Black to move and checkmate in 3. Please no computer analysis. This is a very cool checkmate. Try to find it for yourself.
5r2/6k1/3p2p1/p2Bp1p1/P1P1P1K1/1P2bPR1/R5QP/4q3 b – – 0 1
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Qd1. Drove me nuts!
1 in chess most obvious moves fail.
just when i decided to quit chess
bg3 solution struck me.s.k.srivastava
This has to be the most difficult mate in 3 I’ve ever seen.
Problem has a trap, Rh8 is refuted by Qh3.
Rf4+ Kxg5 Rxe4+ f4 dead end
Rf4+ Kxg5 Rf5+ Kg4 Rg5+ Kh4, dead end
QxR just aids in white’s defense.
Kh6 Rh3+ Qh4 dead end
Many other moves are irrelevant and lead to white creating escape squares or otherwise putting up better defense.
The only move that works is this highly surprising, knocked me off my seat when I saw it.. bishop to queen’s knight three. Rf4+ follows in most lines, or checking on queen’s eight.
Using the ugly horrible terrible awful descriptive notation to provide a very thin layer of spoiler protection.
1…Rh8 doesnt work because of 2 Qh3! and there is no mate. (2. Rh3? is mate after 2… Rh4+ 3. Rh4x Qh4#)
So the next try is 1…Rf4+ but after 2. Kg5x there is no good discovered check. E.g. 2… Re4x+ 3. f4!
So the mate must be from the other side. The Queen is to far away, but after 2. … Bb6! I can’t see any defence against Bd8#
this one is hard… needs practice
Just used up my remaining 3 braincells on this! I was intrigued by the position of the
black Q and eventually came up with 1….Bb6 to clear e3 for Q and access d8 for B.
If 2.Kxg5 Rf4 and 3….Bd8#
If 2.h4 Rf4+ and either as before
or 3.Kh3 Rxh4#
BUT after 2.Kh3 there is no mate in 3.
SO changed move order
1….Rf4+
If 2.Kh3 Rh4#
If 2.Kxg5 Bb6! and 3….Bd8#
0-0-0
-0-0-
Pretty, but I didn’t think it all that hard because the eye quickly sees the mate in 2 if white goes to h3 on one of the two checks available black at move 1. In other words, if the quiet move had been the first move, this would have been a tougher puzzle (for me at least)
1. …..Rf4
Kind of obvious being one of two checks available to black, and if white plays to h3, Rh4 is mate. So….
2. Kg5
Now comes the “hard” part. I did spend a minute or two trying the various discovered and double checks. However, other than 2. …Re4, I can’t find better than a draw for black. Even Rf5 double check ends black’s chances at a quick mate since the king can safely go between g4/h4/h3 once the g5 pawn is gone. However, Bb6 isn’t far down the list of moves one should think of here:
2. …..Bb6! and Bd8# is unstoppable.
perhaps Bb6. White has to guard against Rf4 and there doesn’t seem to be any move good enough to stop that key move. Any white move after Bb6 and black plays Rf4.
1. … Rf4+
2. Kxg5 Bb6!
and white can’t stop 3. … Bd8#
Rf4 and it is all over.
whats wrong with r-f4 forcing k-h3, then r-h4 mate?
Who composed this or is it from a game?