Chapter 1:

Baltic-Balkan brawl

En Passant Grandmaster Volume 8

In the dining hall of the Nagy Paloza Hotel, Okisato decided to sit next to a familiar face while he ate and waited for the Bermuda Party to begin. "It's been a while, Peter."

Peter glanced up briefly from the pages of the book he was reading. "Okisato Tanabe. You've managed to bounce back after your defeat to Arun."

"We might still be in medal contention, if Ginji hadn't thrown."

"As much as I despise the man for his path of sabotaging you, he had the benefit of the doubt in his game against Govindrao."

"Yeah, Inoue-senpai already gave me the spiel. So how's your team doing?"

"Undefeated, but not perfect. Our win streak was disrupted by Romania today. Hubert was outwitted by one of their stronger players, which neutralized my win, and the others all drew with the maestro sitting out."

"So you're a point ahead of us. Still catchable."

"You'll need to keep in form. You got lucky to be paired with weaker teams like Mongolia and Bosnia, but if you want a medal or the chance to play against America, you'll have to get through some of the tournament favorites."

"Yes and no. Some teams are performing better than expected, while some worse than expected. And speaking of which, there's a team with a certain Õnne-san on it that's on a Cinderella run despite being one of the lower seeds..."

...

Going back in time to the start of round 6...

The Estonian women's team scowled as the Serbian women's team stared them down.

"Well, if it isn't prime minister Kohver, so nice to see you," Slavica sneered as she sat down at board 4 and shook Valve's hand.

"Ugh, it's the Balkan bimbo herself," Valve growled.

"That's rich considering you have one of the biggest whores in Europe, maybe the whole world on your team."

Õnne shot Slavica a foul glare before sitting down at board 2 to face her opponent, a scantily clad girl with nearly all but the bangs of her hair completely shaved bald. Her name was Slađana Madžar. She wasn't the greatest player, but she did have some promise.

"Hmm, seems they half-assed things. Your bangs and eyebrows still remain," Õnne scoffed.

"Um, this was the bet, and like I also had to get some head tattoos too, which like, really hurt," Slađana snarled.

"Ha ha! Girl, you call those small blue splotches an inkjob? THIS is an inkjob," Virve grinned as she gestured towards herself.

"Yeah, and both me n' her got real shaved heads," Õnne smirked as she gently tapped her head against Virve's.

"Õnne, get off me."

"Why reject your kinship?"

"I don't like being in contact with freaks who make out with their phones."

"Oh you know me better than that!"

"So like, you gonna try and uh, try and mess with my headspace by making out with that filthy character you made?" Slađana sneered.

"No, you know phones are forbidden in the playing hall, so until I leave, I can't shove my phone in my mouth," Õnne scoffed.

"Then resign and make both our lives easier."

Õnne narrowed her gaze. "Oh, you're in for it now. I'm gonna humiliate so bad you'll want to shave off the rest of your hair and live in exile as a monk."

As for the two remaining boards, Külli was up against Gorana Petrović on board 3, while Maila was pitted against Serbia's ace, Nikolina Kozić, on board 1.

Proudly bearing a large tattoo of Serbia's crest on her back as well as various thorns and rose tattoos on her arms and legs, Nikolina was known as the bloody rose of Serbia, both due to her red hair and affinity for roses, along with her sheer resilience after growing up orphaned from the Yugoslav wars.

"Tell me, are you a savior?" Nikolina snarled.

"Maila most certainly is savior-"

"Bullshit. I'm gonna make you pay."

Maila stared in confusion, but resolved herself for the fight ahead.

Finally, there was Serbia's reserve member, Jovana Janić, a bespectacled girl with messy blonde hair clad in a black tracksuit and white running shoes. Her along with Virve were sitting the round out, though that didn't mean they were out of the action per say.

"So wanna bet? I'm down for loser stripping in addition to paying up," Jovana smirked.

Jovana was a famous Serbian poker player infamous for making big and gutsy gambles. She had recently decided to take up chess, and showed great promise.

"Sorry, I'm not into gambling," Virve growled.

"No fun."

As soon as the round began, Õnne started off the game by moving her pawn to e4, to which Slađana responded to by moving her pawn to e5. Õnne then played f4, the King's Gambit, to which Slađana accepted by capturing said pawn with her e-pawn. But then, Õnne moved her pawn to d4.

"Um, like, ya totes spilled the jelly on this, e-girl. Check," Slađana scoffed as she moved her queen to h4.

"Yeah, no. See, I play this way INTENTIONALLY! In official matches, I can't have Meelis by my side degrading me every second, so... I GOTTA PLAY LIKE THIS SO HE SCOLDS ME OH SO BAD!" Õnne thought as she slammed her king down on king e2.

This was the Villemson Gambit, a gambit that was essentially a delayed Bongcloud as it's main line practically forced the king to e2. It also gave Black an edge, however, Slađana completely erased it all with the seemingly innocent play of pawn to b6. Now things were in drawish territory, and since Õnne knew this line well, it was game on as she moved her queen to d2.

