==> competition/games/chess/knight.tour.s <== A tour exists for boards of size 1x1, 3x4, 3xN with N >= 7, 4xN with N >= 5, and MxN with N >= M >= 5. In other words, for all rectangles except 1xN (excluding the trivial 1x1), 2xN, 3x3, 3x5, 3x6, 4x4. With the exception of 3x8 and 4xN, any even-sized board which allows a tour will also allow a closed (reentrant) tour. On an odd-sided board, there is one more square of one color than of the other. Every time a knight moves, it moves to a square of the other color than the one it is on. Therefore, on an odd-sided board, it must end the last move but one of the complete, reentrant tour on a square of the same color as that on which it started. It is then impossible to make the last move, for that move would end on a square of the same color as it begins on. Here is a solution for the 7x7 board (which is not reentrant). ------------------------------------ | 17 | 6 | 33 | 42 | 15 | 4 | 25 | ------------------------------------ | 32 | 47 | 16 | 5 | 26 | 35 | 14 | ------------------------------------ | 7 | 18 | 43 | 34 | 41 | 24 | 3 | ------------------------------------ | 46 | 31 | 48 | 27 | 44 | 13 | 36 | ------------------------------------ | 19 | 8 | 45 | 40 | 49 | 2 | 23 | ------------------------------------ | 30 | 39 | 10 | 21 | 28 | 37 | 12 | ------------------------------------ | 9 | 20 | 29 | 38 | 11 | 22 | 1 | ------------------------------------ Here is a solution for the 5x5 board (which is not reentrant). -------------------------- | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 3 | -------------------------- | 16 | 21 | 4 | 9 | 14 | -------------------------- | 11 | 6 | 25 | 2 | 19 | -------------------------- | 22 | 17 | 8 | 13 | 24 | -------------------------- | 7 | 12 | 23 | 18 | 1 | -------------------------- Here is a reentrant 2x4x4 tour: 0 11 16 3 15 4 1 22 19 26 9 24 8 23 14 27 10 5 30 17 31 12 21 2 29 18 25 6 20 7 28 13 A reentrant 4x4x4 tour can be constructed by splicing two copies. It shouldn't be much more work now to completely solve the problem of which 3D rectangular boards allow tours. Warnsdorff's rule: at each stage of the knight's tour, choose the square with the fewest remaining exits: 1 12 23 44 3 14 25 22 43 2 13 24 35 4 11 28 45 40 47 26 15 42 21 48 27 34 5 36 29 10 41 46 39 16 33 20 49 8 31 18 37 6 9 30 19 38 7 32 17 Mr. Beverley published in the Philosophical Magazine in 1848 this knight's tour that is also a magic square: 1 30 47 52 5 28 43 54 48 51 2 29 44 53 6 27 31 46 49 4 25 8 55 42 50 3 32 45 56 41 26 7 33 62 15 20 9 24 39 58 16 19 34 61 40 57 10 23 63 14 17 36 21 12 59 38 18 35 64 13 60 37 22 11 References: ``The Construction of Magic Knight Tours,'' by T. H. Willcocks, J. Rec. Math. 1:225-233 (1968). "Games Ancient and Oriental and How to Play Them" by Edward Falkener published by Dover in 1961 (first published 1892) "Mathematical Magic Show", Martin Gardner, ch. 14