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I've been writing some chess puzzles lately and I thought I would post some of them up here. I'm quite fond of this one so I thought I would share. I traditionally am not a fan of problems that are a "Mate in X," especially when it's in five, but the position, I think, is aesthetically pleasing. The real problem isn't the mate, in my opinion, it's setting it up.

[Event "Forced Mate in 5"]
[Date "2020.11.05"]
[White "White"]
[Black "Black"]
[WhiteElo "2622"]
[BlackElo "2622"]
[Annotator "Bateman, David"]
[FEN "2r1qbnr/1b4p1/p2pNk1p/npp1pP2/4P1Q1/2PPB3/PP4PP/RN3RK1 b - - 0 1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.11.19"]

1... Bc6 

White to move and force mate in 5 moves.

I'm inspired by a number of games, but primarily Alekhine vs Janoski, 1924 New York.

Note: Only recently have I learned that problems and puzzles are accepted here and I believe it to be a better community for them.

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1 Answer 1

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Nice mate!

[Event "Forced Mate in 5"]
[Date "2020.11.05"]
[White "White"]
[Black "Black"]
[WhiteElo "2622"]
[BlackElo "2622"]
[Annotator "Bateman, David"]
[FEN "2r1qbnr/1b4p1/p2pNk1p/npp1pP2/4P1Q1/2PPB3/PP4PP/RN3RK1 b - - 0 1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.11.19"]

1... Bc6 2. Bg5+ hxg5 3. Qxg5+ Kf7 4. Nd8+! Qxd8 5. Qg6+ Ke7 6. Qe6#

The mate is identical if 4... Rxd8 is played instead. The key idea is to force a piece onto the d8 square in order to cover the two squares the queen on e6 cannot cover - f8 and d8.

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  • On a slightly unrelated note, if you're really into these type of puzzles, I created a lichess study with 64 of the most aesthetic ones I have personally found. lichess.org/study/YtBYXc3m Feel free to check it out and enjoy! Nov 19, 2020 at 4:33
  • Well Done :D i will check it out for sure :D
    – Dheebs
    Nov 19, 2020 at 5:06

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