"Another miracle without equal is a composition by Carl Friedrich Janisch, which he published under the title, 'Tamburlaine's iron cage', and which is a component of a historical fantastic short story. Tamburlaine, a malapropism of Timur the Lame (1336-1405), was a Mongol conqueror and founder of the Timurid dynasty. He brought the triumphal procession of the Ottomans to an end, when in the battle of Ankara, in 1402, he won a crushing victory over the Ottomans under Sultan Bayazid I. Timur spared the life of the sultan at first, and instead imprisoned him in an iron cage, in which he was carried around and displayed until the end of his days."
"The Tamburlaine theme has often been treated in art. Handel wrote an opera with that name, and Kurt Tucholsky, a cabaret song. The chess problem by Janisch portrays how the black king, which represents the sultan, is shut up in a cage in constant, immediate (i.e. there is always the threat of mate on the move) danger of his life, before losing it to suffocation."
Carl Freidrich Janisch 1850 Mate in exactly 10 moves.
White could mate in 1 move, with Ng5, but that is not the goal. The goal is to mate in exactly 10 moves, and have it be a smothered mate.
10 points for sending me a complete variation, at garykevinware@yahoo.com , by next Wednesday.