diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index eea696893..306e07f0a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Changed
+
+- Optimized `_checkerboard_novelty_reference` by replacing Python inner loops with a vectorized NumPy `sliding_window_view` and `einsum` implementation for fallback parity, preserving the Rust kernel as the production arithmetic path. Zero-sized kernels retain the prior all-zero curve instead of entering an invalid `n + 1` window range.
+
+
 ### Added
 
 - Display the analyzed song tempo (BPM) as a badge in the rehearsal workspace.
diff --git a/docs/doctoring/checkerboard-novelty-parity.md b/docs/doctoring/checkerboard-novelty-parity.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f5d17b26e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/doctoring/checkerboard-novelty-parity.md
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+# Checkerboard novelty parity and vectorization evidence
+
+## Scope
+
+This note documents the mathematical and numerical contract for BandScope's checkerboard-novelty implementation in `services/analysis-engine/src/bandscope_analysis/sections/segmenter.py` and the production Rust kernel in `services/analysis-engine/rust/src/lib.rs`. It is intentionally narrower than an end-to-end claim about music-structure accuracy: the change vectorizes an established reference computation and preserves Rust/NumPy numerical parity; it does not introduce a new segmentation model or claim improved boundary-detection accuracy.
+
+Primary and current review sources were rechecked on 2026-08-15. The 2024 TISMIR tutorial remains a current peer-reviewed tutorial treatment of novelty functions for music signal processing, while Foote (2000) is the foundational checkerboard/self-similarity formulation and Nieto et al. (2020) remains an authoritative review of audio-based music structure analysis.
+
+## Algorithmic contract
+
+BandScope follows the classical novelty-boundary pattern: a local checkerboard-like kernel is correlated with a patch of a self-similarity representation around the main diagonal, producing a one-dimensional novelty curve whose peaks indicate locally contrasting regions. This is consistent with Foote's original method and with the modern tutorial derivation in Müller and Chiu (2024).
+
+The implementation contract for this PR is:
+
+- each valid `kernel_size × kernel_size` diagonal patch contributes exactly one novelty value;
+- the final valid patch is included for both odd and even kernel sizes;
+- inputs shorter than a nonzero kernel preserve the established all-zero output;
+- `kernel_size == 0` preserves the established all-zero output instead of constructing an invalid `n + 1` sliding-window range;
+- the NumPy implementation uses array views/vectorized contraction rather than Python inner loops and does not intentionally materialize one copy per patch; and
+- the Rust production kernel and NumPy reference are required to agree numerically on zero, unit, odd, even, boundary-size, and shorter-than-kernel cases.
+
+The zero-kernel behavior is a backward-compatibility boundary, not a statement that a zero-sized checkerboard has a musically meaningful interpretation. New callers should use a positive analysis kernel; the zero case remains defined so legacy or defensive call paths fail safely and deterministically.
+
+## Numerical evidence required by the repository
+
+The PR's tests separate algorithmic parity from musical-validity claims. They must cover:
+
+1. an independent scalar/oracle calculation for representative nonzero kernels so the vectorized NumPy path is not tested only against itself;
+2. Rust-to-NumPy parity after building and installing the native extension;
+3. zero, unit, odd, even, exact-boundary, and shorter-than-kernel inputs;
+4. finite output and stable output shape; and
+5. repository-wide Python statement and branch coverage at 100% for owned production code, plus Rust tests and the normal BandScope quickcheck.
+
+A parity test can prove that the optimized implementation preserves the repository's specified arithmetic. It cannot by itself establish that detected boundaries match human musical-form annotations. End-to-end music-structure quality should therefore be evaluated separately on annotated recordings/datasets with boundary-tolerant MIR metrics rather than inferred from micro-kernel parity.
+
+## Interpretation for product use
+
+Music structure is subjective, ambiguous, and hierarchical; a novelty curve captures one useful segmentation principle rather than a unique ground truth. Nieto et al. (2020) specifically identify novelty/homogeneity, repetition, regularity, subjectivity, ambiguity, and hierarchy as material concerns for production MSA systems. BandScope should therefore treat this checkerboard kernel as one deterministic computational layer within a broader rehearsal-oriented analysis, expose confidence/uncertainty where downstream decisions depend on inferred structure, and avoid presenting a single novelty segmentation as the only valid interpretation of a song.
+
+Müller and Chiu (2024) likewise emphasize that useful novelty functions should be stable, precise, computationally efficient, robust to irrelevant variation, and evaluated with tolerance-aware event metrics. The vectorization in this PR addresses computational efficiency and parity only; it deliberately leaves feature design, peak picking, tolerance windows, and corpus-level boundary accuracy to their respective validated layers.
+
+## References (APA 7th)
+
+Foote, J. (2000). Automatic audio segmentation using a measure of audio novelty. *Proceedings of the 2000 IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo (ICME 2000)*, *1*, 452–455. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICME.2000.869637
+
+Müller, M., & Chiu, C.-Y. (2024). A basic tutorial on novelty and activation functions for music signal processing. *Transactions of the International Society for Music Information Retrieval, 7*(1), 179–194. https://doi.org/10.5334/tismir.202
+
+Nieto, O., Mysore, G. J., Wang, C.-i., Smith, J. B. L., Schlüter, J., Grill, T., & McFee, B. (2020). Audio-based music structure analysis: Current trends, open challenges, and applications. *Transactions of the International Society for Music Information Retrieval, 3*(1), 246–263. https://doi.org/10.5334/tismir.54
diff --git a/services/analysis-engine/rust/src/lib.rs b/services/analysis-engine/rust/src/lib.rs
index cffa84e2c..8c2c01439 100644
--- a/services/analysis-engine/rust/src/lib.rs
+++ b/services/analysis-engine/rust/src/lib.rs
@@ -37,13 +37,15 @@ fn checkerboard_novelty<'py>(
     let half = kernel_size / 2;
     let mut novelty = Array1::<f64>::zeros(n);
 
