Chess puzzles rated 1800 to 2100
The band that punishes the habit that got you here: looking at forcing moves first and stopping when none of them work.
- 120 positions in the course
- Difficulty 1800–2097
- Section: The Ladder
- 5 levels
What changes at this level
Up to about 1800, the answer to a puzzle is a check, a capture or a direct threat, and searching those three is an efficient strategy. From here it stops being one. The winning move is frequently quiet: taking the last useful square away from a piece, improving the worst-placed piece on the board, or making a sacrifice whose point does not arrive for another three moves.
The numbers in this set show it directly. Seventy of the 120 positions need three of your moves rather than two, seventy-six are classified as reaching a winning advantage rather than mate, and twelve are explicitly tagged as quiet moves. Only eight end in checkmate at all, which is a very different diet from the mate-heavy sets lower down the ladder.
How to spot it
- When no forcing move works, hold the position still and find the piece doing two jobs. Then ask what happens if it has to stop doing one.
- Look at your worst-placed piece. At this level the answer is often to improve it rather than to threaten anything.
- Check squares the opponent cannot cover twice. A square defended once is the entry point for everything.
- Calculate sacrifices to the end and then judge the resulting position, rather than judging the material on the way there.
Three positions from the 1800 to 2100 band
Three positions from the 120 in this skill, easiest first. The highlighted squares are the move your opponent has just played. Work it out before you open the answer.
Position 1
Black to move. Find the best move.
Show the answer
47.Qd3 47...Bc1#
The line ends in checkmate. In this band the winning move is often quiet rather than forcing, which is what makes 1800 to 2100 positions resist a check-and-capture search.
The position comes from an endgame of a real game, rated 1831 for difficulty. The answer reaches checkmate.
Position 2
Black to move. Find the best move.
Show the answer
24.Bc5 24...Qc4 25.Qxa8 25...Rxa8
The line wins a piece. In this band the winning move is often quiet rather than forcing, which is what makes 1800 to 2100 positions resist a check-and-capture search.
The position comes from the middlegame of a real game, rated 1914 for difficulty. The answer reaches a winning advantage.
Position 3
White to move. Find the best move.
Show the answer
27...f6 28.Nxf6+ gxf6 29.Qxf6
The line comes out level on material and ahead on position. In this band the winning move is often quiet rather than forcing, which is what makes 1800 to 2100 positions resist a check-and-capture search.
The position comes from the middlegame of a real game, rated 2035 for difficulty. The answer reaches a winning advantage.
What actually moves a rating from 1800 to 2100
Candidate move generation, more than calculation depth. Most players at 1800 can calculate a five-move line accurately; what they cannot yet do is reliably include the right move in the list of moves they calculate. Deliberately adding one non-forcing candidate to every serious think is the single most useful change available at this level.
The other half is knowing when to stop. Not every position has a tactic, and the skill of recognising a position that needs a plan rather than a combination is what separates a strong club player from an expert. These positions all have a solution, which is a distortion worth being aware of when you take the habit back into a game.
Questions people ask
What is an expert chess rating?
In the United States Chess Federation system, Expert is the title for players rated 2000 to 2199, immediately below National Master. Online ratings are on different scales and are not directly comparable.
Why are harder chess puzzles not just longer?
Because difficulty in a real position comes from the answer being unnatural rather than deep. A quiet move three plies long can be far harder than a forced mate in five, since nothing about it announces itself as a candidate.
How do I improve at calculation?
Practise on positions where the first three candidates fail, which is exactly what this band is. Force yourself to write down or say the candidate list before calculating any of it, so that the search is deliberate rather than driven by whatever catches the eye.
Nearby patterns
Expert Level sits in The Ladder. The rest of that section: