The Japanese opening's grand debut

"Hmm, guess the food is good here," Okisato mumbled as he munched on some karaage.

"You guess!? Bro, this shit's the best food in the country!" Yuusuke fumed.

"If Mimoko-sama likes it, I like it," Utami nodded.

"Ulp- Blugh. Uhh, so sore," Iori groaned as she twitched in the booth.

Thanks to the mountain of spicy grubs, Iori's stomach was full, and her lips swollen. She had no one to blame but herself though with nobody willing to take her side. On the flipside, her being in this state meant she was out for the team battle.

Speaking of said battle, Okisato was deep in thought thinking about it, namely who might be part of the enemy team. Rize and Benihime seemed likely, but the possibility of them enlisting outside help was high. And if that happened, there was a fair chance the chess club team would lose. While Cinnamon and Yumi could be considered secret weapons, Okisato ultimately decided not to include them in the plan as the pressure and tension might get to them. However, he did want a secret weapon on hand, so he decided to call someone up, and one bullet game later, they were en route to Tokyo.

An hour later, Rize and Benihime returned accompanied by three men.

Rika scowled as she zeroed in on one of the men. "You're not welcome here."

"Arerere? Why so harsh? I'm just a good ole reporter and minister of all things veggie at Tabemono," Ginji chuckled.

"You're with ILU."

"B- But that's just a conspiracy."

"Well your daughter being corrupt isn't."

"But we're two different people. Besides, I'm here to play chess, and you can't ban folks from playing chess if ya become a secret puzzle cafe spot."

"Seems like you know quite a bit about secret puzzle cafes," Okisato glared as he pulled out his WWCF card.

As he found Ginji's data, he scowled and aimed his WWCF card at the others, but only Benihime appeared to be registered with the WWCF.

"So I take it the two of you with WWCF memberships are participating?" Okisato asked.

"Righty-o. And naturally our president Rize and my good friends Kit and Bernie. And your team?" Ginji asked.

"Why did you hire him?" Rika glared at Rize.

"Hey, I'm chaotic neutral. Anyway, you gonna play?"

"No way, I suck."

"I'm fighting," Rodeo nodded as he stood up.

Okisato began to groan. While things certainly looked good at a glance, there was no telling how good Bernie, Kit, and Rize truly were. Not to mention, Rodeo was one of the weaker members of the chess club. However, he had insisted on participating, mainly due to one of the restaurant's staff members, Zuina Adler, being one of the reasons his family's farm was still afloat. Not to mention, he had a crush on her and wanted to impress her.

"Ugh, I guess we only need three to win anyway. In that case, Utami-chan will also be on our team, along with this cute gothic lolita and that will do it," Okisato nodded as Mimoko shot him an angry glare.

"Are? But that's only 4 players," Ginji gasped.

"Our 5th player just arrived."

As Ginji turned around, the nasty smirk on his face quickly vanished as he came face-to-face with Peter Morphy.

"I heard you said there were promising prodigies here. In that case, getting a secret puzzle cafe set up here is all the more enticing," Peter nodded.

"I thank you for that," Daria smiled as she appeared along with Raymond, causing Ginji's face to lose even more color.

"Oi, oi, the maestro and the president?"

"Correct, though we are merely spectating. Now to be clear, this is a team event, with the prospect of a secret puzzle cafe being built here being the SOLE item up for wager," Raymond declared.

Ginji gritted his teeth in frustration and took his hands out of his pockets. "So I can't sneak in a DESPER kill. Well, not like I could anyway with the potential of Peter being my opponent," he thought.

The pairings were quickly chosen and were as follows, first up was Utami as white against Benihime followed by Peter, who was up against Kirk Ziegler as black. Next was Rodeo as white against Ginji and following that if need be, Okisato would be playing as black against Rize with Mimoko set to play as white against Bernie should things go to the final round.

"So I'm playing you then," Utami nodded as she opened by moving her pawn to a3.

Mimoko stared in confusion at the move as did Benihime.

"Is this because I am a beginner? I'm the heir of the Shirohime family, I need no pity, in fact I spit upon it," Benihime glared as she moved her pawn to e5.

"Seems you are decent, now tell me, how much do you know about chess?"

"As much as I've learned in 3 hours."

"Not much then. Well, allow me to tell you why I played this opening. To put it bluntly, peer pressure. Tanabe wants me to showcase his new opening theory since he can't. Now, to give you a brief history lesson, many countries and places have moves named after them. However, Japan officially does not. Therefore, Tanabe took it upon himself to find a unique, but also viable opening to be worthy of being called the "Japanese opening". And this is it," Utami declared as she moved her pawn to e3.

Raymond stroked his beard as he stared at the board. "Hmm, I suppose this opening doesn't have a proper name aside from just plain old "Andersen opening". Very well, I'll henceforth dub this the Japanese opening, now prove it's an opening worthy of praise."

"Most certainly, I made sure to drill the top responses and defenses into Utami-chan's head," Okisato nodded.

"Hoh? You've already got an opening theory going?" Peter asked.

"Yes, in fact, a large reason this came to be was so I could beat you."

"Just like Adolf Anderssen created that opening to try and best my ancestor. And you share your birthday with Anderssen as well."

"And you share yours with your ancestor, Paul Morphy."

"Perhaps we are indeed modern reincarnations in a sense. Now what are the main lines of your theory?"

"See for yourself," Okisato smirked as Benihime moved her pawn to d5.

