Chapter 16:

Farm-fresh Fried Liver

En Passant Grandmaster Volume 3

Rodeo scowled as he glanced over at Yuusuke. "... Poor guy... His momma saw the whole thing," he thought.

"Oi lug, ya gonna move or run out of time? I hate waiting," Abigail glared as she impatiently tapped her fingers on the table.

"...Sorry," Rodeo mumbled as he shifted his focus to the board and moved his pawn to e4.

"Too impatient. Should have just let him run the clock down," Skaberghast thought.

The game began to play out normally with Abigail moving her pawn to e5 and Rodeo moving his knight to f3. After Abigail moved her knight to f6, however, Rodeo moved his knight to g5.

"Well that's reckless," Abigail thought as she moved her pawn to d5.

Rodeo remained silent and captured said pawn with his e-pawn.

"Seems like you're just another run of the mill country hick. I grew up in Oxford, and got accepted to Stanford. The difference in intellect couldn't be clearer. Though I expect your pocket change to be poultry, it shall nonetheless serve me well," Abigail sneered as she captured the pawn at d5 with her knight.

Rodeo's eyes lit up as he stared at the board. "...This is it. Inoue told me bout this. Fried Liver," he mumbled as he captured the pawn at f7 with his knight.

Abigail's confidence shattered. "T- The Fried Liver attack!? No! This is a fluke! I'm a genius and you're a rube!" she fumed as she captured the knight at f7 with her king.

Rodeo thought back to his teachings and moved his queen to f3.

"Remember, the Fried Liver attack is good against beginner-level opponents. At the higher levels, players will usually counter with the Italian Game: Knight Attack, Polerio Defense by moving their knight to a5 instead of capturing the pawn at d5. If that happens, just turn the game into an Italian Game: Knight Attack, Polerio, Bishop Check Line by moving your bishop to b5. Of course if they capture the pawn with the knight, and capture your knight after you move it f7, bring your queen out to f3 and make sure to watch for the following mating lines," Mimoko's voice echoed in Rodeo's mind as Abigail moved her king to g8.

"...That's the line. Check," Rodeo mumbled as he captured the knight at d5 with his bishop.

Abigail immediately exploded in rage. "NO! I'M AN INTELLECTUAL ELITE! YOU'RE A DAMN IMBECILE FARMBOY! YOU MUST BE CHEATING!" she ranted as she slammed her bishop down on e6.

"That's it... Checkmate," Rodeo mumbled as he captured the bishop on e6 with his bishop, winning the game.

As the board vanished, Skaberghast opened an eye before closing it again. "DESPER's prevent cheating and the Fried Liver's a hallmark move. You just fell for it like an idiot. Ironic since chickens are supposedly smart creatures."

Abigail shot him a death glare as she found herself unable to get out of her chair and storm away. Due to the fact that she wasn't acting like a chicken either, Skaberghast surmised that the DESPER was preventing everyone from leaving until all the matches had concluded and that it either decided not to enforce the minor punishments or was waiting to do so after all the games were complete.

Now the chess club had the lead, but things were far from over.

Maria clutched her hair tightly as she moved her pawn to e4. "You have no idea how much my hair means to me," she snarled as she locked eyes with Utami.

"And you have no idea how badly that punishment would destroy my life!" Utami retorted without hesitation as she moved her pawn to e5.

Maria was taken aback by Utami's personality shift, but maintained her composure and moved her knight to f3. "Why did we have to run into each other!? This is a big risk for me!"

"Your comrade was the one that activated the DESPER, not to mention you were quite bloodthirsty before the wagers were made," Utami glared as she moved her knight to c6.

"Then do us both a favor and draw the game," Maria glared as she moved her bishop to c4.

Utami thought for a moment before a scowl appeared on her face. "My apologies, but I am a tainted holy warrior of Mimoko-sama. If I were to throw a game, I'd be upsetting not only myself, but her as well. She's been through enough already. If you lose, you just go bald. I lose, my life is over."

"MY HAIR IS MY LIFE!"

Ever since she was young, Maria Wykształciuchy strived to be the center of attention, yet despite being an academic elite, she never seemed to stand out. That was until her sophomore year of high school when she decided to not only dye her hair turquoise, but also perm it into an afro as well. The flamboyant hair style quickly turned heads, and before she knew it, Maria had a brand image. Her turquoise afro had become such a big part of her image, that she even founded a consulting business with her afro as the logo. To her, losing her hair would be the equivalent of her losing everything. She'd no longer be able to brand herself as the turquoise afro girl, and would instead be mocked for her failure in the short term before fading to obscurity in the long term.

This was exactly the reason Skaberghast decided to conjure up such a devastating wager as Maria losing her hair would be considered by the DESPER to be equal to Utami's punishment of being forced to quit chess and take up shogi for the rest of her life. While Skaberghast wasn't positive the wagers didn't need to be equal in order to be accepted, he decided to do so in order to increase the chances of seeing if it was possible to tack on minor punishments to a big team wager.

While Okisato was generally tight-lipped, he did make sure to tell everyone in the chess club all of the Desperado league members he knew about. Skaberghast was one of them, and was said to be one of the most dangerous and sadistic members of the league. It was only now that Utami realized just what he meant by those words.

"That scum. He's having us put our futures on the line just for an experiment. Though I'll play for the win, should I be presented an opportunity to draw, I'll take it," Utami thought as she moved her knight to d4.

Maria adjusted her glasses as she stared at the board. "For such a heartfelt speech, you certainly reversed course. Well, it was only natural you lay down your life for an intellectual and prodigious woman like myself," she scoffed as she captured the pawn at e5 with her knight

'Laying down my life for you'? Don't make me laugh, scum. You just accepted my Blackburne Shilling Gambit," Utami glared as she moved her queen to g5.

"And you just fell for the Fried Liver. Fitting for a rube. At least the chess world won't need to be tainted by your stupidity henceforth," Maria huffed as she captured the pawn at f7 with her knight.

"That is NOT the Fried Liver Attack. Mimoko-sama would scold you for suggesting so," Utami snarled as she captured the pawn at g2 with her queen.

"I can just move my rook," Maria snarled as she moved her rook to f1.

"And I can just check you," Utami retorted as she captured the pawn at e4 with her queen.

"Rubbish. I can just block," Maria scoffed as she moved her bishop to e2.

A maniacal smile spread across Utami's face as she stared at the board. "Oh, you "smart" gifted girl. Do you know what you've just done?"

Maria shot Utami a confused glare. "Will you get that degenerate look off your face? It's hurting my eyes."

"Don't worry, I'm smiling because you're going to be smothered in shaving cream and hot wax when you're shaved bald, just like you smothered your king! Checkmate!" Utami maniacally laughed as she slammed her knight down on f3, winning the game.

"NO! I can just take-"

"Queen has it pinned. You smothered it."

Tears began to well up in Maria's eyes as she turned to Jackie. "EQUALIZE, YOU BITCH! I'M NOT GOING BALD!"

"Fear not. A win by me and Mona should theoretically neutralize everything as the DESPER appears to be holding off on the minor punishments. And the nerd queen just so happens to have found the perfect move to win any game," Jackie confidently declared as she adjusted her glasses.

"Hoh? I too have such a move. This will truly be a battle of minds," Numakawa smiled as he adjusted his glasses.

The full games:

White: Rodeo Gorou (500) Black: Abigail Boffin (1300)

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Nc6

3. Bc4 Nf6

4. Ng5 d5

5. exd5 Nxd5

6. Nxf7 Kxf7

7. Qf3+ Kg8

8. Bxd5+ Be6

9. Bxe6#