1. Joined
    16 Sep '11
    Moves
    39
    05 Mar '12 15:03

    Is this a mate?
  2. Standard memberSwissGambit
    Caninus Interruptus
    2014.05.01
    Joined
    11 Apr '07
    Moves
    92274
    05 Mar '12 20:37
    Originally posted by Stalker56
    [fen]2b3K1/1Bp1R2B/p2P2Rp/1N3q1B/4k3/3r1r1N/B7/1BBQ1BBB w[/fen]
    Is this a mate?
    Probably - the last move could have been En Passant. The real question is, is the position legal? That's a lot of promoted Bishops.

    Do you compose these yourself or get them from other sources?
  3. Joined
    16 Sep '11
    Moves
    39
    05 Mar '12 21:11
    I got this position from one Russian chess magazine.
  4. Joined
    21 Jan '12
    Moves
    16991
    07 Mar '12 02:03
    I guess it is.
  5. Joined
    26 Apr '03
    Moves
    26771
    07 Mar '12 09:032 edits
    Originally posted by Stalker56
    [fen]2b3K1/1Bp1R2B/p2P2Rp/1N3q1B/4k3/3r1r1N/B7/1BBQ1BBB w[/fen]
    Is this a mate?
    The question is, is the position, and white's last move, legal?

    It looks like the last move by white must have been e5xd5(en passant), which means, one move before, black's d pawn would have been on d7.

    White has 7 white bishops, 2 black bishops and one pawn left, so all white's 7 other pawns must have been promoted to bishops, with 6 promoting on white squares and one promoting on a black square.

    To promote:
    White's a pawn would make 1 capture, and promote on black.
    Whites b pawn would need no captures, and would promote on black
    White's c pawn would make 1 capture, and promote on black
    White'd d pawn would make 1 capture, and promote on white
    Whites e pawn is still on the board.
    White's f pawn would need no captures and would promote on black
    White's g pawn would make no captures and would promote on white
    And white's h pawn would make 1 capture, and would promote on white.

    So that is 4 captures, except we have promoted on 4 black squares and 3 white squares.

    We need another 3 captures to convert 3 black square promotions into white square promotions, so white's pawns must make at least 7 captures.

    It looks like those captures might be hard for white to manage because quite a lot of them need to be captures of pieces rather than pawns, at this point though, I got stuck, because I couldn't rule out blacks's pawns promoting first and being captured after.
  6. Joined
    29 Dec '08
    Moves
    6788
    07 Mar '12 22:42
    Originally posted by Stalker56
    [fen]2b3K1/1Bp1R2B/p2P2Rp/1N3q1B/4k3/3r1r1N/B7/1BBQ1BBB w[/fen]
    Is this a mate?
    The general conjecture is:

    The legality of any arrangement of chess pieces and pawns on the board can be determined.
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