Elephant Chess Cup X Everything Thread

[Vonum]

Fu*k I completely forgot about this... So much crap has been going on am I even still in?

You missed one round, just to me and you lost 1½–2½.

The crowd was buzzing when The Kaisers Syndicates and Vonum took to the stage. Vonum's team were motivated to win this round. The opener was a crucial game, a game that would decide their confidence for the rest of the group games.

On board 1, Lando POWERS delivered a checkmate in 26 moves to The Kaisers Syndicates's player with a back-rank mate. Lando, even from the beginning, looked stronger than his opponent bargained for. It was extremely obvious that his opponent was playing a Vonian Chess Championand Vonian #1.

On board 2, Francis ALLESTEA settled for a draw after 76 moves. Her opponent and her both agreed that this game was going nowhere, and so settled with a draw. Overall, her opponent had the winning position, but eventually, her opponent actually called the draw.

On board 3, Lika BEROSA lost abysmally. She lost her queen in her 8th move to a cornering of the piece, and crumbling her attack. and resigned instantly. Things do not get more complicated than that in the game. She stormed out immediately after the resignation papers were signed.

On board 4, Nolan PALOA defeated his opponent in an intense 102-move play. He was able to corner the king with a rook and a king after a little persuasion.

Afterwards, the team headed back to the suite for some wind-down time.

"Well played everyone," POWERS calls to the entire team, settling down for the evening and changing out of their sportswear, "Win in the bag, and a job well done!"

[WIP]

[Barkhastan]

Rakhmonov 1 – 0 Severn
Severn opened Ruy Lopez and Rakhmonov countered with the Modern Steinitz Defence. The game went 50 moves deep, before Severn, in time trouble, made a poor choice from which he was unable to recover, eventually resigning.

Zhaksybekova ½ – ½ Nerata
A Closed Sicilian Defence accounted for all four knights early on and the game never really developed, ending on a draw after three repetitions of the same position.

Nurmatov ½ – ½ Cartwright
Cartwright tried to throw Nurmatov off balance with the unusual Réti opening, but the Neo-Catalan Defence held up and the game ended on a handshake.

Kairatova 1 – 0 Jacobson
From 1.c4 g6 to the only checkmate of the round thanks to solid counterattacking to break down the King's Aryavarnan Defense.

[The Martian Independent Republic]

South Newlandia 2.5 - 1.5 The Martian Independent Republic
Esteban 0.5 - 0.5 Stardust
Van Lundi 0.5 - 0.5 Goode
Jabulan 0.5 - 0.5 Rigby
Blossom 1 - 0 O'Riley

Elephants Take Down Spiders As New Players Crack Under Pressure
Published 19:21 EshST

The last time the Spiders started an ECC off well was ECC8, when they held the eventual champions, the Kytler Peninsulae, to a draw, in what is considered one of the three most impressive achievements in Martian chess history - the other two being upsetting Graintfjall in the quarterfinals and defeating South Newlandia in the third-place match, all in that same tournament. The Spiders and Scholars have yet to have a rematch, Graintfjall has isolated itself, but the Elephants - of Elephant Chess Cup fame - have played the Spiders once in each ECC since. In ECC9, the Spiders won 3-1, with victories from Johnny B. Goode and Ruby Tuesday, in what was one of the only bright spots for her that tournament. However, this time, the Ellies were back with a vengeance.

Board 1
Ziggy Stardust and Adam Esteban have played each other four times to date. We have yet to see a decisive result come out of the matchup, despite the dynamic play styles favored by both sides. In this game, Stardust had the white pieces, and although Esteban played the aggressive Sveshnikov Sicilian, they respected each other too much and entered into a line that was a forced draw, where trades are objectively best, forcing the position to change into one where no chances will be had by either side, and after some ceremonial play, the players agreed to a draw in 41 moves. Match-fixing? We doubt it, given the way the other games played out. A better explanation would simply be that both players had other things on their mind and if they could take the easy way out they would, or that they wanted to watch the fireworks playing out on Board 2, although they were too late for that.

Board 2
The slugfest between Khayisa Van Lundi and Johnny B. Goode reached the same destination as Board 1 did, but through a wildly different journey. Both young phenoms played this game like it was a blitz tiebreaker - it was the shortest game in duration but longest in moves. The game started off aggressively - there was opposite-side castling, meaning a decisive result was all but guaranteed. Van Lundi's queenside pawns were rushing down the board, but so were Goode's kingside ones. Which attack would land first? Stockphant said Goode's, but Goode disagreed, instead opting to try to create a defense against van Lundi's attack, judging it to be the superior one. Van Lundi then had to find a quiet move threatening mate and forcing the king to go for a run, but she missed it, leading to Goode giving up a bishop in a Greek Gift and drawing the game through a perpetual check in a totally winning position, missing a crucial rook sacrifice on f7. It's safe to say both players want this game back.

Board 3
Eleanor Rigby must have been jet lagged from flying into Eshialand, because she arrived 30 seconds late to her game with Eleni Jabulan, in a hurry - within the time allotted so no forfeit was given, but still embarrassing. Apart from that, there was not much exciting about this game, as the lethargic Rigby, at 49 the fifth-oldest human and second-oldest returnee in this tournament, shut down all attempts at play and didn't make much of her own, following only the first half of her tried-and-true strategy 'don't lose, and capitalize on the opponent's mistakes' as she failed to press on either minor inaccuracy Jabulan made, those being the trade of a bishop for a bad knight and leaving an open file to Rigby. Thus, as has happened so many times in the past, the match would come down to the final board, board 4.

Board 4
Tommy O'Riley has many things going for him, but experience and deep knowledge of openings is not one of them. Therefore, when Cecilia Blossom, long the face of the South Newlandian chess team, played 2. h4 against his Modern Defense, he was completely out of his depth. One player had studied this line deeply before, and it wasn't the pinball wizard from Aeolis base. The position kept on getting better positionally for Blossom, O'Riley was running out of moves, and by move 20, the game was all but over. O'Riley missed one last chance, to force the grandmaster twice his age to find an eight-move series where any deviation would mean the game would fall to being a draw or even worse, and after that, Blossom just cleaned up. Down three pawns in an unwinnable endgame and slowly slumping in his chair, O'Riley resigned, sealing the match for the Elephants.

There's still breathing room for maybe one more loss, but if possible, the Spiders need to win as many games as possible to have a good chance in the playoffs. A crucial one is against Yesopalitha, a team with literal gods on its roster - but that didn't stop it from losing to Vaishnavaria. One thing's for sure, it's all still up in the air, and the question remains - who will win it all?

[Valentine Z]

Part 1 - The First Moves.

Vice Foresittend Jolyn Maxine Caulfield Moira “Неуловимая, Женщина-шпион” Marlene Wendy Lucille Lapis Jill Khorosheva Vin. Zolina łnt. Natasha Vasilisa Helen Ceeta Tescelyn Maximovna: All things considered, this result for the first game wasn’t that bad. 1.5 points against Elejamie, so that means we won one match, one draw, and two losses. Again, that is completely fine for something that we are going in for the first time. In consideration and total honesty, Valentians are not exactly into chess as much as with the rest of the sports and games, so the fact that we are in… I will admit, it felt a little bit like we were wandering around and then ended up here randomly. Like a kid that got lost in a convention and took a wrong turn to a business con instead of an anime con, but he was too polite to leave and have everyone get fixated on him, so he simply spent his time there. Or getting wounded up in some country that you were asked to spy and to espionage missions. Ahh, about that one, it has nothing to do with any of the sporting nations here, I would like to reassure you all on that. I have never and not intent on spying on all of you. Rather, it was what happened during the Pre-Valentian Era. From my time in my homeland, to studying about the world in Saint Petersburg’s State Institute of Culture, to being dragged to Texas out of all places to become a teacher as a backstory. It was certainly an interesting time, and I will tell you more about it another time if you would like to. It has a little bit of that action that you see in spy movies, even if most of my time was spent on worrying myself silly in my own living room while vetting through the documents and intelligence that I have gathered. Then again, geopolitics is not something that you would probably like to hear because even if it happened in the world of Valentine Z, it is still a sensitive subject for many people all over the dimension and the worlds. So, going back to chess… I won that match, yes. It was not an easy win, I would never say that. Would be a disservice to everyone.

I thought Adriana would win her match, but hey, a draw is as good as any. I expected her to win because from my understanding, and from what she told me, she didn’t really get chess as a whole. Instead, she was relying on her extremely vast and massive knowledge of moves and algorithms that she was storing and running respectively. It’s a little like that Chinese Room experiment, whereby you have this book of sorts that can help you infer and reply back in a native level. The other person might even be fooled that you can speak the language in a native level and then some more. However, the question of whether or not the person replying back understands Chinese is, well, obviously contested. After all, they are simply using the book to bring out a meaningful answer. Anyway, Adriana was doing just that, which I believe is not something illegal. At least, the persons have checked up on her and they gave her the green light, so there is that. She got a draw, doing that look-up of all the possible moves and the actions to follow. It’s not unusual, after all, to have chess bots and machines that can test and go against some of the best players in the world or the multiverse. If Gwen (now has her name rearranged to Eveline be the first… no relation to the Eveline in this season) was here, I bet she would win by using her time powers. She can be very cheeky with it. Though of course, I know her well. She is not going to cheat on interdimensional sports. She does not really do that in these events and sports, it is just in other places for her own amusement. It can actually be very fun.

I am looking forward to the next match and hey, with the support of the Valentian (and non-Valentian) students and teachers supporting me in turn, it’s something that I always find to be heartwarming no matter how many times this has happened. You get your own following of them if you pull off that Head Minister of Education in an excellent manner, and when these kids love their schoolwork. Of course, there are still complaints about homework now and then – not in terms of content, but just the presence of it all. I suppose in a way, even the Valentians cannot resolve this, and that even the happiest of Valentians are not exactly into homework. I can’t blame them on that!

