Who in the world is Carla Sanmarino

While the commentators might have shifted their focus away from the Japan vs Italy match, that didn't mean the action stopped. A board 2, Tenju had made her move and captured the pawn at d5 with her c-pawn, prompting Carla to capture said pawn with her e-pawn. Things still seemed normal following Tenju castling king's side, but when Carla moved her pawn to g5, everyone that was watching the game stared in shock.

Even though she couldn't see the eval bar, Tenju knew this was a MASSIVE blunder that shifted the match in her favor. She followed up with knight f3, but then Carla moved her queen to f6, causing Tenju to stare in complete shock.

"How the hell can she keep a straight face. Even before I gained Taira's knowledge, I could tell a situation like this was completely losing for Black, and convert the win as White," Tenju thought as she captured the pawn at d5 with her knight.

Carla quickly retreated her queen to c8, but at this point it was no use. Tenju knew how to win from this position and oved her queen to c2. Yet Carla's menacing scowl remained even as se continued to worsen her position by moving her king to f8.

Tenju promptly captured the pawn at c5 with her d-pawn while Carla decided to run her king to g7.

"What is she doing!? Hmm... I do recall an executive board member suddenly blundering, but that was just one. Melisha fought at full strength, and I'm sure most of the other do as well. Yet this girl is completely collapsing. Did I worry over nothing?" Daria thought as Tenju moved her a-rook to d1.

As Daria's eyes shifted solely towards the game on board 2, she failed to notice Margarita storming away in frustration.

Frustration was also the look plastered upon Gloria's face, both due to the state of her own game and that of Carla's. "That idiot hag. I knew this strategy would be a bust. And now we're going to lose anyway. She should've hopped in, or that idiot should have held off on moving. AND WHY THE HELL DIDN'T THAT HAG WARN ME ABOUT THIS BITCH!?"

With Azenira being the reserve member, Margarita had spent little time and resources analyzing her and her playstyle during the strategy meeting, which was coming back to bite the team as now Gloria found herself in a losing endgame position.

She decided to stall, hopping that maybe one of her teammates could turn things around and possibly throw off Azenira's psych, but that didn't seem to be materializing. Laura was still trying to contemplate he response to Mimoko's 7... Na5, while on board 4, following bishop e2, knight f6, d captures c6, b captures c6, bishop e3 and ironically a king's side castle, Iori now had a slight edge, which instantly morphed into a slightly larger one after Isabella moved her pawn to a4.

"Imbecilli [Imbeciles]! We're going to get swept if this keeps up!" Gloria angrily thought as she shifted her focus to board 2.

Knight f6, bishop c4, and h6 had all been played, with a knight trade at f6 next in the cards starting with Tenju capturing the knight at f6 with her knight and Carla capturing said knight with her queen.

Tenju kept up the attack by moving her rook to d6, yet the menacing scowl remained on Carla's face as she moved her bishop to e6, setting up another trade. Bishop captures e6 and f captures e6 completed the bishop trade, but it was Tenju in control of the game as now she could position her queen at b3.

"Ah, Mama Marga's plan failed big time. Carla's gonna blow this, and Gloria's also looking cooked. Ah, this must be tough love," Laura thought as Carla moved her rook to g8.

"Check," Tenju stated as she captured the pawn at b7 with her queen, prompting Carla to move her queen to f7. "And now it's only a matter of time. The old me could have won from this position in my sleep," Tenju thought as she captured the rook at a8 with her queen.

Carla still showed no sign of cracking as she moved her rook to h8, yet Tenju wasn't intimidated in the lightest and moved her knight to e5, sending the queen packing to e8 and the game to mate in 8.

Tenju delivered another check with her queen, opting to do so by capturing the pawn at a7 with it instead of moving it to b7. It didn't matter either or, though Carla's response of king to g8 certainly did as now it was mate in 3.

"I can already hear the commentators saying, "She's gonna sacrifice... THE ROOOOOOK!" Iori thought as Tenju moved her rook to d8.

Indeed if Carla captured said rook with her queen, queen f7 would be mate. Yet she delayed mate as best she could by moving her knight to d7. But unlike before, sweat was now pouring down her face and her was trebling madly.

Smelling blood on the water, Tenju promptly captured the knight at d7 with her queen. Carla initially reached for her queen, but froze upon realizing it was pinned. But in one last ditch effort, she moved her rook to h7.

"...H- How do ya like that!? Now if you take the rook, I take your queen!" Carla nervously thought as a nervous smile broke her scowling facade.

From the get-go, Carla was never a secretly good player. Rather she was simply an average player hailing from San Marino that had been drafted last-minute to the Italian team. She also did paid acting videos on a site known as Eighterr. And as part of being recruited to Italy, she was paid to act the role of a brooding menacing lady.

The gist of Margarita's plan was to use her to goad Daria into playing, where Laura would go for a draw and Gloria and Isabella would win on the lower boards. Margarita had little faith in Carla, which is why she preferred to sacrifice her to Mimoko as despite Daria being ore skilled than Mimoko, Laura knew how to at least hold her to a draw when playing as White.

But Daria sitting out had thrown all of that off, though to be fair, Margarita's true oversight was overlooking everyone but Daria and Mimoko. And thanks to that, not only was Carla about to lose to Tenju, but Gloria was also close to losing to Azenira.

"Checkmate. Good game, I suppose," Tenju nodded as she captured the queen at e8 with her rook, winning the game.

Now tears began to pour down Carla's face as her true personality came to light. "Wa... WAAAAAAAH! I DIDN'T SIGN UP TO BE BULLIED LIKE THAT!" she cried before storing away in tears.

"Um, your scoresheet!" Miga cried as she quickly gave chase.

Though the drama wasn't over as on board 3, Gloria was a few moves from being mated. She had held off resigning, but Azenira knew what she was doing. And a few seconds later, the game ended in checkmate.

Frustrated, Gloria crumpled up her scoresheet and threw it down on the board before storming off, with an arbiter hot on her heels to reprimand her for her action.

Noticing Laura still had yet to make her move, Mimoko decided to venture off over to the men's section to see how Okisato and co were doing. Just as she left, the commentators went back on air.

"And we're back, now let's shift over to- Huh? Why's the comment's section all mad? WAIT WHAT!? Nancy... Japan's now up 2-0!"

"What!? ...Oh boy. Sorry for cutting away folks. I'll have our correspondent on the floor, the lovely Kisha Shinbun, bring us some refreshments to keep us going. Seems like we'll have to stay on air for a longer session to make-up for missing such a pivotal moment."

The full game:

White: Tenju Kuroshiro (2222) Black: Carla Sanmarino (1985)

1. d4 d5

2. Nf3 Nf6

3. Bf4 e6

4. e3 Bd6

5. Bd3 Nfd7

6. Bg3 Bxg3

7. hxg3 c5

8. c4 Qe7

9. cxd5 exd5

10. O-O g5

11. Nc3 Qf6

12. Nxd5 Qd8

13. Qc2 Kf8

14. dxc5 Kg7

15. Rad1 Nf6

16. Bc4 h6

17. Nxf6 Qxf6

18. Rd6 Be6

19. Bxe6 fxe6

20. Qb3 Rg8

21. Qxb7+ Qf7

22. Qxa8 Rh8

23. Ne5 Qe8

24. Qxa7+ Kg8

25. Rd8 Nd7

26. Qxd7 Rh7

27. Rxe8#