Flight squares and mating

I just had the above position in one of my games (I was playing white). My question is this: should white be able to calculate a mate from here? There is a mate in 6 (according to Fritz) but wondering more if people can easily see it or, if its not so easy for even experienced players to find? I really find these types of positions difficult, because I find it hard to visualise what squares are safe flight swaures and which arent. In the end I did mate, but after a blunder on the opponents side. Is this as hard for others as it is for me? Any tips or suggestions?

It would be very unlikely for me to calculate all the way to mate in this position because I can see white will be winning a lot of material in any case, and if I spot a mate along the way then I'll play it then :)

Old Russian proverb goes something like "it's better to win a knight than mate" when you can clearly win a knight but the mate is beyond your ability to calculate a forced line.

If you want to improve your mate calculation though I suggest puzzles.  Remember to work hard to find your opponent's most annoying defense (for example it would be silly to calculate him walking into a corner) and you'll do fine.  Just a matter of practice.

Since this is no problem-solving competition but rather a game, I would simply play 1.Qh6+ Kf7 2.Re5 (no flight squares allowed), wait the opponent's resignation, and spare the thought for a more interesting game.

For the record, Houdini evaluates my variation as mate in 12, and the initial position as mate in 7, not 6. Not that this is of any importance.

That's useful. I actully set the position 2 moves earlier up on a board and spent a good hour or so just trying to visualise the combinations, seemed to do me good. I might keep trying to do that for positions that I find difficult. Both your comments are very helpful though, thanks...