Answers.Body: <p>Is there a clear definition of what constitutes a &quot;fairy&quot; problem?  For instance, if you can stipulate a change to the dimensions of the board, then solutions of an infinite length could be devised.  Here's an amusing example of such a &quot;dimensional&quot; puzzle:</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Er3K6.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Er3K6.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
  
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Answers.Text: Indeed, in this sense there is no maximum.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Hauke Reddmann
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Answers.Text: Why is the expanded board trimmed and not a square?
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Answers.Text: @Laska: Bh1 will run to the hills :-)
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Answers.Body: <p>On request, here is the problem: SCHWALBE 324-2, Article &quot;Die Valladao-Challenge&quot; by Jochen Schröder, p.389, Nr. 5, by Jochen Schröder, help-aim square h8, 2+59, in 720575940379279357 moves, conditions Antigrid, king dynasty, shortestmover w, diagram anticirce Cheylan w, sentinelles generalises en, noires wb, and black pawns everywhere <em>except</em> ws a5, wk b3, empty a1 h1, bb b1 c1 f1 g1, bk d1, drop hole e1. Solution implements a waiting queue and I won't type it here, see article.</p>
  
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Body: <p><a href="https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/31684/what-is-the-longest-checkmate-problem-a-human-has-composed/31690#31690">Longest orthodox chess problem</a></p>
  <p>One for the specialists. In the newest SCHWALBE I saw some titanic lengths (one problem had 2^59+2^57+3 ~ 10^18 moves!) As you see, this scales with O(2^(n^2)), where n is the chess board length. Which is rather puny to what <em>might</em> be possible, e.g. a problem scaling with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackermann_function" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ackermann function</a>. Anyone knowing the current record holder for any fairy chess problem, no holds barred, only uniqueness of solution is required?</p>
  <p>EDIT (due to comments): You can have an arbitrarily-sized board or sneak in infinity via new pieces. In this sense, the answer <em>is</em> &quot;infinity&quot;. So I should better ask for an actual, printed, stipulation of the form &quot;Something happens in n moves&quot;, where you &quot;just&quot; have to beat the above value. In the Dawson example, the possible infinity is stated (and the first n values on largers board are given in a reprint - I know this problem from there), but these printed n are of course &lt;&lt;10^18.</p>
  
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Comments.Text: Almost certainly the record holder is the problem that you sketched vaguely in the question. Please post details of that as an answer
Comments.UserDisplayName: Laska
Tags: <problems><chess-variants><records>
Title: Longest *fairy* chess problem
ThreadText: # Longest *fairy* chess problem
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2024-01-08)
  
  [Longest orthodox chess problem](https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/31684/what-is-the-longest-checkmate-problem-a-human-has-composed/31690#31690)
  
  One for the specialists. In the newest SCHWALBE I saw some titanic lengths (one problem had 2^59+2^57+3 ~ 10^18 moves!) As you see, this scales with O(2^(n^2)), where n is the chess board length. Which is rather puny to what *might* be possible, e.g. a problem scaling with the [Ackermann function](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackermann_function). Anyone knowing the current record holder for any fairy chess problem, no holds barred, only uniqueness of solution is required?
  
  EDIT (due to comments): You can have an arbitrarily-sized board or sneak in infinity via new pieces. In this sense, the answer *is* "infinity". So I should better ask for an actual, printed, stipulation of the form "Something happens in n moves", where you "just" have to beat the above value. In the Dawson example, the possible infinity is stated (and the first n values on largers board are given in a reprint - I know this problem from there), but these printed n are of course <<10^18.
  
  **Tags:** problems, chess-variants, records
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Almost certainly the record holder is the problem that you sketched vaguely in the question. Please post details of that as an answer  
  
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  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2024-01-08. Score: 3
  
  Is there a clear definition of what constitutes a "fairy" problem? For instance, if you can stipulate a change to the dimensions of the board, then solutions of an infinite length could be devised. Here's an amusing example of such a "dimensional" puzzle:
  
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/Er3K6.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/Er3K6.png)
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Indeed, in this sense there is no maximum.  
  > **username_1**: Why is the expanded board trimmed and not a square?  
  > **username_0**: @username_1: Bh1 will run to the hills :-)  
  
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  ### Answer by username_0 on 2024-01-11. Score: 1
  
  On request, here is the problem: SCHWALBE 324-2, Article "Die Valladao-Challenge" by Jochen Schröder, p.389, Nr. 5, by Jochen Schröder, help-aim square h8, 2+59, in 720575940379279357 moves, conditions Antigrid, king dynasty, shortestmover w, diagram anticirce Cheylan w, sentinelles generalises en, noires wb, and black pawns everywhere *except* ws a5, wk b3, empty a1 h1, bb b1 c1 f1 g1, bk d1, drop hole e1. Solution implements a waiting queue and I won't type it here, see article.
  
  
  ---
  
  