Sophie’s team in the world of Chaturangi

After the monk disappeared, Sophie allowed herself to look around and check how her friends were playing. They also won their games in less than no time. Mark won his game with a nice move to h2, Artem with a pawn mate, Keira with a knight-and-bishop mate; only Alice continued to play. So, everyone came closer to her to evaluate the position and share their mental streams of strength and confidence with her.

In fact, the position was a draw for both players, but the voice did not say anything about a draw… Therefore, they had nothing to do but wait for the end of the game. The players repeated their moves several times and everyone saw how the chess clock stood still.

“Well, congratulations, Sophie, your team has been replenished with one more player. Now your team has as many members as required to be eligible for the Tournament in our world. You may access the road to the interstellar portal. Bring victory to your world and protect your planet for the next hundred years,” the same voice said.

And the monk who was Alice’s opponent joined our players as a full member of the Earth team.

Chapter 5

A new member of the team is a monk chess player?!

Immediately after these words were pronounced, the door opened and the team saw a room with a real portal. It sparkled with gold glitter, and inside it, somewhere in the depths of outer space, another world waiting for the guys to test their minds was visible.

“Did everyone understand the words about protecting the Earth for the next hundred years?” Artem asked.

“Seriously, the interstellar portal is right in front of you and nobody is concerned about people or ‘non-people’ disappearing into nowhere?” Sophie said.

“Do I understand correctly that the monk is now in the same boat with us?” Mark said in his turn.

“My name is Tkhanguriedil,” the monk said suddenly. “You think in a very funny way, but I like your team. I will try to be of service to you. Earth protection means that if we win, it is your team from Earth that will become the owner of the Streams of Power, an artifact capable of protecting your planet from almost any external threat and enabling its unprecedented scientific and spiritual development. Your planet is very strong. For many hundreds of years, the artifact belonged to you, but you have not participated in centenary tournaments for five hundred years. The Inca emperor Atualpa was the last holder of the Streams of Power from your planet. After he voluntarily handed over the Streams of Power to other participants of his teams who were residents of another planet, there has been no single worthy player from Earth for five hundred years and the artifact has not been on your planet for the same period. It’s a miracle that you have managed to think in the Chaturangi language without the Streams of Power.”

“We will call you Edie. That’s the first thing. Secondly, I’m Sophie, this is Mark, Artem, Alice and Keira. Thirdly, what do you mean saying that we think in the Chaturangi language? And who wants to blow up our world? What are the Streams of Power?” Sophie asked.

“Edie? Hmm, I like it. Chaturangi it is the world of chess, world game, illusion world. No one knows where Chaturangi is or how to get there. It chooses residents by itself; it sets up teams and designates players by itself. Chess, as you are accustomed to seeing it, is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, it is not just a game, it is a certain device of consciousness, thinking, ability to retreat from the world into a cocoon and enter the direct flow communicating with the Cosmic consciousness that you call the subconsciousness. They want to blow up not only our world. A few years ago, children from planet Akkhshvar won the tournament and the Streams of Power artifact went to their world. We don’t know what happened, but after some time the Akkhshvar team literally went insane and tried to destroy Rukkhaya, my planet, and they were ready to do it but we froze time by opening the portal to the labyrinth. Our only chance was to initiate the Tournament of True Power ahead of time and try to win in a fair chess battle, because during the Tournament, the Streams of Power go back to the world of Chaturangi, and in case of victory, the artifact goes to the winner. We hope to catch the explosion on time and transmit it to an empty space where there is no time.

“That is, Edie, if I got it right, when you dare the winner of the tournament, a portal to this labyrinth opens and you can get to the arena, where you will fight for some kind of artifact that can destroy a whole planet?” Mark asked to get things straight.

“Not really, Mark,” Edie replied. “Only one of the worlds that has ever won the Tournament can challenge ahead of time and it must use all the energy of the planet for this. That is, if our team wins, the Streams of Power artifact can save the life of my planet, and if we lose, then my Rukkhaya planet will inevitably be destroyed by an explosion. When the labyrinth opens, all worthy teams of the Universe automatically get into it from different time parallels and time in the rest of the world freezes. Someone just gets sucked in and I take it that you were virtually led by the hand by Fate. But all of us here must go through the primary selection to be eligible for the main game that will consists of several rounds and the main game’s prize will be the Streams of Power.

“Still, it is not clear how dangerous this artifact is for our planet because it is no coincidence that we have not had it for five hundred years,” Alice inquired.

And naturally none liked that it was Alice who asked this because it could mean only one thing – the artifact was really dangerous. At the same time, everyone felt that they could trust the monk who was not a monk at all…

“Dangerous, but if you managed to start thinking in the Chaturangi language again, learned how to control your consciousness and subconsciousness, the Streams of Power artifact will not do harm but enhance your abilities,” Edie answered.

