Under Attack Again

The duo in the sealed observation room shook their heads as the black bishop slid two squares in front of the rook. The Doctor was in check again!

"How could such an intelligent man as the Doctor let himself get into so much trouble?" asked Fred.

"Well, dear, there are two things that may be happening. The one I fancy is that the Doctor is playing a deep game. Perhaps the conditions of a true victory are different than a win according to the rules of the game."

Fred looked at Astra wide-eyed. "What do you mean?"

"Well, he seems more fixed on preserving Susan and the demi-foxes than he does on winning the game. He does not know what happens to captured pieces, and is probably assuming the worst."

"But according to that way of looking at it, he cold-bloodedly sacrificed us, preferring them."

"Ah, but we are Eternal Champions. We might lose time getting out of whatever trap was set for us, but the results of getting captured would not be as permanent for us as it would for them. Letting me get captured might be part of the strategy. He is trying to set it up so the he loses quickly, so that the others may live to fight another day. And remember, your capture was a bit of an accident. He would have been checkmated on the previous move if Susan had not interfered."

"That is an interesting way of looking at it. What was the other way of looking at it?"

"The Doctor is simply a weak chess player."

"Well, he sure is stalling."

"Yes." Astra then changed themes. "Fred, are you sure that there were not any pieces in that case?"

"I did not see any. Why?"

"I would be expecting white pieces at least. The opposition has captured four of our pawns, for starters."

Fred responded, "Oh, yes. It would be logical that they would be sent here with us. And white has captured some pieces, too."

"Yes. I forgot exactly who took what, but at least some of them just appeared in the pockets of the man who captured them."

"I was on the board when Josh took the queen, so he should have that. He should also have a pawn."

"Two pawns. He captured one early."

"Yes, but the Doctor asked to see it, remember? He never gave it back. It was as if he thought that they held a clue to something."

Astra thought a bit about what Fred had just said. Neither of them realized that the Doctor also had a knight, that was captured just after Fred had been taken. Some of the black pawns, being taken by white pawns, simply disappeared. If only one of them had captured a piece, so that they could examine it here....

Fred then broke the silence. "We are never going to get that letter to Rassilon.[9858] I wonder if we should read it. With all the work that we have done, I simply have not had time to look."

"I am not sure that that is a good idea. Reading other people's mail has always been considered rude. In this case, it might be dangerous."

Game action
25 N-Q6 B-KN5+

1. Fred ignores Astra's advice and tries to read the letter.
2. Fred and Astra find the three white pawns.
3. Rassilon is not idle, however. [14138, 16695]

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