[Retros] Happy New Year

[Elkies, Noam]

Andrew Buchanan <andrew at anselan.com> writes:

> Thanks Noam, and Happy New Year.

You're welcome, and likewise to you.

> You never forget that the point of chess is to deliver checkmate!

I had hoped to find a C(8,2)^2 a position where Black's 8 is a Phoenix
replacing Q, R, or B on its home square, which White's 8 captures
early enough to be in time even with the 2-move sequence inserted.
But I didn't start early enough to find such 8's that remained sound
even with one waiting move on a side, let alone two.  So I reverted to
a previous paradigm.  At least I got the White and Black 45's from
different combinatorial structures/formulas, and all five threads
in the numeration also contribute to the mating picture.

> Because this year is a special one, a number of folks
> have all been busy creating path enumeration problems!
>
> https://www.thehoppermagazine.com/articleshome
> Click on "Happy Square Year".
>
> AA148 is my own formal submission for this
> ongoing annual event which you inaugurated in 2004.

Nice, thanks.  (2004?  I thought I started this in 2005, but maybe
I forgot the first one, or supplied a 2004-solution one afterwards.)

NDE