Chapter 21:

Muzio marauder

En Passant Grandmaster Volume 4

Okisato stared at the board and immediately captured the knight at f3 with his g-pawn, as Skaberghast captured said pawn with his queen.

"This is all standard Muzio," Okisato thought as he moved his queen to f6.

"But can you keep up the pace? The Muzio is MY opening, so naturally I know all the best responses," Skaberghast thought as he moved his pawn to d3.

Okisato did have an advantage, but holding it would be a whole different story. And with the fast time control, one wrong move could prove fatal.

"I just gotta remember back when Peter trashed me with this. Hmm, in this position, knight c6, bishop captures f4, then d6, but if he goes knight c3... g-knight e7," Okisaro thought as all the moves he foresaw came to pass.

"Well look at that. Guess the oni-tiger isn't impenetrable after all. Should have gone queen g7 instead. But I doubt you know every Muzio line like the back of your hand. I imagine Peter trashed you with this a few times, but that's the thing, the trashings likely led you to preventing opponents from even pulling off the Muzio, and as a result, you never studied the perfect counter. Queen e3, queen g6, d4, bishop g7, and knight b5," Skaberghast thought as all the moves he listed were played. "Now the best response is king d8, but that's not an easy move to spot. You like forgoing your castling rights to pull off Bongcloud-type wins, but this late in the game, the most common response is to castle king's side. And if he does that, I just slide my pawn to c3," Skaberghast thought as his prediction came to pass.

The advantage was still on Okisato's side, but Skaberghast was playing perfectly, putting all the pressure on Okisato to maintain his advantage. This was not Okisato's usual playstyle as usually it was him making the risky plays and then playing perfectly. Here though, he had allowed Skaberghast to play his best opening, and with the low amount of time on the clock, he was struggling to come up with good counterplay.

"Dammit! This bastard knows this thing perfectly. I can't find an opening, even though I should have the advantage. I have to use up my time thinking, while he has everything figured out. I shouldn't have been so cocky, dammit! Ugh, if I go bishop d7, rook f3 comes so I go knight a5. Then he'll retreat his bishop to e2 or d3... It doesn't matter. I'll capture the knight at b5 with my bishop and he'll just capture it with his bishop. Then all I can do is go d5," Okisato thought as all the moves he foresaw came to pass.

"Now here's the kicker. Perfect play isn't always necessary. Rook e1 is the best move, but if I move my a-rook to f1 instead, he's gonna probably capture the pawn at e4 with his d-pawn. But after rook g3, queen e6, and bishop h6, he's gonna have to play perfectly or I win on the spot," Skaberghast thought as all the moves he listed came to pass.

Okisato managed to find the best move of knight g6, keeping his hopes alive. Skaberghast opted to trade bishops by capturing the bishop at g7 with his bishop, forcing Okisato to capture it with his king or have the tables turn against him. After that, Skaberghast moved his rook to h3 as Okisato countered by moving his pawn to h5. Skabergast promptly captured said pawn with his rook, once again forcing Okisato to find the best move, Rook h8, in order to keep the game going.

Okisato did find it, but Skaberghast once again put him on the spot by moving his h-rook to f5. Okisato did find the best move of moving his a-rook to f8, but time was starting to get low, and his mind was beginning to tire. And after Skaberghast moved his rook to f6, Okisato moved his queen to g4. The move wasn't horrendous per say, but it did even out the game and erase any advantage Okisato had.

"And now I keep panning till I get the gold," Skaberghast thought as he moved his pawn to h3.

Okisato still had his wits about him though and moved his queen to h4. Skaberghast wasn't giving any openings though and moved his pawn to d5. Worse he still had 9 minutes on the clock while Okisato was down to just 2. At this point, Okisato had to abandon any hope of winning and start looking for a perpetual check to force a draw.

"Think! I go queen d4, he goes king g8... B4 is his only viable move. Then I have to sac the knight and move my rook to g5, and when he takes the knight at a5 with his b-pawn, I capture the pawn at h3 with my queen. His g-pawn is pinned, so he'd likely capture the pawn at e4 with his queen. I capture the pawn at c3 with my queen, but what then!?" Okisato thought as all the moves he foresaw came to pass.

He eventually got his answer to what came next as Skaberghast moved his bishop to a4. It was then that he saw a way out, and desperately moved his queen to c5. "Check!"

Skaberghast raised an eyebrows and nonchalantly slid his 1-rook to f2. Okisato then slid his queen to c1, prompting Skaberghast to move his rook back to f1. Now under a minute, Okisato moved his queen back to c5, as Skaberghast once again moved his 1-rook to f2.

"Another check? He's really going for the repletion," Skaberghast thought as Okisato moved his queen to c1. "Ah, well shit. Guess I got a bit too lazy. Well, that's why indolence is a bloody nerf," he thought as he slid his rook to f1.

Okisato immediately moved his queen to c5 and let out a huge sigh of relief as the threefold repetition rule triggered and the game ended in a draw.

"Too bad it wasn't Armageddon," Skaberghast snickered as the DESPER deactivated and the scenery returned to normal.

Okisato immediately looked around for Agatha, yet she and her family had long since left.

"Hmm, wonder what the after effects of this will be. Well, I'll find out after my nap," Skaberghast chuckled as he began to head out.

"Wait!"

Skaberghast let out a sigh and turned to face Okisato. "Agatha flew the coop ages ago, and since you lost, you're getting nothing out of me."

"Then how about a consolation prize?"

"For what?"

Okisato glared and displayed Skaberghast's profile on his WWCF card. "For destroying your 100% win-rate with the Muzio."

Thanks to the draw, Skaberghast's perfect win-rate with the Muzio gambit had been destroyed. While he still remained undefeated, the loss would sting, if Skaberghast actually cared about things like that.

"Sorry buddy, but I don't give a rat's ass about that. All I care about is the win percentage, and that's one of my best openings. Sure I have some pride over the fact that I know it's ins and outs, but me losing my 100% win-rate status with it? Nothing. It wasn't a loss, nor were Armageddon rules in effect so I live with a draw. But I guess I don't want you stalking me, so I'll ask; can you name everyone that conspired to kill Kana?"

Okisato paused as he recounted all the names his mother had mentioned. "In addition to you and Agatha, there was Flavio Baltho, Pheremona Cuscuta, Marjatta Virtanen, and Olavi Hellkkinen, the sinful six as I dub you."

"True, that was everyone present the day Agatha first stopped by to give the project a massive funding, but what if I told you there were more conspirators."

"Why would I believe you?"

"Mina Kowalski. That's all you get," Skaberghast snickered as he walked away.

Clouds began to form as it began raining naturally. Okisato immediately looked up the name, but scowled in disappointment as nothing came up in the WWCF database. He then did in internet search, but that further worsened his mood. He cursed Skaberghast under his breath for a few minutes before being interrupted by an incoming call.

"Inoue-senpai?"

"Tanabe-kun! Where have you been? You just left so suddenly."

"Long story... I'll tell you when I get back. Don't worry, it's mostly good news. Carol was being targeted by an old witch named Mother Salem, right? Well, I took her out."

"ARE YOU SURE!?" Carol's voice suddenly cried.

"She got blasted to bits by a laser in a DESPER battle."

"Yeah, if it's in a DESPER battle, her spells won't protect her. It really might be over."

"Anyway, come back from wherever you are so we can talk properly," Mimoko mumbled.

The full game:

White: Prof Manfred von Skaberghast (2714) Black: Okisato Tanabe (2690)

1. e4 e5

2. f4 exf4

3. Nf3 g5

4. Bc4 g4

5. O-O gxf3

6. Qxf3 Qf6