The Chessboard (Guide)

Early Parabola Content

Chess at the Chessboard Summary
Fixed-Length Activity
Setup				Progress				End
1 A				7 A				1 A
Progress Details			Gain Positional Advantages while minimising Strategic Weaknesses.
Items Inputs/Outputs Inputs Justificande Coin Boosting Vienna Opening Vital Intelligence Moves in the Great Game Justificande Coin A Crooked Cross The Boatman's Opponent 40 A List of Aliases, Writ in Gant Society of the Three-Fingered Hand Outputs Epaulette Mate Queen Mate Stalemate Vital Intelligence Well-Placed Pawn Favours: Revolutionaries Favours: The Great Game Moves in the Great Game Vienna Opening
Raw EPA			4.32			Raw SPA			8.67

The Chessboard is the part of Parabola where the Great Game plays out. It is a source for Moves in the Great Game, Vienna Openings, Well-Placed Pawns, Queen Mates, Epaulette Mates, and Stalemates. It is also a good way to increase A Player of Chess, and the only way to raise A Player's Studies, increasing the cap on A Player of Chess.

Novice

To reach the Chessboard, you first need a Parabolan Base-Camp. For more info on this, see Parabola (Guide). From there, you can Find the Moonlit Chessboard, or Encounter a moonlit chessboard while hunting Parabolan beasts.

Intermediate

An important thing to consider in each match is what colour you will play. Which options you can take depend on your Advancing the Liberation of Night:, and your colour unlocks related options both on the board and elsewhere. You can change colour at the start of each game, but only within the options allowed to you, or remain your current colour regardless of whether it would be allowed. Betray! Destroy! Take white down from the inside! will change your colour to Black, and failing to Turn one of their spies will change your colour to Red.

• Red is always available. It grants you +1 opening moves (Play a novel approach), and marks you as neutral. Beyond the Chessboard, it unlocks Tell her you side with Revolutionaries, but not Liberation of Night when talking to Furnace, as well as several cards that allow you to darken or light up areas in the upper river.

• White requires you to be advancing the Liberation slowly or not at all or betraying black. It grants you a +3 opening move (Open according to accepted best practices) and a -3 middle game move (Sabotage your side (White)), and marks you as aligned to the Judgements. It should be noted that you can only play the +3 move as your first move, the second move has to be something else. As a final move, it also unlocks Betray! Destroy! Take white down from the inside!, which will change your colour to black and provides some favours. Beyond the Chessboard, it unlocks Challenge her about siding with Revolutionaries, and cards that light up areas in the upper river.

• Black requires you to be advancing the Liberation less slowly or faster. It grants you a +0 opening move (Mirror white's opening) and a -3 middle game move (Sabotage your side (Black)), and marks you as aligned to the Liberation. Beyond the Chessboard, it unlocks Express your commitment to the Liberation of Night, and options to darken the locations in the upper river.

For winning chess matches, red or white is recommended. However, when first encountering the Chessboard, your priority should be to increase your chess skills.

In your first few matches, you'll want to Follow the movements of the pieces to raise your A Player of Chess in the beginning of the game. In the middle game, it doesn't much matter much what moves you make until you have it at a high level. If you end up ahead of your opponent, trying to get a Queen Mate will both increase your A Player of Chess as well as either give you a mate of Well-Placed Pawns. You might also Allow yourself to be sacrificed, ending the game faster and getting 1 x Justificande Coin in the bargain; this is a good move even later on if you mess up something needing a specific result. You might also go for a Strategic loss - see below for this.

Later on, once you have your Chess skills at a decent level, you can start playing to win. The result of the match is found by comparing Positional Advantages to Strategic Weaknesses. If you have more Advantages than Weaknesses, you can choose which kind of checkmate you will go for; otherwise, your only options are Offer a draw if you are even or Resign.

A Strategic Loss

Once you reach APoC 5, you need A Player's Studies 1, in order to increase you A Player of Chess to 6. You need 7 x Strategic Weaknesses, which you will probably get without trying. Simply Follow the movements of the pieces to gain 2. There are a few different ways to gain the other 5:

• Playing the hardest checks you can and fail. If you do succeed, you can always try to win instead.
• Play as White or Black, and Sabotage your side. This will give you 3 Weaknesses.

