I was recently talking to one of my friends who played chess (much better than me, I'll admit). He said he had a different kind of chess problem, one that may be a little easier, one that may be a little bit harder than usual. He said it was a chess lock puzzle.

He then grabbed two(!) chess sets and set up the following position:

He challenged me to find the least number of moves to capture the black king, using the following rules:

1. White gets an infinite number of moves.
2. White may only capture undefended pieces, and the black king (checkmate isn't a thing, just capture the black king)
3. Rooks are the only keys that work. You must capture the black king with a rook.

He said his best was to do it in 17 moves. Can you do it quicker?

I was recently talking to one of my friends who played chess (much better than me, I'll admit). He said he had a different kind of chess problem, one that may be a little easier, or that may be a little bit harder than usual. He said it was a chess lock puzzle.

He then grabbed two(!) chess sets and set up the following position:

He challenged me to find the least number of moves to capture the black king, using the following rules:

1. White gets an infinite number of moves.
2. White may only capture undefended pieces, and the black king (checkmate isn't a thing, just capture the black king)
3. Rooks are the only keys that work. You must capture the black king with a rook.

He said his best was to do it in 17 moves. Can you do it quicker?