Lured in

With two of the four games done already, and the two remaining ones close to finishing, it was worth going back to check on how the two remaining ones had gotten to where they had. But as soon as Okisato prepared to do just that Miralem approached him.

Towering over Okisato at 202 cm, Miralem was easily able to peer down over his shoulder and see what he was doing. "So my pops' game catch your fancy?"

Okisato let out a sigh before affirming that was the case.

"A beaut, ain't it. D3, e5, knight f3, and BOOM! d5 blows everything up for Black, and now my pops can capture the pawn at e5 with the knight. And then the pink spike ball moved his queen to e7, and my pops just moves his knight back to f3! Talk about comedy!"

"Pardon me, but are you the one that flung those poor pieces into the glass?" Mimoko scowled as she shuffled up to the two.

Miralem shot her a confused stare, before turning to notice his handy work. "Well how about that. Two perfect shots on target. I should ask if I can frame it."

Mimoko looked ready to issue him a challenge herself, but both Daria and Okisato stopped her, warning her it was best not to try challenging this very moment.

"Scared of me? Well, guess you don't want a cute little girl like her getting pelted by my atriljerija."

"OI! The hell you saying, Miralem!?" a voice shouted.

Everyone turned to notice a sporty girl with curly blonde hair, scowling at Miralem.

"Ugh, your game done?"

"Done, so now I can kick your ass!" the girl shouted as she leaped into the air with her fist pulled back. "ARTILJERIJA!"

Miralem quickly countered the strike, but that wasn't the end of it as the two began wrestling each other, not caring one bit for the trouble it was causing those around them. Okisato went on guard, as if the two were to come his way, he'd have to be ready to employ self-defense.

The two seemed to head off in the opposite direction though, allowing Okisato to ease up and refocus on analyzing Tvrtko's game. After Jern had brought his knight to c6, Tvrtko had moved his pawn to g3, indicating his desire to a fianchetto. And sure enough after bishop g4, bishop g2 had in fact been played. Jern seemingly didn't care though as he captured the knight at f3 with his bishop, allowing Tvrtko to capture said bishop with his bishop. A queen's side castle, c3, knight e5, and bishop g2 all followed, with Okisato scratching his head as he tried to make sense of something.

"Why do you look so baffled, Tanabe-kun?" Mimoko asked as she glanced over.

"I still can't figure it out, though there's still a few moves to go over, so maybe I'll get it before the game ends."

Mimoko tilted her head in confusion as she stared at the moves being reviewed on screen. "Knight f6, pawn h3, knight c6, knight d2, rook e8, rook b1, a5, knight f3, king b8, a3, h6... Tanabe-kun, what don't you get? This is proper chess. Sure Black's playing worse than White and in a losing position, but for their level, that's not too bad."

"It's not that, and look at these next few moves. B4, a captures b4, a captures b4, and then queen e6 and we're all caught up. But what do Tvrtko's moves say about him?"

Now Mimoko was confused even more, but also somewhat more understanding of what Okisato was getting at. "You're trying to analyze his playstyle, yes?"

"Correct. Personality wise, he looks like the type to play aggressively, but so far he's been playing just the opposite. It's not defensive, but it's more rooted in the side of caution."

"Seems you don't know Tvrtko at all," a voice stated from behind.

Mimoko and Okisato spun around to find Sejad sitting right behind him.

"That uniform's the same as Miralem's. Are you his teammate?"

"Correct. General Sejad Varešanović, Bosnia and Herzegovina's minister of defense. I'm also an avid chess player, but today was my rest day. Might I inquire as to why you're so invested in that game?"

Okisato's eyes narrowed ever slightly as Sejad's seemingly friendly smile remained. Sejad had successfully snuck behind him and Mimoko without them realizing it, and could have remained silent as the chances of Okisato turning around were relatively low. But he had chosen to make himself known. That meant he wanted to start a conversation.

"We were drawn to the match as a whole between your country and Denmark, thanks to, shall we say, rogue artillery fire," Okisato declared as he motioned to the chess pieces embedded in the glass wall.

"Ah, I understand," Sejad smiled as his eyes began to narrow into scowling territory.

That was obviously not the answer he wanted, even though it was completely true. Had Miralem not caused such a display, Okisato might not have even taken notice of the match. Sejad knew this, but he nonetheless wanted a more concrete answer, specifically, to hear that Okisato was in fact probing his team.

Before the matter could be swelled on any more, some new moves came in from the game.

"Looks like b5, knight a5, knight d4, queen e7, rook a1, and queen c5 are all on the board," Okisato stated as he swung back around, hoping he could escape Sejad's interrogation.

But he was still missing the answer to his problem, until he focused on the actually board and saw Tvrtko up close. A deranged fixed grin plastered his face, but aside from that, he was calm. Occasionally he'd scratch his eyepatch, but other than that, his hand remained in a relaxed position when he wasn't moving pieces.

And as he moved his queen to c2, Okidato tried to pull up a stream with a zoom-up on the board, hoping to get a better look at Tvrtko, in order to analyze his body language.

Jern was also just as confused. "Thought this guy was a brawler. Maybe he is, but he sure plays chess like a wuss," he thought as he moved his pawn to b6.

But after Tvrtko castled king's side, Jern made a huge mistake and moved his bishop to d6, completely trapping his queen, and worse, Tvrtko saw it.

"You fell for it, brat. The first art of war is luring your opponent in," Tvrtko thought as he moved his bishop to a3.

Now Jern finally realized his queen was trapped, but there was nothing he could do to save it. However...

