Very straightforward, very easy.

Even I solved this with my first try. That makes it really easy.

I can only speak for myself, but I saw immediately that QxR didn´t work because of the answer KxQ and the escape route via e8 is open for black´s King.

It wasn't that easy. I tried Qg6x+ first. 3 stars. And, fastfred95, bunnyrabbitz is a she.

This must be reasonably straightforward because I could see the whole sequence in my mind & I can never normally do that for 6 moves!
Still worth 2 stars for difficulty, I thought.

I would have guessed this would be about 70% - 75% solve rate. Every move (except the 4th, and that's just a delay) leaves only one legal move for black. I guess the 6 moves made it tough to see it the whole way through. A quick analysis of the two candidate Q sacs (g7 and f8) provides the solution. (and if you're really looking for Q sacs (i.e. exchange at a loss), I guess f8 isn't even one, because you pick up two rooks)

And, although a little harsh, I tend to agree with fastfred.

Much of a puzzle's difficulty comes from the way in which it is solved. If you just open up the puzzle and make the first move more or less because it's a queen sacrifice, you have no trouble. White has to keep checking after that, and there aren't many good checks available.

If you feel honor bound to treat the position as a live game and analyze the continuation mentally before making a move then it's harder, even with the forced nature of the position. Six moves is six moves.

Did anyone notice black is also threatening mate? 1. ... Qxg2+ 2. Rxg2 Rxf1#. To me it looks like one of those Blokh problems where both sides have to act quickly, making the best of what is available

I think puzzles should hide how many moves the mate is in until you try it once.

Oui = mohammadather

Several themes exemplified here, all making this a good study.
And it ends with checkmate by a PAWN!

18 Comments above all posted on one day, in 13 hours, 11 years ago.