Chess Puzzle #57687

« TAP TO LOG IN

CHESS PUZZLE, FEN 8/8/8/5K2/5N2/2Qpk3/5n2/5R2 w - -

Added by:	9422m
Added on:	07-Mar-12
Description:
Difficulty:	chess puzzle 8/8/8/5K2/5N2/2Qpk3/5n2/5R2 w - -
Attempts:	436
Solved:	162 (37%)


White to move, mate in 2

Comments: (5) » Last

From

Comment

paviland
31-Jul-21, 07:06

» Report abuse

Elusive for a time..

It's very easy to get hung up on misleading mates in these puzzles. After convincing myself the rook was on f1 to pin the knight for Qxp# after ..Kf3, I almost became blind to other possibilities.
Not over fond of check/capture keymoves either but this problem has a certain ingenuity about it.

bert17
31-Jul-21, 14:34

» Report abuse

Paviland

Well put Paviland, the hard puzzles rarely start with a check so this was elusive to me too for a while.

jmchess01
09-Oct-25, 06:32

» Report abuse

Alternative Mate in 2 moves

King to f3
Queen x Knight

snailmate
09-Oct-25, 09:43

» Report abuse

The position being a zugzwang if Black had the move, my first instinct was to search for a "do-nothing" move by White to preserve the zugzwang. Alas, there is no such move. For example the white king cannot move without putting itself in check or allowing check.

Once I realised that, the solution was not too hard.

liweisthbere
09-Oct-25, 09:46

» Report abuse

Mutate mates

The problem has a single solution, with two variations.
1.Qc5+ and then:
1...Kd2 2.Qc1#
1...Kf3 2.Q×f2#

Before the key move, i.e. Black plays first, we have:
1...N moves 2.Q×d3#
1...Kf3 2.Q×d3#

So, in the end, we have two different checkmates.

Account required

Please log in to post comments.