In this kind of problems the composer gives you an incomplete Chess game score, containing only mention of Capture(s), Castling(s) and Check(s). Your aim is to find the (normally unique) game that contains the information given.

We will use the following notation:
'~' means non-capture,
'x' means capture
'+' stands for a check-giving move
'#' stands for mate
'o-o' and 'o-o-o' stand for kingside/queenside castlings.

Standard problems:

• a) 1.~ ~ 2.x x 3.~+ ~ 4.~ x 5.o-o o-o-o 6.x ~+ 7.~ ~ 8.x+ x 9.~+ x 10.x ~ 11.x ~ 12.x+ x 13.~ x 14.~ x 15.~ x# (Nikolai N. Petrov, The Case of the Mysterious Moves, 1987)
• b) 1.~ ~ 2.x ~ 3.x ~ 4.x# (Mario Richter, 2009/11/02)
• c) 1.~ ~ 2.~+ ~ 3.x ~ 4.x+ ~ 5.~# (Gerd Wilts, 2009/11/02)
• d) 1.~ ~ 2.~+ ~ 3.x+ x 4.~ ~+ 5.~ x+ 6.x ~ 7.x+ ~ 8.~# (Gerd Wilts, 2009/11/02)
• e) 1.~ ~ 2.x ~+ 3.~ x+ 4.~ x+ 5.~ x+ 6.~ ~+ 7.~ ~+ 8.~ ~+ 9.~ ~+ ... Who wins? (Nikolai Beluchov, 2009/11/03)
• f) 1.~ ~ 2.~+ ~ 3.~ x+ 4.~ x+ 5.~ ~+ 6.~ ~+ 7.x+ ~+ 8.~ ~+ 9.~ ~+ 10.~ ~+ 11.~+ ~ 12.x+ ~+ 13.x+ ~ 14.~+ ~ 15.~ ~+ 16.~+ ~+ 17.x ~+ 18.~+ ~+ 19.~ ~+ 20.~ ~+ 21.~ ~+ 22.x+ ~+ 23.x+ ~ 24.x+ x 25.x ~+ (Gerd Wilts, 2009/11/03)
• g) 1.~ ~ 2.x ~+ 3.~ x+ 4.~ x+ 5.~ x+ 6.~ ~+ 7.~ ~+ 8.~ ~+ 9.~ x 10.x ~ 11.x+ ~ 12.~+ x 13.~ ~+ 14.~ x+ 15.~ x 16.~ ~+ 17.~ x 18.x x 19.~ ~+ 20.~ ~ 21.~ x+ 22.~ x+ 23.~ x 24.~ ~ 25.x+ ~ 26.~+ ~ 27.~+ x 28.~+ ~ 29.~+ ~ 30.~+ x+ 31.~ x 32.~ ~+ 33.x ~+ 34.x ~ 35.x ~ 36.~ ~# (Nikolai Beluchov, 2009/11/06)

• This is surely not a record. To say the least, ending the above game with 35.x creates a non-mate determined position, so it should be possible to squeeze more than 3 more single moves out of it, but this was right about where my patience wore out. Anyone aiming at 49.0?
• None of the games constructed till now makes any use of double checks, and they seem to be quite forcing in a game. Any ideas?
• I think that this genre could have themes on its own. For one thing, the above game contains a determined promotion, which seems interesting to force. Another point is constructing what I call "waltzes" - long sequences of the type ~ ~+ ~ ~+ ~ ~+ ... in which the King moves so that one and the same piece is able to check him again and again. Waltzes are usually determined by the fact that at the end either the King or the piece should occupy some special position - probably where they can capture something. Knights and Bishops produce very charming patterns, and it would be very enjoyable to see longer waltzes in correct puzzles. One example of what I mean by that are moves 17-20 in the cooked game, and shorter ones - moves 28-30 of this one and probably 19-21 of Gerd's game (I haven't solved it yet, but I intend to).
• Besides, no one of us used castling for the sake of the record; but probably castling would make it technically easier to implement various meaningful themes, instead of just pile up numbers.
• Finally, something a little off-beat: The CCC-genre is very, very finite. For instance, the number of possible 9-move strings is roughly 400 000 000, a good machine could enlist them in a reasonable time, and it is hard to believe that many of them would produce determined positions along the way. Yet, such a countable thing quickly obtains record chases, technical methods, themes, etc. It is tempting to think of this evolution as a small model of the development of the art of composition in general; I think that examining such a model would make many historical processes clearer.

