Questions tagged [retrograde-analysis]

Retrograde analysis is the method of deducing information by working backwards from a given position or outcome. This information can be about past positions of the same game, or may contain forward content, such as optimal play.

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How is this position possible in a normal game of chess?

A friend of mine gave me this problem. It goes like this. In a normal game of chess, the white player checks the black's king with a rook and a bishop as in the following image. 8/8/8/8/8/7k/8/...
Faiq Irfan's user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
2k views

"Knight rebus"-Decipher an encoded chess position

Here is a knight rebus. Each letter represents a different type of piece. Uppercase letters are one color and lowercase letters are the other. Determine the position. If possible, also determine the ...
Peter Mudrievskij's user avatar
25 votes
6 answers
5k views

Are there any illegal positions that are difficult to spot?

I have a question and I'm sorry if it sounds very uninformed, I'm not a professional chess player so my interest is mere curiosity. I was wondering if there are examples of illegal positions that ...
seawalker's user avatar
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23 votes
5 answers
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Least number of moves to achieve a complete switchover of nonpawns in starting setup

[fen "RNBQKBNR/8/8/pppppppp/PPPPPPPP/8/8/rnbqkbnr w - - 0 1"] During a comp, my friend an I had a team kill and we decided to make this position(legally) before drawing. Then we continued to find ...
Ariana's user avatar
  • 680
19 votes
2 answers
3k views

Prove that White is not allowed to castle here

A friend recently gave me the following weird chess problem to solve. I'm afraid that I'm struggling to see the key idea that would ultimately count as proof. From the position, intuitively speaking, ...
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9 votes
1 answer
698 views

How is this retrograde analysis position legal?

On his page on Harry Goldsteen's "Horse Concoction,", Tim Krabbé gives this position by "N. Höeg, 1935." [FEN "4k3/1p4pp/p1pQ1p2/1q1pp3/8/8/1K6/8 b - - 0 1"] [...
EMBLEM's user avatar
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8 votes
3 answers
1k views

Retrograde analysis of a position in "The Flanders Panel"

Has anybody tried to verify the retrograde analysis of a game from the book "The Flanders Panel" by Pérez-Reverte? So far, I have found only a board reconstruction in a post on The ...
dokondr's user avatar
  • 181
3 votes
3 answers
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I can't figure out how to find tactics

Why is it hard for me to find tactics? For example, I want to take their queen, but I don't know how can I get to specific back steps, unless I play normally (it would take time).
4444's user avatar
  • 379
6 votes
1 answer
2k views

A conditional retrograde analysis problem

Here is the problem-find a chess game that begins with 1. e4 and ends on the fifth move with knight takes rook mate, which determines who gives the mate. This is a famous puzzle. For additional ...
sasindu's user avatar
  • 91
12 votes
1 answer
613 views

About how to compose retrograde analysis problems

Are there any books or articles devoted to composing retrograde analysis problems? It seems that you would need some techniques beyond ones for standard problems.
Christopher Heckman's user avatar
21 votes
4 answers
2k views

Can it be proven that 11. 0-0-0+ is legal in this position?

Because the chess site this was on takes its puzzles from real games and gives the move numbers, potential solvers knew that the following position was reached after exactly 10 moves by each player. [...
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9 votes
2 answers
687 views

A problem rebus-reproduce the game

Here is a chess "rebus" problem. In this position, white and black circles correspond to White and Black pieces respectively. Each letter corresponds to exactly one piece type (king, queen, ...
klm123's user avatar
  • 483
8 votes
3 answers
1k views

About retrograde analysis

Raymond Smullyan wrote some great books with Retrograde Analysis chess puzzles. I know of two, are there others?
user128932's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
1k views

Another problem - Find color of the pieces

Please help me to find the solution of this next problem by the legendary composer Andrej Kornilow. It appeared in Shakhmatnaya Kompozitsiya 41 issue in 2001 and it was dedicated to A. Lobusow on his ...
klm123's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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Is there retrograde analysis puzzle like "Point on the incorrectly drawn chess piece"?

Does anybody know a nice chess puzzle, where question states: "Exactly one piece is drawn incorrectly on this diagram, another piece must be drawn on it's position. Find incorrectly drawn piece."? One ...
klm123's user avatar
  • 483
6 votes
2 answers
1k views

Problem: Find White's second-to-last move

For the following position to occur in legal play, with Black on move, what would White's second-to-last move need to have been? Note that Black is checked by two pieces on the h1-h8 file and two ...
supercat's user avatar
  • 1,152
7 votes
3 answers
819 views

Problem: reconstruct the game

In the following position, each side has made exactly 4 moves (8 in total). [fen "rnbqkbnr/pp3ppp/2p1p3/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK1NR w KQkq - 0 1"] I need to find what these moves were.
klm123's user avatar
  • 483
12 votes
2 answers
401 views

Creating the current position having the rest of the game

It's a question a friend of mine brought up and I found intriguing. Let's say you have the records of a game from a certain move to the end, using standard notation (i.e. Qf6). Either assuming random ...
Nescio's user avatar
  • 429
18 votes
5 answers
1k views

Is there fiction dealing with retrograde chess analysis?

I am interested in retrograde analysis problems, where the question usually is: 'What was the last move made?' or 'Where did the piece stand on the board before it fell from the table?' etc. ...
Ray's user avatar
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