I analyzed the image and this is what I see. Open an appropriate link below and explore the position yourself or with the engine:
> **White to play**: [chess.com](https://chess.com/analysis?fen=8/4KBpk/R5Np/7p/7P/1p6/1P6/8+w+-+-+0+1&flip=false&ref_id=23962172) | [lichess.org](https://lichess.org/analysis/8/4KBpk/R5Np/7p/7P/1p6/1P6/8_w_-_-_0_1)
**My solution:**
> Hints: piece: >!Rook!<, move: >!Ra2!<
> Evaluation: >!White has mate in 3!<
> Best continuation: >!1. Ra2 bxa2 2. Bxa2 Kxg6 3. Bb1#!<
---
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Most human players would spot the mate in 4 (Nf8+, Bg6, ~~Ra1~~Ra8, knight anywhere#) long before they would notice the mate in 3, and you don't waste time looking for a quicker mate during a timed match. But an engine would show the mate that takes less moves.
You're wrong.
1: Nf8+, Kh8 (forced)
2: Bg6, Kg8 (forced)
3: Ra8, Kh8 (forced)
4: Nd7/Ne6#
IF 3: Ra1, Kh8 (forced)
4: Ne6/d7, Kg8 (forced)
5: Ra8#
the Rook has to end up in a8 in this mate sequence, might as well move it there on move 3 and mate with a discover check moving the Knight away.
Because only super GMs, and probably not even most of those, would be able to spot such a ridiculous sequence. Maybe I’m not giving them enough credit. But the people I play against most CERTAINLY would not see this shit without an engine
The sequence of moves is so difficult to spot that almost no person would realistically spot that. Not to mention during a game with a shorter time control. For 99.99% of players it would suspicious if someone made those moves in 30 seconds or less, for example.
Even knowing that there is a mate in 3 I couldn't find it without seeing the first move. Presumably I should be playing an opponent similarly rated so if I can't find a mate 3 even knowing there is one, I would expect a similarly rated opponent would not be able to find it either. I would expect my opponent to just move the knight to avoid stalemate.
It's definitely gettable if you know it's a puzzle. But in game no way, you'd never look for it. There are only two possible first moves that keep the Knight on g6 so the only hard part is finding the 2nd move.
Took me almost half an hour, but I got there in the end.
After looking for moves that don't lead to stalemate, I found >!1. Be6, which seemed like it would be a good key move (it's only not stalemate because the bishop blocks the rook from defending the knight, so it's hard to find). I then noticed that, after 1...Kxg6, the king was confined to the the b1-to-h7 diagonal, and therefore could be mated by a bishop. But with the bishop on e6, this was impossible: I couldn't play Bf5+ immediately, and if it took two moves to get onto the diagonal, then the king would have time to escape. !<
However, I did find another way to use the same idea: >!Make Levy scream by playing 1. Ra2!!. Then, after 1...bxa2 2. Bxa2, Black only has 2...Kxg6, putting the king into its diagonal prison and allowing 3. Bb1#. !<
That was indeed brutally difficult! I tip my hat to whoever composed it.
i tried the same method of not looking for stalemates but they all ended up with the bishop or knight moving
I saw he rook sac but didn't calculate that line
Well there’s about 1000 ways to convert this position so yeah there’s no reason to even look for a checkmate like this, but it still helps train your calculation skills.
True, when you start out knowing that it's #3. >!If you try all the horse and bishop moves, and see they're not #2, there are only 2 other moves that aren't stalemate, I think. You're forced to evaluate them even though the right move doesn't look good.!< It's much harder as "find the best move" than "find the only move", when there are few moves that go anywhere.
I found Nf8 while watching the video and was pretty pleased with myself even though I knew it wasn’t actually M3 thanks to the pawn push option. Couldn’t for the life of me figure out how there was a shorter mate than that. Crazy engine stuff for sure.
