The last 23 moves

What were the last 23 single moves?

[A single move is one ply - in a game, after 1.e4 e5, two single moves have been made.]

1. white moved last, because black is in check (mate).
2. the last white move must have been d2-d3. e2xd3 is impossible because all Black pieces are still on the board except for one rook. But that rook must have been taken by pawn b2-c3. Therefore White pawn could not have take a piece on d3.
3. the black move before that could not have been b7-b6 because White king would have been in check then before the move. therefore it must have been Rxd7 (taking a piece because otherwise White king would have been in check by Black bishop while it was Blacks turn already).
4. the piece that the Black rook took on d7 might have been a knight (im not 100% sure yet about that) because only a knight seems to have been able to reach d7 via c5 (not via b6 or e5 because it would have checked the Black king there).
5. now its getting tricky, because i dont see a black move that could have been played before Nd7. maybe its a good moment now to bring out the chess pieces and try it on the board 😉

does it sound okay so far?

Originally posted by crazyblue
1. white moved last, because black is in check (mate).
2. the last white move must have been d2-d3. e2xd3 is impossible because all Black pieces are still on the board except for one rook. But that rook must have been taken by pawn b2-c3. Therefore White pawn could not have take a piece on d3.
3. the black move before that could not have been b7-b6 becau ...[text shortened]... oment now to bring out the chess pieces and try it on the board 😉

does it sound okay so far?

Yes.

Was Black's previous move Rd7d8? Wow, it is incredibly tricky working out a game backwards!! 😕

C'mon people, don't give up so quickly.

After -1.d2-d3# Rd8xNd7, where does White's N go? Why?

Hint: The ultimate goal in most retractors is to free the Kings. How will this be accomplished? Which King is the first to become free?

i will try this again when i have more time in about 1-2 weeks. only found out so far that white might have had 2 or 3 knights, and the white bishop is giving me a bit of a trouble besides the general prob of the locked kings 😉