Posted by Chris F.A. Johnson on 03/30/07 07:36

On 2007-03-29, Ben C wrote:
> On 2007-03-29, dorayme <doraymeRidThis@optusnet.com.au> wrote:
> [...]
>>> >If you want a chess puzzle (and the graphic is not so bad), look
>>> >at:
>>> >
>>> ><http://members.optushome.com.au/droovies/binHassad/missingKing.ht
>>> >ml>

That is taken (uncredited) from "Chess Mysteries of the Arabian
Knights" by Raymond Smullyan.

> I give up.
>
> I figure the white king must have been on either b3 or c2 since as
> things stand the black king is in check. The white bishop attacking it
> can only have got where it is along that same diagonal, and the black
> king can't have moved into check. So something must have moved off that
> diagonal opening the attack.
>
> The white king couldn't have been on c2, since there is no way two kings
> can end up on adjacent squares-- to move a king next to another king is
> to move it into check, which is illegal.
>
> That leaves b3, from where it moved to either a3 or c3 out of check
> itself and checking black. But it is not possible for it to have got
> into the situation on b3 attacked by both the rook and bishop in the
> first place, since they can't both have got there in a single move.

What could the last three moves (White, Black, and White) have been?

--
Chris F.A. Johnson <http://cfaj.freeshell.org>
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Author:
Shell Scripting Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (2005, Apress)

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