An underrated gambit

"Mimoko-nee!" Noa called out as she happily began running towards Mimoko.

"Noa-chan! I saw how the match went," Mimoko smiled as Noa sat down beside her.

"Yeah, we lost, but I ended up winning."

"You were really shaking in the video feed. Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Especially since I'm here with you."

"That's sweet. Looks like you got a little sister. Hopefully there's another one on the way," Daria smiled as she rubbed her stomach.

Mimoko shot her mother a scowl before returning her attention to Noa. "So, want to review your game?"

"Sure."

As the two began reviewing, Iori woke up. "Huh, WHAT!? WHERE AM I!?"

"The spectator area. You conked out shortly after winning your game," Daria stated.

Iori nodded and looked around, but stared in surprise at Noa's presence. "Who's she?"

"Ah, you're awake. Iori-chan, this is Noa-chan," Mimoko stated.

"Nice to meet you, Sicko."

"'Sicko'!?"

"Ah, that was Shoshana's nickname for you! Sorry!"

"Sicko... Oh, cuz I was out sick when I played- No, makes sense. Props to the nickname," Iori shrugged as she leaned back.

She took notice of Okisato sitting a few feet over, still watching the Estonia vs Serbia match, but was more curious about Mimoko and Noa.

"So when- WAIT! How'd the match go!? We 4-0 them!?"

"Yes, and Mimoko's opponent threw a very unsportsmanlike temper tantrum," Daria stated.

"Wait she WHAT!? FUCK! I snoozed through prime drama!"

"There's most likely videos online of it."

And no sooner did Daria say that did Iori instinctively reach for her phone, only to remember she didn't have it on her. Luckily, Daria had grabbed it for her when everyone exited the playing hall. Once the phone was back in her hands, Iori wasted no time in checking social media.

Meanwhile, Maccabee arrived. "Noa, enjoying yourself?"

"Ah, father. I won my game, but the team lost. I'm reviewing my match with Mimoko-nee," Noa stated.

"Oh, well guess that's hei at work. Though funnily enough, I won my game and the team won the match."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I was up against ole Vsevolod, but I pulled one over on him."

"Vsevolod? As in, Vsevolod Yanchuk of Ukraine?" Mimoko asked.

"Same one. So interested in hearing how the match went?"

Mimoko nodded, and Maccabee smiled. "Alright, then let's start from the start of the round..."

...

Going back in time to the start of the round, team Simien found themselves sitting across from team Ukraine.

"Hey, nice to meet ya. Name's Ores Kruk. I'm the only one here that doesn't have "chuk" in my surname," a man with purple hair chuckled.

"Nice to meet you. I'm looking forward to a good match," Ezekiel smiled as he shook Ores' hand.

"So you want to have a rematch against Maccabee?" a man with gray hair and a beard asked a man with short gray hair.

"Yes, I want to settle the score. He was one of many youngsters that made me want to retire years ago," the other man grumbled as he sat down across from Maccabee.

This was Vsevolod Yanchuk, a Ukrainian grandmaster that had once been a powerhouse, gaining the honor of being one of the few men the great Garry Kasparov feared. But at 55, he was starting to show his age. He was still an elite player, but the younger generations were quickly surpassing him. In his youth, Maccabee had actually beaten Vsevolod at a tournament, so there was some history between them. Thus, Vsevolod's teammate, Orest, who was normally the board 1 player, decided to shift down to board 3 where a bearded man wearing a newspaper hat sat.

"So you playing Benny?" the bearded man asked.

"That's right. Orest Konavalchuk. Nice to meet ya."

"Me Benny Ben Ben-Benjamin," the man stated as he shook Orest's hand.

On board 4, Ukraine's rising star, Dmytro Bondarchuk, stared oddly at the small man with lion ears and a tail seated across from him. This was Davey Aryeh, the former prime minister of Israel. Despite his small stature, Davey had an ego the size of Goliath, and a mad obsession that he was the second coming of King David. It was thanks to his ego that originally led to all of Israel and it's citizens being wagered when he played the Neo-Babylonian Empire's N3BU-CH4D-N3Z-Z4R in a high-stakes DESPER match.

