Rainy day Halloween gambit

Ishika scowled as she glanced over and saw Daria and Saloni shake hands. "One in the hole, and it's our best player. Lovely," she thought as she returned her focus to the game before her.

During last night's team meeting, Daria made a point that Ishika was one of the most strategic minds on the Indian team. Thus, it was fair to assume she'd done her research on team Japan.

"You're playing as White by the looks of it. D4's your top opening, but I'd advise going with something different, but also more on the uncommon side. Got any openings in your repertoire that fit the bill?"

Mimoko smiled as she opened the game by moving her pawn to g3. "Yes, the Hungarian, which is fitting since we're in Hungary," she thought.

The strategy seemed to work as Ishika stared at the board for about 2 minutes before moving her knight to f6. And after c4 and c6, the game was now an English opening: Caro-Kann Defensive System.

"Trying to trip me up? Well I don't believe you've ever played a game like this, in fact the logs say you've only played a game containing this opening once. Gutsy to try an unknown opening for you against me, but sadly I've yet to study this one as well," Ishika thought as Mimoko moved her knight to f3.

She responded by moving her pawn to d5, but Mimoko countered by moving her bishop to g2. Thus, Ishika went on the attack and captured the pawn at c4 with her d-pawn. Yet Mimoko didn't seem concerned in the slightest and castled king's side.

Visible frustration overtook Ishika's face as she moved her bishop to e6, worsening after Mimoko moved her knight to a3. "Alright, monster. I'll fight you," she thought as she moved her queen out to d6.

From board 4, Indira glanced over and sighed as she noticed Ishika's frustration. "Poor girl, she's feeling the pressure now that Saloni's out. But hopefully I can ease it, and easing it seems like it'll happen," she thought as she stared at the board.

Her game with Iori had started out with e4 and then Iori playing f5, the Důras gambit. This prompted Indira to accept the gambit and capture the pawn at f5 with her e-pawn.

"Oki-kun likes to play this, even beat Mimo-chan's mom with this. I gotta take it for a good spin!" Iori thought as she moved her knight to f6.

Indira could sense she had the advantage, but since she had never faced this opening before, she had to be careful not to blunder. She chose to move her pawn to c3, to which Iori responded to by moving her pawn to d5. Pawn to g4 and pawn to h5 followed, leading to another minute-long think by Indira before she moved her pawn to f3.

Now Iori decided to pounce and captured the pawn at g4 with her h-pawn, but as Indira returned the favor by capturing said pawn with her f-pawn, something unexpected happened. As soon ad Iori moved her knight to f6, a section of the plexiglass roof cracked and shattered causing a pillar of water to fall down right on Iori, completely soaking her.

Some arbiters rushed to the board and stopped the clock while others headed for the leak to patch it up. Once the water stopped, the pillar of water vanished revealing a now soaked Iori.

"We'll delay continuation of the game until the player is dry. Miss, it would be best for you to strip. We'll provide you a blanket-"

"Strip!? HELL YEAH!" Iori grinned as she began to undress.

...

Back on the men's side, things had picked up steam at board 3. Following Arun capturing the rook at h7 with his bishop, Okisato had promptly captured said bishop with his king. But after Arun moved his knight to c3, Okisato took about 10 minutes to think before finally deciding to move his knight to c6.

"I was worrying too much and running around too much last night. Ugh, I shouldn't have played king f7 on move 2," Okisato thought as Arun moved his bishop to f4. "But then again, I do well in these positions. Check!" Okisato declared as he moved his queen to e6.

Arun however just moved his g-knight to e2, sending Okisato back to the drawing board as he moved his queen to f5. But a queen's side castle by Arun perked Okisato up as he launched an attack by moving his bishop to h6. This prompted Arun to capture it with his bishop, but rather than recapture immediately, Okisato first captured the queen at f3 with his queen, resulting in Arun capturing said queen with his g-pawn, before he captured the bishop at h6 with his king.

"I don't think I want to see how bad this position is," Okisato thought as Arun moved hi knight to f4.