“Thinking in the Chaturangi language again? What do you mean?” Artem asked.

“Atualpa was the last owner of the Streams of Power from your planet, he won the Tournament as a member of his team. It was a long time ago, and chess was a little different game with different rules. Not children, but adults, accomplished grandmasters or just players with great potential for analysis could play it. Atualpa rewarded each of his subjects with the light of the Streams, laid foundation for strategies and clarity of thinking and then handed over the Streams of Power to other members of his team from another planet. The reasons for this are unknown. However, as far as we know, it was his ability to be the best player on your planet that Atualpa angered those who came to take his lands and they killed him, following which the Chaturangi world made the Tournament for children only,” Edie explained.

“Well, the story of the last Inca emperor, perhaps, is worth reading more closely but it is unlikely that our books will be fully reliable,” Artem said. “But generally, and understandably, it was the rivers of blood that flowed due to the seizure of the new continent that gave rise to all the Evil that was increasingly growing and chess for many centuries became a kind of lost treasure, having found which people were able to develop their logic, found the key to tactical thinking not only during the game, a battle, but also in peaceful life, and enriched their minds.”

“It was not the rivers of blood that gave rise to the Evil but the connivance of others, whether five hundred years ago, eighty years ago or not so long ago, and each time it was the same country that kept gradually subjugating the will of others by substituting values: substituting family for entertainment, friendship for profit, humanity for selfishness, thus making something that used to be black white,” Alice said.

“We understand, Edie, what kind of madness you are talking about. It’s called power and the difference in the level of scientific development apparently does not play any role. And power cannot bring a sense of fullness; there is no word stop, there is no sense of moderation. ‘Only in a sense of proportion is true good’ as Shakespeare once wrote. It’s obvious that those live overseas and can’t get enough have not read Shakespeare but are happy to impose this very quote on everyone else as an internal motto,” Artem added.

“I agree but let’s remember how wildly popular chess was during the era of the greatest confrontation between our countries,” Keira argued. “Why didn’t children from our planet get to the Tournament then?”

“I don’t follow the history of your planet but I can assume that at that time there simply wasn’t such a Tournament. However, apparently, the impetus that was driven by the confrontation you are talking about gave birth to children like you. Children who not only learn and memorize moves but who think in the language of chess in all areas of their lives,” Edie answered.

“I’m afraid our world is not ready for that yet but we have to help you win,” Alice answered with a sad smile.

“Thank you, Alice, but the artifact is not an item, it is the ability to control the Streams of Power affecting the entire Universe and we will all be the keepers of these Streams as equals as long as we are a single team. But you are right. We must win and by winning we will save not only my planet but also Akkhshvar. They won their tournament honestly, which means they were worthy at that moment. We also need to find out why and how the change occurred in order to avoid repeating mistakes.”

“How come you know so much?” Artem asked.

“It’s your planet that has not participated in the Tournaments for five hundred years and we were the winners of the Tournament before last plus technically our planet is much more developed. We have been traveling between worlds and galaxies for a long time,” Edie said, laughing.

“It’s amazing, terrifying, enviable and I just love it but, Edie, show us your face at last,” Mark asked.

“Mark, what you see is my face indeed,” Edie said. “There are virtually no micro elements on our planet and our shell consists of semi-poisonous gases. So, we have no flesh or bones, as you know them. We assumed such shape in order not to scare the opposing team once we got to this stage. But in fact, I can assume on absolutely any shape because I live on frequencies of which you are unaware.”

And at the same moment he turned into a boy of about the same age as the guys resembling each of them to a certain extent.

“Looks a bit creepy. Like it’s the baby of all of us at the same time,” Alice wondered. “You’d better choose any shape that suits you. We will accept it because that’s what the team does and you are now a member of it.”

At that point, Edie turned into a monk again. However, this time he was significantly shorter and matched the average height of the entire team.

“Time is running out, team, enter the portal.”

The guys joined hands with each other and one by one, but all together, went through the next door.

Chapter 6

Getting acquainted with Chaturangi

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Примечания

1

S. I v a s c h e n k o. Chess Combinations Textbook. Volume 1.

2

S. K a r j a k i n, E. V o l k o v a. Chess school of Sergey Karjakin. Bronze book.

3

V. Cisar. 1896.

4

S. Loid. 1858.

5

Alireza Firouzjaa vs Magnus Carlsen. 2020. Norway Chess.

6

Sophie Gorodova, Zlata Maltseva. 2022. Championship of Russia for Children under 9