Chess Mate-in-N Puzzle Composition by Random Generations
Resumo
Introduction:Chess mate-in-N problems (puzzles) are positions on a chessboard in which the attacking side must find a forced checkmate in exactly N moves. The automatic generation of mate-in-N problems is a computational challenge due to the size of the search space. The few approaches in the literature typically use some kind of prior knowledge (e.g. a known puzzle position or database of patterns) to generate such puzzles. Objective: We propose and investigate the generation of mate-in-N problems without prior knowledge. Methodology: We generate chess puzzles from random positions with a defined set of pieces. With a method for ensuring uniqueness of solution, we experimentally evaluate the computational effort and effectiveness of this approach. Results: The experiments indicate that the approach is not only viable but also simpler and competitive with state-of-the-art approaches.
Palavras-chave:
Computational chess, random search, mate-in-n
Referências
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Fainshtein, F. and HaCohen-Kerner, Y. (2006). A chess composer of two-move mate problems. ICGA Journal, 29(1):33–40.
Feng, X., Veeriah, V., Chiam, M., Dennis, M., Pachauri, R., Tumiel, T., Barbero, F., Obando-Ceron, J., Shi, J., Singh, S., et al. (2025). Generating creative chess puzzles. arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.23881.
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Kocsis, L., Uiterwijk, J. W., Postma, E., and van den Herik, J. (2002). The neural movemap heuristic in chess. In International Conference on Computers and Games, pages 154–170. Springer.
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Patel, M., Pandey, H., Wagh, T., Hujare, A. D., and Dangi, R. (2022). Vecma: An advance chess engine. In 2022 IEEE Pune Section International Conference (PuneCon), pages 1–6. IEEE.
Polgár, L. (2006). Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games. Black Dog & Leventhal, New York.
Santos, R. d. S. d. (2022). Geração procedural de puzzles para o desenvolvimento de jogos. Master’s thesis, UFRN.
Schaeffer, J. (1989). The history heuristic and alpha-beta search enhancements in practice. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 11(11):1203–1212.
Schlosser, M. (1988). Computers and chess-problem composition. ICGA Journal, 11(4):151–155.
Shannon, C. E. (1950). Programming a computer for playing chess. Philosophical Magazine, 41(314):256–275.
Steinerberger, S. (2015). On the number of positions in chess without promotion. International Journal of Game Theory, 44(3):761–767.
Upasani, N., Gaikwad, A., Patel, A., Modani, N., Bijamwar, P., and Patil, S. (2021). Dev-zero: A chess engine. In 2021 International Conference on Communication information and Computing Technology (ICCICT), pages 1–6. IEEE.
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Bajarani, I. (2024). 720 Exercícios de Xadrez: Mate em 4, Nível Especialista. Independently published.
Björkqvist, S. (2024). Estimating the puzzlingness of chess puzzles. In 2024 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (BigData), pages 8370–8376. IEEE.
Fainshtein, F. and HaCohen-Kerner, Y. (2006). A chess composer of two-move mate problems. ICGA Journal, 29(1):33–40.
Feng, X., Veeriah, V., Chiam, M., Dennis, M., Pachauri, R., Tumiel, T., Barbero, F., Obando-Ceron, J., Shi, J., Singh, S., et al. (2025). Generating creative chess puzzles. arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.23881.
Gillogly, J. J. (1972). The technology chess program. Artificial Intelligence, 3:145–163.
Gourion, D. (2022). An upper bound for the number of chess diagrams without promotion. ICGA Journal, 44(2):44–55.
Iqbal, A. (2011). Increasing efficiency and quality in automatic composition of threemove mate problems. International Journal of Computer Games Technology, 2011:1–10.
Iqbal, A. (2021). A computational method of optimizing chess compositions to enhance aesthetic appeal. In 2021 2nd International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Data Sciences (AiDAS), pages 1–6. IEEE.
Knuth, D. E. and Moore, R. W. (1975). An analysis of alpha-beta pruning. Artificial Intelligence, 6(4):293–326.
Kocsis, L., Uiterwijk, J. W., Postma, E., and van den Herik, J. (2002). The neural movemap heuristic in chess. In International Conference on Computers and Games, pages 154–170. Springer.
Maharaj, S., Polson, N., and Turk, A. (2022). Chess ai: competing paradigms for machine intelligence. Entropy, 24(4):550.
Oliveira, T. A. d. (2024). Sudoku: um estudo sobre algoritmos de geração, classificação e resolução para aplicação educacional. Master’s thesis, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS).
Patel, M., Pandey, H., Wagh, T., Hujare, A. D., and Dangi, R. (2022). Vecma: An advance chess engine. In 2022 IEEE Pune Section International Conference (PuneCon), pages 1–6. IEEE.
Polgár, L. (2006). Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games. Black Dog & Leventhal, New York.
Santos, R. d. S. d. (2022). Geração procedural de puzzles para o desenvolvimento de jogos. Master’s thesis, UFRN.
Schaeffer, J. (1989). The history heuristic and alpha-beta search enhancements in practice. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 11(11):1203–1212.
Schlosser, M. (1988). Computers and chess-problem composition. ICGA Journal, 11(4):151–155.
Shannon, C. E. (1950). Programming a computer for playing chess. Philosophical Magazine, 41(314):256–275.
Steinerberger, S. (2015). On the number of positions in chess without promotion. International Journal of Game Theory, 44(3):761–767.
Upasani, N., Gaikwad, A., Patel, A., Modani, N., Bijamwar, P., and Patil, S. (2021). Dev-zero: A chess engine. In 2021 International Conference on Communication information and Computing Technology (ICCICT), pages 1–6. IEEE.
von Neumann, J. and Morgenstern, O. (1944). Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. Princeton University Press.
Yannakakis, G. N. and Togelius, J. (2018). Artificial Intelligence and Games. Springer.
Publicado
29/09/2026
Como Citar
BRADACZ, André Luis; CASTELLUCCI, Pedro Belin.
Chess Mate-in-N Puzzle Composition by Random Generations. In: SIMPÓSIO BRASILEIRO DE JOGOS E ENTRETENIMENTO DIGITAL (SBGAMES), 25. , 2026, Goiânia/GO.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2026
.
p. 806-817.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/sbgames.2026.25608.
