This seems a bit counterintuitive because diagonal moves are effectively advancing in two directions at once. They give an impression of moving further away from the chased pawn, when they are actually moving closer.
This isn't quite precise enough - diagonal moves are only two moves at once because the threats are in orthogonal directions. You can imagine a scenario where there are two threats in diagonal directions, and an orthogonal move approaches both at once, but this is simply less common I think
@@untitled6087 The problem in that scenario is that moving in an orthogonal direction "toward" the diagonally located threats doesn't actually reduce the number of moves still required to reach the targets. It gives an illusion of approaching both threats while in reality not approaching either.
I was just going to write this, basically: the key to this puzzle is understanding the geometry of the chessboard: moving to h7 or g7 both move you equally close to black's pawn, so why would you ever choose h7? And the same principle applies for each move.
@@untitled6087 I thought of a way you can highlight the difference, if you turn the board 45 degrees, you now have rows and columns of diamonds. If you move vertically or horizontally, you are effectively skipping a row, while if you move diagonally, you are moving only one row at a time.
The key concept that saves white here is that a diagonal move is really two moves in one -- a left or right move plus an up or down move. By utilizing diagonal moves (with the threat of future diagonal moves), the king is able to effectively remain within striking distance of both pawns.
indeed, by moving on the diagonal you can create multiple threats at once, attacking the enemy pawn, while also protecting your own. If you commit to early to one of the action, you would lose the game
Truly mind-blowing. White is neither attacking nor defending, but improving his ability to attack or defend while forcing black to expose his plans first. It's like a positional-tension zugzwang.
Best explanation I've seen of this most amazing of endgame studies. Yes, the King can only move one space at a time, but the ability to move diagonally makes it a faster piece than at first appears. Thanks!
At 8:03, if black promotes instead of moving the king to b7, that means white's promotion doesn't check black's king. As long as both players are competent it still results in a draw, but it does put checking power on black's side instead of white's which was not shown in any examples.
White king's sole purpose from the very beginning was to reach d6 to be able to defend white pawn. But while doing that, it chose such a tricky route that black pawn couldn't promote before white king reached d6. Oh my goodness, what an evil plan I just watched.
Hello ChessCrafters! You just got another subscriber :D ! I love these puzzles, please keep supplying us with more! I'm currently at 959 elo - 1254 elo across the different modes of chess but recently I've been playing well against my 1600 elo - 1900 elo friends. I was able to solve this puzzle in 2 min! These puzzles are helping me realize the everyday things I neglect in endgames. It's perfect that I found this channel because I have recently started reading Jesus De La Villa's "100 Endgames You Must Know". Thanks!
First, it doesn't stump garandmasters, they learn it long before the become even master candidates. Second, a piece of trivia: original position had black pawn on h6 and black to move.
@3:21 looks like a big blunder!! If both pawns start pushing, then white king&queen get skewered along the diagonal as soon as white get his own queen promotion!
Not really, because even if black pawn promote first, white pawn will promote with a check, so black need to respond to that first, after black king move, white can deal with the skewer
But he is correct about a blunder in this time frame. The error here is poor play by black. Rather than push the pawn to h2, and allow the white pawn to pass by the black king forcing the chase, the correct move by black is to move ka6 to b6. This forces the white king to move to the d file. Then push the black pawn to h2. White pawn to c7. Black gets its queen. Even if white gets a queen, the black king would not be in check on b6, allowing the black queen to put white in check.
@@Rob-wg9cf it's not a poor play by black. This position it's a draw even if stockfish would play as black. Even if black would play Kb6, white will respond to Kd6, which will not be on the same diagonal as the queen. And even if black queen first and start checking the white king, there is no way to win the queen with a skewer
If white gets the king and queen first you could ultimately get checkmate by trapping the black king in the conner. It will take 2 moves to trap the black king and 4 moves for the black pawn. If you move wrong then it will become stale mate. Its like the question what piece are you own the chess board the king there been times people could have gotten checkmate on me but they move wrong and get a stale mate while I only have king you really need to learn when and how to move your king it’s not only just piece it can become a weapon as well during end games
I don't think white can promote first, he barely is in time to save this game, maybe if black blunders a lot, and even then it's still hard for black to lose this
Generally speaking, if you can promote first you will win unless the other player can promote immediately after. You don't need to checkmate before they can promote, since you can just capture their pawn (or their new queen as soon as it is created) and then take as long as you need to checkmate. A queen can get anywhere on the board in two moves, so it can always capture the pawn if it doesn't immediately promote. If the pawn is defended, it's a draw (unless you can do something clever with checks). If the pawn isn't defended (as here), it's a win. If black knows this (and any chess player that isn't a complete beginner will), they won't just try to promote their own pawn but will try to stop your pawn first. That's why you have to defend your pawn at the same time as threatening black's pawn.
