nice..

so whats the quickest mate? mate in how many?

Kf7 makes it a much longer route to a win and gives more opportunity for black to draw. The mate as given is forced.

Unique puzzle!!!

yes k to f7 my first try, bad puzzle

@oldmangeorge

7 moves = the puzzle is the quickest. With 1. Kf7 against a computer i got 13 moves to mate, Faster might be possible, though. Anyway, the 13 moves were at least as complicated as the puzzle...

Wonderful mate! My chess engine (Rybka 2.2) was unable to find the right move! (He suggested 1.Kf7 with mate in 13)

NICE PUZZLE

Incorrect puzzle

easy

strange

hmmm... another good one

inertesting

Great puzzle

Thanks.

That's a great zugzwang problem, the only save moves that black can make are those of the pawn moving to the other end of the board. Any other move that black can make would be met by a knight mate on either b6 or c7. So once white has eliminated that pawn black is forced to make any move, and no matter which one he chooses, it will all be met by mate in 1.

EDIT: wow, that's amazing, my chess engine (fritz 12) is unable to find the mate in 7 too... well, I suppose this is the lack of human creativity of those machines..

redigeles

why didn, t the king attack the night.

A virtual zugwang position for blacks, except for that pawn on the "e" file that the white king takes care of, making sure it avoids beeing checked by knight or bishop. Brilliant!

It's so obvious afterwards.