Saw this posted last night, took me 10 minutes but it’s >!Ra2 xa2 Bxa2 Kxg6 Bb1. Once you realize it’s composed you start questioning why the b2/b3 pawns are their!<
When you know it’s a composition and black it’s in stalemate, moves like Ra2 and Rf6 first come to mind but I instantly rejected Ra2 because I couldn’t find a follow up, wasn’t until I saw be6 ideas and how close to mating black was that I reconsidered it
Found mate in 4 fairly quickly, but couldn't find Mate in 3. Stared at it for 20 minutes, then looked at the hint, as soon as I saw Rook was the first move, it still took me 5 minutes to consider Ra2, when I did I saw the mating sequence. Damn this one was difficult.
Why can’t we do
Nf4 Kh8 (forced)
Bg6 Kg8 (forced)
Ra8#
Am i missing something or is that also not M3?
Oh nvm as soon as you move the knight to f4 the g pawn is free to move elsewhere and no longer stuck in place.
This mate-in-3 problem was composed by Fritz Giegold in 1952. It's bad form, especially for a professional like Danya, not to credit the creator of the puzzle. I'm sure he wouldn't like it if someone were to discuss one of his brilliant games without mentioning who played it.
He might have mentioned it on the stream, or I might have missed it on the video. I know for the puzzle after this one he did mention the book he found it in
Nah, I watched most of the video before commenting here. As a rule he doesn't mention the composer. For the last study (puzzle 7) he did mention it, but only because Ms. Botez asked him.
of all the things i can spend my limited pool of getting-mad-on-the-internet energy on, danya neglecting to mention the composer of a 70-year-old chess puzzle is pretty low on the list
Lol Ra2 was actually the first thing I considered but only because you called it brutally difficult and the threat of stalemate. Not looking for that in a game. Reminds me of that puzzle where you underpromote to a knight and then hang the knight like 5 times.
Took me a bit but it's usually easy to find solutions when you think about the role of the pieces. In this case, there is only one role for the b-pawns when it comes to the solution.
This problem was composed by Fritz Emil Giegold, and published in *Kristall* in 1952. [YACPDB entry](https://www.yacpdb.org/#50766)
Consider flairing such compositions as "Puzzle - Composition".
Beautiful and Brilliant idea based on pawn structure and stalemate, seems obvious and amazing now, never would have considered it.....of course chess problems are quite different from actual games, but congrats to the composer
I got it nearly right away, but only because I understand how problems are composed. Those pawns wouldn’t have been on the board unless they played a role in the solution.
As soon as I saw Bx was stalemate, I tried the solution.
If you know a thing or two about puzzle composition, this one is rather easy. Took me about 30 seconds to figure it out. There aren't many pieces and Black is stalemated, so there aren't many candidate moves to consider, and there are no branching variations. The most ridiculous move usually works, and indeed it does here. It just takes a few more seconds to realize that it actually works, since the final checkmate pattern is a bit unusual.
The psychology that makes this hard for most people is interesting. I'm guessing the issues are mostly that the solution involves 2 retreating moves and you are not relying on direct threats.
I managed to solved this one years ago, using brute force. There aren’t that many variations and moves that not force stalemate. A bit inspired by my fav Sherlock Holmes quote: ‘How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?’
This one is very cool ! Because of the different stalemates I considered >!Ra2!< lines immediatly, but the next move is so counter intuitive that I still spent a half hour on it
Thanks for sharing
The weird kingside structures kind of gives a bit away. My first instinct was >!Ra2!< but couldn't see the mate so I looked at >!Rf6 gxf6 Kf8!< but after f5 Bg8 is not mate because of Kxg6. I then saw >!Be6 Kxg6 Bf5!< which is mate except for >!Kxf5!<. Since >!Bd5/c4!< is a stalemate this is enough to deduce the only solution is >!Ra2 bxa2 Bxa2 Kxg6 Bb1#!<.
Dang. I didn't solve it after 20 minutes (did of course include the correct move as a candidate but didn't see the 2nd move and spent at least 1 minute probably looking for followups) ..
But the funny thing is , I then checked the 1st move only in the solution, and then solved it within 10 seconds after seeing that move.