[South Newlandia]

Thanks to Kytler for playing some chess games with me, and allowing me to use this one

“Hey there – Michael Radley, I believe?” The Kytlerian ECC rookie looked up from his dinner. Khanyisa van Lundi is definitely a player with a striking first visual impression. The South Newlandian was born with albinism, as well as with striking blue eyes. Those eyes eventually darkened, but her blonde, almost white hair remains. “Yes?”, the Kytlerian asked. “I was wondering if you wanted to play some practise games after dinner. I’m looking to get to know some new people, and I also want to get some practise going. What do you think?” “Sure”, Radley responded, “I’m basically done anyway, so we can go ahead any time you want”. “Awesome”, the South Newlandian said, “that sounds good to me. I’m still not quite feeling satisfied with my first day; a draw against established competition is alright, but I was hoping for more with the white pieces”, she explained. “Yeah, I feel that”, answered Radley. “What time control do you want to play?”, he asked the South Newlandian. “Do you want to play some bullet games to warm up?”, she asked; not exactly the answer the Kytlerian was hoping for. He didn’t usually play a lot of bullet; it’s a tough thing to do, especially over the board. His mentor used to say that you don’t learn anything playing bullet, and that’s certainly right to some extent. Playing under this extreme time pressure is quite difficult.

Bullet: Khanyisa van Lundi v Michael Radley – featuring some tactical lessons to learn

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 d5

In bullet games, openings can just about be thrown out of the window; basically everything works. Still, it’s good to remember that the idea of a move like c3 is to recapture with the knight. Unless you have to, you don’t want to break the tension between the c3 and d4 pawns.

4. cxd4 dxe4 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qc2 Nf6 7. f3

f3 weakens the kingside a lot. Teachers like to say that you should never play f6/f3, and that definitely applies here. Also, if you’re gonna, you’ll need to insist on recapturing with the knight at least.

7… Nc6 8. Ne2 exf3 9. gxf3

White pawns do be looking like grandma’s teeth. When they’re all isolated like that, they cant help each other.

9… Bd6 10. Bg2 Qe7 11. O-O h5 12. Bg5

Bg5 is a very good move, pinning the knight to the queen. It’s actually surprisingly tough to untangle, since h6 is no longer available. White definitely doesn’t want to trade their strong bishop, their best piece, for the pinned knight.

12… h4
Pawn go brrr
13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. Re1 O-O-O 15. Nec3 h3 16. Bf1

This game is also a good lesson on why it’s important to develop your pieces. The white knight on b1 and the white rook on a1 are doing nothing, and the bishop on f1 is now also back to its home square. None of those pieces are doing anything, so it feels like black has a massive material advantage despite actually being just a pawn up. That said, all the weak white pawns are now hanging.

16… Qxf3 17. Bb5 Nxd4 18. Qd2

Now, all the pawns are gone, the white king is more exposed than Scott Yadav facing an actually good defense. Van Lundi missed a cool mate in four here, with the jaw-dropping Ne2+! That square is protected, count it, four times, but the idea is to clear space for the bishop to deliver a check on c5. The white king is out of moves, and no white pieces can effectively block; remember that the white queen has to cover the checkmate on g2. That said, van Lundi’s idea to just use the rook instead of the bishop works too.

18… Rh6 19. Qxd4
When you have mate in one, find mate in two.
19… Rg6+ 20. Qg4 Rxg4# 0-1

[The Kytler Peninsulae]

This is the second half of my joint RP with SNL, the first half of which can be seen immediately above this. While the first game was played without engine assistance, this second one was played with it, which is why it's actually good chess.

After messing around with a bullet game, Radley offered a practice rapid game instead. After all, this was the tempo they were actually playing at in the ECC, it probably made sense to drill that in even if they probably didn't want to give all their secrets away. The result was inevitably a higher-quality game, even if it did patiently peter out in the end and finish as a 32-move draw.

Khanyisa van Lundi v Michael Radley, practice game
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Bc4 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. Re1 Nc6 9. Nf3 Bg4 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Ne5 12. Qe2 Nxc4 13. Qxc4 Rc8 14. Qd3 Re8 15. Bg5 Qb6 16. Rab1 Qc6 17. Re2 Qc4 18. Qxc4 Rxc4 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. exd5 Be5 21. b3 Rc3 22. f4 Bd4+ 23. Kf1 f6 24. Bh4 Rec8 25. Rxe7 Rxc2 26. Rd1 Bc5 27. Rxb7 Rxa2 28. Re1 g5 29. Bg3 gxf4 30. Ree7 fxg3 31. Rg7+ Kf8 32. Rgf7 1/2-1/2

The layman's version of this is "pieces went brrr in an agreeably socialist fashion." Which, honestly, was 98.4% likely to happen here. But that's not to say that the game was without interest.

Radley went down his usual Sicilian Dragon path - nothing much new there - and while van Lundi went down a deviation path with 6. Bc4 that's not exactly unchartered territory. 9. Nf3 deviated from convention, sure - 9. Bb3 has been seen more often in past games that went down this path - but the exchange with 10.. Bxf3 11. Qxf3 made it clear in retrospect what kind of game this was going to be, a game where equal trades being offered and accepted would be the order of the day. Stockphant did lean towards black after 15. Bg5 (15. Nd5 was the engine-preferred play) but it was a million miles from decisive, and when the queens were exchanged on move 18 and the knights followed soon after, things were trending drawish. The machines continued to softly prefer black's position at that point, but after 20.. Be5 (as opposed to 20.. f6) even that went away, and a draw was offered barely ten moves later. Both had got some sort of "live practice" under their belts against each other; neither had truly given anything away.

Radley's penchant for the Dragon was not exactly unknown information even in a chess world where over-the-board international meetings are rare; after all, he'd just successfully deployed it against Katzeburg's Nora Keller and predictably cruised to victory against the weakest member of a seemingly top-heavy team; Keller has shown real talent to be sure, but her concentration is a weakness that sophisticated players can and will punish her for, and while Radley is young enough to be Keller's son he has more high-level experience simply by facing the rest of the University of Zube crew. Dr. Ben Higgins secured the other board victory, shrugging off the fishy smell of Klaus Rothbauer and playing safe and fast with the London System awaiting the error that he trusted would surely arrive and duly did. With the top two boards producing bloodless draws, the Scholars were off to a lovely start with a 3-1 victory over a team they had seen as a potential dangerous floater, no fishing-related puns intended.

Tougher tests are sure to come, although it's not clear that this will occur until the later stages. For now, it's one game at a time. And don't do silly things like you would in bullet. Despite the name, rapid is not actually that quick - certainly it's slow enough that you have time to remember the basics. Of course, if the Elephants believed that it was even theoretically possible for the Scholars to forget the basics under pressure, that might just be the seed of complacency they needed.

At least that's what Radley was telling himself.

[Katzeburg]

The Ynysgard Chess Club sat quietly around a small table in the bar of the Waterview, with no one daring to look up at the other four faces sitting around the table. The team had just been absolutely humbled by the team from The Kytler Peninsulae - falling 3-1 with two draws the only points to their name.

Klaus was staring intensely into his drink - his fourth of the brief, twenty minute window they’ve had since they entered the bar - while Nora was quietly but despondently flicking through the latest constituent data her aide had sent over from Ynysgard.

The rest of the room was buzzing in excitement over the day’s games - particularly the slim wins from Farfadillis and Elejamie in their group which went down to the final matches - but on the Katzeburg table, all was silent.

Finally, young Kristine piped up - “Well look, we can’t take that loss too badly I think. I mean, they are a previous champion, we would have been mad to think anything less would have come from it!”

Rhys snorted in agreement, but refused to take his eyes off the table in front of him - replaying each move in his draw against Julia Willis in his head, trying to find anything at all he could have done differently to push the game in his favor.

“I just don’t think we were expecting to be beaten that badly,” Emilia said as she nursed her small tea while tapping her hand absent-mindedly.

“We could have been fully swept!” Kristine protested. “We aren’t even coming last overall yet - New South Yukon destroyed their opponents so we are at least ahead of them. There’s plenty of reasons to think that this start is just a slow one for us!”

Nora looked up at Kristine, her eyes trying their hardest not to direct themselves straight back to her data.

“She does have a point,” Nora said. “We can’t be considering to pack it in after one game - what would this do for our diplomatic relations?”

Klaus slammed down his now empty glass and wiped the leftover foam from his mouth. “Who cares about that? We can’t let these nerds think they are better at chess than us! We need to double down and absolutely beat the snot out of anyone who comes across our boards.”

“Easy to say when you blew through your game and lost quite easily,” Rhys muttered to himself.

“What was that old man?”

“I said, easy to say when you blew through your game and lost quite easily, Klaus. How about we try playing to the board conditions rather than just trying to take as many pieces as possible?”

“You what? I’m the only one with an actual strategy here!”

“Losing all your pieces to take other pieces is not much of a strategy to be fair,” Nora countered.

“Oh, blow it - just you wait and see. When we win our next game and it’s all down to me, you’ll be thankful I have a brilliant strategy in place!”

Kristine put her head in her hands. The team faced Farfadillis next up, and she was expecting an absolute bloodbath to occur on the Waterview tables.

[Eshialand]

The Hosts' Curse
Barkhastan 3-1 Eshialand

The first match of the Owls' ECC X run had ended in disappointment, as the newcomers from Barkhastan had taken them down by a score of 3 to 1. Something just seemed off about the team in the first match... it wasn't just one player having a rough time, but rather it was all of them dealing with problems that they couldn't quite quantify, that just seemed to elude their words.

Eshialand wouldn't be the first hosts of the competition to have a rough time of it, however, as it seemed to be a bit of an overarching theme that, if you host the Elephant Chess Cup, you should prepare to have the team not be themselves.

South Newlandia were the usual hosts, and while they weren't the sort of team you usually expect to see reaching podiums often, that may have been because of how frequently they host; when they weren't hosting in ECCs IV and V, they reached the finals both times. Similarly, when the Kytler Peninsulae took the hosting role in ECC VIII, the Elephants made it to 4th place, narrowly losing to New Eestiball (a match which had just been avenged, with the Yin-Yangs -- now known as the Spiders from the Martian Independent Republic -- dropping the set 2.5-1.5, in a match that would likely set the tone for Group D going forward).

