The real deal

Going back to the start of the round, Tenju ended up getting a lucky break after opening with e4 as Golda's ego demanded she play h5, the Goldsmith Defense. She knew the opening well, and could beat high-level opponents with it. And after d4, e6, knight c3, knight c6, knight f3, d5, and bishop d3, things were not great, but still very playable for Golda, until she captured the pawn at e4 with her d-pawn.

Tenju promptly captured said pawn as Golda moved her bishop out to e7, but things were now skewed towards Tenju.

"I remember Golda. When the concept of DSPCMs was first talked about at WWCF meetings, she was a top candidate for one of Simien's three proposed positions. And she was ever the egotist, obsessed with any and anything "gold". She'd also hound Taira for rematches, and always pass me by. Now she's pining that she'll get an easy win against me... For playing that bad opening, I'll crush her ego," Tenju thought as she castled king's side.

But as Golda moved her knight to f6, Tenju took note of the game at board 2 between Mimoko and Noa.

The game had reached it's third move, starting off with d4, d5, knight f3, and bishop f5. Things seemed fine until Noa's eyes widened, locking on to the board.

"... ...C4... that's the move," she thought as she moved her pawn to c4.

Mimoko, still relaxed, moved her pawn to e6, but knight c3, knight f6, c captures d5, e captures and d5 later, her eyes began to focus as her foot began to tap. "Noa-chan... You're going for a tough line," she thought as she moved her knight to c6.

Noa responded by moving her pawn to e4, leading to Mimoko capturing it with her d-pawn, but knight e5 was on the way giving Mimoko pause.

Tenju decided to return focus to her game as Mimoko finally settled on moving her bishop to e6. Noa then played the powerful queen captures b7 as Mimoko countered in the only viable way, capturing the pawn at d4 with her knight.

"Check," Noa stated as she moved her bishop to b5.

Now Mimoko went into full concentration mode. Noa was not an opponent she could take lightly. In fact, no other than Daria and Peter had ever pushed Mimoko this hard before. Even Iori playing at full strength hadn't got her going this into thought before.

As she captured the bishop at b5, Noa hit her with another check by capturing said knight with her queen. Mimoko instantly moved her knight to d7, but too little too late, she realized it should have been her bishop instead of the knight, causing a rare show of nervousness to consume her face.

This was the point Daria glanced over to see the state of things. She became a bit relieved when Noa seemingly misstepped and moved her queen to c6, allowing Mimoko to go bishop e7. But it was deliberate as knight captures d7 was on the board, forcing Mimoko to capture said knight with her bishop or be in for a bad time, but queen captures e4 truly gave her pause as now she had to think of what Noa could possibly be planning.

"Just castle for now... You got this girl, just don't get nervous and blunder," Daria thought as she took a deep breath and returned focus to her game, moving her king to h8. Orit revived back her aggressive playstyle from earlier, capturing the pawn at e5 with her knight, forcing Daria to capture said knight to retain her edge.

Now the pressure was on. Daria HAD to win this game in order to give the team a clear shot at winning, assuming Azenira was unable to convert her edge to a win. But even after Orit captured the bishop at e5 with her d-pawn, f4 provided Daria the perfect chance to hopefully end things quickly.

Orit clutched her mechanical eye, moving her queen to d2 before scowling and deactivating it. "Damn thing's not working properly. I need to let it charge," she thought as Daria captured the pawn at g2 with her bishop.

Sensing the nasty mate trap, Orit moved her pawn to f3, avoiding capturing the bishop with her king, which in turn allowed the bishop to capture the rook at f1 before it was captured by the king.

Queen g5 only piled on more pressure, prompting queen g2 in hopes of a queen trade. It didn't materialize though as Daria moved her rook to e7, with Orit, now unwilling to trade queens, moving her pawn to a4. Daria captured said pawn with her b-pawn, and Orit in turn captured said pawn with her b-pawn.

Queen h5 put Orit on the defensive as she moved her bishop to g6 in hopes of thwarting an attack from the rook on the 8th rank, but the queen was clearly a bigger threat, moving to h6 and putting more pressure on the bishop. It proved to be a bit too much as Orit retreated her bishop to f5, attacking the knight, but said knight countered by leaping away to d4, prompting Orit to angrily move her queen to g4.

"Hoh? A trade? I'll take it," Daria thought as she captured the bishop at f5 with her knight. Orit captured said knight with her queen, but only found herself in more frustration after rook f8 sent her queen back to g4.

"And that's game," Daria thought as she moved her rook to g7.

Orit stared angrily at the board, activating her eye once more, but what she saw only angered her. "... So there's no winning this... I resign."

The clock was stopped and the two shook hands, but as soon as the board was reset and the scoresheets had been handed in, Orit slammed her fist down on the table in frustration before storming away.

Japan now led 1-0, possibly soon to be 2-0 as the game at board 3 was quickly reaching it's climax. But the game at board 2 was still locked in a knife-edge thriller.

The full game:

White: Orit Sharir (2960) Black: Maestro Himitsu (Daria Inoue) (3200)

1. d4 Nf6

2. Nf3 c6

3. Nc3 d5

4. Qd3 b5

5. a3 g6

6. Bf4 Bg7

7. e4 Nxe4

8. Nxe4 Bf5

9. Nf6+ exf6

10. Qe3+ Be4

11. Bd3 O-O

12. O-O Re8

13. Rae1 Nd7

14. h4 Nf8

15. b3 f5

16. h5 Ne6

17. Be5 f6

18. hxg6 fxe5

19. gxh7+ Kh8

20. Nxe5 Bxe5

21. dxe5 f4

22. Qd2 Bxg2

23. f3 Bxf1

24. Kxf1 Qg5

25. Qg2 Re7

26. a4 bxa4

27. bxa4 Qh5

28. Bg6 Qh6

29. Bf5 Nd4

30. Qg4 Nxf5

31. Qxf5 Rf8

32. Qg4 Rg7 (Black won due to White's resignation)