Intermesso: Overview Table

This section contains tables outlining the moves available on The Chessboard

• All non-Endgame options increase Progress on the Board unless noted otherwise
• Required items are consumed unless noted otherwise or profession/reward items
• Failures are not noted to avoid cluttering the table
• Choosing a colour isn't noted to avoid cluttering the table
• All Endgame options reset the board
• The cycle takes 9 actions plus any actions that don't increase Progress on the Board (most commonly Recognise an opening)

The New Game ( Progress 1-2)

Move	Requirements	Challenge	Adv.	Weak.	Notes
Mirror white's opening	Colour 2 (Black)	APoC 3	0	0
Open according to accepted best practices	Colour 3 (White) Progress exactly 1	APoC 2	3	0
Play a novel approach	Colour 1 (Red)	APoC 2	1	0
Open with a strong move	1 x Vienna Opening	None	4	0
Recognise an opening	1 x Vital Intelligence	None	0	0	Doesn't increase Progress 6 x Vienna Opening
Follow the movements of the pieces	None	200	0	1	+2 CP APoC, more on rare success
Recognise an opening because of your professional affiliations	Shrine to Saint Joshua (Midnighter) Progress exactly 1	None	0	0	1 x Vienna Opening
Open with a familiar move – then deviate	Opening Novelty (From the Khanate)	APoC 5	4	0	Gives 1 x Advantage on failure
Search for a sign of your enemy	Traces of Veils the Intriguer 1 ( Ambition: Bag a Legend!)	None	1	0	+1 CP APoC

The Middle Game ( Progress 3-7)

Move	Requirements	Challenge	Adv.	Weak.	Notes
Contemplate a losing position	Weaknesses > Advantages	None	0	0	Doesn't increase Progress +1 CP Nightmares
Contemplate a perfectly equal position	Weaknesses = Advantages	None	0	0	Doesn't increase Progress
Contemplate a winning position	Weaknesses < Advantages	50%	0	0	Doesn't increase Progress -1 CP Nightmares on success
Make a move you know will work	1 x Moves in the Great Game	None	1	0
Play aggressively	None	APoC 3	3	0
Play defensively	None	APoC 4	0	-1	-1 CP Wounds on alternative success
Play a move you learned from the Boatman	The Boatman's Opponent 40 APoC 2	APoC 6	5	0
Turn one of their spies	A Crooked Cross (Crooked-Cross)	200	3	0
Kill another of your kind, in passing	A List of Aliases, Writ in Gant (Licentiate) APoC 2	200	3	0
Use your people however proves necessary	1 x Justificande Coin	None	0	1	2 x Moves in the Great Game
Sabotage your side (Black)	A Player of Chess 2 Colour 2 (Black)	None	0	3	-3 CP Advancing the Liberation of Night:
Sabotage your side (White)	A Player of Chess 2 Colour 3 (White)	None	0	3	+3 CP Advancing the Liberation of Night:
Allow yourself to be sacrificed	Progress 5	None	0	0	1 x Justificande Coin Resets the chessboard
Take advantage of your Intelligence	1 x Vital Intelligence	None	7	0
Obliterate your weaknesses	Society of the Three-Fingered Hand ( Ambition: Bag a Legend!) Progress exactly 7	None	0	Removes all

The Endgame ( Progress 8)

End Result	Requirements	Challenge	Rewards	Notes
Choose an epaulette mate	Advantages > Weaknesses	APoC 6	1 x Epaulette Mate Pawns +1 CP APoC	Pawns scale with APoC
Choose a queen mate	Advantages > Weaknesses	APoC 4	1 x Queen Mate Pawns +1 CP APoC	Pawns scale with APoC
Offer a draw	Advantages = Weaknesses	None	1 x Threefold Repetition Pawns	Pawns scale with APoC
Stalemate	Advantages = Weaknesses 2 x Threefold Repetition	None	1 x Stalemate 1 x Vital Intelligence
Force a Stalemate	1 ≤ Weaknesses < Advantages Parabolan Dominance exactly 4 360 x Well-Placed Pawn	None	1 x Stalemate
Resign	None	None	None
Recognise new possibilities in the depth of your loss	Weaknesses 7 No A Player's Studies	None	A Player's Studies 1 ( APoC cap becomes 6)
Recognise new possibilities in the height of your win	Advantages 23 Weaknesses < 7 A Player's Studies 1	None	A Player's Studies 2 ( APoC cap becomes 7)
Betray! Destroy! Take white down from the inside!	Advancing the Liberation of Night: APoC 4 Colour 3 (White)	None	3 x Favours: Revolutionaries	+50 CP Advancing the Liberation of Night: -5 CP Steadfast Colour changes to 2 (Black)
Betray! Destroy! Take black down from the inside!	APoC 4 Colour 2 (Black)	None	3 x Favours: The Great Game	-45 CP Advancing the Liberation of Night: -5 CP Steadfast Colour changes to 3 (White)

Master

Once you're familiar with the basics of the Game, you can start working toward specific goals on the board. First, try to decide what kind of endgame you want.