As for Bollonich, they had won the first three ECCs, but when the time came to host the competition, they had just run out of gas, and the Elephants knocked them out in the quarterfinals. The only hosts that you could say maybe eluded the curse were Poafmersia in ECC V, who went from getting knocked out in the Casaran stage the previous edition to getting fourth out of nowhere, and the Kytler Peninsulae, who went into ECC VIII the defending champions and won off the backs of an even stronger curse: the one that kept locking the Owls out of winning over and over again.

Surely, however, history had a chance to change. While the starting matchup against Barkhastan left a lot to be desired, there was still team for the team to regain its form, with the next match being against the chess nation itself, Schachland. They had just had a nice victory over the Busoga Islands in the first round, but the Owls were fully ready to take them down... as long as they could find themselves first. Being trapped in a funk is a horrible thing that can take a long time to recover from, and a long time was something this team just didn't have at the moment.

---

"Heyyyyyy Lazlo!" Danny Stehl said to the Owls' coach at the team's breakfast Friday morning.
"Restraining. Order. Go. Away." Lazlo told him, enunciating every word to make it extra clear that he really did not want any meddling idiots pestering him before 10 AM.
"Oh, that thing? I got the king to tear it up since I'm such a valuable addition to the Eshian chess family."
"You... WHA--"
"Anyway, I just wanted to have a quick chat with Jamie, have you seen him around lately?"
"Of course I have."

Danny paused, expecting more of an answer from Lazlo than that. "You know, when people ask if you've seen someone, usually that means they want to know where you saw them..."
"I know that, but I also don't really feel like telling you."
"Maybe you should take an opening loss as a sign that you need to take some better ideas from people who've been following the game for a long time..."
"I've been following this game since before you and your terrible ideas were even born. Please go away and let me enjoy my bacon and eggs in peace..."
"Well then, I'll just have to go find them myself. Bye!!"

Lazlo did a full 180 trying to catch Danny, who was running away trying to intercept the team. A loud crash reverberated across the hotel restaurant as Lazlo's breakfast plate fell to the ground. "I'm sorry about that, everyone... I'll clean that up..." Lazlo said, and Danny made his escape. His "unique coaching style" was going to have an impact on the team once again... the only question was what impact.

[Crpostran]

---

Crpostran has a rich history in chess, dating back to the times when what is often considered its predecessor, Chaturaṅga, was played by the nobility of the ancient kingdoms in the country, who often took inspiration from the game to come up with military formations like the Akṣhauhiṇī formations or the defensive Chakravyūha formations. Modern chess as it is known today as western chess, was brought into the country by traders from across Karma. It was played as a past-time sport by many in the country, with many going on to become Grandmasters & excelling in the regional tournaments for a long time. While there is a strong network of chess academies in the country, particularly in the south, the popularity of the game has been slowly weaning over time. It had a disappointing performance at the ECC9 aswell, and will hope to turn around its fortunes & bring on a revival of the sport's popularity in the country.

ROSTER

Board 1: Valerio Hassan (29)
Bio: A strategic powerhouse with over 2 decades of chess wisdom, Valerio is known for his deep opening knowledge and calm under pressure. The 7-time national champion has a sharp eye for combinations and excels at exploiting small advantages. His favorite opening is the classic Ruy-Lopez.

Board 2: Oskar Lancelot (17)
Bio: Oskar is a methodical player, preferring long, drawn-out games where he can gradually grind down his opponents. His positional understanding is top-notch, and he enjoys playing solid defenses. The guy doesn't really have a favourite opening, making it harder for his opponents to predict his moves.

Board 3: Spike Wigstan (18)
Bio: An aggressive and unpredictable player, the teenager loves sharp, tactical battles. He isn’t afraid to take risks, often opting for dynamic openings like the Busch-Gass Gambit or Sicilian Dragon. His fast-paced style often catches opponents off-guard.

Board 4: Tziva Javed (24)
Bio: Tziva, who also runs a UTube channel on chess, it's plays & her vlogs at tournaments, is known for keeping her calm & having a smile throughout her life. However, underneath that joyful mask, is a queen who summons every bit of her mind to win the game. Well known for her remarkable endgame technique, she prefers solid, fast-paced attacking setups. Tziva favours the Queen's Gambit.

My opponent, if they RP first, may do the following:
Decide board results: Yes
Decide moves made: Yes
Godmod game events: Yes, as long as they are semi-realistic at the bare minimum
Godmod other events: As long as it's comedic

[Elejamie]

OOC: A full list of chess moves for each game can be found here. Only the Vili-Charlene bout was actually played by me, whereas the others were from various other games I've come across on chess.com. As a result I will give credit to (in order) stockfishanalyzing, ComposerLumos, stockfishanalyzing again and their respective opponents for those matches.

The first day went surprisingly well for the Elejamian chess squad. Up against Valentine Z, another debutant and a country where everyone seems to have a long name (which is why only their first names will be used for this RP), it seemed like it'd be a bit of an easy ride. Not a cakewalk per se but it seemed like they wouldn't struggle too much if they kept calm and concentrated on producing a good result. And that's what happened, at least in Vili and Valentina's games. Elizabeth was pushed to be brink and came away with a stalemate whereas Jonathan didn't exactly have a good time in his game. Even though the five had a little double round-robin warm-up tourney, it might not have been enough to help shake off the cobwebs for a few of them.

Jonathan's first game was against Jolyn, who seemed to be the captain of her team. And with a CV like hers it's not hard to see why Jonathan was a little bit unsure about whether he could pull off a win here. After all she was a former schoolteacher who rose her way up the ranks to become the Head of the Ministry of Education to the Vice President of the autonomous Victoriaans Nederlands region, so obviously she was going to be a formidable opponent. Not a person to take lightly. And unfortunately his rather defeatist mentality might've been what costed him the W here, especially when his opponent elected to go for the Semi-Slav Defence. The two exchanged pawns on turn 5, took each others' bishops on turn 8 (her with one of her own, him with a queen) and castled at different points of their game but neither side could gain much of an advantage over each other. That was until turn 36 when Jonathan's admittedly dim manoeuvre to gxh3 resulted in Jolyn moving her knight out of the way and putting him in check with her queen. Fortunately he moved his queen in front of his king and, not risking the chance of losing it, Jolyn decided that a Qh6 would be in order.

On turn 39, Jolyn managed to capture Jonathan's queen with her knight. Could that have tipped the scales in her favour? Maybe but then again it wouldn't be the first match where Jonathan lost a queen and still came away with the victory and it might not be the last one if he does take it here. Hell, it could've been a trap as with his very next go he captured her last remaining rook with one of his to get his first check. Fortunately for the Valentian fans who had made the trip she managed to move her king out of the way to put herself out of danger. In fact on her very next move she managed to put him in check after he captured her knight. After that, it was a case of Joyln trying to get him to either resign or put him in checkmate, whereas Jonathan was trying to minimise as much damage as possible and either pull off a shock win or, more likely, force a stalemate. On turn 91 she managed to promote one of her pawns into a queen and, at that point, it was pretty much it for Jonathan. He soldiered on a little bit longer, even getting a check on turn 93 when he moved his rook to d2, but on turn 97 he decided to resign. A disappointing opener, yes, but he still managed to put the heat on his opponent a few times and even when things weren't going his way still performed to the best of his abilities.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was up against Adriana, the Valentian chess-playing android. There was a little bit of hubbub going into the contest on whether or not such a thing would be allowed but, much to her teammates' collective relief, she was given the all clear. This posed to be a small challenge to Elizabeth but ultimately it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. Just treat her like a normal human player and she'd have nothing to be afraid of. After a quick handshake the two got into their positions with Adriana starting and their game was soon underway. The King's Pawn Opening turned into a Caro-Kann which, in turn, begat the Breyer Variation and it wouldn't be long before both players exchanged pieces. A bxa5 for Adriana quickly followed by a Qxa5 from Elizabeth, putting it right into the path of her opponent's king. Adriana moved a pawn over one space to block it and, not wanting to risk losing it, Elizabeth moved her queen back to its starting location. Not a whole lot happened after that other than some position changes, some captures and even some castling from Adriana, not until turn 18 when the Valentian android got her first and only check of the match with an Nxd6. Luckily one quick capture with her queen meant that Elizabeth had nothing to worry about.

In fact, whether it be due to her blitz playing abilities or the fact that Adriana's code wasn't able to process the best moves but Elizabeth seemed to get the upper hand more often than not. She had put her opponent in check nine times compared to the single check she had been put in. She had two promotions, both of which were to queens, compared to the zero Adriana got. And by the end she had more pieces left on the board with six compared to Adriana's only king. A victory had seemed inevitable. "Seemed" being the all-important word here because what had actually happened was a stalemate. Thanks to Adriana's king essentially being behind Elizabeth's pawns but unable to take them because of the queen in the way, there wasn't a whole lot she could do other than make the same move three times to force a draw and there wasn't much need to resign. And then Elizabeth moved her newly-promoted second queen up to f6. As Adriana couldn't move but she wasn't in check, a stalemate was announced. Both players shook hands and went their separate ways.

Fortunately, Valentina had a much easier opponent to deal with. One Eveline, whose main hobby was football/soccer but was also quite a chess enthusiast. As in, she was in her country's top 1000 players at some point and could've gone pro in the sport but elected to kick a ball around instead of make the horsey jump around the board. At least she hasn't entirely left it behind and she still partakes in the odd match as a bit of fun. And she was playing against someone who had only seriously gotten into it four years ago and was trying to become the next big thing in chess. Indeed, it had started simple enough with a Sicilian Defence turning into a Brussels Gambit. Valentina made the first capture on her third turn, taking Eveline's pawn with hers. There would be a variety of moves made after this and some pieces being traded too. And then, on turn 37, Valentina moved her queen to f3. Right into the path of Eveline's queen. You didn't need to be Nostradamus to predict what happened next.

