Pyramid scheme

Going back in time to shortly before the 6th round began, Okisato scowled as he received word on what happened with Azenira and Ryonosuke from Maida. He was at least relieved Iori had made it to the playing hall to fill in for Azenira, but his anxiety levels were still high. And to make matters worse, Ginji was here and had sat down at board 4 across from Refik.

"Now don't be so upset with me, Oki-chwan. This is a team event, and in team events, you gotta support your teammates even when they're in a slump. Would you rather have us start 0-1 in the hole and forced to win all three remaining games on demand?"

"If you were actually in a slump it'd be one thing, but you're clearly at the top of your game if you can come up with such sabotage," Okisato glared as he sat across from Miralem.

"I haven't the foggiest idea what you mean. Ah, speaking of fog-"

"Don't want to hear it."

With Ginji's presence, Sejad himself had opted to sit out a round, and more surprisingly was the fact that Ognjen didn't seem sick in the slightest.

"You think a little rain would get me sick!? Каква гомила плебса [What a bunch of plebs]," he scoffed as he sat down across from Zago.

"Oi, Да ли вам смета да нас не омаловажавате на свом матерњем језику [Do you mind not belittling us in your native language]?" Okisato glared.

The line quickly caught Ognjen off guard, causing a bit of color to vanisg from his face. "Y- You speak Serbian!?"

"Just learned it last night. So anything you try to hide from us in you native language, won't actually be secret as I'll know every word. Assuming there isn't an off chance you speak a language I haven't studied yet."

"And how many do you speak?"

"20 and counting."

"20!? I don't believe it!?"

"Entonces, ¿qué tal una demostración [So, how about a demonstration]? Ili je to dovoljno dobar dokaz takav kakav jest [Or is this good enough proof, as is]?"

Ognjen stared in shock. Living in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he naturally knew some Croatian and Bosnian in addition to his native Serbian. And hearing Okisato not only seamlessly transition from Spanish to Croatian, but speaking Croatian so perfectly, floored him with shock.

"Okisato Tanabe, the man heralded as the oni-tiger amongst the Desperado league. What a terrifying man you are."

And now, Ognjen's mental state would be shaken to the point where he'd be easy pickings for Zago. But someone who wasn't phased in the slightest was Miralem.

"So you're a polyglot, huh. Kladim se da i ti tečno govoriš bosanski [Bet you're fluent in Bosnian too]."

Okisato remained silent, but his bluff wasn't enough to fool Miralem.

"I did my studying on ya. I heard that Mongolian rant ya gave Genghis Khan, so I figured you'd be the type to study the languages of the countries ya play. And there wasn't an ounce of confusion in your eyes when I spoke Bosnian. You know it."

Okisato remained silent for a bit before letting out a sigh. "If you want to know if I'm fluent in Bosnian, you'll have to wait until the end of the game."

As a malevolent smile spread across Miralem's face, Tvrtko began scowling as he found himself seated across from the masked man. "I was supposed to get a day off, but this guy's just too much an enigma for Sejad to handle. That 101 rating on this guy is clearly a load of bullshit, but he's clearly a capable player. But who is he? Some WWCF big wig that wanted to throw his weight around? Well, if I win, I'm ripping that mask off him," he thought.

As the round began, Refik opened his game by moving his pawn to e4, while Ginji responded by moving his pawn to d5.

"Ah, the Scandinavian. Seems you've been researching me. Capturing is the best move, but I've got a secret weapon for that. You see, every Bosnian pyramid contains a super high-tech alien laser cannon within. But to fire it, you need to input the proper launch code," Refik thought as he moved his knight to f3.

Ginji captured the pawn at e4 with his d-pawn, allowing Refik to move his knight to g5. It was obvious he was attempting to pull off the Tennison gambit's ICBM attack, but against a 2700-level player, there was little chance in it being successful, as even at this point, Ginji had nothing to fear by moving his knight to f6, as he still had an advantage.

"Aha! Overconfidence has gotten the better of you! Now, I can build a block of the pyramid, and inch closer to firing it's alien laser beam," Refik thought as he moved his pawn to d3.

Ginji naturally captured said pawn with his e-pawn, allowing Refik to capture said pawn with his bishop and inch ever closer to pulling off the queen capture. But in this position, Black had a significant advantage over White, as any number of moves could thwart White's plan in it's tracks. A 2700-level player would naturally play one of those aforementioned moves, unless said 2700-level player was intentionally trying to throw, like Ginji Inohara was by moving his pawn to h6.

"AHA! You fell for the old trap. Guess even 2700s can't counter everything perfectly. If this is your first time encountering this, allow me to demonstrate it's power," Refik thought as he captured the pawn at f7 with his knight.

Ginji made a shocked face, reminiscent of Edvard Munch's "The Scream", before moving his queen to d5.

"So you value your queen, but now, you've made a huge mistake. Now I get your rook AND your queen," Refik thought as he captured the rook at h8 with his knight.

But at that moment, something unexpected happened.

"Oh my! I made such a mistake! Let me just move my queen back," Ginji chuckled aloud as he moved his queen back to d8.

Everyone nearby stared in shock, but the reason for everyone's shock varied from person to person. The Bosnians and general onlookers were shocked that a player of Ginji's caliber would blunder so horribly, while the Japanese players were all shocked that Ginji would be THIS overt about throwing the game.

"Uh... heh, heh... Checkmate," Refik nervously chuckled as he moved his bishop to g6, winning the game.

Ginji blinked for a second before his face contorted in horror and he let out a shriek. "NOOOO! HOW COULD I BLUNDER SO BADLY! I'm in a slump! Such a horrible slump! My country, I apologize! Please forgive me without the need of demanding I commit Seppuku!"

If this wasn't all theatrics, Okisato MIGHT have felt bad for him. But this was just like back in the 3rd round, but worse, Ryonosuke was now out for an indefinite amount of time, meaning everyone was stuck with Ginji for the time being.

"It makes no difference if we bench you or not. You winning has next to no chance of happening, and now you're not even settling for draws, throwing things outright. Ginji, the first chance I get to challenge you to a DESPER match, your ass is dead," Okisato thought.

Bosnia and Herzegovina now led 1-0, with not even 5 minutes having passed since the start of the round.

The full game:

White: Refik Osmanagić (2365) Black: Ginji Inohara (2722)

1. e4 d5

2. Nf3 dxe4

3. Ng5 Nf6

4. d3 exd3

5. Bxd3 h6

6. Nxf7 Qd5

7. Nxh8 Qd8

8. Bg6#