Custom Positions Competition !!

 If the aim is to get as low an absolute score on the site Engine Analysis this variation on the position given by farmer2013 does pretty well on my machine (can't vouch for anybody else's). White to play of course.

For comparison

or this variation of the position by RALRAL3333 in post #7 (White to play).

Or how about a sub-thread of positions that are demonstrably playable for both sides but have the highest absolute score in engine analysis?

I think this is quite high for a legal position.

                                                       White to play.

And since illegal positions are obviously allowed, this may take some beating (but don't add a white knight on f2).

                                                        Either side to play.

Can white win that position?

Neither side has a forced win in either of the positions I just posted.

If a position is equally playable for both sides then presumably neither side has a forced win. 

I think white can...

Presumably you're talking about the second position. I don't see it - post your move.

Yeah, cause the 1st one, white would either stalemate, or let the king escape in the process

I can't post games from my tablet, doesn't work with touchscreen

White can't check never mind mate.

White can shuffle his bishops around to free up squares for the knight, so white can check

White hasn't got any bishops in the first one and neither side has a knight. A king cannot check his opposite number.

I'll repost the second position in https://www.chess.com/forum/view/fun-with-chess/5-1-draw-contest to avoid cluttering up this topic. There were no takers in the 5-1 draw topic so it doesn't matter if that gets cluttered up and I can explain why I think it's a draw there (but the explanation later - it's bedtime).

wait nvm that doesn't work

Shame. (Can't say I see the mating method yet.) But the reason I said it might take some beating is I don't think the Engine Analysis has any scores higher than 127.99 (ubiquitous and suspiciously close to 2⁷).

I would also guess that 128 (=-128) is reserved internally for positions where Stockfish can calculate a forced mate and 0.00 for positions where it can calculate a specific draw under the laws (though 0.00 does appear in values prior to the eventual evaluations so I could be mistaken). 

I wish stockfish would let me set up illegal positions like that

It does (or at least did) if you play it in the guise "play computer" on this site. I did let it play the 62 man endgame I posted earlier for a few moves (about 20) to see what it would do, though I had trouble setting up the position a second time (I haven't used the interface much). It's your GUI that stops you, not Stockfish.

You actually wouldn't get much sense out of Stockfish anyway. It doesn't understand that kind of position. For example see post #299 on p.15 of https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/stockfish-is-blind .

It's actually working for me again. Here's Stockfish playing out what it thinks is a win in the 62 man position I posted earlier. (I've dropped a few knights to make it easier for Stockfish to move his king. White can force the capture of knights. He's still very upbeat about his prospects if you click on the Sherlock Holmes chess boardette.)

Stockfish is obviously not doing anything very sensible. He should be attempting to force me to take a bishop on a8 or h1 (but I belive it's impossible to force from this position anyway).

 @EndgameStudy If you copy the PGN from my original posted diagram (second diagram in post #24), click on "computer" under "play" on the menu bar then on the boardette that displays "Analyze" then on the plus sign that displays "New analysis", there's an area that you can paste the PGN into. You can then play the pieces. If you believe you have a winning method I'd be interested to see an example.

By the way the position I originally posted should have had a knight on e7 so you can add that in if you like (or not, if you prefer).