However, losing your queen isn't the be all and end all. Especially when you can capture the opponent's queen with your king in the very next move, much like what Valentina did. What a way to get yourself out of check. Even more so when you're able to put your opponent in check with your very next move. Of course Eveline would flip the script shortly afterwards on her 40th turn when she moved her rook to a3 and put Valentina in check but that wasn't anything that moving her king into e2 wouldn't fix. A series of placements and checks from both competitors ensued until turn 65, at which point Valentina managed to promote one of her pawns into a queen. That was the point where the scaled tipped in her favour, even more so when she put Eveline in check with it. As time went on pieces from both players dwindled until, ultimately, Valentina was left with her king and queen whereas Eveline just had her king; while she wasn't expecting a win, she was at the very least hoping to take it to a stalemate. Both sides soldiered on for a bit but Eveline had had enough by turn 106. She knocked over her king to admit defeat and with that Elejamie had won their first game of the tournament even if the scores on the board were still 1½-1½.

And finally Vili Caerinol was up against Charlene, a head diplomat with nerves of titanium. One who's often seen in the most dangerous of situations with her only company being the camera or camcorder she's recording with and commenting on the events like it ain't no thing. She's also quite a chess fan, even if she prefers to be the fly on the wall as opposed to an active participant. And she was up against a guy who was trying to claw his way back into the top rankings after a lengthy hiatus. Suffice to say, it was a case of him still having it or her not accurately doing much homework on who she was facing because she didn't lose all that well. Another Caro-Kann defence soon segued into a Gurgenidze System as Vili started to build up a solid wall, one that his opponent seemed to pick up on as she moved her pawn to e5. Eventually she made the first capture as she took his knight, only for it to turn out to be a trap as he took her bishop with his. However, he made a massive blunder on his tenth go when he moved his bishop to b5 and facepalmed when he realised what he did. Why was that bad? Because she captured that bishop with hers and put him in check.

No matter, he could put his other knight in the way. She captured it with the same bishop, though it might've been a trap as Vili took it with his pawn. Not much happened for the next couple of turns but by turn 15 Charlene made a massive blunder that had costed her the match. She had made a couple of ? moves that ultimately didn't matter in the grand scale of things but this was a ?? that put Vili in full control. She moved her rook to b1, right in the path of his queen and with no pieces available to capture it. Vili shrugged and captured it to put his opponent in check for the first time in the match. She could commit her third and final mistake of the match when she captured one of his pawns with her queen... only for him to capture said queen with a different pawn he had lying there for such an occasion. On his next go, he put her in check again when he captured a pawn but she had a knight ready to block the way. Fortunately he got around it by moving his queen to d3 and then on his next go his bishop to e3. That spelled the beginning of the end as whenever she tried to put herself out of check he was quick to put her back in with a well-placed move. Eventually, on turn 23, it was one move until checkmate. With no other option, she toppled her king and announced her resignation.

And Simón just had a relaxing day, as he wasn't really required thanks to his reserve status. He put on his blades and went for a run around town. He played a bit of chess in the park and online when he had the time and the inclination. He checked out the local ice hockey scene to see if there were any good players that could make it in the ENIHL or just to enjoy the local take on the sport. And of course he tried to watch as many of his team's chess games as he could, silently cheering them on when he could and angrily muttering whenever possible. He couldn't be his usual hot-headed self as he was whenever he coached or even spectated for obvious reasons so this had to do. Oh well, at least when they were far away he could go into detail about what they did wrong and all of that.

So with a 2½-1½ victory on their opening day, the Elejamian chess team sit comfortably in second place. Joint second, to be accurate, as Farfadillis had also managed to win their bout by the same score against the 14 Stars. Not a bad start to the tournament and just as long as they keep forcing the opponent to resign or perhaps even grab a checkmate, then there's no reason for them to miss the Round of 12 on their very first go-around. There's one problem though, their next opponents will be the Kytler Peninsulae. The toughest opponent of the group, having won the tournament in its seventh edition and having recently finished third back at the last competition. And they were only the second opponents and also the group leaders having gotten a 3-1 win over Katzeburg. At least they managed to win one board so it wasn't a total wipeout.

Still, it could be worse. While there were a couple of other 3-1 bouts, namely Barkhastan's victory over hosts Eshialand and Schachland's win over the Busoga Islands in the same group, they both paled in comparison to New South Yukon's stomping over the Natanians and Nosts. Apparently the NSY players ran the gauntlet from "doesn't know how to play" to "makes moves at complete random regardless of whether or not they work". They're the worst kind of players to play against because they don't always adhere to logic, which has a tendency to trip up seasoned pros and lead to the rookie capitalising on this. And that's what happened here when NSY beat N&N 3½-½. A bit of a devastating loss, especially as it's an opener, but with any luck they'll be able to shrug off the loss or study where they went wrong so they can absolutely crush their next match.

And, with any luck, Elejamie won't be on the receiving end of a similar crushing when they face the Kytler Peninsulae.

[Schachland]

The players were happily celebrating their hard-fought first win in the tournament, reveling in the moment of triumph and camaraderie.

Robaart Krist-Nagarajan heaved a huge sigh of relief after winning the very first match against the formidable Busoga Islands team. "We've done it, team! We can do this!" he yelled, his voice brimming with enthusiasm and confidence that spread to everyone around him.

Aanastaasiia smiled brightly, her eyes sparkling with joy. "We really are the Checkmaters," she said with a wide grin, her excitement palpable. "I sincerely hope this momentum continues for the rest of the tournament. We have the potential to go far!"

Dmiitri was, too, feeling content and satisfied with how well they had performed in their winning first game. However, a hint of concern crossed his face. "But hey," he said thoughtfully, "where's Gaarino though?" he asked, his curiosity peaked as he scanned the area for their teammate.

As soon as that question was asked, Gaarino, ironically, ran up to the table with an expression of helplessness and urgency. "I just got some devastating news," he said, breathless from rushing over. "The reserve player, Naataleeah, her son Joen, who was only 11 years old, tragically died of stage 4 cancer. She won't be able to come anymore to the tournament." The somber atmosphere suddenly overshadowed the earlier joy of victory.

A brief silence was held for the honour of Joen. "Thi-Th-T-Th-This is im-imp-impo-im-impossible, h-how?" stuttered Aanastaasiia.

"Everything is going to be alright," Gaarino said calmly. We'll do this and we'll try our best for the next game, against great Eshialand. We can do this, and we WILL do this, for Joen. May his heart rest peacefully." he said, "Now, don't just sit there, let's go up and study and practise games."

The silence was replaced by determination spread across the team. As they climbed up the staircase, they all shared one thought, "We're gonna do this, rest in peace Joen, because we're going to do it for you. We're ready."

[TJUN-ia]

Hello and welcome to the 10th Elephant Chess Cup, live from the Waterview Hotel in Eshialand City! It is certainly good to be back but as of late, TJUN-ian Chess hasn't exactly been at its best over the past few years, what with our Golden Era crashing and burning in spectacular fashion, but hope blooms eternal whenever the new ECC come around that we can make a come back. This team knows what they are doing, but can they prove that point on the world stage?

GIC Tshering Gyeltshen beat Naktr #1
GIC Anne Christian-Warren beat by Naktr #2
GIC Margarita Altamiranda drew with Naktr #3
CM Gideon Irosaea beat Naktr #4

The opening matchups would all go down on the Thursday Night here in Eshialand and our first opponent would be debutants Naktr. This game was expected to be aa TJUN-ian win and it was, but not without fault. Anne Christian-Warren got beat on Board 2 and Board 3 saw Altamiranda draw, but both Tshering and Gideon did enough to pull us over the line and claim the 2.5-1.5 win.

So far, so good. Crpostran to follow. GO JAG KNIGHTS!

---

SCHEDULE (Group B)
M1: vs Naktr (Thurs, 6 pm) W 2.5-1.5 (T-1st)
M2: vs Crpostran (Fri, 11 am)
M3: vs Vonum (Fri, 1 pm)
M4: vs Sky Reavers (Fri, 4 pm)
M5: vs The Kaisers Syndicates (Fri, 6 pm)

---

RECORDS: TG: 1-0-0, ACW: 0-0-1, MA: 0-1-0, GI: 1-0-0

[New South Yukon]

Official Transcript of NSYSN (New South Yukon Sports Network) Chess Segment #1, 8:33 PM

The chess team of glorious New South Yukon defeated the hapless Natanians and Nosts team, so puny and scared they refused to even send in a roster. Only one of our players let them draw, and that was the one who did not know how to play chess. The others all won, as their opponents resigned, intimidated by the early king activity we had. When asked for comment, Itchard Rastley said 'We will never give up, and never let the Party down.' We shall win all our games, and any remarks otherwise by the Eshian organizers are propaganda. The Party is always right, and its rightness will invigorate the players to win the next match against South Newlandia, as doing otherwise goes against the spirit of New South Yukon and will be punished.

This broadcast is sponsored by Shiny Metal Boxes^TM - for all your container needs, especially useful for packing lemmings. Buy a 1-Ounce Shiny Metal Box Starter Kit today, for as low as $44.99! You can find us at a MegaMart near you!

[Eshialand]

Here's your cutoff for the second round of the group stage!

This cutoff was third-party observed by the Martian Independent Republic. I failed to mention it then, but the last one was observed by South Newlandia, as well. Huge thanks to both!

