white to move, m1

This is not just any puzzle, it is a professional composition. Compositions have additional rules since rules for playing a chess game are insufficient to solve some compositions. One of those rules is "White starts unless you can prove that the diagram cannot occur in a game where white is on move in the diagram; then black starts". Btw, if neither side can legally start, then the whole composition is illegal!

To find out which side is on move, look for what the last move was and draw your conclusions about the legal continuations. That ought to help you cross the line!

lmao ever heard of a little something called retrograde analysis? It’s a type of chess composition where you have to find the history (as in the moves of the game) of a chess position. All we care about in retros are if the moves are legal, no matter how wacky they seem.

So to respond to your statement: it’s not wacky. It’s a whole genre of chess puzzles. Retros are almost never realistic.

Besides, the true point of this puzzle isn’t to checkmate Black, it’s an example of cases when en passant must be legal. Notice how Black wouldn’t have had any other move other than the pawn push?

White is still better. White is up 14 pieces of material

FEN-codes don't count in compositions and puzzles in general. Proving the right for white to play e.p. overrides whatever the FEN says. It's the same for the side on move. The FEN may say it's white, but it's black if you can prove that. FENs were invented for communicating the state of games, not for compositions.

Rule 1: Game players understand nothing about composition rules

Rule 2: To start, read: https://www.janko.at/Retros/Glossary/Codex2015.htm

Rule 3: Chess.com is at fault, it has made a potpourri of puzzling and cares nothing about doing it right.

Every win-puzzle would be stupid to you as somebody must have made a blunder in the preceding game. No games exist in which no serious error can be found by an engine before the win-position. But we have agreed that doesn't matter for puzzles. The past is as it is as long as it can legally exist.

I like these, but on the second one, why would black move the pawn rather than take the rook with the bishop? That just makes the solution not make sense. The first one is at least coherent cos it's a move that was actually made.

In the second one, White has a M1 regardless of what Black does, including 1...Bxd7.

You're right I see it now!

exf6# EN PASSANT.