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Observe, Observe, Observe (1)

12/7/2015

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Picture
White to move, mate in 2

Mate in 2? Are we discussing two move checkmate? Are you kidding? No, I am serious. Two move checkmate problems, such as this one, offers us a lot of insights we can learn.

First, as usual, you just look at it. Is it a normal game? No, no one will play like that, not even beginners. This is a man-made problem, designed by someone. The author had put in a lot of effort to make sure that the problem is difficult to solve.

Second, don't try to solve the problem right away. If you are lucky, you find the solution in your first guess, but you learn a little, very little. If you are not lucky, your mind will be misled to focus on that idea, Sometimes even when it's bad, you can't see the holes. As an amateur, our mind is prone to have some blind spots, especially when we think we hit the nail right on the spot. In reality, we often miss a tiny bit and hit our hand. If you want to avoid such blind spots, you have to be patient, slow down, open your mind, and think more thoroughly.

Third, I am 99.9999% sure that the first move is not a check for such a problem. Check-defend-check is easy. 

What should you do, observe!
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    Coach Andy

    Princeton Chess Academy

    How do amateurs think?
    ​How should we think?
    ​
    The video explanation has been paused because of my busy schedule.

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