Chapter 341:

The cooked maestro

En Passant Grandmaster

With Japan now on the verge of victory, many began to gather around the boards. Mimoko's game against Xiu was still in a dead heat, even at move 20. Bishop captures f6, bishop captures f6, c3, bishop g5, knight c2, a king's side castle, a4, b captures a4, rook captures a4, knight e7, h4, knight captures d5, h captures g5, knight b6, rook a1, queen captures g5, knight e3, rook d8, queen b3, rook b8, and still nothing. Though it was worth noting Mimoko now had a slim edge according to the eval bar, but it was still very much in draw territory, which was all Xiu cared about anyway.

With Jia and Bao down, China was going to lose. There was no way in her mind she could see Xiao Lin winning, and if she didn't win, it was mathematically impossible for China to at least draw the match. But if she became the sole disruptor of Japan's perfect victory streak, that would be a win. Sure, beating Mimoko would be nice, but a draw would be good too.

As for the main event, Xiao Lin had finally decided to move her pawn to d3, allowing Daria to continue her onslaught by moving her a-rook to e1. Xiao Lin moved her rook to d6, and briefly smiled as Daria captured the pawn at e6 with her rook, allowing her to capture said rook with her rook.

But it vanished just as quickly as soon as Daria captured the knight at d5 with her bishop. "You bitch... I hate you!" Xiao Lin fumed in her mind as she moved her king to g7.

Daria shot her a cold glare and captured the rook at e6 with her bishop, prompting Xia Lin to move her queen to c7. And after capturing the pawn at d3 with her queen, Daria was on the path to victory as Xiao Lin moving her king to h6 was a recipe for a guaranteed mate.

Daria instantly moved her queen to g3, infuriating Xiao Lin as she moved her queen to d8. But unbeknownst to her, Daria was actually trying to calculate something out.

"Hmm, bishop c3 it is," Daria thought as she made that very move.

To many, this was nothing, but to the keen eyes that had gathered, it was a sign that the game might actually still be far from over. Okisato was not one of the folks that caught it, but he did notice not just the masked man standing nearby, but also Zago, Refik, Tvrtko, Ognjen, Amelia, Peter, Wiley, Red Reaper, Tsar Grigori, Ian, and many others he did and didn't recognize standing around the board.

"Ah, I probably should head back... I still have time. Just until the end of this," Okisato thought as Xiao Lin moved her pawn to b5.

"So everyone's here? Guess that means the games are done. Seems like Oki will head back soon, but the question is, what's the score. Based on everyone's eyes, I'd say... we're down," Miralem thought as Daria moved her king to h2.

But the two would have to wait to learn the score as the game between the maestros appeared to be reaching it's end. Xiao Lin moved her pawn to b4, prompting Daria to move her rook to d1. It was tempting to capture that rook, but doing so would lead to instant mate, thus, Xiao Lin instead captured the bishop at c3 with her b-pawn, allowing Daria to capture her queen at d8 with her rook. Xiao Lin captured said rook with her rook, but now Daria could deliver a check, meaning she could get a word in.

"Check. Xiao Lin, I'm going to crucify you upon the chessboard," Daria glared as she moved her queen to h4.

Xiao Lin scowled, but deep down, she was terrified. "Damn bitch! It's almost mate anyway... Yes, it's almost mate. I'll just take the loss quietly. I won't resign to you," she thought as she moved her king to g7.

Daria swiftly captured the rook at d8 with her queen, leaving Xiao Lin with just pawns. But after Xiao Lin moved her king to h6, Daria captured the pawn at c3 with her b-pawn, baffling all except for the masked man, who knew exactly what this meant.

"Ah, so you're going to do THAT then, Daria. A fitting humiliation," he thought as Xiao Lin moved her pawn to a5.

It was still mate in 3, so Daria capturing the pawn wasn't that big a deal, but then she moved her pawn to c4, giving Xiao Lin pause. "What is she doing? Oh, is it something stupid? Does this mean I have a chance!?" she giddily thought as she moved her king to g7.

