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Questions tagged [retrograde-analysis]

Retrograde analysis is a technique employed to determine which events occurred leading up to a given situation.

119 votes
5 answers
17k views

Not exactly a traditional chess puzzle, and I won't offer much of an explanation for fear of giving away the answer. White must mate in 0 moves, meaning they must deliver a check mate without touching ...
JGibbers's user avatar
  • 3,773
110 votes
4 answers
8k views

Lots of pieces are tangled here. Can you find mate in one? Small hint to guide you in the right way:
shoopi's user avatar
  • 2,825
96 votes
3 answers
10k views

This is the first chess puzzle I composed in the retrograde genre. I originally posted this in a chess dedicated forum. Hope you like it! In the following position, is it possible that White could ...
shoopi's user avatar
  • 2,825
50 votes
4 answers
6k views

An arbiter is trying to figure out what happened on the above adjorned game. He only knew that black made 15 moves and there can be more than one line of moves for this. Can you replay at least one ...
TSLF's user avatar
  • 6,788
39 votes
3 answers
3k views

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 ...
Tim Seifert's user avatar
34 votes
3 answers
3k views

An entry for Fortnightly Topic Challenge #40, have fun with non-Chess puzzle! ;) Three young children: Red, Green, and Blue; were playing a classic game of Snakes and Ladders, when suddenly their mom ...
athin's user avatar
  • 34.6k
32 votes
5 answers
4k views

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 ...
Tim Seifert's user avatar
31 votes
4 answers
4k views

I was visiting two friends yesterday and found them sitting at a chess table. After a glance at the board, I thought I had interrupted them when they were installing the starting position and I said: ...
Evargalo's user avatar
  • 6,618
30 votes
3 answers
4k views

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 ...
Tim Seifert's user avatar
27 votes
14 answers
2k views

The master programmer sat at his desk, gazing into the distance, his eyes seeing, and yet unseeing. The lunch had been heavy. His reverie was interrupted by the appearance of his close colleague, ...
KeyboardWielder's user avatar
27 votes
1 answer
2k views

Can you help my friend figure out how the message below from her long-lost uncle indicates anything? (I should mention here: The actual message was lost, and the text below is the best that could be ...
KeyboardWielder's user avatar
27 votes
2 answers
3k views

Recently, I have been dabbling in composing a few retrograde chess puzzles. This one, I feel, turned out quite nice: In the game leading to the position below, White somehow lost both their rooks and ...
Tim Seifert's user avatar
26 votes
3 answers
5k views

Full-size image Black has just delivered checkmate in the above position - but is the position legal? If no, explain why. If yes, give Black's mating move. FEN: 3r4/2r4b/8/8/8/3Kp3/5k2/8 w - - 0 1 ...
Brandon_J's user avatar
  • 9,447
22 votes
2 answers
2k views

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 ...
Tim Seifert's user avatar
20 votes
2 answers
5k views

This is an entry into the 29th fortnightly topic challenge - Retrograde Analysis. Two friends and I were playing a game of Monopoly when we were forced to stop. It's been a long time since we ...
David Starkey's user avatar

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