Hardest mate in 2 moves

 
The Hardest Mate In Two
Help your pieces so they can help you.

— Paul Morphy

Most mate in two puzzles are relatively easy and straightforward to understand, but what if I told you that there is one mate in two puzzle so hard, that even strong players would struggle to solve it? 

Well, that’s what I’m doing today. 

The puzzle I am about to show you was composed by a 12 year old Paul Morphy. This puzzle is often referred to as “the Morphy puzzle”. It is considered one of the most famous and pretty chess puzzles in the whole world!

How about you have a try! Let’s see if you can checkmate black in just two moves! Hint: The main theme of the puzzle is the zugzwang tactic.

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Solution, fun facts

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Woah! Bet you weren’t expecting that move! But, how in the world do you have checkmate on the next move? Well, black only has a few legal moves:

Moving the bishop anywhere along the b8-h2 diagonal, which results in 2.Rxa7#
Or, taking the rook (the most obvious choice), which leads to b7#
So, yeah! Checkmate is actually forced after Ra6! Incredible, right?

This amazing puzzle of Morphy's was published in 1856 in The New York Clipper, one of the first newspapers in the United States dedicated to theater, circus, and varuious other forms of entertainment. The tricky problem was published alongside with one of Morphy's impressive victories against the legendary Hungarian master Johann Lowenthal.

 Morphy's puzzle and the game. 

Conclusion

Yeah, so I hope you enjoyed reading this, and I'll see you next time! 

Discussion Topic: What's your favorite chess puzzle?