Polgar's Chess, problem 740

I came across this problem. I'm 800 problems in and this is the only one I cannot figure out. Have a go at it.

White to play and mate in 2.

    Queen to H4+ ...K-G1   RxB#

Ronald:  If 1.Qh4+, then after Ke3 there is no mate next move.

The key first move appears to be 1.Qb4!

Edit (wrong)

     Yeah I know; its not an easy puzzle. I've got that book. that's what caught my attention. I should open it up and educate myself.

Wow, Qb4 is nice.

After Knight f1, black can take with the pawn.

I saw that White needed to force the black queen either off the diagonal or make it move to e3, but I didn't see b4.

    I can see a mate in 3;

     I think I got it now; Q-H4+ ...K-E3,  Knight -F1#  i think!

I also think this involves white sacrificing its queen on b4 as previously stated.

Berkmaster, what is the complete name of this book? Sounds like one that is worth investing some time and energy. Thanks for a good puzzle.

I have that GIANT book, that I got for a song.

Why can't black take with it's pawns?

Both the queen on B4 - leaving the bishop blocking the rook on the bottom row ... and also even if black takes the queen with their bishop and white moves Ng4 why cant black take with the pawn on f3?

Or am I being thick? It's been a long morning at work and I have a really bad headache

Pawns can't take backwards Soorat! :)

You have to follow chessarx diagram...those black pawns are moving downwards and are now actually on the 6th and 7th ranks....they can't take backwards....

I told you it was a long day - have pity on the poor girl who didnt sleep last night and had to be in work for 3:45 am this morning because the delivery was due to arrive before 4!

I saw if the black queen leaves the diagonal (or goes to e3) it's mate, so looked at Qd6 and Qb4 but I decided neither move worked and it took me a long time to go back to it and see Qb4 Bxb4 Ng4 made it work.  Lazy calculation!  Nice puzzle though.

      To chessarx;  I think the book is, "Chess, 5334 Problems,Combinations, and Games". It was written by Laszlo Polgar, Susan's father, and is published by Black Dog & Leventhal. For years it was a monstrous hard cover, but recently I saw a paperback version at Barnes & Noble.

That is the book.

Thanks, Ronald! I am going to look for this book. I just can't believe I solved this one. Other simpler puzzles sometimes take me longer to solve, and give me a headache, lol.

@Soorat - Sometimes it can be confusing to determine the orientation of the board. When I first looked at this puzzle, I looked at it the way you did.

The problem with Qb4 is that black B does not have to take Q.