---

Group A
Elejamie 1–3 The Kytler Peninsulae
Farfadillis 2–2 Katzeburg
Valentine Z 1½–2½ The 14 Stars

* Group A                          Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  Pts 
1 The Kytler Peninsulae              2   2  0  0    6   2    4
2 Farfadillis                        2   1  1  0  4.5 3.5    3
3 The 14 Stars                       2   1  0  1    4   4    2
4 Elejamie                           2   1  0  1  3.5 4.5    2
5 Katzeburg                          2   0  1  1    3   5    1
6 Valentine Z                        2   0  0  2    3   5    0

Group B
Crpostran 1–3 TJUN-ia
Vonum 2½–1½ Natkr
Sky Reavers 2½–1½ The Kaisers Syndicates

* Group B                          Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  Pts 
1 TJUN-ia                            2   2  0  0  5.5 2.5    4
2 Vonum                              2   2  0  0    5   3    4
3 Sky Reavers                        2   1  1  0  4.5 3.5    3
4 Crpostran                          2   0  1  1    3   5    1
5 Natkr                              2   0  0  2    3   5    0
  The Kaisers Syndicates             2   0  0  2    3   5    0

Group C
Schachland 1½–2½ Eshialand
Tero al Disco 2½–1½ Barkhastan
Busoga Islands 1–3 Nightralia

* Group C                          Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  Pts 
1 Nightralia                         2   2  0  0  5.5 2.5    4
2 Barkhastan                         2   1  0  1  4.5 3.5    2
  Schachland                         2   1  0  1  4.5 3.5    2
4 Tero al Disco                      2   1  0  1    4   4    2
5 Eshialand                          2   1  0  1  3.5 4.5    2
6 Busoga Islands                     2   0  0  2    2   6    0

Group D
Natanians and Nosts 3–1 Vaishnavaria
The Martian Independent Republic 1–3 Yesopalitha
New South Yukon 2–2 South Newlandia

* Group D                          Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  Pts 
1 New South Yukon                    2   1  1  0  5.5 2.5    3
2 South Newlandia                    2   1  1  0  4.5 3.5    3
3 Yesopalitha                        2   1  0  1  4.5 3.5    2
4 Natanians and Nosts                2   1  0  1  3.5 4.5    2
5 Vaishnavaria                       2   1  0  1  3.5 4.5    2
6 The Martian Independent Republic   2   0  0  2  2.5 5.5    0

[Nightralia]

(Oh crap, am I late to RP the first round? I got caught up in it)

Round One: Trial by Fire

Nightralia 2.5-1.5 Tero al Disco

NTR: Raatrani Czoùhan (2431) 1-0 TAD: Marcos Alvarez (2227)

This game was perhaps the most publicised in Nightralia among the opening round, and many feared that Raatrani's nearly 30 year gap from competitive chess would show; thankfully, it was not to be. Despite having much the same playing style, balanced leaning towards defensive, it was clear from the start that the Nimzowitsch Defence was her element. Meanwhile, Marcos never really looked secure, aiming to exchange wherever possible, hoping to get a pawn endgame.

20... Nb5?, a rather rushed move by Marcos, who probably had his eye on the clock, and left a critical pawn on the d-file undefended hurt him, and 24. c5+! was probably the nail in the coffin, a clever discovered check that left Marcos a knight down, from which he never really recovered, finally resigning in 43 moves. He fought bitterly until the inevitable bishop and rook vs knight endgame approached, but in the end the ELO gap of over 200 proved to be a demonstration of the great temperament the Nightwalker possessed.

NTR: Yuvraj Kumar (2196) 1/2-1/2 TAD: Paola Ferri (2105)

After this particularly long-drawn game (82 moves!), Yuvraj exclaimed at a press conference that he missed a win by a whisker. In reality, he was rather lucky to escape with half a point. His risky combinations met their perfect match in the calculated moves of the tech teacher, who ripped apart his London System and nearly had him then and there. To his great credit though, Yuvraj hung in the game, consolidating and playing in a catch-up style alien to him. With a few well-placed forks, he regained his poise, although Ferri still controlled the momentum of the game. The precarious middlegame, with Paola desperately trying to hold on to the advantage, ended well for Kumar, who had a passed pawn and a bishop to Paola's knight.

Unfortunately for him, his lack of preparation got to him; he hadn't done his homework on the technology teacher from Tero al Disco. She pulled off a stunning 4-move sequence, sacrificing a knight and blocking a queening square. which left Yuvraj two options: an extremely risky bishop and knight vs pawn and knight endgame, or the safety of a draw. Realising that the odds weren't in his favour, he settled for the handshake, granting Nightralia their next half point.

TAD: Giulano Galea (2201) 1-0 NTR: Freya Laitala (2237)

If any game was expected to be nail-biting, glue you to your seats, it was definitely this one. Two young rising stars with a risk-taking streak, matched up against each other at the world stage. It did turn out to be exciting, but practically no one could have predicted the almost Icarian way the game ended.

Freya played the Scandinavian Defense, upon which the commentators gleefully suggested it was because that's where she was from. Move by move, inch by inch she seemed to be gaining on him; and if Giulano had an idea on how to win then, he hid it well. His kingside was under siege, his queenside looked shoddy, and his Nightralian opponent had an Alekhine's Gun trained upon the f2 pawn. But something, perhaps the atmosphere of the game itself, suddenly shifted. Galea suddenly stopped looking like a mouse in a cage and more like a lion watching a gazelle foul out of the high jump. The next move took 14 minutes to come.

And when it did, Freya knew she'd made the terrible, terrible mistake of underestimating Galea. Her advantage of being a rook up was gone, shattered by a masterful pin that would have been mate in one if she didn't give it up. Of course, the game was far from over: materially, they were equal, and positionally, she had the upper hand. But her demeanor wasn't the same anymore. Suddenly, Laitala crawled into a shell, responding disproportionately to the smallest threat. Every double check was the rattle of Ugrian steel on the village walls; every pawn move, inching towards the eighth rank, was the howling of wind at night, rushing through the doors and windows of the makeshift refugee camp at Evernox.

Everyone, from the arbiters looking on, and the millions of Nightralians; eagerly watching and hoping, knew something was wrong. Freya Laitala, daughter of the Ice, had lost her cool. But the world still expected a draw, with nearly equal material and the double rooks she still possessed. All she had to do was not lose to deny Tero al Disco the Round One victory. Yet it wasn't to be; with 26 minutes and 17 seconds left on the clock, defending a hanging knight, her hand shook, and the queen slipped from her hand, and with it the match, and fell neatly on the board, wobbled a bit and then stood steady... and what would have been 45.....Qc5 became 45.....Qb6??, followed by 46. Bxb6. And the game was lost.

A collective groan of disappointment rang out through the audience in South Newlandia, and one of anguish through those in Nightralia, and a single tear rolled down Freya's cheek. Giulano felt a twinge of sympathy for his unfortunate opponent, but serving his nation, salvaging dignity for Tero al Disco after two losses, took precedence. Freya didn't resign right then, hoping in vain, that a GM would somehow blunder it away like she had, but finally realised that it was futile, and it was over.
Icarus had flown too high, and plunged into the sea.

NTR: Nishastra Ilmari (2074) 1-0 TAD: Giovana Huyramarca

Some call it beginner's luck, but Nishastra would prefer to call it the Phoenix Touch. He was nervous, perhaps the most out of the group, before this game; having played no international chess earlier, and being the least experienced among the lot, despite being 247 years of age. But from the word go, after a slightly shaky opening, Nishastra was sizzling and untouchable. This was an all-important game, the decider, with both teams tied at 1.5 points apiece.

The game was mostly balanced until move 27, when an all-out attack on Black's kingside took up all of Giovana's attention, as she scrambled to counter it, while Nishastra coolly skewered a knight to her king and seized the advantage. He played with unusual calmness and grace, tightening the noose around Black's pieces, although some spectators swore they could hear him muttering 'governor... governor...' angrily under his breath.

In the end, Huyramarca fought bitterly, nearly getting back into the game with a neat bishop fork, but it wasn't enough to stop the phoenix who'd trained for a century, feeding on scraps of theory and practice and devouring them eagerly. And when it was sealed, and the king tipped, Nishastra's silky ebony feathers seemed to shimmer just a little brighter. He'd proven that the shadowphoenix deserved the chessboard as well as the passport; yet more importantly, Nightralia had finally, after years in the wilderness of sport, won its first ever match at an international sports championship.

[Nightralia]

And now, for the overly dramatic epilogue to Round One, where two youngsters think a lot and talk very little

Later that day...

Yuvraj looked at the beach-side bungalow with frescoes of ships and seas on the outside, and turned away, suddenly homesick.
The team had been invited to a South Newlandian party, exclusive to the players of participating countries. He, however, had no intention of going. He'd thrown away his advantage, thrown away his talent, just to play some flashy moves; in pursuit of flamboyance, he'd let down his entire country. He felt the usual self-doubt gnawing at him again; voices telling him he wasn't good enought, to go back to chaturanga where he belonged. But what use was it being the best player in the world for a sport no one cared about?

And yet, if he didn't make this tournament count, his chess career would be at risk too, the one he'd sacrificed his studies, his sailing trips, practically his social life for. Right now, he just needed someone to talk to. Someone who'd listen, understand without judgement. Not like his friends back home, who treated him like a ticket to stardom; cozying up one minute, and growing distant the other. Yuvraj realised that he wasn't just the number one chaturanga and number three chess player in Nightralia, he was also... lonely.

He wasn't ready for the party yet. He couldn't face the smiling faces of Raatrani and Nishastra, the ones who won, congratulating him. For snatching a draw from the jaws of victory. He walked around the back to the promenade, glancing at the breathtaking sunset, and walked towards the pier. And sitting there, legs dangling over the edge, staring wistfully into the distance, with a look both preoccupied yet vacant, was Freya Laitala.


Freya just couldn't let go. That might be her super power, but it was also her biggest weakness. Sure, it meant she held on for ten moves more than any sane person would. How'd it matter anyway? When it really mattered, she just wasn't able to leave things in the past. She knew the Ugrians weren't villains, just desperate for food in a wartorn land- yet she couldn't help but shudder every time she saw one, or heard the word. She knew her parents were gone- yet she couldn't stop trying to hold on, fixating on every last memory of them together, living in the past like a spectre, a shadow.

Everyone praised the fighting spirit of the Sami refugee, but no one stopped to think if a car that races on fumes would be better off ambling with a full tank; whether in the quest for glory and a worthwhile life she'd been consuming herself like a phoenix in the flame, ironically the phoenix seemed so happy and content.

