The Kingdom of the Seven Stars: Chaturanga

Chapter 4

"A Sicilian Offensive? Are you out of your mind?" said Professor Equinox. He was a short, middle aged man with wide shoulders, black hair, and a large black beard and bushy eyebrows. "That's way too obvious. There's no way Blackstar won't have thought of it."

"That's precisely my point, you conclusion-jumping imbecile," said Professor Shaw. He was taller than Professor Equinox, with greying red hair, a shorter beard and round glasses. He and Professor Equinox had first met as students at the University of Magenta fifty years ago and had been bitter rivals ever since. "It is obvious. Damon won't have built in defences against something he thinks nobody's going to bother to try. So let's try it and see what happens. It might open up some new paths."

"It's conclusion-jumping-to, you grammatical ignoramus. Conclusion-jumping makes it sound like I'm leaping over them," said Professor Equinox. "But fine. Let's see where it goes."

"Nowhere. It won't work," said Doctor Thornton, who trying it out on her computer pad. She pointed to the chessboard. "His queen's rook is perfectly positioned to block anything we try to do in the middle of the board. He doesn't need build defences. The one's he already has are perfectly adequate."

Doctor Thornton was in her thirties, with thin glasses and brown hair in a long plait. She was the highest-ranked female chess player in the Pleiades and one of the youngest ever to teach at the university, an achievement which annoyed Professor Equinox and Professor Shaw almost as much as how she had had beaten both of them in the last six university chess competitions.

"See? I told you. This is not going to be something with a simple answer," said Professor Equinox, turning around and bowing as they arrived at the table. "Good afternoon, your majesty. Your highnesses. I'm so sorry about King Geoffrey."

"Thank you, Professor," said Jessamine, as Professor Shaw and Doctor Thornton greeted her as well. "And thank you for coming. Though I take it a solution isn't coming as fast as we'd hoped."

"Well, it depends on how you look at it," said Equinox. "We're finding about three new things that won't work every ten minutes. At this rate, we'll find something that will simply by process of elimination."

"That isn't funny," said Professor Shaw. "We are taking this seriously, your majesty, I assure you. We're analysing every possible move you can make with all the pieces you have and what the results of each possibility would be. We've also been looking at Damon's check, studying how it's put together and looking for weak points."

"And we aren't finding many," said Professor Equinox, looking at the board again. "I'll say this much for Blackstar; he's thought this through. This is the closest thing I've ever seen to a triple-checkmate."

"Yes. He must have been studying the board for months," said Doctor Thornton. "Perhaps even longer."

"So can you help or not?" said Ellen. "And can you do it before Sunday?"

"We will keep trying very hard, your highness," said Professor Shaw. "But it is not going to be easy. Damon has always been gifted, but he's truly surpassed himself with this."

"Do you know him?" said Alex.

"Oh, yes. I was at school with his father," said Professor Shaw. "We played chess together at least once a week for thirty years. I helped teach Damon to play."

"Oh, really? And how old was the student when he surpassed his teacher?" said Professor Equinox. "Seven?"

"Certainly not! He was fourteen," said Professor Shaw. "He surpassed you when we was seven."

"How dare you...!"

"Gentlemen, right now, he seems to have surpassed both of you," said Doctor Thornton. "If you want to prove that you're still worthy of your department chairs, you need to show that he hasn't by solving this. So let's get on with it."