Can chess save you from monsters?
Welcome, everyone! As most of you will know, today is Halloween: a day when people dress up, hand out sweets and tell scary stories.
Although it has never been my favourite holiday, I have grown to like it more and more over the years. One tradition I started some time ago is telling scary stories with my friends on this day. Over the years, I've learned lots of stories that I'd like to share with you today. I'm going to tell you several stories about different characters. Each one will present you with a challenge, and if you overcome it, you can hear the next one. Let's see if you can survive them all!
Before we begin, I'd like to issue one final warning, once you start, there are only two possible outcomes: either you make it to the end, or one of the monsters gets you. If you still want to participate, keep reading.
I'm going to tell you the story of five famous and not-so-famous characters that have terrified children for years. I hope you enjoy the adventure and don't start screaming in fear! Let the game begin!
Table of Contents
2. X-VIRUS
3. El Silbón
4. LV-MLO
The Charro Negro is an elegant man who rides his horse through the Mexican countryside. According to legend, nothing will happen if you accompany him; at dawn, he will continue on his way and leave you in peace. However, if you accept his offer to ride his horse to reach your destination more quickly, you will never be able to dismount again. No matter how much you beg or shout, he will take you to an unknown destination and you will never be seen again.
One of the most famous stories about the Charro Negro concerns Abundio Rosas, who encountered him in 1896. One dark night, while walking home through the woods, Abundio felt as though someone was following him. He quickened his pace and brandished the machete he usually carried hidden. When he heard that his pursuer was very close behind him, he turned around and saw a giant black horse with eerie eyes that seemed to shoot fire. Riding it was a thin man with a hat who appeared to have no eyes, mouth, or nose.
Abundio was so frightened that he couldn't scream. Suddenly, the man on horseback reached into his suit and pulled out a bag full of money. Abundio refused the offer twice, after which the rider turned and left without saying a word. Terrified, Abundio returned home and told his wife everything. Neither of them could sleep that night.
The next morning, Abundio went back to where it had happened to see if he could find the mysterious rider. He decided to go back again that night and for a few nights after that, but he never saw the rider again. Some time later, when Abundio had long since forgotten the incident, he encountered the rider on his way home. The man offered him another bag of money. Things weren't going well financially at home, so this time Abundio accepted. The Charro disappeared without a sound.
Abundio used the money to pay off his debts and buy some land. Everything seemed to be going well for the family until one day when his daughter, Adela, disappeared. It was said that on the night of her disappearance, the loud whinnying of a horse could be heard. Devastated by the loss of her daughter, the mother soon died. Abundio kept her belongings, but had lost his loved ones. Anyone who dares to make deals with the Charro Negro must accept the consequences.
Now, imagine that you are the Charro Negro. You must offer one of your pieces in this position for your opponent to accept; in return, they will lose the game. What move would you make?
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Well done! You've survived the first story about the Charro Negro. Let's see how you fare with the second character in this adventure.
Cody was an unwanted child. He never knew his father and his mother was a criminal who left him alone at home all day. He was used to being alone as he didn't have any friends. One day, a social worker arrived and took him to an orphanage. Initially, he thought it was an opportunity to make a fresh start and improve his life. However, things didn't go as he had hoped. Everyone started to dislike him and he spent hours sitting alone in a chair.
A few days later, he was told to pack his bags because he was going to be adopted. He was surprised by the news, as he was quite old and families usually preferred younger children. His new family lived in a very large, luxurious mansion. A few days after arriving, he met his new father, who was a leading scientist at a major laboratory studying viral behaviour. Due to his job, he was unable to spend much time at home. Not wanting a repeat of what had happened with his previous family, Cody decided to learn about his father's research and began helping him in his laboratory.
Over time, his father explained how everything worked and the destructive power of viruses. Cody started taking notes on the results and spending a lot of time in the lab, to the extent that he hardly went to school. By the age of 17, he had learnt so much that he decided to start conducting his own experiments on rats, which usually died in the process, making a very high-pitched noise as they did so. One day, he wondered what a person would sound like if they were injected with a virus, so he snuck into the lab and took a syringe. Before leaving the house, he grabbed a baseball bat and attached nails to it. He also put on a mask in case he needed to defend himself.
