Chapter 480:

Team Japan vs team Croatia

En Passant Grandmaster

Once the 15 minutes had passed, the round properly started.

"Are you going to try and Bongcloud me? Try it! I crush potheads daily!" Grgur boasted.

"Bold of you to declare that before the game. Alright, you'll get it," Okisato scoffed as he opened the game by moving his pawn to e4.

Grgur giddily moved his pawn to e5, expecting king e2 from Okisato, but instead, he got knight f3. "Where's the Bongcloud?" he thought as he moved his knight to c6.

His frustration only heightened after Okisato moved his knight to c3, and at that point, he could no longer keep quiet. "Where is the Bongcloud!?" he fumed aloud as he slammed his knight down on f6.

"Sorry, that was all a trick, cuz it's Halloween night, general," Okisato snickered as he captured the pawn at e5 with his knight.

Grgur gritted his teeth in fury, promptly rising and storming off, but not before first capturing the knight at e5 with his knight.

Once he was out of sight, Okisato smirked and moved his pawn to d4. "Guess he needs to clear his head. Bad move, general. Now you're on the clock," Okisato thought as he glanced over at the other boards.

Over on board 2, Ryonosuke opened his game with Šime by moving his knight to c3, to which Šime responded to by moving his pawn to d5. D4 was next on the board and so was knight f6, making things a standard Chigorin. The predictable bishop f4, e6, and knight b5 soon followed, but then came the odd play of bishop d6 from Šime, forgoing an easy check with bishop b4. But in turn, it was now Ryonosuke who could do the checking by capturing that very bishop at d6 with his knight.

"Check. Now, will you actually face me to the end unlike the last youth I fought?"

Šime scowled in confusion as he captured the knight at d6 with his c-pawn. "What's he blabbering about? Damn senile geezer."

The game relatively even, Ryonosuke decided to strengthen his defenses by moving his pawn to e3. Šime followed up with a king's side castle, before Ryonosuke decided to further strengthen his pawn structure by moving his pawn to c3.

"This old man is easy fodder for a gruff nerd like me," Šime thought as he moved his knight to c6.

"Don't count me out yet. I may be old, but my mind is still sharp. Cocky young types like you are always the ones that crack first," Ryonosuke thought as he moved his bishop to d3.

Things still remained even after pawn e5 and bishop g5 were played, but bishop d7 from Šime saw the eval bar tick slightly in Ryonosuke's direction, lending credence to his theory that Šime would crack first. Ryonosuke solidified his edge by moving his knight to e2, while Šime continued to keep on giving by moving his pawn to e4.

"He's steadily losing ground, which means I'm gaining it," Ryonosuke thought as he moved his bishop to c2.

And gain ground he did, for Šime moving his bishop to e6 only further inched the eval bar closer to all white. Ryonosuke continued to batten down his hatches and advantage by moving his knight to f4, while Šime decided to create counterplay by moving his pawn to h6.

"Go on, take it then," Ryonosuke thought as he moved his pawn to h4.

Šime gleefully accepted the offer and captured the bishop at g5 with his h-pawn. Ryonosuke in turn captured said pawn with his h-pawn, prompting Šime to move his knight to h7. But when Ryonosuke moved his queen to h5, Šime snapped upon realizing he was losing.

"No! NO! How dare this geezer subject me to this! He's cheating! CHEATING! I shan't humor a cheater!" Šime thought as he angrily rose. "I resign. I don't play cheaters," he snarled as he stormed away without shaking Ryonosuke's hand.

It wasn't the cleanest, but a victory was a victory, and Japan now led 1-0. As for Šime, he never did end up filing any official reports, opting instead to shriek back to the hotel as fast as he could to throw a temper tantrum in his room.

...

Over on the women's side, things began with Dunja opening by moving her pawn to e4, while Daria opted to move her pawn to d6, baffling many.

"Okaa-chan, what are you planning?" Mimoko thought as Dunja moved her knight to f3.

Daria shot Mimoko a smirk, which roughly translated as, "Focus on your own game. This is my cooldown match."

And with her play of knight to f6, Mimoko could more or less grasp what her mother had planned.

"Very well, strategy is key in team events. Thus, I shall do my part proper," she thought as she turned her attention back to her own game.

There, she had opted to open with g3, the Hungarian/King's Fianchetto, to which Nela had responded to by moving her pawn to d5. Knight c6, knight f3, and bishop g4 later, it was a typical King's Indian Attack. Mimoko knew this opening like the back of her hand, so converting a win with it wasn't a big concern. Though with her mental state the way it was, questions arose if she could play properly in this given moment.

