Stormy weather and a Halloween Gambit

With India now leading 1-0, soon to be 2-0 if Okisato wasn't able to find an escape, Ginji's mood began to improve. "Oki-chwan's gonna lose. Once that happens, all I gotta do is draw. Then we lose, and better, I gain elo since this kid's higher-rated than me," he thought as he stared at Govindrao. 

Ironically enough, things were pretty even at board 1, making a draw from Ginji not seem too outlandish. However, the key thing was timing. 

Over on board 4, things were looking much brighter for Team Japan.

"Now this one's fun. We've got a Halloween Gambit!" Laila grinned.

"E4, e5, knight f3, knight c6, knight c3, knight f6, and Happy Halloween, knight captures e5. Then after knight captures e5, d4, and if it's knight c6, which it was in the game, d5, knight e5, f4, knight g6, and e5. But old man Virat went queen e7!" Běla exclaimed.

"Must have his guard down, but this masked fellow's strong. Wonder if he's actually a maestro," Laila mused as the masked man moved his queen to e2.

"You know that's not possible. Each country can only have one maestro, and there can only be 7 in the world," Běla scowled as Virat moved his knight to h4.

"What if there's an 8th maestro?" Laila pouted as the masked man moved his bishop to d2.

"Then it will likely be whoever crosses 3000 elo next, which could be Magnus or Peter Morphy," Běla grumbled as Virat moved his pawn to c6.

"Then what will happen to the old maestros?" Laila asked as the masked man moved his pawn to d6.

"Do I look like Raymond Redfield to you?" Běla glared as Virat grimaced and moved his queen to e6.

"And if I said... yes?"

"We take a commercial break so I can slug you."

Despite the banter and threat of a commercial break, the commentators did no such thing as the game at board 4 showed no sign of slowing down. A queen's side castle, knight d5, knight e4, and that was all it took for Virat to find himself in more trouble as he played knight f5.

"Ugh, my head is pounding... I hate it when it hurts like this," Virat thought as the masked man moved his pawn to g4.

Virat then attempted to create counterplay by moving his knight to d4, but it was all in vain as the masked man simply slid his queen to f2. Virat wanted some flesh though and captured the pawn at c2 with his knight, dooming said knight to be captured by the masked man's king.

Virat didn't care though and moved his knight to b6 as the masked man moved his bishop out to d3. "Fine, move it out. Your king's unprotected," Virat thought as he captured the pawn at a2 with his queen.

"Seems you've got tunnel vision. A shame, but I guess it's a miracle you can still play at this level after what was done to you," the masked man somberly thought as he moved his rook to a1.

Virat grimaced and clutched his head once more as he moved his queen to e6. The masked man wouldn't let him rest though and pushed his pawn to f5. Virat then opted to capture the pawn at e5 with his queen to escape the threat of the f5 pawn, but that invited the masked man to set up something nasty in the form of h-rook to e1. Virat still clung to hope and moved his knight to d5, but it was after the masked man moved his queen to d4 that the decisive moment happened.

"Check! ...! ..."

Virat had only realized it after completing his move of knight to e3, but by then it was too late; he had blundered into mate.

The masked man saw it too and promptly captured the knight at e3 with his rook. Virat fought on though and moved his queen to e5, even gaining some hope after the masked man opted to capture the pawn at a7 with his rook. But after Virat captured said rook with his rook, the masked man immediately captured the queen at e6 with his f-pawn. Virat captured said pawn with his d-pawn, but after the masked man captured the rook at a7 with his queen, he had enough.

"I resign," Virat sighed as he stopped the clock and extended his hand.

Now Japan was tied with India at 1-1, yet the matches were still far from over.

Over at board 3, Okisato moved his bishop to f5 and scowled as Arun captured the pawn at d5 with his c-knight. "Ugh, I didn't think he'd punish me THIS badly, but I guess I brought it on myself for trying to play the Důras like Peter did back then," he thought as he captured the knight at d5 with his knight.

Arun naturally recaptured said knight with his knight as Okisato flung his pawn to e5. This begun the pawn trade as d captures e5 and knight captures e5 ensured both sides left with a pawn. Arun then moved his knight to e7 as Okisato scowled and moved his bishop to h7.

It was beginning to look hopeless for Okisato, and he himself knew it. Arun was a merciless opponent in a similar vain to Peter.

"And it's looking like India's gonna regain the lead," Běla exclaimed as Arun moved his h-rook to e1.

