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Here's a miniature selfmate puzzle that I composed today. I just got an idea and I managed to successfully create it. I got the basic idea down to just 9 pieces, none of which are promoted.

It's White to move and force Black to checkmate them in 10 moves. Naturally, Black tries to prolong their resistance for as long as possible.

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Please use your own brain power to solve it! Have fun solving!

EDIT: In chess, a miniature problem is defined as a problem with 7 pieces or less. I finally managed to make a miniature chess problem be with this idea at last! Feel free to solve it if you like!

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ Black pawns are moving down I assume? $\endgroup$ – shoopi Jun 26 at 19:24
  • $\begingroup$ Yes, that is correct. $\endgroup$ – Rewan Demontay Jun 26 at 19:32
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Solution:

There appear to be many lines, that all follow the same strategy of forcing the Black King down the a-file and the b pawn down the b-file to finally give checkmate to the white king. One possible line where black has only one legal move is:

1. Rd8+ Ka7 2. Qg6 b6 3. Rh7+ Ka6 4. Qf5 b5 5. Qe6+ Ka5 6. Rd4 b4 7. Rh5+ Ka4 8. Rc4 Ka3 9. Nc5 b3 10. Rh8 b2#.

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If black tries instead to move the pawn two squares forward white can still force self mate in 10:

1. Rd8+ Ka7 2. Qg6 b5 3. Qf7+ Ka6/b6 4. Rh6+ Ka5 5. Qb3 b4 6. Rc8 (waiting) Kb5 7. Qd5+ Ka4 8. Rh3 b3 9. Rc4+ Ka3 10. Rh8 b2#.

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    $\begingroup$ Nice work! Although, this version with a rook crawl was my main idea (see the end of the comment) The horse in the center was to prevent a BK escape if Black tried a double pawn step: apronus.com/chess/pgnviewer/… $\endgroup$ – Rewan Demontay Jun 26 at 19:57
  • $\begingroup$ I indeed forgot to account for that :) however white can still force a self mate in 10 - I added the line at the bottom. $\endgroup$ – shoopi Jun 26 at 20:27
  • $\begingroup$ Actually, if Black does a double step, White can force a seflmate in 9, not 10! Since that wouldn't be black trying to prolong their life for as long as possible, it technically isn't a valid move for Black! I'm leaving it to you to find that line! $\endgroup$ – Rewan Demontay Jun 26 at 20:30
  • $\begingroup$ I have put out another selfmate puzzle if you want to solve it......; D $\endgroup$ – Rewan Demontay Jun 27 at 17:23
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    $\begingroup$ I've just looked at it. Not sure if I could solve it however at a glance it looks impossible to me. It's important to note that in Selfmates White forces Black to deliver mate against his will (black tries his hardest not to mate white). I'm very curious to see the solution. $\endgroup$ – shoopi Jun 27 at 17:28

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