Problems that use double check:

• x) 1.~ ~ 2.x ~+ 3.~ x+ 4.~ x+ 5.~ x+ 6.~ ~+ 7.~ ~+ 8.~ ~+ 9.~ x 10.x ~ 11.x+ ~ 12.~+ x 13.~ ~+ 14.~ x+ 15.~ x 16.~ ~+ 17.~ x 18.x x 19.~ ~+ 20.~ ~ 21.~ x+ 22.~ x+ 23.~ x 24.~ ~ 25.x+ ~ 26.~+ ~ 27.~+ x 28.~+ ~ 29.~+ ~ 30.~+ x+ 31.~ x 32.~ ~+ 33.x ~+ 34.x ~ 35.x ~+ 36.~ ~+ 37.~ ~++ 38.x ~+ 39.x ~++ 40.x ~ 41.~ ~# (Göran Wicklund, 2009/11/10, after Nikolai Beluchov)
• y) 1.~ ~ 2.x ~+ 3.~ x+ 4.~ x+ 5.~ x+ 6.~ ~+ 7.~ ~+ 8.~ ~+ 9.~ x 10.x ~ 11.x+ ~ 12.~+ x 13.~ ~+ 14.~ x+ 15.~ x 16.~ ~+ 17.~ x 18.x x 19.~ ~+ 20.~ ~ 21.~ x+ 22.~ x+ 23.~ x 24.~ ~ 25.x+ ~ 26.~+ ~ 27.~+ x 28.~+ ~ 29.~+ ~ 30.~+ x+ 31.~ x 32.~ ~+ 33.x ~+ 34.x ~ 35.x ~+ 36.~ ~+ 37.~ ~++ 38.x ~+ 39.x ~++ 40.~ ~ 41.~ ~++ 42.x ~ 43.~ ~# (Göran Wicklund, 2009/11/11, after Nikolai Beluchov)
• z) 1.~ ~ 2.x ~+ 3.~ x+ 4.~ x+ 5.~ x+ 6.~ ~+ 7.~ ~+ 8.~ ~+ 9.~ x 10.x ~ 11.x+ ~ 12.~+ x 13.~ ~+ 14.~ x+ 15.~ x 16.~ ~+ 17.~ x 18.x x 19.~ ~+ 20.~ ~ 21.~ x+ 22.~ x+ 23.~ x 24.~ ~ 25.x+ ~ 26.~+ ~ 27.~+ x 28.~+ ~ 29.~+ ~ 30.~+ x+ 31.~ x 32.~ ~+ 33.x ~+ 34.x ~ 35.x ~+ 36.~ ~+ 37.~ ~++ 38.x ~+ 39.x ~++ 40.~ ~ 41.~ ~++ 42.x ~+ 43.x ~ 44.~ ~++ 45.~ ~+ 46.~ ~++ 47.~ ~ 48.~ ~++ 49.~ ~+ 50.~ ~+ 51.~ ~ 52.~ ~= (Göran Wicklund, 2009/11/14, after Nikolai Beluchov)

