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In this video lesson, GM Igor Smirnov shows you a very interesting ancient chess puzzle that even modern day chess engines, monstrous computers cannot solve. This puzzle (the first puzzle shown in the video) was composed by Gioachino Greco in 1623.
Even an intermediate level chess player would be able to solve this, but Stockfish is having a very hard time solving this puzzle. Stockfish 12 gives the evaluation of +3.13 in favour of White, Stockfish 14 evaluates the position as +2.8, however only Stockfish 15 could rightly evaluate the position as a draw.
Feel free to pause the video and try to solve this puzzle if you can – it’s Black to play and draw. Are you better than chess engines? 😎
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► Chapters
00:00 Chess Engines Couldn’t Solve This Puzzle
00:43 Stockfish Engine’s Incorrect Evaluation
01:48 Black’s powerful move for the draw!
03:19 Computer got confused
03:42 Can you solve this puzzle?
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Its a draw after exchanging rooks at Ra1. Blacks second move is Bh3..the double pawn at h file cannot promote to a queen because of wrong color of bishop
The second one: Maybe bring the king into a kind-of stalemate position so that Bc8 is forced
Solution to the second puzzle:
Use the queen to limit the kings movements till the king can’t move, white has to move the bishop, check the white king, white king moves, take the bishop with the king. Then repeat the process for the second bishop.
You can start with Qb4, depending where the king moves you can immobilize it in a5, h8, or d8.
I found the moves in 5 seconds
king A4 would have worked too. The tower could go to the 7th line to protect more…exchange bishops and capture one pond and block the other one
you do queen knight opposition until king is in corner and has to move bishop
Can't a queen alone always eventually corner a queen thereby forcing the bishop to move and allowing the king to take it? That said pawn advancement or king and king as a team is inevitable. So it is a win for black.
Йор инглиш ис вери гуд
why should the black tower move to the other end and not just one square left? if white moves king left too, black can still install it's sprinter on d3…
queen takes a6 i guess
The Waffle House Has Found Its New Host
Wôw
Whay about bishop to d3 then rook to a1 would that win back
King hast to bei where the qween was and than Check mat
Not sure if this is correct but this is what worked against world master level stockfish(black to start): 1.Qb2+ , Kf4 2.Qf6+ , Ke3 3.Qe6+ , Kd2 4.Qd6+ , Kc2 5.Qc5+ , Kd2 6.Qd4+, Kc1 7.Qd3 , Kb2 8.Qc4 , Ka3 9.Qb5 , Bc8 10.Kxc8 , Bb7+ 11.Kd8 , Ka2 12.Ke7 , Ka3 13.Kd6 , Ka2 14.Kc5 , Ka3 15.Qa5+ , Kb2 16.Kd4 , Kb1 17.Kc3 , Ba8 18.Qa3 , Bb7 19.Qb2#
If someone knows the correct line let me know!
Well I mean if white plays the actual best moves he wins lmaoo
I saw it immediately. Check and then rxf1 kxf1 and bh3 because the square h8 is black and the bishop is lightquared.
I added a video with the moves for the last puzzle
what if bishop goes d3 and then rook a1?
I solved it
queen has to sacrifise herself but if queen takes a6 it is a forced draw bishop takes queen if queen takes bishop it is also a draw so queen has to take c6 after bishop takes king can make his escape route and if bishop doesnt takes the queen and makes a king move we take the last pawn with the queen after bishop takes queen we take the other bishop with king and since bishop will have to leave the diaognal king can escape and it will be a 2 pawn vs a bishop
without looking is it queen to b5 check, king moves (if moves back sacrifice the queen by taking the bishop so he has to take with the pawn so you can push the pawn and create a queen.) wait you can just force the king to go back and create a second queen BOOM.
Puzzle 2: position your queen a knight's step away from the white king until cornered. This forces the bishop to c8. Take the bishop on c8 and this will force the second bishop to b7, checking black king. Move black king back to b8 which forces the bishop again to move either back to a8 or instead to c8. Do not take the bishop yet. First check the white king in such a way that it will not be a stalemate after your next move. Once they move the king, take the bishop and proceed to checkmate with your king and queen or however you see fit at that point.
on first puzzle why not bd3?
no wonder they couldn't find the solution to the 2nd one how are you gonna have 2 light squared bishops
Second puzzle, Q b2 check. Zugzwang via keeping a knight distance of black queen and white king, force the white king into h8 and black queen on g6 or f7. Then white bishop moves to c8, take it with the king. Other white bishop checks on b7, kd8, then just march to kf8, the bishop cannot stop your king. Then just mate the trapped king. The bishop cannot do anything.
The cat is better
I actually got the first puzzle bro 🤯
I remember yesterday I watched the thing where if you can solve this u r a GM, and I want to be one but I got discouraged because I didn’t solve it, this made me feel just a little better
i think the best move for black in the second puzzle is queen a6 as if the bishop takes the queen we take their bishop and they cant win anymore because pawn is almost unstoppable
DUDE I SWEAR I SONLVED IT FIRST TRY AND WAS LIKE NOW WAY AND THEN I CHECKED WHAT THE SOLUTiON WAS AND BROOOOOOOO!!!!
for the second puzzle, my guess would be saccing the queen on c6 then after Bx, your king can escape… beyond that idk
Puzzle 3 sacrifice the queen on a3
i found the second one! all you have to do is use the queen to force the king into a corner where it cant move, then it is zuxwong for black, and they must give up their bishop, once king takes then the other bishop has to move to the other square to check the king, white king moves towards the black king while the bishop just shuffles between 2 squares and then you can checkmate with king+queen
I'm using Stockfish 11 on a common computer. It found the solution in about 1/10th of a second, and evaluated the position at 0.13. I have yet to see someone say "And Stockfish can't figure it out" and be right.
An engine, when there are few pieces on the board will find straight away the advantage giving +10 or even +60 with mate in few. When it gives you +2 and only 7, 8 pieces left, it is usually draw, just counting the material as advantage.
I found the second one!
You have to spit yout opponent in the eye, stand up, slap him in the face and then grap his bishops and swallow them.
EASY WIN!
Puzzle #1
While the solution is easy, it reminds me of a famous Aronian endgame that is rather mindblowing.
whats the name of the cat?
The answer is to force the white king into a corner by placing your queen a knight's move away from the white king. The king will have no choice but to recede closer and closer to the corner until pinned in the corner unable to move. At that point, white must move it's Bishop and let the Black King capture it. There are a lot of ways to win at that point but capturing the second white Bishop while the king is trapped is a stalemate, so don't do that. The easiest win from there is to move your Black King up to c1 to checkmate with the queen. The lone Bishop can't stop you.
Just checked with Stockfish online that is not even using a tablebase, and both puzzles were solved in a split second…
It's queen b2 check and when the king moves the queen will chase the king like a knight (if the queen is a knight it will be a check) then when the king has no move he is forced to move one of his bishops and it is the b7 bishop to c8 then u will capture it with the king and then the a8 bishop has to move to b7 then u will move ur queen to a square that the king can't move. Then the bishop will sacrifice himself then u will fork the king and bishop with ur queen and capture the 2 pawns and win!
i found a steal mate
How did you get 2 light square bishops????? I am sure that is confusing for many computers.
This is a 8 men position that can be reduced in 2 moves in a 6 men position that is a draw. Any engine (not necessary top level) with 6 men TB access find the solution since several years. In fact since the SSD technology allow fast access to TB. Since it is not so difficult to have 6-men TB at home, I think that the video title is wrong. Only access to 7 men remains difficult now since these TB are very large.
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