Chapter 15:

Setting the stage

En Passant Grandmaster Volume 5

At the secret puzzle cafe in Tokyo, Daria called for a meeting with all of her female SPCMs. With the exception of Tenju, all were present and sat around a circular table in the back room. The topic of discussion was naturally in regards to the qualification tournament for the women's national team.

"Seriously? We gotta go through an elimination tournament just to get to the main one? What happens if we get paired against the maestro!?" Safumi fumed.

"Only if you're under 2000, otherwise, you get an automatic pass to the main tournament," Daria stated.

"Ah, and here I was hoping I could eliminate Safumi," Doraaki sighed.

"Oi, you're asking for it," Safumi snarled as she got in Doraaki's face.

"Now, ladies, we don't need you bruising each other up like you did a month ago," Mizuse chuckled.

"What would the issue be if her face is bruised, but she can still walk?"

"I'd focus more on practicing than arguing. Just because you get a free pass to the Swiss portion, doesn't mean you mean there aren't low-rated opponents that have the potential to outplay you there," Daria warned.

"Might I inquire as to who that might be?" Mizuse asked.

"To that, I'm afraid you'll have to do your own research for. But as a hint, I'll say she's younger than all here."

"Ah, it's that baby, right? Iori's still shellshocked about getting beaten by her," Carol nervously chuckled.

"I'm bringing attention to this mainly due to the fact that if any of us lose to someone at any round in this tournament, they get the full spoils they'd normally get for beating us, assuming they haven't done so already. Naturally, the same applies to you all should you beat your fellow SPCM," Daria stated.

"Well that's lovely. Though I've already beaten Safumi once. What a shame," Doraaki sighed.

As Safumi began to rage, Daria went on to the next major topic of discussion. "Does anyone know how Tenju's doing?"

Frowns formed on everyone's faces.

"After she apologized to me for thinking I was the mastermind, I haven't seen her since. I could try prompting her to play in the tournament, but considering her skill and state, doubt she'd feel the point of it," Safumi sighed.

"With this new secret puzzle cafe now operational, I'm extremely worried about her mental state. If anyone can check up on her, I'd appreciate that."

...

Tenju chuckled and cried as she curled up on her bed. "Ah, Taira, they replaced you, and now you're rotting... I HATE THAT MAESTRO!"

"Onee-san, please calm down," a vestige of Taira begged as she floated before Tenju.

"Ah, Taira. I'm seeing you, right? You're a ghost now... Ah, Taira, can others see you?"

"No, just you... Onee-san, don't be upset about the new secret puzzle cafe-"

"SHE REPLACED YOU! That was going to be your place, but she went and hired someone else! I CAN STILL SEE YOU! Ah, but you're a ghost... WHY CAN'T GHOSTS SERVE AS SPCMS, HUH!?"

As Tenju began to make a mess of the room, a message was sent via her WWCF card.

"Onee-san, you got a message."

Tenju slowly stopped her rampage and read the message. "Chess Olympics... Chess Olympics..."

"I played in the one two years ago. We put up a good fight, but bronze was all we got."

"I was so distraught then. I had to watch from afar, get drafted into doing extra SPCM shifts, I hated that they refused to add me to the team."

"I can understand why the federation would be against it, but now, you could make the team."

Tenju let loose a hysterical laugh. "Ah, I'm loosing it for real now. Even when alive, Taira would never say I was good at chess."

"I'm one with you now. I can help you. Play chess. Play chess, and I'll show you the way."

Tenju smiled meekly. "Ah, why not? If it's a request from Taira's ghost, I won't ignore it."

As soon as Taira finished registering for the qualification tournament, she was hit with a message, requiring that she head to a secret puzzle cafe in Paris for a challenge request.

"Onee-san, you need to go there."

"I don't wanna see her. I don't wanna see that failure who failed to protect you."

"Then just do one challenge."

"Will you help-"

"For this, I cannot. Though I'll analyze your strength as is."

Tenju scowled and warped directly to her secret puzzle cafe in Nagasaki, not even bothering to change out of her pajamas.

The moment she stepped out into the main room, all eyes were on her.

"T- Tenju, why are you dressed like that?" a young woman with long blue hair gasped as Tenju headed for the table.

A man seated at the table grinned as he laid eyes on her. "Been a while since I saw you. Where's your snuggle toy you're always with?"

Fury erupted from Tenju as she got behind the counter. "One day only, one match only. Armageddon, you get White, I get Black, 10 minutes on your clock, 7 on mine, begin."

The challenger, known as Geert Spurlock, didn't seem to know the first thing about chess as evidenced by the fact that he was both rated 100 and opened by moving his pawn to h4. Tenju responded by moving her pawn to e5. The rest was slaughter.

Geert moved his pawn to a4, but panicked after Tenju moved her queen to f6 and moved his pawn to g3. Tenju responded by moving her pawn while Geert confidently moved his knight to f3. That move came too little too late as Tenju moved her pawn to e4, sending the knight to g5.

Tenju was by no means a top player as evidenced by the fact that she moved her knight to h6, but her opponent was even worse, moving his pawn to e3 and allowing Tenju to play knight g4.

"Uh... AHA! This wins right?" Geert exclaimed as he moved his bishop to b5.

Tenju let out a growl and moved her knight to c6, prompting Geert to move his pawn to f4. Then things got troublesome as Tenju performed en passant and captured the pawn at f4 with her e-pawn. Geert quickly raised a fuss but Tenju then coldly explained the rules of en passant.

"T- That's still unfair!" Geert protested as he captured the pawn at f3 with his queen.

"It's part of the game, deal with it," Tenju snarled as she moved her pawn to a6.

Geert went quiet, and nervously moved his queen to e2, however, that allowed Tenju to capture the pawn at b5 with her a-pawn. Geert then made horrible counterplay by moving his rook to g1, though Tenju failed to make the best move, and moved her pawn to d4. Yet that misstep didn't matter in the grand scheme of things as Geert once again responded with bad counterplay by moving his pawn to d3, allowing Tenju to deliver a check by moving her bishop to b4.

Geert defended by moving his knight to d2, giving Tenju the chance to capture the pawn at e3 with her d-pawn. But rather than try to get out of his predicament, Geert made things worse by capturing the pawn at f7 with his knight, allowing Tenju to play the devastating knight d4.

Yet Geert moved his rook to a2, unaware of the danger he was in, until Tenju captured his queen at e2 with her knight. Now in a panic, he quickly captured said knight with his king, but that was a fatal mistake.

"Check," Tenju snarled as she moved her queen to f2.

The king could only go to d1 now, and after Geert nervously completed the move...

"Checkmate," Tenju growled as she moved her pawn to e2, winning the game.

Others present nervously watched as Tenju promptly headed back to the back room. The blue haired girl, known as Fifi Beaulieu, nervously followed after her.

"Tenju, nobody's seen you for days. Are you alright?"

"No. I only came at request of Taira," Tenju snarled as she warped back home.

"Onee-san, Fifi meant no harm," Tenju's visage sighed.

"So? How bad was I? Hopeless, right?"

"Only because you were forced to play at your rating, hence why I didn't intervene. But for all upcoming matches, I will show you the moves."

"How exactly?"

"You'll know when the tournament begins. Now rest up."

The full game:

White: Geert Spurlock (100) Black: SPCM Himitsutan (Tenju Kuroshiro) (1362)

1. h4 e5

2. a4 Qf6

3. g3 d5