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14. Michael McDowell
The Problemist 1987

White to mate in three

Problem 14 features a vintage strategic idea known as the Indian theme.  Black has only one legal move in the diagram, 1…bxa2, which threatens stalemate.

Set play is provided for this move, 1…bxa2 2.Bc2 Kxg2 3.Be4, where White avoids the stalemate by cutting off the second rank, and mates by opening this rank again by discovery.

White has no first move capable of preserving this set variation, however, and the remarkable key is 1.Ba8! (waiting.)  Now 1…bxa2 produces analogous play on the long diagonal, 2.Rb7 Kxg2 3.Rb2.

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