SKY is a broadcasting company from New Zealand. They must have been incredibly popular, because in 2009 they decided to scare some away: they published an advertisement threatening their customers with Aliens vs. Predator.1 It is a crossover between the Predator franchise, about an alien predator, and Aliens, about predatory aliens. In the movie Aliens vs. Predator, they meet for the final, climactic confrontation. On the chess board, if the ads are to be believed.
It is a very unsettling spectacle. I don’t mean the large, highly dangerous, extraterrestrial creatures, nor the incongruous nature of these ravenous killers sipping claret in a dimly-lit library, ready for a game of chess. I mean that h1 is a black square.
And there are even more worrying things. It’s impossible to identify all pieces with complete accuracy and to know their places for certain, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the position is this one:2
except that the alien is holding the missing black pawn. “What?!” I hear some of you exclaim, “Is black starting this game?” Maybe, but not necessarily. White may have opened with 1. Nf3 and, after his opponent invited him to some kind of French with 1. … e6, retreated in disgust with 2. Ng1. Black is now in the middle of the move 2. … e5, after which the players will de facto have changed colours.
So, yeah, it’s possible. It’s just extremely stupid. But, apparently, that’s an excellent metaphor for the movie.
Realism: 2/5 This is ridiculous. But I could very much see it happen in a titled Tuesday blitz between Carlsen and Nakamura.
Probable winner: Nobody. This series needs to be milked for all it’s worth, so there can’t be a definitive winner.
1. [Disclaimer: I have never actually seen this movie; it may actually be good. The chance is very low, but it’s there.] ↩
2. […and a thunderously galloping suspicion that the diagram editor used was this one.] ↩