This is one of the exercise positions I composed and use for lessons. It is instrutive to try to play both sides (maybe several times) against a similar strength opponent and see which side you think is better. As always, the truth can be found immediately with computer analysis, but that's the last resort - please don't publish the answer as that spoils the fun. From playing this out with many students, I can tell you that they give this exercise (and the position) very high marks for fun and instruction. Best wishes, NM Dan Heisman

The best move to begin analysis is 1.Rd1. And to juhweri: you posted the answer?! Hmm. Best probably to delete his entire reply because it is still too strong a hint; that minimizes the fun others would have.

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Hi! This is not the best defense (as you can verify if you check with a computer). After 1.Rd1 h5? White mates as you state. However, it's not so easy. If Black plays the complicated 1...Neg4+ with best play he can get a draw (I did not want to post this earlier and spoil the fun; I was hoping that anyone wishing the truth would not post answers but just check on the computer). As I noted at the start, my students get lots of fun playing both sides against me until they "strip away the skin of the onion" to finally see the right idea. The puzzle has an answer but the best way to learn from it is to try 

Hi! I am not sure why you made such a remark. Most of my students are intermediate level adults. I am just reporting what they told me after I did this exercise interactively with about 100 students. Some of my puzzles and book suggestions are, as expected, better received than others. This is one of my highest rated puzzles. One of my highest rated book recommendations is the misleadingly named "Winning Chess Exercises for Kids" by Jeff Coakley. It is an excellent intermediate level puzzle book and I, as a master, have difficulty with some of the puzzles at the end. They are definitely not just for kids. 

- NM and FIDE CM Dan Heisman - full time chess instructor since 1996

Chess Journalists of America "Journalist of the Year" for 2010

Thanks. As noted earlier, rather than post the answer so that someone might accidentally see, if you give up, these days almost everyone has a chess engine (or can go to an online site that has a free one) and the computer will show you the answer in a sec. Hopefully the fun and instruction is in doing the analysis (just don't do more than is fun...see Chess, Learning, and Fun http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman43.pdf)  BTW, this reminds me that if anyone is interested, I post a "chess tip of the day" on Twitter (same handle, "danheisman").

Thanks. Of course, if you use a computer most every problem is trivially easy; however, I have seen masters (and experts) not only trip up on this problem but also enjoy the answer greatly once they understand (it is one of my highest rated problems in feedback from students). Of hundreds of students, I have never had an intermediate level one solve it immediately, so anyone that says it is an easy problem is either reading their computer analysis, mis-thinking they have an answer without checking, or is having a very good day Finally, if you don't like the problem then the answer is simple: go to another thread and find one you like!