Tenju, Külli, and the Alien gambit

Back at the Japan vs Estonia match, things picked up in the marquee match on board 4 between Iori and Õnne. Rather than take the bishop at c3, Iori instead moved her knight to h4, eliciting a scowl from Õnne as she moved her queen to e6.

"Oh, you're gonna hate me for this. Bye-bye rook!" Iori thought as she moved her knight to f5.

Õnne seemed more unamused than annoyed at the play, and moved her queen to g6. But as soon as Iori moved her queen to f3, sparks flew once more.

"Murdering whore, I'm not giving you an inch!" Õnne thought as she moved her knight to c6.

"And back to the grind, but with a twist," Iori thought as she grinned and moved her knight back to h4.

"Repetition? Well in that case, it's a victory to me. Who'd have thought the "we're gonna sweep you 4-0" girl would be the one to fail her team in that lofty goal," Õnne thought as she moved her queen back to e6.

However, this was NOT a repetition, since now, Iori could moved her pawn to d5, and cause a whole host of problems for Õnne.

Õnne's eye twitched as she moved her queen to e7. "You fucking whore. I'll kill you if I ended up getting stripped publicly! I'm not a degenerate like you! I'm a refined woman. A refined woman with edgy kinks and fetishes, not a murder whore exhibitionist like you!" she thought.

But Õnne's very anger would ultimately lead to her undoing, for after Iori moved her knight back to f5, Õnne blew her top and slammed her knight down on d4 without thinking. Iori mockingly shrugged and happily captured said knight with her knight, further agitating Õnne as she in turn, captured said knight with her bishop.

"And now, the gateway to FUCKED is open," Iori thought as she moved her pawn to d6.

The moment Iori took her hand off said pawn, Õnne captured it with her c-pawn, but now...

"Check! Got your rook, BITCH!" Iori snickered as she captured the rook at a8 with her queen.

Shock, and eventual fury plastered themselves on Õnne's face. "You... SA KURADI LITS [YOU FUCKING BITCH]!" she shouted aloud as she slammed her queen down on d8.

Iori was in the drivers seat, but Õnne was not going to resign, meaning that despite things being overwhelmingly in Iori's favor, the game was far from over.

Over on board 2, Tenju took a deep breath before finally moving her knight to f6.

"Külli-chan loves to play the Alien gambit at any chance she gets. It can be powerful, but easily stopped by going 5... Bf5. However, she's likely got plans to counter that. But if you go knight f6 instead, she'll almost certainly go knight g5. Then just go h6, and she should capture the pawn at f7 with the knight. Then after capturing said knight with your king, you're actually in a more solid position than White. The challenge is maintaining said advantage," Mimoko's voice echoed in Tenju's mind.

This was the core of the strategy; goading Külli into playing the Alien gambit. While Külli did end up playing exactly as predicted, the challenge now was what came next. Following King captures f7, bishop c4, check was the best move from White. Tenju had anticipated this, but instead, Külli moved her queen to d3.

"Sorry, but I've got plenty of tricks to deal with players like you," Külli thought as Tenju went back into another big think.

She settled on moving her pawn to c5 a few minutes later, but knight f3 from Külli made her nervous.

"Calm down, Tenju. I know Black's position is better, but this line wasn't something we went over extensively last night. Capturing the pawn looks to be the best move, as even if she goes for queen b3, check, I've got e6," Tenju thought as she captured the pawn at d4 with her c-pawn.

"Check! Bet you didn't expect this, huh," Külli grinned as she moved her knight to e5.

Now the situation was precarious. Of the three possible moves Tenju could make, only one led to victory while the others led to doom.

"E8 is mate, so that's a no go. That leaves e6 and g8. E6 brings my king out too much, so g8 it is," Tenju thought as she moved her king to g8.

Külli began to bite her lip as now it was her turn to go into a deep think. "You're a tough one... How about this?" she thought as she moved her pawn to c3.

To that, Tenju simply moved her knight to c6, prompting Külli to capture it with her knight, resulting in Tenju capturing said knight with her b-pawn.

"Then what about this!?" Külli thought as she moved her bishop to e3.

"Do you really think I'm still the fool I once was? Never again!" Tenju thought as she moved her pawn to e5.

"Geh! Just kidding, you're in check, en route to mate!" Külli snickered as she moved her queen to c4.

"Defend by attacking," Tenju thought as she moved her knight to d5.

