The Chess Challenge
by M.C.
Beautiful university professor challenges the world's top chess masters.

This story was inspired by Violet Seale - it's all in the mind.

Warning to readers : in this story there's no violence. Just a woman of 
superior intellect defeating men with her mental powers.I apologise to 
those chess players among you for any inaccuracies regarding the game 
itself, 


The auditorium was nearly filled. There was a buzz of excitement as the 
30 international chess grandmasters, including the world's champion, 
filed in and took their seats opposit a chessboard. All were somewhat 
perplexed as to what was going to happen next. They had each recieved, 
via e -mail,  the same message which read : " I hearby challenge you to 
a game of chess. If you win I will give you $20,000. If I win you will 
owe me nothing. Looking forward to playing against you;  Sincerely, V.S. 
" Thinking it might be a  hoax, many of the chess masters e - mailed the 
university to check it out. When they were assured that it was, indeed, 
a legitimate challenge, almost all of the worlds top players decided to 
attend. What they didn't know at the time -and only found out when they 
entered the auditorium -  was that the mysterious V.S. was going to play 
them all at the same time !!! 

Simultaneous chess is not, at all, unusual. Chess masters and 
grandmasters often compete against multiple opponents - sometimes as 
many as 50 - and usually win almost all of their matches. Even though 
they may be playing against very good players, the skill of a 
grandmaster is such that they almost always win. But this was something  
different because this V.S. had challenged the best players in the 
world; that had never been attempted. How could one person take on 30 of 
the world's best chess grandmasters - all at the same time. It seemed 
impossible. 

Violet Seale sat in her office, looking over some notes. The 23 year old 
physics professor - the youngest in the universitiy's history - was due 
to give a lecture on particle physics that evening and wanted to be sure 
everything was in order. As the beautiful woman scanned her notes, she 
glanced up at the clock on the wall. She got out her notebook and placed 
the papers inside. Slinging the notebook over her shoulder, she left her 
office and began walking towards the auditorium. " Time to play a little 
chess ", she said to herself and laughed. 

When Violet entered, the auditorium grew deathly quiet. She comely made 
her way to the center of the tables where the world's greatest chess 
players sat. " Hello boys ", she began," my name is Violet Seale, your 
opponent in this chess challenge ". When she said this there was a 
murmer heard throughout the auditorium. No woman had ever reached the 
higher levels of chess mastery, yet this woman was challenging all of 
the world's best. William Jones -  the world's champion - an arrogant, 
conceited man, stood up and boorishly announced, " this is an outrage. 
No woman has ever beaten even a single one of us, what chance do you 
have against us all. I refuse to be a part of this farce."  Violet 
smiled as she walked over to him. " I guess if the great William Jones 
is afraid of playing little old me then maybe you should just get up and 
leave - there are plenty of other players here ". The whole auditorium 
heard her say this and, realizing he was trapped (he would never live it 
down if he walked out) reluctantly accepted Violet's challenge; 
determined to teach her a lesson. 

The boards were set up, the clocks readied, and the match began. Violet, 
majestically standing in the center of the square, began to move from 
board to board. The opening moves were done quickly as each grandmaster 
tried to use the strategy that best suited him. For each move, however, 
Violet had an effective answer. As the beautiful woman gracefully moved 
around the floor, she would glance at each board, appraising the 
situation within seconds  and counter each attack with a brilliant 
counterattack of her own. The capacity crowd stared in silence as they 
watched in wonder. Violet soon had all the chess masters on the 
defensive, trying for a stalemate, instead of a win. She never seemed to 
lose her composure as she laughed and joked with her opponents as well 
as the audience. One by one, the world's best chess players were forced 
to retire -either by a checkmate or being put in a hopeless position. 
Not one of the grandmasters even came close to winning - not even 
William Jones. After the last of her opponents resigned the entire 
auditorium erupted in thunderous applause. Violet, flashing her 
beautiful smile, acknowledged their cheers. Even the defeated 
grandmasters had to bow to her superiority. All, that is, except William 
Jones. 

" It had to be rigged ", he growled, " nobody could be that good -
especially not a woman ". Violet walked over to him. She despised his 
macho attitude and decided to teach him a lesson he'll never forget. " 
I'll tell you what, Mr. Jones, why don't you and I play each other and - 
to make it more of a challenge for me - I'll even play without my Queen 
". There were gasps heard throughout the auditorium. The Queen is, by 
far, the most powerful piece on the board. By attempting to play against 
the world champion without it, Violet was putting herself at a 
tremendous disadvantage. If she seemed concerned she certainly didn't 
show it. " Are you ready to play, big boy ? ", she teased. An infuriated 
Willian Jones sat down at the chessboard and growled, " let's begin ". 

Violet sat down across from him and smiled." You can play white and go 
first ", she said; giving him yet another advantage. As the game began 
Violet softly hummed to herself. Despite his tremendous advantage, 
Violet soon had her arrogant opponent on the defensive. She would make 
her moves within seconds while Willian Jones struggled with his moves 
for several minutes. When it was his turn, Violet would comely brush her 
beautiful hair or polish her fingernails. As the game wore on Violet 
yawned. She picked up her notebook and began going over her notes again. 
She hardly appeared to be paying attention to the game but when her 
opponent made a mistake she quickly pounced on it. After such a move, 
Violet giggled and said " well, honey, looks like you lose your  Queen 
too ". She forked his King and Queen with her knight, then went back to 
her notes. It was a total humiliation for the proud world champion as 
the wonderous Violet destroyed him in front of hundreds of people. 
Violet could have won much eariler but she delighted in taking him down 
slowly. When it was obvious that he had no chance, Willian Jones stopped 
playing, hung his head in his hands and began to cry.  " Aw, poor baby 
", Violet teased. " Was the little girl too smart for the tough, macho 
chess master ? " As the crowd cheered wildly, the victorious woman got 
up from her chair, walked around to the side of the broken man and 
patted him on the head. " There, there now, don't take it so hard. If 
you practice a lot, I may decide to give you a rematch someday ". Violet 
picked up her notebook, slung it over her shoulder, smiled at the 
adoring crowd and left the auditorium. " Well, that sure was fun ", she 
giggled to herself. " Perhaps next time I'll play them all blindfolded  
to give them more of a chance ".