not to ruin the fun of "finding the difficult move", but the position at 5:00 is exactly the same as 4:00 since it's a trasposition, so you actually already explained that 😅😅
@@ChessCrafters-lk4dvI normally hate clickbait, but this video was so rewarding to me! I think it's only truly bad when it's disappointing and this totally wasn't. I also forgive it more after seeing that Veritasium video on clickbait and surviving the algorithm. Anyway, keep up the good videos! (Maybe watch his video though and try to thread that needle better since too many replies seemed to dislike it?)
Nice explanation however I think it was needlessly complex at times. The best way to illustrate a king catching a pawn is with the square principle. It is purely visual, requires no counting or calculation and very easy and intuitive to learn. which is a huge advantage in time trouble situations.
This does not stump GMs. If I know it (and I learned it six months after starting to play chess), you can be pretty sure every single titled player in the world knows this inside out.
The way to think about this is with Pythagoras' theorem. When you move diagonally, you move √2≈1.41 times further than when you move orthogonally (1²+1²=√2²). That means you can cover a lot more distance than you would first expect by moving diagonally. Because of this, the quickest route between two points is not necessarily a straight line (or, at least, it isn't the only quickest route).
No this is wrong. The trick is to see that Pythagoras DOESN'T apply. Normaly going diagonally is a detour (and pythagoras lets you measure how much of a detour it will be). But on a chessboard this is not the case. Getting from one corner of the board to the opposite border doesnt take √8²+8² = 11.3 steps, but it takes 8 steps.
@@FlapMeister You can look at it that way, but I think for non-mathematicians it is easier to think in terms of travelling faster when going diagonally than it is to think in terms of a non-Euclidean metric (specifically, the Chebyshev metric). non-Euclidean geometry is completely alien to most people.
@thomasdalton1508 I wasnt talking about Euclidean geometry: It's still a flat surface. But it's a grid. You don't measure distance in decimals, but just by counting squares (integers). So going somewhere on the board by making diagonal moves is not longer. So Pythagoras is irrelevant
It's not really 100 chess puzzles, also in time scramble, even if you know the theory, you could easily blunder this position. It's always good to rehearse the fundamentals
@@ChessCrafters-lk4dv i was saying the puzzle is 100 elo. Not 100 puzzles. But you are correct. Rehearsing the fundamentals and teaching how the king can maneuver to beginners is important. Doubt this would stump a grandmaster so it is technically clickbait
@@maddstaxxtechnically yes, a grandmaster would solve this without a doubt. But i still think this puzzle is around 1400-1500ish. The key concept that is teaching is to create multiple threats, maybe the first 2 move are relative easy to find, but the next ones are quite challenging
Maybe not this exact position, but this concept can apply to a lot of others scenarios, for example I have another video that explore another position where you apply it, the link is in the description of this video
But why at time 8:04 when white plays P - c7 does Black bother with K - b7? He knows he can't ever take the Pawn so why not promote here then get the first check in?
@@ChessCrafters-lk4dv It happens, I'm just always sad to see RUclips having gone this way, forcing creators to make dubious choices to draw an audience. Again, the content was good, and I agree this is an important concept for beginners and intermediate players.
@@Mrwutevah thanks, i am glad you found the video useful. And unfortunately you are correct, right now youtube is a place where you are fighting for every view. I got a video called “5 checkmates pattern you should know” and i am pretty pleased of how that video turned out to be, but unfortunately yt doesn’t recommend it too often. So sometimes you need to put a attention grabbing title, but I don’t think it’s really a clickbait, more like creating curiosity
@@iverburl basically no player can force a skewer on the other one, meaning that when one player check, the other one just need to avoid placing his king on the same file or diagonal with his queen
If you want to see a practical example of the Reti Endgame Applied in a real game scenario, check the video linked in the description!
This seems a bit counterintuitive because diagonal moves are effectively advancing in two directions at once. They give an impression of moving further away from the chased pawn, when they are actually moving closer.
Indeed
This isn't quite precise enough - diagonal moves are only two moves at once because the threats are in orthogonal directions. You can imagine a scenario where there are two threats in diagonal directions, and an orthogonal move approaches both at once, but this is simply less common I think
@@untitled6087 The problem in that scenario is that moving in an orthogonal direction "toward" the diagonally located threats doesn't actually reduce the number of moves still required to reach the targets. It gives an illusion of approaching both threats while in reality not approaching either.
