Chapter 766:

The insignificant one

En Passant Grandmaster

Across the way, Utami was locked in a fierce battle with Vlatka with the match hanging in the balance.

"Hmm, to punish this fiend... I'll need something insulting, but also solid enough not to incur Mimoko-sama's frown. Hmm, perhaps flipping the bird is fitting," Utami 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," Vlatka scoffed in her mind as she moved her pawn to d5.

Utami followed up by moving her pawn to e3 as Vlatka opted to go for knight c6. This followed by Utami's play of knight f3 put the game in even territory. Vlatka 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.Vlatka'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 Vlatka 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."

Vlatka 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 go for glory when I play," she thought as she captured the knight at b1 with her bishop.

Following Utami's capturing of the bishop at b1 with her rook, e6, e4, knight b6, a king's side castle, bishop e7, queen c2, queen d7, rook e1, a king's side castle, and knight e5 had left things on the board looking far more troublesome for Vlatka.

"That bitch wasn't supposed to push me back like this," Vlatka thought as she captured the pawn at d4 with her queen. "Check! You're insignificant! INSIGNIFICANT!" she fumed aloud.

Utami gazed upon Vlatka with disappointment as she moved her bishop to e3. Vlatka was unable to glare back properly though as she found herself moving her queen to a4 along with her face suddenly being swarmed with sweat.

"Fuck, I can't lose my queen. Ngh, where the fuck won't it get fucked!?" Vlatka thought as she darted her eyes madly across the board before finally settling on moving her queen to a3.

Her continued to hinder her though as Utami captured her pawn at c6 with her knight, leading Vlatka into moving her knight to d7 in an attempt to keep things going. Yet that very move sealed her queen's fate as it allowed Utami to push her pawn to b4, trapping the queen. Then came another bad move from Vlatka in the form of a-rook e8, allowing Utami to unleash the coup de gras on Vlatka's queen by moving her bishop to c1.

The sound of Vlatka's teeth clattering together in fury permeated throughout the immediate area as she was forced to capture the bishop at c1 with her queen. Yet rather than capture the queen immediately, Utami decided to make her opponent suffer.

"Check. Now how insignificant will you be after I've stepped over you?" Utami scoffed as she captured the bishop at e7 with her knight.

If Vlatka was ever considering resigning, all that went out the window as newfound fury consumed her. "LIKE HELL I'LL YIELD TO YOU!" she fumed in her mind as she captured the knight at e7 with her rook.

Utami struggled to restrain her smile from evolving to a maniacal grin as she captured the queen at c1 with her b-rook. "Ah, I must behave for Mimoko-sama, but to see you squirm after what you said... Oh, how will you look by the end of this?" she thought as Vlatka moved her pawn to e5.

The answer would come soon as after Utami captured the pawn at c7 with her queen, Vlatka blundered into mate by moving her pawn to f5, leaving Utami unable to restrain herself as she saw it instantly and moved her e-rook to d1. Vlatka, left stunned by Utami's sudden shift in expression, had her rage paused as confusion consumed her. It took e captures f4, rook captures d7, e-rook f7, rook captures f7, and rook captures f7 before she finally realized she was finished.

"Check. You've gone quiet. Are you by chance diverting some mental power towards erasing this "insignificant" game from your memory?" Utami taunted as she moved her queen to c8.

As if on que, Vlatka's rage returned. "Alright, I don't give a shit what the refs say, FUCK YOU!" Vlatka fumed as she slammed her rook down on f8 and flipped off Utami.

"Oh, I see. Insignificant. Check," Utami scoffed as her expression returned to normal while she moved her queen to e6.

The sudden shift in expressions once again threw off Vlatka, but not enough to put her rage on pause. That being said, all she could do to keep things going was to move her king to h8, yet all that did was delay mate by just a few moves. Rook c8, h5, rook captures f8, check, king h7, e captures f5, g5, then finally queen g6...

"Checkmate. How insignificant. I barely used 1% of my thinking power," Utami scoffed.

Vlatka blinked in confusion for a bit before scowling, and crumpling up her scoresheet into a ball before throwing it down on the ground before storming away.

Thanks to this, Team Alaskan Wildlife Tours had prevailed 4.5-1.5.

The full game:

White: Utami Enoki (2300) Black: Vlatka Jurkovič (2301)

1. f4 d5

2. e3 Nc6

3. Nf3 Bd7

4. d4 Nf6

5. c4 Bf5

6. cxd5 Nxd5

7. Bb5 a6

8. Bxc6+ bxc6

9. Qe2 Bxb1