Maestro vs maestro

Amelia scowled as she moved her knight to f6. While her focus was all on the game before her, there was no denying the fact that Japan clinching the match had upset her.

"Every time. It's always the prodigies," Amelia thought as Daria moved her queen to d3. "I think it's time to go for a kill. I have no choice... With her moral boost, she'll be more relaxed. I have to disrupt that," Amelia thought as she moved her pawn to b5.

Thus rapid play resumed with knight b2, h6, bishop d2, queen e7, bishop a5, bishop a3, knight d1, and knight g5. It was still in drawish territory, but with her back against the wall, Amelia was getting more aggressive while Daria was able to relax a bit more.

"Ironic how worried I was about Norway before the tournament. Everyone handled them with ease, taking all the pressure away. Now it's Amelia who has to fight to avoid a sweep. I can only imagine the type of pressure that must be," Daria thought as she moved her bishop to g2.

There certainly was pressure, but Amelia tried not to let it phase her as she moved her bishop to d6. She had resolved to fight to a draw, as while it wouldn't be the decisive win everyone was hoping for, it was still better than losing. Daria was now looking for cracks as with a 3-0 lead, she wanted to keep the perfect sweep going. She could sense things were tilted in her direction, but with Amelia as her opponent, converting the advantage to a win was not a guarantee. Nonetheless, she continued playing perfectly and moved her pawn to h4.

Then finally, Amelia moved her knight to e6, and Daria was able to see a glimmer of light.

"The berserker was a monster, but what did him in was an attack from below. It was hard to spot, but the Englishman found the focal point to thrust fort his blade and pierce the berserker," Daria thought as she moved her knight to c3.

Yet this maestro berserker had great awareness and moved her bishop to b4. Daria captured said bishop with her bishop, but Amelia then captured said bishop with her queen. The battle was far from over, but the berserker was getting bloody. The brawl continued forth. Queen f5, queen d6, f-rook c1, c6, knight e2, rook c8, queen e5, queen a3, knight f4, knight captures f4, queen captures f4, knight h5, queen f3, knight f6, bishop h3, rook c7, queen f4, queen a5, rook c5, rook d8, yet 40 moves strong, Amelia held on.

She was getting worn down, but refusing to go down.

"I knew this was going to be ferocious, but to think I'd have an edge this early. Now it's a matter of converting, which for me is easy. Someone else would probably struggle with the pressure, but I'm equal to this berserker. I'll leap into her axe with my katana," Daria thought as she moved her bishop to f5 as if thrusting a sword up through the bottom of Stanford bridge to leap up and face Amelia head on atop it.

Amelia gritter her teeth, swinging her axe atop the bridge and moving her knight to e8. Daria dodged and landed a stab in her thigh, capturing the pawn at c6 with her rook.

"Every time. You always piss me off, you soulless whore," Amelia thought as she captured the rook at c6 with her rook and yanked the sword out of her thigh.

"Not a good idea to hold onto a blade barehanded," Daria thought as she jittered her sword, slashing Amelia's palm and capturing the rook at c6 with her rook.

But there was method to the madness as the blade finally shattered in Amelia's hand as she captured the pawn at a2 with her queen. But Daria responded by slugging Amelia in the face, capturing the pawn at h6 with her rook. Amelia threw aside her axe in retaliation, capturing the rook at g6 with her h-pawn, but Daria quickly had her down on the ground after capturing said pawn with her queen.

"Damn you, Daria! I'm not going to let it end like this!" Amelia fumed in her mind as she moved her knight to g7.

"Sorry, Amelia, but you're not getting out of this. Check," Daria smirked as she moved her queen to h7.

The move forced Amelia's king to f8, with queen h8, check, then forcing said king to e7. Saria was then free to mop up the knight at g7 with her queen, but with her back against the wall, Amelia chose to fight, and fight hard.

"Queen and rook on queen and bishop. I can make this work and flip the script on history, Daria," Amelia thought as she captured the pawn at b3 with her queen.