batteries which knights can’t. The main disadvantage of bishops is that they work best in pairs and individually only control one colour.

Hi Nelson! I just want to say that I recently discovered you, you have been much more help than others. Keep it up! And yes this puzzle.... was amazing!

@robertakerman3570

Жыл бұрын

Jaivant, lovely puz. @4:55 f promotes-Q chk. not Wht Knt-f7 chk Blk?

@jaivanttitus

Жыл бұрын

@@robertakerman3570 that is possible, but it still loses!

@jaivanttitus

Жыл бұрын

@@robertakerman3570 *f2*

@robertakerman3570

Жыл бұрын

@@jaivanttitus I thank You for that.

Awesome puzzle thanks for sharing

Another wonderful position and analysis.

Thanks for sharing this amazing puzzle, Nelson!

@ChessVibesOfficial

Жыл бұрын

Of course!

I didn’t even consider ke2 would be a stalemate at first, that’s amazing

Man these puzzles show why within 2 years I completely fell for chess. I just keep getting amazed at this game and your channel showcasing so many awesome and fascinating puzzles or concepts really helps

Really enjoyed this puzzle!

Brilliant stalemate! Took me a while to see the whole idea. Good puzzle!

Wow, so impressed by the position and your enjoyable of showing it to us.

Nice one, Nelson!!💯💯💯

Nice one, thanks

That last stalemate was something brilliant 👍

It's an amazing stalemate! A great play by both sides.

Appreciate your videos so much

Possibly the best puzzle I've seen in a long while. Most of them are basic endgames or chess prinicples but this gets you thinking.

Wow amazing puzzle!

why not move the black king to protect the pawn and avoid forking?

@erik19borgnia

3 ай бұрын

Because white can just sacrifice the knight to eat the pawn and that's a draw

The stalemate was a surprise, very elegant solution, in the center and with reduced material!

I just discovered this channel and it’s quickly becoming my number one source for chess puzzles! Thanks KZread algorithm! And also Nelson!

@ChessVibesOfficial

Жыл бұрын

Welcome aboard!

Enjoyed that

I love how I can always nail down these unique puzzles when presented like this but as soon as stuff like this happens in game I fully blunder 😂

That is a pretty rare stalemate to come upon. Chess is awesome and puzzle like this are the reasons why I love chess.

This brought a huge smile on my face. Beautiful.

That's amazing!

Another fine study by V. Jakimtsjik, made in 1934. There's a more famous one by Herbstman & Kubbel (1937) with the same idea that features (1) multiple stalemates in side-variations as well, and (2) an even more beautiful finish where the white king forks THREE knights on f2, f3, f4 by playing to g3, forcing Black to play ...Ke3 to defend them all and causing stalemate.

Three knights vs one feels like one of those theoretical wins that only stockfish and GMs can actually achieve.

This puzzle was actually breathtaking

Amazing!

this was just beautiful !! notice that this is a "perfect" stalemate where each square around the king is controlled only once

Wow! How amazing stalemate in the middle of the board and no heavy pieces just a few knights! Great puzzle, great video! Congrats on the wonderful puzzle series! I think this is unique among chess channels...

I analyzed this with the engine and it almost suggested an alternate suggestion of kf6 (only -1) at 4:29, however the knight promotion does win for black there since there aren't any stalemates, and the tablebase says its DTZ 60

@tianlecheng2656

Жыл бұрын

Which is more than 50 moves………. Draw by 50 move rule

@jasonhe5578

Жыл бұрын

@@tianlecheng2656 I believe DTZ 60 is actually 30 moves since each half-move is counted as 1 by the tablebase

Really clever puzzle

Great puzzle! Do you have some plans to do analysis of your instructive games as well? Or any instructive game videos?

Brutal!

Wow! That''s just amazing :D

This puzzle is just mind blowing. Who will that 3 knights cant beat the lonely king!

Whoa... That was just beautiful. I love this channel, it's quite literally boosting my rating by a few points a week by making sure I study the examples, puzzles, and advice. Really helpful, and a lot of fun to learn this way. NM Nelson has a great eye for the beauty of chess.

@ChessVibesOfficial

Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Things like this make me wonder why in the hundreds of years chess has been a thing no one thought to fix the stalemate rule.

Wow, thats awesome.

I'll admit that I was pointing at the king and smiled when you said it was a stalemate.

Amazing! And please do a vid explaining how on earth you win with 3 knights versus one knight and a king!

Hi Nelson, Am watching all your videos Chess Vibes because the way you narrate is quite good. Keep it up. In regards to the above position I wish to point out when you pause the video at 4.20 the black knight could play (G or H) F5 controlling E5

"what do you notice about this position" I audibly gasped

Beautiful

this was fun!

I love how in these puzzles, the engine never plays the puzzle line

Loved the puzzle, I guess I love chess!!

When I saw this puzzle, I immediately thought that there must be a crazy variation where white promotes into a knight.

Absolutely brilliant minds

(@3:53) white could go Kg4 as white’s knight can go to c4 instead and still be in a position to fork. The problem is black has Nhf5 or Ngf5 and now the knight again guards the e3 square and white’s king can’t take the knight.

i don't love chess, but when you said "stalemate", i smiled :)

I think the best part was promoting to knight to prevent fork.

