my first puzzle

I devised this two years ago.  It's pretty simple, but for a first go at it I had some people at the chess park at Queen and Church in Toronto scratching their heads for at least a couple of minutes.  I haven't made any since, but had fun making it so if there is a decent response here I might try my hand at some more...

White to move, mate in two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me know what you think! 

nice

I saw a 3 move solution even though your 2 move is better. Mine was:

1.Nf3+ Kh6 2.g5+ Kh5 3.Qxh3++

yeah... i like that :)

I saw the 3 move sequence too! But I agree, 2 is quicker than 3!

Three move is pretty obvious. Since it didn't take my 3 move solution (g5+) as correct I was forced to think. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out the solution.

Nice one! I had to try a few things before I got it, thanks!

"I saw a 3 move solution even though your 2 move is better"

 

ditto

Nice puzzle, when is the next one?! (Yeah, I am part of the crowd, went for the easier, clearer, obvious: g5+ and the computer said NO! It took me 1 second to find the correct move.)

Nice puzzle

Quite interesting--

Quite nice... but personaly I prefer replacing the white queen with a white rook. It does the same job and is more economical. For this reason I would also get rid of all the superfluous black material. Its just filler and detracts from the elegance of the main line. But hey... I'm a chess problem purist. What do I know! 

I disagree Poisoned Pawn, I think that blacks extra pieces make it more natural ("Game-like").  It also means white has to be forcing, because black is threatening mate.

As I said I'm a purist. I respect your view. I guess at the end of the day its a matter of preference. Me.. well I really got into the game of chess by solving (and later composing) chess problems. Sure I knew the moves. But I had no apreciation of the artistry of the game until I had solved a few problems... and only then did I get any good at the game. I know that sounds very strange but its true!  So you see I'm from a different world to all you 'game-dedicated' players out there! Whilst you strive to compose game-like puzzles, I'm trying to get at the kernel of the idea and express it in it simplest form. Argh!!! running on a bit. Sorry!

The superfluous pieces are meant to add confusion.  It was actually fairly tricky to put them all in and still not create other mates.

While I hope to be able to make a puzzle with minimal pieces and a totally surprising solution, it is quite difficult.  I felt with just the bare bones this puzzle seemed too obvious.

 Also, it does reflect in-game to an extent.

 That said, I'm going to try for a minimalist on my next approach at your suggestion.

That´s good Yanagi. If you swap that white queen for a white rook you might be able to build in a white queen sacrifice as your first move (may be to bring the Blck rook to g8) just a thought!

Very nice puzzle! I thought, like many others, that I had the solution with Nf3+, g5+ and Qxh3#, but indeed, your mate in two is better. Maybe you should add to the puzzle next time that it has to be mate in two, since if it's just about white making the best move, one could argue if mating in two is really better than mate in three

i always feel passive-aggressive when i promote my pawn to a knight. it's like, "yeah, i could get a queen....but i don't need one. not to beat you. no big deal."

There is more than 1 mate in 2