Questions tagged [chess]

A puzzle related to chess, a two-player board game with white and black pieces of varying ranks.

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25 votes
1 answer
3k views

Chess with jumping

Puzzle Statement: Consider the game of chess, but with a slight modification of the rules as follows: all heavy pieces (i.e., the queens and rooks) are allowed to jump as far across the board as they ...
acegikmoqsuwy2000's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
985 views

16 queens puzzle

Can you place 8 white queens and 8 black queens on an 8x8 grid, such that no two queens of the same colour occupy the same row, column or diagonal?
Dmitry Kamenetsky's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
195 views

Chess 960 and Castling #2

For how many Chess 960 starting position you can play into a position such that the game requires castling? Again for "standard" chess, this is impossible(§): You must let a bishop out, but ...
Hauke Reddmann's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
104 views

Chess 960 and Castling #1

You are given a Chess960 starting position, but you don't know it is actually the starting position (the knights and maybe other pieces moved around). For which of the Chess960 starting positions you ...
Hauke Reddmann's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
2k views

Poison ivy chess: Can the king get to safety?

The king is on a chessboard filled with poison ivy bushes. Can the king get to safety? Details: The king is initially located at the top left-hand corner square of the chessboard. The finite ...
Will Octagon Gibson's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
267 views

Permuting officers during a Chess960 game

There are... let me see... ah yes 960 different possible starting positions in Chess960. Suppose the players never move a pawn, or make a capture, but simply move their officers so that eventually ...
Laska's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
291 views

Moving a knight to a new square each turn: who wins?

Alice and Bob are playing a game. Alice starts by placing a knight on the chessboard. Then they take turns moving the knight to a new square (standard chess rules apply: the knight moves in an "L&...
Louie's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
229 views

Gravity Chess - Slipping Through the Cracks

Chess Mate Attack is a mobile puzzle game released earlier this year. Each of its 90 (at time of writing) levels follows the same basic principles: Play takes place on an $m×n$ chessboard, whose ...
AxiomaticSystem's user avatar
16 votes
2 answers
1k views

Scholar's mate with queen excluder

The queen excluder is a type of barrier used in beehives which lets through small worker bees but not the larger queen bee. Extending this simple but powerful concept into the chess world, let's ...
Jafe's user avatar
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17 votes
5 answers
4k views

5 chess pieces dominating a 5x5 grid

This is a puzzle based on work by Rodolfo Kurchan. Can you place a pawn, a knight, a bishop, a rook and a king on a 5x5 chess grid, such that every empty cell is attacked by at least one piece? Note ...
Dmitry Kamenetsky's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
303 views

A look at the rooks

Let's book a look and figure out the rooks from the mooks. Which ones are the original kings' rooks? This was composed by Boris M. Klementjew and published in Shakhmatnaya Kompozitsiya 15, page 60, ...
Rewan Demontay's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
1k views

How many moves to reach this position?

I was recently introduced to this lovely mate in 1 puzzle. It’s best when shown on a physical chess board. But what is the smallest number of moves it would take to reach this position?
Simd's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
899 views

What did I do wrong?

My friend and I were bored so we decided to play a game of chess. I lost, for I have done something bad. I was a beginner, so I could not find where I went wrong. I wanted to know what was wrong, so I ...
poco's user avatar
  • 1,738
6 votes
2 answers
275 views

Kingly Laziness

What is the minimum effort the White king must put into arriving at this destination? His Majesty is not feeling productive today. This position was composed by Gianni Donati and published in Phénix ...
Rewan Demontay's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
168 views

Ma Drasi and her kitchen in need of paralyzation

I visited Ma Drasi's kitchen today, and it was a hot mess, both temperamental and situation-wise. The rooks were rattling, cooks were crying, snooks were shattering, and crooks were flying and defying!...
Rewan Demontay's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
514 views

A balanced banquet

As your king's fitness adviser you have been tasked with optimising His Majesty's diet. This entails making sure that the king eats equal amounts of carbs (rooks), fat (bishops) and protein (knights). ...
loopy walt's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
239 views

Chess 960 playing aliens abducted me

Is there a SE law against packing a puzzle into a silly story? :-) Reference Some words QAT found for unique Chess960 positions So, it was night, I was walking home from a tourney, and a veeblefetzer ...
Hauke Reddmann's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
2k views

