GC SF Sp WH BV YL BT CP SA CB CC Back to puzzle

Balloon Vendor

The Balloon Merchant's Gambit

by Asher Walkover
Answer: EQUINES

The chess game being described takes place on a chessboard where every square contains a letter. As the chess pieces move during the course of the game, their movements spell out words in the grid, which are hinted at by the names the players use to describe their moves. The first letter of the final word in each of these names gives a hint to the length of the solution.

For example, white opens the game with a move he calls the Tavern Commencement. "Tavern" is clueing the word PUB, which is partially confirmed by Commencement starting with a C, which indicates that it's a three letter solution. Whichever piece white moved on his first turn (the column d pawn as it happens) must therefore have started on a square with a P, moved over a square with a U, and ended the turn on a square with a B.

Note that (as black says on his second move) knight moves should always be considered to first be two steps in one direction, then one step in another direction, for purposes of determining what squares a knight passes over on his move.

Some of the early game can be reconstructed entirely from the hints in the players' banter and the knowledge of how far the pieces moved on each turn. Black's 6th move was to castle, so he must have already moved his king-side knight at that point, and turn 2 is the only option for when that could have happened (it's the only move of length four). Black's 5th turn could only have been black's king-side bishop making a capture on a3, which means white's 5th move was to put his rook onto a3, and therefore when white moved a piece four spaces to capture on a3 on move 6, that could only have been the queen-side knight. In turn this means the knight that white used on move 4 was the king-side knight. A bit later, because the two players are even on material on turn 10, black had to have moved his queen-side rook on turn 8, for white to capture it with their bishop on turn 10.

The rest of the game needs to be deduced working with the constraints of fitting the clued words into the grid of letters. After the full game and grid of letters has been reconstructed, we can figure out white's final move that put the black king into checkmate. White moved their queen along the diagonal from b1 to h7, spelling out EQUINES in the grid by doing so. The title of the puzzle is a hint to the enumeration of the answer; "Gambit", starting with G, clues 7.

The state of the game after 20 turns, as white is about to checkmate black:
[chessboard with letters]

The full game:
White 1Tavern CommencementPUBd4
Black 1Thinking Machine BlitzAIe6
White 2Tokarev Pistol BluffTTe3
Black 2Concept DeceptionIDEANf6
White 3Psychic Power CannonESPa4
Black 3Lovelace ContrivanceADAd5
White 4Tiny Chessman DrivePAWNNh3
Black 4Rank ChargeROWa5
White 5Affirmative CoercionYESRa3
Black 5Broadcast Receivers FeintRADIOSBxa3
White 6Slippery Fish DodgeEELSNxa3
Black 6Hindi Honorific Crossing / Knight's Honorific CrossingSRI / SIRO-O
White 7Proven CheatQEDc4
Black 7Grandmaster Capablanca's Homeland Defense?CUBANbd7
White 8Schnoz DeceitNOSENg5
Black 8Spanish Gold ConspiracyORORa6
White 9Russian Affirmative BarrageDAcxd5
Black 9Verdi Opera DeterrenceAIDANxd5
White 10Workshop ForaySTUDIOBxa6
Black 10Grandmaster Wesley's BlunderSObxa6
White 11Toboggan DecoySLEDNc4
Black 11Neighbor DoublecrossABUTNxe3
White 12Appropriate ChicaneryAPTBxe3
Black 12Mayday CollisionSOSh5
White 13Candy -Caps CrossfireSNOh4
Black 13Fryer CounterattackPANf5
White 14Astonishment CrusadeAWEg4
Black 14British Bum DisputationARSENb6
White 15Enjoy Food DupeDINENxb6
Black 15Second Note Booby-trapREcxb6
White 16Slangy Sweetie ConfederacyBAEQb1
Black 16America BombardmentUSBb7
White 17550 BarricadeDLf3
Black 17Slowpoke ErrorSNAILBxf3
White 18Afterthought BlindsidePSRh2
Black 18Lousy CoverBADQd6
White 19Chess Rating System ChaseELOb4
Black 19Stalemates EngagementDRAWSQxh2
White 20Oakland Team Bait-and-switchASKf1
Black 20Omaha State BulwarkNEfxg4
White 21 EQUINESQh7#