Davey had originally intended for a stronger player like Ezekiel to play, but Ezekiel was completely against the match, desperately trying to persuade Davey against partaking in it. But Davey turned him down, and as a result, he lost, and all of Israel became property of the Neo-Babylonian Empire until Orit somehow managed to win the land and people back and move them all just north of Ethiopia.

Yet despite the humiliating loss, Davey still had some support within Simien's new government, which was enough to get him on the men's team despite there being some stronger players out there. His ego would constantly demand he play, usually resulting in him losing, as while he had a respectable rating of 2113, he was simply outclassed by not just his teammates, but the greater field as well.

The final member of the Simien team, who was sitting out for the match, was a man named Ben Staller. He was a grandmaster and former actor, infamous for always being one to take forever to make a move. Though ironically enough, he had never once lost on time, at least in classical time control. Anything faster than rapid, and he would become a frantic mess. Sometimes he'd win, but other times he'd run out of time.

As for Ukraine's reserve member, his name was Pinkus Vakarchuk, and he currently headed Ukraine's unofficial army. He was the nation's strongest chess player, but he first had a duty to make sure the homeland was safe from any potential Russian offensives before making his way to Budapest. And funnily enough, he had just arrived today, and after making his way to the playing hall, Orest happily got up and gave him his seat.

"My, what kind of a hero's welcome is this?" Pinkus laughed as he sat down across from Benny.

"Hey, I've been on the front lines for 5 days straight. These old bones need a rest," Orest laughed as he sat down in a nearby chair.

And thus, the match-ups were set.

As the round began, Maccabee opened by moving his pawn to e4, to which Vsevolod responded to by moving his pawn to e5. D4 and e captures d4 followed, but then Maccabee decided to make things more intense by moving his pawn to f4.

"The Israeli gambit, aka the Halász-McDonnell gambit... Punk's trying to mess with me," Vsevolod thought as he moved his knight to c6.

Indeed that was the name of the game, and after Maccabee moved his knight to f3, that's what came to be as Vsevolod moved his queen to e7, completely blundering away his advantage.

"I know he's getting older and past his prime, but I think this was just him not knowing the line proper. And that's why this is in my arsenal," Maccabee thought as he moved his bishop to d3.

Things continued on normally with d5, a king's side castle, d captures e4, and bishop captures e4 all being played before Vsevolod moved his knight to f6. This move seemed completely natural, however, it was actually the decisive move of the game, as it completely lost the game for Vsevolod.

"Check," Maccabee nodded as he captured the knight at c6 with his bishop.

Vsevolod didn't appear to be phased in the slightest, and promptly captured said bishop with his b-pawn. Though if anyone was confused with the state of the game, it had to be the commentators.

"Does anyone have ant idea why the eval bar's almost completely white?" Laila asked as she looked around.

"Hmm, maybe because rook e1 wins the queen?" Kisha suggested as Maccabee moved his rook to e1.

"No, there's bishop e6," Laila countered as Vsevolod moved his bishop to e6.

"What about f5?" Nancy asked as Maccabee moved his pawn to f5.

"Then take- No, that loses the queen. Ugh, where's Danny when you need him?"

"Probably staring at everyone's shoes instead of conducting interviews like he's supposed to."

Though what none of the commentators could have predicted was Vsevolod moving his pawn to c5, and allowing Maccabee to capture the bishop at e6 with his f-pawn. Vsevolod did capture said pawn with his f-pawn, but Maccabee clearly had the edge and knew it as well.

He brought his b-knight out to d2, prompting Vsevolod to castle queen's side. He then brought his queen out to e2, creating a host of problems for Vsevolod, all of which seemingly vanished into nothing thanks to Vsevolod moving his rook to d6.

"Not so fast. That rook of yours can't protect anything if it itself is under threat," Maccabee thought as he moved his knight to c4.

Vsevolod scowled and moved his pawn to a6, but Maccabee was only just beginning his attack. Bishop to d2 was next, and it seemingly did wonders as Vsevolod's next move was moving his pawn to d3, allowing Maccabee to simply capture it with his queen. But that all appeared to be part of Vsevolod's plan, as next came rook to d6.

