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Bad, even very bad chess moves are nothing out of the ordinary. Every single player will have had their fair share of stupid blunders like hanging a queen in an otherwise completely winning position. But it is pretty rare to see examples of the worst possible type of blunder:

Let's say that a chess move is (truly) atrocious if

  • it forces the opponent to give checkmate the following move and
  • every other legal move from the same position would give checkmate instead.

For example:

First example position, FEN: K1k1BR2/P1p1P3/2q5/8/1Q6/8/8/8

In this position, White has exactly two legal moves - Bxc6# (which is checkmate) and Qb7+???, which forces Black to respond with Qxb7#, checkmating White. So, the second option would be an example of a (truly) atrocious move.

Now, in this instance, there was only a single alternative move that White could have played. But clearly, a (truly) atrocious move grows all the more impressive the larger its set of alternatives is. So this is your challenge:

Try to find a legal chess position that admits a (truly) atrocious move with the most alternatives!

To kick things off, here is my (nonoptimal) benchmark of a (truly) atrocious move with 21 alternatives (White to move):

Second example, FEN: 2k3BR/2P4P/1PPP4/5R2/8/pp4pB/1p4P1/bK6

Can you beat that? I'm looking forward to your attempts :^)

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    $\begingroup$ In case this is of use for someone: FEN (first position): K1k1BR2/P1p1P3/2q5/8/1Q6/8/8/8 w - - 0 1 FEN (second position): 2k3BR/2P4P/1PPP4/5R2/8/pp4pB/1p4P1/bK6 w - - 0 1 $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 26 at 17:56
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    $\begingroup$ Yes, see Krabbé's entry 334 <timkr.home.xs4all.nl/chess2/diary_17.htm> (found again via Chess Stack Exchange <chess.stackexchange.com/questions/40403/…) $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 27 at 3:21
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    $\begingroup$ I cracked up when I read the first condition. Then I cracked up again when I read the second condition. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 27 at 3:42
  • $\begingroup$ But how did you get yourself in that position? :D $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 27 at 21:11

4 Answers 4

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UPDATE:

From Krabbé's blog entry 383:

chess diagram of worst possible move

White to play
Worst possible move, n=52 (legal position, promoted men, no promotion moves)
Sampsa Lahtonen (after Dittmann), 2008

White has 52 moves, 51 of which are mate in one (12 by Rg2; 8 by Qe7; 6 by Qd8; 6 by Nb6; 5 by Qb8; 4 by Qa7; 3 by Qa6; 4 by Qa5; 1 by Qe5; 1 by Pb4; 1 by Rf7) and the 52nd (Qxc4+) forcing Black to mate them in one.

Laska mentioned Krabbé's blog entry 334 in a comment. The best one there is

White has 48 moves, 47 of which are mate, the 48th (Qe6+) forcing Black to mate him in one.

FEN: b2rQQQ1/3P1p1Q/3r1k2/2pP1N1Q/4KRPp/5P2/1R6/B3nn2 w - - 0 1

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UPDATE:

48 + 1

Inspired by the CW answer but beating it by one, I think.

48 check mates and a loser.

The loser is Qxa4+ forcing Nxa4#.

There are 36 check mates by Queens. 10 discovered check mates by the g2 Rook, one by the other Rook (Rxf6#), and one (b5#) by Pawn.

End of update.

36, I believe.

