Chapter 511:

Pressing the press

En Passant Grandmaster

Back at home, while all the shenanigans at school were taking place, Daria had tuned in to the news in time to catch Iori's interview. However, it had quickly gone south as the anchor, Saori Saiki, was more focused on Iori's past, which had been leaked by Vlatka back during the Chess Olympics.

"Huh? Is all this gonna be is some bashing fest? Don't ya wanna ask me bout these fucking gold medal!?" Iori fumed.

"The only question I have is why you even have them. These reports indicate you're a notorious serial killer, the case chiller," the anchor, Saori, glared.

"And? I won gold."

"SCUM LIKE YOU SHOULD NEVER EVEN HAVE THE CHANCE! Nor should you even be walking around free."

"Then how about I show you how the world works now," Iori grinned as she summoned a chessboard with her WWCF card. "How about you win, I answer everything you ask about my past, but I win, you shut the fuck up about it. Nothing else besides that, even though I'd love to force you to shave your head."

"As if I'd agree to-"

"Saori, you're already one of our more despised anchors. If you want to raise your clout, I'd suggest humoring her. Remember, we called her on to interview her about her chess. The case chiller stuff is secondary and for the gossip section," a stagehand nervously whispered.

"How's it gossip!?"

"We can't actually prove anything with what was released. Even if she is the case chiller, there is no proof to convict."

"And when did you become a legal consultant."

"I had a degree in law."

"Clearly unearned. Fine, I'll play that stupid bitch."

And after confirming that Saori had a basic understanding of chess, the game began. Iori opened the game by moving her knight to f3, with Saori mirroring her and moving her knight to f6. The mirroring continued with knight c3 and knight c6, then once more with e4 and e5.

"Look at that! It worked! You know what this means?" Iori asked.

"Um, no. What?" Saori nervously smiled.

"It means it's HALLOWEEN KNIGHT!" Iori maniacally grinned as she captured the pawn at e5 with her knight.

"Um... That's just giving away a knight," Saori nervously stated as she captured the knight at e5 with her knight.

"Nope, now get moving," Iori snickered as she moved her pawn to d4.

Saori scowled and moved her knight to g6, but her annoyance only increased after Iori moved her pawn to e5, forcing her to move her knight back to g8.

"Lol, you just put your knight back," Iori snickered as she moved her bishop to c4.

"At least I still have both knights," Saori huffed as she moved her pawn to c6.

"For now," Iori smirked as she moved her queen to f3.

"As if I'll let you!" Saori glared as she moved her knight to h6.

However she had just given Iori a huge advantage, and Iori knew it too. With a simple grin, Iori giddily captured the knight at h5 with her bishop. Saori shot her a glare and prepared to capture said bishop, but stopped herself just in time, moving her queen to h4 instead.

"Look at that. You almost fell for it. Check," Iori smirked as she captured the pawn at f7 with her queen, forcing Saori's king to d8. "And look, my bishop got away," she taunted as she moved her bishop to e3.

Saori scowled and moved her queen to e7, with Iori opting to castle queen's side, rather than protect her queen. This prompted Saori to capture the queen at f7 with her queen, to which Iori responded to by capturing said queen with her bishop. Saori moved her pawn to b5, but Iori saw what she had planned and moved her knight to e4. However...

"There's another pawn here," Saori declared as she moved her pawn to d5.

The move couldn't have made Iori happier. "Y'all ready for this? Here's the greatest magic trick in chess; EN PASSANT!" Iori proclaimed as she performed en passant and captured the pawn at d5 with her e-pawn.

"Wh- WHAT!? YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"

"Um, yes I can. You telling me you don't know about en passant?"

Saori refused to back down until a stagehand stepped in to inform her en passant was a thing, completely souring her mood. Now consumed with dejection, she held her head down as she moved her bishop to b7.

"Lol, the en passant got ya good," Iori grinned as she moved her h-rook to e1.

"I just didn't know about it," Saori scowled as she moved her knight to h4.

"Now ya do. Check," Iori smirked as she moved her bishop to g5.

Saori clicked her tongue and moved her king to d7, but that proved to be her downfall as evidenced by Iori's widening grin.

"Lol, you botched it. Check," Iori giggled as she moved her knight to c5.

"How?" Saori glared as she moved her king to c8.

"Uh, cuz it's checkmate, dumbass," Iori smirked as she moved her rook to e8, winning the game.

Saori threw her papers in the air and stormed away cursing under her breath.

"Hey makeup! One shave for the sore loser!" Iori mockingly called out.

Shortly after, the interview ended, and Daria turned off the TV. "Talk about contentious, but she should've seen it coming. When your past gets brought up, the gossipy types will always hound ya. And my interview's gonna be next... Ugh, I just hope it's one and done without too much hassle," she thought as she prepared to head out.

The full game:

White: Iori Ishikiridokoro (2488) Saori Saiki (n/a)

1. Nf3 Nf6

2. Nc3 Nc6

3. e4 e5

4. Nxe5 Nxe5

5. d4 Ng6

6. e5 Ng8

7. Bc4 c6

8. Qf3 Nh6

9. Bxh6 Qh4

10. Qxf7+ Kd8