Over on board 4, things were looking much brighter for team Japan.

"Now this one's fun. We've got a Halloween gambit!" Laila grinned.

"E4, e5, knight f3, knight c6, knight c3, knight f6, and Happy Halloween, knight captures e5. Then after knight captures e5, d4, and if it's knight c6, which it was in the game, d5, knight e5, f4, knight g6, and e5. But old man Virat went queen e7!" Běla exclaimed.

"Must have his guard down, but this masked fellow's strong. Wonder if he's actually a maestro," Laila mused as the masked man moved his queen to e2.

"You know that's not possible. Each country can only have one maestro, and there can only be 7 in the world," Běla scowled as Virat moved his knight to h4.

"What if there's an 8th maestro?" Laila pouted as the masked man moved his bishop to d2.

"Then it will likely be whoever crosses 3000 elo next, which could be Magnus or Peter Morphy," Běla grumbled as Virat moved his pawn to c6.

"Then what will happen to the old maestros?" Laila asked as the masked man moved his pawn to d6.

"Do I look like Raymond Redfield to you?" Běla glared as Virat grimaced and moved his queen to e6.

"And if I said... yes?"

"We take a commercial break so I can slug you."

Despite the banter and threat of a commercial break, the commentators did no such thing as the game at board 4 showed no sign of slowing down. A queen's side castle, knight d5, knight e4, and that was all it took for Virat to find himself in more trouble as he played knight f5.

"Ugh, my head is pounding... I hate it when it hurts like this," he thought as the masked man moved his pawn to g4.

Virat then attempted to create counterplay by moving his knight to d4, but it was all in vain as the masked man simply slid his queen to f2. Virat wanted some flesh though and captured the pawn at c2 with his knight, dooming said knight to be captured by the masked man's king.

Virat didn't care though and moved his knight to b6 as the masked man moved his bishop out to d3. "Fine, move it out. Your king's unprotected," Virat thought as he captured the pawn at a2 with his queen.

"Seems you've got tunnel vision. A shame, but I guess it's a miracle you can still play at this level after what was done to you," the maskd man somberly thought as he moved his rook to a1.

Virat grimaced and clutched his head once more as he moved his queen to e6. The masked man wouldn't let him rest though and pushed his pawn to f5. Virat then opted to capture the pawn at e5 with his queen to escape the threat of the f5 pawn, but that invited the masked man to set up something nasty in the form of h-rook to e1. Virat still clung to hope and moved his knight to d5, but it was after the masked man moved his queen to d4 that the decisive moment happened.

"Check! ...! ..."

Virat had only realized it after completing his move of knight to e3, but by then it was too late; he had blundered into mate.

The masked man saw it too and promptly captured the knight at e3 with his rook. Virat fought on though and moved his queen to e5, even gaining some hope after the masked man opted to capture the pawn at a7 with his rook. But after Virat captured said rook with his rook, the masked man immediately captured the queen at e6 with his f-pawn. Virat captured said pawn with his d-pawn, but after the masked man captured the rook at a7 with his queen, he had enough.

"I resign," Virat sighed as he stopped the clock and extended his hand.

Now just like with the women, Japan led India 1-0 on the men's side. However, the matches were still far from over.

The full game:

White: The masked man (101) Black: Virat Joshi (2750)

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Nc6

3. Nc3 Nf6

4. Nxe5 Nxe5

5. d4 Nc6

6. d5 Ne5

7. f4 Ng6

8. e5 Qe7

9. Qe2 Nh4

10. Bd2 c6

11. d6 Qe6

12. O-O-O Nd5

13. Ne4 Nf5

14. g4 Nd4

15. Qf2 Nxc2

16. Kxc2 Nb6

17. Bd3 Qxa2

18. Ra1 Qe6

19. f5 Qxe5

20. Rhe1 Nd5

21. Qd4 Ne3+

22. Rxe3 Qe6

23. Rxa7 Rxa7

24. fxe6 dxe6

25. Qxa7 (White won due to Black's resignation)