Queen's Quadrille
From a standard chess set, remove the pawns and the white queen. Place
the remaining pieces on a 4x4 chessboard (leaving one empty space.) Pieces
move as in regular chess, but moves don't need to alternate in color and no
piece can be captured (removed). The object is to move the queen along a
specified path.
- Find a configuration and moves to let the queen visit every square of
the board in the minimum possible total moves. You may count the starting
square as "visited".
The theoretical minimum is 29
moves (the queen moves 15 times, each other piece once.) How close can you
get to this minimum?
- Find a configuration and moves to let the queen visit every square
and return to her starting square in the minimum number of moves
(the theoretical minimum is 31 moves, as explained above.)
Source: Original, based on a game described in the June 1998 Games
magazine, Page 50, Karen Deal Robinson.
Solution
Mail to Ken