-    // Mirror the Python guard: matrices smaller than the kernel yield zeros.
-    if n < kernel_size {
+    // Preserve the legacy all-zero curve for a zero-sized kernel; matrices
+    // smaller than a nonzero kernel likewise have no valid diagonal patch.
+    if kernel_size == 0 || n < kernel_size {
         return Ok(novelty.into_pyarray(py));
     }
 
-    // valid_range = range(half, n - half)
-    for i in half..(n - half) {
+    // Emit one value for every valid K×K diagonal patch. For even kernels,
+    // this includes the final bottom-right patch that `half..(n - half)` omits.
+    for i in half..(half + n - kernel_size + 1) {
         let mut acc = 0.0_f64;
         // patch = ssm[i-half : i+half, i-half : i+half]; sum(patch * kernel)
         for r in 0..kernel_size {
diff --git a/services/analysis-engine/src/bandscope_analysis/sections/segmenter.py b/services/analysis-engine/src/bandscope_analysis/sections/segmenter.py
index 7841e20d2..46a04e38f 100644
--- a/services/analysis-engine/src/bandscope_analysis/sections/segmenter.py
+++ b/services/analysis-engine/src/bandscope_analysis/sections/segmenter.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 import librosa
 import numpy as np
+from numpy.lib.stride_tricks import sliding_window_view
 from numpy.typing import NDArray
 
 from .._native import HAVE_RUST, _checkerboard_novelty_rust
@@ -121,7 +122,7 @@ def _checkerboard_novelty_reference(
     half = kernel_size // 2
     novelty = np.zeros(n, dtype=np.float64)
 
-    if n < kernel_size:
+    if kernel_size == 0 or n < kernel_size:
         return novelty
 
     # Build the Foote checkerboard kernel. On-diagonal quadrants (within a
@@ -134,16 +135,20 @@ def _checkerboard_novelty_reference(
     kernel[:half, :half] = 1.0
     kernel[half:, half:] = 1.0
 
-    # Sum each checkerboard offset across all valid diagonal windows at once.
-    valid = novelty[half : n - half]
-    for di in range(-half, half):
-        for dj in range(-half, half):
-            value = kernel[di + half, dj + half]
-            diagonal = np.diagonal(ssm[half + di : n - half + di, half + dj : n - half + dj])
-            if value > 0:
-                valid += diagonal
-            else:
-                valid -= diagonal
+    # ``sliding_window_view`` and ``diagonal`` are zero-copy views. Restrict
+    # the final window axis to the exact public output slice (even kernels have
+    # one additional bottom-right window), then contract directly into novelty
+    # so no K²×N temporary tensor or second O(N) result vector is materialized.
+    windows = sliding_window_view(ssm, (kernel_size, kernel_size))
+    valid_length = n - kernel_size + 1
+    diagonal_windows = np.diagonal(windows, axis1=0, axis2=1)[..., :valid_length]
+    np.einsum(
+        "ij,ijk->k",
+        kernel,
+        diagonal_windows,
+        out=novelty[half : half + valid_length],
+        optimize=False,
+    )
 
     # Normalize by peak absolute magnitude, preserving sign.
     max_val = np.max(np.abs(novelty))
diff --git a/services/analysis-engine/tests/test_segmenter.py b/services/analysis-engine/tests/test_segmenter.py
index 3586c00de..e60857f21 100644
--- a/services/analysis-engine/tests/test_segmenter.py
+++ b/services/analysis-engine/tests/test_segmenter.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 from unittest.mock import patch
 
 import numpy as np
+import pytest
 
 from bandscope_analysis.sections.segmenter import (
     MAX_SSM_FRAMES,
@@ -104,29 +105,42 @@ def test_checkerboard_novelty_short_matrix_returns_zeros() -> None:
     assert np.array_equal(novelty, np.zeros(2, dtype=np.float64))
 
