Impossible Chess Puzzle???

White to play and mate in one, also an old rule:

DefinatelyNotGM it is impossible.

1. Ad4-f6#. The bishop was an alfil, a bishop-like piece that can only move two squares diagonally but is not obstructed by pieces, just like a knight can jump.

Definitelynotgm push the white pawn to a square #(to lazy to find which square)

If that's how the alfil moves, can it still give check from f6?

Yes, f6 attacks h8 as it's two squares diagonally away. (Alfil doesn't need a piece to jump over just like knight doesn't need any. I think I unintentionally worded my post so that an alfil must have a "hurdle" or a piece to jump over for a move; this is not the case. If it is, alfil would be an extremely weak piece, less than a pawn.)

How on earth do you know about alfil? 

In this position, you can promote to any piece.

White to play and mate in two:

@keju: Read Wikipedia?

@Frankwho: ...oh, this is sooo cruel. 1. e8=bK!! Kd8 2. Qe7##!.

LOL frankwho.

Mate in 2. Old puzzle, from 1711...

A relevant bit of history, since the puzzle is Italian.

In Rome from the early 17th century until the late 19th century, the rook could be placed on any square up to and including the king's square, and the king could be moved to any square on the other side of the rook. This was called "free castling".

Then I guess the answer is 0-0 with the K on h1 and the R on f1 (how do you notate this?). Black plays h2 and White plays Qd3#.

1. fxg8=Q#. A long time ago Queens were only allowed to move one square diagonally.

@Frankwho: Back then nobody cares about notating. I think notation comes after castling is revised to its modern form.

This is a weird position...

White to move, Mate in 1

That wasn't always specified in the rules.

I think I forgot to cite the problem I posted. This is a modified version of a problem from Igor Khmelnitsky's book Chess Exam and Training Guide: Tactics.

Nxe8#. Solution for the puzzle on the other page.