Chapter 340:

Blood sucker

En Passant Grandmaster


Shortly before Tenju's game had ended, Iori's game had seen some action. Thanks to Okisato's presence giving her a renewed sense of vigor, Iori decided to accept the queen trade and capture the queen at d5 with her queen, resulting in Jia naturally capturing said queen with her e-pawn. The adrenaline beginning to pump through her helped alleviate her groggy mind, allowing her to spot knight b4, though Jia countered that by moving her bishop to d3.

And then, Tenju won her game, shocking everyone on the Chinese team.

"Well look at that, she actually beat the horny clown bitch. And with Mimo-chan's mom wrecking Maestro Jobber, I should go for the psycho blow, and try and get us the win!" Iori thought as she reached for her knight and captured the bishop at d3 with it. "Check- ACHOO!"

Unfortunately for Iori, her cold prevented her from getting any more banter in as Jia promptly captured the bishop at d3 with her c-pawn.

"Ugh, fuck that Ginji bitch for preventing me from getting any cold medicine. I'm gonna sneeze in that fucker's face next time I see him," Iori thought as she moved her pawn to d6.

Okisato, meanwhile, decided to stay and watch for a bit. His clock was still ticking down, but thanks to him making at least one move, he'd avoid a potential automatic forfeit. Tenju's win had eased his anxiety significantly as now at worst, the women's team would draw. But he still needed to clear his mind. If he returned now, Miralem would pounce on him mercilessly.

Mimoko's game had also seen some more action with bishop f4, e5, bishop g5, a6, knight a3, b5, knight d5, and bishop e7 all having been played. That game was still dead even and would likely be for a while. Daria still had the overwhelming advantage in her game, but was awaiting Xiao Lin's move after moving her rook to e5. While the two had been playing rapidly just a few minutes prior, the pace had slowed down dramatically, likely due to both Xiao Lin realizing her position was completely losing, and Bao's loss rattling her.

The action continued at board 4 though, with Jia moving her knight to c3 and Iori deciding to capture the pawn at e5 with her d-pawn. Jia naturally captured said pawn with her knight, retaining her advantage, which slightly increased as Iori moved her knight to e7. It wasn't the worst move, but it wasn't the best move, and with the advantage Jia currently had, Iori needed to make as many good moves as possible.

Luck shined her way though, as Jia slightly worsened her position by moving her knight to c4. Iori pounced on the opportunity and moved her bishop to f5, but Jia still had all the cards and moved her pawn to d6, leading to Iori making a misstep and move her knight to g6 instead of c6.

"UGH! Fucking cold! I can't think perfectly!" Iori fumed in her mind as Jia pounced on the misstep and moved her knight to e3.

Iori did manage to see that she could capture the pawn at d3 with her bishop, and did so promptly, but Jia countered by capturing the pawn at c7 with her d-pawn, inching ever closer to a promotion.

"I queen, I win. What a joyous occasion! I'll be saving our team. The maestro losing was expected, but Bao losing certainly wasn't. We'll have to work on her anger-management skills during the debriefing," Jia thought as Iori began to scratch her head furiously.

Now fatigue was staring to set in, forcing Iori to do whatever need-be to keep herself awake. She couldn't lose here, both for her team, and herself. She wanted to completely wipe the floor with every team, and finish with a perfect victory. Sensing some fatigue, she immediately stood up and walked around in a circle for a bit before sitting back down and moving her pawn to d6.

That had worked as a temporary fix, but Jia could clearly see Iori was struggling to even stay awake, inflating her confidence to the extreme, which caused her to move her king to d2, completely evening things out, but only if Iori could find the right move.

"Now that's a development. Must've gotten too cocky. But with how weary that girl looks, she must figure she won't have the thinkin power to save the game," Miralem thought.

But Iori could tell Jia's move was a mistake. "Where do I move? WHERE DO I FUCKING MOVE!? This is my only chance to reverse this! I gotta find it! She's attacking my bishop. My bishop... MY BISHOP! I GOTTA MOVE THAT SHIT! But Where!? Where is it safe!? Knight there, king there... A6! Bishop a6!" she thought as she moved her bishop to a6.

But things were still far from over as Jia moved her c-knight to d5, guarding the pawn at c7 and threatening to win a rook if Iori dared to capture said pawn. But Iori saved face and moved her rook to c8, though the ball quickly landed back in her court as Jia moved her knight to f5. Iori decided to capture the pawn at c7 with her bishop, expecting to trade it off, but instead, Jia did something different.

"Check," Jia smugly huffed as she moved her rook to e1.

Iori glared and sniffled as she moved her king to d7, but her eyes soon began bulging out of her head as Jia made the unprecedented decision of capturing the pawn at g7 with her knight.

"Well? How do you like that!? Shocking, I know. Now you can't trade rooks on the e-file. And soon, you'll be mated," Jia malevolently thought.