He went to the darkest neighbourhood in the city, chose a house at random, and immobilised and injected the man who lived there with the virus. Shortly afterwards, the man started making noises and then collapsed to the floor. Pleased with his experiment, Cody ran to tell his father what had happened. However, his father was not happy. Instead, he looked at him in horror and called the police. Taking advantage of a moment of inattention, Cody hit his father over the head with a baseball bat. He then ran to the lab, grabbed a bag and filled it with syringes and viruses of all kinds. He ran away from home and tested some of the viruses on people in the city. After that, he decided to hide in the woods, where he found a boy who looked just like him. When he asked the boy his name, instead of answering 'Cody', he said 'X-VIRUS'. The two of them left together through the woods.
Now you know the story of one of the world's most dangerous people. You will also surely remember one of the most contagious viruses of our time: Covid-19. To survive X-VIRUS, you must answer the following question correctly. During the pandemic, many chess tournaments were cancelled or postponed. The Candidates Tournament started, but was suspended halfway through. Which player withdrew before it began, saying that it was wrong to play the tournament under those circumstances, and who replaced him?
- Nakamura withdrew and was replaced by Alekseenko.
- Radjabov withdrew and was replaced by Vachier-Lagrave.
- Wesley So withdrew and was replaced by Wang Hao.
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Well done! X-VIRUS almost got you, but you managed to escape. Let's see if you're as lucky with the next character.
El Silbón was a man who lived with his parents and grandparents, and he would go out whistling (in Spanish, the word 'silbón' is used to describe a person who whistles). They said that whistling was the only thing he was good at, as he spent all day loafing around and drinking alcohol. As a child, he was a spoilt boy who got everything he wanted. He would cry and scream until he got what he wanted. One day, he refused his mother's cooking, saying that he wanted roast venison instead. His father, feeling very distressed, promised him some for that night.
The boy and his father went to the forest, but after several hours of hunting, his father had found no prey and returned empty-handed. The hungry young man murdered his father in a fit of rage, removed his entrails with the hunting knife and ate them for dinner. When he got home, he gave them to his mother and asked her to cook them. Bewildered, the mother began questioning him about his father until she discovered what had happened, after which she ran away in fear.
The grandfather found out and decided to punish the boy by taking him to the forest and tying him to a tree, where he beat him repeatedly. The boy was then banished and condemned to wander forever, pursued by the devil's dog. Since then, he has roamed forests and plains, whistling his distinctive tune and carrying a sack full of bones, which he used to hold his father's corpse.
They say that he stops at people's doorsteps and counts the bones in his sack one by one. If someone in the house notices him, nothing will happen; however, if he goes unnoticed, the next morning a family member will turn up dead, and their bones will be added to the collection.
Oh no! It seems El Silbón is at your doorstep now. To avoid ending up in the sack he's carrying, prove you have as good an ear as El Silbón by recognising the following sounds. Of the next three audio clips, identify the sound that chess.com uses when you're in check.
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Very well, you have shown that you have excellent hearing, and you have been spared from El Silbón. You're almost at the end of this adventure. Let's see how you get on with this new character.
In 1978, Aerolíneas Argentinas acquired its second Boeing 747-200 Jumbo Jet. This giant aircraft measured 71 metres in length, weighed 174 tonnes and could carry up to 480 passengers. It was registered as LV-MLO, which is why it was known as malo ("the bad guy" in Spanish). It operated until 1983, when it was transferred to another airline. It later returned to Aerolíneas Argentinas and continued flying for more than a decade.
At that time, there was a flight attendant who loved this aircraft. She was quite religious and her first flight was on LV-MLO on 8 December 1978, coinciding with the Feast of the Assumption in Argentina. Years later, when she was diagnosed with a terminal illness, she requested to continue working on that aircraft for the rest of her life. She passed away several hours after her final flight.
A few months later, while LV-MLO was being serviced at a Buenos Aires airport, a blurry, transparent figure appeared in front of two mechanics. After the initial shock, the aircraft was thoroughly inspected, but nothing was found.
On another occasion, during a tune-up, cleaning staff working alone in the upper cabin heard strange noises coming from the first-class section. One of them went down to investigate and found a ghostly female figure dressed in the airline uniform in the middle of the aisle.