It was actually fascinating I'm just an intermediate player in chess then while training I'm thinking that i can't reach my goal to be a grandmaster one day. So I watch chess videos everyday thinking that I cannot win I cannot be a grandmaster but today I was scrolling then I saw this puzzle and it caught my eye. So I started watching this video and it inspired me a lot that i had to comment and also the puzzle told me a message that I can do anything I just have to believe in myself. This is why i really love chess it's so satisfying and all the combination's help me for my other games. I just want to see more of this puzzles. Thanks' Nelson for teaching me chess even do we are not F2F (face to face) I will always' be your inspiration in chess.

now I want to see the 3 knights mate puzzle for completion

Amazing

ya nelson it realy made me smile because 1 knight gets captured in the last position so it is a draw

That is the most gorgeous stalemate i have ever seen oh my god

unbelievable

Superb .

I think for me its more that most of these puzzles mainly end with black losing or being forced to draw. when I use to play on a chess team in high school, our advisor primarily taught us the king Indian Defense and playing as black. so for me it tends to feel a bit disheartening when there's rarely any situations where to side I spent the most time as get a win.

Yes, I did SMILE!

One time I was talking about how much I wanted to stalemate, but then I noticed that I accidentally did one.

Oh wow!

Even the endgame tablebase possisions have fun...

Very nice! Next video show us how 3 knights and aking vs knight and king is a win.😃

wow nice!

2:38, I managed to calculate this variation with the royal fork idea, I think my chess is getting a bit better

The fact that with best plays from both sides White can actually draw this game from this position is fascinating. Of course moving the king immediately to threaten the marching Black pawn ain't happening because of the coverage by the two Black knights, so White's knight has to be the hero. As the video progressed as soon as the possibility of Black getting a third knight happens, instantly I'm thinking draw by stalemate. And sure enough, Ne3+, Nxe3+; Ke4 happens. I'm thinking 'Black, don't defend both knights, you're gonna walk into a stalemate trap!!'. But ...Ke2 and...oops. 🤣🤣

@maycoral1224

Жыл бұрын

Hi, if you go back to around 5.52 the black could have carried on putting the white in check instead of going straight for the pawn promotion.

@BigDBrian

Жыл бұрын

@@maycoral1224 Do you see an actual line that allows black to promote in that?

@reubenmanzo2054

Жыл бұрын

And if any other move, white takes one of the knights and it's a draw by insufficient material.

Nice video rly appreciate the Beauty of what has happened ❤❤❤ chess4ever

Yeah, I love it.

Real fun

I actually found those last few moves pretty quickly

why cant you move the king early to avoid the fork?

I guess I must love chess then. I almost sorta solved it but I admit I would have blundered into the check fork at 5:18. I had been thinking the answer at 4:33 was to escape with the king to the 6th rank and eventually the 7th rank to avoid all further checks. I thought I had solved it until before I unpaused I thought about the Underpromotion to knight. The king MUST stay close to the knights. I did see the Underpromotion and the knight sacrifice and subsequent fork with the king, and stalemate but only at the very end during the last pause. I never would have foreseen it any earlier in the game. This reminds me of another 3 knight stalemate puzzle from you. That one had a 3-way fork leading to a picturesque symmetrical stalemate.

I wonder how brilliant are the person who creates this kind of studies...

what a puzzle

plot twist after plot twist. freaking awesome

Could you do a video on how to win with three knights? It's not a position I ever expect to be in, but it would be interesting nonetheless!

You probably can't see it, but I am Smiling AND Appreciating!

extreme interesring.

Why doesn't Nf7 work as the first move? Like Nc6, it also allows the followup of Ne5.

@kzkaa.

3 ай бұрын

The reason why Nc6 is required is that if Ng2 happens, then you need to play Nd4. It seems subtle, but you need to be able to play Nf5+ if king goes to e3 and try to promote the pawn. Nf7 doesn't allow that, so black can just bring the king and promote the pawn and there's no way to stop it.

called the last part

These puzzles have made me really appreciate the existence of stalemates (and draws generally) in chess. It keeps the game interesting even when one side has a clear advantage; can the losing player force a draw and escape?

@Nate_doggy_dawg

Жыл бұрын

When I was a kid I used to play for stalemates because I was terrible. It always made my opponent mad when I was able to get away with the tie.

white has a trick up his sleeve

I love chess lmao. In the finale, when you said that the moves that will draw the position are Ne3 and Ke4, I was unexplainably happy cause these two are the only moves that I could predict correctly.

At timing 3:47. White could move 1) N-C4, f7, 2) K*NH4, f-8 (Queen), 3) N-E4+

wait i got question what if the pawn insted of being a queen became a knight to not get forked

Woah Thats beauty of chess

I really like the billy mays style of BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE, but stuff still ends the way as said in the caption.

6:20. A king with three knights would have beaten a king with only one knight in medieval times too.

This Puzzle Will Test If I Love Chess speaks for itself.

I did find the simple solution of putting your knight on g4 to force the pawn to capture the pawn if it doesn't get pushed and fork the king and pawn if it did get pushed, but the problem I had was that there wasn't a sequence of moves to get there that forces black's hand, since the first move in the chain doesn't attack the pawn, black could move anything he wants, which made me believe it was the weong solution. Obviously I stood no chance at fihuring out the rest of the puzzle.

What about sacrificing the knight to use the king to fork on g4?

Stalemates be like: “It’s over!” “I can’t move” “Damn, guess it’s a draw”

Chess is a beautiful game that stands the test of time.