Berlin barrage

While things were looking good over on the women's side, then men's side was a different story. At board 1, Ginji was playing as White against Red Reaper. What caught everyone's eye though was how fast the two were playing.

"And seems like Prussia's kaiser is trying to set the record for first men's game in the men's section to be completed. But will it end in a win or a draw? With the Bishop's opening: Berlin defense, e4, e5, bishop c4, and knight f6 for those unaware," Danny stated.

"That's a pretty drawish opening, so maybe the kaiser's going for a draw. Both players have already played the top continuation line of d3, c6, knight f3, d5, bishop b3, and bishop d6. And despite all that, the eval bar still has things dead even," Nancy noted.

"No wonder they're playing so fast. And as I speak we've got a king's side castle from Ginji, d captures e4, d captures e4, and a king's side castle from the kaiser. Perfect mirror sequence of moves, and you know what else is practically mirrored?"

"The eval bar."

"You got it!"

Indeed, the game was looking to end in a draw, both due to the eval bar and the speed at which the game was being played. This was part of the strategy though as the game ending in a draw early on would set the stage for the other matches. All the Prussian players on the lower boards were also holding off on their first moves, risking time on the clock, but causing a psychological effect of sorts.

In his game, Okisato had opted to open by moving his pawn to a3, playing the Anderssen opening. Yet Diederich wasn't sitting around because he was thinking of how to respond, rather, it seemed like he was waiting for the game at board 1 to end. Though the strategy appeared to be paying off as Zago was getting anxious waiting around, while Okisato was getting worried. With how confidently the Prussian's were smugly sitting as their clocks ticked down, he feared that rather than a draw, the game at board 1 would end in Red Reaper's victory.

Even after queen d3, queen e7, rook d1, and rook d8, the game at board 1 was still practically even, but Ginji's next move of knight g5 gave Red Reaper the edge, assuming he could find the perfect move of bishop c7, which naturally, he did.

Ginji didn't seem to care though, sliding his queen to f1 with a smile on his face as Red Reaper captured the rook at d1 with his rook. Ginji swiftly captured said rook with his queen, but Red Reaper's follow-up move of pawn to h6, prompted Ginji to throw his knight into enemy territory by capturing the pawn at f7 with it.

"Now that's nasty, but only if Red Reaper doesn't notice it as if he fails to go bishop e6 or king h7, there's a nasty check in store," Danny stated.

"King f8 is also a losing move for Black, but the point is mute as naturally, the kaiser has found bishop to e6. Not a difficult move to find," Nancy added.

Sure enough, bishop e6 had been played, stopping Ginji's plan.

"Welp, guess I'll get a brief chat in," Ginji thought as he captured the pawn at h6 with his knight. "Check! Bet you'll never get out of this genius check, my bony friend!"

Red Reaper simply chuckled and captured the knight at h6 with his g-pawn. "Oh herr Ginji, so good with the theatrics. But with how you're playing, your team won't be able to criticize you for your loss. It's true that the Berlin defense, both this one and the Ruy López one are drawish. But not when I play them. When I'm at the helm of a Berlin defense, it becomes a Berlin barrage!" he thought.

Despite Red Reaper having an advantage, it would only be obvious if one could see the eval bar. For after Ginji captured the pawn at h6 with his bishop, Red Reaper captured the bishop at b3 with his bishop, allowing Ginji to capture it with his a-pawn.

Many would be quick to look at the even number of piece points between the two to argue things were even, and while it was true that both players each had 12 points of material captured, Ginji had three pawns to Red Reaper's knight. That was why Red Reaper had the advantage. An advantage that only seemed to grow after he moved his queen to h7 and Ginji moved his queen to c1. Now the pawn at e4 was free real estate for Red Reaper, as he promptly captured it with his knight. Ginji attempted to initiate a trade by moving his knight to c3, but Red Reaper simply moved his knight back to f6.

"Come on, CHECK out my wares. It's a good deal," Ginji chuckled as he moved his queen to g5.

"Oh, how banter would be lively, but you'll just have to read my thoughts for now, herr Ginji. I decline your trade," Rec Reaper thought as he moved his king to f7.

The game continued on with none of the other Prussians daring to make a move. Rook a4, knight a6, queen c1, knight c5, and still nothing. Though now it was obvious Ginji was in a losing position, meaning a draw was off the table.

