Can you solve every puzzle with enough patience or not`?

@CheerUpChess-Youtube

1. The answer to your question is "No", if "every puzzle" is included.
2. The answer to your question is "Yes", if certain types of puzzles are excluded from the list e.g.

- all endgame puzzles
- all puzzles which contain these stupidly hard to find "defensive moves"
- all puzzles longer than a certain amount of plies, e.g. 7 moves (13 plies)
- all puzzles which end with a position where the winning player has only even or less material than the losing side

Why don`t you write a blog about this topic ? Maybe : "How to solve tactical puzzles systematically ?"

wesx

@Bishop1964 said in #11:
> @CheerUpChess-Youtube
>
> 1. The answer to your question is "No", if "every puzzle" is included.
> 2. The answer to your question is "Yes", if certain types of puzzles are excluded from the list e.g.

I am not so sure about that. I'll react to the ones you posted:

> - all endgame puzzles

I don't see a reason why endgame puzzle should be not solvable. They are with no doubt deeper and harder, but far from being unsolvable. Actually it is very important for games to being able to solve endgame puzzles.

> - all puzzles which contain these stupidly hard to find "defensive moves"

I may agree on that. Defense in puzzles can be very hard, but I don't see the evidence as to why it would be unsolvable.

> - all puzzles longer than a certain amount of plies, e.g. 7 moves (13 plies)

When I said puzzle I also meant of course puzzles that are within 10 moves or so. I have solved Mate in #13 puzzles, so I know that it is possible to calculate deep, it's like playing blindfold chess, so it's possible.

> - all puzzles which end with a position where the winning player has only even or less material than the losing side

Yes, that might be a problem, but when you have less material at the end you also usually can see where the compensation for it lies and so you can understand it.

> Why don`t you write a blog about this topic ? Maybe : "How to solve tactical puzzles systematically ?"

That is a great idea! Thank you a lot for this idea, maybe I will do it :) It would also show me if my intuition is right, that you can in fact solve every puzzle. For that I will ask the community to post the hardest puzzle they know or something. I think it also depends a lot on if the puzzle is a human achievement or it's an engine evaluation puzzle.

I mean, come on, you really think you would play like a world champion if only you had enough time? There is not enough time in the universe to make you such a good player, and I really think the answer should be obvious.

@movingtargent this here is about tactics, not about correspondance games. That's something entirely different. What an unnessary strawman post.

The answer is the same, of course: You can't. It is really easy. What a pretentious nonsense ...

@movingtargent you cannot justify/reason it. You are just insulting and condescending right now, without providing any evidence whatsoever. Of course time is relevant, otherwise there wouldn't be time odds. Nothing is pretentious about this AT ALL. If you don't want to contribute, leave without leaving such insulting messages for no reason. There are a lot of beginners with an extremely high puzzle rating, as high as GMs have it.

@CheerUpChess-Youtube

"Can you solve every puzzle with enough patience?"

Not sure about "every" puzzle, but when I practice I always assume I can solve them.

Sometimes it takes 10 seconds, sometimes it takes 10 minutes. In some cases I have to take a break and I come back afterwards. But in general I am always able to solve them.

My current puzzle rating is 2650+, so I'm not a pro but not bad either. The problem is that the more I climb the harder they become, so recently I could only do 2-4/day, so the climbing rate has dropped.

@CheerUpChess-Youtube said in #17:
> There are a lot of beginners with an extremely high puzzle rating, as high as GMs have it.

I don't think so, lol ... Are you serious or delirious? Of course everybody can have as high a puzzle rating as he wants, by using external evidence.
How on earth should there be a single beginner that has the puzzlesolving skills of a GM? You must be kidding ...

@castalethe said in #18:
> @CheerUpChess-Youtube
>
> "Can you solve every puzzle with enough patience?"
>
> Not sure about "every" puzzle, but when I practice I always assume I can solve them.
>
> Sometimes it takes 10 seconds, sometimes it takes 10 minutes. In some cases I have to take a break and I come back afterwards. But in general I am always able to solve them.
>
> My current puzzle rating is 2650+, so I'm not a pro but not bad either. The problem is that the more I climb the harder they become, so recently I could only do 2-4/day, so the climbing rate has dropped.

I can relate to this. It took me around 15 seconds to solve the puzzle @CheerUpChess-Youtube mentioned in this post originally. But I suppose I got lucky, it usually takes more, and reading the phrase "I suppose it had something to do with back rank mate" helped.

My current puzzle rating is 2700+. I have difficulties with end-game puzzles. And I agree that it takes time. I've noticed that whenever I lose patience and rush to a move, I usually make mistakes. And when making the correct move, I am usually confident. Even when I have calculated a sequence and the first move of it is correct, I've noticed that sometimes I miss variations and if I rush again then there is a good chance I'll get it wrong. So I give it some more time to calculate all over again.

There are some more strategies I've found out myself while solving puzzles. Most of them analyze my own failures. Perhaps I can write a blog on that someday.

To answer your original question, yes, time is a clear factor. I don't think you can solve all puzzles though with infinite time. It depends on time, your chess skills, tactical knowledge, positional knowledge (for higher-rated puzzles), and also luck. Sometimes the higher-rated puzzles are so bizarre that it feels like they should be unsolvable by humans. But time clearly helps, so if you aim to get a higher puzzle rating, you can't rush. At least that's how it is for me.