I want to offer you one of the best etudes ever created by Troitskij, it contains the infinite beauty of chess itself.

White moves and wins. Can you find the way?

P.S.: there is no mistake and no hope for black, regardless rybka and fritz cant solve it. Feel free to discuss it here.

Enjoy!

very interesting position.  Having a good look at it.  Can't see it yet though

Ne5? Obviously Black cant play Qxe. On Qh7 Bb3 first,  else Nxc7?

I presume you mean 1. Nd5 insteed Ne5. Obviously black can just take e6 pawn with a queen, because on both 2. Ne3 and 2. Nf6 black will take that knight with a queen and save it from capturing. Thanks for your try, be more attentive next time!

im juggling between Bf1, which indirectly defends the e6 pawn with Bh3+ which would win the queen...if he takes on e6

or Bd5, preparing Nd1 to Ne3#, (wishfull thinking tho)becuz if Kf5, then we've accomplished nothing

pls tell me if im close...

If you want to defend e6 pawn via Bf1, then why not defend this pawn by just not moving this bishop anywhere - he is already defending e6 pawn from his starting position.

Bd5 Qg7 Ne2 Qf6 Kg2 Qf5 is losing for white. Nd1 insteed Ne2 (with idea of Qxd4 e7!) would be met with Kf5 insteed and white has no chances.

Great puzzle.  I'm fairly certain that the passed pawn on e6 is a red herring.  If I'm right, this is the reason why engines have such a difficult time analyzing this position -- they put too much emphasis on defending the passer at all costs and don't realize that white can surrender the pawn and still win.  The beauty of this position is that the threat of a fork is so great that the queen's mobility is severely limited.  With the bishop acting as the knights protector and a few well timed checks, I think white can force the issue with his knight....

I believe I'm on the right track but I haven't been able to work it all out...yet.

Brilliant! And precisely correct.

It is the right track. Black may play different, but in any deviation from best moves black is losing instantly, queening e6 pawn also is included in this variations. But the best defence for black leads to absolutely amazing position, just several moves away from now on. You will definately know this is it, if you find it.

I *think* I've got it:

1. Be2+ Kf5 2.Nd5! Qxe6 3.Bd3+ Kg4 4.Be4!! threatening 5.Ne3#.  An amazing position!  At this point the queen has been completely defanged.  Qxe4 doesn't work thanks to the Nf6+ fork so the only move she has available is 4...Qh6 which prevents the mate but loses to 5.Nf4 Qg7 6.Nd3 where, once again, black is in danger of being checkmated by the knight.  In order to prevent 7.Nf2# black is forced to give up the queen and after Qxd4 7.c6 Qxe4 8.Nf2+ the game is over.  Note that black isn't obligated to move 5...Qg7 but the alternatives lead to similar positions where Nd3 wins.

Summary: Be2+ Kf5 Nd5 Qxe6 Bd3+ Kg4 Be4 Qh6 Nf4 Qg7 Nd3 Qxd4 c6 Qxe4 Nf2+

Have I missed something?   Can I have my day back?

It is correct, you solved it! Congratulations!

Actually, yes, but just a little!  Black also isn't obligated to take 7...Qxe4, he has his last chance with move 7...a5!, and after 8.bxa5? Qb2+! makes a draw via stalemate!  But of course white are still winning with correct 8.b5! insteed. The black queen is totally immobilized in the center of the open board, could anyone imagine how only two minor pieces are ever able to do that?

I lost a day too, but couldn't solve it. It is a curse you may only pass to the others.

Wait, after 8. b5, what exactly is White threatening? The queen has all the checkmate squares covered so Black can just run the a-pawn down the board and win, right?

For example 8. b5 a4 9. b6 Qxb6 10. Kg2 a3 11. Nf2+ Qxf2+ 12. Kxf2 a2 and Black wins.

I feel like I'm missing something big then.

If rybka3 and fritz11 couldn't solve it within many hours at dual core processor, then you may not be upset about you are missing something.

White is threatening to queen his pawn, because black queen is immobilized. Not just restricted, but totally immobilized, that means "can't move at all".

8. b5 a4 9. b6 Qxb6 10. Ne5#.

i think its 8. Be2+ Kf5 9. g4+, if H5xG4 then 10. Bd3+ Kf6 11. Nd5 forking the king and queen.

however if instead of taking black moves his king it cant be to f4 or f6 because of the knight fork, so he would have to move to g6.but after that im not sure what i would do

8.Be2+ Kf5 9.g4+ would be met with 9...Kxe6 and black will win easly.

Just be more attentive, do not hurry up, this puzzle deserves the time to spend!

Ahh, I see.  I had tunnel vision because I completely overlooked 7...a5.  There are so many ways for white to drop the half point -- 8.b5 isn't what I'd call obvious. 

If I had encountered this position in a game I would have been quite happy to secure the draw, thinking it was the best I could do under the circumstances!

ouch! who would've thought black could get zugzwanged in this position, with a queen on an open board...

who is this Troitskij guy? I googled him but nothing much came up

Chess player and composer, he was the greatest ever etudes maker. He created hundreds of such puzzles, like this one in the topic. I even solved several...

I just googled, cant find any links yet, because this word is very often used in religion and also a common last name, so google's output is totally flooded with religion links and other people. If i will ever find it i will post here, or you do the same please.

Aleksej Troitzky (RUS)  1866-1942  Composer of more than 1400 endgame studies!

If you love endgame puzzles, this might be of interest:

http://www.arves.org/Biografie.htm

You are right. The word obvious is absolutely incompatible with this position.

And you are even allowing the possibility you could reach such a position in your game!  /me horrified to faint

Thank you Gonnosuke, useful link. But anyway i cant find any link to his biografy, there is a lot in russian, even at wikipedia, but in english I cant find any. Maybe my reduces knowledges about english language is not enough to set the correct searching string...