The newcomer did not believe the rumors himself. A black-haired man with a goatee was sitting on a bench in the park, poring over a chess position. Newcomer noticed something odd – there were quadrupled pawns on the g-file!
Before he could stop himself, he was at the board. “That is highly unlikely to happen in a normal game!” he blurted out. “And white was awfully generous to give away three pieces to let that happen!!”
Goatee just smiled at the intrusion. “You show promise” he replied. “But you have missed one thing – there are really 5 pawns on the g-file!”
“Huh?!” said Newcomer, confused.
“You see, the Bh1 has just given check to the white King, and his only previous move could have been Pg2xh1, promoting to a Bishop. You have much to learn!”
Goatee nodded slightly and looked over Newcomer`s shoulder. Someone jumped in behind Newcomer and quickly jabbed a syringe into his neck. His eyes rolled and his body went limp as he slipped into unconsciousness. When he awoke, he found himself an inmate in …
SwissGambit`s Puzzle Torture Camp
“Good afternoon!”, barked Goatee, who was evidently the warden of the facility, and notorious for his hatred of getting up early in the morning, or getting up at any point in the morning, for that matter. “Let`s see if you head has cleared since yesterday. Bring in the chess board!!” he snapped.
Two guards promptly wheeled a chess table into place. The same monstrosity with the quadrupled pawns lay before Newcomer. “How many pawns are on the g-file?” barked the warden. “FOUR!” shouted Newcomer. “Wrong!” Warden yelled back. “Reconsider your answer!” “THERE ARE ONLY FOUR PAWNS ON THE G-FILE, AND IT IS COMPLETELY UNNATURAL, SIR!!!” shouted Newcomer at the top of his lungs. He was a very stubborn individual and would not break easily.
Warden just shook his head. Two guards grabbed Newcomer by the arms and roughly escorted him to his cell. On the ceiling was taped a diagram of the fateful position. Newcomer groaned at the sight.
It was a strange place. The few fortunate ones who were allowed to eventually leave had their perception of the game forever warped, while those who stayed never played a regular game of chess again, [save for the sick joke of “Proof Games”, an evil non-competitive bastardization of the game] and only the retrograde analysts were able to retain any memory of the normal start position....
What?
What?
I could easily see you turning this into a book. No biggee. Turn this into a miniseries on the Syfy channel, and you got my attention!
Good luck!
Best of luck with the blog 😉