[Retros] Fastest selfmates in 1?

[François Labelle]

Hi all,

I took up Noam's challenge. My computer found no example of a forced 
mate after 5.0 moves. It is currently looking for examples after 5.5 
moves and I should get the answer in about 2 days. So far after 10%, it 
found two similar positions with 396 + 264 = 660 games in total, almost 
certainly the examples Noam found. I'll post again when I have the 
complete results.

For the computation I'm using the technique suggested by Noam: the 
starting point is files containing every distinct position after up to 
5.5 moves, and to run faster I require that the side to play is in check 
(a property which should hold as long as we're dealing with short 
games). I like that the challenge is right on the edge of exhaustive 
computer search.

     François