Her play of bishop to g2 seemed to indicate she was in top form, but following Nela's play of queen d7, she opted to move her pawn to c4 instead of making the engine-preferred move of castling king's side. In hindsight, this wasn't a big deal as the move was only slightly worse than what the engine recommended. Not to mention that after Nela captured the pawn at c4 with her d-pawn, Mimoko castled king's side anyway. And after Nela castled queen's side, Mimoko moved her b-knight to d2, and all was good.

As for Iori, she was actually the most shaken at what had just transpired with Deep Blue. Images of her mother and sister melting and burning before her haunted her, but what had truly made her snap was Vlatka's attitude towards it all. Vlatka was exactly the kind of person Iori hated the most, which is why she wanted to humiliate her so much. Even before the stuff with Deep Blue happened, she had been trying to come up with a way to beat Vlatka in the most humiliating way possible.

Playing as Black, Iori had allowed Vlatka to play the Zagreb, consisting of e4, c5, knight f3, d6, d4, c captures d4, knight captures d4, knight f6, knight c3, a6, and g3.

"Now comes the humiliation," Iori thought as she extended her hand towards the board.

But before she could, she remebered what she had been told last night.

"The only way to humiliate her would be to beat her normally against the opening she's so proud of. That's the only way..."

Iori let out a sigh. "Oki-kun was even telling me it was bad. I wanna really fuck up this bitch... But... I can't lose. Even if we win the match, we lose our 4-0 streak cuz of me... I'd wanna kill myself," she thought as she moved her pawn to e6.

"Picking a fight with me? Zagreb is my property!" Vlatka thought as she moved her bishop to g2.

"Humiliation... I can't wait for it to fuck you," Iori thought as she moved her bishop to g7.

Both Vlatka and Iori then castled king's side, setting up for the fight ahead.

Back on board 1, Dunja had moved her pawn to c4, while Daria had moved her pawn to g6, making it all the more clearer her intent to play the King's Indian.

"An effortless victory, or draw at worst," Dunja thought as she moved her knight to c3.

And just as predicted, Daria moved her bishop to g7, and the King's Indian Defense: Normal Variation was a go. Dunja launched her pawn to e4 almost immediately after, with Daria also picking up the pace as she rapidly moved her bishop to g4. Then came a twist as Dunja decided to play queen b3.

"Aggressive, aren't we. If that's how you'll play, I'll go for the kill," Daria thought as she castled king's side.

Dunja moved her bishop to e3 as Daria moved her knight to c6. She then moved her bishop to e2, prompting Daria to move her knight to d7.

"You're retreating now. The time to attack... is now," Dunja thought as she captured the pawn at b7 with her queen.

"I was waiting for that. Now, will you fall for the trap?" Daria thought as she moved her knight to a5.

Dunja's gaze narrowed as she grabbed her queen and moved it to b5. However, she had failed to not only see the trap, but counter it properly.

"One square short. But now, domination is back on the table," Daria thought as she moved her pawn to c5.

Dunja still didn't appear to grasp the danger she was in as she castled queen's side, with her confidence only increasing after Daria captured her knight at f3 with her bishop, allowing her to easily capture said bishop with her g-pawn. Rook b8 from Daria proved to be the beginning of the end, as Dunja, still unconcerned about herself, moved her queen to a6.

"And now you're trapped," Daria thought as she moved her rook to b7.

Shockingly, Dunja still had yet to realize this, moving her pawn to e5 with the same blank stare on her face as before. But when Daria moved her knight to b8, everything came flooding towards her.

"Oh no. Oh no, no, no, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! My queen! I'm going to lose my queen! And against the maestro... that's a death sentence. Ugh!" Dunja thought as she covered her face with her hands.

She sat like that for a solid 7 minutes before reaching over to stop the clock. "I resign."

And with that, Japan had drawn first blood against Croatia on the women's side, leading things 1-0.

"You defective idiot! I never should have listened to that chameleon bitch. Now the rest of us have to do more work, and there's nothing I hate more than more work," Vlatka thought.

The full games:

White: Ryonosuke Hobou (2415) Black: Šime Glavaš (2515)

1. Nc3 d5

2. d4 Nf6

3. Bf4 e6

4. Nb5 Bd6

5. Nxd6+ cxd6

6. e3 O-O

7. c3 Nc6

8. Bd3 e5

9. Bg5 Bd7

10. Ne2 e4