You can see the task in the headline. It is from Vladimir Nabokov’s book, “Poems and Problems.” The famous author of “Lolita,” “Ada” and “The Defense” (a chess novel)composed this himself. The problem was first published in 1932 under the pseudonym “V. Sirin.” You have to be very specific on what went where and what it did there and if a capture, what it captured.

After you study this for a while, you come to the conclusion that a promotion must have happened last move, but which piece and to what? And then what’s the mate in one? White’s last move was his pawn on d7 capturing Black’s knight on c8 and made a rook. Now with the move retracted, White takes the pawn on d7 and captures Black’s rook on e8 and promotes it to a knight, which is then mate.

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