The Biggest Chess Blunder

Everyone knows that sinking feeling when you blunder your queen in one move, but it could be worse. In the position above, Black plays Nf7. This blunders a knight in one move, as well as a bishop-...
ApexPolenta's user avatar
  • 1,802
5 votes
2 answers
1k views

The best scoring REVOLVER

The initial setup a chess game creates this layout: P P P P P P P P R N B Q K B N R If we change the symbol each piece is represented by, something interesting ...
Rewan Demontay's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
395 views

Black to move. Find all possible #-1

In the middle of researching a new chess AI by pitting bots against each other, the researchers notice the below position just before Black wins on the next move. They are confounded for a minute ...
Shuri2060's user avatar
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13 votes
2 answers
3k views

What's the most distant chess position?

It's well known that the combinatorial explosion means that there are many, many, possible chess games. And yet most games are decided within 100 moves, and Wikipedia says that the longest tournament ...
Spitemaster's user avatar
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28 votes
4 answers
3k views

Rolling cube on an infinite chessboard

Imagine a six-sided die, D6, the right size to exactly occupy a square on a chessboard. The die can move to any adjacent square, but does so by rolling rather than sliding, so the topmost side of the ...
Laska's user avatar
  • 1,666
35 votes
5 answers
3k views

A Queen and her Pawns

Place a queen and as many pawns as possible on a chessboard so that the queen has just one way of capturing all the pawns in precisely as many moves as there are pawns. Pawns do not move and do not ...
Bernardo Recamán Santos's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
240 views

A position where both sides have no moves at all, not even to put yourself in check

Inspired by this: No moves at all, not even to put yourself in check Similar to the question linked above, find an arrangement using the fewest chess pieces (total from both sides), except for this ...
blademan9999's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
220 views

From white to black

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #7: Board games. Place a knight on each of the white squares on the 8x8 chessboard. That would make a total of 32 knights. Is it possible to use a ...
Scratch---Cat's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
1k views

Sixty-three knights on a chessboard

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #7: Board games. If we're using rooks, then this would be equivalent to a classic "fifteen puzzle" though on a larger grid. This time we'...
Scratch---Cat's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
416 views

Hippos and Horseplay

This is part 5 of the puzzle series Around the World in Many Days. Each part is solvable on its own. Deаr Puzzling, This time you are going to need some of your chess knowledge. Not a lot of chess ...
Jafe's user avatar
  • 75.6k
4 votes
2 answers
691 views

Bow or lazy checkmate?

Suppose that both players cooperate, find the shortest, in terms of number of moves, black checkmate such that the game is valid and white pieces never go on rows 4 to 8. e.g. ...
JKHA's user avatar
  • 5,961
6 votes
2 answers
258 views

Need help with old cipher

I found a "drawing" in a 60 year old notebook of my grandfather and I am trying to solve it. First I thought it was the "Drunken bishop algorithm" but then I found out that this ...
TryonGravity's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
416 views

Laziest Checkmate

Consider a game of chess where White delivers checkmate in their $X^{th}$ move. For all the pieces that remain on the board at the end of the game, consider their Manhattan Distances from their ...
Manish Kundu's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
166 views

The longest shortest sequence of series moves

Being inspired, I concoct a question. It starts from a set chess board with only the White pieces. Chess problems in which only one side moves are called seriesmovers. What is the longest shortest ...
Rewan Demontay's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
535 views

Knight of the Isles

Today the Knight of the Isles must cross the archipelago to get to the castle. The knight is at the bottom left, the castle at the top right. The green squares are islands of grass, the blue squares ...
Florian F's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
294 views

An overconfident grandmaster 2

The same grandmaster from An overconfident grandmaster decides to avenge his loss and prepares for rematch. He ends up in a winning position once again. He decided to place a bet again. He gives the ...
I'm Nobody's user avatar
  • 1,304
13 votes
1 answer
348 views

What is the shortest chess game with 30 distinct captures (PxP, PxN, PxR, etc...)?

