Chapter 609:

Halloween Gambit

En Passant Grandmaster

Mimoko opened the game by moving her pawn to e4, to which Korb responded to by mirroring her with pawn to e5. Next came knight f3 and knight c6, eliciting a heavy sigh from Mimoko as she decided to move her knight to c3.

"Are you drifting off to sleep already?" Korb sneered as he moved his knight to f6.

"No, rather I'm about to do something I normally wouldn't do, simply because I'm both tired and because it's Halloween," Mimoko grumbled.

"Huh? What would that be?"

Turning towards the cameraman, Mimoko mustered a smile as she captured the pawn at e5 with her knight. "Happy Halloween!"

"The Halloween Gambit!? B- But you've never played this before!" Korb gasped as he captured the knight at e5 with his knight.

"Normally I wouldn't, but it's Halloween, and I feel a tad obligated to play it. Oh, and I have played it today against some people, just for fun, and had it played against me," Mimoko retorted as she moved her pawn to d4.

"I didn't see those games," Korb stuttered as he moved his knight to c6.

"Then that's good for me. Happy Halloween Gambit," Mimoko huffed as she moved her pawn to d5.

Korb gritted his teeth and moved his knight to e5, but was soon on the run again after Mimoko moved her pawn to f4, sending his knight to g6. Mimoko didn't let up the march and moved her pawn to e5, sending Korb's knight packing back to g8. However, the fatigue of staying awake for 24 hours plus began to finally take its toll on Mimoko as she moved her pawn to d6. Luckily for her, Korb messed up immediately and moved his pawn to d6, instantly shifting the tides in Mimoko's favor.

"That was a huge misstep... I got lucky. I gotta end this soon and get proper sleep," Mimoko thought as she moved her bishop to d3.

"Check! You've been kicking my horses around far enough!" Korb fumed as he moved his queen to h4.

Mimoko rolled her eyes and moved her pawn to g3, eliciting a tongue click from Korb as he moved his queen to h3. Sensing an opportunity, Mimoko moved her knight to e4, hoping, but not expecting for a huge haul. Turned out her wishes were answered as Korb cluelessly moved his knight to h6, allowing Mimoko to move her knight to g5. Still unaware of his predicament, Korb scoffed at the play and moved his knight to g2, but the moment Mimoko moved her bishop to e4, he facepalmed so hard his pumpkin head smashed to bits, revealing another pumpkin head beneath.

"My queen... QIJ [FUCK]!" he groaned as he captured the rook at h1 with his queen, not even bothering to say, "Check".

With a proud huff, Mimoko mopped up the queen at h1 with her bishop as Korb let out a frustrated roar and moved his pawn to f6. Now firmly in the lead, Mimoko decided to capture the pawn at h7 with her knight, prompting Korb to capture said knight with his rook. Though that evened the material count temporarily, it was clear Korb was in a losing position as Mimoko moved her queen to h5.

"Forked... Qij, QIJ [Fuck, FUCK]!" Korb fumed as he chose to save his rook and move it back to h8.

"Forked you are, and pinned you'll remain. Check," Mimoko smiled as she captured the knight at g6 with her queen.

With little choice, Korb moved his knight to d7, pinning it to his king just as proclaimed. Now with a moment of calm, Mimoko decided to activate her dark-square bishop and move it out to d2. Though most of his pieces were trapped, Korb wasn't going to stand for it and moved his rook to h6, driving Mimoko's queen away to f5.

"You can't trap me!" Korb declared as he captured the pawn at e5 with his f-pawn.

Mimoko silently brushed off the provocation with a smirk as she captured the pawn at e5 with her f-pawn.

"Little bitch," Korb snarled as he moved his pawn to g6.

Once again, Korb received nothing but a silent smirk from Mimoko as she moved her queen to f6, sidestepping the attack and threatening the rook simultaneously. Korb attempted to counter perfectly by moving his pawn to g5, but all that amounted to was Mimoko sliding her queen down to f5.

At his wit's end, Korb let out a frustrated roar. "Screw it! I don't care about the knight, I'm breaking through!" he shouted as he captured the pawn at e5 with his knight.

To his surprise and delight, Mimoko refused to capture said knight, opting instead to castle queen's side.

"Look at that! You're fatigue's really about to win me this match after all!" Korb laughed as he captured the pawn at d6 with his bishop.

"Are you sure about that?" Mimoko smiled as she captured the pawn at g5 with her bishop.

"Of course I'm sure," Korb scoffed as he moved his rook to e6.

"Then I can relax knowing that in just a few more moves, I'll be able to sleep," Mimoko giggled as she captured the bishop at d6 with her rook.

"You gave up your rook for a bishop! You..."

But Korb's excitement quickly vanished as he realized something nasty awaited him should he capture the rook. In fact, there was nothing he could do at this point but simply choose how quickly his demise would be.

"You... Check," he mumbled as he moved his knight to d3.

"Where'd all that excitement go? And why throw away your other knight?" Mimoko asked as she captured the knight at d3 with her c-pawn.

"I'm not a headless horseman, I don't need a horse... CHECK!" Korb trembled as he moved his rook to e1.

Mimoko simply shook her head and moved her king to d2, sending sweat down Korb's face as he retreated his rook to e7. Now with victory before her, Mimoko put the finishing touches on her work by moving her rook to h6. Korb, meanwhile decided to choose to flee as he moved his king to d8, however, Mimoko dashed his hopes of fleeing as she moved her queen to e5.

"My rook is pinned... I can't do anything... QIJ [FUCK]!" Korb cried as he moved his pawn to d5.

"And with that, I end off Halloween night, or should I say, knight, with a Halloween Gambit. Checkmate to you, and Happy Halloween to all," Mimoko smiled as she captured the rook at e7 with her queen, winning the game.

The barrier instantly vanished as Korb was warped away to the WWCF's holding facility. As for Mimoko, she turned to notice that the farm staff, all decked in their costumes, were now present with the cameraman.

"Well, that was unexpected. As apology for that, we'll show you the way out, as I'm sure you're too tired to deal with any more shenanigans tonight," one nodded.

Thanks to that, Mimoko managed to make it out of the maze with a time of 50 minutes, 50 seconds, ensuring she wouldn't face the batsu game.

"Wow, you actually got challenged by someone. Guess this means you're clocking out for the night before my run," Iori smiled.

"I'll watch the replay. I've been up for too long... I need to sleep," Mimoko mumbled as she flopped down on a provided sleeping bag and got some well-deserved rest.

The full game:

White: Mimoko Inoue (2870) Black: Korb Drithërues (2707)

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Nc6

3. Nc3 Nf6

4. Nxe5 Nxe5

5. d4 Nc6

6. d5 Ne5

7. f4 Ng6

8. e5 Ng8

9. d6 c6

10. Bd3 Qh4+