I was just going to write this, basically: the key to this puzzle is understanding the geometry of the chessboard: moving to h7 or g7 both move you equally close to black's pawn, so why would you ever choose h7? And the same principle applies for each move.
@@untitled6087 I thought of a way you can highlight the difference, if you turn the board 45 degrees, you now have rows and columns of diamonds. If you move vertically or horizontally, you are effectively skipping a row, while if you move diagonally, you are moving only one row at a time.
The key concept that saves white here is that a diagonal move is really two moves in one -- a left or right move plus an up or down move. By utilizing diagonal moves (with the threat of future diagonal moves), the king is able to effectively remain within striking distance of both pawns.
indeed, by moving on the diagonal you can create multiple threats at once, attacking the enemy pawn, while also protecting your own. If you commit to early to one of the action, you would lose the game
Truly mind-blowing. White is neither attacking nor defending, but improving his ability to attack or defend while forcing black to expose his plans first. It's like a positional-tension zugzwang.
I am glad you like the video
When I was a beginner, this study was like magic. It still is, kinda
This is the beauty of chess
Comprehensive Pawn Endings, by Averbakh and Maizelis, example 94, page 37. Reti, 1921.
Pretty sure grandmasters all knew this endgame by the time the Grandmaster title was created in 1960
You are right, but it's a must known one if you want to achieve that title
Next Up in "Visually Impossible Chess Puzzle That Stumps Even Grandmasters": backrank mate pattern
@@FourOneNineOneFourOne “the move that shocked the world: did you know about this?” Proceed and explain En Passant
I learned that ending when I was knee-high to a grasshopper. The idea is extremely important to know.
Indeed, it's a must known study for everyone who wants to improve as a chess player
Ain’t no wae bro was 7 cm tall 🗿
@@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890 You have big grasshoppers where you live? Definitely not in the U.S. or Canada. 😂
@@dannygjk i mean their knee is the peak of their hight
@@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890 Still that's a big grasshopper. The only time I saw big grasshoppers like that was in biology lab doing dissections.
Best explanation I've seen of this most amazing of endgame studies. Yes, the King can only move one space at a time, but the ability to move diagonally makes it a faster piece than at first appears. Thanks!
I am glad you liked it!
Very informative, thanks. I'd recommend throwing in the idea of the "square of the pawn" to make this an even more useful lesson!
That's a great idea!
Great analysis!
I am glad you found it useful!
I love these king and pawn endgame puzzles!
I am glad you like them
Did you find the right move?
Yes, and I doubt many grandmasters would be stumped.
@@psychohist maybe i was a little overdramatic with the title
You are by far the smartest person on RUclips !
Thank you so much!
Beautifully instructive lesson!
Glad you liked it!
That white King must have been on a horse to get to that end of the board.
At 8:03, if black promotes instead of moving the king to b7, that means white's promotion doesn't check black's king. As long as both players are competent it still results in a draw, but it does put checking power on black's side instead of white's which was not shown in any examples.
You are right, but I feel like this position is an easy draw, even if black checks first so I wanted to keep the video as short as possible
With the king next to the queen, white can defending it no matter how many checks or where you deliver check from
This trick is repeated in a lot of chess puzzles. You move your king diagonally between your own and your opponent's pawns.
Indeed, with enough practice you could easily spot this in a real game scenario
White king's sole purpose from the very beginning was to reach d6 to be able to defend white pawn. But while doing that, it chose such a tricky route that black pawn couldn't promote before white king reached d6. Oh my goodness, what an evil plan I just watched.
Nice study
I am glad you found it useful
In a book, I had read that this was a real game, with Tarrasch on Black.
Wow, I didn't know it was actually a game, I only knew that this was published in a chess magazine in URSS
Hello ChessCrafters! You just got another subscriber :D ! I love these puzzles, please keep supplying us with more! I'm currently at 959 elo - 1254 elo across the different modes of chess but recently I've been playing well against my 1600 elo - 1900 elo friends. I was able to solve this puzzle in 2 min! These puzzles are helping me realize the everyday things I neglect in endgames. It's perfect that I found this channel because I have recently started reading Jesus De La Villa's "100 Endgames You Must Know". Thanks!
I am glad you found the video useful
thanks... this is really amazing...!
I am glad you like the video
First, it doesn't stump garandmasters, they learn it long before the become even master candidates. Second, a piece of trivia: original position had black pawn on h6 and black to move.
If I recall correctly the original position is white taking a rook on H8, but you are right, maybe I over exaggerated with the title a little 😅
Move to e5 first. From there, chase down the black pawn if possible. If not, escort your pawn to promotion.
