It’s been a while since we talked about a talk show, but I don’t like doing so, so let’s not. Instead, let’s talk about underwear. Or advertisement for it, at least. Let’s talk about Rupa. It’s a brand of underwear based in India. Chess is hugely popular there, so it’s not so surprising that Rupa wanted to release a commercial with a chess theme. But how could they possibly link chess to underwear? I want you to pause here for a bit and try to come up witt an answer.1
Well, apparently, you start a widely attended game in a luxurious palace hall, between an old Austrian player, Székely,2 and a young, handsome, Indian man, Ranveer. Székely, who is playing black, looks very confident: His opponent — who, surprisingly, is playing white — not so much. There’s not a clock in sight, so it cannot be a very official event.
Reconstructing the position was not a difficult task. Here it is, with a hundred percent confidence:3
Why black is so confident here is not clear. He is a pawn down, his pieces are uncoordinated, and there is the immediate threat of 1. Qd4+ (Kg8 2. Rg2+ Kf8 Bd6+). Presumably, he’s just not very good at chess. But why are there so many spectators then? Is this that PogChamp thing from a couple of years back?
Whatever the event may be, white overlooks the Qd4 option4 and plays Nf3 instead. The moves follow in incomprehensibly quick succession: black goes Rd8, white answers Ng5, black goes Nxg5, white replies Bxg5, black takes Rxd2, white jumps on the table suddenly stripped of his suit. An unconventional move, to be sure, but an effective one; for, by the sheer power of his dance moves, he makes his bishop move to f6, finally checkmating his opponent. The ad apparently claims that this superhuman feat is due to his undershirt. The claim seems dubious.
Realism: 3/5 I can see two bad players getting in this position and making the moves as in the as. I cannot see dozens of people come to watch them suck at chess like a foal at a mare’s teat.
Probable winner: White men can jump, apparently.
1. [I also want you to prove the Goldbach conjecture, so you can get on that, too.] ↩
2. [That’s a Hungarian name, of course, but Hungarian names are not uncommon in Austria, so they get away with that.] ↩
3. […the best diagram editor online.] ↩
4. [Which apparently would have been mate in 12. Nf5 would even have been two moves quicker.] ↩