Bouncing back

Yuusuke slowly trudged over to his assigned board and sat down across from an empty seat. Saloni's words continued to echo in his mind, and truly had rattled him, yet he refused to call for help. In his mind, he was alone. Alone, and suffocating under enormous pressure.

"Why the hell did she so me that? That girl's putting her body on the line for me!? That's absurd! I thought even after that loss, I'd have a chance, but now... I can't focus. I'm going to lose. I'm going to-"

"Ah, are you Yuusuke?" a female voice called out.

Yuusuke glanced up to notice a young woman standing on the other end of the table. She was clad in a violet jacket and matching violet sneakers along with jeans and a black sports bra. She bore blue eyes and a dirty blonde bob, though faint streaks of black could be seen, indicating her hair was in fact dyed.

"What do you want?" Yuusuke groaned.

"I'm Rousa Raida. I believe I'm playing against you this round," the girl smiled as she sat down.

"Oh..."

Not minding Yuusuke's dejected attitude, Rousa smiled and pulled out her WWCF card. "They didn't say you needed to register with the WWCF, but said you'd get a rating if you did. I figured, what the heck, but didn't expect to get this thing too. You have any idea how to work it?"

Yuusuke glanced up briefly, taking note of Rousa's unrated status, before sinking his head back down and mumbling, "There's folks that can teach ya."

He'd be perking his head back up soon though as the round began shortly after. The game began with Yuusuke moving his pawn to e4 and Rousa responding by moving her pawn to e5. Next came knight f3, but then a glimmer of hope as Rousa moved her pawn to f6.

"Damiano? That's a mistake. But... how do I counter again? Think it was bishop," Yuusuke thought as he moved his bishop to c4.

While that was a good move, it wasn't the best move as Yuusuke quickly realized after Rousa moved her knight to e7.

"No, I needed to capture! If she had taken, I could've won a rook maybe, or really messed up her position," Yuusuke thought as he moved his pawn to d4.

Yet he soon got another gift basket as Rousa moved her pawn to g5. Now Yuusuke was in familiar waters and eased up a bit as he captured the pawn at e5 with his d-pawn. Rousa recaptured said pawn with her f-pawn, but now Yuusuke could capture that pawn with his knight, strengthening his position. Rousa didn't seem the least bit concerned, or even dissatisfied with how things were going as her calm smile remained while she moved her bishop to g7.

"That's it! She's cooked! I go here, it's mate no matter what!" Yuusuke excitedly thought as he moved his queen to f3.

And sure enough, mate came sooner than he expected as Rousa captured the knight at e5 with her bishop, allowing him to win the game by moving his queen to f7.

"Checkmate. I won... I won," Yuusuke trembled.

Rousa smiled and gave him a gentle round of applause before shaking his hand. "Congratulations. Guess I'm not really good at chess. Oh well, I'm just enjoying the experience. Best to ya."

Yuusuke nodded and waited until Rousa was out of sight to lean back in his chair and exhale a huge sigh. "Bounced back, but against an unrated, best it does is negate my loss to Tanabe. If I want to crack 2000, I need to face folks over it. Can I beat them though?" he thought.

The full game:

White: Yuusuke Shousen (1909) Black: Rousa Raida (unrated)

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 f6

3. Bc4 Ne7

4. d4 g5

5. dxe5 fxe5

6. Nxe5 Bg7

7. Qf3 Bxe5

8. Qf7#