Chapter 435:

Dasvidanya Rasputin

En Passant Grandmaster

As soon as the round began, pieces began moving. Over at board 1, the masked man opened by moving his pawn to e4, to which Ian responded to by moving his pawn to e5. The next move, however, was bishop to c4. Ian thought nothing of it though and moved his knight to f6, but then came pawn to d4 from the masked man, giving Ian pause.

"Hmm, the Ponziani. What is he planning?" Ian thought as he captured the pawn at d4 with his e-pawn.

The answer to that was knight f3, the Urusov Gambit.

"Hmm, now this is uncharted waters. But that pawn is completely hanging. No harm in taking it," Ian thought as he captured the pawn at e4 with his knight.

And that was exactly the moment the masked man had been waiting for as now he could capture the pawn at d4 with his queen, completely upending Ian's psych.

"What!? I've never seen this line before. Just what on earth is this? Something he concocted on the fly?" Ian thought as he moved his queen to e7.

It turned out that while Ian had never seen this opening before, it did have an official name; Bishop's Opening: Berlin, Ponziani, Urusov, Keidansky Gambit. It was a gutsy gambit that was recently starting to make waves due to how devastating it could be to those that didn't know how to properly counter it.

"Queen e7... I knew he'd never seen this one before. I pity your plight against the tsar, but unfortunately for you that doesn't mean I'll forgo schooling and humiliating you for my country," the masked man thought as he castled king's side.

Meanwhile on board 3, Okisato was struggling internally on how to open the game.

Now pitted against Rasputin, Okisato decided he had no choice but to go with his best, even if it meant jeopardizing his chances against Peter. "We need to beat Russia, we can't lose," he thought as he opened by moving his pawn to a3.

Rasputin did a double take before shrugging and moving his pawn to e5.

"No tricks and traps, we go the main line," Okisato thought as he moved his pawn to e3.

The Japanese Opening had now been played, which Rasputin responded to with d5.

"Never mind, exchange variation it may be," Okisato thought as he moved his pawn to d4.

Just as predicted, Rasputin captured said pawn with his e-pawn, with Okisato responding by capturing said pawn with his e-pawn.

"Check, clawless kitten. You are powerless before me," Rasputin declared as he moved his queen to e7.

Okisato slightly raised his eyelids as he moved his bishop to e2. He knew things would be tough, given Rasputin's infamy, but today he had to be at his best. Rasputin could sense this and moved his knight to f6 while exhaling a foul breath of rotten eggs.

"Should have worn a mask. Who knows what fumes he's got stashed on him. I don't want to end up in a trance like those folks from 4 nights ago," Okisato thought as he moved his knight to f3.

Bishop f5, a king's side castle, and knight c6 later, still no exploits for Okisato to take advantage of. He had a feeling he had a slight edge, but he couldn't spot any clear advantage.

Okisato had since moved his bishop to b5 while Rasputin castled queen's side before a minor piece trade at c6 occurred, initiated by Okisato who first captured the knight there with his bishop, while Rasputin completed the transaction by capturing said bishop with his b-pawn.

Next was rook e1, aiming a loaded cannon at the queen, which was soon blocked by a knight at e4. Okisato then decided to play pawn to c4, hoping to chip away at Rasputin's defenses, but Rasputin instead went on the attack by moving his bishop to g4.

Okisato doubled his defenses by moving his b-knight to d2, but Rasputin in turn doubled his attack by moving his queen to f6. However, Okisato saw an opportunity in this and moved his queen to a4. And sure enough, knight captures d2 brought a big sadistic smile to Okisato's face as he immediately moved his knight to e5.

"Why does he grin? Madness?" Rasputin thought as he moved his knight to b2.

It all became clear to him as Okisato moved his bishop to g5.

"Little brat! This is MY queen! I own her!" Rasputin fumed in his mind as he slid his queen to d6.

"Oh... that Russian," Okisato thought as he struggled to contain his giddiness while capturing the pawn at a7 with hid queen.

Rasputin caught on though, and stared at the board before his eyes widened in horror. A furious scowl formed on his face as he captured the knight at e5 with his queen, while Okisato, now having no reason to hide his joy, let loose and moved his queen to a8.

"Check! Sorry, but some consider me a womanizer, so I'll be taking that queen soon."

Rasputin angrily slammed his king down on d7 as Okisato captured the rook at d8 with his queen, leaving him with just one legal move, king e6.

"This brat! I'll make him pay," Rasputin thought as he made his move and waited for the coup de gras.

But Okisato had other plans. Twiddling his rook in his hand with a sadistic grin on his face, he made full use of his ability to talk during checks and checkmates to drop a diss.

"Ра-ра-Распутин, растлитель монархии, ледяной душ не избавил вас от зловония. Ра-ра-Распутин, самая большая машина неудач в России, ты не царь, никогда не будешь звездой. До свидания Распутин, российский бездомный извращенец, ты потерял свою королеву, и теперь ты в мате [Ra-ra-Rasputin, molester of the monarchy, the ice cold shower didn't cleanse your stench. Ra-ra-Rasputin, Russia's biggest fail machine, You ain't the tsar, never be a star. Dasvidaniya Rasputin, Russia's homeless schizo perv, you lost your queen and now your in mate]..."

SLAM!

The sound of Okisato capturing the queen at e5 and slamming the rook down in it's place, echoed like a gunshot throughout the playing hall.

"Checkmate, ba-ka," Okisato snickered as Rasputin angrily stared at him, his eyes rolling up into his head in fury.

Everyone in the area was shocked. Okisato had just beaten Rasputin in under 20 moves in under 10 minutes. Now Japan had taken an early 1-0 lead in the match.

"Oi, oi, oi! You drink too much last night!? You're supposed to be one of the masterminds and you lost THAT quickly!?" Ginji fumed in his mind as he stared at his own board.

The full game:

White: Okisato Tanabe (2700) Black: Rasputin Vasilyevich (2804)

1. a3 e5

2. e3 d5

3. d4 exd4

4. exd4 Qe7+

5. Be2 Nf6

6. Nf3 Bf5

7. O-O Nc6

8. Bb5 O-O-O

9. Bxc6 bxc6

10. Re1 Ne4