Fun challenge

The challenge is this: figure out how quickly a position can be reached where the side to move has a forced mate in MORE THAN 2 moves. For instance:

Here's a try: 3 1/2 moves

A very good try, indeed.  But not quite the fastest.

Damn! How many moves in the fastest?

Incredibly, it can be done in only two moves! 1.e4 f6  2.Be2 h5

Nice, thanks for sharing! Not sure if I would have found it; it's clear you need to play on the weak diagonal, but h5 is a tricky move!

It's not over just yet! What's the fastest you can reach a position where the side to move has forced mate in at least FOUR moves?

12 halfmoves for mate in 11...

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f6?! 3. Nxe5?! fxe5? 4. Qh5+ Ke7 5. Qxe5+ Kf7 6. Bc4+ Kg6

There are more examples of players announcing mate in eight after black's seventh move... such things

Trying my best not to sound green chesswise - and don't bring out the grammar police, seriously, that's not what this is about - please tell me what the significance is in reaching a position that has a forced mate in more than two moves?

should I be seeing that as:

figure out how quickly a position can be reached where the side to move has a forced mate in NO MORE THAN 2 moves.

?

Buggy, you read that correctly...

The whole  point of the "more than two moves" part is in the discoverer's ability to deliver a stinging "Mate in x + > 2 moves" statement to his opponent.

Well, I guess that's to exclude stuff like fool's mate, and other silly mates in one.

Plus, posting fools mate is getting old and tired here.

so then are we looking for the fastest forced mates, or quickest to announce?

or are they the same?

If that was the case, most people would know,without even having to think, the answer was one and a half moves (1.f3 e5  2.g4, and Black has a "forced" mate in one). It's much harder to set up a longer forced mate, which is why that's the challenge: set up a forced mate in at least x moves, in as few legal moves as possible.

In the case of 1.f3 e5  2.g4, black really has no set up at all;  white is his own accomplice in setting up that openning which should be called the Kevorkian.

 They're basically the same, but quickest to announce is what's being counted. So if Black (correctly) announces mate in 4 on move 6, that's 5 1/2 moves, not 9. However, if he can force mate in 3 starting on move 6, it doesn't count at all, because it's not long enough (see post # 7).