7

With the puzzle solved, the door unlocks, and the group steps into the restricted section. The air feels thick, charged, like a storm is about to break. As you move further in, ghostly images begin to flicker—elves working, schematics of old designs, even glimpses of chessboards mid-game.

Magnus stops in his tracks, staring at one of the flickers. "That’s Alekhine. I’d know that game anywhere - it’s his 1929 match with Bogoljubov. But how is it here?"

David frowns, watching another image fade in and out. "These aren’t just images. They’re... echoes of the past. Spacetime must be warping under the interference. The TSC is bending reality in this area."

The group presses on, and the apparitions grow more vivid. At one point, a shadowy figure appears at the end of the corridor, standing motionless. "Is that... Garry Kaspelf?" Wesley whispers.

David points to the board in the distance. "This must be a remnant of one of our earlier experiments with the singularity. We tried using it to simulate sequential moves - letting one side play multiple times in a row to study temporal loops. Now, you’ll need to guide Black through nine precise moves to set up a stalemate for White."

This is a serieshelpstalemate. Black plays 9 consecutive moves, without reply from White, after which White stalemates in one! Both players cooperate.

No intermediate checks are allowed, meaning that Black can only check on the 9th move. Here's a board editor with the position (note that this editor doesn't validate legal moves).

Example format: 1. exd5 2. dxe4 3. exd3 4. dxe2 5. e1=B 6. Bxd2 7. Bxe3 8. Bxd4 9. Bxe5 Re2.

If anything is unclear, ask in our Discord.