Bogus chess imagery: House of Staunton blog

Being on the House of Staunton chess store mailing list, I recently received a newsletter with links to two blog posts: "Master the Scotch Game" and "Chess Trolling: The Art of Playing Bad Openings to Tilt Your Opponent". They are curiously related, as I'll shortly demonstrate, by the included bogus chess imagery.

Here's the excerpted beginning of the Scotch Game post, with the accompanying image:

If I had to choose one chess opening for beginners, I might choose the Scotch Game. This confrontational opening not only embodies many classic opening principles, but also tends toward exciting tactics and strong middlegame plans that are fun and easy to understand.

But that isn’t to say the Scotch Game isn’t ideal for advanced chess players as well. Several lines boast some of the highest win rates of any opening on online platforms like lichess.org, and it has remained a strong offbeat choice among grandmasters for decades, too!

In this guide, you’ll learn the best way to play the main line, as well as some of the deadly gambits that lurk inside this ancient opening. 

Now, one might expect the (obviously AI-generated) accompanying pic to illustrate a Scotch Game position. But no! It's actually a Bongcloud opening, as can be seen by the White king located on e2. This seems intentional, given the companion "Chess Trolling" post, which includes a reference to the Bongcloud. The image creator also gets everything else visible about the board setup correct, which AI-generated images are notoriously bad about. Black in response has chosen an interesting f6-e5-d6 pawn wedge defense, so maybe both sides are trolling here (as well as the creator). In any case, it has nothing to do with the Scotch Game.

Terming the above a "bogus" chess image is perhaps a bit harsh, as the chessboard itself is legally set up. However, I still feel justified in using that term, since the AI-generated reflections on the glass table show both sides' pieces as black.