151: Early-Strike Nine Cubic
"Today, we're heading to the Nine Cubic tournament."
"Got it."
"Understood."
"Then let's be off."
The day after I attended the exhibition.
Since Vilijaniira expressed interest in attending, today we're going to watch the Nine Cubic tournament.
Apparently, Nine Cubic is also used in Imperial Army drills, so the tournament is being held in one corner of a space colony base.
With that, I board the tram with the ease of long habit, moving toward the venue where the tournament will be held.
"Judging from the schedule, today's event must be a blitz tournament?"
"Yes, exactly. Each player has ten minutes of time. Once that runs out, the next move must be made within ten seconds. So, the game will either end in as little as thirty minutes, or at most two hours."
"Hmm, hmm. So it's going to be played by 64 chess players gathered from across the empire. Seems like a grueling battle ahead."
"Indeed, it's grueling. It's common for top contenders to face tough opponents in the first and second rounds, exhaust themselves in fierce battles, and then fall in the third round."
Today's Nine Cubic tournament is what's known as a blitz event—fast-paced and focused on tempo.
However, due to the nature of board-based competition, the start time for the first round is fixed, but the start times for subsequent rounds are uncertain.
Considering that all participants in this tournament are individuals who have advanced from qualifiers across the empire, and that there are no weak players to speak of...
This is truly going to be a grueling battle.
Hmm, if I have to imagine just how grueling this might be... something like six consecutive battles against space monsters such as Inakaini or Megurinia and their counterparts?
No, actually, it might be easier to picture it as delivering six reports related to mods to Seiryo Corporation employees in a single day.
Yeah, it's so overwhelmingly harsh, my stomach's literally tightening up.
"Ah, you have to submit your piece combinations in advance to the tournament organizers, huh? That means matches where one side completely dominates due to favorable matchups could happen."
"We both study each other's preferred tactics, so that kind of thing does occasionally happen."
"I agree with Vee-sama. Still, you can only pre-apply for up to three combinations, and you're free to arrange them as you like on the board, so it's rare for a match to be truly dominated in such a way."
Furthermore, for the sake of clarity, even though it's somewhat late, let me reiterate.
Nine Cubic is a board game that represents a 9×9×9 grid through holograms.
Players select 27 pieces from among the 729 distinct pieces available in the official set, place them on their respective sides, and take turns moving one piece per turn. The objective is to capture the opponent's general piece first, thereby winning the game.
And if we're discussing the skill levels of those present here in Nine Cubic,
I only play occasionally, just for fun.
Vilijanila plays as a hobby and is quite skilled.
Mekoshi, given that she's a mechanical intelligence, is naturally excellent at it.
Joharis... I haven't mentioned her much before, but from how she seems to be enjoying herself with Vilijanila, she certainly doesn't seem to dislike it.
At the very least, it won't be boring to watch.
"Huh? Wait a minute—there's a cyborg among the participants too. One manufactured only three years ago... Could it really be..."
"Nine Cubic... No, more accurately, it seems to be a cyborg specialized in intellectual labor. There's no illegality involved."
"Well, as long as they're not doing anything like punishing losers, it's perfectly legal."
As I was scanning the list of participants, I noticed that some of them were cyborgs.
According to Memoqui, it seems these are artificial humans specialized in intellectual labor.
Hmm, well, considering the manufacturing process of artificial humans, creating such specialized models isn't particularly difficult, and educating them presents no real issue either.
While this deviates from the usual reasons given for creating artificial humans, as long as their treatment is not problematic, there's indeed no illegality involved.
"Wait, hold on—does mechanical intelligence also have participants? Is there any chance of winning?"
"Mechanical intelligence? Wow, really? Memoqui, what’s going on here?"
"Of course it's legal. The name listed there belongs to an eccentric among mechanical intelligences—specialized specifically in Nine Cubic. As for chances of victory... you can infer that from the fact the tournament is even open."
The opponent Joharis pointed out was indeed a mechanical intelligence.
Typically, mechanical intelligences don't participate in intellectual competitions like this... but it seems that, in this tournament, they're allowed.
And considering also what Memokshi said... does that mean ordinary humans still have a chance?
"Of course, a mechanical intelligence won't make a mistake in the final checkmate situation—unless probability factors are involved, such an error is impossible."
"Aha, I see. In other words, even with mechanical intelligence, it's not always possible to foresee every move except the very last one."
"Thinking about it, there are over 700 pieces to choose from, arrange, and move—so while there are established openings, they don't cover everything. It's truly impossible even for mechanical intelligence to calculate every possibility."
"That's exactly it. So, in practice, facing mechanical intelligence means the game effectively ends in the middlegame."
Hmm, to think one could possibly defeat mechanical intelligence in a contest like this... It really underscores the boundless nature of humanity.
"Alright, we'll be arriving at the station soon. The seats should be isolated from the general passengers, so why don't we relax and enjoy the match today?"
"Sounds good."
"Understood."
"Received."
Now, the tram arrives near the venue.
We entered the venue from a different entrance, stepping away slightly from the crowd of spectators who had come to see the other Nine Cubics.