Forcing your opponent to mate you December 28, 2008
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Selfmate in six

The first of two selfmates this year. White is to play and force Black to mate White on Black’s sixth move. Black is trying to avoid mating White.

Long selfmates are notoriously difficult to solve, but this is an exception. Having said that, it’s not too easy. At first sight it seems unlikely that White’s king, which currently enjoys almost total freedom, might end up being mated in just six moves. Evidently the king has to approach Black’s forces so as to set up the mating position. However, a further problem for White is that Black is currently stalemated, so White can’t move his king at once. Your task is to combine two ideas: lifting the stalemate, while at the same time creating a mating position.

Problems selected and annotated by John Nunn.
The solutions to all puzzles will be published at the end of the series (after January 1st).
Please do not send in solutions after each problem is published.