Solve Solo Chess by planning a complete chain of captures that leaves one piece. A legal capture is only useful if the resulting position still has a route to that final survivor.
Start with the goal, not the nearest capture
Solo Chess turns a familiar action into the entire puzzle: every move must capture another piece. That makes the first available capture tempting, especially when two pieces stand next to each other. Before moving, count the pieces. A board with five pieces needs four successful captures to reach one survivor. The important question is whether your opening capture allows the remaining three.
Look at the movement of each piece rather than its usual value. A rook is not automatically more valuable than a bishop in a capture puzzle. A bishop might be the only piece capable of reaching a particular target. Removing it too early can strand that target for the rest of the attempt.
Draw a tiny capture map in your head
For each piece, identify what it can capture right now. Imagine an arrow from the attacking piece to its target. A piece with no outgoing arrow is not necessarily useless: it may be an essential destination that another piece needs. A piece with several possible captures offers flexibility, which is often worth preserving.
After every imagined move, redraw that map. The capturing piece changes squares and the captured piece disappears. A newly opened line might connect the board, while a blocked diagonal might become available. Do not reuse the original map after the position changes.
IN-GAME VIEWLook at the whole board before committing to the first capture. Each move changes the connections that remain.
Gameplay reference, not a solution to a specific level.Test a three-piece finish
Consider a white rook on a1, a white bishop on a3, and a white knight on c5, ignoring any additional level-specific limits for this example. The rook can capture the bishop on a3. From a3 it cannot capture the knight on c5, so that opening leaves a dead end. The bishop can instead capture the knight on c5, after which the rook on a1 still cannot reach it. This small arrangement illustrates why individually legal captures do not guarantee a solution.
When checking an actual level, include every restriction shown by the game, such as a piece’s remaining capture allowance. Movement alone is not enough if a piece has already exhausted its available captures.
Use failed branches as information
If two pieces remain and neither can capture the other, look one move earlier. Which earlier choice could have changed the surviving piece or its square? That is a more useful question than replaying the same opening faster. Keep the first successful part of your reasoning and change the branch that produced the isolated pair.
Try a short routine: inspect the final pair you want, trace the move that could create it, then test your opening. Once the chain works in your head, play it on the board. The objective is a connected sequence, not a collection of attractive captures.
Quick answers
Do Solo Chess pieces move like normal chess pieces?
Their movement follows familiar chess patterns, but the puzzle requires every move to capture another piece. Follow any extra restrictions shown by the level.
How many captures are needed?
With n pieces on the board, reaching one survivor requires n − 1 captures, because each capture removes exactly one piece.
Try it in Solo Chess.
Every move is a capture. Think a few steps ahead, clear the board, and leave just one piece standing.
Coming soon