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Provide, with the minimum number of moves, a legal chess game where all pieces are captured except the sixteen pawns and the two kings.

Example of final configuration:

enter image description here

Which is done in 21 moves:

1. e4 Nc6 2. Bb5 e5 3. Bxc6 dxc6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. h4 Bxf3 6. Rh3 Bxd1 7. Kxd1 f5 8. Rg3 Nf6 9. Rg4 fxg4 10. d4 Ba3 11. Bg5 Qd5 12. Bxf6 Qb3 13. bxa3 Rd8 14. Bxd8 Kf7 15. axb3 Rxd8 16. Nc3 Rd5 17. exd5 Kf6 18. Nb5 cxb5 19. Kd2 Kf5 20. Re1 Kf4 21. Re4+ Kxe4

Can you beat 21 moves?

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  • $\begingroup$ What are you asking exactly? As I understood, you already gave the solution in the question itself. $\endgroup$
    – Victor Stafusa
    Commented Oct 25, 2020 at 10:46
  • $\begingroup$ @VictorStafusa, I gave a solution using 21 moves but your aim is to provide another one with lesser moves, or even better, with the minimum number of moves possible ! That explains the optimization tag :) $\endgroup$
    – JKHA
    Commented Oct 25, 2020 at 10:55
  • $\begingroup$ How about capturing ALL the pieces, except the two kings. This could be a nice question too. $\endgroup$
    – Dmitry Kamenetsky
    Commented Oct 26, 2020 at 9:37
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    $\begingroup$ @DmitryKamenetsky, no sooner said than done! puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/104207/chess-bloodshed ;) $\endgroup$
    – JKHA
    Commented Oct 26, 2020 at 9:50
  • $\begingroup$ I asked this question on CSE awhile ago as well, but with pawns included: chess.stackexchange.com/questions/23878/… $\endgroup$
    – Rewan Demontay
    Commented Oct 29, 2020 at 19:55

2 Answers 2

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13 moves:

1. e3 e6 2. Na3 Bxa3 3. bxa3 Na6 4. Bxa6 bxa6 5. Rb1 Qf6 6. Rb8 Qa1 7. Rxc8+ Ke7 8. Ne2 Qxc1 9. O-O Qxd1 10. Rxg8 Qxe2 11. Rxh8 Qxf1+ 12. Kxf1 Re8 13. Rxe8+ Kxe8

12½:

1. e3 e6 2. Na3 Bxa3 3. bxa3 Na6 4. Bxa6 bxa6 5. Qf3 Qf6 6. Qxa8 Qxa1 7. Qxc8+ Ke7 8. Qxg8 Qxc1+ 9. Ke2 Qxg1 10. Qxh8 Qxh1 11. Qe8+ Kxe8 12. a4 Qe1+ 13. Kxe1

Try it online!

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Here's a not-really-optimized solution, 14 moves:

1. d4 e5 2. Bg5 Bc5 3. dxc5 Qxg5 4. Qd5 b6 5. Qxa8 Ke7 6. e4 Qc1+ 7. Ke2 Qxf1+ 8. Kd2 Qxg1 9. Qxb8 Qxh1 10. Qxc8 Qxb1 11. Qxg8 Qxa1 12. Qxh8 Qd1+ 13. Kxd1 d6 14. Qe8+ Kxe8

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  • $\begingroup$ I feel like the black queen is wasting a couple moves by forcing white to move out of check (moves it could be using to devour more black pieces). Not sure how best to improve on that though... $\endgroup$
    – Darrel Hoffman
    Commented Oct 26, 2020 at 21:06

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