The hardest endgame of all time

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/joke

Check the lichess engine

It uses a tablebase 

And it says win in 84 

That was a bad joke 

Wait this other tablebase says mate in 73 -_-

Ry: Engine says mate in 73

Also ry: win in 50 moves

what

Ry means to win the knight within 50 moves and then checkmate with N+B

that doesn't work in the real game though due to 50 move rule

lichess engine says +0.1 dude

"White to play and win before 50 moves"

That line, alone, the whole 50 moves thing, is enough to scare me away.

What would this puzzle's Rating be?  3000?

You've given just enough clues to entice the unwitting (myself?) but I'd have to practice the Bishop/Knight checkmate first.  That, alone, is hard enough.

Don't give any spoilers (moves), please, as I suppose I'll revisit this thread, now and then…
(for the rest of my life?)

Winning the knight takes around 40 with best play, 

And then the mate takes 30 more 

Yes it does. You forgot for a second that count starts from 0 after taking the knight.

But if you win the knight you can stop

Bh2 Ne4 Bb8 Nc3 Nxc3 BOOM

As I'm not fully conversant with the official rules of chess, doesn't the 50 move draw rule reset with the capture of a piece?

You answered my question as I was posting.  Thx.  Bob

oh yeah true

yeah, true

Yes it does 

This is the kind of thing you aim for

I think if you gave this to 100 gms that know B+N vs K by heart, give them 30 minutes, and put them against the endgame tablebase that plays all the best moves, 80 of them would mess up the win entirely, 19 of them would eventually win but it would take more than 50 to win the knight, and one of them would win the game