A friend told me about a chess game he had seen. At certain moment, the only pieces on board were a Queen at h8, a Rook at g6, and the Kings at h6 and g8. He didn't remember what color was each piece, but it can be worked out... how?

      +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
      |   |   |   |   |   |   | K | Q | 8
      +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
      |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | 7
      +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
      |   |   |   |   |   |   | R | K | 6
      +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
      |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | 5
      +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
      |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | 4
      +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
      |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | 3
      +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
      |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | 2
      +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
      |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | 1
      +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
        a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h

If the Rook had been at g7, what would have been the colors?

(In reply to Solution, part 1 by stan)

The rook, queen, and king at g8 must all be white, with the black king at h6.  The last move was for white to advance a pawn from h7 to h8, exchanging it for a queen for checkmate.

Posted by stan on 2004-08-04 12:16:37