Trouble visualizing

I just got to chapter 2 of the 5334 polgar book, which is 2 move mates and I am really struggling. Honestly, I kind of feel stupid because they seem like they should be so easy, but since the first move doesn't have to be check, I end up staring at the problems for so long and have a really hard time visualizing "well if this goes here, then the king only has this square... but If I go  here, then it's stalemate, or if i go here then..." I think the problem is because the first move doesn't always have to be check, I have trouble figuring out where to look and why I should be looking there.

Here's an example from the book:

White to move (2 move mate)

The white king controls all 3 squares that the black king can go to, to get off the back rank.  So you know there is no need to move the king.  So obviously it has to be a queen move.  If black had 2 moves in a row, he could get off the back rank right?  So...How do you stop black from getting off the back rank?

Think of it this way. For a mate in 2, you have to threaten checkmate (or at least nearly threaten it i.e. they'll be forced to move into a bad position with their next move).

So first maybe it will help to imagine a checkmate. Ignoring the rules, if you could put a piece anywhere, can you find mate? For example Qa1 is checkmate. Lets look for 1 more. Ok, Qb1 is also checkmate.

Now find a way to threaten to move to both of those squares. So you might calculate Qa2. This threatens both checkmates. The idea is if you threaten both, then the king can't escape both. But then you realize Ke1 or Kg1 will escape from both of your planned checkmates. Oops. But then you realize Ke1 Qe2 is mate and Kg1 is Qg2 mate. That's one possible sequence of logic + trial and error.

It also helps to look at all the king's "free" or "escape" squares.

Right now the black king has 2 escape squares. They are e1 and g1, but to checkmate you'll also need to attack the f1 square.

So first look for ways to attack 2 or 3 of these squares.. You'll notice a queen on f2 attacks all 3 squares. You'll also notice that if you can get your queen to the 1st rank it will attack all 3 of those squares.

A straight line of squares like this means you'll need a queen or rook. A diagonal means you need a queen knight or bishop (yes knights attack in short little diagonals ).

Both imagination exercises are useful 1) If you could ignore the rules and put a piece anywhere you want, how can you checkmate? 2) What are all the free squares around the enemy king and what shape do they make?

And then I guess I would add 3) pretend it's black to move and then preform #1 again (the putting a piece anywhere thing).

So for this puzzle we'd say black gets to move first and Kg1. There's only one way to checkmate now, and it's Qg2. Black can also move to Ke1 and we'd need Qe2 or Qc1 to mate.

Ok, so now what moves can I make that attacks both g2 and e2 or both g2 and c1? That's another way to think of it.

Anyway, these steps probably wont solve 100% of mate in 2 puzzles, but I'd guess nearly 100%, and at least they'll get you thinking about the right moves after which your calculation can probably take it from there.

What about when there's only 1 or no safe squares?

If there's no safe squares then any check will be checkmate. If they can make an escape square though, maybe by moving a pawn for example, then of course that's something to notice.

If there's 1 safe square, then it's the same sort of thing. It's either a diagonal move or orthogonal move. Rooks can't do diagonals. Knight and bishops can't do files and ranks.

Anyway, it's normal to calculate and calculate and calculate.

The more you do it, the better you'll get at it. Practice is the main thing.

Well I mean, the black king has no safe squares but isn't in check and it's white to move. No matter what piece I move will give the king an escape square. It's really frustrating how I am completely unable to see solutions.

 My problem is ALWAYS the first move.

For mates in two, these are pretty tough. They're really making you work for it.

I'd say calculate for, maybe a maximum of 5-10 minutes and then stop. After that set it up on a board and move the pieces around to try to solve it that way.

Be sure to look for new ideas. Try not to calculate the same things over and over.

So ok, step 1) I put the queen anywhere I want to see if it's mate... nope, no mate like that.

Like you said, anywhere you move the queen it opens up a square, 

Ok, so already I get the feeling this is a zugzwang puzzle. Whatever move you make, black will have options, but all of them will be bad and allow mate.

