I visited Ma Drasi's kitchen today, and it was a hot mess, both temperamental and situation-wise. The rooks were rattling, cooks were crying, snooks were shattering, and crooks were flying and defying! I needed to act fast and calm the situation. Setting events as to paralyze and freeze everyone at once would work best. Thus, this was my plan to calm the clattering chaos.
Using my ability to freeze time will help, so I can make my series of moves without interference. However, settling Ma Drasi's situation comes with some special rules.
The normal rules of chess apply, amended only by the below restrictions.
The rooks and other crooks may be stopped under the law known as "Madrasi Rex Inklusive", named after Ma Drasi herself. In layman's terms, it means that pieces of the same type, and opposite colors, cannot move if they observe each other. Pieces of the same color do not immobilize each other. The "Rex Inklusive" clause compels royalty to obey this law as well. This can cause a stalemate with seemingly unrestricted pieces out in the open.
2.5) This means the king cannot capture or move onto a rank/file observed by two opposing pieces, minus pawns in some configurations, as this would break the connection of nullified attack, thus causing a self-check.
Capturing some of them and throwing pieces out of the kitchen, aka capturing them is allowed. Some messes simply require throwing things outs.
After my last move as Black, White is obligated to make the last move and help finish the sequence.
However, I decided to make a game out of it for fun. In how few moves could I do it, given this is the state of the kitchen?
In other words, if only I make moves as Black and White makes one helping moving at the end of the series, in how few moves can both sides be stalemated under the "Madrasi Rex Inklusive" modus operandi?
This problem, minus my concocted story, was composed by Vaclav Kotesovec and published as number in F0465 StrateGems 26 in 2004. Looking up the solution is not allowed.