And yet it had all finally caught up to her. Queen blunder. She wondered what her friends and family might have thought about that- if she still had one, of course. Prolific sportsperson, and no one knew her story, she had no one except for a brother who meant the world to her, who she really wished was here- oh right. Queen blunder. How could she ever face him after that.

All she wanted was someone to pour it all out to, to hear her, someone who would listen, and understand, not in the serene way of Raatrani, not the affable yet unknowable way of Nishastra. As the sun dipped under the warm blood red sea, Freya, sitting on the pier, looking at the sun but not seeing it, suddenly missed auroras and snow and raindeer.
Suddenly, she heard a pattering of footsteps on the pier, and turned around. And there, hands in pockets, admiring the landscape, looking awkward but oddly calm... was Yuvraj Kumar.



The pier shook slightly as he sat beside her, looking off into the horizon, feeling like a bomb on the verge of exploding, yet unwilling to speak, not trusting himself to not mess up again. Oh, how he wanted to yell his anger, his frustration out... but he wasn't that brave. Or stupid. He turned to her.
"Hey..."
Freya turned, broken out of her reverie, then sighed and turned back again. Another one. Another person offering a scrap of sympathy before disappearing. She was too tired for this.

Yuvraj took a deep breath, and shifted slightly, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.
"We both... messed up, didn't we?", he cautiously ventured.

She snorted, the closest thing to a laugh she'd had in years. As if he messed up nearly as badly as she did.
"You? You just slipped. But I fell apart. It was...", she trailed off, unwilling to share more. She didn’t want to explain herself—not to him, not to anyone.

But then Yuvraj leaned forward, his gaze steady but soft, and looked into the ice blue eyes of the reindeer herder.
“You were doing fine. And then... something changed.” He hesitated. “It looked like... you remembered something. Something you didn’t want to.”


Freya stayed silent, and closed her eyes for a moment, the weight of it pressing down, all over again.
"Just a... memory. It's a long story.", she mumbled, not willing to let go again, to rip out the gauze over the wound that had been long overdue.
"Well, I've got time...", he said, not pushy, just patient; voice barely above a whisper, in an earnest, even hopeful tone.

And then, amazed at his own courage, Yuvraj Kumar, the sailor, placed his hand upon the thin, careworn hand of Freya Laitala, the herder, and gripped it. It was a small action—awkward, hesitant—but it held. Freya’s fingers tensed under his touch, but she didn’t pull away. And as her words spilled out, tumbling over one another, and he shared some of his own, the tension in the air had been broken. The Ice melted a little, and the Sea grew less turbulent. And at the pier at the end of the land, looking out on the stars, the herder learned to let go, and the sailor learned to hold on.

[Barkhastan]

Rakhmonov ½ – ½ Álvarez
The Nimzo-Aryavaryan Defence led to a battle all the way down to the kings, for a draw by insufficient material.

Zhaksybekova ½ – ½ Ferri
Another Aryavaryan Game, and another draw, this time by threefold repetition.

Muradov 0 – 1 Galea
Guiliano Galea responded to Shavkat Muradov's Francobalkan Opening (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4) with the intriguing Polerio defence. Shavkat fell behind early and was unable to engineer a successful counter, eventually resigning after falling a knight behind.

Kairatova ½ – ½ Huayramarca
Leyla effectively utilised the Ragozin Defence, and once the players had exchanged queens the game ground to a halt and a mutually agreed draw.

[Vonum]

VONUM vs. NATKR

Board One- POWERS delivers a strong checkmate in an intense 34-move game! Playing aggressively, his side was able to develop quick, take the queen quicker, and launch an all-powerful checkmate in the back ranks.

Board Two- ALLESTEA drew her game with her opponent, after insufficient material could be used. They trades their final pawns and the game was ended.

Board Three- BEROSA won her game after a resignation. After 18 moves, her opponent made a big blunder, losing their attacking position. Instantly, they resigned.

Board Four- PALOA lost his game after a Natkrian audience member ran on, played his queen into a really poor position, and played his turn by stopping his clock. From this, his opponent was able to win the game. PALOA demanded a rematch, but the officials decided against it.

The next match is bound to heat up again, creating some amazing battles on the board.

"Another Solid Victory in the bag, team!" POWERS tells them, "In no time, Charli will be getting her game in!"

"You have got this!" ESTERSON-RELANCA pipes up, adding to the light atmosphere, "I'll be here for you all along the way!"

ALLESTEA mutters, "Sure," before removing her team shirt before heading to the shower in the suite.

POWERS looks a little confused, but keeps cool, "Okay, someone's a little pissed today, huh? A draw is not bad!"

PALOA adds, with a chuckle, "A loss is worse! And that member of the crowd is surely to blame!"

"We all have our issues," BEROSA adds.

ALLESTEA calls out from the bathroom. "Shut up, all of you! This is ridiculous! I had that! But NO. Some little SHIT has to always break my strategy!" The team hear some stomping from inside the shower.

POWERS states, "Isn't this the point of Chess? You know what, never mind. Let her shower, folks. She needs a cool off." The team flip on the TV to watch the match highlights to see where they can improve.

From here in Vonum, the crowd is electric! You cannot walk anywhere without seeing a ECC Team Shirt! The fans are tuning in to watch Vonum stand off against tough competitors, round by round! 'Green & Gold' is played on every radio channel at least once a day. The games, all of them, are broadcasted live to VTR (Vonia Televisia Resosia, or Vonian Television Company) Sports, brought to you in English, French and Vonian by their respective pundits! (English: James Brown, Lisa Johnston. French: Xavier Verse, Michella Dupont. Vonian: Vyncina Ferrira, Alicia Forega.)

[Natanians and Nosts]

Magnus Carolus Mihailescu - 1st table
Openings:van't Kruijs,Giuoco Piano,Giuoco Molto Piano,Italian
Deffences:French,Englund gambit,Italian game:Two Knights Defence
Only Natanian and Nost to play chess at the Olympics.Started playing chess from childhood at the school,and tought to his siblings.His father,who played in his own infancy,realized that his kids had potential and talent,sought ways he could make his kids grow in chess.His older sister became good really fast and repeatedly defeated him,what incentivized him to become strongr,and he finally beat her when he turned 16.Of his parent's three kids,only his younger sister did not pursue chess profissionalizations,focusing on an academic career instead.He became Natanians and Nosts' Chess Champion,for the first time,at age 20.He also participated at the NationStates Chess Classic in 2015 and regularly plays football with his friends.

Mihai Ion Antonescu - 2nd table
Openings:Trompowski attack,Benko,Portuguese,King's gambit
Deffences:Modern defence,Englund gambit,Fried Fox
Born in N-City,he was taught chess by his grandfather and grew up playing with his siblings.He started playing in competitions for his school and was invited by the then-current champion to train under him on the club he played.He went to college to study biological sciences,and on the year he earned his Barchelor of Sciences degree,he also became Natanians and Nosts' Chess Champion.Tied with Jake Woods (Coldfield) as first-place on blitz at the Natanian Chess Tournament in 2017.

Ion Carolus Petrescu - 3rd table
Openings:Ruy López,King's Indian Attack,Russian game,Hammerschlag
Deffences:King's Indian Defence,Englund gambit,Scheveningens Sicilian
Born 27 years ago,Ion Carolus Petrescu played chess with his relatives whenever his parents took him and his siblings to their grandparent's home.Although chess was only a passion for a great part of his life,during middle and high school,he started to play competitively and fared quite well,right before he enrolled grad school for a M.Sc.,he was vice-champion domestically and was second on blitz at the Natanian Chess Championship,the following year,he managed to become Natanians and Nosts' Chess Champion the following year,during his first year of master's research.

Magnus Mihai Vnuk - 4th table
Openings:Amsterdam attack,van't Kruijs,Bird
Deffences:Sicilian Dragon,Dutch,Alekhine
Respected throughout the nation,he comes from a chess family,where the game is taught generation by generation,although he is only the third to pursue professionalization,and his only daughter is the fifth in the family.Undoubtedly the strongest player in Natanian and Nosts during the 2000's,several times champion;he decided to focus more on coaching and spreading chess through the nation,even though whenever he plays,he does it fiercely.

My opponent, if they RP first, may do the following:
Choose my lineup:
Decide board results: Yes
Decide moves made: Yes
Godmod game events: If you want anyone playin the bongcloud,or the double bong cloud as black,it's alright!Other things try to be realistic,or at least plausible but funny.
Godmod other events: Be somewhat realistic

[Katzeburg]

Klaus was in a good mood, and as he downed his fourth beer of the afternoon he had every right to be - taking the victory in his clash against the Farfadillis number three board to help the Ynsygard Chess Club secure a 2-2 draw after four boards.

His was the only Katzeburgian win of the morning session, with Rhys and Emilia both drawing their clashes and Nora again falling to a defeat after she got distracted thinking about her speech to give her local constituents on their return home to Dragoonspiel.

But the team was off the mark at least, and it meant a lot to the whole team, and as they sat together huddled around a small table in the bar of the Waterview, they planned their next move for the afternoon game against a Valentine Z team which was yet to get anything from their opening games.

“This is a huge chance,” Klaus said as he cleared the foam from his beer off his stubble. “A win against Valentine Z will really kick us up the rankings and keep us in the mix for things. I think we need to all pull together and go full aggressive against these guys to really ramp up the pressure on them.”

Rhys coughed and shook his head. “That won’t work,” he scoffed. “They’ll be expecting us to put them under the kosh given their start. We need to sit back and let them try and push for the win - that’s where they’ll make their mistakes.”

“Rubbish! We give them too much room, they’ll stamp all over us. It worked for me in our last game and it will work for us here again.”

“Maybe we do try and mix things up a little?” Emilia piped up. “It’s clear where we are dropping points at the moment and as much as I hate to say it, Nora has been a little too distracted since we’ve gotten here.”

Nora snapped her head up and out of some spreadsheets as she heard her name. “Distracted? I’ve been nothing but focused on this dat- I mean, tournament since we’ve been here,” she shot back.

“Do you even know who we are up against in half an hour?” Rhys fired back.

“Of course I do!” Nora hesitated for a few seconds and then said: “The Elephant team right?”

