Is this position legal?

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cobra91

Is the position shown below legal, and why or why not?

royaleFork

How did the dark square bishop get out?

sgt_pepper

yeah, there's no way that bishop could of gotten out without the b or d pawns moving

NinjaBear

Yes... consider this (not necessarily the shortest solution):

PepeSilvia

Beat me to it. But i got it in 14 :p

(also not nessecarily the shortest)

 

omnipaul

The position is legal.  As noted before, White's Queenside Bishop could not have gotten out, so it was captured on its home square by a Knight.  Note that White is missing a pawn, so the missing pawn must have promoted into a Bishop.  The only squares it could have done this are b8 or d8 (not c8, as that is a light square).  To do this, the pawn would have to make 3 captures - once to get onto the d file, once to get onto the c file, and once to make it either to the b file or to return to the d file.  Since Black is missing exactly three pieces (2 Knights and a pawn), it is these three pieces that the white pawn captures on its way to promotion.  A sample proof game is given below.

 

pompom
NinjaBear wrote:

Yes... consider this (not necessarily the shortest solution):

 


Iooking at the FEN strip, it says that white can castle both sides, but in yours, the king already moved.

leightonnicholls

Yes it is legal!