yet another mate in 3 ;)

White to move and mate in 3 moves.

Is mate possible? To be fair on me I have been spending about five minutes messing about with the King, Bishop and Knights, forced moves, taking the castle, sacrificing pieces, and I still don't get it!

Originally posted by Black Queen
Is mate possible? To be fair on me I have been spending about five minutes messing about with the King, Bishop and Knights, forced moves, taking the castle, sacrificing pieces, and I still don't get it!

Ah, yes it is possible. Beautiful puzzle.

Sorry but can you give me the first move? Is it;
BxR?
Ne7+?
Ncb8+?
Kb5?
I've tried all those and others, but I still can't get it.

This really is a nice puzzle.

1.Ka5! (threatens 2.Kb6, 2.Ne7+ and 2.Nd4+)
1...e1Q+ 2.Kb6! and Black is powerless to stop both 3.Nc7# and 3.Nc6~ with a discovered mate.
1...Kb7 2.Ne7+ Ka7 3.Nc8#

Try:
1.Kb5? Rg8! [Now possible, because White can't play Nd4+ and Nb5#] 2.Kb6 Rc8! and White has no mate.

I'm not crazy about the multiple White threats, but the key, allowing Black to Queen with check, is good.

Well spotted bigdogg, I got nowhere near it, I dismissd the Ka5 e1Q+ on the grounds of multiple checks that were not there after knight block mate