"Go ahead and take it!" he thought as he captured the bishop at a3 with his queen.

But it was at this moment, the trap was sprung as Tvrtko grabbed his rook at a1 and leaped into the air, pulling his fist back as Jern stared up in shock. "ARTILJERIJA!" he shouted as he slammed his fist down, capturing the queen at a3 with his rook and sending said queen flying into the soundproof glass, embedding it there just like Miralem did to his opponent's pieces.

Jern was a bit shocked, but ultimately his confident smile remained as he captured the rook at a3 with his bishop. A bishop and a rook is practically the worth a queen. Who cares if the queen's gone. That was an even trade in my book," he thought.

But back in the spectator area, Sejad began to scowl as a sadistic grin began forming on Okisato's face. Okisato had finally figured Tvrtko out.

"Guess now I can come clean. To answer your question, Varešanović-san, I was probing your team, since there's a chance we might face each other in the tournament. And what do you know, the old man revealed his hand himself; he's the type that likes to lure folks in, then pounce on them, am I right?"

All Sejad could do was scowl and pull his hat over his eyes.

"Sucks for you, but if you're looking to do reconnaissance on me, you'll need to look up my games the old fashioned way. Have fun."

Indeed, Okisato's assessment was spot on as now Tvrtko was mercilessly punishing Jern, moving his queen to a2 as his playstyle became more aggressive. Jern quickly retreated his bishop to c5, but it didn't matter; there was no stopping Tvrtko now.

"Check! You fell for it, brat!" Tvrtko maniacally grinned as he slammed his knight down on c6.

Jern scowled and moved his king to c8. He really waned to capture the knight, but he knew doing so would worsen his position. But after Tvrtko moved his pawn to d4, frustration overtook Jern and he captured the knight at c6 with his knight. But more frustratingly, Tvrtko captured said knight with his b-pawn, forcing Jern to move his bishop to a3, allowing Tvrtko to capture it with his queen, in order to avoid getting outright mated.

"Damn bastard. How'd he pull the rug out from under me? I ain't a light guy," Jern thought as he moved his king to d8.

It was now obvious Jern was going to lose, with the only question being how long until that happened. But as soon as Tvrtko moved his rook to a1, Jern answered that question by moving his h-rook to f8, blundering into mate in 3. It wasn't obvious to many though, especially since the only way to it was to play queen to b4, but move his queen to b4 Tvrtko most certainly did.

"Huh? Why'd he do that? Well whatever," Hern thought as he moved his knight to d7.

But after Tvrtko moved his rook to a8, delivering a nasty check, it all became clear.

"Shit! The queen's got the dark squares and the pawn's got the light square... Ah whatever, it's my only move anyway," Jern thought as he dejectedly moved his knight to b8.

And now, Tvrtko could win in style as he grabbed the rook at a8. "Sarajevo, Rogatica, Višegrad, Vlasenica Tu mi leži pokraj srca Zvornik, Tuzla, Kalesija, Devetak i Kiseljak Svaki borac veseljak [Sarajevo, Rogatica, Visegrad, Vlasenica, they lie close to my heart. Zvornik, Tuzla, Kalesija, Devetak and Kiseljak, every fighter is a jolly fellow]," he sang as he leapt up into the air and pulled his arm back. "ARTILJERIJA! BOSANAC SAM BEKRIJA! ARTILJERIJA! BOSANAC SAM BEKRIJA! HEY-EY MOJA BOSNA PONOSNA [ARTILLERY! I AM A BOSNIAN BEKRIJA! ARTILLERY! I AM A BOSNIAN BEKRIJA! HEY-EY! My proud Bosnia]!" he sang as he captured the knight at b8 with his rook, winning the game, and sending said knight flying into the soundproof glass, to be embedded right next to the queen from before.

"Jern stared in bewilderment, unable to process what he had just witnessed.

"That's checkmate, brat. Now go on home, unless ya feel like squatting there until the janitors sweep ya out," Tvrtko snickered as he shook, the still shaken, Jern's hand before handing in his scoresheet and stomping away with his soggy shirt and coat draped over his shoulders.

Now Jern was clearly able to see Tvrtko's backside, which in contrast to his front, had not a single scar.

"Damn, I had it all wrong. That guy's not a brawler, or a pussy, he's an ambusher, and a nasty one at that," Jern thought.

And with that, the worst Bosnia and Herzegovina could do now was draw as they now led 2-1. But that seemed unlikely as the final game was heavily skewing towards Refik.

"We've got victory in our sights. Time to unleash the true power of the Bosnian pyramids," Refik thought.

The full game

White: Tvrtko Artiljerija (2503) Black: Jern Ræv (2207)

1. d3 e5

2. Nf3 d5

3. Nxe5 Qe7

4. Nf3 Nc6

5. g3 Bg4

6. Bg2 Bxf3

7. Bxf3 O-O-O

8. c3 Ne5

9. Bg2 Nf6

10. h3 Nc6

11. Nd2 Re8

12. Rb1 a5

13. Nf3 Kb8

14. a3 h6

15. b4 axb4

16. axb4 Qe6

17. b5 Na5

18. Nd4 Qe7

19. Ra1 Qc5

20. Qc2 b6

21. O-O Bd6

22. Ba3 Qxa3

23. Rxa3 Bxa3

24. Qa2 Bc5

25. Nc6+ Kc8

26. d4 Nxc6

27. bxc6 Ba3

28. Qxa3 Kd8

29. Ra1 Rhf8

30. Qb4 Nd7

31. Ra8+ Nb8

32. Rxb8#