The top seeds

The next day, round 4 of the Chess Olympics kicked off. The weather was still bad, resulting in the round's start being delayed once more, but this time, there weren't any worries of anyone getting chlorophormed the night before or lost in Budapest.

Despite their triumphant victory over Prussia in the previous round, the Japanese men's team was incredibly weary, and for good reason; India was the big favorite to win the entire thing. The women were also weary, but not as much. The solid team of Daria, Mimoko, and Iori plus Utami and Tenju playing well gave optimism to the team that the women's team could beat America, but it wouldn't be easy.

"Hmm, feel like sitting out, or is that scowl saying that you want to play me?" Daria smirked as she sat down at board 1 and fanned herself. 

"Oh, you know well it means I want to play you. My 2800 rating isn't for show; I'm a woman that wants to dominate," Elenora glared as she sat down across from Daria. 

"Figured that was the case, though you've yet to even beat all my SPCMs, so what makes you think you can beat me?" 

"Like I said, my rating isn't for show. I just don't have time to seek out the remaining SPCM I need to beat." 

"I'll concede the point; must've been busy for you last month aiding with Hagemi's kidnapping." 

"That was all Agatha!" 

"Regardless, I guess you can consider this your punishment." 

"You think you'll win? Even if you win the game, I have no doubt we'll win the match, or at worst draw, given our lineup," Elenora glared as she glanced over towards Noa. 

"Hmm? I remember you. Maccabee... -kun?" Mimoko nodded as Maccabee approached with Noa. 

"Ah, the honorifics. No need, but "-kun" and "-san" are fine if you can't kick the habit of using them," Maccabee smiled as he nudged Noa forward. "This here is my daughter, Noa. Believe I mentioned her before our match back then." 

"Nice to meet you. Are you going to play me?" 

"Y- Yes... I've been looking forward to this ever since I first saw you back in Mito," Noa smiled as she clutched her trembling hand. 

"You sure you're fine?" Maccabee asked as he began to head off towards his game.

"I'm good. Oh, but could I have one of your pe dreidels?"

Maccabee shot her a confused look, but pulled a wooden dreidel out of his pocket and tossed it to Noa. "The arbiters already know about it, but just show it to the one at your table anyway so you avoid the headache later."

Noa nodded and did as was recommended. The dreidel itself was just a wooden top, though Prokrutka was infamous for deeming even the smallest of accessories "suspicious", thus it was best to get the checks out of the way before the game began.

Once the arbiter assured Noa that it was fine to keep the item in her pocket during play, Noa thanked her and sat down across from Mimoko. Her hands were still trembling, but her smile didn't waver. 

"Are you sure you're fine to face me?" Mimoko asked. 

"Yes. That's why I'm so nervous. I've been wanting to play you for so long, and now I can. Here's to a good game," Noa smiled as she extended her hand.

Mimoko blinked for a bit, before smiling and shaking Noa's hand. "Good luck, you'll need it against me."

As for the remaining boards, debate was on amongst the remaining players on who would play who. 

"YO! It's batshit insane Sherbert! We gotta collab! Loser downs hot sauce wasabi and shaves her head!" Iori grinned as she stared down Sherbert. 

Sherbert quickly backed away and hid behind Katie. "Sorry, I only do wholesome videos."

"You call surfing down volcanoes topless, wholesome?"

"I DELETED THAT VIDEO! Th- That was when I was stupid and de- degenerate."

"And? No shame in being degenerate. I got my nudes online, not for free, but they're there." 

The statement caused Sherbert's face to go redder than a tomato. It also caused Katie's face to go red with anger as she crushed the paper cup she was holding in her hand.

"Um like, could you leave Mililani alone because like, she's wholesome and doesn't like doing unwholesome things. Ewetube's like, already degenerate with how the CEO is, so like, we don't need another-" 

"Oh shut up, will you!" Agatha fumed. 

"Like no, I don't shut up because like, freedom of speech, and I have the right to call out-" 

"We're in Hungary, not America, so shut up before I make you." 

"Um like, country doesn't matter. I speak out wherever and wherever, as long as I want. I need to like, get the point across completely. I do that and that gets the message, because saying everything-" 

"So who wants to get swept by me? Sherbert, you, or the hag?" Iori smirked.

"I have a-"

"You'll pay for insulting me!" Agatha fumed as she shoved Sherbert and Katie aside and sat down at board 4 across from Iori.

"So like, you play the redhead or Tenju?" Katie asked Sherbert.

"No, you can play. You've been sidelined a bunch thanks to Agatha," Sherbert smiled.

Tenju shook her head and leaned in close to Utami's ear. "You think you can take her?" 

"You want to sit out?" 

"I want to give Taira the chance to rest some more. But if you feel you can't take her-" 

"I'll play. Her ranting was clearly a disturbance to all, Mimoko-sama especially. She must be punished," Utami glared as she sat down at board 3 across from Katie. 

...

On the men's side, Ginji was on board 1 against rising superstar and challenger to the current world champion, Govindrao Dhvalikar. Govindrao was only 18 and already boasted a high rating of 2794, knocking on the door of the 2800 milestone. His teammate, Arun Jhingan, however, had just crossed it, becoming only the second Indian in history to do so.

The team also had another young prodigy known as Hanuman Dhoot. While Govindrao and Arun were beginning to leave him behind as they climbed to the top, he still boasted a respectable rating of 2755. And on the topic of ratings, Vihan was actually the lowest rated player on the team with a rating of 2743. The reserve member, Virat Joshi, just edged him out at 2750, but unlike the others he was much older and starting to show his age on the board. Yet despite that, he insisted on facing the masked man at board 4 instead of Vihaan.

"Why are you so insistent?" Vihaan grumbled. 

"Because... I don't know. But I can sense that I'm the only one here that can face him," Virat sighed.

Vihaan was a little skeptical, but in his heyday, Virat had been a rival to the great Vishwanathan Anand as well as India's top player in the maestro selection exam. In fact, many believed he'd become a maestro, but somehow he ended up falling just short. The crazy thing was that nobody with insight on the maestro exam, including some of the maestros themselves, had any idea as to why that was. Raymond was believed to be the only one that truly knew the truth of said matter, yet he naturally refused to discuss it.

"Hahaha! I calculate our chances of victory are high! My individual chances have also risen with this line-up change," Hanuman laughed as he wiggled his arms like a jellyfish and sat down at board 2 across from Mori. 

Everyone was a bit surprised at how deep Hanuman's voice was as with his nerdy appearance, it was fair to assume he'd sound more like a stereotypical geek. But what didn't surprise anyone was that true to his moniker of "Squiggly arms Hanuman", he really did appear as if he had squiggly arms at times.

"Of course I get the weirdo. Remind me again why we had to swap?" Mori glared. 

Govindrao and Arun had monikers as well, being "Govindrao the grinder" and "Arun the rampager", respectively. Arun was the more infamous one though as to get both his rating and moniker, he competed in various open tournaments, taking down many sub-2700 players in the process. This provided valuable experience to him as now he had a rhythm for crushing those rated 2700 and under.

This was a large reason India had put him on board 3, and the main reason Okisato was challenging him, as he felt he was the only on that could beat him. Arun was a man of few words, but he was one of the last people you wanted to be sitting across from especially if you were 2700 and under.

"Welp, this is gonna be fun," Okisato sighed as he sat down across from Arun.