"Uh... OK? Check," Maccabee nervously chuckled as he captured the rook at d6 with his knight.

Vsevolod shot him a glare and captured the knight at d6 with his queen, laying his intentions bare.

"You want a queen trade? Sorry, not getting it," Maccabee thought as he moved his queen to c4.

Vsevolod clicked his tongue in frustration and moved his pawn to e5. "Brat, I'm not losing to you again like I did years ago," he thought as Maccabee moved his bishop to c3.

Vsevolod quickly moved his knight to d5, setting up a trade, to which Maccabee was more than happy to accept. He captured the pawn at e5 with his knight, allowing Vsevolod to capture the bishop at c3 with his knight.

"And thanks for the trade. I got a pawn out of it," Maccabee thought as he captured the knight at c3 with his b-pawn.

At this point, the game was pretty much over, but pride prevented Vsevolod from resigning, thus, he played on, and moved his queen to f6. Maccabee simply shrugged, and moved his a-rook to b1. Mate wasn't too far away anyway, so he had no qualms with Vsevolod playing on.

But Vsevolod himself appeared as though he wanted things to end quickly, as he reduced the number of moves until mate by moving his bishop to d6.

"Well thank you. Check," Maccabee nodded as he moved his queen to g4.

Vsevolod let out a groan as he sunk his hands into his face. He knew he was about to lose, but once again, he decided to play on, and moved his queen to f5.

"Thanks for the queen. Check," Maccabee smirked as he captured the queen at f5 with his queen.

Vsevolod let out a heavy sigh and moved his king to d8, before throwing his hands up in the air.

"And that's another win for me. Checkmate," Maccabee smiled as he moved his knight to f7, winning the game.

Thanks to that win, the New Kingdom of Simien would triumph over Ukraine, 3-1. That wasn't to discredit Ukraine's strength though. They were a strong team, but Simien had simply been in better form.

...

"And that's how the match went," Maccabee stated as he finished recapping the match.

"Wow, that was quite clever, though also risky. If Yanchuk-san had known the lines, you would have been in trouble. But still, that gambit you played was quite nasty, especially the trap of seemingly natural moves actually blundering away the whole game," Mimoko nodded.

"That's why I played it against ole Vsevolod. The others did well too, except Lil' Davey, who naturally got wiped by Dmytro."

"So you're saying Benny beat Ukraine's real top player?" Noa asked.

"Yup. Benny may be a bit different, but he's a gifted chess player."

As the three began discussing more games, Iori decided to slide over to Okisato to see what he was watching. "So whatcha watching?"

"Estonia vs Serbia. Estonia just won the match 2.4-1.5."

"Estonia? They were one of the teams we could've gotten paired against in the 2nd round."

"Correct, and they currently have 12 points so there's a chance of them being paired against you in the next round."

Iori nodded and pulled up her own WWCF card to view the games as well. "Heh? Looks like that Onee girl played something interesting."

"It's pronounced "Õnne", but I call her Onee-chan just to piss her off."

"Heh? Sounds like she'd be my type of opponent," Iori snickered as she pulled up Õnne's profile and began scanning through her games.

The full game:

White: Maccabee Ben-Horin (2777) Black: Vsevolod Yanchuk (2630)

1. e4 e5

2. d4 exd4

3. f4 Nc6

4. Nf3 Qe7

5. Bd3 d5

6. O-O dxe4

7. Bxe4 Nf6

8. Bxc6+ bxc6

9. Re1 Be6

10. f5 c5

11. fxe6 fxe6

12. Nbd2 O-O-O

13. Qe2 Rd6

14. Nc4 Ra6

15. Bd2 d3

16. Qxd3 Rd6

17. Nxd6+ Qxd6

18. Qc4 e5

19. Bc3 Nd5

20. Nxe5 Nxc3

21. bxc3 Qf6

22. Rab1 Bd6

23. Qg4+ Qf5

24. Qxf5+ Kd8

25. Nf7#

Match score:

New Kingdom of Simien: 3 Ukraine: 1

New Kingdom of Simien wins 3-1