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Puzzle 0310

This problem was composed by den Broeder and Nunn in 1995. Black to play and helpmate in 3.

The Solution The position of the rook and king strongly suggests that White's first two moves will be a knight move followed by 0-0-0. Since it is not possible to mate with the rook on d1, the third and final move will be with the rook. It follows that White arrives at the mating position by Nb2, 0-0-0 and Rd3, with Black's queen on b4. One Black move is consumed by ...Kc3, which leaves two moves for Black's queen to reach b4. At first it seems that there are several possible routes for the queen, for example via b2, f4, h4, d6 or b8, but it turns out that only one of these works. Black cannot play 1...Qb2 because White's knight needs to move to b2, 1...Qh4+ delivers check and so prevents castling, while 1...Qd6 (1...Qf4 is the same) 2 Nb2 Kc3 3 0-0-0?? is illegal. So the only way is ... 1 ...Qb8! 2 Nb2 2...Kc3 3 0-0-0 3...Qb4 4 Rd3 mate. When showing someone this problem, a good trick is to say '... and this is White's side of the board, but of course it doesn't matter since there aren't any pawns'.

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