 
-def test_checkerboard_novelty_matches_loop_reference() -> None:
-    """Ensure diagonal vectorization preserves checkerboard novelty values."""
-    rng = np.random.default_rng(42)
-    ssm = rng.random((48, 48), dtype=np.float64)
-    ssm = (ssm + ssm.T) / 2.0
-    kernel_size = 8
+def _checkerboard_loop_oracle(ssm: np.ndarray, kernel_size: int) -> np.ndarray:
+    """Compute the Foote novelty curve with explicit centered patch loops."""
+    n = ssm.shape[0]
     half = kernel_size // 2
-    expected = np.zeros(ssm.shape[0], dtype=np.float64)
+    expected = np.zeros(n, dtype=np.float64)
+    if kernel_size == 0 or n < kernel_size:
+        return expected
 
-    # Foote kernel: +1 on-diagonal quadrants, -1 cross quadrants.
     kernel = np.full((kernel_size, kernel_size), -1.0, dtype=np.float64)
     kernel[:half, :half] = 1.0
     kernel[half:, half:] = 1.0
-    for i in range(half, ssm.shape[0] - half):
-        patch = ssm[i - half : i + half, i - half : i + half]
-        expected[i] = np.sum(patch * kernel)
+    for center in range(half, half + (n - kernel_size + 1)):
+        start = center - half
+        patch = ssm[start : start + kernel_size, start : start + kernel_size]
+        expected[center] = float(np.sum(patch * kernel))
+
+    max_value = float(np.max(np.abs(expected)))
+    return expected / max_value if max_value > 0.0 else expected
+
 
-    max_value = np.max(np.abs(expected))
-    expected = expected / max_value
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("matrix_size", "kernel_size"),
+    [(1, 1), (4, 3), (17, 4), (48, 8), (65, 64), (96, 15)],
+)
+def test_checkerboard_novelty_reference_matches_independent_loop(
+    matrix_size: int,
+    kernel_size: int,
+) -> None:
+    """Vectorization preserves even, odd, unit, and boundary-size kernels."""
+    rng = np.random.default_rng(matrix_size * 101 + kernel_size)
+    ssm = rng.random((matrix_size, matrix_size), dtype=np.float64)
+    ssm = (ssm + ssm.T) / 2.0
 
     np.testing.assert_allclose(
-        _checkerboard_novelty(ssm, kernel_size=kernel_size),
-        expected,
+        _checkerboard_novelty_reference(ssm, kernel_size=kernel_size),
+        _checkerboard_loop_oracle(ssm, kernel_size),
         rtol=1e-12,
         atol=1e-12,
     )
diff --git a/services/analysis-engine/tests/test_segmenter_short_reference.py b/services/analysis-engine/tests/test_segmenter_short_reference.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ecd6ac431
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/analysis-engine/tests/test_segmenter_short_reference.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+"""Regression coverage for short-input checkerboard novelty reference behavior."""
+
+import numpy as np
+
+from bandscope_analysis.sections.segmenter import _checkerboard_novelty_reference
+
+
+def test_checkerboard_novelty_reference_returns_zeros_when_kernel_is_larger() -> None:
+    """Return one zero per frame when no centered checkerboard patch can fit."""
+    ssm = np.array([[1.0, 0.25], [0.25, 1.0]], dtype=np.float64)
+
+    novelty = _checkerboard_novelty_reference(ssm, kernel_size=4)
+
+    np.testing.assert_array_equal(novelty, np.zeros(2, dtype=np.float64))
diff --git a/services/analysis-engine/tests/test_segmenter_zero_kernel.py b/services/analysis-engine/tests/test_segmenter_zero_kernel.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c3f202818
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/analysis-engine/tests/test_segmenter_zero_kernel.py
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+"""Regression coverage for zero-sized checkerboard novelty kernels."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import numpy as np
+import pytest
+
+from bandscope_analysis import _native
+from bandscope_analysis.sections.segmenter import _checkerboard_novelty_reference
+
+
+def _identity_similarity() -> np.ndarray:
+    """Return a deterministic square self-similarity matrix."""
+    return np.eye(3, dtype=np.float64)
+
+
+def test_checkerboard_reference_zero_kernel_preserves_legacy_zeros() -> None:
+    """A zero-sized reference kernel retains the prior all-zero curve."""
+    novelty = _checkerboard_novelty_reference(_identity_similarity(), kernel_size=0)
+
+    np.testing.assert_array_equal(novelty, np.zeros(3, dtype=np.float64))
+
+
+@pytest.mark.skipif(
+    not _native.HAVE_RUST or _native._checkerboard_novelty_rust is None,
+    reason="Rust numeric extension is not installed",
+)
+def test_checkerboard_native_zero_kernel_matches_reference() -> None:
+    """The Rust kernel must not panic or emit an n+1 position for size zero."""
+    assert _native._checkerboard_novelty_rust is not None
+
+    novelty = _native._checkerboard_novelty_rust(_identity_similarity(), 0)
+
+    np.testing.assert_array_equal(novelty, np.zeros(3, dtype=np.float64))