Yugoslav drama

Barbro clenched her fist as she refocused on her own game. Vlatka's showboating and hurling of insults was bad enough, but that wasn't the only thing that had her agitated. Now 0-2 in the hole, a draw would be the best Paeonia could hope for, but it would require both Barbro and Biljana to win on demand. With Barbro's 2700 rating and grandmaster stayus, one would naturally think she'd have no trouble beating a 2259-rated opponent like Dunja, however, that wasn't quite the case.

It all started out with Barbro opening her game with the King's Indian Attack, consisting of knight f3, d5, and g3. It was then that Dunja played knight f6, the Yugoslav variation, causing Barbro's eye to twitch.

She immediately moved her bishop to g2, turning things into a Hungarian Opening: Indian Defense, but g6 set things back to the Yugoslav variation.

"Damn you, you're doing this on purpose! I hate anything related to Yugoslavia. It was nothing but a bad memory for Paeonia," Barbro thought as she castled king's side.

Dunja didn't seem to care, nor appear as though she could read Barbro's thoughts as she moved her bishop to g7. The game saw little decisive action with d3, c5, knight c3, a king's side castle, bishop f4, d4, knight b5, knight c6, and knight c7 all following the main-line theory. At the crossroads of good and slightly better, Dunja went down the good line starting with rook b8, with Barbro following down it perfectly with knight b5. Rook a8, knight c7, e5, knight captures e5, g5, knight captures c6, b captures c6, it looked as though the game would certainly reach a draw.

Then Vlatka won her game. The song and dance on top of the victory quickly ignited rage within Barbro, but in this case, rage clouded her judgement.

"You'll pay for this," Barbro thought as she captured the rook at a8 with her knight.

Dunja simply blinked as she captured the bishop at f4 with her g-pawn. Barbro continued her attack, sweeping up the pawn on c6 with her bishop, but Dunja wasn't just being idle as evidenced by her bold play of knight g4. Barbro moved her pawn to h3, kicking the knight away to h6, which would ultimately lead to her making an aggressive decision.

"Ofelio's gonna lose... That means I have to play boldly, otherwise we lose," Barbro thought as she moved her pawn to g4.

But that very move would ultimately be her undoing. As if she foresaw it all, Dunja captured the pawn at g4 with her bishop, surprising Barbro, but not enough to make her second guess capturing said bishop with her h-pawn a second later. Dunja in turn captured said pawn with her knight, and at that moment, Ofelio officially lost her game, piling the pressure onto both Barbro and Biljana. And under that very stress, Barbro suffered a massive lack of judgement and moved her queen to e1, blundering into mate in 7.

It was only after Dunja moving her queen to h4 that Barbro truly realized this. "... I... I just lost... No, there's no way she could see this mating net! She's 500 points lower rated than me, so there's now way she can see the same thing I'm seeing!" Barbro desperately thought as she moved her king to g2.

But mate was exactly what Dunja had seen. "Check," she mumbled as she moved her queen to h2.

Barbro movd her queen to f3, but was met by yet another check in the form of knight e5, once again leaving her with the sole legal move of king e4. Dunja delivered another check by moving her queen to g2, proving once and for all to Barbro she knew how to win this, yet Barbro refused to give in, continuing play with pawn to f3. Even after queen g6, check, she continued to play on, capturing the pawn at f4 with her king. But after Dunja captured the bishop at c6 with her knight, all Barbro could do was grit her teeth in frustration as she moved her pawn to e4.

"Checkmate," Dunja mumbled as she moved her bishop to e5, winning the game.

Croatia had now won the match, regardless of what happened on the final board, yet Vlatka wanted perfection and so did Snežana.

The full game:

White: Barbro Zamenhofo (2700) Black: Dunja Sabolić (2229)

1. Nf3 d5

2. g3 Nf6

3. Bg2 g6

4. O-O Bg7

5. d3 c5

6. Nc3 O-O

7. Bf4 d4

8. Nb5 Nc6

9. Nc7 Rb8

10. Nb5 Ra8

11. Nc7 e5

12. Nxe5 g5

13. Nxc6 bxc6

14. Nxa8 gxf4

15. Bxc6 Ng4

16. h3 Nh6

17. g4 Bxg4

18. hxg4 Nxg4

19. Qe1 Qh4

20. Kg2 Qh2+

21. Kf3 Ne5+

22. Ke4 Qg2+

23. f3 Qg6+

24. Kxf4 Nxc6

25. e4 Be5#