a8; b8; d8; e7; g5; h3; g2; g7; f8; f4; d3; e4; e5; f3; c3; d5; c6; a6; b4; b7; h1 Let me know if you prefer pieces, i.e. Qa8xRb8 etc. Thanks, that was fun! David Huddleston ------------------------------------------------------------ 00 01 xx 02 xx 14 22 23 xx 25 xx 13 03 xx 17 xx 07 xx 20 xx xx xx xx 21 xx xx xx 19 12 xx 04 xx xx 08 xx 09 11 15 xx xx xx xx 18 06 xx 05 xx xx xx 24 10 xx xx xx 16 xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx 26 Line openings of b7-h1,b2-h8. The 2-way pawns are a flaw in the setup. --Juha Saukkola ------------------------------------------------------------ Hi again =) I wrote a program that found these solutions for Mark J P Wolf's chess maze: a8b8d8e7g5h3g2g7f8f4d3e4e5f3c3d5c6a6c5b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5h3g2g7f8f4d3e4e5f3c3d5c6a6b4b7h1 a8b8d8e7f8f4d3e4e5f3c3d5c6a6b4d4c2d1a4h4g2g1c5b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5h3g2g7f8f4d3e4e5f3c3d5c6a6b4d4c2b1b2b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5e4e5f3d3a6b4d4c2d1a4f4g2g7c3d5c6h6g8h8b2b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5e4e5f3d3a6b4d4c2d1a4f4g2g7c3d5c6h6g8g1c5b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5f3d3a6b4d4c2e4e5d7f8f4g2g7c3d5c6h6g8h8b2b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5f3d3a6b4d4c2e4e5d7f8f4g2g7c3d5c6h6g8g1c5b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5h3g2g7f8f4d3a6b4d4c2e4e5f3c3d5c6h6g8h8b2b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5h3g2g7f8f4d3a6b4d4c2e4e5f3c3d5c6h6g8g1c5b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5h3g2g7f8f4d3e4e5f3c3d5c6a6b4d4c2d1a4a1b2b7h1 a8b8d8e7f8f4d3a6b4d4c2e4a4h4g2g1c5d7e5f3c3d5c6h6g8g7b2b7h1 a8b8d8e7f8f4d3a6b4d4c2e4e5f3c3d5c6h6g8h8h5d1a4h4g2g1c5b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5f3d3a6b4d4c2d1a4e4e5d7f8f4g2g7c3d5c6h6g8h8b2b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5f3d3a6b4d4c2d1a4e4e5d7f8f4g2g7c3d5c6h6g8g1c5b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5f3d3e4e5d7c5a6b4d4c2d1a4f4g2g7c3d5c6h6g8h8b2b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5h3g2g7f8f4d3a6b4d4c2d1a4e4e5f3c3d5c6h6g8h8b2b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5h3g2g7f8f4d3a6b4d4c2d1a4e4e5f3c3d5c6h6g8g1c5b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5e4e5d7f8f4h5f3d3a6b4d4c2d1a4h4g2g7c3d5c6h6g8h8b2b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5e4e5d7f8f4h5f3d3a6b4d4c2d1a4h4g2g7c3d5c6h6g8g1c5b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5e4e5d7c5a6b4d4c2d1a4f4g2g7c3d5c6h6g8h8f8f3d3b1b2b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5e4e5d7c5a6b4d4c2d1a4f4g2g7c3d5c6h6g8h8h5f3d3b1b2b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5e4e5f3d3a6b4d4c2d1a4f4g2g7c3d5c6h6g8g1c5d7f8h8b2b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5f3d3a6b4d4c2e4e5d7f8f4h5d1a4h4g2g7c3d5c6h6g8h8b2b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5f3d3a6b4d4c2e4e5d7f8f4h5d1a4h4g2g7c3d5c6h6g8g1c5b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5f3d3a6b4d4c2e4e5d7f8f4g2g7c3d5c6h6g8h8h5d1a4a1b2b7h1 a8b8d8e7g5h3g2g7f8f4d3a6b4d4c2e4e5f3c3d5c6h6g8h8h5d1a4a1b2b7h1 The program also determines that this is THE longest path that leaves the minimum number of pieces on the board (5 in this case): a8b8d8e7g5h3g2g7f8f4d3a6b4d4c2e4e5f3c3d5c6h6g8h8h5d1a4a1b2b7h1g1c5d7 Regards, Yogy Namara ------------------------------------------------------------------- a8-b8-d8-e7-g5-h3-g2-g7-f8-f4-d3-e4-e5-f3-c3-d5-c6-a6-b4-b7-h1 Scott Purdy ---------------------------------------------------------------- Here are the warm-up exercises: a8-b7-c6-h6-g8-h8 a8-b7-c6-a6-b4-d4-c2-d1-a4-a1 The key to the full maze is to realize there are only three pieces attacking the king: rook b1, queen h8, and bishop b7. The rook is blocked by knight f1, which is attacking nothing; the queen is blocked by knight h4 and pawn h3, which both only attack rook g2, so they can't both be moved. Thus the goal is to clear out the diagonal in front of bishop b7. The linchpin on this diagonal is pawn d5, which only attacks one piece (rook c6) and is only attacked by one piece (knight c3), so those