Shortest-proof-game challenge

^ Time expired for round 2, which means... congratulations!  Round 3 begins as soon as you post the next position (which can be anything you like, as long as it's legal).

Btw, I gave your idea (about the pm system) some thought, but eventually decided against it, at least for now. Apologies :(  Here are the main reasons for this:

1.) I might want to take part in this at some point, if I have time for it. But the rule change you proposed sort of prevents this, because it would obviously give me an unfair advantage (being able to see everyone else's proof games, while no one else can).

2.) It might prove to be a "threadkiller". What I mean by that is that it's likely no one new will get involved if they can't see everything that's going on.

3.) I still view the current system as being reasonably fair (You did end up winning the last round, after all. ). Of course there are instances when someone may feel "cheated", but this whole thing is supposed to be fun - the concept of "winning" isn't meant to be taken so seriously.

I realize the above reasons are all a bit selfish, but gave them anyway because it wouldn't be fair to make a decision without justifying it in some way.

im sorry if im not allowed, but here it is...

 Sorry, you're not allowed to post the next position unless you have won the previous round. In this case, the winner of the previous round is browni3141, so he'll decide what the next position will be.

But hey, that's an AWESOME position you've got there - White is stalemated with all 16 of his pieces still on the board, against a lone king. If you win round 3, I'd love to see that be the round 4 position.

It's kind of hard to come up with something interesting, but here is my attempt.

Just so that no one gets confused, remember that white plays from the bottom, and the final position must be white to move.

Is the problem poster allowed to post solutions, assuming he/she doesn't already know the optimal solution of course.

 Good question - the answer, unfortunately, is no. This rule is to prevent two things:

1.) The possibility of having the same person win every round, or the vast majority of rounds.

2.) An inclination to cheat by posting positions that one already has the optimal solutions for. (I'm NOT saying that I think you would cheat; the problem is that allowing it once would force me to allow it every time.)  

Of course, you can still post your solution at the end of the week if you want to. 

Sixty moves.

 You are correct. It is easy to prove that the lowest possible score is 48. (6*4+2) pawn moves + (2*4) knight moves + (2*2) bishop moves + (2*1) rook moves + 1 queen move + 7 king moves = 26+8+4+2+1+7 = 48. My position must have been too easy.

I guess that means it's over and you won. You get to post the next position.

^ Yes, I think an exception to the 1-week interval is in order, since the above explanation makes it quite clear that m00nlight's solution is indeed optimal. So round 3 is officially over - congratulations to m00nlight for winning! :)  Round 4 begins as soon as the next position is posted.

I saw this one once

Here is the answer

^ Looks like we have a winner... after less than 12 hours! Wow, that was fast

In all seriousness, though, that was pretty cheap. However, there is no specific rule prohibiting this, so I'll have to allow it. But please, try to give us ORIGINAL positions, people - I really don't want the thread to turn into a game of Trivial Pursuit. 

Round 5 begins when jetfighter13 posts the next position.

I will post a creative position

Try this one

I think I'll participate in this round. Here's my 1st attempt - 30.5 moves:

nice, that actually looked cool

We're more than 2 days into round 5 (for which the position can be found in post #60), and the only try so far has been mine!   Are people already losing interest?! C'mon, there've only been 4 rounds so far, and one was almost too short to even be considered an actual round ;)