Action	Advantages	Weaknesses	Total Score
Resign	Any	Any	Any
Choose an epaulette mate	At least 1	Any	Positive
Choose a queen mate	At least 1	Any	Positive
Draw / Stalemate	At least 1	At least 1	Exactly zero
Recognise new possibilities in the depth of your loss	Any	At least 7	Any
Recognise new possibilities in the height of your win	At least 23	At most 6	At least 17

With this in mind, you can start tailoring your strategy toward specific endings.

You have two opening moves before you reach the midgame.

• You can gain 6 x Vienna Opening by spending 1 x Vital Intelligence, or by having a Shrine to Saint Joshua. Vital Intelligence will gain you more Openings, but the Midnighter's Opening costs only time. Each Opening can be spent in the opening moves of a game (including future games) for +4 score.
• Following the movements of the pieces can increase your chess skills, and possibly gain you 1 x Incisive Observation, at the cost of -1 score. It's only suggested if you need to improve your game, or if you're deliberately playing to lose.
• If you don't have any Openings to spend and aren't interested in gaining any, Open with a familiar move is strictly better than the other options, though with the retirement of social chess, it is now permanently off-limits to characters who do not have enough mastery. Of the default openings, White has the best (potential +3), Red second-best (potential +1) and Black the worst (potential +0). Such are the privileges of the Establishment, and the perils of the Liberation.

Once in the midgame, you have five moves before the game ends.

• If your chess skills are poor and you have Moves in the Great Game to spend, you can get +1 with a move you know will work. Vital Intelligence can also get you +7.
• Playing aggressively will gain you +3 on a success and -3 on a failure. A Crooked-Cross or Licentiate can use their special moves for the same benefit, risking only -1 and Wounds or a forced change of colour.
• If you have been The Boatman's Opponent for a long time, his move will gain you +5 or -5.
• If you have too many Weaknesses for your intended goal, playing defensively will remove one. It will not gain you any Advantages. If you are a member of the Society of the Three-Fingered Hand, you can set your Weaknesses to 0 at your final move.
• When playing to lose as Black or White, you can sabotage your own side for -3. You can also use your people however proves necessary to gain 2 x Moves in the Great Game and 1 Weakness, while costing 1 x Justificande Coin .
• If your goal is unreachable, allowing yourself to be sacrificed will reset the game and give you 1 x Justificande Coin as consolation. This is not counted as a loss, so if you're playing to lose you shouldn't do this.

Grand Master

This section is for specific calculations.

Can I Still Win?

You can (theoretically) win using only the listed move as long as your score is at least the number listed. Whether you can actually win depends on your luck and level of A Player of Chess, so use your judgement.

Using Move...	5 Moves Left	4 Moves Left	3 Moves Left	2 Moves Left	1 Move Left
Take advantage of your Intelligence (+7)	-34	-27	-20	-13	-6
Play a move you learned from the Boatman (+5)	-24	-19	-14	-9	-4
Play aggressively, Turn one of their spies, Kill another of your kind, in passing (+3)	-14	-11	-8	-5	-2
Make a move you know will work,Play defensively (+1)	-4	-3	-2	-1	0
Use your people however proves necessary (-1)	6	5	4	3	2
Sabotage your side (Black), Sabotage your side (White) (-3)	16	13	10	7	4

Remember that if you Allow yourself to be sacrificed, you will not see the endgame and cannot trade in your loss.

A Great Triumph

In order to reach A Player's Studies 2, you need to win your match overwhelmingly. You need 23 x Positional Advantages and no more than 6 x Strategic Weaknesses. To get your 23 Advantages, assuming that your opening moves succeed:

• Spending 2 x Vienna Opening will get you +8 regardless of colour, leaving 15. This will allow you to succeed using only +3 moves. If you can get A Player of Chess to 8, Play aggressively is automatic.
• Spending 1, you can start at +5-7 unless you play Black, leaving 16-18. White will need to succeed in a +5 move. Red will need to succeed in 2, or spend Vital Intelligence.
• Spending 1 as Black, you will start at +4, leaving 19. You need to succeed in two +5 moves, or spend Vital Intelligence.
• Spending 0, you can start at +2-6 unless you play Black, leaving 17-21. White still needs to succeed in a +5 move. Red needs to succeed in 3, succeed in 1 and spend 1 Intelligence, or spend 2 Intelligence.
• Spending 0 as Black, you start at 0 and need to earn all 23 points in the mid-game. This requires four +5 moves, two +5 moves and 1 Intelligence, or 2 Intelligence.

