Daria vs the world

The game continued on with Daria moving her pawn to e3 and Mr. Secret moving his knight to f6. Daria had been upset at the foolish opening she had just witnessed, but if Mr. Secret was hoping it would throw her completely off her game, he was in fantasy land. Daria was in top form.

D4, d6, d5, knight b8, e4, Daria was quickly taking complete control of the game. B-knight d7, bishop e2, a5, bishop e3, b6, Mr. Secret was trying his best to create counterplay, yet given his position, it was easier said than done. A king's side castle, g6, h3, bishop g7, knight d2, knight c5, king h1, and suddenly, things were nearly even. H5, f4, knight g4, and h captures g4 later, things truly were dead even.

Daria was by no means slacking off. She was a prodigy ahead of her time, and truly was playing to the best of her abilities. However, she had not once played against such a line utilized by Mr. Secret. And with Mr. Secret playing at an even, arguably higher skill level than her, the potential existed that the unbeatable monster, Daria Inashiki, might finally get humbled in humiliating fashion.

"Check. Seems you're running out of steam," Mr. Secret chuckled as he captured the pawn at g4 with his h-pawn.

Daria scowled as she was forced to move her king to g1. "Not in the slightest. I can see a path to your condemnation."

"And not a draw at worst?" Mr. Secret taunted as he captured the pawn at f4 with his e-pawn.

"This isn't Armageddon," Daria snarled as she captured the pawn at f4 with her rook.

"Perhaps in a different sense," Mr. Secret chuckled as he moved his rook to h7.

Daria shook her head and captured the pawn at g4 with her bishop, but no sooner did she do so did Mr. Secret move his queen to h8, preparing to unleash a vicious assault. This sent Daria into a long think, eventually determining that the best move forward was king f1.

This right here would ultimately prove to be the most decisive move of the match. At the time though, engines and eval bars did not yet exist in their current capacity, in fact, computers as a whole were still considered to be in a primitive state relative to humans in terms of chess prowess despite the events of the Kasparov vs Deep Blue matches nearly a decade prior. Of course, the large reason behind that was due to the fact that while Kasparov was one of the best players in the world, there were 6 other people in addition to Daria who could make even him at his peak look like an amateur.

...

"Mimoko, check out this puzzle I got for ya," Daria smiled as Mimoko groggily sat down at the breakfast table. Before her was a game setup exactly to match the game between Daria and Mr. Secret up to Daria's 19th move.

"So what's the puzzle?" Mimoko asked.

"Black to move."

"Rook h1, check."

"Very good, but then I go bishop g1."

"Why there?"

"Because this is a puzzle."

"Fine, then rook captures g1, check. You're still-"

"King captures g1. You're down a rook now. Not looking good at all," Daria scowled.

Mimoko smirked and shook her head. "Your mind games won't work on me when it comes to chess. This position is completely lost for Black, so long as I play bishop d4, check."

A warm smile formed on Daria's face. "Correct. This position... is completely lost for Black."

...

A young Daria went pale as she stared at the board before her. "No... NO! If I go king f1, it's mate in 3! My only other move... is rook f2. But that... Knight d3, knight f3, bishop captures f2, check, and I'm forced to move my king to f1. Knight captures b2 later and I'm down a pawn... Dammit!" she fumed in her mind.

Once all those moves she had predicted came to fruition, Daria moved her queen to d2. Mr. Secret slid his bishop away to c5, setting off a series of back and forths between him and Daria. First came bishop h3, then bishop captures h3 and g captures h3. Mr. Secret could have chosen to capture the pawn at h3 with his queen, but instead chose to capture the pawn at c4 with his knight.

"Check. I've had enough of this farce!" Daria fumed as she moved her queen to g5.

"And what exactly would this "farce" be?" Mr. Secret asked as he moved his king to f8.

Daria gritted her teeth, but was unable to answer properly, responding with nothing more than a frustrated growl as she moved her pawn to e5.

"I take it's because you're down a knight's worth in material. Oh, and check again," Mr. Secret snickered as he captured the pawn at h3 with his queen.

Sweat began to run down Daria's face as she moved her king to e2, but Mr. Secret gave chase, capturing the pawn at e5 with his knight. Daria captured said knight with her knight, but in came rook e8, pinning said knight to the king, and prompting Daria to move her king to d2. Mr. Secret then captured the knight at e5 with his rook, and it was then that Daria, in a state of agitation and panic, moved her queen to d8.

"Check!"

...

"So, thoughts on the match?" Daria asked Mimoko.

