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.

He quickly went into his contact list and challenged someone to a match.

"A challenge from 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 the game ended in a draw. "Well I'll be there on a warship shortly. As luck would have it, I was just about to eliminate a pain in my side anyway."

...

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

"Now, let me 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 tyrannical 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 Frieda 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 martyring 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 climbed onto the deck of the warship.

"So you are here. Shall I have the ship set sail?" Svetlana asked.

"No need. Just bring me the sacrifice," Red Reaper ordered 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 am I taking the warship with me?"

"It was created with the DESPER, so feel free to leave it."

"Then care to come spectate?"

"Naturally. Svetlana will accompany us as well."

Red Reaper nodded as Svetlana returned dragging a bound and gagged woman. "Now, let's go back to London. I'll make the match a 1 minute bullet one. With that, I should be able to be back on the hunt again."

"And how long has it been since you lost your match?"

"After I thrash this woman, and get a new DESPER, I'd say 40 minutes give or take."

"Now isn't that intriguing. I here 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: Grigori Ivan Vasilyevich I (2818) Black: Frieda Rhodes (1922)

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#