Street chess

The girls walked along the street until they noticed a cab passing by and coming to a stop behind them. A man in a hoodie got out and began walking away, paying no heed to the girls. Once he was out of sight, the girls cautiously approached the cab.

"You girls wanna ride?" the cabby asked.

His New York accent was thick and he had a large imposing figure.

"We want to go to Union square park," Mimoko nervously smiled.

"Foreign? Alright, you got fare?"

"Fair?"

"He means money," Carol whispered.

"Yes, we got m-"

Mimoko froze as she realized both her and Iori only had yen.

"You accept card?" Iori asked.

"Yeah, we accept all these listed here," the cabby stated as he pointed to an illustration on the side of his cab.

Mimoko let out a sigh of releif as she noticed that her card was on the list of accepted payments, and as such, the girls were given a ride. Once inside, Mimoko quickly fell asleep. It had been a long day and all the time zone changes and quick travel in addition to the chess had tired her out.

"So what you doing in Union square?" the cabby asked.

"We gonna play some hustlers," Iori grinned.

"Hustlers?"

"Yeah, we're Ewetubers and wanna get some content beating them," Carol grinned.

"You're famous? Oh, that must be why I thought I recognized ya."

A chill ran down Carol's spine, but she maintained her composure.

"Relax, I'll protect us if things get nasty," Iori whispered.

The rest of the ride was uneventful. Carol ended up falling asleep too, leaving Iori as the only one awake. Even though she was fatigued, Iori made sure to stay awake for the whole trip. Once they arrived, she woke Carol and Mimoko up and they paid the fee before heading towards Union square park.

Union square park was one of the most famous places for street chess. Washington square had once been the center of street chess in New York, but due to the fact that Union square tended to get more foot traffic than Washington square, many street chess players had migrated to Union square. Now Union square was the largest street chess hub in New York. As such, Iori figured it was the perfect place to learn the whereabouts of a secret puzzle cafe.

Carol had some dollars on her, however, the girls had to be careful about how they spent them. They decided that they'd go after one of the strongest chess hustlers as they would be the most likely to know about the secret puzzle cafe. Thanks to their WWCF cards, they were able to view the WWCF cards of all the chess hustlers in the area.

Carol began heading towards one of the stronger players, however, Mimoko and Iori stopped her.

"Hold up, girl, our WWCF cards give us the perfect cheat sheet on who to play," Iori stated.

"What you mean?"

"You get badges for defeating SPCMS. We should limit ourselves to targeting players that have a badge for beating an SPCM."

"But how can we be sure the badges they got are from an American SPCM?" Mimoko asked.

"We compare the badges to Oki-kun's. He's beaten all the American SPCMs so we just use his badge gallery as a reference."

Mimoko agreed and the girls quickly managed to narrow down their targets to 3 people. After some deliberation, Mimoko approached the hustler known Prussian Tony.

"So you wanna play chess against me?" Tony asked. Mimoko nodded and paid the fee. "Alright, ladies first," Tony nodded as Mimoko sat down.

"If I win, will you tell me where to find the secret puzzle cafe?" Mimoko asked.

Tony shot her a scowl. "Don't know what you mean."

"Then how about I prove my skill," Mimoko smiled as she moved her pawn to g3.

Tony gaped in shock before bursting into laughter. "A Hungarian? Try a little harder. I've been playin' on the streets for years and got a rating of 1600 out of it," he stated as he moved his pawn to e5.

"Very well," Mimoko smiled as she moved her pawn to c4.

Tony didn't seem afraid though as he moved his knight to c6. Nor when Mimoko fianchettoed her bishop by moving it to g2. He followed up by moving his pawn to g6 while Mimoko moved her knight to c3. Then he fianchettoed his own bishop by moving it to g7.

"Wow, things look even," Carol stated as Mimoko moved her pawn to e3.

"Yeah, this hustler's got some cred," Iori nodded as Tony moved his pawn to d6.

The game truly was even between the two and only continued to be that way after Mimoko moved her pawn to d3 and Tony moved his queen to f6. Even after Mimoko moved her g-knight to e2 and Tony moved his rook to b8, the game was still even.

"Mimo gonna draw if this keeps up," Carol groaned as Mimoko moved her pawn to b3.

"Nah, things are starting to turn in her favor," Iori grinned as Tony moved his bishop to g4.

Carol was unable to see what Iori meant, but shrugged and decided to take her word for it. Though despite Iori's declaration, the game was still very even. Mimoko moving her pawn to h3 and Tony moving his bishop to d7 did little to sway the game one way or the other. However, after Mimoko castled on the king's siade and Tony moved his queen to f5, things began to heat up. It all started with Mimoko moving her knight to d5 and Tony responding by moving his pawn to e4.

"Now the pain train begins!" Iori grinned as Mimoko captured the pawn at e4 with her d-pawn, forcing Tony to move his queen to e5.

