Chapter 3:

Two years of En Passant Grandmaster (Chapter 720)

En Passant Grandmaster Anniversary Speacial Collection

Finding herself atop the makeshift dunk tank along with Gyuri, Mimoko sat down at the white end of the chessboard.

"It's 9 now, and the 1st round starts in 12 hours... Eh, 9 hours on the timers," Gyuri shrugged.

"So you want to stall me. Very well," Mimoko glared as the game began.

Mimoko opened the game by moving her pawn to d4, with Gyuri responding by moving his knight to f6. However, as Mimoko reached for her c-pawn, she touched her bishop instead.

"Haha! You gotta move that bishop now!" Gyuri gloated as Mimoko moved her bishop to f4.

Then after Gyuri moved his pawn to g6, Mimoko seemingly made another misstep and moved her knight to c3.

"Uhaha! You pop one of those whiskey bonbons in your mouth at the party?" Gyuri snickered as he moved his bishop to g7.

"No, I'm just poking and prodding since you are 2727," Mimoko thought as she stretched out her fingers a bit before moving her pawn to e4.

Pawn c5 came next, prompting Mimoko to capture said pawn with her d-pawn, with Gyuri retaliating with the anticipated queen a5. Mimoko prepared countermeasures by moving her queen to d2, allowing Gyuri to snag the pawn at c5 with his queen.

"Hmm, castling's the best play, but what if I switch things up and go f3 first?" Mimoko thought as she moved her pawn to f3.

Gyugi shrugged at the play and moved his knight to f6, with the delayed turn of castling following shortly after, with Mimoko castling queen's side, and Gyugi castling king's side.

King b1 and pawn h5 followed, but it was then that Mimoko decided to go for the bold play of bishop h6. It worked like a charm as Gyugi shrugged it off and moved his pawn to b6.

"You know, that guy looks kind of tired," Noa noted as Mimoko moved her knight to d5.

"Gyugi is a fiend of the stalking night," Zsa Zsa scoffed as Gyugi moved his rook to d8.

"Lol, so this guy is just some stalker," Iori snickered as Mimoko moved her pawn to a3.

"He does have skill, skill that pales to Zsa Zsa's," Zsa Zsa scoffed as Gyugi fittingly moved his bishop to h8.

"YO! You called it! He just blundered big!" Iori grinned as Mimoko's eyes lit up before she launched her pawn to g4.

Gyuri didn't seem aware of his predicament as he captured the pawn at g4 with his h-pawn with no hesitation. Mimoko then moved her pawn to h4 as Gyuri decided to ignore the king's side and move his bishop to b7.

"He really likes to fianchetto his bishops," Mimoko thought as she moved her pawn to h5.

"You're going down a tricky line. I like tricky lines," Gyuri thought as he narrowed his gaze and captured the pawn at h5 with his knight.

Mimoko let out a sigh before smiling and gazing down at the peanut gallery. "Oh, Iori-chan, you're going to love what I'm gonna do next. Can I get a ROOOOK!?"

Iori's face lit up in joy as she got the cue. "AND SHE'S SACKIN' THE ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK!" she shouted as Mimoko captured the knight at h5 with her rook.

What no one expected was for a disturbing grin to ignite upon Gyuri's face. "You blew it! You just got suckered in to my trap!" he cackled as he captured the rook at h5 with his g-pawn.

Mimoko shook her head. "I think you're the one that got turned around a bit. Check," she smiled as she moved her queen to g5.

The power high quickly vanished as Gyuri's naturally pale face became just a smidge paler. "N- No issue. H7 saves it," he thought as he moved his king to h7.

Mimoko instantly mopped up the pawn at h5 with her queen as Gyuri suddenly reignited his malicious smile. "Of course! I put 9 hours on this thing. Make her wait, than go for a draw. Easy!" he thought.

And thus, Gyuri sat and held off on making his next move of king g8 until only 2 minutes were left on his clock. By that time, dawn had begun to crack with the skies slowly beginning to lighten up. Iori and Noa had both drifted off to sleep, with Zsa Zsa having woken up after taking a nap.

"Oh, the fool's still stalling? What a waste of time. A foe who challenges Zsa Zsa would never succumb to fatigue on the verge of victory," Zsa Zsa scoffed as she nudged Noa and Iori to wake them up.

Upon seeing the two groggily waking up, Mimoko smiled and let out a yawn. "Now I know we're deep in the match, but could I have it be that upon my victory, I get the effects of a good night's rest, without having to sleep for it?" she smiled as she checked Gyuri once more by moving her queen back to g5.

"Win? This is a drawn endgame!" Gyuri spat as he moved his king back to h7.

"No, it's a winning one for me. Don't think your little stalling gambit worked on me," Mimoko smirked as she moved her bishop to d3.

"GUH!? I WASTED 9 HOURS ON THIS SHIT!" Gyuri fumed as he slammed his pawn down on e6.

"Iori-chan, I hope you're up. You're about to witness an "epic flex" as you put it."

"Ngh, what's going on?" Iori mumbled.

"Mimo's doing something... What was it?" Carol asked.

"I fell asleep. Zsa Zsa?" Noa asked.

"Judgement for the eyesore," Zsa Zsa scoffed.

"What "flex"!? You're not winning!" Gyuri scoffed.

"Check," Mimoko smugly smiled as she moved her pawn to e5.

"Huh? You're not winning!" Gyuri snarled as he moved his pawn to f5.

"No, even if you didn't lunge that pawn out, the position would still be lost."

"'Lunge the- ...!?"

Gyuri's eyes bulged as sweat gushed down his face. "No... NO! NO, YOU WOULDN'T!" he trembled.

"Sorry, but given the chance to pull off such a rare mate, and against a grandmaster no less, I'm not going to waste it. EN PASSANT!" Mimoko smiled as she performed en passant and captured the pawn at f5 with her e-pawn, winning the game. "Checkmate. Now I do hope I get rejuvenated. Speaking of which, hope all your time at the board didn't make you forget about where you'll be going."

The trapdoor beneath Gyuri opened, sending him screaming his way into the lake with a splash. He eventually resurfaced, but only long enough for Iori to get a few seconds of footage of him sulking before he was warped away to the WWCF holding facility.

"Lol, you just became an En Passant Grandmaster," Iori grinned as Mimoko made her way down.

"Mimoko-nee, that was amazing, but are you alright?" Noa asked.

"Not sure if the victory prize was implemented, but I feel like it was, meaning you don't need to worry about me being too tired to play. And even if it wasn't, I'm still feeling great. Plus worst case scenario, the sun's not up, so I could catch a quick hour or two of sleep," Mimoko smiled.

"What a pathetic waste. But Zsa Zsa was able to observe. When our teams face, Zsa Zsa will crush you," Zsa Zsa grumbled as she began walking away.

The full game:

White: Mimoko Inoue (2880) Black: Gyuri Heltai (2727)

1. d4 Nf6

2. Bf4 g6

3. Nc3 Bg7

4. e4 c5

5. dxc5 Qa5

6. Qd2 Qxc5

7. f3 Nc6

8. O-O-O O-O

9. Kb1 h5