The Kawaguchi chess center

Everyone stared in surprise as they stopped at a familiar sight. It was the park by the river which served as the original unofficial meeting point for the chess club before Maida began supervising it. It was also Mimoko's go-to hang-out spot as well as near where she had that fateful encounter with Okisato and first learned about the DESPERs after Inojin took her prisoner.

What was grabbing everyone's attention though was the presence of a circular pavilion. It resembled an outdoor bar with stools and a bar table, but people could also sit on the inner ring and appeared to be playing chess with those on the outer ring. And seated on one of the stools was none other than Daria, now decked in her drippy maestro attire. 

"They finally started setting these up. Welcome, everyone, to Kawaguchi's own chess center," Daria smiled as she turned to face everyone.

"Chess centers? What do you mean?" Mimoko asked.

"I've long felt that there should be places like these scattered throughout the world so that more people can connect and play chess. Guess I should give you the full tour n' rundown. First off, these are manned by robots from the WWCF 24/7 365 or 366 days a year. Here you can gather and play chess, teach chess, or just watch chess. It's like a downsized secret puzzle cafe. And just like in one, you can challenge people from all over the world and if you're in chess centers in different places, you'll show up as holograms just like with the secret puzzle cafe. You can also play most variants here, with the exception of dive chess and chess boxing."

"But you can't do those in a secret puzzle cafe either."

"True, but they all have a feature that'll warp you to special rooms at the WWCF HQ for those. You'll just get warped back to where you came from when it's done, just like with these."

"Wait, so then can you also challenge-"

"Nope, can't challenge SPCMs, DSPCMs, or maestros unless they feel like playing ya, unless of course you've actually beaten them already and have rematch rights. Not to mention maestros will only play you if you've actually beaten them. But we can all warp to anyone of these in the world, and so can those with the ability to warp to any secret puzzle cafe in the world. Those without the ability can gain the ability to warp to any ones they find for a lower price of WWCF points compared to it's upgraded secret puzzle cafe cousin, but buying it will deduct it's price from said cousin, so keep that in mind. Lastly, there's a 5 km anti-DESPER radius around each chess center. That's a good thing to keep in mind if a bloodthirsty Desperado is on your heels. Oh, and the robots here are challengeable."

"Any prizes for beating them?" Yuusuke mumbled.

"Yes. They're officially known as Chess Center Bots, or CCBs, and should you best them all, you might be able to challenge a secret Final CCB, the FCCB. And unlike SPCMs and DSPCMs, there's no limit, with some exceptions, to how many of them could be in a country. You can even find them in a city that already houses a secret puzzle cafe or even multiple ones in the same city if the city's big enough. And now that really is everything. Oh, and just like with a secret puzzle cafe, refreshments are available to purchase in both WWCF points and local currency, with it usually being cheaper to buy in WWCF points. You also don't need to be a WWCF member to hang out here, so bring your friends and hang out. And... Now I think that's it. Have fun."

With the explanation over, everyone began playing around with all the features the chess center had to offer.

"It is like a secret puzzle cafe. Though what if we want to visit one?" Yuzuha frowned.

"We offer a prize that allows you to warp to secret puzzle cafes and other chess centers within the same nation they all reside in," the CCB stated.

"So are all the CCBs the same as you?" Yuusuke asked.

"We are of the same skill level, a flat 1500, but our names are unique. I am known as Compass."

"Compass?"

"Correct, for there is a giant compass nearby, thus, I am Compass."

"Uh, that's a sundial," Yuusuke scowled as he gazed over at the giant sundial on the ground nearby.

"Compass is my programmed name."

"Well change it!"

"Oi, stop harassing the bot!" Hagemi barked.

Yuusuke shot her a glare and clenched his fist.

"Oi, what's with that look?"

"I'm sick of this shit. Between you n' Tanabe, you're all lookin' down on me! How about I challenge you n' kick your ass!"

"As if. But you want a lesson, I'll give you one. Shuffle the back row," Hagemi ordered.

Compass bowed as a chessboard rose from the table. The pieces on the back row were then shuffled with the rooks on the a and g-files, the kings on the b-files, the bishops on the c and h-files, the knights on the d and f-files, and the queens on the e-file.

"Fischer? The hell, Okaa!?"

"You think you'd stand a chance against me normally? Prove your chops here first."

"Fine!" Yuusuke fumed as he got on the other side of the board.

He then opened the game by moving his pawn to e4, with Hagemi responding to him by moving her pawn to e5.

"You always look down on me just cuz I botched your genes, but now I'm gonna show ya my girth!" Yuusuke declared as he moved his pawn to d4.

"Growth, ya stupid shit," Hagemi growled as she captured the pawn at d4 with her e-pawn.

"I... I got that too!" Yuusuke stammered as he moved his pawn to c3.

"Like hell ya do!" Hagemi fumed as she moved her pawn to d5.

"I've grown!" Yuusuke shouted back as he slammed his pawn down on e5.

"Clearly not much. Check," Hagemi glared as she moved her bishop to f5.

"Ngh! Guh.... Ngh," Yuuske trembled as he moved his queen to e4.

"See, you got tripped up so easily. Checkmate," Hagemi snarled as she captured the queen at e4, winning the game.

Yuusuke trembled in his seat.

"It's alright. With 960, it's easy to be thrown off your game. Even top-level grandmasters can blow a game in just a few moves," Mimoko stated.

"It's not that. I lost to okaa. I'm the vice-president of the chess club, but I'm sub-2000. Tanabe uses me as a sandbag, Iori degrades me, Utami takes out her frustrations on me, and all I'm doing to my name is make okaa ask why she even had me. I even share a birthday with Steinitz, but all I do is add shame to his name."

"That's a bit extreme, but I understand the pressure-"

"Nah, sorry Inoue, but ya don't. You didn't have to grow up knowing your mom was so great, or with expectations to match her."

And with that, Yuusuke ran off in tears.

"Too hard to be more honest with him?" Daria asked Hagemi. 

"You know I didn't have the same luxuries as you. Besides, he's weak. Just look at what happened to him since the start of August. If his opponent didn't decide to play with his food, he'd be dead for good. It's been proven he's still too weak, but he's not getting stronger. I think he's reaching his plateau soon. Might not even crack 2000, or just hover around it. And he's vice-president of the club? He needs to realize his place."

"It was by vote, so we can't really go against it."

"Not you or me, but maybe the boy, Tanabe."

"I've heard he's made Yuusuke his sandbag, likely as retribution for losing the vote. Though I don't think he's officially challenged him for the position, but if he did, he'd win unless he threw it."

"Should've intervened sooner. Yuusuke being vice-president's only regressed him further."

Mimoko frowned and shook her head as she listened to the conversation. 

"No need to get so bent out. over Shouben-kun," Iori grinned as she wrapped her arm around Mimoko. "Let's go grab some dinner."

"Huh? Iori-chan!? Why-"

"Hey, I got some spendin' fees. Besides, I'm meetin' a friend for a collab so it works out."

"But then I shouldn't impose-"

"We need someone to do the filming."

An annoyed scowl began to form on Mimoko's face as Iori dragged her away.

The full game:

White: Yuusuke Shousen (1600) Black: Hagemi Shousen (2808)

1. e4 e5

2. d4 exd4

3. c3 d5

4. e5 Bf5+

5. Qe4 Bxe4#