today we're going to be solving some puzzles we're starting out at the 1200 level now Before we jump
into this one quick piece of advice to solve these things is you always need to be looking at checks
captures and attacks first and foremost when you get to a position the very first thing to do is to
scan and go am i winning what is the evaluation of this position what is going on all right so first
things first are we winning it seems like we're down some material and our queen is under attack
always looking at checks first okay so when you look at the check first and the King tags don't
stop your thought process there now that the King is wide open you're looking at this as a check but
then obviously the Queen will just trade if check here don't forget that you have a second rook okay
and that's going to be a check which is going to force the King to the G file and then you're
going to pick up the Queen because the King is disconnected from the rook all right it's never
going to be something like take stakes and rook h8 all right takes takes rook h8 you're not a
material at the end of that you're not even forced to win anything you're just gonna win a pawn and
then there's probably a very high chance the King gets away okay so you take on h2 rook comes the
King has to block boom we solved it let's keep on rolling all right what's going on here material
is completely equal so in in a position like this when material is totally equal your rook is also
under attack you're either gonna be up a lot of material at the end of the puzzle or you are
going to be checkmating and obviously once again we have to start with the checks check take and
check here nothing what about this check King goes there that's mate if check route goes there we're
just gonna take the rook and it looks like we're winning so it's Bishop d5 and the puzzle just ends
so that's nice okay what's going on here again a position where we are equal looks like this pawn
is Connick is kind of gonna be like the you know the big the big story line here there's no checks
so when there's no checks the next thing that you do is you go to the captures the only capture that
we have is this one and what I'll say about that situation is that the king should not be the guy
blocking the pass pawn so this one is take stakes and then a very nice attacking move the third tier
of thought after checks and captures and that one is going to be an attack takes takes rook here now
before you play this last move you need to go can they check me and they put some danger to me and
they can there's this check but you're just going to go King h8 and you're fine you're fine because
rook d1 is coming and then you're gonna promote your pawn okay simply winning so takes rook here
okay and this is you know the computer just giving away the rook and we keep on rolling Knight takes
bishop so obviously in a game this is the first thing that you look at but in a game once again
you need to look at checks first don't just Auto recapture it's a it's a it's a very common
mistake that players make they Auto take back in this position you have a check and your check is
right here and then the king is going to move to either of these two squares and you're gonna take
the bishop with a check and then recapture the knight so this is the right first move
now this is not free so you're going to take the bishop here
my opinion but maybe let me double-check this do we have anything better it doesn't look like it I
think we're gonna take and I would like to take the night I'd like to give this check but none
of them do anything because if you give this check this happens so if you're down at night
and you've got no mate what do you do now passed pawns see we've had two motifs of past pawns just
push the pawn and you're promoting because you're threatening the knight and if the knight had moved
because you're pinning the knight to the king this Knight is not covering the promotion square
so you're just making a queen and now you would just take the Queen and there you go 17 points
for this puzzle very nice all right a puzzle here where it looks like it's equal its equal because
even though we have a rogue they have a knight we both have a bishop they have a knight and two
pawns so if you look for a check you're gonna find the right answer right off the bat we've
got two checks this one and this one and you'll notice that this one also attacks the bishop and
at the end of the puzzle you should win material this one's kind of easy check pick up the bishop
easy easy easy right let's keep it rolling all right I see a king wide open I see a king right
here if you don't do something quick you will get mated so unless you're winning material here it's
probably checkmate so now we start looking for the checks that's a check that's a check
that's a check and that's a check now which of those makes sense probably just pushing and this
one let's start with this if we go there and the King goes there we now have this check King there
and then we have a very nice idea very very nice idea which is very hard to see it looks like in
that position with the Queen here and the king here we're out of checks but there we have one
more check and it's rook takes pawn because if the pawn takes us back we have a pawn here
and a queen here let me draw actually in and I do green green green and the king is there and
we're gonna play Queen f6 mate that's a very hard one to see in advance but the way you
can basically discard a move like this is that after king e7 you do not have a follow-up check
that's the most important thing when calculating checks is you do not have a follow-up check and
Queen a6 we do not have a follow-up so it's gotta be g5 and now we have a follow-up and
the whole point of this position this which is the hardest thing to see but if you don't see it
play into it and this is going to be made very nice so follow up check so once again you want
to play Queen a6 but since after King e7 you don't have another check you have nothing you
don't have anything you you should not solve it like I'm gonna go here and then here and
then excuse me and then here and then I'm gonna play g5 with it what what does that even mean
g5 with the threat of mate your opponent is gonna make you before that happens alright so
one is the eval here it looks like we're down a night our opponent has two nights and we have one
Bishop so it looks like we're down material but I see some devastating stuff going on over there
okay so I think it's check here bring the Queen and then Queen h3 and that looks like
force mate that looks like force mate the only thing that we need to make sure of is
we're not blundering any sort of Perpetual in that position so in that position there is 98
and I think we run away with the King so sometimes in a position where you have forced mate but they
have checks you need to find the safest getaway so you sacrifice the rook we Nate Shea only move
King g1 and then Queen h3 and in that position they have check and you basically need to make a
move where you get away so you're gonna play this that's gonna be their only other check and after
Queen if the King gets out here there is no more checks let's see if that's right so check we need
shade between h3 okay they play the wrong check I mean this is far more resistant after which this
check and the King needs to go to g5 and it looks like we're safe but but they play this and this
one's easy because I think we just take with the rook and there's no more checks okay there is one
more check so picking up some rating very nice alrighty again looks like a puzzle where we are
down a ton of material we're down a rook we're also basically a move away from getting mated so