Indeed, creating multiple threats is the key of solving this puzzle
good vibes and interesting explanations ! wish for you that your channel explodes
Thank you so much! I am glad you found the video useful
@3:21 looks like a big blunder!! If both pawns start pushing, then white king&queen get skewered along the diagonal as soon as white get his own queen promotion!
Not really, because even if black pawn promote first, white pawn will promote with a check, so black need to respond to that first, after black king move, white can deal with the skewer
But he is correct about a blunder in this time frame. The error here is poor play by black. Rather than push the pawn to h2, and allow the white pawn to pass by the black king forcing the chase, the correct move by black is to move ka6 to b6. This forces the white king to move to the d file. Then push the black pawn to h2. White pawn to c7. Black gets its queen. Even if white gets a queen, the black king would not be in check on b6, allowing the black queen to put white in check.
@@Rob-wg9cf it's not a poor play by black. This position it's a draw even if stockfish would play as black. Even if black would play Kb6, white will respond to Kd6, which will not be on the same diagonal as the queen. And even if black queen first and start checking the white king, there is no way to win the queen with a skewer
Good explanation
I am glad you liked it
This would've been a good video to show the "square of the pawn" concept.
I have another video with that and opposition, it will be ready in about a week or so I hope
If white gets the king and queen first you could ultimately get checkmate by trapping the black king in the conner. It will take 2 moves to trap the black king and 4 moves for the black pawn. If you move wrong then it will become stale mate. Its like the question what piece are you own the chess board the king there been times people could have gotten checkmate on me but they move wrong and get a stale mate while I only have king you really need to learn when and how to move your king it’s not only just piece it can become a weapon as well during end games
I don't think white can promote first, he barely is in time to save this game, maybe if black blunders a lot, and even then it's still hard for black to lose this
Generally speaking, if you can promote first you will win unless the other player can promote immediately after. You don't need to checkmate before they can promote, since you can just capture their pawn (or their new queen as soon as it is created) and then take as long as you need to checkmate.
A queen can get anywhere on the board in two moves, so it can always capture the pawn if it doesn't immediately promote. If the pawn is defended, it's a draw (unless you can do something clever with checks). If the pawn isn't defended (as here), it's a win.
If black knows this (and any chess player that isn't a complete beginner will), they won't just try to promote their own pawn but will try to stop your pawn first. That's why you have to defend your pawn at the same time as threatening black's pawn.
not to ruin the fun of "finding the difficult move", but the position at 5:00 is exactly the same as 4:00 since it's a trasposition, so you actually already explained that 😅😅
I was too focus on explanation that I didn’t even realize that i already covered it:))
A click bait thumbnail
maybe i exagerrated a little with the title :D
haha maybe a little@@ChessCrafters-lk4dv
@@ChessCrafters-lk4dvI normally hate clickbait, but this video was so rewarding to me! I think it's only truly bad when it's disappointing and this totally wasn't.
I also forgive it more after seeing that Veritasium video on clickbait and surviving the algorithm.
Anyway, keep up the good videos!
(Maybe watch his video though and try to thread that needle better since too many replies seemed to dislike it?)
@@halloweenengineer6283 i am glad you like the video
And the presence of an attractive woman.
The lesson here is clearly this...
As White, you should never ever move your King to the 8th rank(unless you like getting headaches) 😂😜
:)))
Nice explanation however I think it was needlessly complex at times. The best way to illustrate a king catching a pawn is with the square principle. It is purely visual, requires no counting or calculation and very easy and intuitive to learn. which is a huge advantage in time trouble situations.
I am glad you enjoyed it. I was trying to make it as simple and understandable as possible.
@@ChessCrafters-lk4dvI personally loved the step by step, thank you
@@graybacks I am glad you liked the explication
This does not stump GMs. If I know it (and I learned it six months after starting to play chess), you can be pretty sure every single titled player in the world knows this inside out.
maybe i exagerrated a little with the title :D
Would have been nice to see what Stockfish would have done. I guess there's no need with so few moves to look at.
Stockfish see this as a draw, maybe if it were an older version he would have trouble
Surprised you didn't mention the rule of the square.
I didn't want to overload the viewer with too many concepts at once, I thought that showing the moves with the graph will be enough
Saw this one already!😊
The Reti endgame study, a classic one
Excellent explanation!!!
Glad you think so!
