Interesting position

Here's a position I came across for the first time today. Can you work out what is special or unusual about it?

Probably this is the legal position with the maximal number of possible white moves.

That is correct. It was composed by Nenad Petrovic in 1964.
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nenad_Petrovi%C4%87_%28chess%29 )


So... How many legal moves has White got in that position?

i count 208, 5 of which are check-mate.

i'd go for one of those.

p.s. what do you think black's last move was?

Originally posted by murrow
i count 208, 5 of which are check-mate.

i'd go for one of those.

p.s. what do you think black's last move was?

The last move must have been ...b3-b2, preceeded by Qe5+, or Nc3-d1 with discovered check.

I haven't checked myself, but apparently there are 218 legal moves for White.

I imagine that Black's last move was b3-b2, blocking the check.