this one's either going to be a counter-attack mate or a draw alright counter-attack mate or
a draw this is the only check that looks like it makes any sense so you can basically just
play it and that is the only check that makes any sense right so probably it's just queen f2
ah this is the only check that makes any sense although maybe there is Bishop g4 as well here
but I somehow don't think that that's where I mean I think that that just allows one of
these pieces to come back so we got to play the check that makes the most sense Queen
f1 and then there is probably yeah this looks pretty good okay it's just over okay so this is
this is kind of a weird puzzle because you had nothing here I mean you were getting mated you
just had to play all the obvious checks and then all of a sudden the puzzle was right so you know
it is what it is but that wasn't that wasn't the greatest example of puzzle
solving all right here's a puzzle where we've got a king and three pieces left
check wait this is just mate what a weird puzzle check King has to go this way and then we just
take this pawn it's just mate oh we got to take with the bishop here we got to take with the
bishop and then we got to take with the bishop again and then we it's just made you know just
don't look at the empty squares big hints don't only look at the empty squares that's what people
do they see Oh empty square I can go there you can also take pieces that's just me it's a big
mistake people make they don't they don't see captures as easily all right this one's not a
mate because the only checks that we have are these two and they don't do anything so then
I'm looking at Bishop takes d4 but after Knight takes d4 I don't see anything so this is so far
going to be the most instructive moment of the stream this is the third tier of forcing moves
moves that your opponent must react to and those are attacking moves moves that create threats and
at the very top of that hierarchy is the Queen not the King because the king is a check check
is number one always so the third tier is attack and so for that reason we look at Bishop f4 and
if we look at Bishop by four it is defended by the knight and the Queen's just trapped
the Queen's just got nothing so look at Bishop f4 create an attack on the thing that's worth
the most and Bishop f4 just traps the Queen and we wouldn't Queen so we didn't even need
to think that much on this puzzle you see this puzzle is rated 1553 those of you watching can
definitely solve this definitely solve this all right let's keep it rolling rook comes
down I see that my queen is under attack if I move my Queen anywhere well moving the Queen
somewhere is not going to be the solution to the puzzle so check is the first thing we look at
this is the first thing that we look at
when the bishop takes the bishop has now moved out of the way of the pawn
most people would just forget about the puzzle at that point but we have g7 check
when g7 check gets on the board if the King takes the Queen replaces the pawn
and it's over the Queen replaces the pawn and it's over so here here push King takes
Queen g6 King back we take the bishop it's made however what if g7 Bishop g7
well then we have a second rook coming in and that's that's game over as well if the
rook blocks we take take and let's not forget that our queen is still covering that and it's
going to be made so this one is solved just using the principles of checks just using
the principles of checks takes okay Queen is sacrificed and it's over so it's all checks
all right up until about 2000 you're basically going to be getting only checks checks captures
attacks all those things very rarely are you going to be getting positions where you're
defending and you need to basically find a defensive move or a draw those are those
are sprinkled in there but they're pretty rare they are pretty rare let me tell you all right
okay so this one no checks no captures I mean that's a capture so attack that is not an attack
that is an attack but it doesn't guarantee we win anything and this one is just rook d8
with a counter pin and not a counter pin sorry just the pin just a counter-attack on the Queen
in the center as though he was threatening Queen d7 rook da just picks up material and
easy 1,000 level puzzle all right looks like I'm getting mated so I mean checks check King
goes there Queen d1 is made check King goes there Queen d3 is made okay that was easy see
that took 14 seconds just look at the checks bring in the pieces don't get tunnel vision
and only focus on one piece anytime you move a piece things open up for other pieces and you
need to see how your pieces work together right the Queen d3 alright check is the first thing that
I'm looking at oh so this is interesting because most people here would simply recapture right rook
takes rook most people would recapture but before you recapture notice that this is happening right
so just give a check and then take the rook for free and you don't lose the night so this one
was a little bit of a defensive puzzle but it's the same thing give a check and then
take give a check and then take you know nothing nothing too complicated alright check win takes
that's this one's kind of easy isn't it just takes gear and take the queen and
then you just have a queen and a bishop or two rooks okay I mean I I don't understand
what the challenge here is okay oh I mean like come on anybody can solve
this puzzle I think the trick is Knight f3 but then just rook takes I mean this was
you know this is not a
this is not such a complicated puzzle
you
oK we've got this position I'm looking at checks
you
but that doesn't do anything
I can take this they take I take with the Queen I don't understand
what what what is so difficult about this position
I don't I don't understand what is so difficult
about this position I mean the only alternative is this move
and that tries to threaten a mate but bishop f2 I think there's just nine of one
this one's really weird
I mean I think it's just this I mean what what is so complex about this that
this is not a good puzzle what theme battery it says the theme is battery
how is this the theme a batteries when you have two pieces attacking on the same
diagonal or vertical or horizontal like Queen and Bishop or queen and rook how is
how is that okay I don't know whatever I don't make the puzzles I just solve them alrighty
alright this this one checks captures attacks again checks captures attacks no checks this is
the only capture you have one attacking if two attacking moves in this position what are they
this is one this is one and that doesn't guarantee you in anything and the second
one is a little harder to see so it's very rare a rook just gets to hop into the territory and
attack everybody in this this is a fork on two bishops teaming up with the night here so rook
c3 and that's it and now you just need to find the right move and you find the right move you
take the knight first or the bishop Knight is hanging which one do you take first that's a
it's a good question for my live chat you got to take the bishop first because then when he
takes a number again he can't take the rook is the knight is guarding so takes takes then
you take the knight because otherwise if you take the knight first and he takes you're not
taking the bishop the bishop lost one of its attackers right and then you take the bishop
then you take the night so there we go and we cross 1400 so that's how you would approach 1200
to 1400 level puzzles let's keep going though you know let's uh let's keep let's keep puzzle solving
applying the same methodology and see if they get any harder in you know in the next set of points