"Whoever was playing as White was an idiot. King g7 and it's mate in 10."

"Mate in 10? But what if White goes king c2?"

"Bishop b4."

"Knight e4?"

"Okaa-chan... Rook captures e4?"

"That's right! But in desperation, White goes queen f6, check."

Mimoko shot Daria an unamused scowl. "King captures f6."

"Rook f1, check?"

"queen captures f1. Okaa-chan, this isn't rocket science."

"But it was at the time. This was played back in 2005 you know."

"Who was it played between?"

Daria simply smiled and shook her head. "Secret."

Mimoko narrowed her gaze and nodded as she stared back at the board. "I assume you want me to predict how this game ended then?"

"All I'll say is that it ended in mate. So?"

"It's a forced mate in 3, so it would go, a3, queen e2, check, king b3, rook e3, check, king a4, and rook captures a3, checkmate."

"Correct, but also not."

"Huh?"

"What you said is correct. That is a forced mate in 3. However, rook captures a3 was not the winning move. Rather, it was b5..."

...

"...Checkmate."

Daria stared in disbelief at the board. She had lost. She had lost the very first chess game of her life, and in such humiliating fashion.

"And thus, the match is settled. The best has been decided. I shall now announce the new ratings of those that shall now become maestros," Raymond declared.

...

"So why did you choose this match for our puzzle today, okaa-chan?" Mimoko asked.

Daria proudly smiled and put her hands on her hips. "Because it was the most important match of m- Of the century. That's why."

Mimoko wasn't dense though.

"Okaa-chan... were you the one that lost this game?"

"Uh... I... Hey, there were practice-"

"Ugh. I can see why you were making such a big deal about this taking place in the 2000s. But what event did this match take place in?"

"Now that... will remain a secret until the time is right."

As Mimoko pouted in disapproval, Daria thought back to the day Mimoko was born and she first breastfed her. "Mimoko, someday you'll learn just what kind of chess player I was back in the day. I'm not exactly proud of how I was back then, but this very match I showed you was what truly brought me back from the brink. I've never been happier to have lost that match, and to him. I don't want to think of how things would be if I hadn't lost. Now, the chess world is brimming with newfound talent daily. Though that's all because none fear the terror and despair of facing the monster known as Daria Inashiki. But if the only way to protect you was to resurrect that monster, I'd do it in a heartbeat."

...

Groans echoed the hotel room as Mimoko and Iori stared in bewilderment at what had just transpired. Daria had felled all but one of her many opponents.

"Too strong... Why?" Grizzly groaned as he twitched on the floor.

"No... I didn't sign up for such humiliation... Why is she so strong?" Valve trembled as she curled up into a ball on the floor.

"How? She's never played this strongly against me before. Was she holding back this entire time?" Laura trembled as she too twitched on the ground.

"Maestro... I heard you were strong in your heyday, but THIS strong!? No wonder there were so many calling for you to get banned. You're too OP!" Ina thought.

Now, all that stood in Daria's way of victory, assuming no new challengers showed up, was Canada's prime minister herself, Tonka Touchard. However, despite Tonka's meager rating of just 222, she had already held Daria to two draws in a row thus far.

"So you're more than your rating suggests," Daria panted.

"I knew you ere a damn monster... I'll win this challenge," Tonka thought as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

The full game:

White: Daria Inashiki (2832) Black: Mr. Secret (?)

1. c4 e5

2. Nc3 Ke7

3. Nf3 Nc6

4. e3 Nf6

5. d4 d6

6. d5 Nb8

7. e4 Nbd7

8. Be2 a5

9. Be3 b6

10. O-O g6

11. h3 Bg7

12. Nd2 Nc5

13. Kh1 h5

14. f4 Ng4

15. hxg4 hxg4+

16. Kg1 exf4

17. Rxf4 Rh7

18. Bxg4 Qh8

19. Kf1 Rh1+

20. Bg1 Rxg1+

21. Kxg1 Bd4+

22. Rf2 Nd3

23. Nf3 Bxf2+

24. Kf1 Nxb2

25. Qd2 Bc5

26. Bh3 Bxh3

27. gxh3 Nxc4

28. Qg5+ Kf8

29. e5 Qxh3+

30. Ke2 Nxe5

31. Nxe5 Re8

32. Kd2 Rxe5

33. Qd8+ Kg7

34. Kc2 Bb4

35. Ne4 Rxe4

36. Qf6+ Kxf6

37. Rf1+ Qxf1

38. a3 Qe2+

39. Kb3 Re3+

40. Ka4 b5#