Genghis Khan vs the Red Baron

Going back in time to just before round 4 began, , Volkner trembled as Red Reaper and Genghis Jad stared each other down.

"Long time, no see, Mr. Kaiser," Jad sneered.

"I'm in a bad mood. More so since an annoyance like you is my opponent."

"Why?"

Volkner shuddered as Red Reaper's anger began to peak. Even though he had learned every line of the Latvian gambit as instructed, more pressure was now piled on to him due to Diederich's suspension. He just had to last 3 games, but his nerves were at an all time high.

"It was bad enough these guys chased after the bus, but facing them head-on too!? This is too much! Damn you Diederich, this is your realm, not mine!" Volkner thought as the round began.

A sense of Deja vu overtook him as his game soon morphed into yet another Latvian gambit. His opponent was the infamous Chagatai Kahn, or at least what appeared to be an undead visage of him. The mysteries on how these beings came to be was still unsolved, though the prevalent theory was that Jad made one of his prizes the ability to use necromancy as the DESPERs could not bring the dead back to life, but had no protocol against granting someone the ability to become a necromancer.

Volkner didn't really care for the reason why, as he was more focused on trying to win this game. "E4, e5, knight f3, f5, the Latvian gambit. Capturing with the knight is right," he thought as he captured the pawn at e5 with his knight, while Chagatai moved his knight to f6. "With the knight out... Bishop c4, then queen e7," he repeated in his mind as he moved his bishop to c4.

However, Chagatai instead responded by capturing the pawn at e4 with his knight, stunning Volkner.

"N- No way... Does he not know opening theory!?" he thought as he moved his bishop to f7, delivering a check and forcing Chagatai's king to e7.

His theory was on the mark as while zombies like Chagatai had great chess potential, they didn't know everything, the Latvian gambit obviously being one sych example. As such, Volkner got a lucky break. Knight c3, knight captures c3, d captures c3, d6, and it was over.

"Ch- Checkmate! I- I did it!" Volkner stuttered as he moved his bishop to g5, winning the game.

Chagatai slammed his fist down and cursed in Mongolian as he stormed away, all while Jad internally scowled. "I shouldn't have had him play that line," he thought as he directed his attention back to his own game.

The game had started out with an odd pawn to h3 opening by Jad, his signature opening as White. Red Reaper responded with e5, and from there the game played out more normally.

"E4, knight f6, knight f3, d5, knight captures e5, Bd6, d4, d captures e4, knight c3, a king's side castle, bishop e2, knight c6, and then knight captures c6, b captures c6, a king's side castle, queen d7, bishop g5, bishop g5, rook e8, bishop captures f6, g captures f6, and finally queen c1 and queen f5 are the moves we're at now," Danny stated.

"Good thing we called in some back-up to handle the Japan vs India game. The viewers would riot if we left at another critical moment," Nancy nodded as Jad moved his knight to d1.

"We always seem to dip out at the worst possible time. Wonder if team Japan has a beef with us," Danny joked as Red Reaper moved his queen to g6.

"Well it certainly looks like the leaders of Prussia and Mongolia have some king of beef," Nancy noted as Jad moved his knight to e3.

"I'd say more like Red Reaper's still pissed about yesterday. You hear he was kicking around ten-ton bowling balls?" Danny asked as Red Reaper captured the pawn at h3 with his bishop.

"I heard. I'm glad no one was hurt," Nancy nodded as Jad moved his rook to e1.

"Though speaking of hurt, it's looking like Jad's in for a world of it. The eval bar's swinging towards Red Reaper and with a win and draw in Prussia's pocket already, it's looking like they'll take the match," Danny declared as Red Reaper moved his pawn to f5.

"Correct, Hans-Ulrich and Ögedei just reached a draw, so if Jad loses, it's over for Mongolia," Nancy stated as Jad moved his king to f1.

Sure enough, the prediction came true. Jad appeared to be showing signs of fatigue to the point where his visage of Genghis Khan had vanished. Red Reaper moving his pawn to f4 didn't help much as Jad angrily captured the bishop at h3 with his g-pawn.

"Ugh, he pushed himself too much. This is why I said he needed to lighten the load. He's got us, after all," Jochi thought as he glanced over and saw Red Reaper move his king to h8.

Jad then flung his pawn to c4, but after Red Reaper captured the knight at e3 with his f-pawn, he made a massive blunder and captured said pawn with his f-pawn.

A malevolent smile spread across Red Reaper's face as he pounced on the opportunity and moved his queen to f5. "Check, herr Jad. Looks like your era is over."

Jad clutched his head as he scowled from under his skull mask. Yet instead of resigning, he played on. King g2, rook g8, check, bishop g4, and then the commentators went nuts as rook captures g4 meant Red Reaper was sacrificing...

"THE ROOOOOOOOOK!" Danny shouted as Jad captured the rook at g4 with his h-pawn.

"And if you think of it in a different light, Diederich's got an affinity for rooks so..."

"He's sacrificing Diederich for the win in a sense... Probably the best the guy could hope for considering he's definitely in for a world of hurt when his suspension's up," Danny chuckled as Red Reaper captured the pawn at g4 with his queen.

The game didn't last much longer as after king f2, queen f3, check, and king g1, it was over.

"Schachmatt, herr Jad. This bout goes to the Fatherland," Red Reaper chuckled as he moved his rook to g8, winning the game.

Jad wearily got up and began swaying to and from as he tried to walk away. This prompted Jochi to offer up a draw, however, Übel refused, resulting in Jochi outright resigning in order to leave the board in a hurry. And with that, the German Empire of Prussia had bounced back after their loss to Japan, with a 3.5-0.5 win over Mongolia.

The full games:

White: Volkner Keiner (2743) Black: Chagatai Khan (2227)

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 f5

3. Nxe5 Nf6

4. Bc4 Nxe4

5. Bf7+ Ke7

6. Nc3 Nxc3

7. dxc3 d6

8. Bg5#

White: Genghis Jad (2804) Black: Red Reaper (2881)

1. h3 e5

2. e4 Nf6

3. Nf3 d5

4. Nxe5 Bd6

5. d4 dxe4

6. Nc3 O-O

7. Be2 Nc6

8. Nxc6 bxc6

9. O-O Qd7

10. Bg5 Re8

11. Bxf6 gxf6

12. Qc1 Qf5

13. Nd1 Qg6

14. Ne3 Bxh3

15. Re1 f5

16. Kf1 f4

17. gxh3 Kh8

18. c4 fxe3

19. fxe3 Qf5+

20. Kg2 Rg8+

21. Bg4 Rxg4+

22. hxg4 Qxg4+

23. Kf2 Qf3+

24. Kg1 Rg8#

Match score:

German Empire of Prussia: 3.5 Mongolia: 0.5

German Empire of Prussia wins 3.5-1.5