Pure annoyance

As Carol, Iori, and Mimoko were dealing with Emmie, Utami was having trouble of her own in the playing hall. She was playing as white and had opened by moving her pawn to d4. Her opponent responded by moving her pawn to c6, prompting Utami to move her pawn to c4.

The game quickly became a typical Slav defense ofter pawn d5 and knight c3. But after Utami's opponent captured the pawn at c4 with her d-pawn, things quickly went downhill as she moved her pawn to e4.

While Utami did make the best response to her opponent moving her pawn to b5; pawn to a4, her opponent simply pushed her pawn to b4, sending her knight to a2.

While Utami still had a slight edge in this position, the problem was that she was up against Japan's current number 3 female player, Kuon Nanya. While Kuon would technically be the 4th best female player if maestros like Daria were counted, Kuon's skill was no joke and she had even increased her rating to 2807. Even before, she was considered a shoe-in for the national team, but thanks to Mimoko's sudden rise, everything was thrown into doubt. While Kuon was a favorite to do well in the qualification tournament, she feared facing monsters like Mimoko and Daria could hamper her overall score, and potentially cost her a team spot. Not to mention, there was the potential for someone not on her radar like Iori to snatch a surprise win off her and doom her Chess Olympics chances.

Worse, she was unable to take a bye point for the 4th round, putting her on edge. In fact, she had nearly been disqualified from the qualification tournament on the 1st day due to nearly losing her 4th round of rapid. While she could get wins and draws during 4th rounds, her overall record showed she'd lose 90% of the time, and of the wins and draws, 50% of the wins were by the skin of her teeth, while 75% of her draws, not counting byes, were due to her opponent deciding to play for a draw.

Though it was worth noting that just because Kuon often struggled to get 4th round wins, sisn't mean it was impossible for her to get them, especially against opponents rated so much lower than her like Utami. And winning was exactly what Kuon wanted to do as she moved her knight to f6.

Utami once again found the best move of pawn e5, but Kuon kept pressing with knight d5. Utami still hung in and captured the pawn at c4 with her bishop, but after Kuon moved her pawn to e6, she misstepped and moved her queen to e2.

Kuon quickly took notice and sent her knight to d7 as Utami unknowingly made her situation worse by moving her queen to h5.

"This position should be winning for me. Now I just need to convert," Kuon thought as she moved her 7-knight to b6.

Utami made the right response of moving her bishop to h3, but she was now at a disadvantage, which would only get worse after Kuon moved her pawn to a5. She tried to create counterplay by moving her knight out to f3, but Kuon quickly cut off her attempt to castle by moving her bishop to a6. Utami tried to regain momentum by moving her bishop out to g5, but Kuon simply slid her queen to d7.

Now Utami was starting to panic a bit and moved her pawn to g3, allowing Kuon to increase her dominance by moving her pawn to c5. This prompted Utami to capture said pawn with her d-pawn, but Kuon simply captured said pawn with her bishop, causing Utami to press her hand into her face in stress.

"I messed up. Perhaps a little walk around the room will calm me down a bit," she thought as she got up to walk around.

Chess players were typically allowed to walk around the playing hall and watch other games, so long as they didn't interfere with them in any way, shape, or form. Though players would typically leave the hall once their match was over.

Seeing that not one of her friends was still playing, Utami headed back to her board and moved her bishop to d2. Kuon quickly slid her rook to c8 as Utami moved her knight to c1, causing her to pause before moving her knight to c4 and getting up to stretch for a bit.

Utami could sense her position was lost, but Mimoko had always told her that playing on instead of outright resigning could lead to a draw or even a win.

"'Remember, your opponent still has to convert the win'"," Utami repeated in her mind as she moved her knight to d3.

While the logic was sound, Kuon simply had plenty of time on her clock and was in top form. As she returned, she immediately captured the bishop at d2 with her knight, prompting Utami to capture said knight with her knight.

Kuon simply captured the knight at d3 with her bishop, now putting her up a full minor piece. Utami wanted to bury her head in the sand, yet pressed onward and moved her queen to f3.

"Tch, not going to resign? I hate brats that delusionally drag things out hoping for a turnaround," Kuon snarled in her mind as she moved her knight to b6.

Utami moved her rook to d1, as Kuon scowled and moved her queen to d4. She then slid her queen down to f4, hoping for a trade, but Kuon simply captured the pawn at b2 with her queen instead. Now out of options, Utami moved her pawn to h4 as Kuon moved her knight to d7.

At this point, Utami just decided to throw everything including the kitchen sink at Kuon and captured the pawn at e6 with her bishop.

"What a flailing imbecile. Just resign already," Kuon thought as she captured said bishop with her f-pawn.

Utami did not resign though and moved her pawn to h5, causing Kuon to scowl in frustration and move her rook to f8. Utami didn't waver and moved her pawn to h6, but now the end was in sight.

"Check!" Kuon snarled as she captured the pawn at e5 with her queen.

Utami attempted to reach for her queen, but stopped as she realized capturing the queen would result in instant mate. "No, I'm not going down easy," she thought as she moved her knight to e4.

Kuon clicked her tongue in annoyance and promptly captured the queen at f4 with her rook. Utami propmptly captured the bishop at d3 with her rook, annoying Kuon as she captured the pawn at f2 with her bishop.

Utami quickly slid her king to f1, as Kuon captured the knight at e4 with her queen. She then captured the rook at f4 with her g-pawn, yet despite knowing the mating line, Kuon didn't get any less annoyed as she captured the rook at d3 with her queen.

To her greater annoyance, Utami moved her king to g2, meaning it would be three more moves until mate instead of two.

"Damn brat!" Kuon thought as she moved her queen to g3.

Utami sighed and moved her king to f1. She had come this far, and was in no mood to resign now. Kuon didn't take kindly to that though and moved her rook to c1, forcing Utami's king to e2 allowing her to win the game.

"Checkmate!" Kuon huffed as she slammed her queen down on e3 before handing her move sheet to the arbiter and storming out.

Despite losing, Kuon's annoyed state had surprisingly calmed Utami down, and even given her a small sense of victory. "Hmm, I wonder why I got under her skin so much. Maybe she was worried she'd blunder if I didn't resign? No, it couldn't be."

The full game:

White: Utami Enoki (1630) Black: Kuon Nanya (2807)

1. d4 c6

2. c4 d5

3. Nc3 dxc4

4. e4 b5

5. a4 b4

6. Na2 Nf6

7. e5 Nd5

8. Bxc4 e6

9. Qe2 Nd7

10. Qh5 N7b6

11. Bb3 a5

12. Nf3 Ba6

13. Bg5 Qd7

14. g3 c5

15. dxc5 Bxc5

16. Bd2 Rc8

17. Nc1 Nc4

18. Nd3 Nxd2

19. Nxd2 Bxd3

20. Qf3 Nb6

21. Rd1 Qd4

22. Qf4 Qxb2

23. h4 Nd7

24. Bxe6 fxe6

25. h5 Rf8

26. h6 Qxe5+

27. Ne4 Rxf4

28. Rxd3 Bxf2+

29. Kf1 Qxe4

30. gxf4 Qxd3+

31. Kg2 Qg3+

32. Kf1 Rc1+

33. Ke2 Qe3#