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1D Chess

All of chess that fits on one row.

Your move. Tap one of your pieces.
You play Computer

How the pieces move

  • Rook slides any distance along the row until something is in the way.
  • Knight hops exactly two squares and can jump right over a piece.
  • King steps one square, and may never step into check. Trap the other king and you win.

Where this game comes from

Martin Gardner put this one-row chess game in his Mathematical Games column in Scientific American in July 1980, and asked readers a question: can White force a win?

Think ahead — walk the winning paths

Thinking ahead means asking: if I go here, what can they do, and then what can I do? This game is so small that the engine has checked every possible path — the game is solved, and White can always win in six moves. Tap a move below to walk down a path and see exactly what the engine sees.

marks the engine's best move — follow the stars to watch White's forced win.