The rest of the team shook their heads in disbelief as Emilia threw her hands up as if to say I told you so.

“Look Rhys, as team lead this ultimately rests with you - but I think we need to shuffle things around a little bit, especially given how early we are in the competition. It will keep people on their toes,” Emilia said.

Rhys stroked his beard in contemplation, doodling on a scrap of paper with his other free hand, trying to figure out the best route for the team to take.

“Ok,” he finally spoke after a few seconds of silence. “Kristine - you’re taking the third chair for this next game. Nora, we’re going to keep you at fourth and Klaus, you take a break from this one.”

“Are. You. Serious?” Klaus sputtered out, barely containing his bubbling rage. “I’ve been the only person to win a game and you’re benching me for the kid?!”

“It will keep them on their toes,” Rhys countered.

“Yeah, by screwing us out of a win!” Klaus fired back in anger.

“We’ll be fine - Kristine, you’ve got this right?”

The four looked to the youngest of the Chess Club, who was now starting to rock back and forth in place. Was it nerves? Or bursting excitement?

“Y-yeah,” Kristine spat out quietly. “T-this could be fun.”

Inside her head, Kristine was panicking harder than she had ever done before in her life - even moving from mainland Katzeburg to Ynysgard wasn’t this anxiety-inducing but to now represent the country? It was too much for her to bear.

“I’m just going to duck to the whizz bucket - I mean the whizz thron- I mean the bathroom!” Kristine pushed out before leaping from the chair and rushing with her head down through the crowded bar and out the door.

“Ladies and gentleman, I give you our hopes for the next round.” Klaus said before punctuating his point with a loud belch.

[Eshialand]

Climbing Back
Schachland 1.5-2.5 Eshialand

Friday morning brought news of an Eshian win in the ECC, one that was sorely needed after a bit of a disappointment against Barkhastan. The team from Schachland fought hard, but at the end of the day, a win for the young phenom Jamie Cartwright was what made all the difference... and full credit for it would be taken by the man in the commentary booth, Danny Stehl... but when talking to reporters, Lazlo Herefur seemed to deny any involvement from Danny.

"Listen, I know what you've probably heard about Danny Stehl helping the team out in between games, and I need to assure you... none of that is happening this year. Maybe last year he was getting a bit too nosy in our team's affairs, but this time around I've made sure that he goes nowhere near this team, because we all know what happened last time... we can't run the risk of any more funny business sinking the ship again."

"But Lazlo--" Josh Seametzle pointed out, "we've seen Danny chatting with the team, and especially Jamie, over breakfast! While we couldn't make out what he was saying, do you think what he said had any contribution to Jamie's win here today against Dimiitri Schahhov?"

"Asked and answered. Frankly, I think it's ridiculous that you think someone like him, who doesn't even crack 2000 Elo on his good days, could have such an outstanding influence on the team. His ideas, as we've already seen, are completely ridiculous at best, and he weighs 'trying new things out' way more than playing solid chess. He's the kinda guy who would play 1. f3 just to throw off an opponent, and none of what he says is any good idea."

"It's funny you should say that, as Jamie actually did play 1. f3 in the game..."
"Say what now??"

Lazlo was dumbfounded. It was only now where he realized that, yes, Danny was sending ideas to the team and, yes, these ideas weren't the worst things in the world all the time. Were they quirky? Of course... but maybe, just maybe...

"No, completely ridiculous. Just because Jamie's in the business of throwing games doesn't mean you can thank that Stehl nincompoop for anything..."
"But he literally won, and made the difference in the match!"
"Shut. Up."

Lazlo then walked away, seemingly to go "discipline" Danny for making such a fool out of this team on home turf. When he found the blogger, however, he was giving tips to Jason Severn about how to play the next round against Tero al Disco. "And what would you be doing here?" he asked, knowing exactly what the answer would be but still demanding some sort of explanation.

"I'm helping our team win? Last I checked, that's a good thing to be doing. Something you want?"
"Bold of you to assume that your meddling is helping."
"The results speak for themselves..."

The team could do nothing but stare at these two arguing. In ECC IX, their arguments for the most part had been out of sight of the team, and they didn't know anything had been up... but now, they got to understand the true nature of the bickering between Herefur and Stehl, the underlying toxicity that had held them back from winning the last edition...

"Leave my team to me. I'm the coach, I'm the head of the Federation, this is my job. Your job is in the press box, commentating the event. Capische? Now, if you would excuse me, I'm going to give my players some good advi--"

"EVERYBODY GET READY FOR ROUND 3!"

It was too late. The team were heading to their boards, with the only coaching they'd been given being that of Danny Stehl. Lazlo was powerless to do anything about what was going to happen next, which in his eyes could only be a collapse of the grandest proportions...

[South Newlandia]

Content Advisory: Aircraft in Distress, no loss of life. Thanks to Vielfaltig for providing pilots, Credit to Tumbra for the original image of the Esportivan map


Friday, 10:06, Elephant Valley International Airport Tower, South Newlandia
“Starbrook Air, 026 27, cleared for take-off. Have a good flight”
“27, Cleared for take-off, STA026. Thank you”
The Engines spooned up, the plane accelerated, and nothing seemed amiss. The plane rotated and climbed as normal, and started to head to its destination, Katzestadt, Katzeburg, just as it did every Friday around this time.

Friday, 10:13, Waterview Hotel, Eshialand City, Eshialand
“Good morning, Cecilia. Hope you’ve slept well!” Khanyisa van Lundi, the youngster, had been waiting for her teammate at the breakfast table. Her South Newlandian teammate had always been a late riser – some would claim this very fact was why the South Newlandian-held ECCs always started their first game relatively late – and today was no exception. It would be an exhausting day, with four difficult matches that would decide whether they would make it to the next day, or not. Fortunately for them, they had already gained two points the previous day.
“It’s been alright. I’ve slept better, I guess. The beds here are great, but there’s just been something that felt slightly off. I don’t know”, she replied. “Sorry to hear that”, van Lundi responded. “Let’s hope a good breakfast makes you feel better before our first round match”. As usual, the four of them would eat breakfast together. While some teams like to bring a reserve, the Elephants have never bothered with that. Some sports frequently see players injured or suspended, or allow for substitutions during a game. None of that is the case with rapid chess, so the Elephants didn’t consider a replacement necessary. The chance of illness or other incapacitation just always seemed extremely remote, and bringing someone along who wouldn’t get to play didn’t really make sense.

Friday, 10:17, South Newlandian Airspace over the Sea of Llamaphants
The noise was terrible, and Captain Renauld Boucher and First Officer Mateo Humbert both immediately knew something was very wrong. The plane had been steadily climbing out over the Sea of Llamaphants – the opposite direction of where they wanted to go, but the strong winds over Elephant Valley made it the west-facing tarmac the only possible departing runway. They had just started to bank to the right when the noise came from that same side. The plane quickly intensified its bank, nearly reaching the maximum allowed in the aircraft specifications. Within moments, First Officer Mateo Humbert pulled the plane to wings level. He was the pilot flying for the leg, which he would serve together with fellow Vielfaltigian Renauld Boucher. Boucher was highly experienced at 52 years old, with more than 10,000 logged flight hours, although he was fairly new on the type; First Officer Humbert had only about 3,000 hours, but all of them on this aircraft.

Friday, 10:18, Waterview Hotel, Eshialand City, Eshialand
“Have you made your final decision about what line you want to play into?”, van Lundi asked her teammate over some toast and scrambled eggs. “Not quite yet”, Blossom admitted. The two had discussed their opening strategy a lot; since they would always play the same colour against every opponent, it made sense for them to think about viable lines together.

Friday, 10:18, South Newlandian Airspace over the Sea of Llamaphants
By now, Humbert had also initiated full TO/GA thrust, but he could feel that the plane was no longer climbing effectively. For now, they were maintaining about 8,000 feet above sea level. Clearly, they had suffered some kind of catastrophic engine damage. Mindful not to shut down the wrong engine by accident, the Vielfaltigian pilots went through the steps to identify that it was indeed the number two engine that was no longer producing thrust. After shutting it down, the vibrations the plane was experiencing subsided measurably, but they still weren’t quite climbing, which was extremely troubling. At least the plane was now marginally under control – for now. Fortunately for them, they had a lot of fuel onboard, which they were tankering due to abnormally fuel high prices today in Katzestadt. Of course, that also meant they had been taking off just shy of their maximum allowed weight.

Friday, 10:19, Elephant Valley International Airport, South Newlandia
“STA026, Pan Pan, Pan Pan. We have lost our number two engine and are no longer climbing. Currently maintaining 8,000 feet heading Northwest. STA026, Pan Pan, Pan Pan”
“STA026, Understood. We will be clearing traffic away from the area. Please advise if you need assistance, STA026”

Friday 10:19, South Newlandian Airspace over the Sea of Llamaphants
For now, the plane was under control, and the pilots began troubleshooting the issue, trying to fix the engine. Captain Boucher, after calling the tower, also made a quick PA for the passengers. Unbeknownst to him, some of them already knew more than he did about the trouble they were into. Soon, a lot more people would know about it too. Planespotters at Elephant Valley International Airport had already taken videos of the plane’s right engine experiencing a small explosion, followed by flames shooting out of the affected engine. Soon, the incident would start popping up on various new portals around the multiverse.

Friday, 10:36, Waterview Hotel, Eshialand City, Eshialand
“Have you seen this thing about the plane over the Sea of Llamaphants yet?” van Lundi was browsing her phone, as she usually did before games. “No, I haven’t. What plane?”, Blossom asked, with a barely perceptible hint of panic in her voice. “Going from Elephant Valley to Katzestadt. Looks like they’ve lost an engine”, van Lundi read. Blossom turned almost as white as her teammate. “My mother is on that plane”

[TJUN-ia]

Welcome back to the 10th Elephant Chess Cup, live from the Waterview Hotel in Eshialand City! Last night, the campaign for everyone began and the Jaguars Knights of TJUN-ia got on the right track with a tough win over debutants Naktr. This was certainly a good start, but everyone wanted more and so, a new brings new opportunity. After today, the Top 12 teams in this sport will be known...so what can we do?

