Solitaire Chess

Visiting the hospital recently I spotted a nice new game. You'll know the game Solitaire, where you reduce a set of pegs by capturing to a single survivor.(Peg Solitaire to the Yanks [what they call Solitaire, played with cards, we call Patience]). http://www.web-games-online.com/peg-solitaire/ ThinkFun have produced a chess version, available as a physical set, or a mobile phone app that you can try for free. http://www.thinkfun.com/solitairechess You're given a position, and have to make a series of captures to reduce the number of pieces to one. A fairly easy one: Slightly harder: I rather like this: it reinforces the rules, logical thinking and, while they offer you the pieces and a 4x4 board, you could use the puzzles with a whole bunch of youngsters who had standard chess sets. Lastly, a hard one: If that's too easy for you - well, best of luck with this one!

P.S. I've heard 'Solitaire Chess' used to describe 'How Good Is Your Chess' exercises by Pandolfini, where you play along with a game and try to decide on the best move for one side throughout. It's known in our junior club as 'Guess the Move'

P.P.S. Solitaire Chess is NP-complete https://arxiv.org/abs/1501.06398

P.P.P.S. Not available for a while; now (2022) back on Amazon UK with prohibitive import charges and the app has disappeared (rip-offs are available). I will ask if they have plans for a new app.