Iori began breathing heavily as she began to sway. This was it. She needed to be perfect here. And not just that, her body would need to last through the endurance of it all.

"Gotta find the move. Gotta win... Stay awake, dammit! I'm not gonna repeat what happened to Mimo-chan back at Triple cedar!" she thought as she moved her bishop to e5.

Jia mockingly frowned at the play and moved her knight to f5, causing Iori to tremble even more. Her hand was shaking so much it looked like she might accidentally touch a piece she didn't intend to move, but she managed to control her nerves to successfully move her king to e6 as intended.

"Hoh? A knight for a bishop then. Well go on, take your pick. Mate number 1, or mate number 2?" Jia thought as she moved her pawn to f4.

Iori's vision began to get a tad hazy, but she forced herself to stay awake with a mighty slap to the face and captured the knight at f5 with her king.

Jia promptly captured the bishop at e5 with her f-pawn, but when Iori caught her off guard by moving her h-rook to d8, a slight scowl began to form on her face. "Oh, you think you can pin me, you sick bitch? CHECK!" she scoffed as she moved her pawn to g4.

Iori retreated her king to e6, but Jia didn't let up on the aggression, moving her rook to e4, but there was no saving her knight.

"Check! I'm gonna 4-0 ya, you fucking hag," Iori snickered as she captured the knight at d5 with her rook.

A vein burst on Jia's face as she angrily moved her king to e1. "'HAG'!? I'm 26 years old, thank you very much!" she thought as Iori moved her rook to c2.

Now at this point, Jia could choose to try and outlast Iori, as she had plenty of time left to do so. But that carried a big risk as Iori also had plenty of time left, and could easily sleep and wake up before it ran out. Jia was also in an agitated state from how the game had been going, and decided to play on, moving her pawn to g5.

Under her mask, Iori began grinning from ear to ear as she moved her king to f5. Even at 69%, she could win from this position in her sleep. Jia began trembling with fury and moved her pawn to e6, beginning to grasp that she just let a victory slip away from her, but it wasn't just that. She was now about to lose.

Iori was now on an adrenalin high as she captured the rook at e4 with her king. "Just 4 more moves and it's done, assuming she doesn't make my load easier," she thought as Jia moved her bishop to d2.

But lightening the workload was exactly what Jia did, as after Iori moved her knight to h4, she captured the pawn at f7 with her e-pawn. Now all Iori had to do was pick a rook to capture the bishop with, and it was game.

"Hmm, which rook? How about d, for DESTROYED!" Iori thought as she captured the bishop at d2 with her d-rook.

Jia, however, still had one last grip of delusion as she moved her pawn to f8 and promoted it to a queen. "HAH! I queened! I win... I WIN!" she thought as a deranged smile overtook her face.

"Lol, nice delusion ya got going on, hag. Checkmate! You- ACHOO! Ugh, you lose," Iori grumbled as she moved her knight to g2, winning the game.

Jia's mouth hung down in horror as she stared at the board. She had the edge, she was winning, but she blew it and lost to a sick Iori. And now, Japan led 2-0, with the victory point coming soon as Xiao Lin was most certainly going to lose.

"Ugh, Jia lost too? Well there goes the match. But even that works out for me. When I'm the only one that doesn't lose, everyone will praise me for ending Japan's perfect 4-0 victory streak, and keeping the famed prodigy, Mimoko Inoue at bay," Xiu thought.

As Iori finished handing in her scoresheet, fatigue finally consumed her, and she collapsed on the spot. Her loud snoring indicated she was simply sleeping, alleviating any concerns about her wellbeing.

"Rest up, Iori-chan. You performed spectacularly. Now, I have little to worry about. The women will win their match," Okisato thought.

But little did he know that in a few short minutes, Daria would forgo an easy mate, giving Xiao Lin a small chance to try and turn things around.


The full game:

White: Lei Jia (2199) Black: Iori Ishikiridokoro (2444)

1. d4 e5

2. dxe5 Qh4

3. Nf3 Qg4

4. h3 Qe6

5. e4 Nc6

6. Qd5 Qxd5

7. exd5 Nb4

8. Bd3 Nxd3+

9. cxd3 d6

10. Nc3 dxe5

11. Nxe5 Ne7

12. Nc4 Bf5

13. d6 Ng6

14. Ne3 Bxd3

15. dxc7 Bd6

16. Kd2 Ba6

17. Ncd5 Rc8

18. Nf5 Bxc7

19. Re1+ Kd7

20. Nxg7 Be5

21. Nf5 Ke6

22. f4 Kxf5

23. fxe5 Rhd8

24. g4+ Ke6

25. Re4 Rxd5+

26. Ke1 Rc2

27. g5 Kf5

28. e6 Kxe4

29. Bd2 Nh4

30. exf7 Rdxd2

31. f8=Q Ng2#

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