Hardest Study, 2650+ Russian Grandmasters Couldn't Solve

My friend who is 2100 fide told me this story about a man who creates studies. If you give him a phone call or a text he will give you a study and a 2 hour time limit to solve it. If you do, he will gift you the money for a free 7 day holiday in some nice place like Greece or Seychelles. This is one of the puzzles that he recommended and it became very popular. Infact it's so hard that some strong 2600 GMs from Russia and ex-soviet union countries couldn't solve it its very weird.

White to play and win! Best of luck! If you solve this you are either a genius or are absolutely terrible at chess and got it lucky! Good luck anyways no pressure lol

EDIT: There's no point in using an engine. It took my stockfish 4 half an hour to find. My friend used fritz 14 with all the maximized upgrades, plug ins, databases installed and it took 10 minutes. Also many engines recommend the wrong move and once the position gets played out, only then does it realize that it's not winning

Well, 2 hours > 1/2 an hour. Whats his number?

Is this the answer?: 1. Nhf1 g2 2. h4 g1=Q 3. Kf7 Qg2 4. Nxg2 Black Resigns

NF3 and over

With a seven man endgame table, this should be solved instantly.

hum.. my stockfish 8 instantly announces mate in 20...

I think I solved it.  I think the solution to the puzzle is as follows: 1. Nhg4 and black has three options:

[A] 1… f1=any 2. Nxf1 g2 3. Nf2+ Kg1 4. Ne3 Kxf2  5. Nxg2 where white has a winning endgame (black cannot take the knight b/c that just leaves the h-pawn to march up the board

[B] 1…g2 2. Nxf3+ K(any) 3. Nxg2 with a winning endgame again.

[C] 1..Kg1 [2] Kf5 f1=any 3. Nxf1 Kxf1 4.Ne3+  where black’s only options at this point are:

      [C1] 4….Ke2 5. Kf4 guards the knight preventing the black pawn from promoting and ensures white’s promotion of the h-pawn.

      [C2]   4…Kf2 5.Kf4 guards the knight preventing the black pawn from promoting and ensures white’s promotion of the h-pawn.

      [C3] 4…Ke1 [5] h4 where black cannot stop white’s h-pawn from promoting.

      [C4]  4…Kg1 [5] h4 where black cannot stop white’s h-pawn from promoting.

And I was able to figure all of that out in just 10-15 minutes without the use of an engine whatsoever.

f1-Q, nxf1 kg2, white cnnot stop black from taking his pawn or promoting, 2 knights can obviously not mate a lone king, and the black pawn is too far advanced to make stalemating the king and relying on the extra tempo viable...

Ditto

Guys I haven't seen this post for some time but I'm happy to see you've been engaged. The  Solution is below

I can't really reply to all of your answers at once sorry but I'd like to point out that the only answer is nhf1. Everything else usually draws. Yes, stockfish 8 (The engine on lichess and chess.com) says that it is winning after nhg4 but after the actual moves get played out it announces a draw

Very interesting post, Nikola

BEAUTIFUL study.