GIC Tshering Gyeltshen beat Valerio Hassan
GIC Anne Christian-Warren drew with Oskar Lancelot
GIC Margarita Altamiranda beat Spike Wigstan
CM Gideon Irosaea drew with Tziva Javed

Crpostran would be our first opponent of the day and in this high stakes battle, things were certainly interesting. Tshering Gyeltshen managed to take down the collected Valerio Hassan thanks to some superb play on his part, ACW managed a very long battle with the young Oskar Lancelot that ended in a draw, Margarita Altamiranda crushed the hopes and dreams of Spike Wigstan by simply not overthinking things and the duel between Gideon Irosaea and Tziva Javed was so intense, that a draw seemed fair enough. In the end, we took home the 3-1 win on points and moved to 2-0 in series count.

So far, so good. Soon enough, a Top 2 showdown with Vonum will have to take place. Someone has to take the bragging rights here and while they are a good team, we are hoping to shine one more. GO JAG KNIGHTS!

---

SCHEDULE (Group B)
M1: vs Naktr (Thurs, 6 pm) W 2.5-1.5 (T-1st)
M2: vs Crpostran (Fri, 11 am) W 3-1 (1st)
M3: vs Vonum (Fri, 1 pm)
M4: vs Sky Reavers (Fri, 4 pm)
M5: vs The Kaisers Syndicates (Fri, 6 pm)

---

RECORDS: TG: 2-0-0, ACW: 0-1-1, MA: 1-1-0, GI: 1-1-0

[The Martian Independent Republic]

The Martian Independent Republic 1 - 3 Yesopalitha
Stardust 0.5 - 0.5 Va'Hir
Goode 0 - 1 Thom
Rigby 0.5 - 0.5 No. 17
O'Riley 0 - 1 Nadathas

Spiders Fall Further As Collapse Continues
Published 12:55 EshST

Losing to South Newlandia was acceptable. They were seeded for a reason - after all, they'd gotten a silver medal here before, made it to the semis in ECC8, and are by far the most experienced in international chess. Yesopalitha, on the other hand, a team we should have beat? Horrendous. We here at 64squares have serious concerns about Tommy O'Riley's actual skill, but read more to find out about that. As this goes up, it's 5 minutes until the MIR plays Vaishnavaria - a must-win game. Here's a review of how the Spiders fell apart.

Board 1
Ziggy Stardust had already made a mental error by the time he sat down at the chessboard. He decided to play initially for a draw, hoping that Lashnaris Va'Hir would make a mistake in her attack, and on the counterattack he could win. However, that never came. Stardust had to throw all of his resources into protecting his king, which, to his credit, he did find - the critical moment of the game, the unintuitive f3, stopping the black pawns from reaching that square and opening up the f2-square for his bishop, came just a few moves later, but because he was never playing for a win - even though as white, you ought to - the game essentially reached its conclusion there. Va'Hir played on further, trying to make a now hopeless attack work, but Stardust found the right moves, and by the time the players had reached the endgame, Va'Hir was up a pawn, but it was the a-pawn with a light-squared bishop - against Stardust's knight she was unable to stop him from trading off the kingside pawns, stylishly sacrificing his knight for one, and Stardust was two moves quicker to a1, ensuring the draw.

Board 2
In chess, players can broadly be categorized into three styles. There are aggressive players, such as Johnny B. Goode - those players throw almost everything at the opponent's king, creating a formidable attack, but it can be fended off by defensive players, like Eleanor Rigby, who focus on not making mistakes, building a solid position, and being ready for an opponent's attack - for attacks that do not go through will weaken the attacker's position, often to the point where the defender has a winning advantage. However, focusing on defense loses to flexible players, like Ziggy Stardust - they will improve their position until the defender has run out of good moves, slowly bring their pieces into better positions, and with their enemy's pieces forced into awkward positions strike, quickly getting to the king once the first shot has been fired. Flexibility isn't perfect, though - it loses to attacks, where it often doesn't have enough pieces to save the king. Each style has a niche, but Johnny B. Goode found himself playing the wrong way today - his attack was proven unsound by G'Nor Thom, he sacrificed a bishop in a last-ditch attempt to get the white king into perpetual check, but Thom walked his king down the board, brought his pieces with him to shield, and at the end, it was Goode, not Thom, who was getting mated.

Board 3
Eleanor Rigby was mentioned earlier, as a defensive player - in fact, she is the stereotype for that playstyle. She takes no nonsense, but she gives none either - and that might have been her downfall here. No. 17, although an immortal being, still has weaknesses, one being its focus on winning the game rather than not losing. As black, this isn't a great idea at top levels - and Rigby punished their attack, coming out a pawn up, but No. 17 got their forces out in time, and once the position had stabilized, there were two winning moves for Rigby. One was certain - +4 on Stockphant - but she wasn't certain of it, she said after the game she couldn't tell after a five-move line whether the attack would come crashing through, and what ended up happening was she didn't see Re1 from five moves ahead, a slow move in the middle of the attack, that would have won her the game - instead she went for the safer, slower and only barely winning move, which was +1, she simplified into a queen endgame, one of the most complex in chess, and an errant pawn move let No. 17 get drawing chances - which it promptly solidified by finding a perpetual check, ending this game in a draw.

Board 4
As is custom, the winner of the Martian Rapid Championship gets to go to the tournament - Cecilia Robinson, Richard Cory, and now Tommy O'Riley - but none of them ever performed well - in Robinson's case she never performed, being seen as too great a risk after her upset victory in the 1,024-player Championship as the 73rd seed, and that trend has been continued with Tommy O'Riley contributing 67% of the Spiders' individual losses so far. In this game, Nadathas knew O'Riley far better than O'Riley knew Nadathas, or even himself - the bishops were quickly traded, Nadathas set up an unavoidable tactic which would end in her winning the exchange, and although O'Riley took the fancy way out, sacrificing his rook for a knight instead of allowing the fork, the game was still over in practice, if not in theory - O'Riley tried as hard as he could to make complications, but they both knew it wouldn't be enough, and in the end, it was Tommy O'Riley who knocked over his king, sealing a second straight loss for the Spiders.


That match was a must-win, and we lost it. This makes the game against Vaishnavaria, on paper the worst team in the group, extra must-win, and other things will need to go the Spiders' way too. Luckily, there are three advancing slots, but there's still quite a distance until the Spiders are in one of those. Here's hoping they finally win.

[Valentine Z]

Part 2 – The Unknown Variable.

Zastępca Strażnika Adriana Krystal Desiree “Cudowny Manipulacja Światłem” Venus Kowalski Faith Stanisława Engelse I. Cherise Krystyna Zaborowska Sztormowska Pamela Alina Re. T. Lillian: It’s almost always the unknown variables and factors that would get us all in the end, as it would seem. My previous matchup was not that bad with a draw, considering the fact that, well, I am competing with what is effectively the best of the best! After all, that is the reason why they are all in this multidimensional event! I am indeed very grateful to be here and to be playing against these greats, of course. I certainly didn’t expect us to be playing chess out of all sports and games, but hey, our lives are full of surprises! So, going back – that draw on the very first match got me the experience and the preparation that I think I would need. Yes, I have already established myself as something akin to a chess-bot, and the people certainly didn’t mind and gave me the green light to be here! Chess bots, just like people themselves, can also improve upon themselves in order to gain that legitimate competitive advantage. Case in point, I have learned, and it worked pretty well on that. It’s quite typical for me, something I have done in other sports before – gather billions of points of data, run it through my head and the programs, store the data, and get it when I need it. For chess, the dataset is thankfully limited. The low estimate of 10^120 games is daunting and intimidating, yes, but it’s confined to the game board itself. Motorsports have a near-infinite amount of possibilities, would have to remove the excessive and unneeded scenarios. In short – optimization and all that, but I suppose you would like to know about the player that I am playing against for the second match. Well, that’s the thing, you will soon see.

Some people and their games are a bit predictable. That’s not to say that the game is any easier, but with some amount of reckoning, I was able to get some satisfactory results. With The 14 Stars, however, I was unfortunately unable to find prior information on who I am playing as. I only know the person as soon as we started off and so there was that. It made for a bit of a challenge, but at the end of the day – it’s another top championship player, was it not? Well, yes. And so I did just that, and I got myself handed to me pretty much at the end of the match. I was unable to compete against the player, and I found myself a small flaw in my operations – an opening in my 3rd turn that lead to quite an unfortunate Efekt Motyla (Butterfly Effect). Ahh, that’s all right. There’s always next time. Still, we will need to get our game up, as Jolyn genuinely suggested in a friendly manner. I put “genuinely” there since often times, I learned that when humans say that “someone politely suggested”, the politeness wasn’t exactly there. It’s not exactly irony, it’s… it’s more of just the way humans interact and talk to each other. It’s a little confusing even today. Anyway, going back to Chess – we got another 1.5 point against the opponent. This time, Jolyn won the game once again. I never doubted her, of course! Eveline was the one with the draw, while Charlene suffered a loss, I think it was her second loss. She remarked that she didn’t mind being reminded of it, and that she will try to come out stronger. Meanwhile, I can see some sadness in her, to which I offered her a hug to cheer her spirits up!

And so the second match ended the same as the first one. I do not believe that we are doing anything too bad. After all, considering that these were our first two matches in the interdimensional setting, we did pretty well, I will say so! It’s not just blind optimism (which Valentians get misinterpreted for), of course. Though, come to think of it, it’s a little unusual that we only started playing on the interdimensional scene decades after we have discovered the very existence of the multiverse. On one hand, caution and all. On the other hand… decades felt a little too long. We joined a little late to some of these (such as World Cup which is already nearing its 100 cycle. 100!), but for some like Elephant Chess Cup here… it’s just the 10th season. We might just be able to carve out something quickly. All of us need to improve together and as a team. Maybe we can strive for 2 wins and 1 draw next time. We can hope!