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Possible or Impossible?

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Chess_Clarinet

Is this position possible?

gluestix

no

Nobody47

I think yes, but it's a close one, because you need material to move to other line so pawns come from a,b,c,d,e,f.

Now, whoose turn is here, because if that's white to move that is impossible, because where from that king come?

If it's black's turn I think it's possible, because last white's move was Bxa7, black king could have gone from b8.

horsesforcourses

Yes, although some of the black pawns on the kingside have to promote so they can get to the queenside and be captured by the white pawns.

EvgeniyZh
wasted_youth

It´s impossible for the following reason:

White´s pawns need 15 diagonal takes to reach the position. That means that all of Black´s pieces and pawns would have to be taken by White´s a-f pawns.

For this to be possible, Black´s f-g pawns must be made to take diagonally towards the centre until they can be taken at least by the e and f pawns. For this, White must sacrifice his pieces; he cannot use the a-f pawns, and the g and h pawns would force taking in the wrong direction (remember that every single black piece must be taken by a pawn moving diagonally leftwards, otherwise White has less than the necessary 15 pawn moves needed to achieve the position).

Since he must use his 7 major and minor pieces to lure Black´s f-h pawns across, it becomes obvious that 7 is too few:

 

 

The g and h pawns both need 3 diagonal takes before they come within range; the f pawn 2. That would require 8 piece sacrifices by White, which is not possible.

 

Edit: aha, brilliant, Evgeniy! I take it back!

EvgeniyZh

Actually horsesforcourses gave a better solution which results in a position shown in the first post and mine has lots of white pieces on the board

Chess_Clarinet
EvgeniyZh wrote:
 

sac all white's material!

Chess_Clarinet

For everyone who has been wondering, it can be both White or Black to move.

TheMushroomDealer

well that's still quite easy. How about this?



EvgeniyZh



jdcannon

amazing... lol Pretty crazy what position you can achieve if both sides are working toward it.

TheMushroomDealer

FYI it can be done in 40 moves but so far nobody except me has found it.

Chess_Clarinet

Can you show it then TheMushroomDealer?

TheMushroomDealer

sure 

TheMushroomDealer
[COMMENT DELETED]
TheMushroomDealer

It might be possible to find even a quicker way but I'm a bit sceptical about it.

TBentley

The following position can be reached in 34 moves. Also there's two solutions to a mate in 8: