This question was posed to me, and I was surprised that I could not find a solution (as I thought that all rook tours [open or closed] were possible). Starting from a8, could a rook visit every square on the board once, ending on f3?

I tried a few times, with a few different strategies, but I always ended up missing one square.

It’s really easy to burn pairs of rows or columns, so the problem space could be reduced…

…but at some point (4x4), I was able to convince myself that it is impossible (at least at this size and state):

…but it might be possible that shaving off column or row pairs is also discarding a solution?

  • bleistift2English
    2·
    9 months ago

    Did you start from the square labeled “end”?

    • Fleur_@aussie.zone
      1·
      9 months ago

      Don’t think of it as the number being the order of the steps, think of it as being how many are left lol