Chapter 347:

Zsa Zsa unleashed

En Passant Grandmaster

While Okisato was watching the Estonia vs Serbia match closely, Mimoko was focusing on a different match-up.

"Whatcha watching?" Daria asked as she peeked over Mimoko's shoulder.

"Hungary vs Simien. Hungary's in the lead at 1.5-0.5, but Noa-chan is still playing."

"You really hit it off well with her. So how's the game going?"

"She's playing Jolán Zsigmondy on board 3."

"Ah, she's Hungary's current top female player. Think she just became a mother a few months ago too. So who's who?"

"Noa-chan's Black, while Zsigmondy-san is White."

"And who's on the other board?"

"Zsa Zsa-chan and Chaya-chan, but the match is completely one-sided. Zsa Zsa-chan is completely dominating poor Chaya-chan."

Daria began to frown as she pulled up her own WWCF card. "Perhaps I should take a look at how this match went, myself. Especially the game at board 1 between Zsa Zsa and Chaya."

...

When the round first began, Orit had elected to sit out, allowing Chaya the chance to fill in for her at board 1. Zsa Zsa didn't care though as it mattered not who she played, she'd beat them to a pulp anyway.

She opened the game by moving her pawn to e4, prompting Chaya to respond by moving her pawn to e5. Then came pawn to f4, the King's Gambit. This was a common opening throughout the chess world, however, it was not common for Zsa Zsa to play it.

"Well someone looks bent out of shape, and it's showing on the board. That humiliation she got last night must still be fresh in her mind," Chaya thought as she captured the pawn at f4 with her e-pawn.

Next came the standard knight f3 and g5, with Zsa Zsa attempting to then go for the Muzio gambit by moving her bishop to c4, however, Chaya denied her that by moving her queen to e7.

"Oh, well look at that. You rolled out the red carpet for Zsa Zsa. Now paint yourself red to match, because Zsa Zsa is about to crush you beneath her soles," Zsa Zsa thought as she moved her knight to c3.

Now Chaya decided to push her pawn to g4, with the best move for Zsa Zsa now being to castle king's side, and allow Chaya to capture the knight at f3 with her g-pawn. It was a delayed Muzio of sorts, though Zsa Zsa was already formulating naming rights for the opening as she moved her pawn to d4.

Chaya was more focused on winning, and remembering that the Muzio did put White at a disadvantage, she captured the pawn at g2 with her f-pawn. But she had made two big oversights. The first was that this was not the Muzio gambit, even though the moves were similar. And second, her move just now allowed Zsa Zsa to capture the pawn at f4 with her rook. And then came Chaya's third oversight; moving her pawn to d5. This play caused the eval bar to turn almost completely white in Zsa Zsa's favor as now she could simply capture the pawn at d5 with her knight, forcing Chaya to move her queen somewhere if she didn't want it captured.

"What's going on? I thought she'd be rattled and play horribly. Don't tell me that humiliation had the reverse effect and made her stronger," Chaya thought as she moved her queen to d7.

But that was exactly the case. Zsa Zsa was fueled by rage, and wanted to face Mimoko in the tournament in order to completely humiliate her for the puzzle rush she subjected her to. But to do that, Hungary needed to win to better their chances of getting paired against Japan. Thus, all would face Zsa Zsa's wrath as her true talent erupted to the surface.

Zsa Zsa was always a gifted player, but her ego had always kept her from reaching her true potential, but now that her ego had been shredded and incinerated by Okisato and Mimoko, Zsa Zsa was unleashed. And when Zsa Zsa was unleashed, there was no reigning her back in ever. In retrospect, many in the chess world would curse the moment Okisato decided to humiliate Zsa Zsa, as it would lead to the awakening of a monster.

But Zsa Zsa's teammates were more than thrilled at this change, as were many fans of chess, as it meant Zsa Zsa was now entering the race to become best in the world for real.

Zsa Zsa moved her queen to h5 and leaned back to get a better view of the board. "Control. Zsa Zsa controls this domain. You are nothing but cobblestone for Zsa Zsa to walk over," she thought as Chaya moved her bishop to d6.

