This Puzzle Will Reveal Your Chess Skill

Before I start, I assure you that the clickbaity title is not clickbait at all, since I do believe that my puzzle will separate the mediocre chess players (like me!) from the skilled ones. I know you have questions, so I'll answer them.

Ok, so what's this all-important puzzle of yours?

The puzzle is meant to emulate a real-game scenario. Here it is:

STOP! Please double check your move to make sure you don't blunder anything!

I solved it, so what the hell does it mean?

Good job! This puzzle was a test of your calculation, visualization and psychological prowess. Actually, I deliberately misled you with the captions, and your results will say a lot about your prowess as a chess player. I have split you into four different groups, depending on your answer to the problem and the reasoning behind your answer. 

What are the groups?

The first group is Very Bad.

The move you chose was anything except Qxd4. You didn't see the hanging knight at all and probably thought of a move like 1. f4, gaining kingside space or 1. Qe2, connecting the rooks.

The second group is Bad.

The move you chose was 1. Qxd4. You saw the hanging knight and went for it immediately! 

The third group is Good.

The move you chose was anything except 1. Qxd4 (perhaps 1. Be3 or 1. Kh1). You saw the hanging knight but foresaw that Black would play Bc5 on the next move, pinning your queen to your king.

The fourth group is Very Good.

The move you chose was  1. Qxd4. You saw the hanging knight and the pin, but you saw one more move in the future to find 2. Bb5+!!, leaving you in a winning position. This is why I not-so-subtly hinted that the knight was (obviously, for a high-rated player) unsafe to take, to see who challenges my statement, separating the good from the great. 

You said I'm Bad at chess! I'm so offended!

Chill out. First of all, if you got 'Bad' as your answer and you don't think you're bad at chess, you're either really, really overrated or you think that whatever your rating is doesn't qualify as bad. I do think that you only really get good when you're 2000+ online or 1700+ OTB, so there. I doubt a 2000+ didn't see a basic pin.

Also, don't be discouraged by someone telling you you're bad! Every good and very good player was once bad too! Just because you're bad now, doesn't mean you'll always be bad! 

So how do I not be bad?

I've written some advice to everyone who took the puzzle, regardless of their group.

Very Bad:

You need to work on your basic tactics, and learn to spot hanging pieces. This takes practice but playing games and doing puzzles will very much help.

What I just said was a basic generalization that's been echoed by way too many people who are trying to give good advice but don't know what good advice to give (like me). There are many resources online that can help you, just not me, since I don't really know what advice to give to beginners. 

Bad:

You need to think about what your opponent is going to do. If you got 'Bad', don't just halfheartedly agree. I want you to play a full game and make every move thinking about what your opponent is going to do. No, I'm serious. You can finish reading this, and I really want you to do it. Because if you don't, I will have written all this for nothing. (I am doing this for the chess community, not for me, after all.) 

Good:

You guys are the real reason why I wrote this blog in the first place. My inspiration for this was to help people advance from 'Good' to 'Very Good'. Of course, I can't desert the Very Bads and Bads, but you guys are the true MVPs. 

I've split the Good group into three Subgroups since there are three possible explanations for your result.

Good - Subgroup 1:

You saw 1. Qxd4 Bc5 and tried your hardest to find a move that thwarted Black's pin, but couldn't find it. You need to improve your calculation and visualization. These are two key skills to improve your tactics. I recommend Listudy's Blind Tactics feature to improve on this. 

Good - Subgroup 2:

You saw 1. Qxd4 Bc5 and stopped calculating. You do have the calculation and visualization skills to see 2. Bb5+ (if you don't, see Subgroup 3), but you fall victim to a type of chess laziness: you give up on variations before you calculate them to the end. Don't give up on the moves you want to play! You have the skills needed, but a psychological block prevents you from serious chess improvement.

Good - Subgroup 2.5:

Alternatively, you read my warning but just half-assed the puzzle anyway. You have all the skills needed and you might belong in the 'Very Good' category, but if you ask me, you definitely belong in the 'Very Obnoxious' category (I explicitly warned you!).

Good - Subgroup 3:

You neither have the calculation/visualization skills to see the moves after Bc5 nor the patience to try and find one. You need to review the advice I have offered to both of the above Subgroups.

Very Good:

Well, you have completely solved the puzzle, so I can't offer you any advice at all, except maybe to share some of your godly chessboard domination powers with peasants like me.

Interesting, so was the puzzle from a game?

Yes and no. I originally saw a game where a very similar pattern was being executed, but sadly that game has been lost. The puzzle you see is my recreation of it to the best of my recollection, but it is irritatingly fake and I kick myself for not properly saving the original. 

It is interesting that a Bad player will play the right move in the above position for the wrong reason (and probably will be rewarded with a !! from chess.com), and that a Good player's efforts will be wasted as they got the puzzle completely wrong!

On that note, I'm sure there will be a cocky high-rated player who sees 1... Bc5, thinks that's all there is to the puzzle and skims the rest of the article, only to find out (to his shock and horror!) that the puzzle is not as flat and one-dimensional as it appears!

Ok, cool. I'm leaving now.

Wait! Don't go! Nooooooo!

A fragment of my soul is trapped in this blog post, which happens when you take way too long to write it! My very life force has been ruptured, and the only way to save my life is to read all my other blog posts below! You must do it, my own life is at stake here! HEEEEEEEELP!