The way to think about this is with Pythagoras' theorem. When you move diagonally, you move √2≈1.41 times further than when you move orthogonally (1²+1²=√2²). That means you can cover a lot more distance than you would first expect by moving diagonally. Because of this, the quickest route between two points is not necessarily a straight line (or, at least, it isn't the only quickest route).
indeed, this is what i've tried to do with the graphs
No this is wrong. The trick is to see that Pythagoras DOESN'T apply. Normaly going diagonally is a detour (and pythagoras lets you measure how much of a detour it will be). But on a chessboard this is not the case. Getting from one corner of the board to the opposite border doesnt take √8²+8² = 11.3 steps, but it takes 8 steps.
@@FlapMeister You can look at it that way, but I think for non-mathematicians it is easier to think in terms of travelling faster when going diagonally than it is to think in terms of a non-Euclidean metric (specifically, the Chebyshev metric). non-Euclidean geometry is completely alien to most people.
Guys E=mc²
@thomasdalton1508 I wasnt talking about Euclidean geometry: It's still a flat surface. But it's a grid. You don't measure distance in decimals, but just by counting squares (integers). So going somewhere on the board by making diagonal moves is not longer. So Pythagoras is irrelevant
Excellent
I am glad you like the video
I never make it to the endgame. Usually lose in the opening.
You sure don't waste your time
*Once a king commit, he has lost.*
yep
@@ChessCrafters-lk4dvThat was an allegory for modern male-female relationships
@@blondewoman1oh, i shouldn't play so much chess I guess
Thank you sir
So nice of you
Summary : you can't premove
Indeed,
Watch me
Fascinating.
I am glad you like the video
yes.Reti end game
yep
100 ELO chess puzzle stumps grandmasters
It's not really 100 chess puzzles, also in time scramble, even if you know the theory, you could easily blunder this position. It's always good to rehearse the fundamentals
@@ChessCrafters-lk4dv i was saying the puzzle is 100 elo. Not 100 puzzles. But you are correct. Rehearsing the fundamentals and teaching how the king can maneuver to beginners is important. Doubt this would stump a grandmaster so it is technically clickbait
@@maddstaxxtechnically yes, a grandmaster would solve this without a doubt. But i still think this puzzle is around 1400-1500ish. The key concept that is teaching is to create multiple threats, maybe the first 2 move are relative easy to find, but the next ones are quite challenging
Thank you❤
I am glad you found it useful
Bravo 👍
I am glad you liked the video
2:31 Blacks king moves to b6, white is unable to do anything to defend or attack, black wins
Incorrect. Start watching from 7:13
Even if the black would move to b6, this is still a draw with the correct play from white
Brilliant.
I am glad you liked it
This is an old puzzle which many know the solutions
It’s the Reti endgame study
Yes
Congratulations
Bullish, it would never ever come to this ,Senario!!?
Have you seen it,I have never ever seen it!!!
Maybe not this exact position, but this concept can apply to a lot of others scenarios, for example I have another video that explore another position where you apply it, the link is in the description of this video
But why at time 8:04 when white plays P - c7 does Black bother with K - b7? He knows he can't ever take the Pawn so why not promote here then get the first check in?
Name one grandmaster which was "stumped" by this.
Or alternatively quit with the dishonest clickbait titles.
Downvoted.
ngl, I'm a sub 700 player and I solved this in seconds. I don't think this one was hard at all.
All the moves in seconds? Congratulation than, I hope you would also find them in a real game
@@ChessCrafters-lk4dv I definitely wouldn't in a real game, the pressure would cloud me. lol
@@tylerdavisson355 maybe now that you've seen the pattern, you will have an easier time finding it
That's pretty impressive for sub 700, honestly
@@victordeluca7360 i know right?
Hi
hey
Catfish
what
This shit so ez cuh i think ima be th new chess prodigy
Good luck
😮
Hope you liked the video
Good job! You get a fat dislike for that completely unnecessary clickbait title, putting a big stain on the video.
I am sorry that the house of scipii think that. I didn’t want it to be a clickbait, but most people really struggle with this endgamr
@@ChessCrafters-lk4dv It happens, I'm just always sad to see RUclips having gone this way, forcing creators to make dubious choices to draw an audience. Again, the content was good, and I agree this is an important concept for beginners and intermediate players.
@@Mrwutevah thanks, i am glad you found the video useful. And unfortunately you are correct, right now youtube is a place where you are fighting for every view. I got a video called “5 checkmates pattern you should know” and i am pretty pleased of how that video turned out to be, but unfortunately yt doesn’t recommend it too often. So sometimes you need to put a attention grabbing title, but I don’t think it’s really a clickbait, more like creating curiosity
Handsome man
If both players manage to Queen 👑 their pawn ♟ , would the game still be a draw?
Yes
An explanation why would have been helpful.
@@iverburl basically no player can force a skewer on the other one, meaning that when one player check, the other one just need to avoid placing his king on the same file or diagonal with his queen