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In a world of magicians, the sorcerer's stone was stolen. The investigating team conducted some searches, but couldn't find it. They came to the conclusion that one of the teachers of the "Magic Chess Academy" had stolen it.

The academy had 5 teachers :

  • Li de Hans
  • Mitchell Warner
  • Don Tanor
  • Ryan Tisk
  • Leo Stark

So, they went to the academy, to ask its members. But no one confessed to having stolen it, or knowing who stole it. Interestingly, everyone behaved as if they knew the thief, but didn't dare to speak his name.

Then, one of the members of the academy came to them and said :

I know what you want
I know its possessor
Table six has the clue
But beware! There's 100 more.

So, the team went to table 6. A chess board was kept there. The position on the board was:

Board position

On observing it quite keenly, the team got the clue. They arrested one of the teachers, and found the stone with him.

So, whom did they arrest, and why?

There has been no productive response, so I have added a hint:

The table number has an important role!

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  • $\begingroup$ Is Li de Hans a woman? $\endgroup$
    – Bálint
    Commented Apr 30, 2016 at 23:46
  • $\begingroup$ @Bálint No. He is a man. $\endgroup$
    – dryairship
    Commented May 1, 2016 at 6:32
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    $\begingroup$ Observing is meant in the regular way? They looked at the board, discussed it maybe. They didn't play the board? For example 'finish' the game (in favor for black or white) $\endgroup$
    – Spaced
    Commented May 1, 2016 at 14:42
  • $\begingroup$ @Spaced No, they didn't play it. They just looked at it and made some observations. And yes, they discussed it, with themselves. Made some notes. Did some calculations ... $\endgroup$
    – dryairship
    Commented May 1, 2016 at 16:57
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    $\begingroup$ but didn't dare to speak his name ==> Voldemort? No? :D $\endgroup$
    – Decypher
    Commented May 2, 2016 at 13:27

2 Answers 2

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Perhaps

Don Tanor

Because

The chess-pieces are on the following positions:
A8 B8 D6 C5 B3 D3 B2 D2

If we convert it from hexadecimal to decimal we get:
168 184 214 197 179 211 178 210

When we subtract 100 (because of the 'But beware! There's 100 more.'), we get:
68 84 114 97 79 111 78 110

If we convert those to ASCII, we get:
D T r a O o N n

Which can form the name: DON Tanor


No idea about the hint of the table 6 though.. Might have something to do with the correct order of the letters.

EDIT: The hint for table 6 might be a clue to convert it to Hexadecimal, since Hex = Six in Greek. (Thanks to @fondor)

Why A8 B8 D6 C5 B3 D3 B2 D2 and not 8A 8D 6D 5C 3B 3D 2B 2D? Because in chess they always say the letter before the number when they do a move, i.e. "Knight to D4".

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    $\begingroup$ Table six could be a hint to use a hex table for conversion (from Greek hex = six) $\endgroup$
    – fondor
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 14:10
  • $\begingroup$ @fondor That seems very likely, thanks! I've edited the answer. $\endgroup$
    – Kevin Cruijssen
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 14:21
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    $\begingroup$ Well Done! This is the correct answer! $\endgroup$
    – dryairship
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 15:36
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My answer is

Mitchell Warner
I converted chess pieces coordinate (8A, 8B, 6D, 5C, 3B, 3D, 2B, 2D) from hexadecimal to ascii, giving me only one letter 'm' and other symbols. The only name starting with a 'm' is Mitchell so i think it's a good clue :). And for the mysterious 'But beware, there's 100 more', well the piece which give me the 'm' is a knight, so it could be a reference to the game 'The witch and the hundred knights', (sorcerer'stone -> witch, pretty close :p)

I hope it's not too far-fetched, it's my first answer on this site ^^

So on the same idea of focusing on the knight, i looked at the different position where he could go (8C 8E 7F 5F 4E 4C 5B 7B), converted in decimal (140 142 127 95 78 76 91 123) then mod26 (10 12 23 17 0 24 13 19) and used A = 1 giving me these letters : kmxraynt it can't be a coincidence ^^ but the kmx is weird. So my new answer is Ryan Tisk

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  • $\begingroup$ No. Not the correct answer. You were on the right path. (Somewhat). Too close, but too far!! $\endgroup$
    – dryairship
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 12:50
  • $\begingroup$ Do you know chess? $\endgroup$
    – dryairship
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 12:52
  • $\begingroup$ Yes, i used to play few years ago :) I'm going to look for something else $\endgroup$
    – Mujika
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 13:00
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    $\begingroup$ You know, I personally think Mitchell Warner is the only one of the professors whom isn't it when I look at the puzzle. Mitchell Warner contains of 14 characters, but all the other names consist of 8 characters, the same number as chess-pieces on the board. So I think you're correct in interpreting the chess-positions as Hexadecimal, but after that I don't know (yet). PS: I could be mistaken of course about excluding Mitchell.. Perhaps the chess-pieces translate to just the first name Mitchell, which is 8 characters. ;) $\endgroup$
    – Kevin Cruijssen
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 13:06
  • $\begingroup$ What should i do if i have another idea? i edit my answer? $\endgroup$
    – Mujika
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 13:13

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