Recovering from a failed +3 move requires 1 Vital Intelligence or two +5 moves, and two failed +3 moves requires a +5 move and 1 Vital Intelligence. Recovering from a failed +5 move requires 3 Vital Intelligence. Recovering from more than this is not possible.

If you are willing to commit to spending two Vital Intelligence, play as white and start by Open according to accepted best practices and then anything else (the choice should not matter; just don't spend your Vital Intelligence). In the midgame Play Aggressively three times. If you fail two or more checks at any point (except the one you wasted to leave the early game), sacrifice yourself and start over. But if you have succeeded in all or all but one check by the time you reach Progress on the Board 5, spend your Vital Intelligence by Taking Advantage of Your Intelligence twice. This will take you to exactly 23 x Positional Advantages with the minimal amount of echoes/RNG involved.

Forcing a Stalemate

Stalemates are somewhat tricky as well, since you need to have a score of exactly zero, and you have to do this thrice. If you're aiming for a stalemate, you need to carefully plan your actions. Make sure you can pass every A Player of Chess challenge that your plan calls for.

The mathematics of the board are such that you can only cheaply produce a stalemate if you begin the middle game with either an odd score or with no Weaknesses. Generally this means you should start with an opening move with an even score, and play an odd-score move with your other opening move. (Exceptions to this rule exist, but are more complex and often more expensive; see below.)

The following sequences have a total score of zero, and any combination of them will produce a zero game. Keep in mind that in order to actually count as a stalemate, you must have at least one positive move other than Play defensively.

Cheesemonger's Gambit (costs 1 x Vienna Opening, requires Black or White)

1. Follow the movements of the pieces (-1)
2. Open with a strong move (+4)
3. Sabotage your side (-3)

Irrigo Veil Opening (either requires Shrine to Saint Joshua, Traces of Veils the Intriguer, or Black)

1. Use a "do nothing" move (Recognise an opening because of your professional affiliations, Search for a sign of your enemy, Mirror white's opening) (+0)
2. Follow the movements of the pieces (-1) or use another "do nothing" move (+0)
3. Play defensively (+1, or +0 if no Weaknesses are in play)

Down the Well (costs 1 x Justificande Coin)

1. Use your people however proves necessary (-1)
2. Play defensively (+1)

Slaughterhouse Offense (costs 3 x Justificande Coin)

1. Play aggressively (+3)
2. Use your people however proves necessary (-1)
3. Use your people however proves necessary (-1)
4. Use your people however proves necessary (-1)

Contrarian's Deadlock (requires White or Black)

1. Play aggressively (+3)
2. Sabotage your side (-3)

More Expensive Stalemates

These sequences are inferior for an experienced Player of Chess, but may be worthwhile for one who has not yet raised APoC high enough to 100%, as they rely on fewer checks and ones which are relatively reliable with 6-7 APoC. At even higher cost, Vital Intelligence may be turned into the necessary Vienna Openings for one extra action.

Vienna Sabotage (costs 1 x Vienna Opening and requires Black or White; if White, also requires Shrine to Saint Joshua, Traces of Veils the Intriguer)

1. Use a "do nothing" move (Recognise an opening because of your professional affiliations, Search for a sign of your enemy, Mirror white's opening) (+0)
2. Open with a strong move (+4)
3. Play defensively (+0)
4. Sabotage your side (-3)
5. Play defensively (+1)
6. Play defensively (+1)
7. Sabotage your side (-3)

Double Vienna (costs 2 x Vienna Opening, requires Black or White)

1. Open with a strong move (+4)
2. Open with a strong move (+4)
3. Play defensively (+0)
4. Sabotage your side (-3)
5. Play defensively (+1)
6. Sabotage your side (-3)
7. Sabotage your side (-3)

With a Woesel

This strategy is side agnostic and free, but requires you to have A Player of Chess 9 and a Weasel of Woe.

1. Equip Your passing equipment
2. Pass Follow the movements of the pieces (-1)
3. Pass Follow the movements of the pieces (-1)
4. Equip your Weasel of Woe
5. Fail Play defensively (0)
6. Fail Play aggressively (-3)
7. Equip your passing equipment
8. Pass Play aggressively (+3)
9. Pass Play defensively (+1)
10. Pass Play defensively (+1)