pieces have to remain until the right time. Knight c3 itself is only attacked by one piece, rook f3, so the puzzle there becomes figuring out how to remove bishop d3 before getting to rook f3. The rest of the puzzle involves getting the other rooks off the diagonal, and basically I just clicked around with my servlet until it happened. :) http://steak.place.org/servlets/chessmaze.scm Here's my solution: a8-b8-d8-e7-g5-h3-g2-g7-f8-f4-d3-a6- b4-d4-c2-e4-e5-f3-c3-d5-c6-h6-g8-h8- b2-b7-h1 Or, if you want to maximize the number of removed pieces, replace line 3 with this: h5-d1-a4-a1-b2-b7-h1 If you come up with more chess mazes, I'd be happy to add them to my servlet page. --Doug Orleans ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For all that Mark Wolf may have tried to keep people from working backwards, it's still possible to a degree, and I think important in finding the solution. The critical thing is that the pieces never really move. The allowed moves are effectively self-captures, where pieces make their usual capture moves on other pieces but remove themselves from the board instead of the pieces they capture. Thus, the theoretically possible moves are the possible captures on the initial board if you allow jumping over other pieces. Also, the solution consists of a sequence of such moves, and every piece jumped over must be removed from the board by way of such a move at an earlier point in the solution. So I begin by determining what the last move must be. What pieces on this board can possibly capture the king? Only three of them: the queen at h8, the bishop at b7, and the rook at b1. However, the knight at f1 can never be removed, because there are no pieces it can capture. Likewise, the knight and pawn at h4 and h3 have but one move between them. Each can only capture the rook at g2, and once one of them has done it the other cannot. Thus, the paths from the rook and queen to the king can never be cleared, and the bishop at b7 must capture the king. Therefore, I must not capture that bishop with my first move, instead taking the rook at b8. So the start of the solution is forced: a8-b8-d8-e7- Then I have three choices. Before I go on, I examine what other moves are required to clear the path for the bishop. The pawn at d5 can only possibly take the rook at c6, and (since we must move the a8 queen first) can only be captured by the knight at c3. There are at least two ways to reach each other piece on the path, but some have only 2 ways, and these are useful in helping to determine the path. a8- b8-d8- e7-g5- e4-e5- f3-d3- a6-b4- d4-c2- d1-a4- f4-g2- g7-c3- d5-c6- h6-g8- h8-b2- b7-h1 Joseph DeVincentis ------------------------------------------------------------- Ed, Some thoughts on this puzzle: The only three pieces on the board that can capture the White King when all obstacles are removed are the Rook at B1, the Bishop at B7, and the Queen at H8. We can eliminate the Rook from our choices because of the Knight at F1. There are no pieces for it to capture, therefore it can never be moved from the Rook’s path. Also, we can eliminate the Queen because of the Pawn at H3 and the Knight at H4. Both of those pieces can only leave their space via the Rook at G2. So there’s no way for both pieces to be removed from the Queen’s path. So it must be the Bishop that takes the King. This sets the first three moves and the last move in stone. Examining the pieces blocking the Bishop reveals that the Pawn at D5 has only one entry, the Knight at C3, and one exit, the Rook at C6. This sets two more moves in stone. From there it was just a game of educated guesses and connect-the-dots. Clint Weaver PS: I’ve attached a picture of my solution. The path segments in blue are just a way of keeping the path readable when it crosses a previously used node. ----------------------------------------------------------- Hi. I work in a county jail and gave this puzzle to some of the juvenile prisoners. It is driving them and me nuts! Could you send me the solution? Thanks. JRH Yuma County Detention Center -----------------------------------------------------------