The real deal

As the round began, Arun opened the game by moving his pawn to e4.

"I guess I'll just go for it. I don't want to unveil my top opening I'm saving for Peter, but this guy's a madman. I guess I'll go for a Důras," Okisato thought as he moved his pawn to f5.

Arun promptly captured said pawn with his e-pawn, but it was then that Okisato smirked and slammed his king down on f7. "Let's see if a madman can handle the madness," he thought.

Yet Handle it he could, as Arun promptly delivered a check by moving his queen to h5, forcing Okisato to move his pawn to g6. Yet that pawn was next on the chopping block as Arun simply captured it with his f-pawn, sending Okisato's king to g7.

This was all within plan, though as after Arun captured the pawn at h7 with his g-pawn, Okisato simply captured said pawn with his rook, sending Arun's queen off to f3.

"Now I just gotta wait for the chance to pounce," Okisato thought as he moved his knight to f6.

However, it was Okisato himself that further dug the hole, as after Arun moved his pawn to d4, he instinctively moved his pawn to d5, allowing Arun to get his bishop out to d3.

"Ugh, not good. I must still be a bit fatigued from yesterday's game," Okisato thought as he moved his queen to d6.

As for the game at board 1 between Govindrao and Ginji, it had opened quietly with knight f3, knight f6, c4, g6, and b3 being played.

"Oi, I gave him a little edge, but now he's going for a draw? Fine with me," Ginji thought as he moved his bishop to g7.

Just as expected, bishop b2, a king's side castle, g3, b6, bishop g2, bishop g7, a king's side castle, c5, d4, c captures d4, queen captures d4, and d6 yielded no significant advantage to any player.

"Looks like Oki-chwan's in trouble early. If he loses, that makes things a little easier for me. Just need fatty to lose too then I could win or even draw. Either way, I gain elo," Ginji thought as Govindrao moved his knight to c3.

Over in the commentator's booth, two new faces had joined the line-up in order to help cover more games.

"Wassup! It's the spy from Belgium, Laila Din!" a girl with a pink bob smiled.

"And the spunkiest shy gal around, Běla Plachý," a girl with long curly pink hair that obscured one of her eyes smiled.

"We're joining Nancy and Danny here, specifically to cover the marquee matches of each round, which today is naturally the Japan matches on both sections."

"Things are a bit slow to start, but fireworks have already been set off in the game between Arun and Okisato. Since Okisato looks like he's taking a long think, and he better considering how bad things look for him, we'll hop on over to the women's side."

Over on the women's side, things were also off to a thrilling start with Daria opening her game against Elenora by moving her pawn to g3, while Elenora opted to move her pawn to d5. Predictably, knight f3, c6, bishop g2, knight f6, a king's side castle, and bishop g4 were played before Daria decided to mix things up with pawn to d3.

"Maestro, you're sure looking down upon me. How I've longed to prove to all how talented I truly am," Elenora thought as she moved her b-knight to d7.

Pawn h3 and a trade at f3 kicked off by bishop captures f3 and ended with e captures f3 came next, along with more predictable plays like e6, rook e1, bishop d6, and f4. That marked the end of status quo though, as now it was Elenora's turn to unleash her gambit.

"Show me if you can thwart this, maestro," Elenora thought as she moved her queen to b6.

As for Agatha, her game with Iori on board 4 had started out with e4 and then Iori playing f5, the Důras Gambit.

"What? Is that a misstep already?" Agatha thought as she decided to accept the gambit and capture the pawn at f5 with her e-pawn.

"Nope, it's a big fuck you! Oki-kun likes to play this, even beat Mimo-chan's mom with this. I gotta take it for a good spin!" Iori thought as she moved her knight to f6.

Agatha struggled to contain her laughter as she chose to move her pawn to c3, to which Iori responded to by moving her pawn to d5.

"Oh laugh it up now. That'll make my flex all the more savory," Iori thought.

Pawn to g4 and pawn to h5 followed, with Agatha entering a short think before she moved her pawn to f3. Now Iori decided to pounce and captured the pawn at g4 with her h-pawn, but as Agatha returned the favor by capturing said pawn with her f-pawn, something unexpected happened. As soon as Iori moved her knight to f6, a section of the plexiglass roof cracked and shattered causing a pillar of water to fall down right on Iori, completely soaking her.

Some arbiters rushed to the board and stopped the clock while others headed for the leak to patch it up. Once the water stopped, the pillar of water vanished revealing a now soaked Iori.

"We'll delay continuation of the game until the player is dry. Miss, it would be best for you to strip. We'll provide you a blanket-"

"Strip!? HELL YEAH!" Iori grinned as she began to undress much to Agatha's shock.

"Wh- WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"

However, Katie of all people was eerily calm, her focus solely centered on Utami. Here, Utami decided to open with the classic, pawn to e4, yet to her surprise, Katie slowly closed her eyes and began to meditate for a bit before opening them back up again and moving her pawn to e5.

"Her whole persona seems to have shifted... So she's like me," Utami thought as she moved her pawn to f4.

Katie merely tilted her head down before accepting the King's Gambit and capturing the pawn at f4 with her e-pawn. While she was a chatterbox, chess allowed her to distract her mind thinking of moves and possible moves. Her old terrifying personality also rose to the surface of her eyes as she went deep into thought. Due to the nasty glare in her eyes coupled with her brooding pose and long hippie dreadlocks, many dubbed her, "Mastermind hippie".

As for the game between Mimoko and Noa, it had reached it's third move, starting off with d4, d5, knight f3, and bishop f5.

Things seemed fine until Noa's eyes widened, locking on to the board. "... ...C4... that's the move," she thought as she moved her pawn to c4.

Mimoko, still relaxed, moved her pawn to e6, but knight c3, knight f6, c captures d5, e captures and d5 later, her eyes began to focus as her foot began to tap. "Noa-chan... You're going for a tough line," she thought as she moved her knight to c6.

Noa responded by moving her pawn to e4, leading to Mimoko capturing it with her d-pawn, but knight e5 was on the way giving Mimoko pause, before she finally settled on moving her bishop to e6. Noa then played the powerful queen captures b7 as Mimoko countered in the only viable way, capturing the pawn at d4 with her knight.

"Check," Noa stated as she moved her bishop to b5.

Now Mimoko went into full concentration mode. Noa was not an opponent she could take lightly. In fact, no one other than Daria and Peter had ever pushed Mimoko this hard before. Even Iori playing at full strength hadn't got her going this into thought before.

As she captured the bishop at b5, Noa hit her with another check by capturing said knight with her queen. Mimoko instantly moved her knight to d7, but too little too late, she realized it should have been her bishop instead of the knight, causing a rare show of nervousness to consume her face.

This was the point Daria glanced over to see the state of things. She became a bit relieved when Noa seemingly misstepped and moved her queen to c6, allowing Mimoko to go bishop e7. But it was deliberate as knight captures d7 was on the board, forcing Mimoko to capture said knight with her bishop or be in for a bad time, but queen captures e4 truly gave her pause as now she had to think of what Noa could possibly be planning. 

Then Daria zeroed in on the player's faces. Noa's eyes were wide open, superglued to the board while Mimoko was staring at the board with a frustrated look on her face. "Don't tell me... Is Mimoko actually on the ropes!?"she gasped in her mind.