Example of bad puzzle

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Avatar of Ziryab

Folks often complain that puzzles seem computer generated or that they call for moves that require you to think like a computer. I don’t know about all that, but they are certainly not vetted by a human.

I failed this puzzle several moves in although I clearly found the key idea (avoiding stalemate) and made only moves that advanced toward certain checkmate. My error was choosing an escape route from endless checks that was eight moves longer than the optimal mate in eleven.

I played Ke5 here. My idea was to walk my king to c3 where Black’s king can then use a3.

Is it really so important to calculate eight moves deep in such a position?

Maybe consider partial credit (as existed before the reset that knocked my rating down 1000).

Avatar of fightingbob

I agree with you, Ziryab.. These tactical problems or exercises -- I don't like the term "puzzle," which I reserve for jigsaws -- are second rate compared to what you find in books. The solutions sometimes throw in a spite check, giving up the queen. It's pure computer hackery.

You probably know of these books, but I'll list them here anyway: August Livshitz's Test Your Chess IQ: First Challenge, Master Challenge and Grandmaster Challenge, now available in a single book. I also found John Nunn's 1001 Deadly Checkmates as well as the quite difficult John Nunn's Chess Puzzle Book worthwhile. Though John Nunn is a thorough analyst, two things I hold against him are making the term "puzzle" popular and denigrating Irving Chernev.

My favorite book categorizing tactics is Yakov Neishtadt's Improve Your Chess Tactics: 700 Practical Lessons & Exercises formerly Test Your Tactical Ability. Of course, there are many more from Reinfeld to material hot off the presses. I use Forward Chess, and there are plenty of exercise eBooks available.

Avatar of Martin_Stahl

Do you have a link to the puzzle?

Avatar of Fet

That is a really bad puzzle, humans are not engines, every move is winning in that position

Avatar of Fet

*except for taking the rook of course

Avatar of Martin_Stahl
Fet wrote:

That is a really bad puzzle, humans are not engines, every move is winning in that position

The puzzle checking algorithm probably didn't get deep enough to show that other line was still winning. These types of puzzles should be reported so they can either be removed or modified to stop earlier.

Avatar of Ziryab
Martin_Stahl wrote:

Do you have a link to the puzzle?

Not anymore. When I do puzzles, I often do a lot. I’ve had days in the past week with more than 100. Chessdotcom only stores the past 25, at least in a format where I can access.

Avatar of Fet
#7 only on the app, you can search it on the website