Prussian puzzle

Back on the women's side, Edeltraud trembled in her seat as she struggled to come to terms with the fact that she had just lost. Hannelore didn't seem to react in the slightest, more focused on her game with Mimoko. She had responded to Mimoko's Accelerated London System properly with knight f6, but this was Mimoko's main opening, and as such, she knew all the ins and outs of it. She moved her pawn to e3, but Hannelore was no slouch either, and moved her pawn to c5.

"Making me earn my keep. That's fine, but given the circumstances, I'm afraid losing or even drawing is not an option. Shousen-chan, I'm going to defeat you and save you," Mimoko thought as she moved her knight to c3.

Hannelore stared blankly at the board, barley giving off signs of life. Yet she was clearly alive to some degree as she was able to move her pawn to c4 without issue.

"Hmm? That was... ... Shousen-chan," Mimoko thought as she moved her pawn to e4.

While Hannelore had shown little to now reaction to Edeltraud's loss, Infrid and Sibylle were different stories.

"Damn you, Edeltraud. If we lose this and Hannelore, the kaiser's rage will be worse than when Diederich was suspended," she thought as she trembled in frustration at the state of her own game.

Sibylle on the other hand...

"Ah, Edel lost, and now she's gonna be the butt of the joke. She must be wishing she had played Iori instead," she thought as she moved her bishop to e7.

Iori was also in high spirits as she moved her knight to f3, with said spirits only rising after Sibylle moved her queen to e4. "You just fucked up. I know enough about chess to know this is a completely even position, meaning I can easily convert it to a win," she thought as she moved her pawn to c4.

And sure enough, Sibylle refused to retreat and instead moved her d-knight to b4, making the eval bar turn white in Iori's favor, stunning the commentators.

"... You can't be fucking serious! Did you see how she started out!? She was at -3 on the eval bar, yet now it's +0.8!" Laia fumed as Iori moved her pawn to d3.

"Trust me, I share your frustrations. If I ever get the chance, I'll strangle Sibylle for how bad she's playing," Nancy scowled as Sibylle moved her queen to f5.

It was quickly becoming the trending topic online, though Iori would have to wait to find that out. She continued to cement her advantage by moving her pawn to a3, prompting Sibylle to move her knight to a6.

"She's really running scared now. But that grin on her face says she doesn't see it," Iori thought as she moved her pawn to d4.

Indeed that very much was the case as Sibylle still believed she was winning. At a glance, this looks even, but thanks to her relinquishing her castling rights, I have all the power. And speaking of which, why don't we reaffirm the fact!" she thought as she castled king's side.

"Oh the irony. I bet you think castling's a flex. Danny's probably screaming at his screen right now," Iori thought as she moved her rook to g1.

Ironically enough, Danny was busy watching a different game, so he wasn't able to make due on Iori's wish.

Sibylle then moved her pawn to h5, prompting Iori to go on the attack and move her bishop to d3.

"You dare to threaten my queen? A thousand lashes for that!" Sibylle scoffed in her mind as she moved her queen to f6.

Iori then moved her knight to c3 before leaning back in her seat to admire the state of the board. "Talk about aesthetically pleasing. This could win an art show," she thought as Sibylle moved her king to h8. "And she just ruined the painting, but not my day," she thought as she grinned and moved her pawn to h4.

Now Sibylle was beginning to get a little frustrated. "Did I blunder into a draw!? Fuck! I can't see how to gain an advantage. Well, a draw isn't a loss, meaning I won't get chewed out like Edeltraud," she thought as she moved her queen to h6.

But this line of thinking was completely wrong. She hadn't blundered into a drawn position, she had blundered into a losing position. And after Iori moved her pawn to b4, Sibylle only worsened her position by moving her knight to d8.

"Look at that! She's running scared!" Iori laughed in her mind as she moved her pawn up another space to b5.

And once more, Sibylle chose to retreat rather than advance, and moved her knight to b8. This was the best move she could make, but now her position was horrible and her control over the board diminishing with each passing turn. She did manage to make the best possible move once more though as following Iori moving her pawn to e4, Sibylle moved her queen to g6.

This would be as long as the streak would last though as following Iori moving her knight to g5, Sibylle moved her pawn to c5, nearly turning the entire eval bar white.

"Whelp stick a fork in it. Sibylle's done," Laia snarled as Iori moved her pawn to e5.

"I have to agree. Sibylle's probably going to isolate herself in a mountain monastery after seeing how bad she messed up," Nancy concurred as Sibylle moved her queen to h6.

And that moment of realization was about to come barreling down the pass.

"Check! Your ass is about to get whipped with your own riding Crop!" Iori snickered as she captured the pawn at f7 with her knight.

Remarkably, this was the first capture in the entire game, though Sibylle was too angered by Iori's provocations to realize the fact and added to the bloodshed by capturing the knight at f7 with her knight.

But it was then that Iori captured the queen at h6 with her bishop, changing Sibylle's attitude in an instant. "Nein... NEIN! My queen! My queen is gone and I can't take hers! No, I can't lose, not after that opening!" she frantically thought as she captured the bishop at h6 with her knight.

Her woes only worsened as Iori captured the pawn at h5 with her queen, putting more pressure on the king's side. Sibylle captured the pawn at d4 with her c-pawn in frustration, but when Iori instead chose to move her pawn to g4 instead of moving her knight to safety, a desperate smile formed on Subylle's face as she captured the knight at c3 with her d-pawn. However, that would prove to be her undoing as now she was headed directly towards mate.

"Lol, what a dumbass," Iori thought as she moved her queen to g6.

Sibylle realized too little too late, and frantically moved her king to g8, color rapidly vanishing from her face all the while.

"You feeling alright? You're looking paler than the ghosts I met last night. Should probably schedule a CHECK-up," Iori laughed as she slammed her queen down on h7.

Sibylle trembled in terror as sweat flooded down her face, smearing her makeup to the point where she did loosely resemble a spooky specter. "Nein... NEIN! I'm going to lose! I'm going to lose! I can't lose! I can't lose!"

And in that moment, Sibylle fainted in her seat, though not before her reflexes caused her finger to nudge her king over to f7.

"Lol, that was a hell of a shitshow. Checkmate," Iori smirked as she moved her bishop to g6, winning the game.

And with that, Japan now led the match 2-0, soon to be 3-0 as Azenira would end up beating Ingrid soon after, meaning Japan had won the match regardless of what happened between Mimoko and Hannelore. However, said match was arguably the most important match of the round for team Japan, not because of the points, but because of who Hannelore truly was.

The full game:

White: Iori Ishikiridokoro (2444) Black: Sibylle Wizner (2504)

1. e3 e6

2. Ke2 Nf6

3. Kd3 Nc6

4. Kc4 Nd5

5. Kd3 Qh4

6. Ke2 b6

7. Ke1 Be7

8. Nf3 Qe4

9. c4 Ndb4

10. d3 Qf5

11. a3 Na6

12. d4 O-O

13. Rg1 h5

14. Bd3 Qf6

15. Nc3 Kh8

16. h4 Qh6

17. b4 Nd8

18. b5 Nb8

19. e4 Qg6

20. Ng5 c5

21. e5 Qh6

22. Nxf7+ Nxf7

23. Bxh6 Nxh6

24. Qxh5 cxd4

25. g4 dxc3

26. Qg6 Kg8

27. Qh7+ Kf7

28. Bg6#