White to Play and Mate
Published in Chess Puzzles
About a half-century or so ago, H. Grasemann composed this off-beat little problem. Although we will not tell you how many moves it will take, we will tell you that the mating piece is the knight! (For newcomers, Black is, indeed, moving down the board!)
Solution:
1.Qh3+ Ke2 2.Qf1+ Kxf1 3.Bh3+ Ke2 4.Bf1+ Kxf1 5.Nf5 and, no matter what Black plays, it's 6.Ng3 mate next move! If you think about it, we've talked about this in the past. You have to imagine the final position and then figure out how to get there. That’s why you were given the "mate with the knight" hint. Did you see the mating position with the knight and then work backwards? That's crucial to problem solving even outside of chess.
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