Smith College mathematician Jim Henle published this retrograde analysis puzzle in the Mathematical Intelligencer in 2018 as part of an appreciation of Raymond Smullyan. “After many moves, the chessboard appears as above. What were the last two moves?”
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Henle’s solution:
The black king is in check, and the check must have been discovered when the white king moved from f3 to e2. But how is this possible? The white king would itself have been in check in two different ways on f3. How could Black have inflicted two checks at once?
The answer is that a black pawn must have stood on f2, blocking the rook’s check. This pawn then captured some white piece on e1, promoting to a knight and inflicting a double check. So, from this position:
1. … fxe1=N+ 2. Ke2+.
(Jim Henle, “The Entertainer,” Mathematical Intelligencer 40:2 [June 2018], 76-80.)
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