[Retros] FW: FW: distance-PG-

[Noam Elkies]

Nicolas Dupont <Nicolas.Dupont at univ-lille1.fr> writes:

> Without ep (nor final checkmate), my best bound is reached via the  
> following sequence:
>
> 1. Pe2-e4   Ph7-h5     2. Dd1xh5   Pa7-a5     3. Dh5xa5   Th8xh2
> 4. Da5xc7   Th2-h8     5. Th1xh8   Ta8xa2     6. Dc7-h2   Ta2-a8
> 7. Ta1-a6   Dd8-a5     8. Ta6-h6   Da5-h5     9. Ff1-a6   Dh5-d1
>
> (63,23,0) in 9.0 => move-length average a bit over 5.30.

This fine record is also tantalizingly close to checkmate.
Does it remain sound if the final three moves are changed to

7. Ta1-a7   Dd8-a5     8. Ff1-a6   Da5-h5     9. Re1-f1   Dh5-d1#

?  This loses 5 units (last three White moves are (7,5,0) instaead of
(12,5,0) but still comes to (58,23,0) = 90.52691... which makes the
per-(half-)move average 5.02927...  One might even try to make the
7th move Ta1xa8, raising the orthogonal count from 58 to 59 and the
average to 5.084828..