Though it seems rather like madness, you decide to turn and run at the wall which you have just come from…though what that will achieve you are not sure. Luckily, as you are about to crash, head-first into concrete, you find your arms and legs (the closest extremities of your body) sliding through said wall.

Breathless, you look around the new place you have slid into.

“Wow,” you remark to yourself. It’s a tiny chamber, barely three metres by three metres, with walls of compact earth. There is no light, but the natural darkness; though, despite that, you can see. On a raised clump of earth in the centre stands an ornate chessboard, almost carved out of the earth like a tree…or something.

You creep forward, almost expecting traps to be set and perils to leap out, as if this has become an Indiana Jones' adventure.

Then your eyes linger on the chessboard. It is set up, mid-game, very exactly, the pieces posed ready for the next move. As you look closer, you can identify that their features have been painted to the point of being incredibly detailed, including the bemused expressions specific to the nature of the piece itself, such as the arrogance of the queens, or the worry of the bishops.

About to creep away, you notice a sign scraped into the back wall:

Test your intellect. White can win this game in one move. What is it?

It seems like a fair challenge, so you squint at the chessboard, your hands lingering over the pieces.

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Author guidance for This exercise

You fall asleep on the sofa...







.... and enter Dream Land

updated Aug 26 '10 by AutumnMay