"Check the Queen's Blindspots!" Day 13/14 of solving Chess Puzzle EVERYDAY!
Day 14 Chess.com
I really enjoyed this puzzle and thank you to Dane's analysis of this puzzle in his chess.com video. It was very instructive to view all of the puzzles intricacies. One question does remain for me: Is this puzzle by Mario Matous (a very famous well-known chess composer) or Matour? If it is Matour, why can I not find his puzzle on yacpdb.org? Thoughts on a postcard please!
ACM Puzzle 9 (The one I forgot to post...)
Responding to comments
Thanks for the comment @little_ernie. It is a very good question and it is not the first time I have had comments like this to my puzzle compositions (and won't be the last). What is the point of mate in 2 puzzles like this when practical sequences lead to simple victories?
Whenever I answer these questions I start with the caveat that the point of composition puzzles is not necessarily to help the reader improve at the game of chess. Rather it should be seen as a fun exercise to stretch the mind and creativity of the solver. By solving such puzzles he forces the solver to seek out the absurd and try out even the most improbable solutions to the puzzles.
Having said this, I do believe that there is still a practical benefit to these puzzles - It helps you, at the very least, calculate in very complicated positions where the best move is not so clear.
Jesse Krai articulates this better in this video at the value of solving such puzzles in the book that got him to be Grandmaster:
Happy solving!