Checkmate Rewind

About the game

Checkmate Rewind is a detective puzzle played on a chessboard: every case opens at the end of a finished game, and the final position is the only evidence left. Un-move the pieces one by one — restoring captured men, undoing castling, en passant and promotions — until the board is back at its starting position in exactly the number of half-moves the case allows. Eight short lessons teach the art of moving backwards, and 55 cases take you from quick blunders to famous opening traps.

Game features

• 55 handcrafted cases across six chapters, from quick blunders to famous opening traps
• Eight Academy lessons that teach un-moving, un-capturing, un-castling, en passant and promotion
• A daily case for everyone: Lichess opening lines on weekdays, real finished games on weekends
• An archive that deals fresh real opening lines to restore, from 6 to 10 plies long
• Investigator's questions — answer where a piece was captured before restoring the game to earn a detective's seal
• Three stars for any case solved without hints or take-backs
• The board enforces legality, rejecting un-moves that would leave an impossible position

How to play

Every case shows the final position of a chess game and its length in plies — one ply is a single move by one side. Click or tap a piece, then click the square it came from, or drag it back; the two sides alternate in reverse just as they moved forward. Captures work backwards too: a piece leaving an occupied square restores the man it took, and castling, en passant and promotions all rewind as well. You must restore the starting position in exactly the given number of plies. Take back undoes your last un-move, Start over resets the case, and Hint shows which piece moved last — solve clean for three stars.

Tips & strategies

1. 1.Work out which side made the final move — that side un-moves first, and in a mate position it is the side that delivered check
2. 2.Treat legality as your filter: an un-move that would leave a side in check when it is not to move gets rejected, so impossible candidates eliminate themselves
3. 3.Look at enemy pieces sitting where your mover would land — a piece un-moving off an occupied square restores the man it captured there
4. 4.Remember promoted pawns: a queen or knight deep in your camp may really be a pawn that can rewind to its seventh rank
5. 5.If you reach the starting position with plies to spare, some piece took a detour — hunt for a journey that went out and came back
6. 6.Chasing three stars? Solve without hints or take-backs — if you get lost, Start over and replay the case clean rather than limping to a weaker rating

Screenshots

Captured from the game running on Gameplo.

Controls

Frequently asked questions