Puzzle Analysis

I’ve recently crossed the 1600 puzzle barrier (made it to 1675 and am now backsliding) and the puzzles seem to be trending towards material trades. This is great, but I’m having lots of trouble analyzing why one trade is better than another. Specifically, take puzzle #994212. I’d link it, but I can’t seem to figure out how from the iOS app.

Why is one knight capture preferable to another? Why not capture with the bishop first? What strategy should I be using to see why a move in this is better than others? I can see the capture that is the correct solution but I’d never figure out that it was any better than the others no matter how long I stared at it.

Yeah, maybe it’s a bad day but I am absolutely not understanding how to choose the best move from the puzzles today. Is there a way to find out which type of puzzle lesson it is so I can practice them in the unrated puzzles? I’ve lost 100 points today.

If you were to take the bishop first, the knight can just take your bishop, resulting in you losing a bishop for their bishop. If you take the knight first, it comes with check. They don't take with the pawn because it opens their king up. As for finding the puzzle theme, I know people on PC can see it, I'm not sure if mobile users can. You can try simplification, desperado, clearance sacrifices and exchange sacrifices. Hope this helps

Thank you, I appreciate the help!

There is a little magnifying glass icon at the left bottom corner that leads you to computer analysis, Next time you have problem with a puzzle, you should try that.

I do that even when I get it right just to explore how the other moves I considered but ruled out would have played out. I may learn more from doing that than seeing the solution.

Ok, here’s one: 1031526.

I have absolutely no idea why the best move is to sacrifice my bishop just to make the king capture it. None of these sacrifice puzzles make sense to me. I just have to guess.

The point of sacrificing the bishop is to get 2 pieces via the fork with the Rook.  If they take your bishop, you win theirs and you have a Rook and knight vs a Rook.  If they try to protect their bishop with their Rook, you attack their Rook with your bishop and you just win the bishop.  Either way it ends, you have more minor pieces than them.  I suggest adding up the value of the pieces you would take with your plan and compare it to the ones you would lose.

Also look at how much you would end up with compared to them.  You have 11 pawns worth of pieces by the end of the puzzle and they have 8

I hate to repeat myself, but why don't you just use the computer analysis to check the variations? What is the point of asking others to do that for you? This makes absolutely no sense.

Just one more thing: there is no sacrifice in this puzzle. First you trade minor pieces (a bishop for a knight) then you win a bishop with a fork. At no point do you sacrifice anything.

He's asking because he's not understanding why it's done that way. Looking at the engine and trying to make sense of the moves isn't always intuitive for beginners and sometimes they need an explanation from someone else to grasp why those moves are best. There's no shame in asking questions.