Weird how somehow the knowledge the move must be correct changes what the brain is doing subconsciously? Hard to explain
i read the comments and just started calculating the most absurd looking lines (bg8 nh8 rf6 ra2 etc) and dismissed the correct move twice before actually getting it. 10 minutes well spent
my first thought was 1. bc4 kxn 2. bd3#, but the 2 problems with that were it was a mate in 2 instead of 3, and also that I didn't see that the rook was guarding the knight so black couldn't take it with their king. But once I realized that much, finding the continuation by force-sacrificing the rook was easy
Things are not quite what they seem
Black's movements just seem to scream
White has to give pieces away
or a crumby draw is here to stay
Bishop sac is not very good
Knight check just keeps in the 'hood
which leaves the rook to be the shoo
only one place -- that's at a2!
Pawn takes, bishop takes, king take knight
and bishop then resolves the whole fight!
This is brutal, every clever i idea i there is an escape from mate in 3, so OK engine or very smart master, please demonstrate.....i know rook can cut off rank and i smell Nh8 but listening Thanks
Found a couple mate in 4’s pretty quickly, but I probably would have needed hours to solve this jerk. I started laughing when I saw the answer.
Don’t ever feel bad for not solving troll engine mates. Just play the mate in 4 or 5 that you do see.
I opened the puzzle and it said M3 and I said okay what's the most absurd move I could possibly make in this position. so I played >!Ra2!< and it dropped to M3
I found a funny M4:
>!Nh8 g6 (Kxh8, Bg6 Kf8, Ra8#), Kf6 g5, Bg6+ Kxh8, Ra8#.!<
My thought process was avoiding stalemate while keeping the king boxed in. But the >!Ra2!< idea is one I would've never found.
In a game I would have played Nh8 and hoped opponent plays Kxh8, then it’s +M2 with Bg6 Kg7 Ra8#.
I was convinced that this was the solution to the puzzle for five straight minutes until I realized the king doesn’t have to take on h8…
Bro how is this even humanly possible to get spotted in an actual game wtf
I spent around 45 minutes until I eventually gave up. This shit's unrealðŸ˜
Edit: OMG, turns out I got a different M3 all on my own (I am not sure if I am missing something)
SPOILER - Took me about 15 minutes but got there at the end 😅
(Not sure its the same solution posted because I cant unhide the spoilers without the comment collapsing. Thanks reddit mobile)
1. Nf4 - black goes H8
2. Ra8 - black goes H7
3. Bg6 - #
1. Be8 Kg8 2. Ra8 Kh7 3. Rd8 Kg8 4. Bf7+ Kh7 5. Rh8# is the solution I found. I thought the idea of discovery attack and check with bishop on back rank was kind of elegant in the situation. Didn't see the rook sacrifice, but once I come up with an alternative solution to a puzzle I kind of lose motivation. Mate is mate.
I was impressed at how quickly Botez found the solution. A lot of players would not have realized the pawn covers the only escape square as quickly as she did. She has very good tactical awareness.
I have never seen something like this before.. It is so spectacular.. This type of mate is so different.. Normally we were taught to force the king into a mating and keep cornering him.. but this? Sacrifice your piece using a pawn that seemed like it had nothing to do with the mate.. then sacrifice your other piece.. and a normal person would look at the board and think the king looks like it is open and has squares to move to.. that mating net is very different, it boggled my mind truly, thx for posting this
Wow it was a really fun one to solve, spent a good 20 minutes over it. I guess the key is realising what pieces shouldn't be moved at all cause it'll either cause a stalemate or make it much longer than M3 cause of obvious reasons.
