John Tracy vs Bosnian artiljerija

Miralem returned to the board, unsurprised by the fact Japan was in the lead, and stared at the board. "He went e4? That's the John Tracy gambit, right? Heard of it, but never played against it. So that's what you're going for, you're just dragging me down a slope hoping you'll come out on top. Well, bring it on! All I know about this gambit is it gives me an extra pawn!" he thought as he captured the pawn at e4 with his knight.

Okisato moved his pawn to d3, sending the knight back to f6, but now, he was just down a pawn. And to make things more deceptive to the eye, he moved his pawn to d4, and Miralem moved his pawn to d5, making the board look symmetrical except for that missing pawn.

"I guess this gambit is the easy way to get a pawn odds match in a tournament. Well, all the more reason to win with it," Okisato thought as he moved his pawn to c4.

Already sensing the play, Miralem brought his knight out to c6, and watched as Okisato captured the pawn at d5 with his c-pawn. "Welp, you wanna trade, we trade!" he thought as he captured the pawn at d5 with his knight.

Clearly Okisato was in a trading mood as he moved his bishop to b5, entering a common bishop/knight trade scenario, which Miralem nudged along by moving his pawn to a6. Okisato predictably captured the knight at c6 with his bishop, delivering a check that was quickly doused by Miralem capturing said bishop with his b-pawn.

At this point, Miralem had the edge. However, it was only a slight one, and one that could still be considered to be in drawish territory. All Okisato needed was a draw, and Japan would win the match.

"I wonder how bad the engine looks for me. Well, all the more reason to finish things up, so I can check it," Okisato thought as he moved his queen to c2.

Miralem saw what Okisato was planning, and quickly moved his queen to d6, both to guard the pawn, and get it more active. Next came a king's side castle from Okisato and g6 from Miralem, both set-up moves to help get some pieces into the game. But in terms of pieces becoming active, it was actually knight c3 and the aggressive bishop f5 that came into play next.

"Guess the dark-squared bishop's getting fianchettoed later. Now let's counter and send you packing," Okisato thought as he moved his knight to e4.

Miralem looked up and smirked before capturing the knight at e4 with his bishop. "I'm up a pawn, and when you're up, ya trade, trade, trade. So keep it coming," he thought as Okisato captured the bishop at e4 with his queen.

Now it was time for the bishop to come out to g7, and for Okisato's bishop to come out to d2. Miralem's rook was next to get active as it was moved to b8, staring down the b-pawn, which was promptly moved to b3, in order to prevent it's capture. Now it was Miralem's turn to castle king's side, with Okisato deciding to move his a-rook to c1.

Next the two moved their rooks further out, with Miralem moving his rook to b6, and Okisato moving his rook to c4. And as if continuing the semi-mirroring trend, they both doubled up their defenses with their other rooks with Miralem moving his rook to d8, and Okisato moving his f-rook to c1.

It looked as though things could blow at any moment, but things remained peaceful, but still highly tense. E6, rook a4, f6, h4, bishop f8, h5, and then king f7, it was like an arms race in a sense. The tense, but bloodless battle continued on with g4, bishop g7, h6, bishop h8, queen e2, and finally rook g8 before blood was spilled by Okisato capturing the pawn at a6 with his rook.

"Well look at that, ya made up the deficit. But when I find my lead slipping away, I only get more aggressive!" Miralem thought as he slammed his knight down on f4.

Okisato moved his queen to c4, but Miralem seemed determined to take it off the board, going as far as to move his queen to d5 to prompt a queen trade. But Okisato refused it, but not but not by conventional means. For rather than moving his queen away, he moved his rook to a7, forcing Miralem to defend his threatened pawn by moving his rook to c8. But Okisato kept up the pressure, capturing the knight on f4 with his bishop, prompting Miralem to change tactics.

"My motto is offense is the best defense, and that's what you're gonna get!" Miralem thought as he captured the knight at f3 with his queen, sending said knight tumbling towards the edge of the table.

Okisato caught said knight, and promptly captured the pawn at c7 with his bishop, setting things up for his victory push.

"CHECK! You're gonna regret not taking my queen artiljerija off the board!" Miralem maniacally shouted as he captured the pawn at g4 with his queen, sending said pawn flying.