Progress So Far So far, the shortest known solution takes 87 turns (9 turns from optimal), and was found by Retudin. Progress over time: Date Moves Found by 2022-09-29 87 Retudin (initial) 97 ...
stewartIM's user avatar
  • 236
6 votes
1 answer
453 views

A chessboard divided into four quadrants

Consider the following chessboard: Divide it into four quadrants as shown: First quadrant is renamed as the Rook's quadrant. Second quadrant is renamed as the Bishop's quadrant. Third quadrant is ...
chandanr777 's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
4k views

Find this Mate in 1

This position was from one of my online games on Chess.com. I had the white pieces and was very close to victory. However, I couldn't find the mate in 1 as stockfish did. Where on earth was the mate ...
user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
1k views

Double chess stalemate with 60 units

Inspired by Symmetrical Chess Position With No Legal Moves Can you arrange on a chessboard 18 kings, 6 rooks and 6 bishops of each colour (i.e. 60 units, leaving 4 empty squares) so that neither side ...
Laska's user avatar
  • 1,666
8 votes
3 answers
956 views

Chess lead change

Given the following Chess piece relative values and such that both players cooperate, what is the fastest way such that White first has an advantage of at least +10 piece value then secondly, Blacks ...
JKHA's user avatar
  • 5,961
4 votes
1 answer
229 views

Are there Stars on the Knight Sky?

If you watched the Queen's Gambit you'll know that there are lots of upside-down chess boards all over the world's ceilings. If not just take my word for it. The same is true of the actual sky only ...
loopy walt's user avatar
  • 18.2k
6 votes
2 answers
336 views

Pawn Or Bust, Save The Game

Catastrophe! During a last-minute mad scramble, a White pawn was struck off the board into oblivion. Neither player can remember where to place it. The piece count is looking bad for Black. ...
Rewan Demontay's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
319 views

Checkmate N Kings with M Knights Perfectly

We have this Existing Puzzle which has got the valid and invalid cases listed ; the Accepted Answer is along the lines of what is invalid and what is valid. But there was a flaw or fault in the Puzzle ...
Prem's user avatar
  • 4,976
9 votes
1 answer
506 views

Reconstructing the Candidates Tournament 2018

The Candidates Tournament 2018 was an eight-player double round-robin chess tournament, which was held in Berlin, Germany, between 10–28 March 2018. The winner, Fabiano Caruana, earned the right to ...
A. Rex's user avatar
  • 945
14 votes
3 answers
2k views

Checkmate N Kings with M Knights

There are N White Kings on the Chess Board. There are M Black Knights. There is no Black King and no other Piece. Only M+N Squares are occupied. Each White King is attacked by atleast 1 Black Knight, ...
Prem's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
815 views

Symmetrical Chess Position With No Legal Moves

Your task is to set up a symmetrical (both vertically and horizontally) position on the first 7 ranks of a chess board that meet all of the criteria below. For this puzzle, there is no eighth rank. It ...
JLee's user avatar
  • 17.5k
9 votes
2 answers
280 views

The Pawn March Problem

The Pawn March Problem is something I just came up with, and I thought it was interesting enough to share. White has a line of $n$ pawns on an infinite chess board, all on rank 0 (negative positions ...
Spitemaster's user avatar
  • 1,273
26 votes
6 answers
5k views

Checkmate 30 kings with rooks

Using only kings, and as few rooks as possible, set up a position where 30 of black's kings are checkmated. Checkmate: The king is in check The king has no moves out of check Black only has kings, ...
SE - stop firing the good guys's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
268 views

The Rook's Hassle

Long ago, the Black rook was trapped, stuck on c4, sapped and sacked. Let us unwind its snarly woes, and stop the clock. Turn back the flow, find out how long ago, to the original dock. How many moves ...
Rewan Demontay's user avatar
24 votes
3 answers
4k views

The Ultimate Chess Strategy

I’ve been trying to learn chess so I was googling chess strategies. When I saw an ad for “The Ultimate Chess Strategy,” I instantly followed it and put in my credit card number. A few days later I ...
caPNCApn's user avatar
  • 17.1k
4 votes
2 answers
282 views

Helpmate part 2

This is the second part of Fastest way to helpmate You have been given the task to checkmate/helpmate black in fastest possible way in following ways: Pawn promoting to only queen Pawn promoting to ...
I'm Nobody's user avatar
  • 1,304
3 votes
2 answers
669 views

Fastest way to helpmate

What is the fastest way to checkmate/helpmate white(A helpmate is a type of chess problem in which both sides cooperate in order to achieve the goal of checkmating Black/White) in this given position? ...
I'm Nobody's user avatar
  • 1,304

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