Knight Moves Tour Chess Puzzle

Walking the board and visiting every square with a single Chess piece is called a tour of the board. There are two types of tours in consideration here: an open tour and a closed tour.

An open tour visits each square once and only once. 

A closed tour is an open tour that can end on the starting square, thus completing a loop.

Using the movement rules for the Knight in Chess, your task is to tour the board with the Knight.

The board is solved when all squares have been visited, open or closed.

To begin, choose a board size/variation and tap the desired starting square when prompted.


You are presented with puzzles on 5x5, 6x6, 7x7, and 8x8 square boards, and four variations for each board size. Each board can have many solutions, open and/or closed.

To enable the variations, you must first solve the square board and achieve certain goals. Each square board has four goals, and vary depending on if the board is even or odd : Open and/or Closed solution, Start/End on center square or square 1, solve with Backtracks = 0.

Each goal achieved enables one variation. It is possible to have a single solution of a square board achieve all goals simultaneously, thus enabling all four variations. There are no goals for the variations and they may be solved in any way.


Once all four variations are solved, the next size board is enabled. For example, once the 5x5 square board and its four variations are solved, the 6x6 square board will be enabled.

You can land on a square only once. Each move will block that square from being visited again, unless backtracked. You are able to backtrack one move at a time, or tap the board size/variation to reset the square board/variation.

When all square boards and their respective variations are solved, an additional 8 variations are enabled and can be activated via the Vars 5-12 switch under Options.


Several elements allow you to customize certain options:

5x5, 6x6, 7x7, 8x8 = Choose board size.

Var1-4 = Select a variation of the chosen board size.

Number of Moves = Toggle among number of moves, percent complete, or number of squares covered.

Sound = Turn sound On/Off.

Color = Choose black or white Knight.

Numbers = Show the square ordinal numbers.

Show Mark/Path = Turn marker/path On/Off.

Mark/Path Color = Choose marker/path colors. Tap to toggle through common colors or hold to choose a random color. Note that the starting marker is always green.
 
One approach is to find an open solution, then backtrack until you can possibly close the tour.


Lastly, if you have comments, suggestions, complaints, or otherwise, please email [email protected]