Matt Mackenzie wrote: ↑Tue Apr 29, 2025 6:23 pm
The solution to puzzle 2 is very nice.
What I find interesting about puzzle 2 is that clearly if you have seen that sort of thing before, you will eventually get this one, but Richie and Lula clearly either had not, or the pressure of the competition meant their minds went blank. It did lead to some expressed emotion on their parts when getting it wrong (I believe this is known as "TV gold"?). I wonder if any of us would do any better under that sort of pressure? It would be nice to know how long Thalia and Kel took to get this one.
There is the logical process of elimination available. If you realise that a non-checking first move will fail (because Black has multiple ways to give a check next move - this logic helps with solving some types of chess problems, so those familiar with solving chess problems and studies - by which I mean the composed non-checking problems/endgame studies genres - will have an advantage here), then you only have to examine the five checks that are available. Four of these fail, as Black is able to reply with a capture, leaving clearly not enough mating material (understanding this may be the tricky bit). The fifth check is also met by a capture by Black, and understanding that the resulting position allows a mate in one does require the ability to visualise the board three half-moves ahead, and to account in your head for all the Black king's flight squares.
Either Richie and Lula are not capable of this visualisation (which seems unlikely), or the part of their brain dealing with this breaks down under stress, which seems the more likely explanation. I would guess that 98% of the watching audience would either never get this one, or need a few minutes to work it out.
That both Richie and Lula got the tie-breaker correct, but took 15 and 30 seconds respectively, maybe also says something else about the thought processes going on and the degree of visualisation. I am guessing that a large proportion of experienced league players would get this one instantly, but might not see this combination from a few moves earlier if trying to calculate a few moves ahead (e.g. the White pawn may not yet have reached d6). This is the most game-like position - can anyone search databases and see if this is from an actual game?
Turning to Puzzle 3, Kel played 1.Nxb5+ and was told "Puzzle Incomplete". Like Puzzle 2, this one requires you stop and think a bit, as the Black queen-rook battery on the h-file means forcing checks are needed for all three moves, so you 'just' need to examine the 6 discovered checks by the knight. But thinking fast like this under pressure is something that is not that easy unless you have a store of chess patterns and themes to help. This one can be done logically as well, but most chess players above a certain level will after looking at the different checks for a while, just 'see' the solution. If you cannot 'see' it, then the eliminaton-of-moves logic goes that the second check will have to be with the knight as well (after you eliminate the bishop sacrifice on b7 as unsound - again, this might be the tricky part of the thought process). Of all the knight moves, only one allows two possible checks on move two - all the others only leave a return to c7 with check and a perpetual. The solution becomes obvious at that point, and you realise that the bishop on g2 was a red herring.
Would those looking at these puzzles agree that they did a good job (like the memorisation tests) of winnowing out the stronger players? Would have loved to see how well the other 8 contestants would have done on these puzzles. Would Puzzle 4 have been relatively easy for most people reading this thread? Is Puzzle 5 really difficult? I will say that I would likely have found move 2 on Puzzle 5, but then failed to complete it by falling for the sneaky stalemate trap. Apologies if that is a spoiler for anyone still trying to solve it!