![FEN B7/6p1/2R3P1/7B/6RP/2p2kBQ/p1P1R2P/rnKB4 w - - 0 1

Proof game (not optimal):

1. a4 a5 2. b4 h5 3. b5 h4 4. b6 c5 5. g4 Ra7 6. bxa7 b5 7. axb5 Nc6 8. bxc6 Qb6 9. c7 Bb7 10. a8=B Rh5 11. Ra4 Rd5 12. g5 Rd3 13. Rg4 Ra3 14. Nc3 Nf6 15. Nd5 Ne4 16. c8=B Ra1 17. Nf4 Ba6 18. Ngh3 Nc3 19. Rhg1 Nb1 20. Bh1 a4 21. d4 a3 22. Ng2 d5 23. Bf5 Qb5 24. Bg6 Qb7 25. Bh5 Qb6 26. g6 Qb7 27. Qd3 Qb6 28. Nhf4 Qb8 29. Ne6 Qb7 30. Nd8 e6 31. Nc6 Bd6 32. Nb8 Bg3 33. fxg3 Qb6 34. gxh4 Qc6 35. Qh3 Qb7 36. Bf4 Ke7 37. Bg3 e5 38. dxe5 Qb6 39. e4 Qc6 40. Be2 Qb6 41. Kd1 Qc6 42. Kc1 Qb6 43. Bd1 Qc6 44. Re1 Ke6 45. Re2 f5 46. Nd7 f4 47. exd5+ Kf5 48. Nb8 Qb5 49. Nc6 Qb3 50. d6 Qc3 51. d7 Qb3 52. d8=R Qe3+ 53. Rdd2 Ke4 54. Nb8 Kf3 55. e6 Qd4 56. e7 c4 57. e8=B Qd5 58. Bc6 Qe4 59. Ba8 Qd5 60. Nd7 Qc6 61. Nc5 Qd5 62. Ne6 c3 63. Rd4 Qc6 64. Rc4 Qd5 65. Nexf4 Bb7 66. Ne6 Qc6 67. Nd8 Qe4 68. Rc5 Bc6 69. Nxc6 Qxc6 70. Rxc6 a2

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    $\begingroup$ Sadly, reveal spoilerRe3+ neither checkmates, nor forces counter-mate. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 27 at 2:33
  • $\begingroup$ @AxiomaticSystem. Damn! And I can't find a simple fix. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 27 at 5:06
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    $\begingroup$ I think it is fixed now. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 27 at 11:54
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    $\begingroup$ This is nice that black actually has options in the noncheckmate move (I assume Bb7?) by white. It just that both leads to mate as well (Na3 and Nd2) $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 28 at 2:50
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    $\begingroup$ Whoa, beating Krabbe blog should be an achievement! Congrats! The losing move is also a check. Which is even better $\endgroup$ Commented 8 hours ago
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A slight improvement on @Albert.Lang's answer where Qh4 loses, and all 38 other moves win.

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ White can play Kxa2 without mating. $\endgroup$ Commented 2 days ago
  • $\begingroup$ @Dornteufel How did I miss that. This next version is correct, I think; but the corner-fix makes is more like Albert Lang's answer than my old one $\endgroup$ Commented 2 days ago
  • $\begingroup$ Very impressive construction! $\endgroup$ Commented 18 hours ago
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A slight variation of the given position with 23 moves that should still be legally reachable: image of board

FEN: B1k3BR/2P4P/1PPP4/5R2/8/2pp2pB/1p1p2P1/brbK4 w - - 0 1

32 winning moves, not reachable from the starting position: image of board

FEN: QQQQQB2/QnnnQP1p/QnknQP1P/QnnnQP2/QQQQQP2/PPPPPP1p/3PpP1P/4BbBK w - - 0 1

27 winning moves, not reachable from the starting position: image of board

FEN: k2BQBQB/2QQBQBQ/1Q1QQBQB/BQQ1QQB1/QBQQ1QPB/BQBPB1Bp/QBPBpB1B/BQB1BbBK w - - 0 1

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  • $\begingroup$ @noedne should I delete the two unreachable solutions? $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 26 at 20:40
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for your answer! As for me, you can feel free to leave your earlier attempts here for posterity. But yeah, the question is only about legally reachable positions :) $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 26 at 21:32
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    $\begingroup$ As you clearly marked them as unreachable, I would leave the unreacheable answers in. Any background on how you found these? $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 27 at 9:04

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