This puzzle is a classic!

[@brendanward2991]

Brilliant. I spotted the first move, but the full analysis was beyond me.

[@frankcoverjr.-jz3ne]

Same here!😊

[@MR-intel]

Ditto

[@aaaaa5272]

I was not even near a solution. Amazing puzzle...

[@rogerkearns8094]

Me neither.

[@xismxist]

havent seen it before and it was easy, did solved it in like 3 sec... check has to be blocked, kinda simple

[@RamKumar-gy9nb]

Excellent puzzle... you are just brilliant

[@lajos-berenyi]

I have seen this puzzle before. I didn't remember the whole position, but the motive and the queen sacrifice in the first move. And from then I could calculate the rest, but I agree, in a real game very hard to spot such a first move. Though I wouldn't consider it impossible, that a GM could find it in a classical game, if he is not in time trouble, because he can calculate, that all king moves lead to a draw, and due to the checkmate pattern with the pawns - what is not too difficult to spot, even most probable in the game it would be already in the radar - even this queen sacrifice could come to the mind, to avoid queen checks and get the necessary one tempo to threaten with this checkmate and the rest calculation is not so difficult.

[@RootlessNZ]

Excellent. I actually found the moves this time. After the Queen sacrifice it all fell into place for me. Astounding!

[@redzepp7881]

One of the better puzzles

[@IronBruh]

I think at the position of 7:20 the bishop can go to the B8. Then white can promote the pawn at C8 or take the bishop and promote. In the first case there will not be a check and black queen can go to D5 covering the B7 field. It could be a draw for white. The second case is loosing for white.

[@shyamsundardharmadhikari4010]

b7# is immediate checkmate bc

[@michalw6965]

⁠@@shyamsundardharmadhikari4010 No it is not, queen will takę promoted pawn in next move

[@patclark6032]

​@@michalw6965I think he means if bishop goes to b8, white doesn't promote the c pawn, he pushes the pawn on the b file to b7. This is checkmate, King can't take the checking pawn or move away since white king is at a6. Right?

[@mstalcup]

I figured out the solution from the thumbnail within 20 seconds. I could see that black was close to being checkmated and that the mating net has time to unfold once the black queen is drawn to g5 when it cannot check white's king once it moves to a6.

[@LiamWakefield]

I honestly thought, given the other puzzles you've shown, that the queen was going to sacrifice, but had no idea how that would help. This was very instructive on how to limit moves and gain tempo by giving away a piece.

[@danielhurst8863]

One of the rare ones I found easy, because it is all about tempo. The only thing preventing White from winning is the ability of the Black Queen being on a White Square. Sacrificing the Queen, puts Black Queen on Green, thus relatively easy checkmate.

[@petersiegfriedkrug]

The Mitrofanov study is quite famous. In the study the white rook sacrifice on e1, so due the knight on e1 Black only can give check with the promoted black queen on h5. This study also is called "Qg5 - study". The original Mitrofanov -study with the black knight on f3 is cooked. But the version with black knight on g2 is correct. I have memorized thousand and thousand endgame studies in my head. The starting position of this endgame study is: White Ka5, Re4, a6, b5, d5, g6, h5 White has 5 pawns. Black: Ka7, Bd6, Ne5, Ng2, h2 Black has one pawn and 3 minior pieces. The solution begins with 1.b6 Ka8 2.Re1 (important that the black queen has no check on a1) Nxe1 3.g7 h1Q 4.g8Q+ Bb8 5.a7 Nc6+ 6.dxc6 Qxh5 and now is the critical moment 7.Qg5!! The study is also known as Qg5 study.

[@michaelrobinson2687]

Thank you. Puzzles like this highlight my flaws in chess. I just cannot spot checkmating attacks at all.

[@MrGyges]

A charming classic. Bet Tal would’ve spotted this Queen sacrifice.