"Nancy, have any idea what's going on in this match?" Danny asked as Ginji moved his rook to h4.

"Well, Red Reaper looks to be winning, but if you're asking about why there's been no activity from the other boards, likely psychological warfare," Nancy theorized as Red Reaper moved his rook to g8.

"Well than it's a double edged sword; the Prussians are wasting valuable time," Danny stated as Ginji moved his pawn to g3.

"But you forget, despite the board 1 game reaching it's 23rd move, only 5 minutes have passed since the round started. And assuming this game wraps up soon in a decisive manner, it could pay off well for team Prussia," Nancy nodded as Red Reaper moved his queen to f5.

"Still, you're supposed to spend less time in the opening so you have more time to think in the mid and end game," Danny frowned as Ginji moved his bishop to e3.

"This coming from the man who says castling is bad?" Nancy smirked as Red Reaper moved his knight to e6.

"You know I'm more of a speed chess player these days, but no matter what time control you play at, time management is essential," Danny firmly declared as Red Reaper moved his bishop to b6.

What Danny didn't know was that the Prussians were practicing excellent time management, thanks in no small part to Ginji, who had been a part of the strategy meeting the night before. All that needed to be done for the strategy to pay off was for Ginji to play on board 1, a feat he achieved by goading Jadwiga to take Okisato as a mate. While Okisato had managed to show up on time thanks to the round being delayed due to the weather, him showing up with Jadwiga also worked out for Prussia, specifically, Prussia's women's team.

Poland was a strong team coming into the tournament, but with Jadwiga suffering a humiliating and psychologically disparaging defeat to Okisato, Daria's cruel win over her only further worsened Poland's title chances as now their top player was a liability if she was playing as White. Ginji had calculated all that out which is why he decided to target Jadwiga as he figured Okisato would humiliate her, thus destroying her psych.

The dividends were paying off greatly on that front, more so than Ginji and Prussia could have hoped for. Though it meant Japan's women's team would likely best Poland, it meant Prussia's women's team no longer had to worry about Poland as a threat to them.

"I'd love to see how Poland's doing, but work comes first," Ginji thought as he moved his knight to e4.

Red Reaper promptly captured said knight with his knight, allowing Ginji to play the high-risk, but also high-reward queen d7, check. One wrong move and it was mate for the kaiser, but king f6 was very easy to spot for Red Reaper, and thus, Ginji's gambit had failed.

He still kept up the pressure, moving his rook to h7, but Red Reaper launched a counterattack by moving his 4-knight to g5. This set off a series of checks and exchanges, starting with bishop captures g5, check, resulting in knight captures g5. Next came queen captures f5 check, with king captures f5 ensuring the game would end queenless. Ginji didn't go down emptyhanded though as he captured the pawn at b7 with his rook, but it didn't matter as he only had a rook to Red Reaper's rook, knight, and bishop. It was all to obvious at this point Ginji was going to lose the match.

"And now, we open fire!" Red Reaper thought as he slammed his king down on e4.

That slam appeared to be a signal as all the other Prussians immediately made their first move. The game at board 3 between Hans-Ulrich and Zago quickly took off, but Zago's anxiousness got the better of him and he found himself in trouble. The board 4 game between Volkner and the masked man was also taking off rapidly, but the masked man appeared to have things under control.

The board 2 game however was stalled. Diederich had moved his pawn to d5, yet Okisato was the one deep in thought. Based on Diederich's move, he figured he wanted him to play the Baron Buster gambit against him. But that was risky as if Diederich had done his homework, Okisato would be in for a long game. If Red Reaper was his opponent, Okisato would play the gambit without hesitation as even if the game went over 50 moves, he was confident he could best Red Reaper with it. Diederich was an unknown factor, and worse, Okisato hadn't done any prep work for him due to both assuming he'd be playing Red Reaper, and thanks to Ginji's plot.

For the time being, he decided to just watch the game at board 1 as he figured it'd be over shortly. Sure enough, that was the case.

Following Red Reaper's signal to begin the attack, Ginji had moved his king to g2 while Red Reaper moved his rook to f8. Next came the bold pawn to f4, which was met simply with e captures f4. Yet Ginji ignored the pawn, opting to go after the knight by moving his pawn to h4.

