Chapter 9:
CHAPTER NINE: DISTRICT MEET PART 1
Chess Madness
"What a way to start the day am I right guys!" Our coach enthusiastically said
It was 4am in the morning, he picked us up with the school van and he had already drank a cup of coffee The school’s front yard was eerily quiet, the frosty grass crunching under our feet as the van idled.
Nareen, who had also prepared energy drinks replied; "HELL YEAH!!"
While the rest of us kept silent, being kept awake by the freezing temperature
"S-S-So.. Why did you call us out here coach? Isn't roll call in 2 hours?" Mireya asked
"Exactly, This is overboard."
Two girls stood behind the group, Mateo remarked; "Aren't those two Sophia and Lina?"
"Yeah!"
"I was planning on having you guys wait here at school, the more time you have, the more time you have for practicing eh?"
Little did our coach know.. at that time, everybody else was also awake, preparing for the upcoming tournament
"Idiots, don't you know everybody else would be awake too?" Michael remarked, pulling out his phone and showing a group chat full of chess pros who were participating in the district meet
"Oh... Woops.. Well atleast we aren't being left behind right?" Our coach, chuckled
Elara interrupted; "Can't we just go to bed? We're all mentally prepared anyways!"
I butt in; "But we'd be losing a significant advantage!"
"What do you know?"
Mireya got in the way of both of us and said; "Hey hey hey! come on now!"
Michael walked up towards us and said; "Waking up early gives you a significant advantage, Elara. I thought you'd have known this from your brother."
Elara scoffed and turned away, we all huddled back into the school and went inside the club room, she immediately laid down in the corner of the room, intending to go to sleep
"Well, that goes there!" The coach chuckled
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"VICTOOOOOORR!! WAKE UPP!!!"
Victor Hale immediately got up, saying "I'm up! I'm up!"
In front of him was his coach, who had asked permission beforehand to barge into his household
"W-What do you want?" Victor asked, still fatigued from waking up
"Victor we already went about this yesterday, You have to be awake by 4:30, you don't want to lose do you?"
"You're saying that as if I'm going to lose..." He replied, He got up from his blue bed and held his head, "Listen, I won't repeat the same mistakes I did last year, alright?"
"I want to make sure of that Victor." He said, putting his hand on Victors shoulders
"The law doesn't require you to wake up early, Y'know?"
Meanwhile Elsewhere...
Matt Suen had already gotten ready for school before Liam or Elara had woken up
He met his father along the way to leave, sitting down on the house couch, the TV on with drink in hand
"I didn't think anyone would be up this early." Matt exclaimed
"So did I, until I heard 3 hours from now was your district meet, Matt."
"Did you wake up just to berate me with your useless lessons?"
His father placed his hand on a nearby desk, "No."
Matt put on his shoes and replied; "This city is a mess-- it's become a realm full of chess demons now. I'll beat them all because after all, I am the head of this family."
His father gripped the table, "Prove it."
Matt had already went off....
Raghavendra Iyer had already eaten lunch, prepared his things and was waiting for his coach's car
While watching chess tactics video, to his left he was playing puzzles, mentally and physically preparing himself for the tournament
"I wonder what the difference is from where I'm from."
Soon after, his coach gave him a call and he went outside
As he walked down his house stairs, he glared towards his coach and muttered; "I'm ready."
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AT THE VENUE..
"WELCOME EVERYONE!" The speaker shouted
The venue was massive, players from all around the district gathered at their tables, We saw Victor Hale roaming around while Raghavendra Iyer was eating food at his table
"I'm here again." Michael muttered
Nareen mentally prepared, telling himself; "I'm not gonna lose-- not this time."
I watched as the speaker continued his speech;
"So to start off, I'm here to congratulate you all for reaching this years district meet!"
The audience erupted into applause, cheers and yells, Nareen yelled; "WOOHOO!! IM GLAD TO BE HERE!"
Michael stayed quiet, playing chess on his phone under the desk
"And after that, Good luck players!"
Our group was given the list of players we would face up against, I read;
"Arjun Patel (SCC) VS Marco Villanueva (UWA)"
I gulped, but Mateo noticed my hesitation and replied; "Calm down mr-loser-on-the-board, The match hasn't started yet."
Our Coach saw my uneasiness and went up towards me;
"Arjun Patel huh..? It looks like he's from SCC and to my knowledge they're not all around not that good in chess, and I've seen what you're capable of.. if you were able to beat Nareen without a shadow of a doubt I believe you can beat them!"
