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Why does Stockfish only gives -28 to a game with only a W pawn and a B rook...
In this position (W resigned) with only a pawn and a rook remaining Stockfish should have resolved the game and say "Mate in xx" (with perfect play).However Stockfish is said to have resolved any game...
View ArticleAre Stockfish "Mate in X" counts ever over-optimistic?
When Stockfish gives an evaluation of, say #15, I have seen cases where this is pessimistic, and it subsequently revises its evaluation to say #9.Are there cases where it thinks it can mate in 15, but...
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Mate in 4. Difficult. Going crazy
A friend sent me this puzzle. He insists that Black has a mate in 4. I just can't find it.Can someone see a mate in 4 moves here?
View ArticleIs there a double-forced mate position?
A usual forced mate position is where the winning player can play in a way that ensures checkmate, no matter what (legal) moves the opponent makes (unless the game ends due to a non-play reason, i.e....
View ArticleIs there a name for this mating pattern?
What's the name of the mating pattern starting with the move 21...Ng4!?[FEN ""]1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. d5 e6 4. e4 exd5 5. exd5 d6 6. Nf3 Be7 7. Bb5+ Nbd7 8. a4 O-O 9. O-O b6 10. Bc6 Rb8 11. Bf4 Bb7 12....
View ArticleIs there a name attributed to this type of checkmate pattern?
I was going over an old lichess.com game when I realized that the checkmating pattern seemed familiar.[FEN "5rk1/p4pp1/1p5p/2p4Q/2P3R1/P4q2/6RP/4r2K w - - 0 1"]Here it is boiled down, although the...
View ArticleDoes this knight and rook mating pattern have a name, or has it occurred before?
[fen "5k2/8/1R6/5r2/P7/1P4P1/6KP/5n2 b - - 0 40"]With black to move, remarkably it's mate in 2 (at first glance, it looks like black may struggle to even draw). It occurred in a recent LiChess game of...
View ArticleMost mate options after 6 moves
Found this construction problem from '83 and liked it. I don't know the best solution (yet), and maybe you can top it anyway.Consider the (help) "game" 1.e4 a6 2.Bc4 a5 3.Qh5 a4. Now White can mate in...
View ArticleThe Most Frequent Checkmate Patterns
Of the main checkmate patterns which are the most frequent? Based on chess literature the back-rank mate is arguably the most common, I would expect the Queen mate would be up there as well as...
View ArticleCheck for checkmate
So I am implementing an intelligent chess agent but I can't get the checkmate working.I was wondering if there is a program that takes the chessboard notation and returns a result of yes or no to...
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Redefining Check and Checkmate
I used to define checkmate as “the point in the game when person A’s king is capture-able on person B’s next move no matter the response of A”.This is not true. In the image below, black “could”...
View ArticleOn a toroidal board, which pieces are needed to checkmate?
I saw this question On an infinite board, which pieces are needed to checkmate? and was inspired by it.Many mating combinations won't suffice on a toroidal board.For example, queen vs king will be a...
View ArticleMost delaying moves before checkmate
Consider a position where if was player A's turn, they could make a series of moves ("the mating sequence") with forced mate.However, it is player B's turn, and they can make a series of "delaying...
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Why is it not a checkmate?
I am new to chess. I have tried to learn checkmate from the video lesson in chess24 website. There, in one question, it marked my answer wrong and said that it was not checkmate. Can anyone please...
View ArticleWhat are the commonest checkmating moves in the Lichess (or similar) database?
I'm curious what checkmating move is the most common in the Lichess database? That is, the properly algebraically specified move, for a given color, like "White plays Re8#".Answers for other databases...
View ArticleRook vs Bishop on odd-order board
Suppose White has King and Rook and Black has King and Bishop on a square board of odd size (such as 9x9).Is it generally possible for White to force checkmate?
View ArticleHow fast can checkmate occur by just moving the king?
How short can a game be in which (after the first move) one player moves only their king, and yet checkmates their opponent?This is assuming that the players cooperate, i.e. this is a kind of...
View ArticleLongest forced win with a rook
What is the longest forced checkmate where the winning side has only a rook? I know this position where White has a mate in 67:[FEN "2K4k/7p/8/8/8/8/3R4/n7 w - - 0 1"]1. Kd7 Nb3 2. Rb2 Nd4 3. Rg2 h5 4....
View ArticleIs there any position where giving checkmate by En Passant is a brilliant...
I have seen many en passant checkmates, but I have never seen one that was a brilliant move.Is there any position where giving checkmate by en passant is a brilliant move on Chess.com?
View ArticleWhat is the shortest possible way to checkmate your opponent without using a...
I know about the 2 move mate where the 2 side pawns move up and the Queen comes in and delivers a swift checkmate, but what if the Queen was not being used, or wasn't on the board in the first place?
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