Chapter 160:

Fog of war and sexy feet

En Passant Grandmaster

Okisato stared at Xiu and Bao, as he contemplated who to challenge.

"Uh, better challenge Bao. I'm in the middle of a manicure," Xiu sneered.

Indeed, her nails had been completely painted, but Okisato didn't care. "I'm paying, so who cares about your nails. You can still move the pieces."

"Um, rude. You don't interrupt a girl in the middle of her makeover," Xiu sneered.

"Then move the pieces with your feet."

Xiu stared in shock before a sinister smile spread on her face. "Oh, you got a foot fetish, boy? Well lucky for you I got some sexy hot feet. So will I be stepping on your face as well?" she sneered as she took off her sneakers and socks and propped her feet on the table.

Xiu definitely had nice sexy feet, and a sexy body in general. It was easy to see why many men fell for her, but Okisato was too crunched for time to be seduced.

"You gay or something? Most men would be getting horny just looking at my bare feet," she glared as she twirled her foot around in the air.

"I don't have time for seduction, and no, I have no interest in guys. My place is a sausage fest as is."

"Your place? Ah yes, you're the son of a yakuza boss. Now, what are we playing, beefy boy?"

"'Beefy boy'?"

"Yes, you got muscle, lots of muscle under that shirt. Were we to fight in a physical match, I bet I'd get beaten senseless by you. Of course, if you're into that-"

"Atomic chess-"

"Uh, you remember the policy? You already played two SPCMs in atomic chess. And since it's just me and Bao left, no 4-player variations, unless of course you want to play self-partnering 4-way chess. Of course, you could always accept my normal challenge"

"I heard from Peter that your normal challenge has an hour and 20 minute time control, so no thanks."

"Oh, are you in a rush, well too bad. You mentioning that man worsened my mood, so now I'm limiting you to only a few variants. Crazyhouse, duck chess, I'll even entertain gothic chess, but nothing more. No 960, king of the hill, or 3-check. Though I might be willing to compromise on some other variants, but better think quickly, cuz I'm about to upgrade my manicure to a full mani-pedi."

"How about fog of war chess?"

Xiu paused for a moment before smiling maliciously. "Sure, that is by no means a blitz."

Once the payment was complete, fog enshrouded the chessboard. Fog of war chess was a variant where the board is enshrouded by fog, making it unable for players to see their opponent's pieces. The only way to do so was to make use of each piece's vision range. For example, pawns could only see 1 space ahead, knights could see the spaces they could jump to, bishops could see the full diagonal unless an opponent's piece was blocking a square. The same was true for rooks and queens, which could see all the squares they could move to respectively, and would only have their vision obscured if a piece was blocking a square. Due to the state of the game, capturing the king, instead of checkmating it, was the only way to win the game. It was also impossible to capture any piece shrouded by fog, even if a piece was capable of moving to that square. Only pieces that could be seen, could be captured.

"A shame the fog enshrouds us too. Guess you won't get the pleasure of seeing me move the pieces with my sexy feet. Now let's have a nice foggy match, beefy boy," Xiu sneered as she made her first move.

Okisato, unable to see what move was played, moved his pawn to e5.

"Oh look, you fell for my trap, beefy boy. Guess you get to see my feet after all. Oh wait, no you don't," Xiu sneered as she captured the pawn at e5.

Okisato gritted his teeth in frustration as the fog obscured the piece that was captured. "Was it a knight or a pawn? I'll go knight c6," he thought as he did just that.

This allowed him to see that it was in fact a knight that had captured his pawn, however, Xiu could also see his knight and captured it promptly. Okisato simply captured said knight with his b-pawn though, leaving Xiu with no more insight into his formation.

"I caught a glimpse of his formation. Now what can I do to wreck that beefy boy?" Xiu thought as she made her move. Okisato meanwhile moved his bishop to a6, only to find himself staring down Xiu's bishop. "Ahahaha! Boy before my tactical might, beefy boy!" Xiu taunted as she captured the bishop at a6 with her bishop, once again leaving Okisato in the dark.

While he knew where the bishop was, he couldn't capture it due to the fog. With little choice, he moved his rook to b8 while Xiu made her next move.

"Fog of war chess truly brings strong players to their knees," Fen sneered as Okisato moved his pawn to c5.

"Oh, but what about blindfold chess?" Jia asked as Xiu made her next move.

"Hmm, I guess that is fair, though fog of war is much different as in fog of war, you might be able to see something your opponent can't," Fen stated as Okisato moved his knight to f6.

It was then that Okisato saw Xiu move her queen to h5.

"And there is my point. Now poor Xiu is in trouble," Fen sighed as Okisato promptly captured the queen at h5 with his knight.

Xiu began to grit her teeth in frustration. "Dammit, he had his knight out. I'm an idiot!" she fumed as she made her next move.

Okisato meanwhile moved his bishop to d6 and was able to spot Xiu moving her bishop to b5. "Well don't mind if I do," he snickered as he captured said bishop with his rook.

Now it was Xiu who was completely in the dark, and down a queen to boot. She gritted her teeth in frustration as she made her move, but quickly regained her composure after Okisato moved his knight to f4.

"Two pieces for the taking, now lets start with the rook," she snickered as she captured the rook at b5.

Okisato correctly surmised his rook had been taken by a knight and moved his pawn to a5. Once again given the option of capturing two pieces, Xiu opted to capture the bishop at d6 with her knight, and discovered Okisato's king.

"Oh look at that, I see your king," she sneered as Okisato promptly captured the knight at d6 with his c-pawn. "And now, your knight," she sneered again as she captured the knight at f4.

Now finding himself in the dark, Okisato opted to castle on the king's side. Still not being able to see much after Xiu made her move, Okisato moved his rook to e8. And it was then that Xiu unknowingly made a fatal mistake, and moved her rook to e1. Upon seeing Okisato's rook at e8, she went pale. While Okisato didn't know it, he was a move away from mate.

"Hmm, probably going to be a rook trade. Well, at least I'll have an idea where the other rook is," he thought as he captured the rook at e1 with his rook. But upon seeing both Xiu's king and her bishop in his sights, a malicious grin formed on his face.

If this was normal chess, Okisato would have won via checkmate, but since you could only win fog of war chess by capturing the king, Xiu either had to make an obligatory move, or resign on the spot. She chose the latter.

"Well that went faster than expected. Now onto you," Okisato nodded as he locked eyes with Bao.

The full game:

White: SPCM Xiu Mei-mo (2720) Black: Okisato Tanabe: (2575)

1. Nf3 e5

2. Nxe5 Nc6

3. Nxc6 bxc6

4. e3 Ba6

5. Bxa6 Rb8

6. Bd3 c5

7. O-O Nf6

8. Qh5 Nxh5

9. Bc4 Bd6