White to mate in 3

All Things Chess
1

Like to ask you all to check out our new “toy”… called the Game Editor
it lets you create positions with FEN or PGN…
good luck in solving this puzzle!
quantumgambitz.com/chess/blo … -mate-in-3

“When you are lonely, when you feel yourself an alien in the world, play Chess. This will raise your spirits

2
  1. g8N b5 2. Ne7 Kxg4 3. Nc6X
3

While I admit that this is a cute problem because of the need to use unexpected approaches to solve it, it suffers from an unfortunate malady that is characteristic of many “mate in n” problems: Why would anyone, in actual play, want to spend time looking for a difficult-to-find “mate in n” solution when there are plenty of easy-to-find “mate in n+1” solutions?

In this case, for example, there is also:

  1. Nd3+ Ka2
  2. Nc1+ Ka1
  3. g8=Q b5
  4. Bg7#
    and, obviously, a number of other variations on this same approach.

The only things that really matter in a tournament are outcome of play and amount of time used. The “mate in 3” solution and the “mate in 4” solution both end in checkmate, and I suspect that nearly all players will be able to find and play the “mate in 4” solution more quickly, in spite of the need to make an extra move when using it.

Bob

4

thnx to all for having a look and giving it try.
More puzzles to follow…

Bob your right :
“The only things that really matter in a tournament are outcome of play and amount of time used.~”