This is a position from the seven-piece tablebases with one of the longest forced paths to the goal: rook, two bishops and a pawn against queen and pawn. Reaching the decisive capture or mate takes a record number of moves.
On the board White has the king on c3, the rook on a8, bishops on c1 and e3 and a pawn on h2 against the king on d1, the queen on h4 and a pawn on h3. White to move; formally a win exists, but such a long one that it runs into the fifty-move rule (the databases call it a «cursed win»).
Positions like this cannot be played out by a human - they are monuments to computer analysis. They show what abysses hide even in «ordinary» material.
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.
The «distance to conversion» metric: how many moves it takes to reach the first capture with exact play. There is also DTM - the distance to mate.
The fifty-move rule resets on a capture or a pawn move, so long wins without captures are impossible in a game.
In endgame theory, in testing engines, and in discussions of changes to the FIDE rules.
Build your own position in the board editor, read up on the rules of chess or run a tournament on your own positions in the free app.
The Vibe Chess app opens from a link and needs no installation. Setting up a tournament takes a minute: pick the system, set the date, the venue and the time control - the app handles the rest.
for a large field: opponents are matched by score, you choose the number of rounds
for a small circle: everyone plays everyone, the round count follows from the field
no rounds, no pairings: players sign up and pick opponents at the table
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