Benson is a well-regarded but otherwise unremarkable American sitcom. It focuses on the antics of the titular character in his role as the state’s governor’s butler. For example, when a Russian delegation accompanying a touring chess prodigy comes to visit, but the kid is fed up with his tour and decides to vanish, it is Benson who has to avoid an international diplomatic incident and prevent the hosting governor from losing face. But at that point in the episode, all interest is already gone. In fact, all interest comes right at the beginning, when the kid is giving a clock simultaneous exhibition.

There are four opponents, all in suit and tie. Alexey, the young master, seems to have white on one board and black on three boards.¹ For two of those, I managed to make a more or less reliable reconstruction. This is the more reliable one: ²

The only thing I’m not completely sure of is the identity of the piece on e1, but I’ve got a hunch so strong it could take your lunch money. The kid has black here, and he must be enjoying that: he is up two knights and three pawns, with two of the latter on the brink of promotion. White has a few spite checks, but they’ll run out soon and then it’s the end of the road for him.³

Here’s the less reliable one:

There are two big problems with this reconstruction. The first one is that the copies I’ve found of this episode have a very low resolution. The second one is that the white player very inconsiderably holds his hand in front of his queen’s side. 

In the meantime, the governor is still waiting to make his first move. Frankly, he’s got many a politician beat.

Realism: 1/5 & 4/5 The first position is extremely weird. In fact, it looks more like some weird endgame study. The second one looks pretty normal for a game that has been going on for too long.

Probable winner: The kid. In both positions, he’s up loads of material.

<sup>1. [And the two sets are disjoint.] ↩
2. [This is the most reliable one.] ↩
3. [Still he can’t let go.] ↩</sup>