[@psychohist]

I suspect Magnus would too. If I can spot it in a puzzle, he can certainly spot it in a game.

[@igorxyz8682]

@@psychohist I am not sure. Tal was looking for complications, Magnus for long endings and his knowledge

[@psychohist]

@@igorxyz8682 To be clear, I think Magnus would spot it in a game; I am trusting MrGyges regarding Tal. But the idea of displacing the black queen to a black square to take it off the white diagonal is the kind of idea that grandmasters tend to see intuitively, so it may be that any grandmaster would see this in a game. The pawn checkmates I think would be obvious to them.

[@igorxyz8682]

@@psychohist I agree what you what said for many grandmasters diagonal two pawns ....I wanted to say not to stress Magnus-this is not his direction, Tal Anand ... that is different story

[@whisperwalkful]

I found it instantly by thinking, what is the most ridiculous move?

[@christiandobler5235]

This puzzle is really amazing

[@stkosta2482]

If it wasn't a puzzle i wouldn't have found it, but i immediately saw it coming on this one.

[@JohnWilliams-yw9wu]

Very very brilliant

[@broniuszibaitis7246]

Really amazing!!

[@venkateshas1381]

Sacrifice of the queen doesn't come to the mind at all. Super puzzle.

[@MichaelHarrisIreland]

It was difficult to calculate even after the Queen sacrifice but I knew I had to, there was no other way. A strange puzzle to say the least. Thanks for the entertainment.

[@tykemorris]

I solved it fully. I saw Ka6 was threatening checkmate but black could chase me out with Qe2. The sacrifice seemed obvious at that point, to get the Black Queen off the diagonal. The only way to stop checkmate was black Ba7, but then white pushes Pc7 threatening both a checkmate and a promotion. Black can't stop both.

[@calvinnickel9995]

I found the Queen sacrifice. I wasn’t quite sure how to end it though after bishop takes.

[@ghandheysaood2645]

amazing tricky one this is so creative

[@LJLMETAL]

That is a great puzzle

[@slavisavukosavljevic3131]

8:26 i immediately have seen the point, but this is a draw.if the black takes on a7 it's not clear whether the white can win. The rook against the knight is usually a draw

[@shyamsundardharmadhikari4010]

White doesn't need to take rook. It can take a queen. Because black has a knight to move and it is not a stalemate bc

[@slavisavukosavljevic3131]

@@shyamsundardharmadhikari4010 OMG, yes, thank you.

[@xenaguy01]

1) Qg5 (get Black Queen off white squares) ... QxQ, 2) Ka6 (no safe check for Black) ...

[@peacefulwarrior9518]

Its one of those puzzles where the solution isnt too hard to gind because you know the answer has to be the crazy option. But i would NEVER find it in a game

[@nishithchandrashrivastava7643]

Amazing key move❤

[@stephenspreckley8219]

Love it!

[@fantomghost6213]

Yep, great puzzle!

[@zerotms5145]

It's called Mitrafanov's Deflection, and if I hadn't seen it before I'd never think to do the move that wins. Not in a million years, because until the point is explained to you, it looks totally bonkers. XD

[@DonJC49]

Having seen this great puzzle before, I must recuse myself from offering the solution.

[@osgubben]

I love this site! But not mentioning the composer of the studies is a shame!

[@JennievonBargen]

Didnt get to the solution. Wow!

[@StevenBasserabie]

What about if black queen goes to D5?

[@yes-tp5lz]

still promote to a queen and it’s still a checkmate

[@mmehul1]

Great 👍

[@MichelleSirilan-fz7pu]

We can make it raw if Qa7check airly

[@LezlieJ]

Queen to D5?

[@giovannicorno1247]

I saw Qg5 and also, after Bxa7, c7 but I was not able to analyze everything till final solution. Let's say more or less solved😏

[@KafilAkhter-x9i]

Lovely

[@fredmilne3936]

Difficult

[@barkatullahsajal6510]

Amazing