Arctic blitz

Okisato's mind began to race. "Hold on, Shousen-san mentioned there were no secret puzzle cafes in London. But if he warps to one and drags someone into a DESPER match- No, can't do that within a secret puzzle cafe, but if he stepped out-" 

"Look at you, flustered beyond belief. I hear Red Reaper's gonna hunt down all your friends as retribution for the humiliation, so have fun knowing the fact as you cry the mountain a new pond," Xiao Lin cackled. 

"The hell did you just say!?" a voice trembled. 

Xiao Lin frowned and turned to notice Hagemi. "Oh, so you came here."

"I suddenly got a notice Okisato was here when he should be in London."

"How- XIU!" 

"Yup, I leaked it worse than you leaked your pants when I told ya Maestro Himitsu herself was coming to kick your ass today," Xiu snickered. 

"As if. No matter how mad that woman is at me for losing that team match with her, I have nothing to fear in regards to a physical bout with her."

"Then how about a mental one?" Daria snarled. 

"GYAAA!? D- DARI- MMPH!?" 

"MAESTRO HIMITSU, got it!?" 

Xiao Lin glared and swatted Daria's hand off her mouth. "It matters not if you're here. You can't do a thing."

"He can, and we can deal with the reaper problem in London." 

Xiao Lin began to smirk. "I do wonder. If I were to call a meeting of my SPCMs-"

"I'll call for a private maestro meeting here and now." 

"Tch, alright. Boy, feel free to challenge my SPCMs, if you have the points that is."

"Already planning on it, and got a stockpile of points to make it happen," Okisato glared as he exchanged extra points to challenge Tao to atomic chess. 

"This variant again? Come on, can't we play anything that won't be over in under a minute?" Tao sighed as she moved her knight to f3.

"I'm in a rush now," Okisato grumbled as he moved his pawn to f6. 

"The Arctic Defense? Well, I suppose here it is actually a good move since it keeps my knight from advancing," Tao shrugged as she moved her knight to a3.

Okisato went quiet and moved his knight to h6, prompting Tao to advance her knight to b5.

"And now, I win," Okisato snickered as he moved his knight to g4.

"Um, no you don't. Bye bye, checkmate," Tao grumbled as she captured the pawn at c7 with her knight, destroying said knight, Okisato's knight, Okisato's bishop, and Okisato's queen. "HUH!? WHY IS YOUR KING STILL ALIVE!?"

"Cuz you didn't capture the piece adjacent to it, that's why."

"But if I had checked..."

"You would have lost, since you can ignore checks if you can kill the enemy king. Well, guess you at least know the rules, but that doesn't mean you're any good at this. Checkmate, ba-ka," Okisato snickered as he captured the pawn at f2 with his knight, destroying said knight, Tao's knight, Tao's bishop, and Tao's king.

In just under a minute, he had beaten Tao. 

"Ugh, guess it means more time for me to meditate or try something else. Oh, badge, rematch, points, bye," Tao grumbled as she plopped down on a nearby couch. "Ah, and if you could subscribe-"

"Tao, no personal shilling," Xiao Lin snarled. 

"Don't you shill for yourself all the time, maestro?"

"Because I'M maestro and better than all of you at everything."

"Nah, you don't have a Ewetube channel, you suck at politics, Hui's got an edge in martial arts, and in chess- MMPH!?" 

"Why don't you "try" shutting up!?" Xiao Lin fumed as Tao struggled to peel the piece of tape off her mouth Xiao Lin had just slapped on it. 

Now with just 5 SPCMs to go before he could challenge Xiao Lin, Okisato checked his WWCF card. "According to this, my match with Red Reaper ended about 7 minutes ago. If that bastard can teleport back to London, I'm screwed. I should have actually made it so he couldn't leave, but it's possible he might've found a way to get out of that. That bastard's really a troublesome enigma. That being said, it's not like he can get back there instantly. It would probably take him some time, so if I can blitz all these SPCMs and Xiao Lin, I could get back in time," he thought. 

"Oh, you can't challenge us all to the same variant more than twice in a row for SPCMs you haven't beaten. Only two allowed per day, sorry," Bai sneered.

"He's right, sadly. You'll have to either accept their challenges normally, or challenge them to different variants," Hagemi frowned as she anxiously tapped her foot. 

"Are you two waiting on me?" Okisato asked. 

"No, something else, but we're not getting anything. Damn it! I can't let Yuusuke run into that monster. Sorry, but I'm going ahead," Hagemi grumbled. 

"No need, I'll be right with you, but let me just say this; Xiao Lin, the first chance I get to face you again proper at the chessboard, I will execute you there with complete humiliation that will leave your mind destroyed for the rest of your life," Daria glared before she and Hagemi warped away. 

"That whore is full of it. Now dear guest, how do you plan to beat my SPCMs now that you can't default to atomic chess anymore?" Xiao Lin sneered. 

One variant that came to mind was 4-way chess, however, the problem was that a 4-way chess match could take a long time to play, not to mention it would likely turn into a 3v1, which would make winning much harder for Okisato.

"Just to confirm, if I choose to challenge 3 of you to a free-for-all 4-player variant, you'll all treat the match like a proper free-for-all and not gang up on me, right?" Okisato scowled.

Bai scowled before a malicious smirk appeared on his face. "We all have our wills. And in 4-way chess, I'm afraid anything goes. Though I suppose giveaway is more strategy based."

Giveaway chess was a chess variant where the goal was to give away all your pieces first. It could be played in either the standard 2-player format or 4-player format. However, a key rule of the game was that capturing pieces was compulsory. If a piece could be captured, it HAD to be captured. While it would give Okisato a better fighting chance in a potential 3v1, the game would likely take a long time to play, and being short on time, he could not afford to waste time on such a game.

"You said all chess variants were good, yes? Then how about Modern Chaturaji?"

Everyone stared in silence for a bit, before Xiao Lin shrugged and said it was allowed. Okisato nodded and decided to challenge Bai, Fen, and Jia.

"So we are to compete in Chaturaji. Very well, we'll crush you, little boy," Jia scoffed as she fanned herself.

"Looks like you're getting left out, Xiu," Fen chuckled as he glanced over at Xiu. 

"Oh that's alright. It just means I have loads of time to pamper myself up. Now, I wonder what that guy's kinks are," Xiu maliciously thought as she began doing her nails. 

The full game:

White: SPCM Xun Tao (2096) Black: Okisato Tanabe (2600)

1. Nf3 f6

2. Na3 Nh6

3. Nb5 Ng4

4. Nxc7 Nxf2#