The Chess Olympics' opening ceremony

Two days later on September 15th, the opening ceremony was held.

"Good evening. I'm Danny Daniel, and joining me is co-commentator, Nancy Nancey," a young man stated.

Danny Daniel and Nancy Nancey were chess commentators as well as chess players themselves with Danny being a grandmaster and Nancy an international master. Since the two weren't participating as players, they had been drafted to do the match-by-match commentary.

Tonight was simply the opening ceremony, though matches would start tomorrow. While most teams opted not to put on a show, simply walking in as normal, quite a few did.

India performed a traditional dance gaining praise from the commentators.

"Saloni and Indira really got the moves, on and off the board," Danny quipped.

Next came Italy, who also performed a dance, with the women's team doing the dancing and the men's team playing the instruments. Though the most notable thing about the men's team was the presence of Dr. Zanni.

After losing to Yuusuke a month ago, Zanni had been confined to a special area of the WWCF holding facility where he tried in vane to destroy his DESPER. It was miraculous he survived as long as he did since he barely ate and tormented his body attempting to destroy the DESPER. But thanks to Skaberghast's victory, he was restored to a perfectly healthy state, and was free to go back on the hunt. Though first, he was required to participate with Italy's national team as the reserve member despite his rating of just 2043, he was skilled.

Dance quickly became the theme of most of the team's performances, though things changed with the entrance of England. Led by Heather herself draping a regal cloak over her typical attire, everyone sang Rule Britannia as they marched in, with Heather shooting murderous glares at the various WWCF officials seated about.

"A shame England of all places has become so hostile to the chess world. There's quite a storied chess history there," Nancy sighed.

"Quite a few nations controlled by Desperados are hostile to the WWCF, but I never would have predicted England would top the list, especially since it's leader isn't a Desperado," Danny noted.

"Though rumors state that the late Scharlachrot Carmesinrot was a former Desperado and instrumental in Heather Spriggan's rise to power."

"Funny you should mention her, because her nation of origin looks set to enter next."

Everyone turned as the sound of marching boots echoed throughout the arena. The German empire of Prussia had entered and was playing Preußens Gloria.

"So this is the fabled Fourth Reich of Germany, or I guess the German empire of Prussia as it's now known," Danny noted.

"A shame Germany has become militaristic once more, but with a monster like Red Reaper heading it... there's little the world can do to protest it. I feel bad for many of the Prussians that didn't ask for this, but have choice but to be strung along. Especially Volkner Keiner. That poor boy looks downright miserable," Nancy sighed.

Volkner Keiner was a young Prussian prodigy that was Prussia's next top player behind Red Reaper. However, he had unwillingly been drafted into the Prussian army which took it's mental toll on him. Despite only being 20 years of age, he looked 10 to 20 years older. Yet despite all that, his chess was still in top form.

Other teams put on a variety of performances. Despite the protests of her sister, Agatha performed magic before all as the American team walked out. Though one team that got glares from most present was Russia.

Tsar Grigori gleefully smirked as he and his team marched out. "Do try to smile, Ian. You're representing Mother Russia on the world stage," he sneered as he wrapped his arm around Ian Kimovich's shoulder.

"I'm not here of free will, in fact, I'm disgusted the ban was lifted," Ian glared as he freed himself from Grigori's grasp.

"How so? I'm much better than my predecessor, yes?"

"And in many ways far worse," Ian glared as he directed his gaze up towards Raymond in the stands. "I'll never forgive you for allowing this. When this is over, I'll begin the procedure to change federations and nations," he thought.

Eventually, it was down to just two teams remaining; Japan and the host nation, Hungary. All the girls huddled together for one final rally before the performance. All were garbed in their stylish attire from before, though now each had their faces covered in geisha makeup.

"And why did you have us paint our faces like geisha, okaa-chan?" Mimoko groaned.

"Simple, it's to bring out our beauty. So ready to do this, girls?" Daria grinned.

"Do we HAVE to sing?" Mimoko groaned.

"Hell yes we do. How else are we supposed to show off the true beauty of our drip? As for the boys, do your best with the dancing," Daria hollered towards the men.

Okisato nodded as he readied his glow sticks. As soon as he saw that the male outfits were Wota attire, he knew exactly what the team's performance would be a full fledged idol concert. Everyone's outfit was a different color with Okisato's being white, Zago's blue, Ryonosuke's red, Ginji's orange, and the masked man's black.

"Seriously, why the hell is my outfit orange? Are those assholes trying to make some allegory that I'm a convict or something?" Ginji snarled under his breath as he walked out.

Due to fears Ginji might try to sabotage the performance, he was positioned towards the back with all the men standing a considerable distance away as the women performed Hatsune Miku's Senbonsakura.

The performance was a hit, easily winning everyone, which made things all the more awkward for the Hungarian teams when they simply walked out normally.

"Dang, wish the organizers didn't have them go out second to last. Now we feel overshadowed," Randy sighed.

With all teams present, the cauldron was then lit by none other than Judit Polgár herself, signifying the start of the Chess Olympics.