"Nah, I got no regrets, about not capturing that queen, about playing the John Tracy gambit, and about running my clock down to 15 minutes. It was worth it. Check!" Okisato sadistically grinned as he caught the airborne pawn and moved his bishop to g3.

Miralem was so impressed by both Okisato's vigor and the discovered check that he let out a whistle. "So this is the oni-tiger that spooks all the Desperado die-hards. Heh, those guys are all weak! This man's a worthy rival!" he thought as he moved his king to g8.

Seeing victory, Okisato moved his queen to c5, but Miralem made one final attempt at a queen trade by moving his queen to g5, but Okisato, simply smirked and moved his queen to e7, denying him the trade.

However, Miralem began grinning from ear to ear as he grabbed his queen and leaped into the air, pulling his fist as far back as it would go. "ARTILJERIJA!" he shouted as he slammed his queen down on c1, checking the king, and capturing the rook that was there, sending it flying towards Okisato like an ICBM.

But to Miralem's shock, Okisato caught the ballistic rook, spinning it around in his hand before placing it down on the table and moving his king to g2, all with a smug grin on his face.

Miralem grimaced as he quickly came to the realization on the state of things. "Shit! CHECK!" he nervously shouted as he moved his queen to h1.

"And thanks for the free queen," Okisato thought as he smugly captured the queen at h1 with his king.

A bead of sweat ran down Miralem's face as he desperately moved his rook to b7, but it was a futile attempt at saving the game, as Okisato simply captured said rook with his rook.

"Well shit, guess we're losing this then," Miralem thought as he moved his rook to f8.

Okisato grinned and grabbed his queen, as he stood up. "You asked me if I spoke Bosnian, well here's my answer; Nisi me mogao pobijediti kad sam pustio da mi sat otkucava na 15 minuta, nisi me mogao pobijediti kad sam igrao Johna Tracyja. Pokušao si da lansiraš ICBM da razneseš sve moje nade za pobjedu, ali sam uhvatio tvoju malu igračku. Sada... RAZBIJENA ARTILJERIJA! Nećeš me pobijediti danas. RAZBIJENA ARTILJERIJA! Nećeš me pobijediti danas. Heeyeee... Ti si pretučena bekrija! [You couldn't beat me when I let my clock tick down to 15 minutes, couldn't beat me when I played John Tracy. You tried to launch an ICBM to blow up all my hopes of winning, but I caught your little toy. Now... BUSTED ARTILLERY! You're not beating me today. BUSTED ARTILLERY! You're not beating me today. Heeyeee... You're a beaten bekrija]!" he sang as he captured the pawn at h7 with his queen, winning the game. "Checkmate, BA-KA!"

Miralem stared in disbelief for a second before smiling. "Well aren't you a barrel of tire spikes. Glad your ass ain't running a rival Balkan nation, otherwise we'd be screwed," he grinned before shaking Okisato's hand.

Despite Ginji's stunt, Japan had mounted a comeback and defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-1. After the two handed in their scoresheets, they made their way back to the women's section to find the game between Mimoko and Xiu was still ongoing.

But what really surprised Okisato was the facial expressions of the players. "Now that's unexpected. I never thought I'd see her make that kind of face," he thought.

The full game:

White: Okisato Tanabe (2700) Black: Miralem Artiljerija (2548)

1. Nf3 Nf6

2. e4 Nxe4

3. d3 Nf6

4. d4 d5

5. c4 Nc6

6. cxd5 Nxd5

7. Bb5 a6

8. Bxc6+ bxc6

9. Qc2 Qd6

10. O-O g6

11. Nc3 Bf5

12. Ne4 Bxe4

13. Qxe4 Bg7

14. Bd2 Rb8

15. b3 O-O

16. Rac1 Rb6

17. Rc4 Rd8

18. Rfc1 e6

19. Ra4 f6

20. h4 Bf8

21. h5 Kf7

22. g4 Bg7

23. h6 Bh8

24. Qe2 Rg8

25. Rxa6 Nf4

26. Qc4 Qd5

27. Ra7 Rc8

28. Bxf4 Qxf3

29. Bxc7 Qxg4+

30. Bg3+ Kg8

31. Qc5 Qg5

32. Qe7 Qxc1+

33. Kg2 Qh1+

34. Kxh1 Rb7

35. Rxb7 Rf8

36. Qxh7#

Match score:

Japan: 3 Bosnia and Herzegovina: 1

Japan wins 3-1