"Okisato's been down ever since he opened up with that blunder of an opening. Perhaps maybe this will teach him not to rely on such petty tricks," Laila huffed as Okisato captured the pawn at f3 with his knight.

"Not a fan of him?" Běla smirked as Arun moved his rook to e6.

"Not in the slightest, and that's a fact!" Laila huffed as Okisato moved his king to g5.

Back at the board, Arun was inching closer and closer to victory. He continued his assault with rook to d5, sending Okisato's king to g4, allowing for the powerful rook to h6. As soon as the play happened, Okisato let out an audible groan and moved his pawn to c6. Arun slid his d-rook to the safety of h5, and at that moment, Okisato had a complete lapse in judgement and moved his bishop to g8.

"Check," Arun nodded as he moved his pawn to h3.

Okisato sunk his face into his hands and moved his king to f4 with a heavy sigh. He knew it was over now, yet he decided to play until mate. Rook f6, check, king e4, knight g6, knight g5, rook captures g5, rook f8, rook captures f8, bishop f7, rook captures f7, king d4, and finally it was over.

"Checkmate," Arun stated as he moved his rook to f4, winning the game.

"Well there goes our shot at winning," Okisato sighed as he shook hands and began resetting the board.

As for board 1, b-knight d7, queen d7, a6, f-rook d1, b5, c captures b5, a captures b5, knight captures d4, bishop captures g2, and king captures g2 had all played out in the leadup to the masked man's win and Okisato's loss.

"Well looks like Oki-chawn blew it. Makes things easier for me," Ginji thought as smiled and moved his pawn to b4 before staring Govindrao in the eye. "How about a draw?"

Govindrao blinked in confusion and turned to look at the score. Seeing that a draw was all India needed to win the match, he accepted the draw, albeit with a surprised look on his face. And with that, India had won the match, 2.5-1.5. The perfect win streak of Japan's men's team was over.

The full games:

White: The masked man (101) Black: Virat Joshi (2750)

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Nc6

3. Nc3 Nf6

4. Nxe5 Nxe5

5. d4 Nc6

6. d5 Ne5

7. f4 Ng6

8. e5 Qe7

9. Qe2 Nh4

10. Bd2 c6

11. d6 Qe6

12. O-O-O Nd5

13. Ne4 Nf5

14. g4 Nd4

15. Qf2 Nxc2

16. Kxc2 Nb6

17. Bd3 Qxa2

18. Ra1 Qe6

19. f5 Qxe5

20. Rhe1 Nd5

21. Qd4 Ne3+

22. Rxe3 Qe6

23. Rxa7 Rxa7

24. fxe6 dxe6

25. Qxa7 (White won due to Black's resignation)

White: Arun Jhingan (2801) Black: Okisato Tanabe (2700)

1. e4 f5

2. exf5 Kf7

3. Qh5+ g6

4. fxg6+ Kg7

5. gxh7 Rxh7

6. Qf3 Nf6

7. d4 d5

8. Bd3 Qd6

9. Bxh7 Kxh7

10. Nc3 Nc6

11. Bf4 Qe6+

12. Nge2 Qf5

13. O-O-O Bh6

14. Bxh6 Qxf3

15. gxf3 Kxh6

16. Nf4 Bf5

17. Ncxd5 Nxd5

18. Nxd5 e5

19. dxe5 Nxe5

20. Ne7 Bh7

21. Rhe1 Nxf3

22. Re6+ Kg5

23. Rd5+ Kg4

24. Rh6 c6

25. Rdh5 Bg8

26. h3+ Kf4

27. Rf6+ Ke4

28. Ng6 Ng5

29. Rxg5 Rf8

30. Rxf8 Bf7

31. Rxf7 Kd4

32. Rf4#

White: Govindrao Dhavalikar (2794) Black: Ginji Inohara (2722) 

1. Nf3 Nf6 

2. c4 g6 

3. b3 Bg7 

4. Bb2 O-O 

5. g3 b6 

6. Bg2 Bb7 

7. O-O c5 

8. d4 cxd4 

9. Qxd4 d6 

10. Nc3 Nbd7 

11. Qd2 a6 

12. Rfd1 b5 

13. cxb5 axb5 

14. Nd4 Bxg2

15. Kxg2 b4 (Match drawn by agreement)

Match score:

India: 2.5 Japan: 1.5

India wins 2.5-1.5