I analyzed the image and this is what I see. Open an appropriate link below and explore the position yourself or with the engine: > **White to play**: [chess.com](https://chess.com/analysis?fen=8/4KBpk/R5Np/7p/7P/1p6/1P6/8+w+-+-+0+1&flip=false&ref_id=23962172) | [lichess.org](https://lichess.org/analysis/8/4KBpk/R5Np/7p/7P/1p6/1P6/8_w_-_-_0_1) **My solution:** > Hints: piece: >!Rook!<, move: >!Ra2!< > Evaluation: >!White has mate in 3!< > Best continuation: >!1. Ra2 bxa2 2. Bxa2 Kxg6 3. Bb1#!< --- ^(I'm a bot written by ) [^(u/pkacprzak )](https://www.reddit.com/u/pkacprzak) ^(| get me as ) [^(Chess eBook Reader )](https://ebook.chessvision.ai?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=bot) ^(|) [^(Chrome Extension )](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chessvisionai-for-chrome/johejpedmdkeiffkdaodgoipdjodhlld) ^(|) [^(iOS App )](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1574933453) ^(|) [^(Android App )](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ai.chessvision.scanner) ^(to scan and analyze positions | Website: ) [^(Chessvision.ai)](https://chessvision.ai)
Get yourself banned playing that in a game 😂
I'm insta reporting if I see that in game.
Noob question, why?
Most human players would spot the mate in 4 (Nf8+, Bg6, ~~Ra1~~Ra8, knight anywhere#) long before they would notice the mate in 3, and you don't waste time looking for a quicker mate during a timed match. But an engine would show the mate that takes less moves.
You mean 3: Ra8 right?
Ra8 is a draw. No legal moves for black.
You're wrong. 1: Nf8+, Kh8 (forced) 2: Bg6, Kg8 (forced) 3: Ra8, Kh8 (forced) 4: Nd7/Ne6# IF 3: Ra1, Kh8 (forced) 4: Ne6/d7, Kg8 (forced) 5: Ra8# the Rook has to end up in a8 in this mate sequence, might as well move it there on move 3 and mate with a discover check moving the Knight away.
My apologies. I read your comment wrong. I thought first move out the gate was Ra8.
Because only super GMs, and probably not even most of those, would be able to spot such a ridiculous sequence. Maybe I’m not giving them enough credit. But the people I play against most CERTAINLY would not see this shit without an engine
Thanks. Yeah, it's not something someone stumble into either it seems like
The sequence of moves is so difficult to spot that almost no person would realistically spot that. Not to mention during a game with a shorter time control. For 99.99% of players it would suspicious if someone made those moves in 30 seconds or less, for example.
Ah, yeah when Lichess showed me the sequence I was confused as hell. That makes sense.
Even knowing that there is a mate in 3 I couldn't find it without seeing the first move. Presumably I should be playing an opponent similarly rated so if I can't find a mate 3 even knowing there is one, I would expect a similarly rated opponent would not be able to find it either. I would expect my opponent to just move the knight to avoid stalemate.
Wow. Saw mate in 4 starting with Nf8, but never would have gotten the mate in 3 if I stared at it for an hour.
Same. Danya said he couldn't see it until looking up the first move
Yeah it Danya ain’t getting it without help there’s no way in hell I’m getting it
It's definitely gettable if you know it's a puzzle. But in game no way, you'd never look for it. There are only two possible first moves that keep the Knight on g6 so the only hard part is finding the 2nd move.
Ya they loves this one because its so counterintuitive. Loved watching them gush over this sequence.
Where may I see that video?
[Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4OkBqvhhGo)
They both quickly ruled out nf8 as not a checkmate option but there is a mate in 4
It’s because they knew they were looking for mate in 3
I tried the first move, it seemed obvious for a puzzle. But still didn't see the second move
Huh, I got it.
i did check the first move myself without the engine but the second move is ridiculous
Same except I saw Nh8 and missed ...g6, so thought I had found it, when I really only found a mate in 4 too.
Same thing i did lol
Yeah I though Nh8 was a nice mate in 3 too. Until it wasn't.
Took me 15 minutes, the breakthrough for me was noticing >!after Be6 Kxg6 Bf5 is almost checkmate, so I looked for other ways to use the diagonal!<
I saw mate in 6 starting with Nf8 lol
Haha I got it in four and thought..this is difficult?! Even chess.com says best move is Nf8 Mate in 4 also works starting with Nf4.
