Weird checkmate contest

Two out of three!

Can you tell me what blacks last move was in all of these 3 cases?

1.Nxe6+

2.Nxe6+

3.Nxe6+

Good try Trexler! However, to get the 8 bQ plus the white promoted pieces, all the missing pawns and pieces had to be captured on the road to promotion. There is no unit available to be captured on e6. You are on the right track but the solution is a bit more subtle and different for the 3 cases.

The retro-analysis for these is similar to the earlier version's. Again Black still has all 16 units and must have promoted 7 Ps. The main difference is that White has 4 promoted pieces rather than 5. To get out of the way of 4 white promoting Ps, 4 black Ps had to make a capture each. Because of the white P still on the f-file, Black's original f-P also had to make a capture in order to promote. These 4 + 1 black P captures account for all 5 missing white units, so there are no spare white units to be captured by either black N as the last move in the diagram.

1. Black has no possible last move, so it's Black to play and the mate is 1...Qa7.

2. Black's last move was ...Ne6 to answer the discovered check, Re6-f6+, so White is to play: 1.Rxe5.

3. Black's last move was ...Ne5 to answer the discovered check, Be5-f6+, so White is to play: 1.fxe4.

Flawless analysis! I didn't want everything revolving around a single white checkmate and I wanted the retractions a bit more precise. Substitution units for retraction selfchecks are an elegant device and easily overlooked by solvers. Well done!

Not sure I liked adding the white pawn in the new setup. It balances the black pawn which is really indispensable to battle multiple checkmates, while it supports the extra content. 

everybody else STOP GRADING !!!!!!!!! that is my job

Cool down, TaeKwonLogan. A person may state that he prefers a later version of his own entry over an earlier one, right? It's not grading, it's upgrading. For the rest I only see solving and analyzing of problems, except in the oldest posts.

thanks! 10/10

ok sorry will stop

yeah sorry

Uncommon pattern from a game I just played

That's cool

lol