Chapter 303:

Noa's nerves

En Passant Grandmaster

As Mimoko dragged Iori away, Mălina finally snapped out of her daze and handed in her scoresheet. "That bitch... I see her again, she's dead."

As she began wandering around, she bumped into Chaya and immediately started a scene. "You bitch! You'll pay for that!"

Chaya however stood in utter shock, not knowing why Mălina was shouting at her face. But before things could escalate further, Mălina felt herself slammed face first into the ground, with the sole of a sneaker pressing down on the back of her head.

"Mălina, de ce faci atâta tam-tam inutil [Mălina, why are yo making such an unnecessary fuss]?" a voice growled.

Mălina froze with fear as she recognized the voice. It belonged to her mother, Sabina Drăculești. Sabina was a young woman with short red hair, that had married into the powerful Drăculești family. She was born a human, but had become a vampire upon marriage, eventually bearing 2 daughters. She was incredibly ambitious and had just recently achieved the feat of becoming Romania's prime minister, essentially giving the Drăculești family full control of the government as her husband, Dacian Drăculești was currently Romania's president.

Speaking of the man, Dacian just so happened to walk by, and clutch his face in stress as he noticed the scene unfolding. "Oh great, now I have to mediate," he thought.

Dacian's life was often filled with stress. For one, he looked like a stereotypical vampire, and to be fair, he was a vampire. However, this often caused him to be teased both by vampires and non-vampires alike. Sabina also had him completely under her thumb, while his daughters Mălina and Viorica often got themselves into trouble. His father, Decebal was also a handful do to his scheming personality. Perhaps the only member of the immediate family that didn't stress poor Dacian out was his brother, Bogdan-Danny, who was generally a chill guy, as well as Romania's top player.

As Sabina picked Mălina up by her hair and began to drag her out, the arbiters began to return to their posts as Dacian let out a sigh of relief. Though his stress quickly returned as he noticed Romania had lost to Belgium.

"Sabina sat this round out... Maybe... I'll wander around more in the playing hall. I can always say Bogdan-Danny was still playing, or that I was scouting... I'll go with the latter," he thought.

Chaya meanwhile shook her head in disbelief at what she had just witnessed before regaining her bearings and heading back towards the table where her teammates were playing, and sat back down across from her opponent, Mongolia's Qojin Bekhi.

To the other side of her, Noa frowned as she stared at the board. The game was currently on it's 13th move, but had starting out with Noa opening with knight to c3, surprising Möge, who responded by moving her pawn to c5. Noa decided to best go with something she knew and moved her pawn to e4, making the game a Closed Sicilian Defense one. Though Möge seemed to know the traditional line, as she moved her knight to c6.

Noa then moved g-knight to e2, though became anxious after Möge moved her pawn to d6. "I don't know this line... I think d4's best," she thought as she took her own advice and moved her pawn to d4.

Möge let loose a deranged smile as she promptly captured said pawn with her c-pawn, but Noa kept her cool and captured said pawn with her knight.

"What a wreck. Möge can see you quaking in fear. Möge will slay you with ease!" Möge thought as she moved her knight to f6.

While Noa was physically shaking, she could still think rationally and moved her bishop to g5, initiating an attack.

Möge scoffed at the attempt, brushing it off as pointless flailing and moved her bishop to d7. Even though no words had been spoken, Noa could understand Möge was looking down upon her.

"She thinks I'm weak because of last night... I'm not weak," Noa nervously thought as she captured the knight at f6 with her bishop.

Möge blinked for a bid before mockingly tilting her head sideways, as if to ask, "Really? that's your best move?", before capturing the bishop at f6 with her g-pawn.

Noa shot her back a glare and moved her knight to f5, but it was clear by her trembling that she was afraid. Möge decided to play off of that and brought her queen to b6, adding more tension to the playing field.

Noa went into thought, nervously tapping her foot before settling on moving her bishop to b5. Möge countered by moving her pawn to a6, but Noa had already resolved on capturing the knight at c6 with her bishop, forcing Möge to capture said bishop with her b-pawn.

Noa castled king's side, but was hit by a wave of nerves after Möge captured the pawn at b2 with her queen. "Calm down, that's all she can do. I can move the queen out and the rooks will guard each other," Noa thought as she moved her queen to f3.

But it was then that Möge moved her rook to g8, causing Noa to spend nearly a half hour thinking. Chaya frowned as she stared at Noa's board, yet decided to have faith in her. "She's got this, now where were we?"

As Chaya returned her focus to her game, Noa finally decided on moving her a-rook to b1.

"Well that took an eternity. Ugh, and you're still not under 10 minutes! Well, two more long thinks like that and Möge wins!" Möge thought as she captured the pawn at c2 with her queen.

Upon seeing the move, Noa got jittery. "This looks good... but what do I do!?"

Time began to tick down, but Noa manages to make the solid play of f-rook to d1, putting the ball in Möge's court. Möge wasn't the least bit concerned, moving her pawn to c5 without so much as thinking, hoping to put more time pressure on Noa.

Unfortunately for her, that move allowed Noa to move her knight to d5 with little hesitation.

"Oh no, she's coming in and going to fork Möge's rook and king and get Möge's rook... Let her! Möge will win if she does!" Möge thought as she captured the knight at f5 with a sinister smile on her face.

Noa promptly captured said pawn with her e-pawn, but then, Möge made the odd play of rook to a7. Noa stared in disbelief, trembling as her clock ticked down, but she soon nodded her head in confidence, and stopped her hand from trembling as she captured the pawn at f6 with her knight.

"Ch- Check!"

Möge nearly burst out laughing at Noa's nervousness, but went silent as she realized she couldn't capture the knight with her pawn, lest she wish for a swift mate.

"Бяцхан янхан [Little whore]!" Möge fumed in her mind as she moved her king to d8.

However, Noa didn't capture the rook at g8 with her knight, insrwad opting to move her queen to c6.

This brought a smile to Möge's face as she captured the pawn at g2 with her rook. "CHECK! Is Möge scaring you!?" she taunted as she rapidly began rotating her head 360 degrees.

That sight certainly did frighten Noa, even getting a small shriek out of her, but she didn't let that stop her from capturing the rook at g2 with her king, and inch closer to victory.

Möge stopped spinning her head and angrily began thinking. She slowly began to grit her teeth and snarl while slowly and menacingly moving her rook to b7.

Noa cast her a look of pity and moved her queen to e8 without hesitation. Now it was Möge's turn to be nervous as her only legal move was king to c7.

"No... Möge's not going to lose... Möge CAN'T lose, right?" Möge nervously thought as she moved her king to c7. But lose, she most certainly would.

"Thank you all. Father, I shall mate her with your piece," Noa thought as she reached for her knight. "Checkmate. Now never bother me again," Noa glared as she slammed her knight down on d5, winning the game.

Möge's jaw hung open in disbelief before she angrily got up and stormed away. With this win, the New Kingdom of Simien was on the cusp of clinching the match as thanks to Golda's victory, they led 2-0.

"I knew she could do it. Now let's clean up over on this end as well," Chaya thought as she stretched.

The full game:

White: Noa Ben-Horin (2052) Black: Möge Khatun (2190)

1. Nc3 c5

2. e4 Nc6

3. Nge2 d6

4. d4 cxd4

5. Nxd4 Nf6

6. Bg5 Bd7

7. Bxf6 gxf6

8. Nf5 Qb6

9. Bb5 a6