Run, run, it's Rasputin

As everyone froze in terror at the sight of Rasputin, Ayane shot them all a smirk. That appeared to reinvigorate some fighting spirit as some charged for Rasputin, but not Vesna.

"No... Don't approach this monster... He's a devil!"

Her warning came too late as Rasputin leapt into the air, sending all that came at him flying into alcoves in the walls. As those folks tried to get up, they found themselves face to face with chessboards created from a WWCF card.

"How bold of you all to challenge me. One minute for all! With only a second of mercy," Rasputin maliciously laughed as he danced over to the four boards and made the following moves on each, e4, d4, c4, and f4, respectively.

The others in the crowd of 9 began to back away as Rasputin turned towards them. Collette clenched her fist, but was unable to take a step forward, instead turning tail and running. The others joined her, but Rasputin leapt over all with a mighty leap, landing in front of them.

"Plenty of coffins for your stomachs," he cackled as he began twirling towards the crowd, sending each person into an alcove. And once there, a board appeared. Though unlike the first four, some were playing as White instead of Black.

"Now, you lose, no food... for 7 days. Just one of you wins, and free food... for 9 days. Now we all dance!" Rasputin declared as he twirled down the hall, moving pawns to a4, b4, g4, and h4 before heading back to the first four games.

At the d4 board, the woman forced to play, Lieke Van Oldenbarnevelt, responded with f5, the Dutch defense. "Ugh, my head's a mess. I can't think straight and worse the timer's only set for a minute," she thought as Rasputin turned back around and moved his bishop to g5. "Time... Maybe that's it! Everyone! Move! He can't get to everyone in time!" she shouted as she moved her pawn to h6.

Rasputin quickly got bishop to h4 in before the others began to move, but there was a slight flaw in Lieke's logic; the games were technically on different timers as some had started later than others. Not to mention, she had to constantly move to keep the seconds ticking down on Rasputin's clock. G5, and Rasputin remained to play e4, but in her haste, Lieke made a fatal blunder and captured the bishop at h4 with her g-pawn.

"Checkmate! One down!" Rasputin announced as he moved his queen to h5, winning the game.

"Foul bastard! I fear thee, not!" Jadwiga roared as she moved her pawn to e4.

"Oh, and you ran away... why?" Rasputin sneered as he appeared before her, his face so close his rancid breath could be smelled, and moved his pawn to e5.

"I- I tried to flight, but fight is what I must," Jadwiga retorted as she moved her knight to h3.

"No, flail, you will," Rasputin declared as he let loose an unsettling smile before moving his queen to h4.

Jadwiga immediately broke down, capturing the pawn at e4 in panic, leading to queen captures e4, check, bishop e2, and queen captures e5 in rapid succession.

"NO! STAY AWAY!" Jadwiga screamed in terror as she moved her pawn to f4.

"I'm a lustful man, I don't give up until I have my prey in my arms," Rasputin sneered as he moved his queen to d4.

Poor Jadwiga didn't last much longer as king f1, bishop c5, ang g4 later, it was over.

"Another checkmate for Rasputin! Sing my praises!" Rasputin cackled as he moved his queen to f2, winning the game.

Ayane happily obliged and began doing a dance while singing in Russian. "Ра-ра-Распутин, гигантская танцующая сила, он растоптал шахматный мир [Ra-ra-Rasputin, giant dancing powerhouse, he stomped upon the chess world]!"

"Hey asshole! I moved my pawn to b6, ages ago!" Sommer shouted.

"Yeah! I gotta pee, so hurry up! You went a4, well I went e5!" Justin shouted.

The two were at opposite ends, yet Rasputin didn't care. He leaped on the wall and ran on it, landing before Justin to go e4, before twirling down to Sommer, moving pieces on every game he passed by, ending it off with pawn to d4 at Sommer's board.

One of the players he had passed, a girl named Phạm Thị Meisa, stared at her board in horror. Hers was the game Rasputin had started off with g4, resulting in her playing g5. But Rasputin had played d4, and even though Meisa had played f5, putting Rasputin back on the clock, Meisa was still nervous.

"Why did I match him!? Ugh, dumb low-elo dummy!" she thought as Rasputin passed by once more, capturing the pawn at f5 with his g-pawn.

Once he was gone, Meisa moved her knight to f6, but almost instantaneously, Rasputin reappeared to move his pawn to e4.

"G- Go away!" Meisa shouted as she captured the pawn at e4 with her knight.

"Gladly, since I have no need to be here! Checkmate!" Rasputin laughed as he moved his queen to h5, winning the game.

"You idiots! Stop losing!" Justin fumed as he moved his pawn to f5.

Rasputin immediately gravitated towards him, staying after capturing the pawn at f5 with his e-pawn.

"Staying here? Then eat up, TRASH!" Justin shouted as he moved his pawn to g6.

Rasputin obliged, capturing said pawn with his d-pawn. Justin captured said pawn with his h-pawn, but more pawns were on the menu as Rasputin moved his pawn to d4.

"Feed me! I want steak and caviar!" Justin scowled as he captured the pawn at d4 with his e-pawn.

"Then beat me, boy, if you can!" Rasputin taunted as he captured said pawn with his queen.

"I will! Won't wanna leave if I play THIS!" Justin declared as he moved his king to f7.

The gambit failed, as Rasputin spent no more than a second moving his bishop to c4, and after Justin messed up and went king e7, Rasputin mated him with queen to e5.

"You gotta be kidding me! Don't any of you fuck this up!" Justin hollered.

