Shortest-proof-game challenge

Does the black king have to be on a7 in that one? Why not say, f2, or e1, or e3, or even just simply c8?

I'm good with any of those squares, as long as he's still in check. 😉

But that's just it..why can't he be on a sqaure where he's not in check, so it would be white to move and an even full number of moves?

#6471 isn’t unique. Here is another line:

As for my position, is the position at #6468 unique with Bf6–>e5? Or d4? I really hope the main idea works this time.

With Bf6 on e5, the computer finds this cook:

With Bf6 on d4, the computer cooks as follows:

The theme you're doing [Schnoebelen] is always difficult to get sound.

That's very frustrating: there's always a cook wherever that bishop is, and it is a different specific cook for each square the bishop could be on. Now I understand how frustrated BishopTakesH7 feels about proof games

Indeed I tried to do a double-side Schnoebelen theme as you pointed out. However, this was trickier than I expected since there is no evidence of promotion for either side, and the capture squares become unclear. I suppose an artificial fix might be to add the reflex condition (if there is a mating move, it must be played) to the original #6464, but it seems like a "cheat" to me. I'll see if there is another way to fix this problem.

Here's an example that shows it's possible to get three [!] of them. It's computer-tested.

Unto Heinonen 
StrateGems 2004

2nd Prize

PG in 16.5 moves

Give this one a try.

Noob here: what's a Schnoebelen? Also is there a dictionary somewhere for all these puzzle and proof game terms?

It's when you capture a promoted piece that never moved.

Lucky for the composer that EndgameEnthusiast wasn't one of the judges.

Good job.

Not too hard to solve, especially when you know the theme in advance.

Much harder for the composer to get only the one solution.

No doubt.

I've got my own neuroses, but that isn't one of them!

3 Schnoebelen pieces is very impressive! I don’t expect myself to do such a challenging task, without any cooks.

Anyway, I hope this new position achieves 2 Schnoebelen pieces, one for each side. I had to use a slightly different idea, but fingers crossed that it works this time!

@6488

So this theme is named after Philippe Schnoebelen

I think it is unique, but the computer people will tell

Cooked this one without the computer:

I think daStrwbrry will enjoy solving this one.

PG in 19.5