Item #: SCP-177

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: Due to the safe level of the object, SCP-177 is to be contained in Dr. Calib's room, to be moved only at his discretion, or at that of a Level 4 Administrator. SCP-177 is to be kept in a Level-4 storage locker. During use of SCP-177, standard rules of chess must be adhered to; any test subject attempting to cheat or deviate from these rules is to be escorted from the room.

Description: SCP-177 is an eight by eight square standard chess board measuring 40 cm by 40 cm. On the board are 16 pawns, two Kings, two Queens, four Bishops, four Knights, and four rooks, totaling 16 black and 16 white pieces. All items are carved out of elephant ivory. The white pieces are moveable, and can even be removed from the board with minimal force; the black pieces, however, cannot be removed from the board, or moved by any outside force; forces in excess of 3 kilo-newtons have been applied to the black pieces, only resulting in damaged equipment.

When a legal opening move is made using the white pieces, SCP-177 enters an active state. When active, SCP-177 can be used to play a game of chess using standard rules (white moves first, pawns can move two squares on first move, etc.). The black pieces move autonomously, and after a move is made using the white pieces, that piece becomes immovable until black makes a move. When a piece is captured, it is moved off to the side of the board and removed from play automatically. In the case of the white side winning, the black pieces all return to their original positions, and no further effects are noted until a new game starts. If black should win, the black pieces do a celebratory "dance" and the white pieces fall down, before righting themselves to their original position. Should a stalemate occur, all pieces fall down and return to original positions.

Addendum: History of SCP-177: SCP-177 was brought into Foundation custody 03/██/199█, following a routine sweep of antique stores in the area of London, England. The shop in question was found to be mundane, with the exception of SCP-177, which was acquired by Dr. Calib. The shop has since been under surveillance for any further anomalous activity.

Partial Test Log:

Test #: 001

White Player: D-177-01, female, Caucasian, age 25. Subject chosen for her aptitude in chess.

Results of Game: Heavy casualties on black side, ending in checkmate for black after 60 moves.

Test #: 014

White Player: D-177-01, same subject as previous 13 games.

Results of Game: Few casualities on black side, ending in a resignation from D-177-01 at 50 turns; almost all white pieces were captured. This is the first recorded instance of SCP-177 actually winning a game.

Test #: 025

White Player: ████ ██ ████ male, Chinese, age 34. Local chess champion in the town of [REDACTED], Jiangsu Province, PRC. Mr. ████ was informed that SCP-177 was operated remotely by an advanced chess computer developed by Sherman Computer Products.

Results of Game: SCP-177 successfully promoted one of its pawns to a queen, and used this piece to place Mr. ████ into check several times before an eventual checkmate at 75 turns. Mr. ████ administered amnestics and released.

Test #: 051

White Player: ████ ███ male, Japanese, age 50. Former Japanese National Chess champion.

Results of Game: SCP-177 had considerably long pauses between turns (often in excess of 10 minutes), and moved pieces slowly. Eventually, Mr. ███ resigned, declaring that the board was "Broken" and "Taking too damn long". In future tests, time control will be used to ensure there are no repeats of this test. Mr. ███ administered amnestics and released.

Test #: 167

White Player: Dr. Calib, chess expert and head researcher on SCP-177. Dr. Calib requested to play a game with SCP-177.

Results of Game: Checkmate for SCP-177 at 154 turns. Dr. Calib proclaimed that it was the "best damn game of chess [he] had ever played", and expressed interest in a rematch.

Test #: 200

White Player: "Deep Blue" chess computer

Results of Game: SCP-177 narrowly lost to Deep Blue in 50 moves. Since this time, SCP-177's chess strategy has been noted to be greatly improving.

Test #: 406

White Player: Dr. Calib

Results of Game: Checkmate for Dr. Calib in 11 turns, a new record for SCP-177. Dr. Calib stated that SCP-177 "must have cheated", citing the misuse of the en passant move. Footage shows that SCP-177 played legitimately.

Test #: 529

White Player: ██████████ █████, 20██ World Chess Champion. Mr. █████ was informed that SCP-177 was being controlled by an advanced chess computer developed by Sherman Computer Products.

Results of Game: Mr. █████ lost to SCP-177 in 90 moves, stating that "whoever programmed this computer was a genius". Mr. █████ was administered Class-A amnestics following testing and released.

Test #: 702

White Player: "Rybka" Chess Computer, winner of 2007-2010 World Chess Computer Championships.

Results of Game: SCP-177 won in 25 moves.

Test #: 975

White Player: "Andersenn", a chess computer developed by Dr. Calib with the express purpose of beating SCP-177. Computer was built to be able to deviate from rules of chess and "cheat" if necessary. White pieces manipulated by robotic arm.

Results of Game: Game progressed normally until turn 63, when Andersenn attempted to move the white queen in an L-shape similar to a knight in order to achieve check. Following this, SCP-177 was "thrown" at Andersenn by an unseen force at over ██ km/h, resulting in the destruction of several vital circuits in the computer.

New protocol. No cheating. Do I even need to say what would happen to a human if they cheated against this thing?! -Dr. Calib