Chapter 708:

Queen fishing

En Passant Grandmaster

As nightfall hit, Yuusuke and Hagemi returned to Pnina's hotel room.

"I fail to see why Mimoko praises you. Your record is shoddy, and you have yet to cross 2000 despite having been playing chess for years. Quite frankly, I'd rather have someone more up and coming be the under 2000, but since contracts have been signed, you have a chance at joining, but only if you beat me. Or do you care to make this easier for all by opting not to join the team?" Pnina scoffed.

Yuusuke began to scowl. "Everyone keeps looking down on me, except Inoue. She's the one who's stuck by my side through it all, so sit down lady, I'm kickin' your ass!"

Pnina's eye twitched, yet she maintained a poker face. "The first move is yours then. You have 10 minutes, no increment, on the clock."

The game opened with Yuusuke moving his pawn to d4 and Pnina moving her pawn to d5.

"Dang, can't go Mieses as White. Guess I'll just do a Queen's," Yuusuke thought as he moved his pawn to c4.

Pnina rolled her eyes and moved her bishop to f5.

"Huh? Uh, OK?" Yuusuke thought as he moved his queen to b3.

His mood quickly improved as Pnina moved her pawn to e5, allowing him to capture the pawn at b7 with his queen.

"Idiot. That's a losing move," Hagemi thought as Pnina moved her knight to d7.

Yuusuke didn't seem to notice or care as he captured the pawn at e5 with his d-pawn. Pnina, meanwhile, kept her poker face as she moved her pawn to d4, which only furthered to better Yuusuke's mood. That being said, his play was beginning to slip as evidenced of his choice to go knight d2. It wasn't losing, but following rook b8, he found himself slipping down a slope thanks to his mind boggling play of queen d5.

"What is that idiot thinking!?" Hagemi thought as she gritted her teeth and watched Pnina move her bishop to c5.

And then came pawn e4. No thought was put into the move, nor did Yuusuke see the need to as he thought it was good. But for Hagemi, this was too much.

"YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" she shouted as Pnina scowled and moved her knight to e7.

"Wha? What did I..."

All the confidence Yuusuke had dissipated as he came to the realization; his queen was screwed. Yet, he didn't give up. He pressed ahead with pawn e6, resulting in said pawn being captured by Pnina's f-pawn. He then took the knight at d7 with his queen, getting in a check, before said queen was captured by Pnina's queen. Yuusuke then captured the bishop at f5 with his e-pawn as he had intended to, with Pnina advancing her pawn to e3.

However, another blunder in the form of bishop captures d3 sent poor Yuusuke into complete dejection mode. With the capture of said bishop on d3 via the queen, he was unable to muster the will to continue fighting, though at least had the pride to still go down on the board. Thus, he captured the pawn at e6 with his f-pawn, paving the way for Pnina to play rook f8, setting the stage for mate. With an exhausted smile on his face, Yuusuke moved his pawn to b4.

"So this is your resignation. Fine, I'll play it out. Check," Pnina snarled as she captured the pawn at f2 with her bishop.

King d1 was forced, though Knight f5 left Yuusuke with three options, all of which led to mate. He went with bishop b2, allowing knight e3, check, which forced king c1.

"Checkmate. You fail. The Japanese members of the team will be Mimoko and Hagemi," Pnina glared as she moved her queen to c2, winning the game.

The full game:

White: Yuusuke Shousen (1901) Black: Pnina Sapir (2016)

1. d4 d5

2. c4 Bf5

3. Qb3 e5

4. Qxb7 Nd7

5. dxe5 d4

6. Nd2 Rb8

7. Qd5 Bc5

8. e4 Ne7

9. e6 fxe6