At first this looks absurdly easy — surely promoting either white pawn leads directly to mate?
The trouble is that once either pawn advances, the other is pinned and can’t move. Instead, the key is the crazy-looking 1. Qh7! Black’s rook has no safe refuge on the eighth rank, and if it takes the queen then a pawn promotion is fatal.
From The Problemist, 1941.
07/29/2025 My description isn’t quite accurate — a few readers have pointed out that Black’s rook is safe on b8. In that case White can mate with 2. Nc7, a smothered checkmate. Thanks to everyone who wrote in about this.