Mateo realized; "Looks like both of our opponents are from SCC, Let's get rid of these idiots."
From his words, I regained my confidence and stood up confidently, and went towards my table, squeezing through and moving beyond the crowd,
"Excuse me!"
"Pardon me!"
"Watch where you're going kid."
In front of me was my first opponent, "Arjun Patel?" I asked
He replied, smiling as if he was already gonna win "Obviously."
I, Irritatingly, sat down and shook his hand; "Ready?" I asked
"I-I'm always ready!"
Arjun Patel, A first year at San Carlos College, this is his first ever tournament and he nicked it by just a miracle. Online, he's 2200 elo but on the board he's 1200 elo. Behind the screen? He's unbeatable but at the board? he freezes like a mannequin
SCC has a record of not making it to the third game of district, never have even making it to Regionals
Arjun thought; "I wont lose! I-I'll bring my school to Nationals!"
I opened with a simple king’s gambit, forcing him to respond. My stomach tightened. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for, I thought. One wrong move, and it could all collapse.
"Alright, the Queens gambit, I should move my pawn here.." He muttered
Across from me, Arjun hesitated, his hand hovering over his pawn before he finally replied with e6. He fumbled, knocking his knight slightly out of place.
It was evident, this guy had no idea where he was so I manipulated that to my advantage!
I continued with Nf3, and he did the same with Nf6, mirroring my Knight, "You bastard, you think you can beat me by mirroring my own moves!"
Arjun thought; "My emotions won't let me play normally! At this rate I'll lose!"
As the game went on, He mistakenly sacrificed many of his minor pieces, until we eventually traded queens
"Alright, the board is fair, I can turn this against him!" He thought
Arjun played his knight carefully,
Until I slid my rook on the b file taking is dormant pawn, creating an opportunity, I sacrificed my bishop on f6, opening the pawn structure from the castled king, Arjun's eyes widened as he watched as his pawn structure was successfully infiltrated
"This game is mine!" I accidentally blurted out
As the game went on, it was inevitable, I had more past pawns and it was undeniable even for him,
He, realizing the situation, raised his hand up, unwilling but unable to battle the circumstances, forfeited.
He swore under his breath, taking in the loss
d4 d5
c4 e6
Nf3 Nf6
Nc3 Be7
cxd5 exd5
Bf4 c6
e3 Bf5
Nh4 Be6
Bd3 Ne4
Nf3 Bf5
Qc2 Bb4
O-O Qe7
Ng5 Bxc3
bxc3 Bg6
Nxe4 Bxe4
c4 Bxd3
Qxd3 dxc4
Qxc4 Nd7
Rfb1 Nf6
Qc5 Qd7
Qe5+ Qe7
Rxb7 Qxe5
Bxe5 O-O
Bxf6 gxf6
g3 Rfe8
Rc1 Rec8
Rc5 1-0
I let out a huge sigh of relief, my first win....
Meanwhile...
Matt Suen on his side of the game, faced up against a player from Holy Christian Academy,
"Diego Cruz! Just the man I was looking for!"
"Shut it lemon head." Diego muttered, moving his pawn on the board
Matt showcased his dominance by castling, taking center of the board and developing his pieces early
Diego on the other hand played it safe, not letting any wiggle room for Albedo to capture. after all.. they have been rivals since last year
Diego has always been a player to think of the hows than the whys, always planning moves he thinks will win without thinking about the repercussions. Matt was fully aware of this and knew exactly how to exploit his weakness
Matt, using his cognitive abilities to the full extent, constructed his pieces as if he were preparing a 5 star meal
Their game went on smoothly as Matt meticulously placed his pieces in brilliant positions while inviting Diego to play
"You don't intend to use your Queen? How typical of you Matt." He muttered, a glint of frustration in his eyes
Matt scoffed, replying; "That won't be necessary, the foundation of your pieces are falling down anyway!"
After Diego sacrificed a piece, Matt scoffed and muttered; "Primitive" bearing a huge smile on his face
An overseer walked by their game and motioned for silence. Matt, unfazed continued as usual, dominating in his game, eventually winning
Diego gripped his Queen while Matt held in a maniacal laugh, "You won't be so lucky next time." Diego exclaimed, and after shaking hands he walked away
Matt, still bearing a childish smile watched as he walked away; "We'll see how long that lasts." He muttered
Matt and Marco smiled as they both won their games, they both looked at who they'd be facing next on the tournament bracket.
As it updated, Marco and Matts names were drawn close together. Matt smiled, "I still have many tricks up my sleeve to show you, Marco."
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