Mimoko then captured the pawn at c7 with her knight, putting Tony in check and forcing him to move his king to d8. Mimoko quickly retreated her knight to b5, however, Tony appeared to gain the edge when he captured the rook at a1 with his queen.

"Mimo just lost a rook!" Carol cried as Mimoko moved her queen to d2.

"Oh no... Guess that rook was dead weight cuz that bozo sure isn't moving like he's winning," Iori snickered as Tony moved his king to e7.

Mimoko followed up by moving her bishop to a3, prompting Tony to defend the pawn at d6 by moving his queen to f6. However, that did little to stop Mimoko's vicious assault.

"Check," Mimoko stated as she captured the pawn at d6 with her bishop.

Due to Mimoko's knight also protecting the bishop, Tony was unable to trade queens and forced to move his king to e8, however, Mimoko put him in check once more by moving her knight to c7, forcing him to move his king to d8. Mimoko then decided to go after the queen and moved her pawn to e5, however, said pawn was quickly gobbled up by Tony's knight. Unphased, Mimoko slid her her rook to d1.

"Guess you got some skill, but I do too, check," Tony stated as he moved his knight to f3.

"That's a nice trick, but I'm not falling for it," Mimoko smiled as she captured the knight at f3 with her bishop.

"Well dang, I guess I got to cocky and hung that knight," Tony chuckled as he moved his king to c8.

"Huh? Why didn't he capture the bishop?" Carol asked as Mimoko moved her knight to b5.

"Cuz then it would have been mate in three," Iori grinned as Tony captured the knight on b5 with his bishop. "And what do you know, he blundered into mate anyway.

Rather than capture the bishop on b5, Mimoko instead moved her bishop to g4, forcing Tony to move his bishop to d7. Mimoko wasn't deterred though and simply captured said bishop with her bishop, forcing Tony to capture it with his king. However, that allowed Mimoko to put him in check, simply by moving her bishop to b4.

With no other choice, Tony moved his queen to d4, and watched Mimoko capture it with her knight on her next turn. "Alright, alright, you're good, but you haven't won yet," he chuckled as he moved his king to c8.

"Then I'll do it in two moves," Mimoko declared as she moved her knight to b5.

Now nothing Tony would do would really matter, so he opted to move his knight to f6. Mimoko then captured the pawn at a7, and after Tony moved his king to c7, it was over.

"Checkmate. I can see you really are skilled. Thanks for the fun match, now could you tell us where to find that secret puzzle cafe?" Mimoko asked as she moved her queen to d6, winning the game.

Tony nodded and informed the girls that the secret puzzle cafe was actually an entire restaurant known as The King's fianchetto which was located inside a fancy hotel in Time's square. "Just make sure ya got ratings or they won't let ya in!" Tony hollered as the girls returned to the cab.

"Done already? So where to? I hope it's close cuz I'm about to go off duty," the cabby grumbled.

"The King's fianchetto in Time's square," Mimoko smiled.

A grin began to form on the cabby's face. "Perfect. I was headin' to that hotel anyway. In fact, ride fare's free so hop in."

...

The girls stared in awe as they entered the hotel.

"YO! This place a skyscraper? How many floors it got?" Iori asked as she began filming.

"Over 50. The place is on the 8th floor. I'll show ya to the door," the cabby nodded.

The girls followed the cabby until they reached the restaurant. The bouncer let the cabby in without a second glance, but wouldn't let the girls pass until they showed him their WWCF cards. After confirming they had ratings, he allowed them to pass.

The inside looked very similar to that of the Secret puzzle cafes back in Japan, however it was much bugger and had more designated dinner tables and seating as well as a view of Times square below.

"Now welcome to my joint. Name's Mariano Mario and I run this place," the cabby stated as he headed for the counter.

"Wait, YOU'RE the SPCM!?" Iori gasped.

"Yeah, the cab's just my day job, this is my night job."

"In that case, we actually have something important to discuss with you," Mimoko stated.

The full game:

White: Mimoko Inoue (2730) Black: Prussian Tony (1600)

1. g3 e5

2. c4 Nc6

3. Bg2 g6

4. Nc3 Bg7

5. e3 d6

6. d3 Qf6

7. Nge2 Rb8

8. b3 Bg4

9. h3 Bd7

10. O-O Qf5

11. Nd5 e4

12. dxe4 Qe5

13. Nxc7+ Kd8

14. Nb5 Qxa1

15. Qd2 Ke7

16. Ba3 Qf6

17. Bxd6+ Ke8

18. Nc7+ Kd8

19. e5 Nxe5

20. Rd1 Nf3+

21. Bxf3 Kc8

22. Nb5 Bxb5

23. Bg4+ Bd7

24. Bxd7+ Kxd7

25. Bb4+ Qd4

26. Nxd4 Kc8

27. Nb5 Nf6

28. Nxa7+ Kc7

29. Qd6#