Chapter 224:

Armageddon and dirty flagging [Side Story 4 Intro]

En Passant Grandmaster

At the WWCF's holding facility, a morning broadcast went out to all the inmates. The broadcast was both a wake-up call, as well as an informal lecture on some of the lore behind Chess itself. Today's topic of discussion was Armageddon. Armageddon was a format usually used for tie-breaks where Black had draw odds, but White had more time on the clock.

As for it's exact origins, Armageddon chess came to be during the vicious clash between Caïssa, the goddess of chess and her younger twin sister, Assïac, deemed to be the devil of chess. Tired of all the matches ending in draws, Assïac decided to implement a rule where Black would win if there was a draw. Caïssa countered this sudden attack by giving White more time and abolishing time increments. After which, Caïssa won the match on time, in a dirty flagging checkmate. As such, Assïac was cast into the pit of Tartarus from the heavens, where she remains wallowing in sorrow to this day.

"Iyah, talk about a sob story," Ginji sneered as sat down at a board across from Sandy.

"If we weren't forced to play, I wouldn't so much as enter your vicinity," Sandy snarled.

The WWCF's holding facility was a very unique prison. It was located under the sea bed floor, a short distance away from the island that housed the main WWCF HQ, though was only accessible from a secret tunnel located in the main HQ. It currently housed a total of 64 prisoners, 3 of them being Ginji Inohara, Michiko Azami, and Sandy Shores. The latter two however were the only SPCMs that had ever been incarcerated. The others ranged from notorious cheaters, to those that like Michiko, had incurred Raymond's wrath by offing talented chess players outside of chess.

Sandy was in the clear on that regard, however, her having a DESPER and using it during multiple official matches where her fellow SPCMs were playing, one of which ending up dead as a result, had landed her here. Many of her friends were shocked, as she was generally one of the more down-to-earth and friendly type. The revelation that she had a DESPER though had greatly shattered their worldview of her.

Ginji on the other hand was incarcerated for his involvement in a cheating scandal where he was aware the chessboard had been laced with mercury in order to hinder his opponent. However, it backfired spectacularly, and Ginji himself ended up getting more effected by the mercury and losing the match, resulting in him getting a more lenient sentence of paying a fine and being incarcerated for merely a week.

While the facility was mainly a prison, there was a medical area which had housed SPCMs Himitsusan and SPCM Himitsutan, Safumi Bouzi and Tenju Kuroshiro respectively, after they had been injured during the Michiko incident. However, those being kept in the medical area were not mandated to play at least one game a day against their fellow inmates.

"Now, in accordance with the theme of today's lore tidbit, the game played today shall be an Armageddon match with no time increments. The higher-rated players shall play as White. Your time begins now!" a guard declared.

Ginji opened by moving his pawn to c4 as Sandy responded by moving her pawn to c5.

"Talk about nasty. Who'd have thought the great goddess of chess herself would be so heartless," Ginji sneered as he moved his pawn to e4.

"Are you trying to provoke me?" Sandy glared as she moved her knight to c6.

"Well naturally. I don't have anything else to do, until my sentence ends. At least they keep us in form with daily chess matches," Ginji sneered as he moved his knight to e2.

"Though prisoners are only allowed to play each other once a day. Otherwise, they have to play anonymously on the prison account," Sandy noted as she moved her pawn to g5.

"And that's pretty much a waste of time for me. Sucks that I'm the biggest dog cooped up here. My elo's at risk now thanks to this Armageddon match," Ginji chuckled as he moved his pawn to d4.

The prison account was the WWCF holding facility's public account, which any inmate could use to play chess online. The catch was that the players themselves wouldn't gain or lose any elo regardless of the result. The same was true for anyone that just so happened to be paired up against the prison account via random matchmaking.

"Still, it is nice that we at least have the option to play chess while confined here. Oh, and check," Sandy stated as she moved her queen to a5.

"Iyaah, not a check," Ginji sneered as he moved his bishop to d2.

Sandy scowled as she stared at the clock and noticed her time had went under 3 minutes while Ginji still had a full 6 minutes left. Desperate, she made the mind-boggling play of capturing the bishop at d2 with her queen.

Ginji stared in shock for at least 10 seconds, before capturing said queen with his knight. "Iyaah, talk about time trouble," he sneered as Sandy moved her pawn to e5.

The gamble hadn't paid off, but at this point, Sandy had no choice but to try and hope for a draw.

