[Retros] No occupied white square

[Noam Elkies]

Francois Labelle <flab at wismuth.com> writes:


> On 12/06/2013 12:28 PM, Noam Elkies wrote:



> > Heinonen's problem was still the first of its kind

>

> Well technically there were earlier realizations with massacre proof 

> games like [PDB P0004246]


Yes, I realized this too some time after I sent out my e-mail.


> > P.S. Is it feasible to compute how many such proof games there are in

> > 10.5 or even 11.0 and beyond?  It would be interesting to see what

> > the range of possibilities is (and how much choice Heinonen had for

> > his 11.0-mover).

>

> The search in 10.5 moves just completed. There are 177 and 98 unique 

> proof games with men on white squares and black squares (respectively). 

> I extrapolate that 11.0 moves will take 2 months, so I'm not sure if 

> I'll do it.


Thanks for the 10.5 move data, then.


> On 12/07/2013 02:23 AM, "Bernd Graefrath" wrote:

>

> > By the way: I think that computer-helped discoveries can also qualify 

> > for awards, and even for the FIDE-Album.

>

> I think so too, although such problems might be harder to judge. A 

> problem that is impressive to a human composer might have been easy to 

> generate by computer. Is this unfair? On the other hand, treating all 

> computer-helped discoveries as "easy to generate" would be wrong, 

> because they might not be.


I thought we judged chess problems primarily by their artistic merits,
not difficulty of composition.  (Difficulty of *solution* might contribute to
-- or detract from -- artistic merit, but that's a different matter.)
Also even if the positions are "easy to generate" by computer somebody
must still have had the idea to do it, and the skill to implement the idea.

NDE