Chapter 32:

Lured in

En Passant Grandmaster Volume 7

From the spectator area, Miralem smirked as he watched Ognjen sink to his knees before Raymond. To the observing Okisato, it was obvious to him the two didn't get along, but he didn't want to try interacting with Miralem right now.

With two of the four games done already, and the two remaining ones close to finishing, it was worth going back to check on how the two remaining ones had gotten to where they had. But as soon as Okisato prepared to do just that, Miralem decided to invade his personal space.

Towering over Okisato at 202 cm, Miralem was easily able to peer down over his shoulder and see what he was doing. "So my pops' game catch your fancy?"

Okisato let out a sigh before affirming that was the case.

"A beaut, ain't it. D4, d6, e4, e6, then the pink spike ball decides to go queen h5. Props for the guts, but against my pops, that's just playin' into him. Knight comes out to f6, n' spike ball's queen is runnin' scared for e2. C5, e5, the f-knight goes to d7, then BOOM! B4 blows everything up for White, and now my pops can capture the pawn at d4 with his c-pawn. And then the pink spike ball moved his knight to f3, letting my pops take the pawn at e5 with his d-pawn. Talk about comedy!"

"Pardon me, but are you the one that flung those poor pieces into the glass?" Mimoko scowled as she shuffled up to the two.

Miralem shot her a confused stare, before turning to notice his handy work. "Well how about that. Two perfect shots on target. I should ask if I can frame it."

Mimoko looked ready to issue him a challenge herself, but both Daria and Okisato stopped her, warning her it was best not to try challenging him this very moment.

"Scared of me? Well, guess you don't want a cute little girl like her getting pelted by my atriljerija."

"OI! The hell you saying, Miralem!?" a voice shouted.

Everyone turned to notice a sporty girl with curly blonde hair scowling at Miralem.

"Ugh, your game done?"

"Done, so now I can kick your ass!" the girl shouted as she leaped into the air with her fist pulled back. "ARTILJERIJA!"

Miralem quickly countered the strike, but that wasn't the end of it as the two began wrestling each other, not caring one bit for the trouble it was causing those around them. Okisato went on guard, as if the two were to come his way, he'd have to be ready to employ self-defense.

The two seemed to head off in the opposite direction though, allowing Okisato to ease up and refocus on analyzing Tvrtko's game. After Jern had foolishly moved his pawn to c3, Tvrtko wasted no time in capturing said pawn with his d-pawn. Jern recaptured said pawn with his knight, but that allowed Tvrtko to capture the pawn at b4 with his bishop, pinning the knight to the king.

Okisato scratched his head as he soon reached the latest moves of bishop d2 and a king's side castle.

"Why do you look so baffled, Tanabe-kun?" Mimoko asked as she glanced over.

"It's Tvrtko. I can't seem to pin down what kind of player he is, thanks in no small part to a browless moron."

"'Browless moron'? There's nothing wrong with having no eyebrows," Mimoko pouted.

Okisato gave Mimoko an odd stare.

"Um, Tanabe-kun?"

"No, no, nothing. Just said something surprising, that's all."

Mimoko's face quickly turned red. "W- Was I implying I wanted to be browless again!? No, no, no! But... I didn't exactly hate the feeling of having no eyebrows... or hair... or eyelashes," she thought.

"Seems you don't know Tvrtko at all," a voice scoffed from behind.

Mimoko and Okisato spun around to find Sejad sitting right behind him.

"That uniform's the same as Miralem's. Are you his teammate?" Okisato asked.

"Correct. General Sejad Varešanović, Bosnia and Herzegovina's Minister of Defense. I'm also an avid chess player, but today was my rest day. Might I inquire as to why you're so invested in that game?"

Okisato's eyes narrowed ever slightly as Sejad's seemingly friendly smile remained. Sejad had successfully snuck behind him and Mimoko without them realizing it, and could have remained silent as the chances of Okisato turning around were relatively low, but he had chosen to make himself known. That meant he wanted to start a conversation.

"We were drawn to the match as a whole between your country and Denmark, thanks to, shall we say, rogue artillery fire," Okisato declared as he motioned to the chess pieces embedded in the glass wall.

"Ah, I understand," Sejad smiled as his eyes began to narrow into scowling territory.

That was obviously not the answer he wanted, even though it was completely true. Had Miralem not caused such a display, Okisato might not have even taken notice of the match. Sejad knew this, but he nonetheless wanted a more concrete answer, specifically, to hear that Okisato was in fact probing his team.

