White to move and mate in 4!
8/8/8/8/8/8/B4K2/4N2k w – – 0 1
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1. Bc4 Kh2
2. Bf1 Kh1
3. Bg2+ Kh2
4. Nf3#
What about? Mate in three? Does this work?
1. B-d5+ K-h2.
2. Kt-f3+ K-h3.
3. B-f6#.
That’s a very good mate but Black has 2… Kh1
An example of an interesting what I have always found to be an interesting quirk is how a most players have directional blindness because they play chess seeing the board from the white side or the black side of the board. White can, of course, mate the black king on either the 1st rank or the h-file. The reason that Alena’s method is the shortest is because she doesn’t waste the time a lot players, including myself, might have by playing 1.Kg3 thus orienting the mate on the 1st rank rather than the h-file. The point being that the king on f2 is exactly the same with respect to the corner as is the king on g3.
I see this bias all the time towards pushing the action (usually an enemy king) to the 1st or 8th rank when the a-file or the h-file is clearly more efficient. A hard habit to break, at least for me.
I would have settled for the mate in 5 in real life – 1. Be6 Kh2, 2. Nf3+ Kh1 3. Nd2 Kh2 4. Nf1+ Kh1 5. Bd5#. Simply because I saw it first. With the clock ticking, I would just take the first forced line I saw.
My fist solution was also mate in 5. It was absolutely the same as CraigB’s. Then I had to think how to shorten it.