Muzio marauder

Okisato stared at the board and immediately captured the knight at f3 with his g-pawn, as Skaberghast captured said pawn with his queen.

"This is all standard Muzio," Okisato thought as he moved his queen to f6.

"But can you keep up the pace? The Muzio is MY opening, so naturally I know all the best responses," Skaberghast thought as he moved his pawn to d3.

Okisato did have an advantage, but holding it would be a whole different story. And with the fast time control, one wrong move could prove fatal.

"I just gotta remember back when Peter trashed me with this. Hmm, in this position, knight c6, bishop captures f4, then d6, but if he goes knight c3... g-knight e7," Okisaro thought as all the moves he foresaw came to pass.

"Well look at that. Guess the oni-tiger isn't impenitrable after all. Should have gone queen g7 instead. But I doubt you know every Muzio line like the back of your hand. I imagine Peter trashed you with this a few times, but that's the thing, the trashings likely led you to preventing opponets from even pulling off the Muzio, and as a result, you never studied the perfect counter. Queen e3, queen g6, d4, bishop g7, and knight b5," Skaberghast thought as all the moves he listed were played. "Now the best response is king d8, but that's not an easy move to spot. You like forgoing your castling rights to pull off Bongcloud-type wins, but this late in the game, the most common response is to castle king's side. And if he does that, I just slide my pawn to c3," Skaberghast thought as his prediction came to pass.

The advantage was still on Okisato's side, but Skaberghast was playing perfectly, putting all the pressure on Okisato to maintain his advantage. This was not Okisato's usual playstyle as usually it was him making the risky plays and then playing perfectly. Here though, he had allowed Skaberghast to play his best opening, and with the low amount of time on the clock, he was struggling to come up with good counterplay.

"Dammit! This bastard knows this thing perfectly. I can't find an opening, even though I should have the advantage. I have to use up my time thinking, while he has everything figured out. I shouldn't have been so cocky, dammit! Ugh, if I go bishop d7, rook f3 comes so I go knight a5. Then he'll retreat his bishop to e2 or d3... It doesn't matter. I'll capture the knight at b5 with my bishop and he'll just capture it with his bishop. Then all I can do is go d5," Okisato thought as all the moves he foresaw came to pass.

"Now here's the kicker. Perfect play isn't always necessary. Rook e1 is the best move, but if I move my a-rook to f1 instead, he's gonna probably capture the pawn at e4 with his d-pawn. But after rook g3, queen e6, and bishop h6, he's gonna have to play perfectly or I win on the spot," Skaberghast thought as all the moves he listed came to pass.

Okisato managed to find the best move of knight g6, keeping his hopes alive. Skaberghast opted to trade bishops by capturing the bishop at g7 with his bishop, forcing Okisato to capture it with his king or have the tables turn against him. After that, Skaberghast moved his rook to h3 as Okisato countered by moving his pawn to h5. Skabergast promptly captured said pawn with his rook, once again forcing Okisato to find the best move, Rook h8, in order to keep the game going.

Okisato did find it, but Skaberghast once again put him on the spot by moving his h-rook to f5. Okisato did find the best move of moving his a-rook to f8, but time was starting to get low, and his mind was beginning to tire. And after Skaberghast moved his rook to f6, Okisato moved his queen to g4. The move wasn't horrendous per say, but it did even out the game and erase any advantage Okisato had.

"And now I keep panning till I get the gold," Skaberghast thought as he moved his pawn to h3.

Okisato still had his wits about him though and moved his queen to h4. Skaberghast wasn't giving any openings though and moved his pawn to d5. Worse he still had 9 minutes on the clock while Okisato was down to just 2. At this point, Okisato had to abadon any hope of winning and start looking for a perpetual check to force a draw.

"Think! I go queen d4, he goes king g8... B4 is his only viable move. Then I have to sac the knight and move my rook to g5, and when he takes the knight at a5 with his b-pawn, I capture the pawn at h3 with my queen. His g-pawn is pinned, so he'd likely capture the pawn at e4 with his queen. I capture the pawn at c3 with my queen, but what then!?" Okisato thought as all the moves he foresaw came to pass.

He eventually got his answer to what came next as Skaberghast moved his bishop to a4. It was then that he saw a way out, and desperately moved his queen to c5. "Check!"

Skaberghast raised an eyebrows and nonchalantly slid his 1-rook to f2. Okisato then slid his queen to c1, prompting Skaberghast to move his rook back to f1. Now under a minute, Okisato moved his queen back to c5, as Skaberghast once again moved his 1-rook to f2.

"Another check? He's really going for the repletion," Skaberghast thought as Okisato moved his queen to c1. "Ah, well shit. Guess I got a bit too lazy. Well, that's why indolence is a bloody nerf," he thought as he slid his rook to f1.

Okisato immediately moved his queen to c5 and let out a huge sigh of relief as the threefold repetiton rule triggered and the game ended in a draw.

"Too bad it wasn't Armageddon," Skaberghast snickered as the DESPER deactivated and the scenery returned to normal.

The full game:

White: Prof Manfred von Skaberghast (2714) Black: Okisato Tanabe (2650)

1. e4 e5

2. f4 exf4

3. Nf3 g5

4. Bc4 g4

5. O-O gxf3

6. Qxf3 Qf6

7. d3 Nc6

8. Bxf4 d6

9. Nc3 Nge7

10. Qe3 Qg6

11. d4 Bg7

12. Nb5 O-O

13. c3 Bd7

14. Rf3 Na5

15. Bd3 Bxb5

16. Bxb5 d5

17. Raf1 dxe4

18. Rg3 Qe6

19. Bh6 Ng6

20. Bxg7 Kxg7

21. Rh3 h5

22. Rxh5 Rh8

23. Rhf5 Raf8

24. Rf6 Qg4

25. h3 Qh4

26. d5 Rh5

27. Qd4 Kg8

28. b4 Rg5

29. bxa5 Qxh3

30. Qxe4 Qxc3

31. Ba4 Qc5+

32. R1f2 Qc1+

33. Rf1 Qc5+

34. R1f2 Qc1+

35. Rf1 Qc5+ (Draw by threefold repetition)