MATING IDEA THAT NEARLY WENT STALE

WHITE TO PLAY & MATE BLACK IN 04 MOVES

Yes... the board is correct way around in case you wondered & all these black pawns are on the verge of promotion. 

White’s first task is to find the correct mating idea. A brief look should be enough to conclude that all Queen moves prolong the game for more than 04 moves. For instance 1 Qg3 is met by 1 … Rg1 followed by 2 ... a1=Q while 1. Qh4 Rh1 2. Qd8 Rh7 ! is no good either. Also it's hard to see how white can play b6-b7. 

So white has one mating idea left, which is Nb4-d5-c7. Let’s see how that works out.

1.    Nb4

Now, playing 1 … Rxe1 would leave black helpless against Nd5-c7. So black plays

1.    …             c2

Time for white to prevent the impending pawn promotion in spectacular fashion.

2.    Qc1 !

It seems that black is forced to watch as the white knight completes its triumphant journey towards c7. But all is not lost.

2.    …             b1 = B !!

Whoops… hats off to you if you saw that one coming. Now the threat of a stalemate looms large. 

Fear not because the valiant knight is prepared to die for the cause in a one last twist.

3.    Nd3          exd3

4.    Qh1 #


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