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BDS

The Problemist, 2013

H#2½
2 solutions
LEO d6
PAO d5; d1
VAO h2
MAO f1

1...MAxd2 2.Qf7 MAe4 3.Se7 LExd4#
1...MAxg3 2.Qg7 MAe4 3.Se7 LExf4#

On publication of the solution, one solver said, “MA removes hurdles on its way to pin bPe5 and keep wLE safe in the mate, while Black carefully chooses bQ self-block and which bS unguards.” Another said “ Good correspondence, though the out-of-play wMA and suggestive pawns d2, g3 do make it rather easy to solve.” Both totally correct of course, but I wonder if anybody noted the rather special mate in the first solution, where the hurdle over which the wLE mates is pinned? The other mate does not have this quality and this is a break-down in the correspondence. It was that special mate that prompted the composition of the problem in the first place. Perhaps the perceived need to add variety in the form of a second solution has here obscured the point?