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A queen on the center of the board has 27 possible moves. Sometimes a queen can be trapped, like in the position below.

enter image description here

Note: This is just an example of a what a trap should be like-every possible square is covered. This is not meant to conform to all of my rules.

If a queen is on a central square, what is the least number of points needed to trap it?

Rules:

  1. No kings are allowed.

  2. Queens are worth nine points, rooks are worth 5 points, bishops and knights are worth 3 points, and pawns are worth 1 point.

  3. You are allowed an unlimited supply of pieces.

  4. A queen is trapped if it can immediately be captured on whatever square it can move to. If it can capture an enemy piece, that piece must be protected. The queen is still trapped even if a piece that can be captured is a queen, so long as it is protected.

  5. The trapped queen must have full access to it potential range on a central square.

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  • $\begingroup$ It seems your example position violates rule #5, is that intended? $\endgroup$ – Glorfindel Aug 20 at 21:10
  • $\begingroup$ It's just an example of what a trap should look like @Glorfindel. $\endgroup$ – Rewan Demontay Aug 20 at 21:12
  • $\begingroup$ You could improve Rule 5: "The queen must start on field D4,D5,E4 or E5 and be able to actually move to all 27 fields in its range." $\endgroup$ – Falco Aug 21 at 14:13
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    $\begingroup$ True, but the question has already been answered, so it's fine as is. $\endgroup$ – Rewan Demontay Aug 21 at 14:15
  • $\begingroup$ @RewanDemontay Could you please elaborate on Rule 5? I would like to take a shot at this puzzle. $\endgroup$ – Tsangares Aug 21 at 20:01
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I believe I've found a solution worth 16 points.

enter image description here

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5
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Here's a solution which needs

19

points:

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