Utami looked at the board and sighed. "The normal variation, as Tanabe dubbed it is to be his secret attack against Madman Důras. Therefore, I play the Kyoto variation," she thought as she moved her pawn to c4.

"And what do you call this?" Peter asked as Benihime moved her pawn to d4.

"Before she moved, Japanese opening: Kyoto variation. Now, Japanese opening: Kyoto, advance variation," Okisato stated as Utami moved her knight to f3.

"Intriguing, you're giving theory to an irregular opening. Perhaps opening theory is headed for an upheaval," Raymond nodded as Benihime moved her queen to f6.

"Looks like she's still a beginner," Utami thought as she moved her pawn to d3.

Benihime noticed Utami's hint of confidence and shot her a nasty glare. "Pray tell, why doest thou follow a knight blindly?" she snarled as she moved her knight to h6.

"I fail to grasp what you're alluding to," Utami grumbled as she captured the pawn at d4 with her e-pawn.

"I mean the female knight thou follows blindly," Benihime clarified as she captured the pawn at d4 with her e-pawn.

Utami scowled and moved her queen to e2. "Are you insulting Mimoko-sama?"

"And there it is, lapdog loyalty. why doust thou have it?" Benihime glared as she moved her bishop to e6.

"Because Mimoko-sama is my savior and mad queen," Utami replied as she moved her pawn to g3.

"'Mad queen'? Why such a title?" Benihime asked as she moved her bishop to d6.

"Study up on your chess history to find out," Utami glared as she moved her b-knight to d2.

"I have studied chess, in fact it's not much different from shogi," Benihime scoffed as she moved her knight to f5.

The mention of shogi immediately brought back bad memories for Utami. "I have a bad history with shogi," she glared as she moved her knight to e4.

Sensing a chance to assert dominance, a sinister smirk appeared on Benihime's face as she moved her queen to d8. However, Utami deflated her immediately, both by telling her about her family, and by moving her f-knight to g5.

The story began to make Benihime feel a bit bad for Utami, though not bad enough to throw the game for her. Though it might have looked like she did after moving her pawn to g6, which allowed Utami to capture the pawn at f7 with her knight, prompting Benihime to capture said knight with her bishop on her next turn. However, this was only the beginning.

Utami then delivered a nasty double check by capturing the bishop at d6 with her knight, forcing Benihime to move her king to f8. She then followed up by capturing the knight at f5 with her knight, prompting Benihime to capture said knight with her g-pawn.

But the onslaught still wasn't over as Utami moved her bishop to h6, forcing the king to g8, and allowing her to finally develop her light-squared bishop to g2. Now Benihime was beginning to get a bit nervous and moved her pawn to a5, allowing Utami to once again develop more pieces, this time by castling on the king's side. Benihime decided to try mounting a counteroffensive by moving her queen to f6, but Utami caught on to what she was planning and moved her queen to d2.

Beginning to feel frustration, Benihime moved her pawn forward to f4, and to an early capture at the hands of the bishop. But her blundering didn't stop there as next she decided to move her king to g7, allowing Utami to set-up another attack by moving her a-rook to e1.

"Ngh, why must you be so annoying!?" Benihime fumed as she moved her pawn to c5.

"Hey, you are a beginner, and I'm a seasoned veteran, this shouldn't be a surprise," Utami growled as she moved her bishop to e5.

Benihime went quiet as she realized her queen was done for, but rather than capture the bishop, she opted to move her rook to f8.

"So all that bluster was just that, bluster. Check," Utami grumbled as she captured the queen at f6 with her bishop.

"Nay, I fight until I drop dead," Benihime glared as she captured the bishop at f6 with her king.

"Admirable, but mate's still imminent, nor will you ever escape this onslaught," Utami declared as she moved her queen to h6, forcing Benihime to move her bishop to g6 in order to avoid losing on the spot.

Indeed Utami didn't let up as she then captured the rook at f8 with her queen, forcing Benihime to move her bishop to f7. Benihime was given a brief break from the checks after Utami moved her rook to e7, but with little moves to make, she opted to move her king away to g5.

"So you run like a coward. Check," Utami glared as she moved her queen to g7.

"I'M NO COWARD!" Benihime tearfully shouted as she moved her bishop to g6.

"Hmm, perhaps I overstepped. My apologies, but I do have a dark side I struggle to keep in check. But fear not, it's almost over," Utami sighed as she moved her rook to e5.

"I- I- I won't run away from my ambitions," Benihime trembled as she moved her king to g4.

"Good, then continue to grow. But for now, this is checkmate," Utami stated as she moved her pawn to f3, winning the game.

The full game:

White: Utami Enoki (1630) Black: Behihime Shirohime (unrated)

1. a3 e5

2. e3 d5

3. c4 d4

4. Nf3 Qf6

5. d3 Nh6

6. exd4 exd4

7. Qe2+ Be6

8. g3 Bd6

9. Nbd2 Nf5

10. Ne4 Qd8

11. Nfg5 g6

12. Nxf7 Bxf7

13. Nxd6+ Kf8

14. Nxf5 gxf5

15. Bh6+ Kg8

16. Bg2 a5

17. O-O Qf6

18. Qd2 f4

19. Bxf4 Kg7

20. Rae1 c5

21. Be5 Rf8

22. Bxf6+ Kxf6

23. Qh6+ Bg6

24. Qxf8+ Bf7

25. Re7 Kg5

26. Qg7+ Bg6

27. Re5+ Kg4

28. f3#