Questions tagged [retrograde-analysis]
Retrograde analysis is a technique employed to determine which events occurred leading up to a given situation.
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Undecidable Checkmate
While playing chess, I had a momentary dizzy spell which erased most of my short-term memory. I knew only the current position, and that I was playing White, and that all play so far had been legal, ...
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What is the history behind this chess position?
In the game depicted below, Black managed to come out on top by delivering checkmate to the white king trapped in the corner. On the way to this outcome, seven pieces were captured at several points ...
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What were the last 15 single moves?
Here is a new retrograde analysis puzzle, once more a "simple" king and pawn endgame! The length of the task may sound a bit daunting at first, but I think this one should not be too hard to ...
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What happened to the missing pieces?
Once more, here is a new retrograde chess puzzle! This one might have turned out a bit tricky, so if you like a challenge, please have a go! :)
In the game leading up to the position below, both ...
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Will we be able to solve the Proca retractor?
A. -16 & #1 Proca retractor composer: Joaquim Crusats, Die Schwalbe 330 12/2024 (version by S.Nikhto) INCORRECT
White and black take turns retracting moves (white starts) and after white retracts ...
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Is it possible to put a helpmate in three moves here? - 2
Let's try to solve another similar puzzle. The task is the same: "White starts and, together with black, puts black's checkmate in three moves."
h#2,5(AP) Stepan Nichto (version), chessok....
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Is it possible to put a cooperative checkmate here in three moves?
The puzzle is presented in two versions: full (1) and abbreviated (2).
Is it possible to put a cooperative checkmate here in three moves? (white makes the first move)
h#2,5 (AP) Stepan Nichto. ...
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Can you colour these chess pieces?
Here is a new little retrograde chess puzzle! In the position below, only kings and pawns remain on the board. Unfortunately, the lighting in the picture was so bad that the black and white pieces ...
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What was the first capture?
Here is a new little retrograde chess puzzle. This one is intended to be (genuinely) approachable - so if you've never tried to solve one of these yourself before, give it a shot!
In this game, not a ...
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Can you find the missing chess pieces?
I originally wanted to post a new retrograde chess puzzle today. But unfortunately, before taking the picture of the final position, I accidentally knocked some of the pieces off the board :( All I ...
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What was the checkmating move?
Once again, here is a new retrograde chess puzzle! Recently, I have been trying to build something interesting with all 32 pieces still on the board. In this attempt at that, White somehow comes out ...
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Chess Retrograde Analysis Chain of Captures
White gave black odds of both knights (white started the game without both knights)
Neither king has moved nor been in check
There is an unknown piece on h6, where was it two moves ago?
This is a game ...
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Retrograde Analysis Chess by Raymond Smullyan
Black's first move was d5.
The knight on f5 moved exactly 3 times
The black king never moved
The black queen also never moved
Prove that this position is impossible to reach in real game
Puzzle by ...
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Chess: White to move, mate in 4 moves [duplicate]
The problem depicted here was contributed by Dunsany to The Week-End
Problems Book, compiled by Hubert Phillips.
Its solution calls more for logical
thought than skill at chess, although one does have ...
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White en passanted, now what?
Here is a new retrograde chess puzzle based round a new idea.
In the position below, White’s 9th move was an en passant capture. Can either player still castle?
(10+9) FEN: r2qk1n1/ppppp2P/P4P2/8/8/...
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What happened to the Knights?
Once again, here is a new retrograde chess puzzle! This one took some inspiration from Miguel Ambrona's lovely recent retro that builds around a curious theme I hadn't really thought about before. The ...
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Can White capture en passant?
This a composition of mine in collaboration with Andrew Buchanan, published at Problemas - October 2024.
Three castling rights remain, can White capture en passant?
FEN: Nrb1kn1r/pp1pp1pp/1p6/5pP1/8/...
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What happened to the rooks? (A monochromatic chess mystery)
Here is a new retrograde chess puzzle! For this one, we are once again using the special monochromatic ruleset, meaning that pieces may only move between squares of the same checkerboard colour. In ...
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Help-paradox: an infinite chess puzzle
In this chess puzzle, the ruleset involves a now-obsolete version of the 3rep draw rule, in which draw is declared upon three consecutive instances of the same series of moves. More precisely, if ...
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Chess tactic with retrograde conditions
A hypothetical game of chess reached the following position:
Your goal is to determine, conclusively, how the game would end with best play by both sides. But there is a catch:
Instead of telling you ...
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What was the last capture in this game of monochromatic chess?
Here is a new retrograde analysis puzzle - but this one is not about an ordinary game of chess! Instead, Black and White set out to play a game of monochromatic chess. In this variant, the pieces may ...
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What even is this chess position? #2
Here comes a new retrograde chess puzzle! This one features a cute little maneuver at the end that I would like to share with you:
Can you determine the last eight moves made by Black?
(14+14), FEN: ?
...
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First and Last Move of the White King?
Here is a new retrograde chess puzzle! Depicted below is the final position of this game which White managed to end with a nice back-rank mate. In the course of this game, the white king went on an ...
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Which side is White: the reds or the blues?
Happy Halloween!