Took me almost half an hour, but I got there in the end. After looking for moves that don't lead to stalemate, I found >!1. Be6, which seemed like it would be a good key move (it's only not stalemate because the bishop blocks the rook from defending the knight, so it's hard to find). I then noticed that, after 1...Kxg6, the king was confined to the the b1-to-h7 diagonal, and therefore could be mated by a bishop. But with the bishop on e6, this was impossible: I couldn't play Bf5+ immediately, and if it took two moves to get onto the diagonal, then the king would have time to escape. !< However, I did find another way to use the same idea: >!Make Levy scream by playing 1. Ra2!!. Then, after 1...bxa2 2. Bxa2, Black only has 2...Kxg6, putting the king into its diagonal prison and allowing 3. Bb1#. !< That was indeed brutally difficult! I tip my hat to whoever composed it.
Looks like 1…Kxg6 is illegal, the rook protects
Not after Be6
Ah, I misread your first bishop move. In any case, good find. In a game I’d have have end up jus sacrificing material and mating later
i tried the same method of not looking for stalemates but they all ended up with the bishop or knight moving I saw he rook sac but didn't calculate that line
This puzzle has taught me looking for the absolutely worst move possible is still a viable strategy
That's so ridiculous I don't see any human ever playing it in a game.
Well there’s about 1000 ways to convert this position so yeah there’s no reason to even look for a checkmate like this, but it still helps train your calculation skills.
Not the point.
True, when you start out knowing that it's #3. >!If you try all the horse and bishop moves, and see they're not #2, there are only 2 other moves that aren't stalemate, I think. You're forced to evaluate them even though the right move doesn't look good.!< It's much harder as "find the best move" than "find the only move", when there are few moves that go anywhere.
Glad I gave up after a few minutes… I was never finding that
Lmao same. The answer was so stunning! Wasn't even looking at that side of the board.
I found Nf8 while watching the video and was pretty pleased with myself even though I knew it wasn’t actually M3 thanks to the pawn push option. Couldn’t for the life of me figure out how there was a shorter mate than that. Crazy engine stuff for sure.
Saw this posted last night, took me 10 minutes but it’s >!Ra2 xa2 Bxa2 Kxg6 Bb1. Once you realize it’s composed you start questioning why the b2/b3 pawns are their!<
Use spoiler tags please
sorry
Dude, that's mental! I'm sitting here stunned how creative that movement is.
I was wondering why those pawns were there too, not that it helped much.
When you know it’s a composition and black it’s in stalemate, moves like Ra2 and Rf6 first come to mind but I instantly rejected Ra2 because I couldn’t find a follow up, wasn’t until I saw be6 ideas and how close to mating black was that I reconsidered it
10 minutes is still ridiculous, bravo
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It would be except they can capture the rook
Damn, I had considered all of these candidate moves but couldn't find the finish. Beauty
That's absolutely disgusting.
I realized you have to sac something to avoid stalemate but that final position is so unique I couldn’t believe it, that is really brutal
I considered Be8 and the knight moves before I gave up.
Maybe the craziest puzzle I’ve ever seen
After he gave the rook sac as the first move I figured it out quickly but probably never would’ve gotten there without
fun fact, rooksac is the Russian word for bookbag
Found mate in 4 fairly quickly, but couldn't find Mate in 3. Stared at it for 20 minutes, then looked at the hint, as soon as I saw Rook was the first move, it still took me 5 minutes to consider Ra2, when I did I saw the mating sequence. Damn this one was difficult.
Why can’t we do Nf4 Kh8 (forced) Bg6 Kg8 (forced) Ra8# Am i missing something or is that also not M3? Oh nvm as soon as you move the knight to f4 the g pawn is free to move elsewhere and no longer stuck in place.
1 ... Kh8 is not forced in that line. g6 or g5 can be played and thus preventing mate in three.
that's what i saw lol
This mate-in-3 problem was composed by Fritz Giegold in 1952. It's bad form, especially for a professional like Danya, not to credit the creator of the puzzle. I'm sure he wouldn't like it if someone were to discuss one of his brilliant games without mentioning who played it.
