The Bertin meat shield

As soon as his match with Okisato concluded, Red Reaper immediately found himself at the bottom of the ocean. He seethed with fury as he pulled out his WWCF card and saw his rating. Thanks to him losing to Okisato twice, his rating had dipped to 2773. While he always needed to get a new DESPER every time he "died", his WWCF card would never reset. Of course, that didn't mean he couldn't lose rating points if he lost to opponents ranked much lower than him like Okisato.

Red Reaper also had another ace up his sleeve; the ability to warp to any secret puzzle cafe he had been to. And thus, he did that to warp to one in Berlin, Germany. There, he quickly spotted Tsar Grigori.

"Is that the kaiser of Prussia? To what do I owe the pleasure?" Tsar Grigori chuckled.

"I had a run in with the oni-tiger..."

Grigori chuckled as Red Reaper told him what happened. "He is not one to be underestimated. But why are you asking me for assistance? You have the ability to warp to a secret puzzle cafe, yes?"

"Ja, but there are no secret puzzle cafes in London."

"Oh? I thought they would be putting one in, but with a robot managing it."

Red Reaper's gaze narrowed. "Damn woman, if there was a secret puzzle cafe nearby and she intentionally failed to mention it, I'll kill her," he thought.

"Well, if you want a ride to London, you'll need to wait as I'm about to take care of a massive thorn in my, and your side."

"Hoh?"

"Piqued your interest? Then come with me to Brussels. Svetlana will join me, but if you feel like using your DESPER, once you get it again, you can have us all play on a warship in London." 

"Brussels? Then it's HER... I accept."

...

A middle-aged woman glared as she found herself seated at a chessboard across from Grigori on a warship docked in Sochi, Russia. She was Frieda Rhodes, the president of the European parliament as well as a fierce critic of Grigori.

"You! What is the meaning of this!? Why is the kaiser of Prussia here too!?" Frieda protested.

"I'm just here to facilitate the match. You heard the conditions, sis you not?" Red Reaper sneered.

"It matters not. The game has begun, so allow me to thrash you," Grigori chuckled as he moved his pawn to e4.

Frieda responded with e5 immediately as Grigori moved his pawn to f4. "King's gambit? Well guess you are a king, a poor one though" Frieda snarled as she accepted the gambit by capturing the pawn at f4 with her e-pawn.

Grigori then moved his knight to f3, but as soon as Frida moved her bishop to e7, he began to chuckle. "I do love stupidity," he thought as he moved his bishop to c4.

"Seems he's not that smart. All I need to do is check," Frieda thought as she did just that by moving her bishop to h4.

Grigori however didn't seem startled, in fact he seemed pleased as he moved his pawn to g3. Frieda simply dismissed his smile as madness and captured the pawn at g3 with her f-pawn. But then, Grigori castled on the king's side, confusing her even more.

"Check. Are you giving away pawns because you don't care about them, much like your people?" Frieda glared as she captured the pawn at h2 with her g-pawn.

Grigori immediately burst into laughter. "Pawns are meant to be sacrificed and used as meat shields," he maliciously grinned as he moved his king to h1.

Frieda froze as she stared at the board. Despite sacrificing 3 pawns and having his king in the corner, there was little she could do to capitalize on her advantage. Not to mention, her pawn at h2 was essentially being used by Grigori as a meat shield since it couldn't advance. To make matters worse, it along with the bishop could be captured by the knight. Not wanting to lose a bishop, Frieda retreated her bishop to e7, unaware that she had fallen completely into Grigori's trap.

"Check," Grigori sneered as he captured the pawn at f7 with his bishop.

"Y- You're throwing away a bishop too!?" Frieda gasped as she captured the bishop at f7 with her king.

"More like martyred it," Grigori sneered as he moved his knight to e5, forcing Frieda's king to e6.

"The Bertin gambit truly is a nasty gambit, though still nothing to the Muzio and Double Muzio," Grigori thought as he moved his queen to g4.

Frieda immediately captured the knight at e5 with her queen, unable to see that she had just blundered the game.

"Three pawns, a knight, and a bishop. How does it feel to lose with a belly full of those?" Grigori sneered as he moved his queen to f5.

"'Lose'!? I- ...!"

Frieda went pale as she realized it was mate in 1. "No... You're a tyrannical despot! I can't lose to someone like you!" she cried as she moved her king to d6.

"But you did. Checkmate," Grigori sneered as he moved his queen to d5, winning the game. "Now what shall I order you to do first?" he mused as the DESPER deactivated.

Svetlana watched as life vanished from Frieda's eyes and she became nothing more than a husk of the woman she once was.

"That's a very powerful pawn you just got," Red Reaper chuckled as he pulled a revolver out of his coat.

He immediately fired it at his head, shattering his skull to bits, and causing his DESPER to emit a puff of smoke. A few seconds later, his skull reformed and he was back to normal.

"It never ceases to amaze me how you can pull that off," Grigori mused as Red Reaper summoned the Ultima-master.

"It's thanks to my wager, and the fact that Caïssa has forsaken me," Red Reaper replied as he jostled his new DESPER in his hand.

"So how is London this time of year?"

"Foggy as usual. Now who's steering this ship?"

"It was created with the DESPER, so I guess one of us will have to steer it Svetlana."

Svetlana stood and nodded as she headed towards the cockpit.

"So how long has it been since you lost to the oni-tiger?" Grigori asked as soon as Svetlana was out of earshot.

"I'd say 40 minutes give or take," Red Reaper shrugged.

"Now isn't that intriguing. I hear the oni-tiger is still locked in battle with Xiao Lin's SPCMs. I wonder if he'll be able to beat them and Xiao Lin in time."

The full game:

White: Tsar Grigori Ivan Vasilyevich I (2818) Black: Frieda Rhodes (1993)

1. e4 e5

2. f4 exf4

3. Nf3 Be7

4. Bc4 Bh4+

5. g3 fxg3

6. O-O gxh2+

7. Kh1 Be7

8. Bxf7+ Kxf7

9. Ne5+ Ke6

10. Qg4+ Kxe5

11. Qf5+ Kd6

12. Qd5#