Chapter 47:

Rally-ho

En Passant Grandmaster Volume 7

Over on board 3, some action had also went down with knight c3, bishop f5, h3, knight c6, knight e5, knight captures e5, queen captures e5, e6, queen e3, h5, f3, and e5 all being played up until the moment the masked man won.

However, Ognjen reacted enthusiastically to Tvrtko's loss. "That idiot lost!? PERFECT! Now I'LL be the hero!" he thought as he captured the pawn at e5 with his queen.

Ryonosuke moved his knight to e4, seemingly giving it up to the pawn on f3, but Ognjen saw the attack on his queen and promptly moved it to f4.

"Good eye, boy, but you're still far from escaping these woods. Check," Ryonosuke proclaimed as he captured the pawn at d4 with his bishop.

Ognjen let out a snarl as he moved his king to h2, and let out another as Ryonosuke captured his knight at c3 with his knight. "Damn geezer. The hell's he whooping me so bad? Someone slip performance enhancers in his meds?" he thought as he captured the bishop at d4 with his queen.

There was now only one move Ryonosuke could make in order to maintain his edge, anything else and Ognjen would mount a comeback. To bad for Ognjen that knight captures e2 was so obvious, an under 1000 player could spot it. Now he was either going to lose a queen or a bishop. Obviously opting to save the former, he moved his queen to f4 allowing Ryonosuke to claim the bishop at c1 with his knight.

Ognjen did capture said knight with his f-rook, but Ryonosuke was still a pawn up, and about to gain massive control over the board with his queen to d6 play. Ognjen tried to minimize the damage by moving his queen to d4, but Ryonosuke moving his f-rook to e8 forced him to go rook e1 and hope for a rook trade. If that happened, Ognjen would still be at a disadvantage, but it wouldn't be as great as before, and perhaps he'd be able to salvage a draw.

Ryonosuke was on point though and moved his pawn to h4, making it so tantalizing that Ognjen just couldn't help capturing it with his queen.

"And there's your flaw, you try to grab anything you can. Well there's consequence if ya just grab everything without thinking," Ryonosuke thought as he moved his pawn to d4.

The screws were beginning to tighten, thanks in no small part to Ognjen himself, whose a-rook c1 play did no favors in improving his chances. Now came the rook trade of rook captures e1 and rook captures e1, but it was too little too late as now Ryonosuke could play pawn to d3. This was the beginning of the end as Ognjen moved his rook to g1. Ryonosuke moved his pawn to d2, inching ever closer to promotion, but Ognjen had no clue how to stop it. His best bet was to go for counterplay in the for of f4. But rook e8 sent him into a cold sweat as now his options were limited.

"Ugh, I can't even find a repetition. My best bet is to stop that pawn. If I don't, it's over," Ognjen thought as he moved his bishop to f3.

The pressure was too much though as after Ryonosuke moved his rook to e1, Ognjen moved his bishop to d1, blundering into mate. After Ryonosuke moved his queen to d4, Ognjen took a long pause to stare at the board. He could tell mate was coming up soon, but with Jad still playing, he couldn't resign, lest he face his wrath. Thus, despite having no chance of winning, he played on.

Rook g2, rook captures d1, queen h6, rook f1, g4, even Ryonosuke moving his pawn to d1 and promoting it to a queen wasn't enough to get Ognejn to resign. He didn't have faith Ryonosuke would mess up, but if he was going to lose, he at least wanted it to be via checkmate so he could at least say he fought to his last breath. Rook h1, check, king g3, queen e3, check, King h4, queen captures h3, check, and finally king g5 before Ryonosuke could deliver the coup de gras.

"Checkmate. Seems you did have some fight in you, or perhaps pride that kept you from resigning. But it wasn't good enough," Ryonosuke stated as he captured the pawn at f5 with his queen, winning the game.

Ognjen sunk his hands into his face in dejection. "Damn Sejad. I should've forced him to suffer this humiliation instead. I hope the team loses. I don't want Miralem to be the hero!" he thought.

Despite Ginji's sabotage, Japan had bounced back, and now led 2-1. At worst, the team would draw, but the masked man had confidence Okisato would do his part when he came back and saw the score. He just needed to come back before his clock ran out of time.

"Now, let's go find Tanabe," the masked man thought as he began heading off.

The full game:

White: DSPCM Ognjen Elezović (2391) Black: Ryonosuke Hobou (2415)

1. Nf3 Nf6

2. g3 g6

3. Bg2 Bg7

4. O-O O-O

5. d4 d5

6. c4 c6

7. Qb3 a5

8. cxd5 a4

9. Qe3 cxd5