Chess Test (August 2026 Challenge Question)

King at 5e

Knight at 4d

Rook at 6d

Rook at 6f

King at 5e

Knight at 4d covers 6e and 5f, the 2 white squares north and east of the king

Rooks at 4d and 6d cover the remaining 6 squares around the king (including the knight.)

Now, it's the king's turn to move and he has nowhere to move without being checked.

You seem to have put the knight and a rook both on the same square.

If the king is not under a checked condition but nowhere to go, then it is a stalemate condition... in my view it is not a checkmate as a required condition of the puzzle...

Good answer.

Without the opposing king, It is possibly a chess game played by "Ichabod Crane" .. the "headless horseman" in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

Ahh: thanks. Good Answer.

Doesn't the king just move to 4e?

Wrong answer. The King can go to e4. You should put the Knight at c5 or g5.

Why not just rooks at 1d and 1f and knight at c5.

I think that counts as check mate in real chess: the king is not actually in check but can't move.

You're right, #2 should have read:

"King at 5e

Knight at 4d covers 6e and 5f, the 2 white squares north and east of the king

Rooks at 4d 6f and 6d cover the remaining 6 squares around the king (including the knight.)

Now, it's the king's turn to move and he has nowhere to move without being checked."

I miscopied from #1

Good answer. The question specifically says you don't have to be able to "move" there.

Waiiiit a minute... In order to deliver a checkmate, we need to control the 8 squares surrounding the king and the one he currently is. Mind you, the check is necssary. We therefore need to 'hit' 9 squares.

Now, each of the rooks will control three of those squares at most, meaning that if there are no overlapping squares, the two of them together can at most control 6 squares. The knight can only 'see' two of them (two diagonal ones with the same color). In total, all pieces can only attack 8 of the squares.

The problem seems unsolvable.

In my solution (from #9) both rooks control 7 squares and the knight controls the other 2. Note also that each rook alone controls 5 squares (so, more than 3).

Indeed, I initially wrongly ignored positions with overlapping control of the squares.

I was about to update my answer, not only giving the solution, but also mentioning that it is impossible to reach this configuration in a real game, exactly as you say. You were faster and somehow missed your answer! Upvoted.

Ah! Someone finally says it.

I am wondering if one of the white rook icons is an error, should instead be the white king.

Ah! Someone finally says it.

I am wondering if one of the white rook icons is an error, should instead be the white king.

Yes, but you need to mate the opponent king, not remove him from the board. It is also impossible to mate having only your king. This configuration is anyway invalid, to start with!