1. Kf7 e8=T! 2. Kg6 0-0-0-0-0-0! 3. Kh5 Kf4 4. Kh4 Th2#

The origins of this joke h#4, which utilizes Pam-Krabbe castling in a minimal form, was a mystery conjured by Per Olin, so far the only person who seems to actually know of it.

On the Internet, help was asked. On February 17, 2009, they sent a request for help on the Retro mailing list-ttps://pairlist1.pair.net/pipermail/retros/2009-February/002826.html This is what they said.

"Supercastling means castling with a promoted rook. Due to changed FIDE
rules it is nowadays illegal. It is said to have been invented by Max Pam, which inspired Tim Krabbe in 1972 (Hesse gives a different year) to compose a threemover including three different white castlings:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke_chess
_problem#Offbeat_interpretations_of_the_rules_of_chess

With the same supermove I composed a twomover (Stella Polaris 1975), Bengt Ingre has published a twomover (Mora Tidning 1993) and we have recently even seen an endgame study with this speciality.

Back in the good old seventies I was informed that there is a helpmate fourmover Ke1 pe7 - Ke8 (2+1) with the supercastling: 1.Kf7 e8T 2.Kg6 0000 3.Kh5 Kf4 4.Kh4 Th2#. Could be that as composer was mentioned Dawson, could be that it was somebody else. Could be that this is the first supercastling, could be that I have dreamt the whole problem.

Can anybody trace this problem?
Best regards
Per Olin"

It went unanswered. A decade later, on June 8th in the Matplus.net forums, they tried their luck again, but also to no avail-http://matplus.net/start.php?px=1582139891&app=forum&act=posts&fid=anti&tid=2302

Olin wrote: "Time wise this could have been inspired by the Krabbe problem. I have no memory of seeing that, but it could have been showed / mentioned in some meeting of the Finnish Chess Problem Society. What I vaguely remember is the following: (diagram) h#4

In an article in the magazine Suomen Tehtäväniekat, January 1994 I asked for author (Dawson?) and publication details, no response. The same question has been asked around one decade ago, probably here in Mat Plus Forum, no response. Question: can anybody trace the helpmate? - The solutions of both problems are obvious. - The chess rules of today say that castling is a move of the king and either rook of the same color along the player’s first rank; this was not the wording in the 70ies and earlier."

On January 4, 2021, a year and a half later, a reply was posted in the same thread to point exactly where they had asked a decade earlier (as aforementioned). Olin's reply, which currently stands as accepted, finally brings closure to this mystery: "Thanks! If the problem is nowhere to be found, then I must have dreamt it and attributed it by mistake to somebody else. Can I claim authorship?"

Now Per Olin has been credited as the author, properly and at long last. An exact source, if not the drifting memories of Olin's 1970's lost in time, is still quite the enigma, unless the 1994 reprint was the first time, which it likely may not be.

R: 1. 0-0-0# a7-a8=sT

See P1234039

R: 1. 0-0-0+ a7-a8=sT

1. Tc7! Ke7 2. d8=sS#!

Here's an illegitimate 2-mover for all you illegitimate problem lovers. Submitted by Doug Brown, Moorestown, NJ. Solution below.

(diagram)


(Incidentally, Doug, your mate position on 3 ranks does not need the King. Try again.)

1. Se5#!

1) 1. g8=CM# R: 1. Kg6xCMh5 CMe4-h5+
2) 1. g8=AD# R: 1. Kg6xADh5 ADc2(d3,e4)-h5+++
3) 1. c8=GZ# R: 1. Kg6xGZh5 GZc2-h5+
4) 1. c8=GQ# R: 1. Kg6xGQh5 GQc2-h5+
5) 1. b8=GF# R: 1. Kg6xGFh5 GFd3-h5+
6) 1. bxa8=GE# R: 1. Kg6xGEh5 GEe4-h5+
7) 1. b8=N# R: 1. Kg6xNh5 Nd3-h5+
8) 1. g8=QN# R: 1. Kg6xQNh5 QNe4-f6-h5+
9) 1. h8=TP# R: 1. Kg6xTPh5 TPf5-h5+
Minor duals, with both mates separately provided elsewhere:
1) 1. g8=GR,b8=GR# R: 1. Kg6xGRh5 GRd3(e4)-h5+
2) 1. g8=MG,h8=MG# R: 1. Kg6xMGh5 MGc2(d3,e4)-h5+

What was Black's last move? It can only have been Kg6-h5, fleeing check. But what was White's prior move: it could only have been a fairy piece moving to h5 from the diagonal c2-f5, discovering check. Then this piece was captured by bK. What kind of piece was it? The idea is that for each feasible piece, there should be exactly one corresponding promotion mate.

1) Camel = (1,3)-Leaper
2) Eagle
3) Gazelle = (3-5)-Leaper
4) Giraffe Quintessence = right-angle turn Girafferider, Giraffe = (1,4)-Leaper
5) Greater Leafhopper
6) Greater Treehopper
7) Nightrider
8) Quintessence = right-angle turn Nightrider
9) Rookhopper

Minor duals, where both solutions are separately provided elsewhere:
1) Gnurider
2) Marguerite = Eagle+Grasshopper+Hamster+Moose+Sparrow, only the first two sub-creatures are used)

Tries:
1)It looks as if one might rotate the board 180 degrees: 1. Bb3#! Not 1. b3+? Kxa3!
The position is legal because e.g. R: 1. g8=B+.
However this doesn't work because it's not thematic :)
2) It looks as if R: 1. Kg6-h5 c2-c3+ might be good. Who's to say in a fairy form that wL can't begin on b1? Well if you can show me a fairy piece which can throw other pieces around the board, then let's consider it, but fairy conditions are excluded here, for sanity's sake.

Would be cooks - but the soundness is protected by the halo of PPRA :)
Bishop Eagle, Boy Scout, Dabbaba, Equihopper, Lancer, Moarider Lion, Radial Leaper

1. a8=sS (Zugzwang)
1. ... Sc7 2. Sb8#
1. ... Sb6 2. Tc5#