This is how the legend of the haunted plane and the spirit of the flight attendant who inhabited it began. But the mysterious events didn't end there. In 2000, during a layover at Madrid's Barajas Airport, two mechanics fled the aircraft in terror. They later confessed that, while working, they had sensed the presence of a strange entity.
After numerous incidents, LV-MLO was withdrawn from service in 2001 and parked on the apron for dismantling, with its parts to be used for other aircraft. However, while dismantling the aircraft, workers heard loud noises coming from the cargo hold. They investigated, but found nothing, so they returned to their work. Shortly afterwards, the strange noises were heard again, this time from inside the cockpit. A crane was brought in and a flight attendant was seen walking down the aisle. The entire aircraft was checked again, but nothing was found.
It was as if the plane was trying to scare anyone who approached it. Or as if someone who was very fond of the aircraft wanted to stop it from disappearing.
Now it's time for our own aeroplane journey to begin. Unfortunately, the flight attendant is near us. If you don't want her to join you, you must answer one simple question. In 2016, an airline partnered with Play Magnus, enabling its passengers to play chess or watch chess videos during their flight. Do you know the name of that airline?
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Wow! You've really come a long way. I never thought you'd encounter the final character in these stories. Your knowledge is greater than I expected, but before we finish, you have to face one of the most terrifying monsters in existence.
Maggie was a young woman with a very difficult past. Her parents died when she was young, so she spent much of her childhood in an orphanage. There were gaps in her memory from certain periods of her life. Sometimes she would remember the face of someone with green eyes and red hair, but she couldn't recognise them.
A family took her in and made her feel like their own daughter. Concerned about her missing memories, they subjected her to several psychological tests, which concluded that this memory loss could be related to some kind of traumatic experience.
Maggie loved dolls and had collected them for years, filling her room with them. However, she sometimes had the feeling that they were watching her. There was one she had found in an orphanage cupboard that she was particularly fond of. She loved sleeping with it, believing that it would protect her from her nightmares.
One night, she had a dream in which a cold arm grabbed her wrist. It dug its nails in until she bled and she screamed in horror. A voice said, 'You belong to me.' She saw green eyes staring at her and then woke up. Shortly after, her parents entered the room, alarmed by the screams they had heard. Maggie explained that it had only been a nightmare. Looking at her rabbit, she saw that it had a wicked expression, so she threw it to the floor, blaming it for the nightmares.
She lay back down to go to sleep, but suddenly felt something at her feet. The rabbit was on the bed, clutching the sheets and staring at her. Maggie started screaming for her parents, but suddenly the door of her wardrobe began to open and a dark figure emerged from it. Maggie was terrified, but she heard her parents arriving. However, the figure stood between them. When the light shone on it, she could see its evil smile. It said, 'Dear Maggie, I'm Jason the toymaker, and it's time for you to go back to your friend.'
Hearing her name brought back her memory, and thousands of memories flooded back. She remembered meeting him when she was a little girl and how he had given her lots of toys. Jason said, 'I was the one who turned your family and friends into toys. I even gave you my favourite toy, the rabbit. I can't wait for you to see the rest of the collection.'
Suddenly, her parents entered the room, but Jason turned them into toys and laughed uproariously. "I was always your loyal friend," he said. I got rid of all the people who made you sad because I wanted to see you happy. But you ran away from me, so I'll have to turn you into a doll.'
Jason wants to turn you into a toy, but there's a way you can avoid it. Among his entire collection, he has several chessboards. If you can guess which one is the most expensive, you can leave. Otherwise, you'll become part of his collection.
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It seems that wasn't the right answer. It's hard to survive all the monsters, but you fought to the end. If you're eager for more adventures, you can restart the story and try again. However, if you're fed up with being defeated by monsters, you can finish the story and put an end to your suffering.
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I hope you enjoyed this adventure and learnt something new about the characters in the stories. Well done if you managed to overcome all the challenges, they weren't easy!
If you know of any other scary stories, please share them in the comments so that we can all enjoy the best ones together.
Remember that today is Halloween, so put your phone down and go trick-or-treating with your friends! If anyone refuses to give you any sweets, you can always scare them with one of the stories I've shared.
That's all for today. Thank you for reading the blog, and I'll see you in the next one!
