INDIANA JONES and the Daily Chess Champs
Greetings, Dr. Jones. I hope this letter finds you well.
Unfortunately, this correspondence is not a mere social call, quite frankly the fate of World chess may rest on your shoulders.
Earlier this year, the 2026 Chess.com Daily Chess Championship began, over 55,000 players joined making it one of the biggest online chess tournaments in history. But among the decent and honest participants a secret cult of Satanic Nazi Chess Cheats infiltrated and are attempting to steal some of the chess world's most prized antiquities - The Ark of Positional Play, The Stones of Calculation, the Holy Grail of Tactical Awareness...and most importantly entry to the 2nd round of the Daily Chess Championship.
Chess.com needs you to travel across the online world and recover these precious artifacts by solving the puzzles that will reveal their locations. If you agree to help, scroll down and head to Sixty-Four Square Airfield, Sallah, your contact will be waiting to transport you to the first puzzle.
Best of luck, Indy. I know you can do this.
Sincerely, SheldonOfOsaka.
The Temple of Mating Nets
Welcome to the Temple of Mating Nets. Your first puzzle is easy and unreasonably difficult all at the same time. The Golden-Mate Head includes a coded message that will lead us to the Ark of Positional Play. The problem is once you grab the head the temple will collapse around you, so you need to take it and escape the temple in no more than 4 moves...
Not to worry, Indy, I have seen this pattern before, if we can bring our rook on f3 into coordination with the rook on b8, the rest should be simple, after a check from the correct rook, we can finish things off with our knight.
The code is clear The Ark of Positional Play is in Egypt buried underneath the Mount of Check, Capture, and Threats.
Luckily, your old flame Marion, aka your Queen, runs a bar in town, meet her and she will sneak you into the dig site to find the Ark...but be careful the Satanic Nazi Chess Cheat Cult may know you are coming.
The Ark of Positional Play
The good news is you found the Ark of Positional Play and decoded the next clue, the bad news is the cultists kidnapped Marion - your Queen, they are heading to the airfield, you need to get there quickly and cut them off from leaving, the problem is there is a highly skilled Arab swordsman standing in your way...What the quickest way past him?
Well, we are at the Mount of Check, Capture and Threats...maybe there is a hint in that?
Perfect, you got Marion back and decoded the next clue, it's off to India to find the Stones of Sacrifice. No time to wait, grab the next flight to India before the trail goes cold.
Pilot Error
The flight from Egypt to India is long so you get a little shut eye, only to be awakened by a depressurized cabin and missing pilots. It looks like those pilots you hired in Egypt were secret Satanic Nazi Chess Cheat cultists and they parachuted from the plane leaving you to an ignoble end. What are you going to do now?!
A: Fly the plane yourself - Exchange Queens.
B: Use the inflatable raft you found in locker b5 as a make shift parachute and land it the river - go after the b-pawn.
C: Crash land the plane in the river - Stick to opening principles by developing your dark Bishop.
The choice is yours, Indy.
Well done, Indy! You survived the river and find yourself in a local village, where you learn that the cultists have kidnapped local children and are trying to use the Stones of Calculation to turn the world's youth into London System players, you can't let this happen!!
You must break into their temple, steal the stones, and return them to their rightful owners.
The Stones of Calculation
You got the Stones, great job, Indy! And you freed the village children from the horrors of the London System, even better. But you are trapped on a narrow rope-bridge surrounded by cultists. What should you do? The answer is obvious, cut the rope bridge with that giant sword, but you need to calculate your climb up what remains of the bridge.
There is a lot to calculate here, and some of the choices seem arbitrary. My advice: it is best not to create too many weaknesses by pushing pawns. Choose wisely.
Incredible work, you rescued the village children and retrieved the Stones of Calculation, and once the curse of the London System was lifted one of the former cultists informed you of the location of the final treasure, The Holy Grail of Tactical Awareness which will grant you Entry to round 2 of the Daily Chess Championship.
It lies in the Canyon of Brilliant Moves which is in the Republic of Exclam, scroll down to the nearest airfield and make your way to your final puzzle.
The Holy Grail of Tactical Awareness
Congratulations, Indy. You have defeated uncounted Satanic Nazi Chess Cheat Cultists, uncovered sacred artifacts, rescued village children, but it will all be for nothing if you do not solve the final puzzle. The Holy Grail of Tactical Awareness is guarded by a humble knight, he sits in a room full of golden chalices, but which one is the Holy Grail? He counsels you to choose wisely to drink from the wrong grail is death and your winning endgame will become a missed win.
Nothing less than a brilliant move will do but remember your goal is to convert this position to a simple winning endgame. Choose Wisely!!
Off Into the Sunset
I knew you could do it, Indy. Time to ride off into the sunset. Your entry to the 2nd round of the Daily Chess Championship is confirmed, the Satanic Nazi Chess Cheat Cultists have been defeated, and the artifacts are all back where they belong.
As always, thanks for reading, and feel free to share these puzzles with your friends down at the museum or temple.
Cheers, SheldonOfOsaka.
And special thanks to @VOB96 who not only inspired this blog with her The Lord Of The Pawns
blog, but also helped me figure out how to embed the music. Thanks!!
P.S. Send anti-London System memes to the 'Click Button'.
