[Retros] A question on stipulations

Renny Bosch rbosch at roadrunner.com
Thu Nov 19 21:46:53 EST 2009


If the stipulation is "Mate?" (in a position that clearly looks like mate), may one assume that the answer must be "Yes", accompanied by proof that the position is legal? The alternative would require proof that the position is illegal, i.e. there does not exist a game that produces the given position. In the first place a non-existence proof is much more difficult than an existence demonstration (typically requiring computer assistance to be certain), and in the second place such a proof is much less satisfying than a game with some ingenious twists and turns. May we therefore assume that such a problem would not have been published unless the answer were "Yes"?

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