One way to look for initial moves is to notice redundancy in guarding squares near the king. The first square I noticed was c4 is controlled by both the king and the queen. So I wanted to see if Ka3 lead to mate. But after Ka3 b6 there was no mate

Ok, both the queen and knight cover c6, that's redundant, so let me try Nd5. Black has 2 legal moves after Nd5. b6 Qxb6 mate and Ka6 Qb6 mate.

But again, at least to me, this is a pretty tough puzzle for a new player. It's ok to fail puzzles. What you do after that is save it for a few days and try to solve it again later. I'd say about 3 days. If you fail it again, that's fine, the puzzle just stays in the "fail" pile and eventually you'll get it... even if you have to memorize the solution, that's fine, it's getting some patterns worked into your head one way or another.

I have puzzles with numerous fail makes by them until I got them right just once.

Sometimes they were simple too, like 2 or 3 moves... but it was a pattern that I was completely not used to looking for.

The temptation is run as far away from the puzzle as possible, because there's a lot of frustration associated with trying and failing... and I've done that too. Sometimes years later I flip through a tactic book and find a puzzle I stayed away from out of frustration only to find it had a very useful pattern, and I wish I had not given up on it.

You need to start with basic mates.  Youre putting t he cart before the horse...as they say.

Yeah, I mean, I started out with puzzles that were simple back rank mates, and those were hard enough.

Seriously, I was proud to just solve something like that.

Sure it's "only" a mate in 2, but there's a wide range of difficulty even for mate in 2 puzzles.

Well at least I feel better about not being able to solve these quickly. I'm just doing one puzzle after another in the 5334 polgar book. Didn't think these 2 move mates would be so difficult right after solving a bunch of pretty simple 1 move mates.

Should I put the book on hold and work on something easier? Cause this book has about 3,000 more 2 move mate puzzles then goes to 3 move mates. If so, does anyone have any recommendations?

I do believe you would be better off starting with something much simpler. 

1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners (Franco Masetti and Roberto Messa)

White to move, and mate in 1.

Now play it as black to move, and avoid mate in 1.
 

I've heard good things about "How to Beat Your Dad at Chess"

Which, as lots of reviews on amazon will tell you, is unfortunately named, because it's not just for kids, and what it's actually teaching is lots of basic checkmate patterns.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Beat-Your-Chess-Gambit/dp/1901983056

I mean, it's hard to recommend without knowing how new you are, but this is a great first book.

I'm also a little hesitant to recommend it because if you already have that huge book, I feel like it's almost a waste to get another one. I'm not sure how available puzzles of basic mates are online, but for example wikipedia at least shows the patterns of a lot of basic mates:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkmate_pattern

Oh, I typed that when Bacon's post hadn't shown up yet.

That might be a better choice, the one I mentioned really is for new players (so I've been told).

What helped you the most when you were at my level?

I had an easier start, because in the beginning I just loved to play and I didn't worry too much about improvement.

So for about 3 years I played very nearly every day (probably only missed about 10 days in 3 years) and I tried to learn a few basics like back rank mates and the opening principals. At some point I learned what forks and pins were (which was like magic secret knowledge to me lol).

So then when I was more interested in improvement I already had this base of experience to fall back on. I was already very familiar with how the pieces moved (like I wouldn't miss a bishop hiding on h1 attacking a rook on a8) and familiar with basic tactics.

So I guess like I said in your other topic asking about study routine... in the beginning just play. After learning the moves play a few 100 games pretty much before you do anything else. I think that's probably the most important thing.

After that I read a basic endgame book and a basic tactics book and started visiting a local chess club (before that all my playing was online). Of course... you don't have to wait 3 years! lol. But I'd say play, lets say 100 games. The time control almost doesn't even matter, whatever you enjoy, just do that. 100 games where you try your best not to lose even a single point of material. Chess in the beginning is all about greed. You have to be very unwilling to give up even a pawn.

And at an informal club I currently visit (meaning we don't have tournaments or play rated games, we just play casual games), this old coach guy, what he does with beginner level players is he doesn't let them play during the first 20-30 minutes. He pulls them aside, pulls out some GM game, and makes them read the notation and play out the moves on the board. He makes a few basic comments like about development or tactics. Then he lets them go play with the rest of us (he owns the building so he's not shy about being in charge with anyone who walks in heh, he's seriously told people that if they don't like it they can go play in the parking lot lol)