"Ironic you're acting so Desperado-like now," Ginji sneered as he moved his pawn to d5.

"Care to explain that statement?" Sandy snarled as she moved her knight to b8.

"Your Desperado quota?" Ginji chuckled as he moved his knight to c3.

"I've been fulfilling it," Sandy glared as she moved her bishop to g7.

"Then let me rephrase... Guess how I'm gonna rephrase it!" Ginji taunted as he smacked his knight down on b5.

"Asshole, if that's how you'll be, then consider yourself on silence," Sandy snarled as she moved her pawn to h5.

Ginji shrugged and moved his queen to f3, noting at how little time Sandy had on the clock. Sandy meanwhile was just moving pieces randomly, as made evident by her play of king to e7. Her hope was that she could maybe force a draw or at least chip away at Ginji's time. But neither of those seemed to be going well for her.

"Checkm- Uhp, it's not mate yet!" Ginji taunted as he moved his pawn to d6.

"Oh cease the theatrics!" Sandy snarled as she moved her king to f8.

"But drama was my major," Ginji snickered as he moved his knight to c7.

"I thought it was journalism," Sandy growled as she moved her rook to h7.

"It was, but drama's a required major for journalism nowadays," Ginji sneered as he captured the rook at a8 with his knight.

Sandy let out a heavy sigh as she moved her pawn to b6. She didn't want to admit it, but sadly she agreed with him on his last statement, especially since she knew of folks like Jacque Horner.

As if he could read her mind, Ginji quickly brought up the topic of the Blue Hornet after moving his pawn to b4. "Now that little Jacque Horner is dead, what do you suppose will happen to his grand legacy?"

Sandy ignored the question and moved her rook to h6, yet Ginji moved his pawn to b5 and kept pressing. "I'm surprised you don't get handed an automatic loss for all the provocations you're hurling," Sandy snarled as she slammed her knight down on f6.

"Well we are in prison already, so I guess they figure we can fight amongst ourselves. So can I get your words of praise on the integral and inspiring Blue Hornet?" Ginji taunted as he moved his queen to a3.

At this point, Sandy was unable to contain her emotions. "WILL YOU SHUT UP ABOUT THAT GLORIFIED TABLOID!? THAT BASTARD RUNNNG IT WAS NOTHING BUT A FLAMER AWARDED OBSCENE AMOUNTS OF POWER THROUGH CORRUPTION!" she shouted as she slammed her knight down on c6.

Ginji blinked for a few seconds before a malicious smile appeared on his face. "Now I get why you targeted all that you did. Oh, this scoop is going to be delicious," he sneered as he captured the pawn at c5 with his queen.

Sandy shot him a death glare and promptly captured said queen with her b-pawn. Despite Ginji blundering his queen, his position was still completely winning. Worse, Sandy was now under a minute on the clock, and with no increments, her getting flagged seemed inevitable.

Ginji was well aware of this which is why he willingly gave up his queen, and continued to look for ways to disrespect Sandy as he captured the knight at c6 with his b-pawn. As soon as Sandy captured said pawn with her d-pawn, Ginji found the move, but first decided to move his rook to d1. Now under 30 seconds, Sandy desperately moved her pawn to a5, but Ginji through her off guard by moving his king to e2. Once again, this was a blunder, but it didn't jeopardize Ginji's winning position in the slightest.

"Well if you'll play that way, then check," Sandy snarled as she moved her bishop to g4.

"Ah! Oh wait, you got no time left!" Ginji cackled as he mockingly moved his pawn to f3.

Sandy quickly slid her bishop to e6, but after Ginji moved his knight to c7, she was unable to make a move in time, and thus lost on time. "That was dirty," she glared as she was escorted away.

"Hey, you not hear the morning sermon? Caïssa beat Assïac with dirty flagging. That's just the name of the game in no time increment Armageddon," Ginji sneered as he too was escorted back to his cell.

Once she was back in her cell, Sandy scowled as she thought about what Ginji said. "So he figured out my motives... Damn it."

The full game:

White: Ginji Inohara (2722) Black: SPCM Sandy Shores (850)

1. c4 c5

2. e4 Nc6

3. Ne2 g5

4. d4 Qa5+

5. Bd2 Qxd2+

6. Nxd2 e5

7. d5 Nb8

8. Nc3 Bg7

9. Nb5 h5