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roving that more four half moves are necessary would be a momumentable achievement, finally bringing the 18 queens challenge to its knees. However, it seems no one knows where to start. Neither do I. As such, we are stuck at 92/96 proven plies. Hopefully, one day, a genius shall shine their light in our favor.

Proving that more four half moves are necessary would be a momumentable and solve this challenge. However, it seems no one knows where to start. Neither do I. As such, we are stuck at 92/96 proven plies. Hopefully, that day comes sooner rather than later.

In a comment on the answer to the PSE version of this question, linked in the other answer, user @Dennis Jaheruddin came up with a provable lower bound for this challenge

"It takes 80 moves to move pawns forward. Obviously they cannot capture the king and queen so there are only 6 promotion fields left on each side. Basically this means it takes at least 4 halfmoves to clear additional promotion fields. Then there are 8 pawn rows that block eachother, each conflict will need to be solved by capturing at least 1 piece that is not on it's starting position, hence we need another 8 half moves. Now we already have a lower bound of 92 and there are still some issues to solve. As such 96 is probably optimal."

Figuring out and proving that more four halfmoves are necessary would be a momumentable achievement, finally bringing the 18 queens challenge to its knees. However, it seems no one knows where to start. Neither do I. As such, we are stuck at 92/96 proven plies. Hopefully, one day, a genius shall shine their light in our favor.

In a comment on the answer to the PSE version of this question, linked in the other answer, user @Dennis Jaheruddin came up with a provable lower bound for this challenge.

"It takes 80 moves to move pawns forward. Obviously, they cannot capture the king and queen so there are only 6 promotion fields left on each side. Basically, this means it takes at least 4 half moves to clear additional promotion fields. Then there are 8 pawn rows that block each other, each conflict will need to be solved by capturing at least 1 piece that is not in its starting position, hence we need another 8 half moves. Now we already have a lower bound of 92 and there are still some issues to solve. As such 96 is probably optimal."

roving that more four half moves are necessary would be a momumentable achievement, finally bringing the 18 queens challenge to its knees. However, it seems no one knows where to start. Neither do I. As such, we are stuck at 92/96 proven plies. Hopefully, one day, a genius shall shine their light in our favor.

In a comment on the answer to the PSE version of this question, linked in the other answer, user @Dennis Jaheruddin came up with a provable lower bound for this challenge

"It takes 80 moves to move pawns forward. Obviously they cannot capture the king and queen so there are only 6 promotion fields left on each side. Basically this means it takes at least 4 halfmoves to clear additional promotion fields. Then there are 8 pawn rows that block eachother, each conflict will need to be solved by capturing at least 1 piece that is not on it's starting position, hence we need another 8 half moves. Now we already have a lower bound of 92 and there are still some issues to solve. As such 96 is probably optimal."

Figuring out and proving that more four halfmoves are necessary would be a momumentable achievement, finally bringing the 18 queens challenge to its knees. However, it seems no one knows where to start. Neither do I. As such, we are stuck at 92/96 proven plies. Hopefully, one day, a genius shall shine their light in our favor.