Before the matter could be dwelled on any more, some new moves came in from the game.

"Looks like rook d1, knight d4, queen b2, bishop d7, and bishop d3 are all on the board," Okisato stated as he swung back around, hoping he could escape Sejad's interrogation.

But he was still missing the answer to his problem, until he focused on the actual board and saw Tvrtko up close. A deranged fixed grin was plastered his face, but aside from that, he was calm. Occasionally he'd scratch his eyepatch, but other than that, his hand remained in a relaxed position when he wasn't moving pieces. And as he moved his knight to a4, Okidato tried to pull up a stream with a zoom-up on the board, hoping to get a better look so he could analyze his body language.

Jern was also just as confused. "Thought this guy was a brawler. Maybe he is, but he sure plays chess like a wuss," he thought as he moved his queen to c1.

But after Tvrtko moved his rook to c8, Jern made a huge mistake and captured the knight at d4 with his knight.

"You fell for it, brat. The first art of war is luring your opponent in," Tvrtko thought as he captured the knight at d4 with his e-pawn.

Now Jern finally realized his queen was in a tight spot. However...

"Go ahead and take it!" he thought as he captured the knight at a4 with his knight.

But it was at this moment, the trap was sprung as Tvrtko grabbed his rook at a1 and leaped into the air, pulling his fist back as Jern stared up in shock. "ARTILJERIJA!" he shouted as he slammed his fist down, capturing the queen at c1 with his rook, and sending said queen flying into the soundproof glass, embedding it there just like Miralem did to Retskcrb's pieces.

Jern was a bit shocked, but ultimately his confident smile remained as he captured the rook at c1 with his rook. "A bishop and a rook is practically the worth a queen. Who cares if the queen's gone. That was an even trade in my book," he thought.

But back in the spectator area, Sejad began to scowl as a sadistic grin began forming on Okisato's face. Okisato had finally figured Tvrtko out.

"Guess now I can come clean. To answer your question, Varešanović-san, I was probing your team, since there's a chance we might face each other in the tournament. And what do you know, the old man revealed his hand himself; he's the type that likes to lure folks in, then pounce on them, am I right?"

All Sejad could do was scowl and pull his hat over his eyes.

"Sucks for you, but if you're looking to do reconnaissance on me, you'll need to look up my games the old fashioned way. Have fun."

Indeed, Okisato's assessment was spot on as now Tvrtko was mercilessly punishing Jern by capturing the bishop at d2 with his bishop, checking him, and forcing him to take said bishop with his king. That allowed Tvrtko to capture the knight on a4 with his bishop, taking another minor piece out of play for Jern.

Jern tried to rebound with rook c5, but b6 sent said rook running to e5. It wouldn't be there for long though as Tvrtko moved his queen to f6, sending said rook to e2.

"Check! You fell for it, brat!" Tvrtko maniacally grinned as he slammed his queen down on f4.

Jern scowled and moved his rook to e3. "Damn bastard. How'd he pull the rug out from under me? I ain't a light guy," he thought as he found himself in check again after Tvrtko captured the rook at e3 with his d-pawn.

At this point, all was lost for Jern, though pride prevented him from resigning, thus the mating sequence played out with f captures e3, queen f2, check, king c3, rook c8, check, bishop c4, queen c2, check, king c3, rook c8, check, bishop c4, queen c2, king d4, rook d8, check, king e5, then finally...

"That's checkmate, brat," Tvrtko snickered as he slammed his queen down on f5, winning the game. Now go on home, unless ya feel like squatting there until the janitors sweep ya out," he scoffed as he shook, the shell shocked Jern's hand before handing in his scoresheet and stomping away with his soggy shirt and coat draped over his shoulders.

Now Jern was clearly able to see Tvrtko's backside, which in contrast to his front, had not a single scar.

"Damn, I had it all wrong. That guy's not a brawler, or a pussy, he's an ambusher, and a nasty one at that," Jern thought.

And with that, the worst Bosnia and Herzegovina could do now was draw as they now led 2-1. But that seemed unlikely as the final game was heavily skewing towards Refik.

"We've got victory in our sights. Time to unleash the true power of the Bosnian pyramids," Refik thought.

The full game

White: Jern Ræv (2207) Black: DSPCM Tvrtko Artiljerija (2503)

1. d4 d6

2. e4 e6

3. Qh5 Nf6

4. Qe2 c5

5. e5 Nfd7

6. b4 cxd4

7. Nf3 dxe5

8. c3 dxc3

9. Nxc3 Bxb4