Illegal Position Contest!

Why couldn't the knight come from h6 before the h7 pawn moves?

Here's a hint that may help you. Think about parity.

maybe

The illegality proof is not hard, but I'm not giving it.  December_TwentyNine wants to crack this one. Parity is about odd and even. It's clear that White has made an odd number of moves and Black an even number. Is that enough of a hint?

is it just me or is my board not showing up?

It's not just you. It's everyone who hasn't heard about some recent change that requires clicking on Post, Edit, Post after inserting the board.

Correct. This is illegal in a White to play state but legal in a Black to play state.

I guess this must be a joke. Obviously legal whoever has the move.

Think again.

If Black moved last what was his move and could he have made it?

Ending in a White to play state.

Game terminates after White's move 2. Dead position.

Chess.com software doesn't do dead positions. No software does because FIDE never came up with a prescription for telling if a position is dead. (With the mandatory 75 move and quintuple repetition rules this is not always trivial.)

This game was played in a U.S. tournament under USCF rules. Cite the USCF rule you are applying. here.

Not chess then.

Many people would not agree that a chess game has to be played under FIDE rules to be a chess game. The number played under USCF rules is probably a majority.

I doubt the latter statement, but agreed; the position could be legal under some local variants of chess.

There are many similar instances. For example this is an illegal chess position but would be legal in Thai chess.

Thread owner @James1011James1011 also has an American flag next to his user name, so perhaps he could could clarify under which chess laws the positions are meant to be illegal. (In the absence of the American flag FIDE laws would be the natural assumption.)

I thought you would have it soon after I posted the following:

The illegality proof is not hard, but I'm not giving it.  December_TwentyNine wants to crack this one. Parity is about odd and even. It's clear that White has made an odd number of moves and Black an even number. Is that enough of a hint?

If it's not the illegality proof you're not posting it should do until you get round to not not posting it.

It’s not the amount of moves meant to get to that position but it’s that both bishops are on black squares…