Chapter 358:

A check for a check

En Passant Grandmaster

Everyone directed their attention to the center as D.R. Passant was joined by a middle-aged man. The man was well-dressed, notably sporting a long scarf, earning him the moniker, Mr. Scarf. And funnily enough, Henrik Schal was his real name.

He was a German billionaire as well as the DSPCM of Wangles, German Empire of Prussia. His rating was 960, and he wasn't the greatest at normal chess, but when it came to Chess 960, or "Freestyle" as he often called it, he was a true menace on the chessboard. He was also one of the biggest advocates for organizing more Chess 960 tournaments, with his efforts bearing fruit in the form of the WWCF approving the Chess 960 world championship to take place later this year, and a new Chess 960 circuit which would begin next year.

As soon as D.R. Passant finished the introductions, Henrik took the mic. "Now if you know who I am, you know what this next challenge will be. But what you don't know is that in addition to the 10 million WWCF point up for grabs, I'm throwing in a nice 50,000 euro bonus. And that means I get to pick the format, which will naturally be freestyle, and one of the players. Okisato Tanabe, do you accept the challenge?"

Okisato nodded and headed back on stage.

As for the challenger, D.R. Passant zeroed in on someone that had been giving Okisato the stink eye for a while, Fjolla Gjonaj.

Fjolla cracked her knuckles and proceeded to head to the stage. "Seems I'll be getting a bonus paycheck on top of the one you'll be giving me for ruining my dinner," she glared as she stared Okisato down.

"What makes you think you'll win?" Okisato asked.

A malicious smile began to form on Fjolla's face as she sat down. "There's no opening theory here, meaning we're both on even ground. And if we're on even ground, I can kill you."

Okisato's gaze narrowed as he took note of the setup. Rooks were on the a and h-files as usual, the knights were on the b and c-files, the bishops on the d and g-files, the queens on the e-file, and the kings on the f-file.

He started off by moving his pawn to f3, while Fjolla moved her pawn to a3. Then came his master plan of king f2, shocking everyone.

"Oh my, trying to disrespect me with a Bongcloud here? This is Chess 960! Tricks like that won't work here!" Fjolla cackled as she moved her pawn to c6.

"That remains to be seen, or perhaps maybe I've already seen it," Okisato snickered as he moved his pawn to e4.

"You think you can pull one over on me? Check!" Fjolla scowled as she moved her bishop to b6.

Okisato moved his king back to f1, but the moment Fjolla moved her pawn to g5, his face lit up with malicious glee. Mimoko began to scowl as she realized what this meant; Okisato was going to win with another dubious opening.

"You know why 960 doesn't have openings?" Okisato asked as he captured the bishop at b6 with his bishop.

"No, and I could care less. Opening theory doesn't exist here," Fjolla growled as she captured the bishop at b6 with her knight.

"It's simply because no one sat down to really study everything," Okisato declared as he moved his pawn to h4.

"Well no shit, there's 959 different set-ups, and the normal variation is still getting new theories added, curtesy of idiots like you," Fjolla snarled as she moved her pawn to f5.

"Then lets call this Setup 445, Opening: Okisato's Attack," Okisato snickered as he moved his queen to f2.

Mimoko shook her head in disappointment as Fjolla nearly burst a vein and moved her bishop to e6.

"Looks like she's angry. Good. I'll make her even angrier now," Okisato thought as he captured he pawn at f5 with his e-pawn.

Fjolla scowled in confusion and captured the pawn at f5 with her bishop, but rage found it's way back to her face after Okisato captured the knight at b6 with his queen. "I'm going to ensure this bastard drowns when I'm done with him," she thought as she moved her queen to g6.

"Hmm? Why's your queen running? It not care about protecting the king in check?" Okisato taunted as he moved his queen to d8.

"The queen is all that matters," Fjolla snarled as she moved her king to g7.

"Sure, check," Okisato shrugged as he captured the pawn at e7 with his queen.

Fjolla clicked her tongue in fury and moved her king to g8, but she soon became faced with a monumental decision after Okisato captured the pawn at g5 with his queen. It was either trade queens or find the best possible move, pawn to d6. Fjolla chose to move her pawn to a5.

"Not big on queen trading?" Okisato taunted as he moved his knight to a3.

"Of course not! Why would I want to be down the most powerful piece on the board!?" Fjolla scowled as she moved her king to g7.

"Well, more checks for me. So will they be blank, or have set amounts?" Okisato snickered as he moved his queen to e7.

"You're not getting any more checks, or a paycheck! Just a kneecapping and dagger to the gut!" Fjolla fumed as she slammed her king down on h6.

"Wanna bet?" Okisato smirked, with a tinge more menace, as he moved his pawn to g4.

Fjolla raised an eyebrow, but paid the remark no heed, silently moving her pawn to b5.

"Ah, that's a shame. I got another check," Okisato taunted as he moved his pawn to g5.

"A PETTY CHECK!" Fjolla shouted as she angrily slammed her king down on h5.

"A check is a check," Okisato replied as he moved his knight to e2.

"Choke on your words then! Check! Fjolla glared as she slammed her bishop down on h3.

"Now THAT'S a petty check, or more like a check to try and save your ass with," Okisato snickered as he captured the bishop at h3 with his rook.

Fjolla's entire body trembled with fury as she moved her queen to f5. Never before had anyone angered her this much aside from one woman. "He's just like her! They must be related, dammit!" she fumed in her mind.

"Oh sorry, you order another check?" Okisato taunted as he moved his knight to g3.

"No, I DIDN'T!" Fjolla fumed as she slammed her king down on g6.

"Well too bad, you get a humiliating checkmate, ba-ka," Okisato snickered as he moved his pawn to h5, winning the game.

Fjolla's jaw hung down in shock, but before anger could regain control, the trapdoor opened beneath her, plunging her into the blueberry juice. After a trip around the room, she was spat out into the kiddie pool, sticky and blue.

"H- How... How dare you," Fjolla trembled as she slowly tried to get up.

"Red n' Black? More like Black n' Blue! Albania's prez has lost the match! And Okisato remains undefeated!" D.R. Passant proclaimed.

Yekta and Blerta quickly helped Fjolla up and escorted her to her seat.

"Yekta, dig into his past. I want to know if he's related to that bitch I hate so much," Fjolla glared as she wrapped herself in a towel.

The full game:

White: Okisato Tanabe (2700) Black: Fjolla Gjonaj (1962)

1. f3 a6

2. Kf2 c6

3. e4 Bb6+

4. Kf1 g5

5. Bxb6 Nxb6

6. h4 f5