Mates in 3 can be pretty tough to solve if you’re not used to them, but this one is fairly straightforward. Why not have a go? It’s White to move and force checkmate in three moves time.

There’s a local connection as well: you’ll find out more later.

Last week’s position came from my game against Paul Shepherd in the recent match between Richmond A and Surbiton A.

I could have won a piece by playing 1. Na4, threatening Bxf6 as well as the queen, and meeting Qc6 with Bf3. Instead I played Bxc4, and the game was eventually drawn.