This problem by Miguel Ambrona, 2024, has the following stipulation. We don't know which way round the board is, but we are told that one player retains castling right. Which side is ...
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Chess Drawn Proof Game No. 2
Here's another puzzle where the game is defined to end in a draw. The German PDB database doesn't seem to include the solution yet, so as of today, it's safe to show the link to this puzzle (A....
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Can White still castle? #3
Here is a new (retrograde?) chess puzzle, directly inspired by an exchange with Laska that came up in this recent puzzle.
In contrast to my usual chess puzzles, this one is relatively light on the ...
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Chess proof game after Black's 12th move reaches a draw?
A remark by Benjamin Wang reminded me of this puzzle (A.Buchanan, 2021)
What's the entire proof game leading to this position, where Black's 12th move has just drawn the game.
(To be precise: in ...
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What even is this chess position?
After my most recent retrograde chess puzzle had turned out pretty difficult, I had intended to follow up with just a little refresher - some position in which the mystery of the last move was much ...
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Can you find the Mate in 1?
Once again, here is a new retrograde chess puzzle! This one might land on the trickier side of things, but don't let that deter you from giving it a shot. Your task here, at least, is straightforward ...
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Who can still castle?
Here is a new retrograde chess puzzle! This one shouldn't be all too difficult, so please feel free to have a go:
Who can still castle here?
(To be precise: Your task is, for each of the possible ...
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Chess 960 and retroanalysis
How many Chess 960 starting positions have no retrograde past (which I mean as: can't be
played from a different Chess 960 starting position)?
Example: If you look at the standard chess starting ...
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Who captured who?
In the game leading to the position below, White has somehow lost both bishops and a knight, while Black is missing a knight and both rooks. How did all that happen?
For each of the missing pieces, ...
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A King in the Center
Here comes another retrograde chess puzzle, once again with only kings and pawns left on the board (which I've grown to enjoy quite a bit). The mystery to clear up is simply:
What was the last move?
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A peculiar sequence of events
Here is a chess puzzle of a somewhat different flavour than my usual stuff. I hope you like it. :)
I had just witnessed a chess game with a rather interesting sequence of moves in the endgame. It ...
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Which piece moved last?
After my last few retrograde chess puzzles were all a bit on the trickier side, this one should once again be a bit more approachable. Your task is simple:
Can you tell which piece made the last move?
...
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Whose turn is it?
This puzzle builds around some similar ideas as in my last one, but here I was able to flesh out the story in the critical sequence a bit more. Can you tell whose turn it is in this position? And, ...
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Can white checkmate in 1 move?
How can this position be reached (via a valid chess game) so that white can checkmate in 1 move?
S.Nichto,2024
If desired, you can answer additional questions:
a) the minimum number of moves in the ...
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What were the last three single moves?
Puzzle by Niels Høeg:
White just moved. What were the last three single moves? In other words, what was White’s last move and Black’s move before that and White’s move before that?
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Can you find the last 20 moves? #2
In this puzzle I finally managed to implement some themes that I really like, but so far was not able to get working properly in any of my own puzzles. Composing this was quite the challenge and in ...
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Who are these rooks?
Here is my newest retrograde chess puzzle, perhaps a bit on the trickier side once again:
Can you determine the origin of each of the four rooks in this position?
Please provide your reasoning and a ...
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Can White still castle? #2
For this puzzle I had another go at this theme, with a bit of a different take:
Is it possible to reach this position in such a way that White can still castle?
Please provide your reasoning in your ...
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Playing with their food
Here is another retrograde chess puzzle! For once, this should be much more approachable than all my previous stuff (but hopefully still quite cute), so please feel free to have a go if you would like....
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King and Pawn Endgame
Here comes another retrograde chess puzzle, this time focussing on just the history behind the pawn structure. Constructing this was a fun challenge and I think the result is pretty cute. :)
Can you ...
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Can you find the last 20 Moves?
For this puzzle, I tried my hand at a type of structure similar to those appearing in a few of Dmitri Baibikov's (brilliant!) puzzles. It took a lot of fiddling to finally get this working, but I'm ...
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The last five Moves #2
Once again, here is another retrograde analysis puzzle! The task is simple:
Can you determine the last five (half-)moves that led to the position below?
Please provide your reasoning and a (sketch of ...
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What were the last five moves?
Here is yet another retrograde chess puzzle - this time a bit more on the trickier side, I believe. I'm quite happy with how this one turned out, so please have a try if you like :)
What were the last ...
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Which of these chess positions is legal?
This little quiz should be a bit easier than my previous puzzles so feel free to join in!
Simply put: Which of these chess positions is legal?
To be clear, I consider a position to be legal, if it ...
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Can you solve the fates of the missing chess pieces?
Here is another retrograde puzzle from me - this time getting by without any underpromoted pawns if you can believe it! :)
In the game leading to the position below, both players have lost three of ...
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Can White still castle?
Here is my third retrograde puzzle—I hope you will enjoy it :) For this construction, I took some inspiration from shoopi's excellent puzzle series from a while back. It should also be a bit more ...
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What was White's last move?
Another retrograde chess puzzle! Unless I overlooked some shortcut, this should be a bit more tricky than my last one:
In the position below, what was White's final move?
In your answer, please ...
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