“All right. Now I’m turning on the tape,” said Officer Jannick. Reaching over, he clicked on the tape recorder, which beeped and emitted a small red light from a tiny contained lightbulb. “Time: 8:02 P. M. on March 28, 2014. Officers Gaël Jannick and Josèp Cesc interviewing Andrew Ortwin, male, age 17. Now, describe everything that happened after 12:00 P. M. on February 22, 2014.”
Andrew fidgeted. Sweeping back his violent brown hair, he leaned into the tape recorder. “I had English class at 12:05. Then, at 12:50, I had a lunch free.”
“And you went to the cafeteria?” asked Officer Cesc.
“Yes. I stayed on campus. I took out a book from the library, ‘Psychology in Chess,’ by Krogius, and then I went to the cafeteria.”
“Do you remember what you ate?” asked Jannick.
“Yes. It was only a month ago, and I have my food journal at home, which I review weekly. I ate–I think it was salmon and some kind of grain. Probably some kind of cauliflower-grain mixture.”
“And then what?”
“I had Biology at 1:40 until the end of the day. That’s at 2:25.”
“And after that. I want detail, Ortwin!” Jannick hoisted himself up onto the table, staring across at Andrew, who leaned back and away.
“I took the school bus home. Like always.”
“Bus number?” asked Cesc, pulling Jannick back into his seat.
“304. To Kearney and Fifth. My house is at 2502 Kearney. I was there, studying chess, until 5:00. Then I had dinner until 6:00. Pizza while playing Portal 2. I did my math homework, I studied for my English test, and then I played a few blitz games before bed.”
“Blitz chess?”
“Yes. It’s a form of chess where each player only has a few minutes,” Andrew answered, patting the pocket set in his pants pocket.
“Very well. That’s your summary of the day?” asked Jannick.
“Yes.”
“Very well,” said Cesc. “We’ll call you if we need more information.”
They drove Andrew home in a squad car, being courteous and polite.
“So this is your door?” asked Officer Cesc.
“Yes,” said Andrew. “Thanks for the lift.”
“And thank you for the information,” said Cesc. “Again, if we need more information, we’ll call you.”
“Okay. I’ll be happy to provide whatever you need, Officer.”
As Andrew walked up the steps, Jannick turned to Cesc. “He did it.”
“I know,” Cesc said, watching Andrew ring the doorbell three times over. “We just have to prove it.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Andrew said, taking the plate.
“No problem,” she said. “Are you going to eat in your room again?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of homework to do.”
“Why did they want to talk to you?”
“I don’t know,” Andrew frowned. “But they cut out an hour from homework time.”
“Not chess time?” asked Ms. Ortwin.
“You should be glad I’m sleeping at all, Mom,” answered Andrew, turning to the stairs. “Thanks for the food.”
When Andrew arrived at his room, he sank into his chair, putting down his plate, and logged into the blitz server as NotANewb (1205). He was matched against ThaiFighter2o4 (1006), and began to play.
(V Gonsiorovsky–Puchalsky Moscow 1914)
On to the next one? he thought. Nah. I’d better do some German homework before I waste any more time. Andrew sighed, taking his German textbook from the shelf and flipping to page 237.
Okay. Now just English to write. I’ll play another. I guess…I guess it’s against madmanwithabox8. I’m…yay! I play White again!
(Max Lange–Karl Mayet Berlin 1853)
Ugh. Well, one more before I do my English. After all, I am NotANewb.
(Max Lange–Hermann Pollmaecher Leipzig 1855)
Okay. Well, English done. It’s 10:30, so I’ll skip the Smith-Morra study and go straight to my end-of-day puzzle.
5/28/14: Mate in Six
All right. I think I’ve got it, although it took a minute. Now time for bed.
______________________________________________________________________________
Chess on!
–HikaruShindo
Since this is an unusual post, I want to hear your comments more than ever! Discussion thread here: Thread 167071
(Again, this is a work of fiction. I made this all up. The games are attributed. The puzzle's source: Eric Schiller–Mike Arne Training Tournament 1995)