Scoffing at Chaya's feeble attempt at a counterattack, Zsa Zsa moved her pawn to e5. But Chaya still had some fight in her and moved her pawn to b5. Now it was a bishop for a bishop, so she thought, until Zsa Zsa completely shattered that worldview by capturing the pawn at f7 with her rook.

"Ugh, you gotta be kidding me! Well, guess a queen trade is fine," Chaya thought as she captured the rook at f7 with her queen.

But Zsa Zsa had no such plans. "Check, you shall serve as the foundation for my warpath," Zsa Zsa scoffed as she captured the pawn at c7 with her knight.

Chaya scowled, but quickly went pale as she realized how bad things were. "... Shit. My queen's pinned, so I gotta move my king, and to a space on the d-file if I don't wanna get mated. Ugh, down a queen. I wanna resign," she thought as she moved her king to d8.

Now Zsa Zsa had free reign to capture the queen at f7 with her queen. Chaya let out a heavy sigh, but fought on, moving her bishop to e7. "I'm only down three points of material. I capture that knight, I'm back in the game," she thought.

But said knight she had her eye on ended up moving to e6, and delivering her a check instead. She did capture said knight with her bishop, but Zsa Zsa simply captured said bishop with her bishop, and Chaya was back to being down 3 points of material again.

At this point, Chaya decided to just get up and walk around for a bit to clear her mind. When she returned a few minutes later, she moved her knight to c6. Zsa Zsa scoffed at the patheticness of the counterattack and moved her pawn to d5. But Chaya had a plan, and captured the pawn at e5 with her knight, hoping it was enough to help her turn things around. Naturally, it was not, as Zsa Zsa simply moved her queen to g7, and suddenly Chaya was in huge trouble.

"Uh oh, I can't let her get my rook, then it's mate," Chaya thought as she moved her knight to g6.

But that move set her on the path for mate anyway, as Zsa Zsa marched her pawn to d6, preparing to deal the coup de gras once and for all. Desperate, Chaya moved her rook to c8, but Zsa Zsa didn't care and moved her bishop to e3. Now fearful of losing her pawn on a7, Chaya moved her rook back to a8, giving Zsa Zsa the chance to tighten the screws and move her rook to d1.

Out of options, Chaya moved her pawn to b5 in frustration, and watched as Zsa Zsa captured the bishop at e7 with her d-pawn.

"Check! Rejoice, for it shan't be much longer until I've fully trampled upon you," Zsa Zsa scoffed.

"Great, she's still got her ego, but now she's actually not letting it screw over her chess. Thanks a lot oni-tiger, now we got another monster to worry about," Chaya thought as she moved her king to c7.

Now, there was nothing to stop Zsa Zsa from promoting her pawn, but in this scenario, underpromoting was the only way to ensure the fastest possible checkmate. The old Zsa Zsa would have always promoted to a queen, but this was the new Zsa Zsa.

"Knight and check," Zsa Zsa glared as she moved her pawn to e8 and promoted it to a knight.

Chaya stared in disbelief at what she had just witnessed, before bursting into laughter. "Wow, you underpromoted to a knight, and it was the best move too! Ah, you're a completely different beast now. Well, it's only a move, so put a mate on the record," she sighed as she moved her king to b8.

"So glad you know your place as my walking path. Checkmate," Zsa Zsa proudly huffed as she moved her queen to c7, winning the game.

With her win, Hungary had now won the match, regardless of what happened at the remaining board.

But despite the fact that her team had already lost, Noa was not ready to throw in the towel. "Mimoko-nee has faith in me. I can't let her down," she thought.

The full game:

White: Zsa Zsa Gál (2508) Black: Chaya Shamir (2448)

1. e4 e5

2. f4 exf4

3. Nf3 g5

4. Bc4 Qe7

5. Nc3 g4

6. O-O gxf3

7. d4 fxg2

8. Rxf4 d5

9. Nxd5 Qd7

10. Qh5 Bd6