The president's prowess

The game opened with Anastasia moving her pawn to d4 and Raymond moving his pawn to d5. Next came c4, the Queen's Gambit, with Raymond declining it by moving his pawn to e6. Then after knight c3 and knight f6, it was down the Modern Variation line with bishop g5 and bishop e7 on the board. Knight f6 and h6 naturally followed, but after that, Anastasia opted to move her bishop to h4, rather than capture the knight at f6. Raymond responded by moving his pawn to b6, but that seemed to be the trigger for Anastasia to reverse her earlier decision and capture the knight at f6 with her bishop.

Raymond naturally captured said bishop with his bishop, and Anastasia followed up by capturing the pawn at d5 with her c-pawn, prompting Raymond to capture said pawn with his e-pawn. Then came e3, a king's side castle, bishop d3, bishop b7 before the decisive moment of the game happened.

"Would you care to make a draw?" Raymond asked after Anastasia castled king's side.

"Huh? Why should I!?"

"A draw will nullify things. I take it spending the next 24 hours blue and sticky isn't something you wish to do. Therefore, I'm offering you a draw here and now."

"I refuse."

"Then I'll ask once more after making my move; do you want to end things peacefully with a draw, or shall you challenge my might to a fight?" Raymond asked as he moved his pawn to c5.

"Then here's my answer. N-O NO!" Anastasia declared as she slammed her queen down on b3.

"A shame. While I favor resolving things with a draw, should a player know they have a winning position and be full of confidence that they can convert the win, it would be poor sportsmanship of them to offer a draw thereafter," Raymond declared as he moved his pawn to c4.

Anastasia went silent. She was going to lose a piece, no matter what she did.

"No... Don't tell me I've lost already!" she thought as she captured the pawn at c4 with her bishop.

Raymond naturally captured said bishop with his d-pawn, and Anastasia captured said pawn with her queen, but Raymond was about to pine for more as he moved his bishop to a6. Anastasia clenched her fist in frustration as tears began to well up in her eyes. She was about to lose a rook.

Ripping off the bandage, she moved her queen to b3, allowing Raymond to capture the rook at f1 with his bishop. Anastasia did capture said bishop with her rook, but that did little to change the fact that she was completely losing. Raymond moved his knight to c6, and while Anastasia likely would have resigned at this point if it was against anyone else, she refused to submit to Raymond.

"You only care and judge people by their chess prowess... WHAT IF THE BEST CHESS PLAYER IS THE MOST EVIL PERSON IN THE WORLD!?" Anastasia shouted as she slammed her knight down on d2.

"Then it is what it is. I care not if the best player in the world is Hitler or Gandhi, all I want is a world briming with chess talent. That being said, I will hold the best in the world to settle their trifles in chess. I don't seek to have a single dominant force, but simply to have the best of the best playing chess to compete for the glory of being the best in the world," Raymond stated as he captured the pawn at d4 with his bishop.

Anastasia trembled in silence as she captured the bishop at d4 with her e-pawn. Raymond also went quiet and captured said pawn with his knight, forcing the queen back to d1. He then moved his rook to e8, setting up an attack, to which Anastasia countered by moving her rook to e1.

"Then trade we shall, check," Raymond nodded as he captured the rook at e1 with his rook.

Anastasia instantly captured said rook with her queen as Raymond moved his queen to g5, preparing to begin another assault. Desperate, Anastasia moved her queen to e3, expecting a queen trade, but instead, Raymond moved his rook to d8, bringing forth a revelation to Anastasia.

"He guarded his knight? I didn't even realize I was threatening it. But I can't let that get to me. Resignation is not an option. I just can't lose, a draw at least wouldn't give him a win," Anastasia thought as she captured the queen at g5 with her queen.

Raymond naturally captured said queen with his h-pawn, prompting Anastasia to move her king to f1. B5 and b4 soon followed, witch rook to c8 invoking knight to e2. But now after knight to c2, Anastasia was in trouble as her king was boxed in. There wasn't an immediate mate threat though since Raymond's rook couldn't quite get to the back rank just yet. Thus, Anastasia moved her knight to e4, allowing Raymond to capture the pawn at b4 with his knight, slowly taking down all her defenses.

"I can't let him win. If he wins, he'll treat his ideals as right, and others will suffer. I'm not just doing this for me, there's other nations and people suffering thanks to the DESPERs the WWCF allowed to circulate," Anastasia thought as she moved her 4-knight to c3.

As Raymond moved his pawn to a6, many began to crowd around at the 6B tank's base as the gazed up at the footage of the game on a nearby screen. Among those viewing were both Anastasia's teammates and the Russians that had heckled her.

"So that's the girl Alya just won't shut up about. What a waste. Why befriend a wrench like her?" a tall muscular man in military attire scoffed as Anastasia moved her pawn to a4.

This was the infamous Col Vladilen Moskal, a ruthless commander and proprietor of many unspeakable heinous acts.

"She's upset about the peaceful solution Mr. Redfield proposed to solve all world problems; settling things in chess. What a disgrace that she'd try to usurp our peace, all because of her petty racism towards Russians," a bald and stout bearded man sneered as he adjusted his glasses, and watched as Raymond captured the pawn at a4 with his b-pawn.

