Help needed, mate in 2 puzzle

I've spent hours on this and couldnt find the answer

Rf4

great solution ..

threatening Qxd4#

There's also 1...Qxf4 2. Qe6#

Beautiful. This is why I love chess. :)

or 1... Qd6 2. Qf5#

or ne4(stopping qd4) then rf5#

How does one find this? Is there any algorithm?

Usually when doing puzzles I check the checks and caculate through their variations. But when the Checkmate is achieved with a quite first move and then also has several working variations, I have no clue how to find them.

jmb .. your tactics rating is 3013 .. are you telling me you solved this or did not solve it

xilmi, that is the million dollar question .. how to find a good move

I don't think there are any tricks to it. It's a puzzle, so when the checks don't seem to work, then it's a quiet move. Asking how to find the quiet moves, is like asking how does one see the tactics.

Usually in a made up problem like this, the first move is never a check, because composers consider that to be too unsubtle.  So you have to look for a non check that threatens mate (in the case of a two mover) and then analyze all the defences.  They are seldom easy because the positions are not game-like so it is pure calculation or maybe talent to find the solution.

I think the fact that the opponent could not check the white king kinda gives away, that the move we are looking for might be a quite one. In most puzzles on this site losing grip of the opponents king often means you're going to be checked yourself.

And yes, pdve&Sunshiney, I'd really like to be able to see such moves easily. ^^

We'd all like to be grandmasters too, but... 

I hate puzzles like this where you can spend hours trying to find the brilliant mate in two with Rf4!! when there's a very simple mate in three:

Qf5+ Kd6 Rd7+ Kc6 Qd5#

The thing is when a player is in a good position, there can easily be multiple lines that lead to a win. Part of the exercise is to find the fastest way possible.

the ancient art of checkmate ..

The difference between a mate in two and a mate in three should not be important. I have missed several mates in one but found the mates in two or three or four; a win is still a win. It does take a great calculator to find Rf4, but I'll take the easy stepladder mate any day of the week.

Oh, i agree it isn't important in a game. However, finding the fastest way is part of the exercise for doing a puzzle. It's much like playing faster is a part of a blitz/bullet chess variant.

Edit: That analogy isn't quite accurate, but i think it gets the point across.