#3082: Chess Position

[In the first panel, Cueball is walking in from the left, while talking to Ponytail.]

Cueball: Something odd happened to me last week in a game at the chess club.

[Cueball is playing a game of chess against Knit Cap.]

[Caption above frame:]

I moved, then instantly realized I'd blundered. But my opponent didn't notice and made a weird move.

I got rattled and moved almost randomly, then I think we both panicked and made a couple of nonsensical moves, rapid-fire.

[Zoomed in on Cueball, with three question marks above his head]

I don't know how it happened, but suddenly I realized I was staring at an indescribably strange board position.

[Cueball is talking to Ponytail.]

Cueball: I've never seen anything like it. It seemed like every move attacked every piece, yet every piece was also protected. Pieces refracted through crystalline pawn structures.

Cueball: The game clock slowed and then stopped.

[Cueball and Knit Cap are floating in a complex five-fold symmetrical plant-like pattern of "game tree branches".]

[Caption above the frame]

It didn't even feel like we were playing chess. We had stumbled into a magical garden tucked away on a deep branch of the game tree.

[Cueball is talking to Ponytail.]

Cueball: I don't remember how the game ended, if it did.

Cueball: I don't remember how I got home.

Cueball: It's all a blur.

[Close-up of Cueball's head.]

Cueball: I've spent all week trying to reconstruct the position and can't.

Cueball: It's consuming me.

Cueball: I don't want to play chess. I just want to return to that garden.

Cueball: Does... any of this make sense to you?

[Cueball is standing with hands on face surprised as Ponytail talks with him.]

Ponytail: Yeah, that's the Kasparov Vortex Gambit. Common trap for new players.

Cueball: What?!

Ponytail: Once you recover I'll show you how to block it with the f pawn.