• a) This first game is slightly dualistic (e7-e6 could've been e7-e5 too), since Holmes couldn't have deduced that f5xe6 is an ep capture.
• b) 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Bg4 3.Qxg4 Qc8 4.Qxc8#
• c) 1.e4 f5 2.Qh5+ g6 3.exf5 Kf7 4.fxg6+ Ke8 5.g7#
• d)
• e) 1.d4 c5 2.dxc5 Qa5+ 3.b4 Qxb4+ 4.c3 Qxc3+ 5.Qd2 Qxc1+ 6.Qd1 Qc3+ 7.Qd2 Qc1+ 8.Qd1 Qc3+ 9.Qd2 Qc1+, and the game is drawn by the triple repetition rule.
• f) 1.e4 d6 2.Bb5+ Qd7 3.Ke2 Qxb5+ 4.c4 Qxc4+ 5.Ke3 Qb3+ 6.Kd4 Qa4+ 7.Qxa4+ Nc6+ 8.Kc4 d5+ 9.Kc5 e5+ 10.Kb5 Nd4+ 11.Ka5+ b5 12.Qxb5+ Nc6+ 13.Qxc6+ Ke7 14.Qc5+ Kf6 15.Kb5 Rb8+ 16.Qb6+ c6+ 17.Kxc6 Bb7+ 18.Kd7+ Bc6+ 19.Kc7 Rb7+ 20.Kd8 Rd7+ 21.Kc8 Rd8+ 22.Qxd8+ Ne7+ 23.Qxe7+ Kg6 24.Qxf7+ Kxf7 25.exd5 Bd6#
• g) 1.d4 c5 2.dxc5 Qa5+ 3.b4 Qxb4+ 4.c3 Qxc3+ 5.Qd2 Qxc1+ 6.Qd1 Qc3+ 7.Qd2 Qc1+ 8.Qd1 Qc3+ 9.Nd2 Qxa1 10.Qxa1 e5 11.Qxe5+ Kd8 12.Qe7+ Bxe7 13.f4 Bh4+ 14.g3 Bxg3+ 15.Kd1 Bxh2 16.Ke1 Bg3+ 17.Kd1 Bxf4 18.Rxh7 Rxh7 19.Ke1 Bg3+ 20.Kd1 Rh1 21.Ngf3 Rxf1+ 22.Ne1 Rxe1+ 23.Kc2 Rxe2 24.c6 Ke8 25.cxd7+ Ke7 26.d8=B+ Kd6 27.Be7+ Rxe7 28.Ne4+ Kd5 29.Nc3+ Kd4 30.Ne2+ Rxe2+ 31.Kb3 Rxa2 32.Kb4 Ra4+ 33.Kxa4 b5+ 34.Kxb5 Nc6 35.Kxc6 Ba6 36.Kd7 Bb5#
• ...
• z)
• y)
• z)1.d4 c5 2.dxc5 Qa5+ 3.b4 Qxb4+ 4.c3 Qxc3+ 5.Qd2 Qxc1+ 6.Qd1 Qc3+ 7.Qd2 Qc1+ 8.Qd1 Qc3+ 9.Nd2 Qxa1 10.Qxa1 e5 11.Qxe5+ Kd8 12.Qe7+ Bxe7 13.f4 Bh4+ 14.g3 Bxg3+ 15.Kd1 Bxh2 16.Ke1 Bg3+ 17.Kd1 Bxf4 18.Rxh7 Rxh7 19.Ke1 Bg3+ 20.Kd1 Rh1 21.Ngf3 Rxf1+ 22.Ne1 Rxe1+ 23.Kc2 Rxe2 24.c6 Ke8 25.cxd7+ Ke7 26.d8=B+ Kd6 27.Be7+ Rxe7 28.Ne4+ Kd5 29.Nc3+ Kd4 30.Ne2+ Rxe2+ 31.Kb3 Rxa2 32.Kb4 Ra4+ 33.Kxa4 b5+ 34.Kxb5 Nc6 35.Kxc6 Bb7+ 36.Kd7 Bc8+ 37.Ke8 Bd7++ 38.Kxf7 Be8+ 39.Kxg8 Bf7++ 40.Kh7 Be8 41.Kg8 Bf7++ 42.Kxg7 Be5+ 43.Kxf7 Bb8 44.Kf8 Bd6++ 45.Kg7 Bf8+ 46.Kh8 Bg7++ 47.Kh7 Bf8 48.Kh8 Bg7++ 49.Kh7 Rh8+ 50.Kg6 Rh6+ 51.Kf7 Ke5 52.Kg8