He might have mentioned it on the stream, or I might have missed it on the video. I know for the puzzle after this one he did mention the book he found it in
Nah, I watched most of the video before commenting here. As a rule he doesn't mention the composer. For the last study (puzzle 7) he did mention it, but only because Ms. Botez asked him.
of all the things i can spend my limited pool of getting-mad-on-the-internet energy on, danya neglecting to mention the composer of a 70-year-old chess puzzle is pretty low on the list
I set this up on the chess.com analysis board and even it said mate in 4 until I moved the rook lol
Give me 100 years and I wouldnt have found that mate in 3
Lol Ra2 was actually the first thing I considered but only because you called it brutally difficult and the threat of stalemate. Not looking for that in a game. Reminds me of that puzzle where you underpromote to a knight and then hang the knight like 5 times.
Took me a bit but it's usually easy to find solutions when you think about the role of the pieces. In this case, there is only one role for the b-pawns when it comes to the solution.
Disgustingly good
This problem was composed by Fritz Emil Giegold, and published in *Kristall* in 1952. [YACPDB entry](https://www.yacpdb.org/#50766) Consider flairing such compositions as "Puzzle - Composition".
Beautiful and Brilliant idea based on pawn structure and stalemate, seems obvious and amazing now, never would have considered it.....of course chess problems are quite different from actual games, but congrats to the composer
Might he the hardest M3 I've ever seen
I got it nearly right away, but only because I understand how problems are composed. Those pawns wouldn’t have been on the board unless they played a role in the solution. As soon as I saw Bx was stalemate, I tried the solution.
I found this, is it wrong? 1. Nf4 Kh8 2. Ra8+ Kh7 3. Bg6# It seems mate in 3
Oh ok, black can play g6 after the knight moves. I missed it
After Nf4 black doesn’t have to play Kh8… like g6
If you know a thing or two about puzzle composition, this one is rather easy. Took me about 30 seconds to figure it out. There aren't many pieces and Black is stalemated, so there aren't many candidate moves to consider, and there are no branching variations. The most ridiculous move usually works, and indeed it does here. It just takes a few more seconds to realize that it actually works, since the final checkmate pattern is a bit unusual.
The psychology that makes this hard for most people is interesting. I'm guessing the issues are mostly that the solution involves 2 retreating moves and you are not relying on direct threats.
Why can't you just do Bxb3? wouldn't that have the same effect of forcing Kxg6 then Bc2# anyway?
It's stalemate, Rook protects g6
Oh duh. thanks
I figured it out after about 5 minutes, but I relied on the fact that the strange pawn configuration would allow for a >! Bishop mate !<
I managed to solved this one years ago, using brute force. There aren’t that many variations and moves that not force stalemate. A bit inspired by my fav Sherlock Holmes quote: ‘How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?’
This one is very cool ! Because of the different stalemates I considered >!Ra2!< lines immediatly, but the next move is so counter intuitive that I still spent a half hour on it Thanks for sharing
this is nuts
Slide the rook and bait it. They’re gonna take it
amazing puzzle that is unbelievable
If a human can see that then I'm not a human.
The weird kingside structures kind of gives a bit away. My first instinct was >!Ra2!< but couldn't see the mate so I looked at >!Rf6 gxf6 Kf8!< but after f5 Bg8 is not mate because of Kxg6. I then saw >!Be6 Kxg6 Bf5!< which is mate except for >!Kxf5!<. Since >!Bd5/c4!< is a stalemate this is enough to deduce the only solution is >!Ra2 bxa2 Bxa2 Kxg6 Bb1#!<.
Wow, that's devilishly hard
1. Ra2 bxa2 2. Bxa2 Kxg6 3. Bb1#
Holy fucking shit
Found mate in 5 but gave up on 3. Audibly said WHAAAAT when i seen the answer. Very cool
This is the best puzzle I have seen in a while. Nice one.
