Chapter 26:

Mori's defense

En Passant Grandmaster Volume 7

Just moments before the masked man won, war had broke out on board 1. Jad's anger wasn't subsiding, and neither was his aggression as he moved his bishop to d2. Okisato simply slid his bishop back to d6, but Jad issued a challenge in the for of king e2.

"Oh? Who's acting tough now?" Okisato thought as he moved his rook to b8.

Now it was Jad's turn to go on defense as he moved his pawn to b3, and Okisato's turn to go on the attack with pawn to f5.

"This is war, brat!" Jad snarled aloud as he violently captured the pawn at f5 with his g-pawn, sending it flying.

This time, the piece was caught by Raymond, who scowled as he twiddled i in his hand. "Do take caution not to send pieces flying about like projectiles," he glared as Okisato captured the pawn at f5 with his bishop.

Jad shot him a glare before turning back to the board and moving his king to d1. But after Okisato moved his rook to e8, the masked man won, causing Jad's fury to peak even further. Despite his aura of bloodlust increasing, the visage of Genghis Khan that had been surrounding him vanished, revealing his horse skull mask once more. He began clutching it, as if fatigued, but continued on playing normally by moving his knight to c3.

"Is it just me or does he look a little fatigued? Well, more capitalization for me," Okisato thought as he moved his knight to h4.

At board 3, Jochi captured the knight at e5 with his d-pawn, while across the board, Ryonosuke did likewise by capturing the knight at b3 with his a-pawn. Then came a bold and aggressive play from Ryonosuke in the form of rook captures a2, surprising Jochi.

"Huh? You're swinging for me? I got more reach and muscle, old man," Jochi thought as he moved his queen to d5.

"Brutish. There's no order to this at all. The game has been won so long as I don't lose my edge," Ryonosuke thought as he captured the rook at a1 with his rook.

"Oi, bone bag, you think you can stand up to me? I'm a leader in the next chapter of Mongol domination. Check," Jochi snarled as he moved his queen to e4.

All the move was though was bluster as with a simple nudge of the bishop to e7, Ryonosuke was still well in the winner's seat. Jochi furiously captured the pawn at g7 with his f-pawn, but the aggression was sidestepped easily with rook g8, or so it seemed.

"Hah! Now I got your rook, and the edge!" Jochi thought as he captured the pawn at h7 with his queen.

"Oh? So you continue the warpath. Then have your bone, mad dog," Ryonosuke thought as he captured the pawn at g7 with his rook.

Jochi giddily captured said rook with his queen as Ryonosuke moved his pawn to d5 without a care. "Check! You'll be the first to get conquered, bone bag!" he cackled as he moved his queen to h8.

Ryonosuke scowled and held up his finger as he moved his bishop to f8.

"Huh? What's that for?" Jochi thought as he scowled and moved his bishop to h6.

"Ah, that was a sign to tell you to wait. See we can only speak while giving a check, so I needed to wait until this moment to properly refute you. 'Bone bag' you say? Rude and brutish, says I. Primitive too. Check," Ryonosuke scoffed as he captured the knight at b1 with his rook.

Blood vessels began to burst on Jochi's head as he moved his king to d1. "Oi... WHO DO YOU THINK YOU'RE TALKIN' TO!?" he roared.

Arbiters wearily glanced over yet decided not to mess with things, preferring to just sit on the sidelines and watch the game play out.

"My assessment stands," Ryonosuke thought as he moved his knight to d7.

Over at board 2, some minor action in the form of knight h5, bishop e5, knight d7, c4, f6, and bishop g3 had played out before the masked man's win.

"Tch, one of the zombies lost," Orda thought as he angrily captured the pawn at c4 with his d-pawn.

"Oh good, he's getting agitated. Please make this easier for me," Mori thought as he captured the pawn at c4 with his bishop.

Orda quickly went on the attack by moving his knight to b6, with Mori calmly moving his bishop to b3. Orda did manage to calm down slightly, and made a less aggressive play of pawn e6, but now it was Mori's turn to start attacking, starting with bishop h4.

"You fucking lard. I'll be giving you a good kick in the ass face-first into the snow!" Orda thought as he moved her bishop to e7.

Pawn g4 and pawn g5 came next, leading to Mori initiating a trade by capturing the pawn at g5 with his bishop. Orda captured said bishop with his f-pawn, but it was Mori who left the trade a pawn up after capturing the knight at h5 with his g-pawn.

"Fucking bitch!" Orda fumed in his mind as he castled king's side.

"He's losing himself to rage. Good," Mori thought as he moved his rook to g1.

Rather than make the top move and move his king to h8, Orda instead opted to move his pawn to a5, allowing Mori to capture the pawn at g5 with his knight. Once more, Orda's best move was king h8, yet instead of defense, he went all in on attacking and captured the knight at g5 with his bishop. Mori pounced on the misstep, moving his queen to g4, which was finally the moment Orda decided to move his king to h8, three moves late.

It was trading time once more as Mori captured the bishop at g5 with his queen, naturally leading to Orda accepting the queen trade and capturing said queen with his queen. Mori was once again the victor of the trade as after capturing the queen at g5 with his rook, he was up two pawns. Orda was also getting visibly more frustrated and decided to channel some of said anger to the board as he moved his knight to d5.

Mori decided to meet him head-on, and moved his knight to c3. This time, Orda hesitated, and after a short think, opted for the more defensive play of pawn to b6.

"I was expecting h6. He's also beginning to get hesitant. Perhaps he's realized the state of things, which means that I should try and get him tangled up in his own web," Mori thought as he rapidly moved his rook to c1.

The speed of his movement completely suckered in Orda as he instantly forgot this was classical format and entered blitz mode, quickly moving his rook to a7. He had no time to think as once he pressed the button on the clock, Mori launched her attack and captured the knight at d5 with his knight. Orda had been waiting for this, and promptly captured said knight with her c-pawn, but what she was not expecting was rook c6 from Mori. His head darted around, until he finally spotted pawn to b5, but Mori had foreseen it too and countered by moving his pawn to h6.

His attention diverted to the other end of the board, tunnel vision ended up costing Orda everything as he rapidly moved his f-rook to f7. It was only after he hit the timer did he realize her blunder and let loose an audible, "FUCK!"

"Check. Seems you've realized it too," Mori nodded as he captured the bishop at c8 with his rook.

Orda dejectedly let out a groan and moved his rook to f8.

"And that's checkmate," Mori grumbled as he captured the rook at f8 with his rook, winning the game.

Orda then performed the bare minimum of what was considered a handshake before getting up and slowly walking away. Japan now led 2-0.

The full game:

White: Morizane Moribe (2398) Black: Orda Ichen (2531)

1. d4 d5

2. Nf3 c6

3. Bf4 Nf6

4. e3 Nh5

5. Be5 Nd7

6. c4 f6