Chapter 12:

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En Passant Grandmaster Volume 6

Once the arbiters had the scoresheets, Mimosa ran off in tears. It was times like this where she'd need consoling, however, Alice was unable to comfort her as she herself was still playing. Since this was a team event, a win, loss, or draw could dictate the flow of the entire match, or at the very least, psychologically impact the teams playing.

Over on board 3, Utami had blocked the check by moving her knight to e2, with Fifi having entered a deep think. She eventually settled on knight a6 as her next move, but it was then that Mimosa lost.

"Iori drew first blood. Perhaps I'll go for blood as well," Utami thought as she captured the pawn at e6 with her d-pawn.

"Not good. Mimosa losing is gonna hurt Alice and Collette. Utami here's emboldened, meaning I gotta fight back with bold," Fifi thought as she captured the pawn at e6 with her queen.

Utami castled queen's side, opening up the door for Fifi to capture the pawn at a2 with her queen, putting her in a position that could lead to her victory, if Utami failed to counter that is.

"You must be squirming. Tanabe's drilled positions like this into me over and over. I won't fall for such tricks again, not when Mimoko-sama is counting on me," Utami thought as she moved her knight to c3.

"Check. A shame you spotted it, but fear not, I'll piece together the mate, shortly," Fifi smirked as she moved her queen to a1, forcing Utami to move her knight to b1.

She then moved her bishop to e7 as Utami kept up the momentum by moving her bishop to d6.

"Now for run number 2," Fifi thought as she moved her bishop to f6, and got up to walk around.

She wasn't roaming for long though as once she gained some distance, she turned to notice Utami moving her pawn to c3. Thus, to keep her time from ticking down to far, she came back briefly to move her queen to a4 before heading off once more.

"Taking a look at the other games, seems there's been some action since we last checked," Danny noted as he zoomed in on board 2.

"Yes, on this one we last left off at move 14, and since then, 10 turns have passed. Bishop e2, a-rook d8, king c1, f-rook e8, a3, bishop b6, rook d1, rook d6, king c2, bishop f5, check! Then bishop d3, bishop g4, rook e1, bishop captures f3, g captures f3, e-rook d8, bishop e4, knight captures d4, check, bishop captures d4, and bishop captures d4 is how we got to where we are now," Nancy stated.

"What's shocking is that the eval bar was the same when we last left, and just like before, I still don't see the winning lines. Do you, Nancy?"

Nancy shook her head, but as soon as Alice moved her e-rook to d1, it became clearer to see the reasoning behind the eval bar. And if that wasn't enough, g6, f4, rook e6, bishop f3, rook f6, bishop e4, and rook captures f4 made it all the more clear, Tenju was on the path to victory.

Both Collette and Fifi scowled as they got up to look at the game. Not only could they tell Alice was losing, but Alice herself knew it too. However, she couldn't give up as her team needed the win or at the very least a draw.

"I knew it. Alice is beginning to slip thanks to Mimosa's loss. I'd better do my part to try and ease her mental state," Fifi thought as she returned to her board.

Sitting back down, Fifi was greeted with the gift of knight a3 from Utami, prompting her to respond by moving her king to d8.

"About time you came back. Now, offer up your queen's head," Utami thought as she let loose a mad grin.

"That's a little unsettling. Hmm, she must've thought my queen was trapped. Sorry, but no," Fifi thought as she frowned and moved her queen to a5.

"You think your queen isn't trapped? I think it is," Utami thought as she moved her h-rook to e1.

"Mmm, things are getting a bit cramped, but if it's sturdy, we stick with it," Fifi thought as she moved her knight to c7.

"CHECK!" Utami grinned, barely stopping short of bursting into maniacal laughter, as she moved her bishop to e7.

"A bishop for me," Fifi thought as she smiled and captured the bishop at e7 with her bishop.

Utami slowly relaxed her smile. "Ah, control. Mimoko-sama despises gloating. Modesty should be shown," Utami thought as she captured the pawn at d7 with her bishop.

Unsure of what Utami had planned, Fifi cautiously moved her knight back to e8. Then came bishop c6, check, from Utami, forcing Fifi to evade with king c7. Then came another check as Utami captured the bishop at e7 with her rook.

"My, trying to equalize. I like the boldness, but bold can be costly," Fifi thought as she captured the bishop at c6 with her king.

"GOT YOU! CHECK!" Utami laughed, unable to hide her maniacal grin, as she slammed her queen down on d5.

Fifi grimaced as she was forced to move her king to b6, but relaxed when Utami went for another check by nudging her queen up to d6. "My, you got a bit greedy with the checks. Now bid adieu to the leading lady," Fifi thought as she captured the queen at d6 with her knight.

Utami then took a deep breath before relaxing her smile. "You were a worthy opponent, but you must fall for the sake of Mimoko-sama's glorious reign. Be honored you're the path we'll walk across."

"Hmm? What-"

"Checkmate!" Utami laughed as she captured the knight at d6 with her rook, winning the game.

Fifi's jaw dropped in shock before she slowly began to laugh and cry. "Aha, ahaha... I got too bold... I'm sorry..."

The full game:

White: Utami Enoki (2300) Black: SPCM Fifi Bealieu (2400)

1. d4 Nf6

2. Bf4 c5

3. d5 Qb6

4. Nc3 e6

5. e4 Nxe4

6. Nxe4 Qb4+

7. Qd2 Qxe4+