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Johnny, the White monarch, is homesick, and his friend Carla, the h1 rook, is away, using her time to help the lower citizens of the Black kingdom. They use to do such wonderful fun, but their favorite act was a form of dance known as castling. Recently, he gave Carla a call, and she agreed to come back for another such dance, but this time in reverse. But Carla wishes to know the quickest way to reach the dance floor to save on travel expenses.

Help Johnny and Carla plan their journey with efficiency. What is the minimum amount of plies, the currency of both kingdoms, needed to reach the dance floor and "untango," aka uncastle, in the current state of the traffic system, i.e. the board? The Black kingdom is willing to help them out, but they must do so legally, traveling with their documentation. They must not leave behind anything illegal behind.

Andriy Frolkin, Die Schwalbe 12/1986

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1 Answer 1

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Proof game:

1.Nc3 Nf6 2.Ne4 Ng4 3.Ng3 Ne3 4.Nf3 Nxf1 5.Ne5 Ne3 6.Nf3 c5 7.Ne5 Qb6 8.Nf3 Qb3 9.axb3 c4 10.Ra6 c3 11.Re6 Nc4 12.bxc4 dxe6 13.Ne5 Nc6 14.Nf3 Na5 15.Ne5 Nb3 16.Nf3 Na1 17.Ne5 Bd7 18.Nf3 Ba4 19.Ne5 Bb3 20.Nf3 Ba2 21.b3 Kd7 22.Ba3 Kc8 23.Qc1 Kb8 24.Ne5 a6 25.Bc5 Ra7 26.Qa3 Ka8 27.Bd6 f6 28.Qa4 Bb1 29.Bb8 Ba2 30.Qe8 Bb1 31.Nd7 Ba2 32.Qg6 Bb1 33.Qf7 Ba2 34.Qg8 Bb1

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Position immediately before castling; 25 moves to final position.

35.O-O Ba2 36.Rb1 f5 37.Rb2 Bb1 38.Ra2 f4 39.Ra5 Ba2 40.Rg5 Bb1 41.Rg6 hxg6 42.Nh1 Rh3 43.Qh7 Rg3 44.hxg3 Ba2 45.Kh2 Bb1 46.Kh3 Ba2 47.Kg4 Bb1 48.Kf3 Ba2 49.Ke4 Bb1 50.Kd4 Ba2 51.Kc5 Bb1 52.Kb6 Ba2 53.Kc7 Bb1 54.Kd8 Ba2 55.Ke8 Bb1 56.Kf7 Ba2 57.Kg8 Bb1 58.Kh8 Ba2 59.Qg8 Bb1 *

Correctly formatted FEN (for copy'n'paste)

[Event ""] [Site ""] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round ""] [White ""] [Black ""] [Result "*"]

1.Nc3 Nf6 2.Ne4 Ng4 3.Ng3 Ne3 4.Nf3 Nxf1 5.Ne5 Ne3 6.Nf3 c5 7.Ne5 Qb6 8.Nf3 Qb3 9.axb3 c4 10.Ra6 c3 11.Re6 Nc4 12.bxc4 dxe6 13.Ne5 Nc6 14.Nf3 Na5 15.Ne5 Nb3 16.Nf3 Na1 17.Ne5 Bd7 18.Nf3 Ba4 19.Ne5 Bb3 20.Nf3 Ba2 21.b3 Kd7 22.Ba3 Kc8 23.Qc1 Kb8 24.Ne5 a6 25.Bc5 Ra7 26.Qa3 Ka8 27.Bd6 f6 28.Qa4 Bb1 29.Bb8 Ba2 30.Qe8 Bb1 31.Nd7 Ba2 32.Qg6 Bb1 33.Qf7 Ba2 34.Qg8 Bb1 35.O-O Ba2 36.Rb1 f5 37.Rb2 Bb1 38.Ra2 f4 39.Ra5 Ba2 40.Rg5 Bb1 41.Rg6 hxg6 42.Nh1 Rh3 43.Qh7 Rg3 44.hxg3 Ba2 45.Kh2 Bb1 46.Kh3 Ba2 47.Kg4 Bb1 48.Kf3 Ba2 49.Ke4 Bb1 50.Kd4 Ba2 51.Kc5 Bb1 52.Kb6 Ba2 53.Kc7 Bb1 54.Kd8 Ba2 55.Ke8 Bb1 56.Kf7 Ba2 57.Kg8 Bb1 58.Kh8 Ba2 59.Qg8 Bb1 *

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6
  • $\begingroup$ Great answer. Any replayer link so I can see the moves? $\endgroup$
    – justhalf
    Commented May 25, 2021 at 2:04
  • $\begingroup$ @justhalf the chess meta page we used to use has become too crammed to be useful anymore, IMO. Would a properly formatted FEN which you could c'n'p to your favourite chess software be ok? $\endgroup$
    – loopy walt
    Commented May 25, 2021 at 10:15
  • $\begingroup$ Oh, you can link to specific answer there, right? $\endgroup$
    – justhalf
    Commented May 26, 2021 at 9:05
  • $\begingroup$ @justhalf no, the page is too long. At least my firefox will miscompute the offset and land somewhere in the middle of the page way off the correct answer. $\endgroup$
    – loopy walt
    Commented May 27, 2021 at 3:15
  • $\begingroup$ Oh, but it's paged, right? Or perhaps you set the number of answer per page to be quite high? (Oh, but anyway, a FEN is good if you can provide it!) $\endgroup$
    – justhalf
    Commented May 27, 2021 at 3:16

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