Chapter 159:

Chaturaji crunch

En Passant Grandmaster

Once the payment was secure, an board appeared on the main table. It was the same size as a normal chess board, however, there were now 4 different colored pieces on the board, each situated in the corners of the board. Each player had 4 pawns, a king, a bishop, a knight, and a boat which moved like a rook.

The game was a modern take on the ancient Indian game of the same name. In it, the goal was to accumulate the most points from capturing pieces. Pawns were worth 1 point, knights and kings were 3, and boats and bishops were 5. However, much like in 4-way chess, if a king was mated or captured, all it's remaining pieces on the board would no longer be worth anything following the king's mate. Pawns could also only move 1 space forward, and would promote to boats upon reaching the other end of the board. While kings could be checked, players were not actually required to move their king out of check, though not doing so would usually result in their king being captured.

As for the game, Okisato got lucky and was playing as red, while Bai, Jia, and Fen were blue, yellow, and green, respectively.

Once everyone was seated, Okisato started the game off by moving his pawn to c3. Bai moved his pawn to c6, Jia moved her pawn to h6, and Fen moved his pawn to f1. Okisato then moved his king to c2, Bai moved his pawn to c7, Jia moved her pawn to h5, and Fen moved his pawn to f3.

"Things seem to be going fine so far, but I expect them all to conspire against me," Okisato thought as he moved his pawn to d3. His theory was proven right as Bai winked at Jia and Fen and moved his king to b6. The two got the message as Jia moved her boat to h6, while Fen moved his king to g3.

"I do hope you agree to actually treat this as a proper free-for-all," Okisato glared as he moved his knight to d2.

"We wouldn't dare. In fact, look here, I just checked Jia," Bai sneered as he moved his pawn to d7.

"Oh, how could you?" Jia mockingly cried as she moved her king to d8.

Fen merely smiled and moved his pawn to f4, prompting Okisato to move his knight to b3. Bai then moved his pawn to c8 as Jia moved her knight to f6. Fen then moved his knight to g4, as Okisato cautiously moved his bishop to d2.

"It's important to remember that whoever has the most points from capturing pieces wins the game. I imagine they plan to first take one of their own out before going after me." Okisato thought as Bai moved his pawn to d6.

Jia then captured the knight on g4 with her h-pawn, prompting Fen to capture said pawn with his bishop. Okisato moved his boat out to e1, but then trouble struck as Bai moved his knight to c6, putting Jia in check. Rather than defend her king, she opted to capture Fen's boat on h1 with her boat, giving herself up to Bai. Fen chuckled and moved his bishop to f5 as Okisato scowled and moved his knight to d4.

"I'd love to take that wittle horsey, but first thing's first," Bai sneered as he captured Jia's king at d8, taking her out of the game.

Despite her elimination, she was in the lead with 8 points while Bai was in second with 3 points, Fen in 3rd with 1, and Okisato dead last with no points.

"And with that, I resign," Fen snickered.

The game was now a 1v1 between Okisato and Bai. Okisato sighed and captured the bishop at f5 with his knight.

"Ah, sorry wittle boy, you don't get any points for capturing the pieces of the defeated," Bai sneered as he moved his knight to e6.

"But I can still get points for capturing a king," Okisato glared as he captured the king at g3 with his knight.

Everyone went silent with shock as Okisato suddenly got on the scoreboard.

"Impossible! I resigned! You can't get any points from capturing my king!" Fen fumed.

"Yes I can, read the rules," Okisato snickered.

Bai clicked his tongue and captured the pawn at e7 with his 6-pawn. "So you got on the scoreboard. Big deal, Jia is still in first place."

"But not for long," Okisato snickered as he moved his pawn to c4.

"I agree, I'LL be in first soon enough!" Bai sneered as he captured said pawn with his 5-pawn.

Okisato remained calm though, and moved his knight to e4. Bai began to get giddy and immediately captured the pawn at d3 with his 4-pawn. Now with little choice, Okisato moved his king to c3, allowing Bai to capture the knight on e4 with his 3-pawn.

"Ah, did the wittle baby get confused? My pawn couldn't capture your king, and now I'm tied for first. You're going to lose," Bai taunted as Okisato captured the pawn on e4 with his boat. "Ah, pawns are only worth 1 point, and since you reminded me about the boat, I think I'll get another one," he sneered as he captured the pawn at f8 with his 7-pawn.

Okisato paid him no heed though and moved his pawn to b3. Bai didn't let up on the taunting though as he captured the pawn at g7 with his 8-pawn.

"Ugh, will you shut up, fatso?" Okisato glared as he moved his boat to b4.

"Ah, is the wittle baby getting cranky? Too bad. Uncle Bai's about to spank your wittle ass," Bai sneered as he slid his king to c7.

Okisato immediately advanced his pawn to a3 as Bai moved his pawn to h7, promoting it to a boat. Okisato moved his pawn to a4, as Bai slid his new boat down to h3, preparing to launch an attack on Okisato's king. Okisato quickly slid his boat to e4, however, that did little to erase the smirk forming on Bai's face.

"Checky, check. It's spanking time," Bai taunted as he captured the pawn at f3 with his boat.

Okisato moved his king to b4, but then, Bai made a massive blunder, and moved his knight to c5, allowing Okisato to capture it free of charge with his king. However, Bai didn't care, and cemented his lead in 1st place by capturing the pawn at b3 with his boat.

"Guess we'll go for the coup de gras," Okisato thought as he moved hos bishop to a5.

Bai let out a malicious laugh and slid his king to d8. "Go on, take it. I'll win the game on points," he thought.

"Ok, thanks dumbass! Checkmate!" Okisato maniacally laughed as he captured the king at d8 with his bishop.

"Why do you laugh? I- ...!"

Bai went pale as he realized that thanks to Okisato capturing his king, Okisato was now in 1st place with 10 points, meaning he had beaten all 3 of his SPCM challengers.

"You big fat idiot," Jia glared as Bai began to sweat buckets.

"Well, I beat 3 of you at once, so give me my spoils," Okisato snickered.

"Tch, you wasted 15 minutes of hard work. I have no idea why Maestro Xiao Lin considers you her right hand," Jia glared as she became the first to award Okisato his spoils of victory.

Bai merely began crying like a baby as he along with Fen was forced to award Okisato his victory spoils.

"Guess you were the big baby all along. Now only two to go," Okisato snickered as he gazed at the remaining two SPCMs he had yet to beat.

The full game:

Red: Okisato Tanabe (2575) Blue: SPCM Bai Qiang (2702) Yellow: SPCM Jia Long (2199) Green: SPCM Fen Huang (1209)

1. c3 c6 h6 f1

2. Kc2 c7 h5 f3

3. d3 Kb6 Rh6 Kg3

4. Nd2 d7+ Kd8 f4

5. Nb3 c8 Nf6 Ng4

6. Bd2 d6 hxg4 Bxg4

7. Re1 Nc6+ Rxh1 Bf5

8. Nd4 Nxd8# R