The move worked out better than expected as Külli instinctually retreated her bishop to d2. Tenju went on the attack and moved her queen to b6, but that was a mistake. However, it did nothing to change who was winning, a fact Külli realized, causing her smile to slowly fade.

"No, don't tell me she's countering me! The Alien gambit is the best of the best!" she thought as she captured the pawn at d4 with her c-pawn.

But it was a losing path Külli was heading down as now Tenju was free to capture the pawn at b2 with her queen, leaving Külli with little choice but to move her rook to c1. She then moved her bishop to d7, mystifying Külli to the point where she shrugged and simply moved her bishop to e2.

Tenju then moved her rook to e8, prompting Külli to defend with an attack by moving her bishop to h5. Though it was all for naught as Tenju effortlessly nudged her rook up to e7 with an annoyed look on her face.

"A- Are you scoffing at me!? No, I'm from a highly advanced and intelligent alien race, I think... But still, don't look down on me! The game is far from over!" Külli thought as she moved her rook to d1.

"I get what you're thinking, but I am annoyed. Annoyed I still haven't gotten you into a forced mate yet. Check," Tenju growled as she captured the pawn at d4 with her e-pawn.

Külli clicked her tongue in frustration and moved her king to f1, while Tenju began setting up a massive attack, starting with bishop to e6. Külli took her chance to capture the pawn at c6 with her queen, but that greed allowed Tenju to seal off the queen by moving her knight to c3, or so it seemed. Said knight soon found itself captured by Külli's bishop, but it was all just a delaying of the inevitable as the queen was once again sealed off after Tenju captured the bishop on c3 with her d-pawn.

Külli quickly brought her rook down to d3, but Tenju simply pushed her pawn to d2, inching it ever closer towards promotion.

"No way I'm allowing that! Now let's see how in the world you get out of this! And for your information, the correct answer is... you don't!" Külli thought as she moved her rook to c3.

In reality, the answer to this predicament was simple; Tenju would just checkmate Külli.

"Check," Tenju growled as she moved her queen to c1.

The move left Külli dumbfounded. She hadn't seen it and now she had to choose between an instant mate or moving her king to e2. She chose the latter, prompting Tenju to deliver another check by moving her bishop to c4. King to f3 was now forced, and as soon as Külli made said move, Tenju delivered yet another check, this time by moving her queen to g5.

"No! Her queen wasn't supposed to escape! No! I can't get mated!" Külli thought as she began to sweat buckets while moving her king to h3.

"Check. It's over now," Tenju grumbled as she moved her queen to h5.

Taking a good hard look at the state of the board, Tenju covered her head with her hand as she dejectedly moved her king to g3.

"And now it's over. Checkmate, good game, whatever," Tenju sighed as she moved her queen to g4, winning the game.

As the two shook hands, Azenira managed to win her game against Virve on board 3, meaning that regardless of what happened on board 4, Japan would win the match.

Valve's face contorted in fury as she watched the scorecards be updated to reflect Japan's 3-0 lead. "That bitch! She looked down on us and sat this out, yet you're telling me there was teeth to that plan!? Rubbish! Bullshit!" she thought as she stormed away.

But she was not the only one upset about this, in fact, as Õnne's scowl was arguable worse than hers. "So we've lost and Japan's perfect score streak continues. But if we're going to lose, I'm going to do everything to spoil Japan from getting a perfect 4-0 victory. I don't care if it's a draw, I'm not going to let this fuck win with MY signature opening! Oh goddess of spoilers, Assïac, grant me the power to spoil this perfect record they've got going!" she thought as she waited for Iori to make her next move.

The full game:

White: Külli Lüüs (2103) Black: Tenju Kuroshiro (2222)

1. e4 c6

2. d4 d5

3. Nd2 dxe4

4. Nxe4 Nf6

5. Ng5 h6

6. Nxf7 Kxf7

7. Qd3 c5

8. Nf3 cxd4

9. Ne5+ Kg8

10. c3 Nc6

11. Nxc6 bxc6

12. Be3 e5

13. Qc4+ Nd5

14. Bd2 Qb6

15. cxd4 Qxb2

16. Rc1 Bd7

17. Be2 Re8

18. Bh5 Re7

19. Rd1 exd4+

20. Kf1 Be6

21. Qxc6 Nc3

22. Bxc3 dxc3

23. Rd3 c2

24. Rc3 Qc1+

25. Ke2 Bc4+

26. Kf3 Be2+

27. Kg3 Qg5+

28. Kh3 Qxh5+

29. Kg3 Qg4#