29th May 2002
Half term special - a reverse chess problem.
It is Black to play - what were the last 3 moves?
The only hint is to say that some moves are captures,
and there is only 1 possible solution.

The trick to this quiz is to know the en passant move. This is the special move allowed when your oppoent has just used the privelege of moving their pawn forwards 2 squares, but if it had only been moved 1 sqaure you could have taken it with one of your pawns. If that occurs then on your next move (but not later) you can play pawn takes pawn 'en passant' - as if they had only moved one square. In the picture above this allows a double check, without either of the checking pieces being moved.

The previous moves were:

1 c2-c4 (to block the bishop check); b4xc3 en passant

2. Kxc3