Isabella and Laura

A somber air hung over board 1, yet despite it all, Laura managed to force a smile after slapping her cheeks. Leading up to the fateful moment, the game at board 1 had reached it's 20th move with queen captures c4, f6, d4, knight f7, bishop a3, d6, b-knight d2, bishop d7, queen b3, rook b8, a-rook b1, a king's side castle, knight h4, a5, knight f5, b5, f4, bishop captures f5, e captures f5, e captures d4, c captures d4, b4, and bishop b2 all being played.

Mimoko had quickly played pawn to d5 just moments before Iori leveled her claim against Isabella, meaning Laura had let her clock run down as she reprimanded Isabella. On one hand, she had the time to spare, but on the other, she'd need that time for some serious thinking, as her position was terrible.

Despite being up only a pawn, Mimoko's position was completely winning according to the eval bar. It would be fair to assume the reason Prokrutka allowed the match to continue was simply because Laura was losing, but that wasn't the case. He knew Laura was one of the fairest players around, even serving on his fair play committee. Though had Isabella not resigned when she did, Prokrutka very well could have declared the game at board 1 a loss for Italy simply due to stature.

With Iceland, since the method of cheating didn't involve any electronic devices, Prokrutka merely declared the game at board 3 a loss for Iceland instead of voiding out the one win they had at board 2. Even if he had caught wind of the collusion with Ginji for that match, it was only for a single move, and could easily be written off as Ginji simply being careless and Ræningi being lucky and observant.

Even with the game at board 3, it was hard to truly find Ginji guilty of aiding the Icelandic team due to lack of evidence. But since Köfun had been caught moving pieces around in order to gain an advantage, it was easy to hand him an automatic loss for cheating.

With Isabella however, she had an electronic device hidden in her hair which made things worse. Even though her device only showed the eval bar for match, that in of itself was too far. Worse, this was not her first cheating offense either and she had been caught by the one who was willing to giver her a second chance, Laura.

It all began a few years ago at a tournament in Italy. In the final round, Isabella faced off against Laura and won. At first, Laura happily conceded defeat and congratulated Isabella on her performance, but it was soon revealed that Isabella had cheated.

Her method, like this time, made use of her hair, concealing a modified pair of smart glasses. The exposed side would analyze the data, while the concealed side would tell her the proper move. However, since her performance was so accurate and the fact that she only seemed to wear glasses when she played, suspicions were quickly levied against her and sure enough, were confirmed.

Once Laura found out, pure disgust consumed her face as she unleashed a verbal tongue lashing upon Isabella. That wasn't the worst of it though as the WWCF not only banned her from competitive play for two months and fined her, but also confined her at the WWCF holding facility until her ban was lifted.

Even when she was allowed to play again, many naturally gazed upon her with distrust, even accusing her of cheating when she didn't if they were to lose to her. The process caused Isabella great turmoil, but she had none to blame for it but herself. Yet the one who decided to give her a second chance was none other than Laura.

"Why are you even bothering me? Are you secretly paroling me or something?"

"No, I am on the fair play committee, but I am not here simply to act as your parole officer... Though I guess in a sense I might be."

"Then piss off."

"First tell me why you cheated."

Isabella shot Laura an odd glare, but recounted that none had ever asked her WHY she cheated, simply punishing her on the spot. Isabella herself had never bothered to state the reason why of her own volition, making this the first time the topic was ever brought up.

"Why I cheated? I had to win, that's why. Chess is the only damn thing paying my bills."

"Yet you could afford that electronic equipment you used?"

"Oh fuck off, will ya! I already lost two months of my life trapped in that prison asylum. In fact, I quit chess, so I won't be cheating again. In fact, I'll just sell my damn body. Fuck it all."

Laura didn't let her leave, and pressed the matter further. "The glasses only appeared at that tournament, so how long exactly have you been cheating for?"

"THAT they asked me on day 1 of incarceration. Check the damn records yourself!"

"I did, and the lie detectors confirmed you only started cheating at that one tournament, so why? Why did you feel the need to cheat so badly? You weren't in any slump, your financial situation appears sound, and you're living conditions are fine too, yes?"

As Laura inched closer to Isabella, Isabella immediately trembled and began shielding herself. That however, was all it took for Laura to get her answer.

"You simply wanted a high rating."

"Huh?"

"You wanted a high rating, so you wouldn't be able to be forced into DESPER matches, yes?"

Isabella's heart began thumping, Laura was spot on, and since she had ties to the WWCF, likely knew what cruel fate had befallen her.

"T- They violated me... THEY DESICRATED ME! AND I COULDN'T RUN, ALL BECAUSE MY RATING WAS LOWER THAN THEIRS! You think my life is Ok? After my family learned I was unmarriable after that, I was cut off. I needed the elo... I needed the elo..."

Laura nodded and embraced Isabella in a hug. "Cheating is wrong, but it appears the punishment dolled out to you was far too harsh. And on the second matter, I'll date you if you want."

"HUH!?"

"Fear not, I have many girlfriends, boyfriends, soon-to-be wives and husbands, at least once Italy approves polygamy, and I never cheat on any of them. All I do is add to the family."

Isabella decided to take Laura up on the offer, and since then, the two truly fell in love with each other. Not once had Isabella ever cheated again, until now.

As Isabella was warped away to WWCF HQ, someone in the playing hall let loose a malicious smile. "And with that, Italy's out of the tournament. And thanks to the conditions of the wager, she'll only further cause trouble when they probe her," they thought.

And to make things even better for the evil mastermind, Prokrutka had allowed the match between Laura and Mimoko to continue, which would lead to the scenario where Laura wouldn't be present when Isabella was asked about why she cheated. Of course, that was only assuming Isabella was asked about why she cheated, for if the question was posed to her, her answer would be, "Margarita ordered me to win at all costs, and gave me that device."

And if that was what she said, not just her, but the entire Italian team would likely be disqualified from the Chess Olympics.