Black plays 7 consecutive moves, without reply from White, after which White stalemates in one!

This puzzle is so hard yet also interesting

@Jortaani said in #8:
> If I have understood correctly, the point of this excellent chess advent calendar thing is that everyone tries to solve the puzzles by themselves...
>
> I mean, there is nothing wrong with asking for a hint because some of the puzzles can be pretty hard. It is this "just give me the solution, I want to win the prize" attitude that irritates me.
>
> That being said, I really like the advent calendar and its obscure puzzles. Here is the link for todays puzzle, I wish everyone good luck for solving it!
>
> www.adventofchess.com/day/5
Yes, if you don't solve it yourself you will not get any practice and you will not be happy with yourself. If you solve it on your own, you will be joyful that you did. If you put it in a lichess forum, you know you did not do it and you will not feel the motivation to do more and that you actually did it.

i got it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@Evan2019 said in #15:
> i got it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

im still trying, drives me nuts. can you please give me a hint and answer this question: does blacks promoted piece have to be pinned?

€: also "legal" means i cant check the enemy king, right?

@RamblinDave said in #17:
> This is nice!
>
> #16 - hint encoded in rot13. Use rot13.com to translate it back:
> gurer rffragvnyyl ner gjb guvatf gung pbhyq unccra gb gur cnja / cebzbgrq cvrpr sbe n fgnyrzngr gb or cbffvoyr - orvat cvaarq vf bar bs gurz. Gel gur bgure. Bapr lbh ryvzvangr n srj cbffvovyvgvrf, gung fubhyq yrnq lbh gb nobhg bar pbasvthengvba bs oynpx cvrprf jurer juvgr gb zbir pna tvir fgnyrzngr. Gura lbh whfg unir gb svther bhg ubj gb trg gurer...

ty i finally got it now. that last move was my nemesis all along =)

This is nice!

#16 - hint encoded in rot13. Use rot13.com to translate it back:
gurer rffragvnyyl ner gjb guvatf gung pbhyq unccra gb gur cnja / cebzbgrq cvrpr sbe n fgnyrzngr gb or cbffvoyr - orvat cvaarq vf bar bs gurz. Gel gur bgure. Bapr lbh ryvzvangr n srj cbffvovyvgvrf, gung fubhyq yrnq lbh gb nobhg bar pbasvthengvba bs oynpx cvrprf jurer juvgr gb zbir pna tvir fgnyrzngr. Gura lbh whfg unir gb svther bhg ubj gb trg gurer...

Is black allowed to check the white king during the first 6 moves?

edit: Oh never mind, I found the solution.

Is it a stalemate? If it is I got it wrong. Just got a draw as there is only the bishop left on the board.

It doesn't seem like much of puzzle to me.

try to find the required stalemate position first by using your visualisation or by just counting escape squares (i believe there is only one) and work backwards, like RamblinDave suggested. and try to get out of your puzzle mindset coz we dont wanna mate, we wanna stalemate. so we have to think outside the box a little. if you work backwards from the position you wanna achieve it is very much possible to get there. you just need to shake off some puzzling habits (whenever you catch youself working forward towards an unclear position, full stop!) and keep the requirements in mind.

- white to stalemate in one move -> find the position first!
- a)SEVEN b)LEGAL moves to get there. no checking the king is allowed, else it would be mate if white cant move. 7 moves defines exactly how to get started.

gl!