Video

Based on viewing the thumbnail for 2 seconds and just intuition with no calculation, I’m saying Kd7. So after 30 seconds of calculation I got 1.Kd7, Kg8, 2.Ke7, Kh8, 3.f6, gxf6, 4.Kxf6, Kg8, 5. g7, Kh7. Then you just move the king to protect and queen.

For the checkmate at the end I got this. White Queen G5, Black king has to go to H3 because H2 loses to white king F2, Queen H5, King goes back to G2 or black loses the queen. White queen to G4 now taking away the H3 square from the black king. The black king is forced to go to H2. After white king F2 putting the white queen anywhere on the H file on the next turn will be checkmate. The black king can't move and the black queen can't deliver a safe check. After black queen G2 you take the queen with your queen and win. 8 moves in total. Honestly the only part of the puzzle I could really break down and think about. It's so hard to find the best counterplay for black if there are so many options

2:46 is going to the left or right square will not lead to the same. In this case it is a draw since black has no places to move. But same pieces in the center of the board and then moving diagonal to the other king will loose. Opposition is meant by direction not colors

Nice to know

I solved this before even listening to the video. The solution is EVIL! :)

Please don't underestimate the value of your information on chess. The incisive and accurate description you gave of "The Opposition" had a new idea in it and I'm an old relic. Thank You.

Zugzwang : a situation in which the obligation to make a move in one's turn is a serious, often decisive, disadvantage. Not the case at 7:33 because white on move also wins.

You did not mention the secret square. Secret because you did not focus on it and it is a critical square. The idea is that in order to advance ANY pawn ending, the King must be ahead of the pawn and the King must first control a square on the 7th rank that supports the pawn on the 8th rank. In this example, the very first thing we do is note that we need access to f7, so the pawn can go to g8. We must move FIRST our pieces such that the King gets access to f7. Remember, king ahead of it's pawn. The only way to get access to f7 is moving King to d7 which forces blacks king back to g8. We move again closer to e7 and black goes to h8. Our next move cannot be the King to f7 because that will stalemate the game. So by default, we push the pawn to f6. I won't finish the procedure but you can easily do so, always remembering the White King must finally land on f7 and don't stalemate. You got this! Edit: Also note that in alot of pawn endings, you give up the pawn closest to the opponents edge so you can drive home the other pawn. Don't try to bring both pawns or the first pawn home. This advice applies to 2300 and below.

black pawn: i got to be queen... for a day 😪

Not sure about mate in two at the end, at 7:36. After Qf3+, white has to play KxQf3 and there is no mate in two anymore!

Back to this game. I actually played it against a chess engine in the edit mode and after Bishop to F3 + the engine (stockfish 8 version) played king to H3 and it leads to a completely different variation. Where u have to take the queen with the king and then count the steps to stay in control of the oposition. And u have to keep the black king away of the critical d5 square. I managed to win this. But this variation is so hard as well.

You are showing a very fancy class of Chess ! I am a mathematician and i genuinely love that ! It is world class. For me this is by far much more elevated and classy than watching a chess match that has limited time which is full of blunders.

Thanks

If king goes G1 after the bishop check I saw the rest of the puzzle, but the black king doesn’t have to go there. Why not running up the board instead with the king for black instead, and I don’t really see how to make progress. Black won’t arrive in a scenario where they have to push the d6-pawn. At least not anytime soon.

Nitpicking but at 6:30 it is not a zugzwang because even if black is allowed to skip a move he would still be checkmated

1st comment! New sub! Keep it going bro!

If you are amazing at endgames, your mid game strategy can just be to get into an endgame and then brutalise your opponent from there. Which is a great strategy, like Capablanca.

Thanks for sharing!! Your explanation made it comprehensible.

When you said 'win the game like so,' you then went on to make an incorrect move.... Qg6 was not the move there but Qg3.

Nice explanation...

First what is your rating and wanna play with me?

1:56 why does he have Bf3 ?

Thanks for sharing your game!!

Do you think that rook sack was a brilliant move or a blunder?

Please more end games 🙏 I don't do well 😭

There's no draw if black just pushes his pawn and only dpes king moves when white pushes their pawn.

I doubt I'm at 900 level and I was drawn to moving the king in the correct position because I sensed some trickery if I moved the pawn.

Kd7

@0:50 you said the key to winning here but you said it's a draw???

Solved the puzzle from the thumbnail. This is such an amazing puzzle.

6:51 Another issue with Ke5 was that black has another winning idea in addition to Kb7. Black could promote with check right away. Therefore Ke5 won't make much sense.

7:21 White wins

Nice!! 🙏🙏

Amazing chess puzzles!

Thank you for the video, this is by far the best explanation of this position! It covers everything but easy to understand.

I like the variation of black king takes the pawn and the Black king trying to secure the C and B files .I think Black should be able to take the win. Dont you think?

I solved it immediately but only because I have seen this endgame before. By staying on the diagonal as a double threat, Black needs to decide if he wants to use 2 moves to capture the white pawn (which allows white to get close enough to stop black from promoting) or push his own pawn keeping it out of reach of the white king, but allows white to protect his own pawn.

You didn't explain one possibility. After the black king has moved to b6, it could just stay there, and push the black pawn. Black could still capture the white pawn if necessary. I see it would be necessary if the white pawn advances, or white king gets one move away from protecting the white pawn, but as a beginner, I cannot see why the black king needs to take the white pawn when it does, given that doing so leads to a draw.

Why only 64 views? Your camera quality is good, your audio is fantastic, your content is great. I would never understand the algorithm.

Don't forget to also see my video about the Reti endgame study for a better understanding of this puzzle( link in the description)

Worth saying that this is a version of the famous Saavedra position, so there's some history associated with it

You named around 5 wrong squares in a 7 minutes video!!??

attacking the king as a knight.

Phenomenal👏🏻👍. The explanation was so clinical too!

Why can't the 1st black move be to H7, then take h6 & h5.

Excellent puzzle. Much harder than it looks. I went with Kc3 instead of Kc1 on the first rook sacrifice bait. Otherwise I got it all as it went along. We 99% enjoyed the puzzle anyway.

Love this kind of puzzles that can never happen in real games ;)

Thanks alot