I learned how to play chess as a child and, although I have never forgotten the moves and basic rules, I was never very good at it. And I never had patience for those newspaper chess puzzles ...
However, this one, presented in Futility Closet, is incredibly simple but requires some lateral thinking.
White to mate in two moves by Auguste D'Orville
Black cannot move anywhere - neither the king nor the two pawns. White can move its king and two knights in various directions but to what advantage? It would still not allow black to effectively move. However, if the white knight in the lower right quadrant moves into a position by which the only move black can make is to take the white knight. This allows the white pawn to move two squares forward thus checkmating the black king.
Simple, huh?
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