"Check, herr Ginji. Looks like I'm about to win. Feel like resigning?" Red Reaper snickered as he moved his pawn to f3.

"Oh, I can respond to that. Sorry, but I'm playing for my country, so I can't just throw in the towel when things look bleak; my team would never forgive me," Ginji sneered as he moved his king to f1.

His words were hollow as after Red Reaper moved his knight to f7, it was mate in 10. Ginji continued the theatrics though with rook e7, check, declaring how he was an honorable Japanese man that would fight to the bitter end. Okisato meanwhile wanted to slug him as Red Reaper's play of knight to e5 only further hastened Ginji's loss. Next was b4, then rook d8. King e2 and bishop e3 followed before Ginji made his last check of the game by capturing the knight at e5 with his rook. But that allowed Red Reaper to simply capture said rook with his king, and now it was mate in 3.

"Just great. Now we're 1 in the hole. Damn bastard, he colluded with them," Okisato thought as Ginji moved his pawn to b5.

Indeed he was right, but there was little he could do. With how Ginji had played, it would be difficult to accuse him of deliberately colluding, and to make matters worse, Zago looked to be on the ropes.

Ginji then moved his pawn to b4 while Red Reaper captured the pawn at c2 with his rook, poising to deliver mate on his next turn. Yet Ginji didn't move. Rather, he turned to gaze down at the state of the other boards and let loose a smug grin. Red Reaper mirrored him in gazing down at the other boards letting loose as smug a grin his boney face could. It was easy to understand Red Reapers grin, he was about to win his game and was confident in his team's chances of winning the match.

Ginji on the other hand was different. Others might interpret his grin as him having complete faith in his team to win the match, but Okisato knew it was the opposite; he was grinning because like Red Reaper, he felt Prussia was going to win.

That pushed Okisato over the edge as pawn to e4 was on the board, pleasing Diederich as he promptly captured said pawn with his d-pawn. Ginji meanwhile decided to capture the pawn at c6 with his b-pawn for his final move and relished in Okisato's angst.

"And that is Schachmatt, herr Ginji. You fought well," Red Reaper chuckled as he moved his rook to c1, winning the game.

"Iyah, no need to compliment me, but I'll take it since my team can be VERY heartless towards me," Ginji sneered as she shook Red Reaper's hand.

The German Empire of Prussia now led the match 1-0. At this point, Okisato was infuriated. This was all because of Ginji's plot that he was stuck at board 2 against Diederich. Worse, he was a move away from doing exactly what Diederich wanted. This caused him to hesitate as his hand hovered over his king. He wanted to obliterate Diederich with this opening, but it was risky. But Zago managing to save his skin with a draw, pushed Okisato to ho got it. Since the German Epire of Prussia was only up 1.5-0.5 instead of 2-0, winning was still on the table for Japan.

"Zago-kun, I'm sorry for abandoning you last night. As for you, ya one-eyed monster, you want the Baron Buster, you'll GET the Baron Buster!" Okisato thought as he slammed his king down on e2, bringing a maniacal smile to Diederich's face.

The full game:

White: Ginji Inohara (2722) Black: Red Reaper (2881)

1. e4 e5

2. Bc4 Nf6

3. d3 c6

4. Nf3 d5

5. Bb3 Bd6

6. O-O dxe4

7. dxe4 O-O

8. Qd3 Qe7

9. Rd1 Rd8

10. Ng5 Bc7

11. Qf1 Rxd1

12. Qxd1 h6

13. Nxf7 Be6

14. Nxh6+ gxh6

15. Bxh6 Bxb3

16. axb3 Qh7

17. Qc1 Nxe4

18. Nc3 Nf6

19. Qg5+ Kf7

20. Ra4 Na6

21. Qc1 Nc5

22. Rh4 Rg8

23. g3 Qf5

24. Be3 Ne6

25. Qd1 Bb6

26. Ne4 Nxe4

27. Qd7+ Kf6

28. Rh7 N4g5

29. Bxg5+ Nxg5

30. Qxf5+ Kxf5

31. Rxb7 Ke4

32. Kg2 Rf8

33. f4 exf4

34. h4 f3+

35. Kf1 Nf7

36. Re7+ Ne5

37. b4 Rd8

38. Ke1 Be3

39. Rxe5+ Kxe5

40. b5 Rd2

41. b4 Rxc2

42. bxc6 Rc1#