White to Play
Published in Chess Puzzles
This is our last ancient problem for a while, but at least all the pieces on the board have their modern moves. This position is from the 9th century, and was purported to be a position reached by Abu’n-Na’am, who mated in three moves.
Solution
This is a primitive problem in that you have the usual threatened mate in one by Black with Rh8 mate. You also have a first move check, which is practically unheard of today. You do have a nice epaulette mate as at the end the king’s potential escape squares are occupied by his rook and pawn: 1.Nh5+ Rxh5 2.Rxg6+ Kxg6 3.Re6#
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