Chess Talent Test Puzzle

💡 Understand Chess Like a PRO

Get The Crystal-Clear Guide To Reach 2000+ ELO Rating Faster

Take Your Chess Skills To The Next Level With High-Quality Courses

Do you have the chess talent? Do you have what it takes to become a strong chess player? And if so, what is that level of your chess talent compared to other chess players? How can you determine how much "chess talent" you have?

In this video lesson, GM Igor Smirnov helps you figure that out with an interesting chess puzzle that was used by Soviet Union chess coaches. These types of puzzles are known as the "Soviet Test of Chess Talent".

Your task is to maneuver the white knight from b1 to c1 without getting into the line of attack of the black queen standing on d4. Feel free to pause the video and try to visualize the knight maneuver. Also, set a timer to see how much time you take to solve this so that you can determine the level of your chess talent.

▬▬▬▬▬▬
► Chapters

00:00 Do you have the chess talent?
00:11 Puzzle to test your chess talent
01:10 Is this talent test legit?
02:03 Ability to visualize & calculate
02:38 1st solution: The Knight Maneuver
04:38 2nd solution: The Knight Maneuver
05:42 Your talent determined based on time taken
06:20 Improve your chess skills & talent

#IgorNation #ChessPuzzle #ChessTraining #ChessPuzzles

[sharpvidtube]

I did it in under 2 minutes, but in 11 moves, going all around the Queen.

[ABWEndon]

The instructor said that the knight cannot land on a square "attacked" by the queen. Also, he didn't say that the queen could not be attacked. The square (d4) is not technically being "attacked" by the queen, because she is on it. Therefore, laterally thinking, the knight could move to d3 as part of its route to c1, attacking the queen on its way. So, I went Na3, Nb5, Nxd4, Ne2, Nc1. Does that count?

[GMIgorSmirnov]

► Chapters

00:00 Do you have the chess talent?
00:11 Puzzle to test your chess talent
01:10 Is this talent test legit?
02:03 Ability to visualize & calculate
02:38 1st solution: The Knight Maneuver
04:38 2nd solution: The Knight Maneuver
05:42 Your talent determined based on time taken
06:20 Improve your chess skills & talent

[cmck]

Got it in 5 moves. I just took the queen then went to c1. Not sure if that's cheating or not. The rules were that the knight can't go to any square controlled by the queen, but the queen doesn't control the square that she's on.

[westonkramer]

28 seconds, but I missed the part where it had to be in 9 moves, so I took a longer path around the queen!

[octojofoJR]

I did it very quickly, about 20 seconds but I went completely around the queen in a circle, COUNTER-clockwise (in other words starting at the end square) with a little bit of a zig zag in the third quadrant to land on the proper square... 11 moves totally though. I then re-traced it twice forward to double check my work but those times were only about 5-7 seconds each. All of this while just looking at the board, no touching with the mouse.... I felt pretty proud of myself - and surprised, honestly. My visualization has improved greatly in the last year or so... I hadn't realized by how much. 😃

[jimkyle]

I found the first nine-move solution about two minutes. After that, I found an 11-move solution by starting with a3 and b5 and circling clockwise round the Queen, but didn't look for a quicker solution after these opening moves.

[kargskrun]

Go "round the clock" was first instinct once quickie way was not doable.

[Huwskie]

I figured it out! Na3, Nc2, Ne1, Nf3, Nh2, Nf1, Ng3, Ne2, Nc1. I’m so happy I was able to figure it out. Took me a good 6-7 minutes of analyzing the board(kinda bad) but I did do it!

[philipallen]

Darn it! i did it in 5 moves in about 10 seconds and assumed I must be a genius. This is because I attacked and then captured the queen as you said the Knight couldn't go on a square attacked by the queen, but nothing about the square she was on. Now I know the solution so can't try it properly 😭 love you videos though, thanks for the tips !

[bryanvanduck]

I got the knight there in five moves. A3, B5, D4, note that the knight can't be captured by the queen because the queen has been captured. From there, just E2 and C1, and you arrive on the fifth move.

[elektronkim]

After a lot of games it might be a thing you want to learn better. Finding a path for the knight for 1 square is certainly something. We can also detect a checkmate plan earlier.

[Chaosmite]

You didn’t specified we can’t take the queen or the queen couldn’t move. So I first said it’s impossible if the queen moves because after a3, queen moves to d3 and no matter where white moves, queen takes. Then I thought if the queen can’t move, then in 5 moves since you’ll take queen in move 3, then next two moves will get you to c3.

[nwstraith]

Hmm, I figured it out in about 30 seconds. Started by considering if this was a kind of funky puzzle where the knight has to do some crazy acrobatics around the board to get there. Quickly realized I just needed to look at how to get to the final square and connect the forced first move with one of the entry paths to the final square. Easy after that.

[Gesund-xifx]

Sie apparently I am a Chess Genius and a Future GM, solved it under 30 secs in 9 Moves. Now I just have to dedicate 16 hours of my Time Daily to study openings and tactics and go regularly to chess tournaments for the next 10 years to become a GM! Yay!

[larsdahl]

I may admit I used a little over a minute (finding the first of the later shown solutions), something that did cost more time for me was that I was slow to understand the question, and I got stumped a bit due to I did not feel anything prevented me from using the square the queen was on, only the assumption "that would be too easy" made me look for another solution.

[patrickfinney]

This was great! Is their a book with more of these type of puzzles?

[voidusername]

I had found an 11 move answer in between 15-30 seconds, didn’t even notice the other 9 move versions.

[NotPublicAegis]

38 seconds, with a3, b5, NxQd4, b3, c1 but I wasn't sure if that was allowed and I wasn't able to get a solution before you showed it

[namedperson]

Damn. I found a solution in 13 moves in about 2-3 minutes. The idea was to maneuver the knight to where I had most space to maneuver which was north east of the queen.