Captures

Expert Captures puzzles

Expert puzzles have ten or eleven pieces, traps everywhere, and a king in about half of them. The limit of two captures a piece bites: the piece you'd like to use may have run out.

Practice gives you puzzles you haven't solved yet, as many as you like, and keeps your best time without hints. Every puzzle is made and checked by a computer, so it can always be solved.

How to play Captures

1. A few chess pieces stand on the board, all on the same side. Every move must take one of them.
2. Pieces take as they do in chess: the king one square in any direction, the rook along a row or column, the bishop along a diagonal, the queen along either, the knight with its L-shaped jump, and the pawn one square diagonally up the board. Only the knight can jump over other pieces.
3. Each piece can take at most two others. The dots by a piece show how many it has left.
4. If there's a king, it can't be taken, so it has to be the last piece standing.
5. Take pieces until only one is left to win.

You don't need to know chess: tap a piece to see what it can take, then tap one of those to take it, or drag the piece onto it. Undo has no limit, and Ctrl+Z takes a move back. Every puzzle can be solved.

Solving tips

• Work out the last piece. Something has to take the second to last piece, so look for a piece that can reach the others late in the game. With a king, you already know which one it is.
• Don't strand anyone. A piece that nothing can reach will never be taken. Before each capture, check that no piece is left on its own.
• Spend captures carefully. A piece that has taken twice can't move anymore. Save the ones that reach far, like the queen, for when they're needed.
• Stuck? A hint shows a capture that still wins, and when there's no way left, it tells you how many captures to take back.