3

Today I remembered this position that I saw a few months ago in a tweet by Sergey Karjakin:

[fen "2k5/8/8/BQ6/4K3/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

It seemed very easy to me because there are just 4 pieces left but it was much more difficult than I expected. Sergey was asked to solve it in less than five minutes as part of a bet (which he won). White to play and mate in 3. Can you also solve it in less than 5 minutes? :)

3
  • 3
    I failed to solve it in 5 minutes.
    – Tony Ennis
    Dec 6, 2015 at 23:34
  • @TonyEnnis Don't give up! It happened the same to me the first time that I saw this puzzle
    – S -
    Dec 6, 2015 at 23:41
  • I already cheated. I was on the right track, however.
    – Tony Ennis
    Dec 6, 2015 at 23:41

2 Answers 2

6

Got it barely under the mark. Not sure if it helped or hurt that I knew the mate-in-2 with a similar position (move the Ke4 to f5).

1 Qb2!! Kd7 2 Qe5! Kc8/Kc6 3 Qc7/Qd5#!

Spoiler for mate in 2 (Kf5 Qb5 Ba5 / Kc8):

1 Qb3! Kd7 2 Qe6#!

2
  • On your mate in 2, 2... Kxe6
    – Tony Ennis
    Dec 10, 2015 at 23:04
  • 1
    2... Kxe6 3 KxK. Note wK on f5. Dec 10, 2015 at 23:25
0

Favourite task of V. Lenin )) 1. Qb2 2.Qe5

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