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Just to clarify the notation system:

Black's King is on D1
Black's Rook is on B5
Black's Bishop is on D5

White's Bishop is on A4
White's King is on ?????

Markdini wrote: black would move his king to C3 white bishop would take the black castle.

Black can only move his King one square at a time - so from D1, Black can only move his King to either C1, C2, D2, E2 or E1.

Whites king is on the floor

I ment C2 opps

Markdini wrote:I ment C2 opps

If White's King is on G3, then it's Black to move 'cos he's in check. Trouble is, how did White's Bishop end up checking Black It can't have come from the top right diagonal (B5, C6, D7, E8 ) cos Black's Rook is in the way and it can't have come from the bottom right hand diagonal (B3,C2) 'cos Black's King would have already been in check.

Umm Where are all the prawns and gee gee's?

I have no Idea I say Black was cheating all along.

The only way that the position is possible is if the white king was on g6 to begin with (as that's the only possible way for the black king to be where he is considering the diagonal that the white bishop is on).

The only possible place for the white king to go from the g6 position would be h6, but because of the double check, I find this to be an impossible position.

Mike.

Okay, he could go to f6...still, the double check makes it an impossible position...

white king a b2, whites move.

white king at b2, black bishop at b3, bishop moves to d5, white king gets knocked from table.

By the way, I'm annotating from black's side of the board...

If we are on white's side, then g6 is b3, h6 is a3 and f6 is c3.

oh no, just looked at it again.
that makes black put himself in check.
back to the drawing board.

Why would the black bishop not take the white bishop, given the chance? At worst for black is a swap, which leads to a rook/king win.

right that's it, i've dusted off the chess board now, what have you done to me?

I know this puzzle and you are all thinking far too.... oh I don't know what the word is.

But a clue:
You have to look at what other pieces were on the board prior to the king being knocked off. What move was played with these and what legislates now for their absence?

My guess: They were just about to start the game when somebody knocked the board and many pieces, including the white king, fell to the floor. The rest simply slided (I dont know the past tense of the word slide, is it slode? Doesnt sound right) into such an impossible position that they took a photo and made a puzzle out of it. Because nobody had made any moves, it is whites go next, and the king is in starting position.

MartinUK wrote:But a clue:
You have to look at what other pieces were on the board prior to the king being knocked off. What move was played with these and what legislates now for their absence?

On the right lines .

At the mo there is only White's King missing off the board.

We can deduce that it must be Black's move next cos the White King cannot go on the necessary squares to block the Bishop on A4 checking Black's King. ie White's king cannot go on square C2 (2 Kings can't meet), nor can it be placed on B3 (White's King would be in double check with Black's Rook and Bishop - explain how Black did that!!).

Here's another clue:

White moved last with his King and this move involved the capture of one of Black's pieces.