zullil wrote:Now I'm curious.

Still with Houdini 3.
Starting from the Mate position:
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "New game"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "1r3q1k/2N2P1p/6pQ/4p3/7p/n6P/3B4/7K w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "10"]
1. Qf4 exf4 2. Bc3+ Qg7 3. Ne8 Rb1+ 4. Kh2 Rb2+ 5. Kg1 Rb1+ *
4N2k/5Pqp/6p1/8/5p1p/n1B4P/8/1r4K1 w - - 0 1
where I get a Mate in 21
6.Kf2 Rb2+ 7.Kf1 Rb1+ 8.Ke2 Rb2+ 9.Kd3 Rd2+ 10.Ke4 Re2+ 11.Kd5 Rd2+ 12.Ke6 Re2+ 13.Kd7 Rd2+ 14.Ke7 Re2+ 15.Kd8 Rd2+ 16.Nd6 Rxd6+ 17.Ke7 h5 18.Bxg7+ Kxg7 19.f8Q+ Kh7 20.Kxd6 f3 21.Ke7 f2 22.Qxf2 Kh6 23.Qf4+ g5 24.Qf7 g4 25.Kf6 gxh3 26.Qg6#
+- (#21) Depth: 41/82 00:23:50 5960mN, tb=11811
...and backtracking (keeping the hash),
all is fine until
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "New game"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "1r3q1k/2N2P1p/6pQ/4p3/7p/n6P/3B4/7K w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "10"]
1. Qf4 exf4 *
1r3q1k/2N2P1p/6p1/8/5p1p/n6P/3B4/7K w - - 0 2
which is (accordingly) Mate in 25
2.Bc3+ Qg7 3.Ne8 Rb1+ 4.Kh2 Rb2+ 5.Kg1 Rb1+ 6.Kf2 Rb2+
+- (#25) Depth: 45/49 00:31:46 9670mN, tb=36004
But backtracking again, Houdini gives the defense 1.Qf4
h6 (instead of 1. Qf4
exf4 ) and Houdini no longer sees Mate, even after many hours
1r3q1k/2N2P1p/6pQ/4p3/7p/n6P/3B4/7K w - - 0 1
1.Qf4 h6 2.Qxh6+ Qxh6 3.Bxh6 Rb1+ 4.Kg2 Rb2+ 5.Kf3 e4+ 6.Kxe4 Rf2 7.f8Q+ Rxf8 8.Bxf8 Nc4 9.Kd5 Nb2 10.Ke6 Kg8 11.Ke7 Nd3 12.Nd5 Ne5 13.Bh6 Kh7 14.Bg5 Kg8 15.Kf6 Nd7+ 16.Kxg6 Ne5+ 17.Kf5 Nf3 18.Nf4 Nd4+ 19.Kf6 Nf3 20.Ne6 Ng1 21.Bh6 Nxh3
+- (7.71) Depth: 36/92 01:22:15 18879mN, tb=33006
1.Qf4 h6
+- (7.39 --) Depth: 37/92 02:17:45 32531mN, tb=60009
1.Qf4 h6
+- (6.76 --) Depth: 37/97 21:40:33 314425mN, tb=416438