While at a distance, this man might not seem too intimidating, up close and personal was a different story as he stood at a staggering 203 cm tall. He was also cold and heartless, driven only by his own nationalistic desires. This man was Serbia's president, Đurađ Mančić, a controversial figure to say the least due to his support for certain radical entities. One of which being Ratimir Ratković, a convicted war criminal from the Yugoslav wars who had managed to annul his prison sentence and conviction thanks to the power of the DESPER. And worse, he was here in Budapest, competing on the Serbian men's team.

With an eyepatch bearing Serbia's crest covering up his scarred right eye, Ratimir wasn't too difficult to spot, nor did he seek to be hidden. Many dubbed him the posterchild for the abuse the DESPERs could cause and the stupidity of the WWCF's insistence in settling everything in chess. This man had committed unspeakable crimes against humanity, yet thanks to winning a DESPER match, he was now a free man with no criminal record.

"I remember her face from a video. She was alongside that Albanian bitch that just wouldn't stop bitching about me getting a chance at parole. Wonder if that bitch is still singin' my praises against her will, or if she offed herself to stop the "torment"," Ratimir maliciously sneered as Anastasia captured the pawn at a4 with her knight.

As Blerta took notice of Ratimir in the crowd, she clenched her fist tightly. "Anastasia, you have my unbridled respect for standing up to the root that enabled vicious war criminals once more, but I'm no fool. You're going to lose this battle. At least, try your best not to lose in humiliating fashion," she thought as Raymond moved his knight to d5.

Now entering it's final stages, the game began speeding towards it's conclusion. H3, rook c4, knight b2, rook b4, knight d1, a5, d-knight back to c3, knight captures c3, it was clear Anastasia was going to lose, the question was just how soon it would be. The time scramble continued with knight captures c3, a4, king e2, a3, king d3, rook b3, king d4, king h7, g3, rook b2, f4, g captures f4, g captures f4, king g6, king e5, king h5, yet mate was still not achievable despite the overwhelming winds to Raymond's back. But that didn't mean mate wouldn't be achievable soon as after Anastasia moved her king to f5, Raymond moved his pawn to a2, forcing Anastasia to capture it with her knight. And now, Raymond could just capture said knight with his rook, and from that point, mate was a breeze.

"That was quite the sparring match, but I'm afraid it's time for the game to end," Raymond stated as he moved his rook to e2.

The move immediately caused nearby Russian grandmaster, Avian Nepryaev to bulge his eyes in bewilderment, but it wasn't without reason. Raymond had just found a great move that made things mate in 2. Anastasia, meanwhile, hadn't seen it, and moved her knight to c1, hoping for one final bout of counterplay, but then came rook e6 and the devastating realization that she was about to be mated with a pawn.

"I'm sorry everyone, I wasn't good enough," Anastasia meekly mumbled as she moved her knight to d3 with tears in her eyes.

"And that's checkmate. You had your chance to accept my draw, but you were biting off more than you could chew. And as for everyone else, this match was a special occasion, so I will not be accepting any more challenges," Raymond declared as he moved his pawn to g6, winning the game.

The trapdoor opened, and Anastasia was plunged into the blueberry juice and sucked through the room, before being spat out into the kiddie pool, sticky and blue. A nearby Alya trembled as she saw Anastasia sprawled out before her. She mustered the courage to extend her hand, but Anastasia swatted it away in fury.

"Don't touch me, you backstabbing cur," Anastasia tearfully glared as she got up and stormed away.

Alya stared down at the floor before shaking her head and looking back up towards the 6B tank. "Maybe she'd be more open, if I lost too..."

Funnily enough, someone else was thinking the same thing as well. Anastasia would be more open to speaking with him if he beat Alya.

"Alya-san, want to play a match against each other?" Okisato asked.

The full game:

White: Anastasia Oliynyk (2502) Black: Raymond Redfield (2999)

1. d4 d5

2. c4 e6

3. Nc3 Nf6

4. Bg5 Be7

5. Nf3 h6

6. Bh4 b6

7. Bxf6 Bxf6

8. cxd5 exd5

9. e3 O-O

10. Bd3 Bb7

11. O-O c5

12. Qb3 c4

13. Bxc4 dxc4

14. Qxc4 Ba6

15. Qb3 Bxf1

16. Rxf1 Nc6

17. Nd2 Bxd4

18. exd4 Nxd4

19. Qd1 Re8

20. Re1 Rxe1+

21. Qxe1 Qg5

22. Qe3 Rd8

23. Qxg5 hxg5

24. Kf1 b5

25. b4 Rc8

26. Ne2 Nc2

27. Ne4 Nxb4

28. N4c3 a6

29. a4 bxa4

30. Nxa4 Nd5

31. h3 Rc4

32. Nb2 Rb4

33. Nd1 a5

34. Ndc3 Nxc3

35. Nxc3 a4

36. Ke2 a3

37. Kd3 Rb3

38. Kd4 Kh7

39. g3 Rb2

40. f4 gxf4

41. gxf4 Kg6

42. Ke5 Kh5

43. Kf5 a2

44. Nxa2 Re2

45. Nc1 Re6

46. Nd3 g6#