This game's starting position is known as the Reti position, after Richard Reti (1889-1929). It's about as famous as chess puzzles get, which is not very famous, but it's still entertaining to solve if you haven't seen it, and hopefully there's only so much trial and error needed.

Zero Chance of Recovery is based on a famous chess puzzle created in 1921 by Richard Reti (1889-1929). It's so famous (for a chess puzzle,) it's known as the Reti position! It's simple enough for trial and error, not with branching every move, but seeing where your king winds up after three squares, and focusing on how often the Black king moves. This is easier said than done, of course, but it may provide a guideline.

Also, there is no punishment for failure.

The idea is this: your pawn seems too far away to guard, and the enemy pawn seems too far away to catch. But if you somehow save your pawn or catch the enemy pawn, you can salvage a draw. Is there a way to stumble through and save things?

The answer is yes. On your end, the moves seem to branch. Your opponent's moves are a bit more forced. He can only move his king or push the pawn.

If you want to analyze things on your own with a chess engine, the FEN is 7K/8/k1P5/7p/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1. This is a spoiler for the game, but you can see why certain things don't work in more detail.

The main thing to notice is that you need to keep your eye on your own pawn or the enemy's pawn as long as possible. Reti's analysis notes that depending on how Black plays, white can eventually do one or the other.

There are three scenarios here, but neither lasts more than seven moves. The Black king starts off relatively immobile in the first one, but he eventually moves in quickly on your pawn. Once you figure one scenario, my hope is that the others will fall quickly. The idea is to make sure you know the concepts--but with a twist at the end to make for a "true win" ending.

So here's the first try. The Black king stays back until necessary. Also note that if you go straight south, you can't reach your own pawn, so the Black king can push his pawn. If you go straight west, you can't reach the Black pawn, so the Black king attacks yours. But if you go southwest, well ... you can cover a lot of ground at once! Of course, you can't go southwest forever.

> sw

The Black pawn moves to h4.

> sw

The Black pawn moves to h3.

> nw

In this scenario, the Black pawn moves to h2.

Note that moving your king west to e6 would also draw! If black moves his pawn to h1 to make a queen, you move your pawn to c8 with check. This is important, as otherwise black's queen would check you on h3 and take your queen on c8 next move.

> c7

Black's king makes a last-ditch effort to recover the pawn.

> w

Note that if your king were on e6, you'd have to move northwest. The key is to get to d7.

Black moves his pawn and promotes it to a queen! But wait ... you are guarding the c8-square, so you can promote your pawn to a queen, and with check!

Now I play the "it was all a dream" trick ... well, sort of. Maybe things could've happened another way. Okay, Spider and Web this ain't, but I hope this scenario gives you an idea of how to flesh things out. You may wish to try the other two scenarios without this walkthrough, as they have the same general idea.

Here is the second scenario.

> sw

The king moves in this time! He sure is close to the pawn.

> sw

Now the pawn moves. The king could move, too, and he will, in the final scenario.

> sw

If your king moves anywhere else, Black can either take your pawn, or he can take your pawn once he's pushed his pawn and made a queen.

Black pushes the pawn again here, to h3.

> nw

The pawn goes to h2.

> c7

Now Black has an option here. If he promotes his pawn on h1, you promote yours on c8, and the game is a draw.

> kd7

But you've seen this before! So the fight is a draw.

Finally, what happens if the king clobbers your pawn right away?

> sw

The king moves in.

> sw

The king takes the pawn! Note if you went south, Black could push the pawn.

> se

Actually, going south or southwest draws here, too. There's a concept called the queening square where, if you are able to move your king in a square defined by the pawn and its queening square, you are safe.

(Well, most of the time. Black to move wins with pawns on g4 and h3 if white has a king on e4 and a pawn on h2. That's beyond the scope of this game, but it shows how complex chess can get with even a few pieces on the board.)

> se

This collects the enemy pawn.

This captures all the chess concepts and covers Black's tries, and that's the best you can do over the board.

But this being a text adventure, there's a bit more! You may wish to THINK to see what's going on. There's a clue from the beginning of the game.

In this case, the mercenaries aren't paid in full unless the pawn is promoted. But once it does, they have to be paid. Even if the new queen dies right after!

> sw
> sw
> se

> s
> s
> s

And when the enemy pawn promotes to a queen, you take it immediately. The mercenaries demand payment, and things get bad for your opponent, and you finallyget the "true" good ending.