"Um like, check. Like, you're like, so gunked up in like, the stickiest of jelly webs," Slađana arrogantly huffed as she moved her bishop to a6.

"Nope, you checked me one move too late, and with the wrong piece too," Õnne thought as she smirked and moved her king to d1.

Slađana didn't like Õnne's renewed sense of smugness, and clicked her tongue as she captured the bishop at f1 with her bishop. But Õnne only got smugger as she moved her knight to f3, eliciting a disgusted scowl from Slađana as she moved her queen to e7.

"Oh look, you played the move you should have played back at move 4, too late again! Well, guess it's to be expected from someone who receded their hairline from the other side of their head," Õnne thought as she captured the bishop at f1 with her rook.

That further served to anger Slađana as she moved her pawn to g5, but Õnne could now lean back, widen her smirk for more psychological torment, and move her knight to c3. "I'm a programmer for a living, you think I don't study odd engine lines during my breaks? Heck, programming chess AI is sometimes part of the regiment. And look at that, busted," Õnne thought as Slađana moved her knight to c6, allowing her to move her knight to d5, threatening a nasty fork.

"You bitch! Now I'm gonna, like, lose my rook! Fuck!" Slađana thought as she gritted her teeth and moved her queen to d8.

"Oh no, not yet. First I take a pawn," Õnne thought as she captured the pawn at g5 with her knight.

Slađana promptly captured said knight with her queen, but now came the nasty knight captures c7, check.

"Check, You-"

Slam!

Before Õnne could get a word in, Slađana angrily slammed her king down on d8, eliciting a pout from Õnne. "Oi, you don't shut me up when I'm talking. You do, it's 50 lashes on the ass!" Õnne thought as she captured the rook at a8 with her knight.

Slađana began to seethe with fury and moved her queen to h5. "Check! Like-"

Slam!

Not taking kindly to being interrupted earlier, Õnne decided to return the favor by slamming her queen down on e2. But Slađana didn't give up, delivering another check by capturing said queen with her queen, but once more, Õnne shut her up by capturing the queen at e2 with her king. So Slađana tried again with another check, this time moving her pawn to f3, but just like before, Õnne silenced her, this time by capturing the pawn at f3 with her king.

Furious, Slađana captured the pawn at d4, delivering another check, but Õnne didn't let her get a word in by instantly moving her king to g4, almost as if she had seen the move coming long ago. And then, the psychological torment paid off big as Slađana went for another check, this time by moving her pawn to f5. Õnne captured said pawn with her e-pawn, but Slađana was not done with the checks, giving one more consecutive one by moving her knight to f6. Yet just like before, Õnne skirted away from danger and moved her king to h3.

Now out of checks, or at least ones that wouldn't lose her a piece, Slađana shifted her attention elsewhere and captured the pawn at c2 with her knight.

"Oh look, she's trying to go for my rook. Well go ahead and take it!" Õnne thought as she moved her bishop to g5.

Slađana saw the trap though, and moved her bishop to e7, allowing Õnne to move her a-rook to c1. Furious at yet another one of her attacks being thwarted, Slađana moved her knight to d5, hoping to get it more involved in the game, but that was a mistake, as now Õnne could move her pawn to f6, delivering yet another headache to Slađana.

"UGH! Can she, like, stop this shit!?" Slađana thought as she moved her rook to g8.

But Õnne had no intention of stopping as she captured the bishop at e7, delivering another check, but once again, Slađana made her move instantly, capturing said pawn with her knight.

"Well aren't you a rude one. Only Meelis can treat me like this!" Õnne fumed in her mind as she captured the knight at c2 with her rook.

But Slađana was starting to feel the pressure and nervously moved her pawn to h6 as a bead of sweat streaked down her face. And after Õnne moved her bishop to f4, Slađana cracked and moved her king to e8, blundering into mate un 2.

"Whelp, time to face the music. Check!" Õnne thought as she moved her rook to c8.

All the angst Slađana had been feeling vanished instantly as a relived smirk appeared on her face. "Oh, like, bummer, for you that is. Just had to get a word in at all costs. Well, bye-bye rook," she thought as she happily captured the rook at c8 with her knight.

Then Õnne moved her knight to c7. "Check-"

Slađana scowled and reached for her king, but suddenly went pale as she realized there was nowhere for her king to go, and nothing to capture the knight. "No... Does this mean-"

"Checkmate. Should have let me finish. Now your ass is on punishment row!" Õnne maliciously smirked.

Õnne had won the game, not only with a beautiful rook sacrifice, but also a stylish knight mate. And thanks to her efforts, Estonia now led the match 1-0, but it was far from over.

"I bet you think this is in the bag, but Slađana's one of our weakest players. Nikolina and Gorana are our true aces," Slavica thought.

The full game:

White: Õnne Sokk (2338) Black: Slađana Madžar (1720)

1. e4 e5

2. f4 exf4

3. d4 Qh4+

4. Ke2 b6

5. Qd2 Ba6+

6. Kd1 Bxf1

7. Nf3 Qe7

8. Rxf1 g5

9. Nc3 Nc6