A beautiful, perfectly constructed Meredith. The well-known Ukrainian
composer Yuri Gordian died on 8th January, at the age of 86.
1.Bc6 Se4 2.Ka4 Kg2 3.Bb5 Sc5
1.Rb3 Se3 2.Ka5 Kg3 3.Rb5 Sc4
Jacob Hoover: Both solutions follow this plan:
First move — Black moves a line piece across a critical square, then white moves a knight onto that critical square.
Second move — Black king moves to the square on the a-file which the knight unguarded, then the white king makes a waiting move which the knight move enabled (this move also self-pins the knight, but the knight's going to be unpinned immediately anyway, so...).
Third move — Black line piece self-blocks on b5, then the knight mates with a switchback.
The only thing to add is that the black pawn prevents cooks with king on a6 and rook blocking a7.
Helpmate in 3
2 solutions
My thanks to Manikumar for sending this version, which is more
economical, using a pawn instead of a queen, though the position is less
attractive to the eye.