This position belongs to the family of the longest forced wins chess knows: queen and knight against rook, bishop and knight. The seven-piece tablebases say a win exists, but reaching a capture or mate takes over 500 moves.
On the board White has the king on d4, the queen on a8 and the knight on b8 against the king on d6, the rook on g7, the bishop on a4 and the knight on g8. Black to move; theoretically Black is lost, but the chain is so long that under the fifty-move rule the game ends in a draw (the databases call it a «blessed loss»).
Records like this cannot be played out by a human - they are monuments to computer analysis. They are a reminder that even seemingly simple material hides bottomless depths.
Drag a piece onto the board, or click a piece and then click the squares. The cross beside the pieces sweeps every piece of that colour off the board, and a single piece can be dragged off the edge.
The pieces will be arranged into the chosen pattern.
It is the mating side to move. Find mate in one.
Openings, endgame positions and breakthrough studies - the set-up appears on the board.
A position from the tablebases in which the unavoidable mate takes a record number of moves - several hundred, with the most exact play from both sides.
No: the fifty-move rule would stop the game first, in the absence of captures or pawn moves.
They show the outer limits of chess and are used for testing engines and rules.
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