The march continued with Daria moving her pawn to c5, baffling even Okisato and Mimoko as to what she had planned.

"Okaa-chan, what are you doing!?" Mimoko thought as Xiao Lin moved her king to h6.

Even some of the maestros were struggling to wrap their heads around what Daria was doing.

"Daria, this isn't like you. And what was with that statement you made to her earlier?" Ian thought as Daria moved her pawn to c6.

"She's trying to promote, but why? ...! No, she wouldn't," Amelia thought as Xiao Lin moved her king to g7.

Of the non-maestros, only Peter and a Canadian named Evan Moss, seemed to have an idea on what Daria was doing.

"A fitting fate for this joke of a maestro. I do hope she doesn't resign though, but I could see her doing so," Peter thought as Daria moved her pawn to c7.

"OK, this maestro chick is based if she's gonna do what I think she's trying to do. But will the other maestro chick let it play out?" Evan thought as Xiao Lin moved her king to h6.

Everyone else though was still baffled. Not even Xiao Lin could fathom what Daria was trying to do, causing a deranged and desperate smile to form on her face. "Yes, yes, YES! Blunder it all away for some stupid flex! A win's a win! Are you going to underpromote to try and mate me in style? Go ahead! You stalemate, I win! I win! AHAHAHAHA!" she maniacally thought.

But as Daria moved her pawn to c8 and promoted it to a rook, Xiao Lin began to frown. "A rook? Not a knight? That makes no sense..."

But that promotion was the final piece Wiley needed to figure out what Daria was planning. "Ah, so it was deliberate. Well humiliate her. She deserves it," he thought.

Xiao Lin's eye twitched as she slowly reached for a pawn, but as she did, the realization finally hit her. "The pawns... THE PAWNS! SHE WOULDN'T!"

The sudden realization of what Daria had planned for her sent Xiao Lin into a cold sweat. Color rapidly vanished from her face as her hand began trembling madly.

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! I can't let her humiliate me like that! But I can't resign. I can't admit defeat to her! But if I don't she'll... SHE'LL..."

But as if her body hit the emergency break, Xiao Lin's hand moved on it's own to stop the clock.

"And do I take that as a resignation then?" Daria glared.

Tears began to ooze out of Xiao Lin's eyes as she gritted her teeth in fury. "... Fuck you, Daria," she trembled as she begrudgingly extended her hand for the obligatory handshake.

And with that, Japan had beaten China, though there was still plenty of action to be seen at board 2. But not for Okisato, as he realized he needed to get back to his board to do his job.

"Huh, she was planning to do something, but what? Well, guess the watch party's over now. If my intuition's right, I gotta win on demand for us to break even. Tough, but tough's life in the Balkans," Miralem thought as he began following Okisato back.

As he returned to the board, Okisato breathed a sigh of relief seeing the 2-1 score in Japan's favor. He still had 25 minutes left, meaning there wasn't a need to worry about losing on time, but his bigger issue was what to play. Miralem was not the kind of person that would be caught off guard by one of his trademark dubious openings, and he didn't want to play the Japanese opening against him, hence why he had opened by moving his knight to f3. This was not a common opening for him to play, but that was the point. To beat Miralem, he had to play something, he himself didn't know.

"Well, I look forward to working with you, Mr. John Tracy," Okisato thought as he moved his pawn to e4.

It was now John Tracy vs Bosnian Artiljerija with none of the players knowing the proper lines. Chaos was about to unfold on the chessboard.

The full game:

White: Maestro Himitsu (Daria Inoue) (3200) Black: Maestro Xiao Lin (3020)

1. e4 d5

2. exd5 Nf6

3. Nf3 Nxd5

4. d4 g6

5. c4 Nf6

6. Nc3 Bg7

7. h3 O-O

8. Be2 c5