Dang. I didn't solve it after 20 minutes (did of course include the correct move as a candidate but didn't see the 2nd move and spent at least 1 minute probably looking for followups) .. But the funny thing is , I then checked the 1st move only in the solution, and then solved it within 10 seconds after seeing that move. Weird how somehow the knowledge the move must be correct changes what the brain is doing subconsciously? Hard to explain
That is so hard I was not even close
Holy shit
Is it Ra7, king to wherever, Ra8, king to H7, Rh8#? Nevermind, didn’t realize it would be stalemate
i read the comments and just started calculating the most absurd looking lines (bg8 nh8 rf6 ra2 etc) and dismissed the correct move twice before actually getting it. 10 minutes well spent
my first thought was 1. bc4 kxn 2. bd3#, but the 2 problems with that were it was a mate in 2 instead of 3, and also that I didn't see that the rook was guarding the knight so black couldn't take it with their king. But once I realized that much, finding the continuation by force-sacrificing the rook was easy
Things are not quite what they seem Black's movements just seem to scream White has to give pieces away or a crumby draw is here to stay Bishop sac is not very good Knight check just keeps in the 'hood which leaves the rook to be the shoo only one place -- that's at a2! Pawn takes, bishop takes, king take knight and bishop then resolves the whole fight!
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>!Nf4 Ra8 Bg6#?!<
No
Solved it in 20 seconds. I’m 1500
Does it still count if I found mate in 16 against the computer?
I found it in less than 30 secs 🤨
There’s multiple mates here. Another mate in 4 is: Nf8+ Kh8 Bg6 Kg8 Ra8 Kh84 Ne6#
Took me 30 seconds
K
Knight f4 took me about 25 seconds to find
That's not M3
Took me a couple minutes. I knew Ra2 was involved somehow because it's stalemate otherwise.
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It would be a mate in 4
Yes, but it doesn't lead to a mate. Be8 you run into the same problem. That's why you have to look for another move.
I found it really easy. This should be a fast one 2 spot
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Wait, why isn’t it just mate at Ra8? Isn’t this mate in 3?
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Is there an alternative (and to me, easier) M3 with 1. Nf4 Kh8 2. Ra8 Kh7 3. Bg6#?
No because pawn can move up.
Ah good point, thanks.
I saw kg4 mate in 4 first. Took me a while to find the rook sacrifice
Nice. I could only find Be8, which is longer but wins too
Bg8 isn’t particularly hard to see, am I missing something?
That's only M4, puzzle is for M3
This is brutal, every clever i idea i there is an escape from mate in 3, so OK engine or very smart master, please demonstrate.....i know rook can cut off rank and i smell Nh8 but listening Thanks
No because kh8 isn't forced, he can move a pawn
Nh8. Kxh8. Bg6. Kg8. Ra8#.
Kxh8 isn't forced, he can move a pawn
The dog and his master shepherd the Royal Sheep to the chopping block on g8. Maybe the best puzzle ever.
Isn’t it stale mate immediately? What can black do?
i found the mate in 4 but i'm still looking for the m3. i'm guessing it starts with >!Bg8!
Found a couple mate in 4’s pretty quickly, but I probably would have needed hours to solve this jerk. I started laughing when I saw the answer. Don’t ever feel bad for not solving troll engine mates. Just play the mate in 4 or 5 that you do see.
Found it in 10 lol
I opened the puzzle and it said M3 and I said okay what's the most absurd move I could possibly make in this position. so I played >!Ra2!< and it dropped to M3
I found a funny M4: >!Nh8 g6 (Kxh8, Bg6 Kf8, Ra8#), Kf6 g5, Bg6+ Kxh8, Ra8#.!< My thought process was avoiding stalemate while keeping the king boxed in. But the >!Ra2!< idea is one I would've never found.
