A quandary

Maida furrowed her brow as she finished listening to Mimoko's lecture. "So the quandary is that you're seeking to know how a game could have been played. Quite the project you've hoisted upon us. The first theory would be to reverse engineer the game, yet that's near impossible even for geniuses. Thus, turning to computers would likely be the best course of action for attempting to solve this."

"I had a feeling that might be the case," Mimoko frowned.

"Disappointed?"

"Not at all. Computers are a huge part of chess. I imagine all it would take is a simple program and we'd have our answer in no time."

"Perhaps, but just because it sounds simple doesn't mean it's easy to code. Perhaps Numakawa-kun could have done it, but he's no longer here..."

Mimoko began to frown as she recalled Numakawa. She wasn't particularly close with him, in fact none of the original core members of the club were, but that didn't mean his death at the hands of Red Reaper didn't weigh on her. He had gone to London in order to save her, yet sadly he had been the only one that didn't make it back.

Yuzuha felt even guiltier over the fact considering she was the one saved by Numakawa throwing himself before Red Reaper to save her. Okisato, also felt some regret as thanks to him deciding to gallivant in China, Red Reaper was able to get the jump on his friends back in London. That being said, looking at how Numakawa played made it hard to feel completely bad for him.

"It always baffles me why Numakawa-kun struggled so much with chess. He was highly skilled at shogi and very methodical, yet after the first tournament, he began to change," Maida frowned.

"What do you mean?" Okisato asked.

"You remember how he was when he first faced, you, correct? That was how he normally was, but following the tournament, he started to become a tad more haughty, eccentric, foolish. I know not what could have sparked such a change."

Okisato began to scowl as he entered into a deep think, however, he'd have to shelve his thoughts on Numakawa as a clubmate called him over to look at something.

"I tried asking an AI to solve the Troitsky problem, and bam! Instant," the student grinned as he displayed his phone.

"Hmm, e4, c5, knight f3, knight c6, g3, d5, e captures d5, bishop g4, d captures c6, castle- No, that doesn't work. First, the position has pawns on e4 and e5, which makes it seem more likely the two don't move from that spot. And second, Black can't castle yet. I'm not the biggest expert on AI, but when it comes to chess, I know it tends to suck. Only dedicated computers made for chess tend to do well."

"Ah, I see. We have any other info about the game that might be useful?"

"Only the year it was played, the players, and the stalemate trap."

"Are we sure it's even an actual game? Troitsky was said to be a composer, so maybe this is just a composed position."

"The possibility is there, however, I'm quite certain this is a real game," Mimoko chimed in.

"Why's that?"

"From the research I've done, it seems to suggest this truly was an actual game played, yet sadly, we know not the full picture due to the loss of Troitsky's notes. He was said to be a meticulous notetaker, so I doubt he wouldn't have written the whole game down."

"Then how do we even know of the stalemate in the first place?"

"I believe Troitsky published just that portion of the game in "500 Endspielstudien" back in 1924. However, like I said, many of the sources I found claim it was a full game."

"What about this "Vogt"? Do we know anything about him?"

Mimoko shook her head. "Not a thing. He might be more elusive than the answer to this puzzle."

"What a quandary indeed."

No progress was made that day on discovering the secrets of Troitsky's game.