Daria's secret

"Welcome back to the show! Now, let's talk more about the chess world's biggest secret, the secret chess maestros!" Kisha smiled as an image of Daria flashed on screen. "Now, you probably know about Maestro Himitsu, but you probably don't know that "Maestro Himitsu" isn't actually Maestro Himitsu's real name! Now, not even us organizers knew what her real name is, but thanks to my journalistic spirit, I managed to find a lead. Please direct your attention to this video clip of-"

"Ahem!"

Kisha gazed to the side to notice Daria angrily smiling at her.

"Some things are kept secret for a reason. I'm sure a journalist like you can understand."

"But the clip is public, so me not talking about it-"

"Then we'll settle the matter in chess."

"Yeah right, what are my odds?"

Daria placed a physical chessboard down and set the box full of pieces next to it. "You get to setup the board. However, the setup must be one of the 960 legal starting positions, so king must be between the rooks and bishops must be on opposite colored squares. Seem fair enough?"

Kisha stared dumbfounded, but decided to take Daria up on her offer. She first set up all the pawns before focusing on the back row.

"Hmm, how about we got knight, knight, queen, bishop? Yeah, that will work if I then go rook, king, bishop, rook, and that's legal right?"

"Knight, knight, queen, bishop, rook, king, bishop, rook, correct, this is a legal Chess 960 starting position, now we begin," Daria glared as she opened the game by moving her pawn to d4.

"Wait, hold on! I just set everything up! And why are you playing as White-"

"One minute is on the clock."

"LIKE HELL IT IS!" Kisha fumed as she moved her pawn to g6.

"Well no need to worry. Checkmate," Daria scoffed as she moved her queen to h5, winning the game.

Kisha's mouth hung open in disbelief as she struggled to regain her composure. "Th- That's a maestro for ya. Hah, hahaha. Uh... moving on to the interview..."

Too afraid and dejected to interview Daria, Kisha instead turned her focus towards Mimoko. Things went swimmingly as Mimoko was used to the interview procedure, and was prepared for the tough questions Kisha would likely aske her such as her thoughts on what happened with Xiu, and being blue after losing to Peter.

To the latter, Mimoko replied, "No big deal. I had fun, and that's what chess should be about." And to the former, "Mei-mo-chan personally apologized last night."

"Wait, she did!? How'd I miss that scoop!?" Kisha cried.

"You're getting it now," Mimoko grinned as she leaned back on the couch.

"Grandmaster in chess and the art of the interview. Say, we should get you on commentator duty one of these days. Maybe I can put in a request to get players to commentate once their games are complete."

"Sounds like fun. I'd love to analyze games real time."

"And with that, time for another break. Thanks for coming on the show."

As Daria and Mimoko headed out, Daria guided Mimoko to a private area.

"What's the deal, okaa-chan?" Mimoko asked.

"Don't ya wanna know more about my chess career?"

"What do you mean?"

Daria smiled and sat down next to Mimoko. "Before I was married, my surname was Inashiki. Go on the WWCF social forums and give "Daria Inashiki" a search."

Mimoko nervously nodded and did as her mother suggested. What greeted her was something she didn't expect, but could accept at the same time.

"'Daria Inashiki, rumors of this war goddess of chess continue to haunt chess sites everywhere. Hailing from Japan, this highschool girl not only entered the world of chess at 15, but dominated it before turning 16. Zero losses, and zero draws, 100% win-rate. She sped run the road to grandmaster and looked as though she could become the next World Chess Champion, but then she vanished. If I had to guess, it was because she became so powerful that the chess mafia took her out'... So you were a monster in your youth then, okaa-chan?"

"Still am. And there actually is a hint of truth to that last statement," Daria smirked as she got up.

"The chess mafia part?"

"Who knows. But beat all 7 maestros, and I'll tell all."

The full game:

White: Maestro Himitsu (Daria Inoue) (3200) Black: Kisha Shinbun (2024)

1. d4 g6

2. Qh6#