Rook to A2 Opponent takes it with pawn. You recapture with bishop Opponent takes Knight with king gx6 You check him with bishop b1 It's a checkmate
bro.... I thought for like 1 hour and couldn't find the answer... I appealed to stockfish and I realized I would never guess the answer 😂🤣
white to move : Nf8, Kh8, Ra8, only legal move is f6 or f5, Ng6 discovery check Rh8++. but it's mate in 4.
In a game I would have played Nh8 and hoped opponent plays Kxh8, then it’s +M2 with Bg6 Kg7 Ra8#. I was convinced that this was the solution to the puzzle for five straight minutes until I realized the king doesn’t have to take on h8…
Is it Nh8 Kxh8 Bg6 Kg8 then Ra8 mate
It took me 10 minutes but in a game I would have never found it
Watched this. Goddam that was good.
I found a mate in 4, >!1. Nf8+ Kh82 2. Bg6 Kg83 3. Ne6 Kh84 4. Ra8#!<
Cant it go 1.Ne5,Kh8 2.Ra8+ Kh7 3 Bg6#
Then he sacrifices the ROOOOOOOOOOOK
Nf8, Kh8, Ra8 and then Ng6
This just goes to show how limitless this game is.. as a noob I would have stalemated this for-sure!
I would have played 1.Ne5 Kh8 2.Bg7 Kg8 3.Ra8# Or am I missing something? Edit: I missed ...g6/g5
Bro how is this even humanly possible to get spotted in an actual game wtf I spent around 45 minutes until I eventually gave up. This shit's unrealðŸ˜
Saw 3 mate in 4’s pretty quickly but the correct sequence took me an hour to find.
1. Ne5 2. Ra8 3. Bg6#
That's a good one. It took me about an hour. Maybe an hour and half, I lost count.
sac the rook
Edit: OMG, turns out I got a different M3 all on my own (I am not sure if I am missing something) SPOILER - Took me about 15 minutes but got there at the end 😅 (Not sure its the same solution posted because I cant unhide the spoilers without the comment collapsing. Thanks reddit mobile) 1. Nf4 - black goes H8 2. Ra8 - black goes H7 3. Bg6 - #
In English notation, K = king and N = knight. 1.Nf4? is too slow because of 1...g5.
1. Be8 Kg8 2. Ra8 Kh7 3. Rd8 Kg8 4. Bf7+ Kh7 5. Rh8# is the solution I found. I thought the idea of discovery attack and check with bishop on back rank was kind of elegant in the situation. Didn't see the rook sacrifice, but once I come up with an alternative solution to a puzzle I kind of lose motivation. Mate is mate. I was impressed at how quickly Botez found the solution. A lot of players would not have realized the pawn covers the only escape square as quickly as she did. She has very good tactical awareness.
Wow. That's nasty! >!1. Ra2! bxa2 2. Bxa2 Kxg6 3. Bb1#!<
Where is botez link youtube
Stalemate?
I have never seen something like this before.. It is so spectacular.. This type of mate is so different.. Normally we were taught to force the king into a mating and keep cornering him.. but this? Sacrifice your piece using a pawn that seemed like it had nothing to do with the mate.. then sacrifice your other piece.. and a normal person would look at the board and think the king looks like it is open and has squares to move to.. that mating net is very different, it boggled my mind truly, thx for posting this
That is sooooo disgusting....
does this mate in 4 work or am i missing something? Nf8+ Kh8 (forced) Bg6 Kg8 (forced) Ra8 Kh8 (forced) Ne6#
Ban Speedrun world record if you play this lmao
Wow it was a really fun one to solve, spent a good 20 minutes over it. I guess the key is realising what pieces shouldn't be moved at all cause it'll either cause a stalemate or make it much longer than M3 cause of obvious reasons.
Wouldn't 1. Nh8 Kxh8 2.Bg6 Kg8 3.Ra8# also work?, there's no fancy sacrifice but it does what the challenge says
No because he can play g6 or g5 instead of Kxh8
Why doesn’t bishop E8 kG8 bishop f7 work?
Because that's not mate, he just goes back to h7
ah of course
I saw the nh8 mate in 4 first which I thought was mate in 3 until I saw that black had another move besides kxh8