Sounds like they're trying to start a chess match with their rival researchers, inside of a sequence of papers. #1 pe4 would indicate a classic king's pawn opening (pawn to e4) [1]
Interesting. This is the first time I'm seeing this inside a paper. I would love to see the entire sequence if it has been done before, in other papers.
Why is there a chess move mentioned towards the end of the paper? (page24)
CMU-DB vs. MIT-DB: #1 pe4