Curse of the castle

As round 2 began, it was Japan vs Italy on the women's side. With Daria and Margarita sitting out, Iori was up against Isabella on board 4, Utami against Gloria on board 3, Tenju against Carla on board 2, and at board 1, Mimoko was facing off against Laura.

While all eyes were on board 1, Daria was carefully watching board 2. She strongly suspected Carla was actually an executive board member, making her weary. While Tenju was essentially playing at Taira's level, an executive board member could easily rout her if they played at a 2900 level. And to add another layer of stress, Iori was doing her own thing, responding to Isabella's knight f3 opening with knight a6, putting her at a disadvantage from the get-go. If Carla truly was as strong as Daria feared she was and won, Iori would need to win or at the very least not lose as both Gloria and Laura would likely play strategically should Italy gain the lead.

And speaking of the top board, Mimoko was once again playing as Black, and after e4, e5, knight f3, and knight c6, found herself at the mercy of Laura's Italian Game after Laura moved her bishop to c4. She decided to go for the Giuoco Piano and moved her bishop to c5, but that brought a big smile to Laura's face.

"Oh di molto! You've decided to play right into my favorite gambit, the Evan's Gambit!" Laura thought as she moved her pawn to b4.

Mimoko was prepared, and promptly captured said pawn with her bishop. "You think I didn't study up on you? While the Evan's Gambit has seen some action at high-level play, I most certainly know how to counter it. And since you always go for it whenever it's a Giuoco Piano game, all I had to do was humor you and the chances were high that you'd go for it. Now I'll destroy you for assaulting my lips last night," she thought.

Over on board 3, Utami contemplated how to make Gloria suffer. "Hmm, to punish this scoffer... I'll need something insulting, but also solid enough not to incur Mimoko-sama's frown. Hmm, perhaps flipping the bird is fitting," she  thought as she opened her game against Gloria by moving her pawn to f4.

"Wow, stupid much? Guess this is why we didn't even get a briefing on you," Gloria scoffed in her mind as she moved her pawn to d5.

Utami followed up by moving her pawn to e3 as Gloria opted to go for knight c6. This followed by Utami's play of knight f3 put the game in even territory. Gloria then made a small stutter by moving her bishop to d7, but it was by no means detrimental Utami moved her pawn to d4, keeping things within the borders of even. Gloria's next play of knight f6 tested those limits, but little drama occurred in the next moves though as c4, bishop f5, c captures d5, knight captures d5, and bishop b5 failed to move the needle significantly any which way.

Then Gloria made the natural move of pawn a6, changing everything.

"Could that... If I do that and that, she might... Hmm, it could work," Utami thought before she captured the knight at c6 with her bishop. "Check."

Gloria rolled her eyes and captured said bishop with her b-pawn. "This stuff is standard play. What a bore. Drawing her would be wasteful she thought as Utami moved her queen to e2. "I wasn't named "Gloria" for nothing, I go for glory when I play," she thought as she captured the knight at b1 with her bishop.

On board 2, Tenju was playing as White and had opened by moving her pawn to d4. Since Carla responded with d5, Tenju opted to go for a London System and played knight f3, achieving her desired outcome after Carla responded with knight f6, allowing bishop f4 to be played. Though it soon became an Indian Game after e6 and e3 were played.

Carla then went on the attack by moving her bishop to d6, prompting Tenju to move her bishop to d3. Tenju didn't quite know every line of the Indian Game, but she figured either a pawn trade at c5 or a bishop trade at f4 was coming, but to everyone's surprise, Carla moved her f-knight to d7.

"Hold on, f-knight d7? Uh, Nancy, any idea on what Carla might be thinking?" Danny nervously asked as he and Nancy checked in on the game.

"Hmm, this allows bishop g3, and the engine says trading off the bishops is the right move, so bishop takes on g3, h takes on g3."

"But that opens up the h-file to the rook."

"Indeed it does, but the best move for black is c5."

As all the moves the two discussed played out, Danny fiddled around with possible scenarios. "Hmm, capturing evens things out a bit, but looks like Tenju just played c4. Fair."

"But Carla just played queen e7."

"Queen e7!? Just who in the world is Carla Sanmarino!?"

"... You've been waiting to say that line, haven't you?"

With a smirk and a nod, Danny confirmed that indeed he did.

Shifting back to board 4, Iori continued to stay in the danger-zone by the 5th move. E4, g6, d4, c6, knight c3, and knight c7 had all been played following Iori's unorthodox, arguably reckless, 1... Na6 response to 1. Nf3. And after Isabella moved her pawn to h3, Iori was still at a big disadvantage even after responding with the best play, bishop g7. Yet after Isabella played the seemingly natural pawn to d5, the eval bar suddenly evened out.

"Whoa! What just happened!? D5's a natural move so why's the engine saying this is even?" Danny asked.

"Hmm, likely because e captures d5 and-"

"Hold on Nancy, Iori just played d6, and the bar... didn't move that much."

"Hmm, well if she had taken, it would have led to a trade. But d6 seems fine. Though if Isabella could have seen the eval bar, she'd be kicking herself. She had a clear advantage, but now the game's practically even. A win here would have been big for Team Italy, though it seems like everything now is even."

"Even at board 3?"

"Correct. And going back to board 1, c3, bishop e7, and queen b3 have since been played. Things are still even, but Mimoko has the slimmest of edges. Though she'll need to find knight h6. If she doesn't, the slight edge shifts to Laura."

But naturally, Mimoko found the move, and with the ball in Laura's court, she castled king's side, significantly shifting the eval bar towards Mimoko's favor. And before the commentators could slip in a word, Mimoko moved her knight to a5 before getting up to walk around. While a playful smile still plastered itself on Laura's face, a nervous frown had begun to crack through as Laura herself realized the castle was a mistake.

"It's the curse of the castle, I tell ya. Now Mimoko's got the edge, and with both knights on the sides of the board!" Danny exclaimed.

"And to make things even more savage, she played knight a5 almost immediately after the castle. Now that's a statement of intellectual superiority if I ever saw one," Nancy added.

"And if you think that's crazy, this is the second time in a Team Japan match where the castle screws over their opponents. I'm telling ya, castling's overrated. I think we need to invest more in Bongcloud opening theory."

"You disgrace the grandmaster title you so proudly flaunt." 

"Hey, the chess speaks for itself, and it most certainly did when not just Iori, but Okisato from Japan's men's team won with a Bongcloud/Bongcloud-esque opening yesterday. Speaking of the men, let's shift over to them following a quick break."