"Easier said than done, a woman named Zabel Yeremyan though as she stared at her board.

She had been given the Polish opening of 1. b4, with the game proceeding as follows, e5, bishop b2, bishop captures b4, bishop captures e5, knight c6, and bishop captures g7. Zabel was no slouch either, but the intense pressure of both the 1 minute time control and Rasputin's presence caused her to collapse. She moved her g-knight to e7, but Rasputin was back in a flash to capture the rook at h8 with his bishop.

"That bastard moves too fast! How has he not lost on time on any of these boards!?" Zabel thought as she moved her king to f8.

That was the big question on everyone's minds, especially Collette's. Unlike most of the others, she was playing with White and had opened with d4. Rasputin responded with knight f6, and the game quickly became a Budapest Gambit: Rubinstein variation after c4, e5, d captures e5, knight g4, knight f3, knight c6, and bishop f4.

A check from the bishop at b4 had been delivered, but Collette knew how to handle it, and moved her b0knight to d2. Though before he left, Rasputin moved his queen to e7. This time, Collette delayed moving her piece, despite the clock ticking down.

"Maybe this is the key to throwing him off," she thought as she moved her pawn to a3.

Yet back in a flash was Rasputin to capture the pawn at e5 with his g-knight. And that was all it took for Collette to instantly, without thinking, capture the bishop at b4 with her a-pawn.

"NO! I-"

"Checkmate! Another one down! You all will starve!" Rasputin shouted as he moved his knight to d3, winning the game.

Now it was back to Zabel's board where a3, bishop captures a3, rook captures a3, and d5 had all been played before Rasputin had left. His clock for the gam had ticked down to 13 seconds, but when he returned and played e3, Zabel moved her queen to e8 in a panic move. She now only had 14 seconds left, and even though there was a 1 second increment, she was feeling the time pressure.

"Just gotta wait until he's gone, then I move," she thought as Rasputin moved his bishop to d3.

But Rasputin knew her plan and slid down to Sommer's board, which following b6, d4, bishop b7, and bishop d3, f5, e captures f5, and bishop captures g2, was on it's 5th move. Rasputin arrived, moving the queen to h5 as he slid along before doing a massive backflip, landing right back at Zabel's board, just after she moved her bishop to g4.

He captured it with his queen, as lightning flashed, illuminating his terrifying face, causing Zabel to panic and move her knight to e5.

"Another win for Rasputin! Checkmate!" Rasputin grinned as lightning flashed once more while he moved his queen to g7, winning the game.

It was then back to Sommer's game, where Sommer had no choice but to move his pawn to g6, resulting in Rasputin capturing said pawn with his f-pawn.

"Sucks for you, but Leyla shaved me so bald last night, I'm a luck machine today!" Sommer grinned as he moved his knight to f6.

"Ah, then it's just run out," Rasputin mockingly sneered as he captured the pawn at h7 with his g-pawn.

"HA! Now I get your queen!" Sommer laughed as he captured the queen at h5 with his knight.

"And I your king and stomach. Checkmate!" Rasputin laughed as he moved his bishop to g6, winning the game, and leaving Sommer in utter shock.

"7 down, and 7 to go!" Rasputin declared as he flung open a window, sending rain flying into him.

Ayane meanwhile continued to sing and dance. "беги беги, это Распутин, не можешь убежать от Распутин. Ра-ра Распутин [Run, run, it's Rasputin, can't run away from Rasputin. Ra-ra Rasputin]..."

The full games:

White: Rasputin Vasilyevich (2802) Black: Lieke Van Oldenbarnevelt (2423)

1. d4 f5

2. Bg5 h6

3. Bh4 g5

4. e4 gxh4

5. Qh5#

White: Jadwiga Abgarowicz (2646) Black: Rasputin Vasilyevich (2802)

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Qh4

3. Nxe5 Qxe4+

4. Be2 Qxe5

5. f4 Qd4

6. Kf1 Bc5

7. g4 Qf2#

White: Rasputin Vasilyevich (2802) Black: Phạm Thị Meisa (2380)

1. g4 g5

2. d4 f5

3. gxf5 Nf6

4. e4 Nxe4

5. Qh5#

White: Rasputin Vasilyevich (2802) Black: Justin Beaver (1994)

1. a4 e5

2. e4 f5

3. exf5 g6

4. fxg6 hxg6

5. d4 exd4

6. Qxd4 Kf7

7. Bc4+ Ke7

8. Qe5#

White: Collette Femme-Fatale (2600) Black: Rasputin Vasilyevich (2802)

1. d4 Nf6

2. c4 e5

3. dxe5 Ng4

4. Nf3 Nc6

5. Bf4 Bb4+

6. Nbd2 Qe7

7. a3 Ngxe5

8. axb4 Nd3#

White: Rasputin Vasilyevich (2802) Black: Zabel Yeremyan (2393)

1. b4 e5

2. Bb2 Bxb4

3. Bxe5 Nc6

4. Bxg7 Nge7

5. Bxh8 Kf8

6. a3 Bxa3

7. Rxa3 d5

8. e3 Qe8

9. Bd3 Bg4

10. Qxg4 Ne5

11. Qg7#

White: Rasputin Vasilyevich (2802) Black: Sommer Lyserød (2107)

1. e4 b6

2. d4 Bb7

3. Bd3 f5

4. exf5 Bxg2

5. Qh5+ g6

6. fxg6 Nf6

7. gxh7+ Nxh5

8. Bg6#