Chapter 7
Jaune knew what he had to do, and had to stick to his guns. He moved his king pawn forward two squares from e2 to e4, his favorite opening move as white. Yatsuhashi waited about two seconds and responded by playing pawn from c7 to c5.
"I should've known he'd play the Sicilian Defense. Ozpin said it's the most popular competitive opening against e4. I have only one way to refute it." Jaune thought to himself.
2. d4, cxd4
3. c3
"Hmm, that's the Smith-Morra Gambit. If I accept the extra pawn, all I have to do is play solid and continue with my opening plan, even if it does cost me a tempo." Yatsuhashi thought.
3. … dxc3
4. Nxc3, Nc6
5. Nf3, g6
After Yatsuhashi finished his move, he got up from the table to go walk around for a bit. Jaune studied the position and thought about a plan.
"He's obviously planning to fianchetto his bishop on g7, controlling the opening diagonal. I need to control the e-file as much as possible." Jaune pondered. "Then I can look for attack chances." Yatsuhashi came back to the table and was surprised that Jaune had not moved yet. Then the game continued.
6. Bc4, d6
7. 0-0, Bg7
8. Rfe1, Nf6
After Yatsuhashi finished his move, Jaune felt the need to get a cup of water to stay refreshed. The blonde teen got up from the table and headed over to where the keg of water was standing. After filling his cup and taking a good swig, Jaune went back to the board to resume where he left off.
9. Bf4, 0-0
10. Qe2, Bg4
"Dang, that's a nice move he played. That pin is going to be a thorn in my side if I don't address it soon." Jaune ascertained. "On top of that, I know the threat of knight to d4 is at black's disposal. I can't allow this!"
11. Rad1
"There, that should protect the d4 square for now." Jaune assured himself. "All of my pieces are developed, so now we just have to wait and see how black responds."
"That rook on d1 is well placed. Apparently, the kid is smarter than I thought. Let's shake things up a little bit." Yatsuhashi thought.
11. …Qa5
Jaune looked at the clock and saw that both clocks were already more than twenty minutes depleted. Both players were only eleven moves into the game, yet so much time had already been used.
12. h3, Bxf3
13. Qxf3, Rac8
"Not falling for this old trick." Jaune noted.
14. Bb3, Qb4
15. Qe3, Rfd8
"All of the pieces are active now. I'll go see how the other games are going; maybe I'll have a more refreshed perspective of the board if I do that." Jaune decided. He got up from the table once again; not to get water but this time to see how the other games were going. He walked over to the board where Pyrrha was playing against Sky. The redhead had the black pieces, and she was completely dominating the game with ease. Jaune moved onto another board since he knew that his best friend has her game in the bag.
After looking around, he saw the game between Ruby and Mercury still in progress. Jaune noticed that Ruby was down two pawns and it was obvious that the cocky grey-haired enforcer had seized the initiative. At that point, Jaune decided to go back to his own game. Once he got settled in, Jaune had to think about the position.
"There's no way I can win this strategically while I'm down a pawn. I need to do something that will give me some tactical shots. Maybe then, I'll be able to win back more material than what I lost in the beginning." Jaune surmised. "Hmm, I think I have an idea."
16. Nd5
Yatsuhashi glanced at the bold knight move his unrated opponent played. He studied it for about a minute, and thought right away about the safety of his own queen under attack.
16. …Qc5
17. Qd2, Rde8
"Why did he move his rook again? That's just a wasted move." Jaune surmised. "I have to take advantage of this while I can. He may have left something behind." After looking at the board for about five minutes, Jaune found a move that would put black in a real bind.
18. Ba4, e5"
"Instead of retreating, I'm going to fight back!" Jaune asserted.
19. Rc1, Qd4
"This is perfect! Now we can trade queens, which will win back a pawn." Jaune calculated.
20. Qxd4, exd4
21. Bxd6, Rxe4
After Yatsuhashi had captured the pawn on e4 with his rook, the big guy suddenly froze in fear and knew he had goofed big time. He tried his best not to drop the poker face, but Jaune already saw the mean tactic.
22. Nxf6+, Bxf6
23. Rxe4
"I can't believe I frickin' did that. I just blundered a whole rook. Oh well, let's see how this goes." Yatsuhashi thought to himself.
23. …d3
24. Bxc6, d2
"Ok, now he's just getting desperate." Jaune observed. "I won't allow it."
25. Rd1, Bg5
26. Re8+, Rxe8
27. Bxe8
Yatsuhashi looked at the board solemnly and knew deep down inside that his lone bishop was not enough to battle against a rook and a bishop pair. The tan skinned teen tipped his king over and conceited the match. The two boys shook hands, turned off the clock, and set the pieces back to the starting position.
"We should go write the results." Jaune whispered. Yatsuhashi nodded and they both walked over to the bulletin board. When they got to the results sheet, Jaune did not know what to do next.
"What are we supposed to write?" Jaune asked
"You have to write a 1 next to your name to show that you won. On the other hand, I have to write a 0 to prove that I lost." Yatsuhashi explained. Jaune followed the instructions and they both finished reviewing the results. Jaune then looked down the list of the pairings and saw that most of the other games were finished.
"I gotta hand it to you, Jaune. You play the Smith-Morra Gambit very well, and really came up with some good tactics." Yatsuhashi complemented.
"Thanks, man. You played very well yourself. I know you wouldn't have made that blunder had you used more time on that move. I pretty much got lucky in the end." Jaune humbly admitted.
"You make a good point, but remember Jaune, it is what it is. You gotta take that win and move up to the top! You take care now, and get some good rest!" Yatsuhashi left the area to head back to the dorm. Jaune looked up at the sky for a while, celebrating his win in the back of his mind.
"I did it. I won my first game." Jaune said to himself. "Gee, I wonder what time it is." He turned his scroll back on and saw that the time was 10:00, the time that he normally goes to bed. "I'll go see which games are still left." Jaune quietly re-entered the tournament hall and saw only three games that were still going on; Blake vs Cardin, Coco vs Penny, and Velvet vs Dove. He was too tired to even bother to see who was winning or losing in the games, so Jaune figured it was best to leave and call it a night. Ozpin and Dr. Oobleck were the only other people monitoring the games since the rest of the players had finished and left the hall. As soon as the happy chess player exited the building, he ran into the person he was looking for hours ago.
"Vinnie, there you are! Where the heck did you to this whole time!?" Jaune frantically asked.
"Dude, chill. I watched your game in the amphitheater on the big screen. You played that gambit opening to the tee! Nice one!"
"Oh wow, I forgot all about that. But that still doesn't answer where you went before I started my match." Jaune pressed.
"Look, about that Jaune. I don't know the layout of this school very well, so finding the restrooms was very difficult for me." Vinnie lied. "But I'm fine now."
"Speaking of which, how did all your buddies do? I was too caught up in your game that I didn't even think to check on how the others were doing." Vinnie said
"Last time I checked, Pyrrha crushed Sky, Ren won a pretty solid game against Yang, but Nora lost badly to Emerald." Jaune summarized. "If you're wondering how the other girls did, Ruby had a bad game against Mercury, but Weiss beat the breaks off of Russell. Blake is still going toe-to-toe with Cardin."
"Hmm, looks like ya'll ready had quite a round." Vinnie commented. "Hey Jaune, before you go anywhere, I need a place to stay for tonight if that's cool with you."
"Of course, Vinnie; you're my friend. I think there's enough room in my dorm room to fit you in. We have a spare sleeping bag that you can use." Jaune insisted. "I don't think the others will mind." Jaune lead Vinnie back to his dorm, which was not too far of a walk from the academy. When they made it inside the room, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora were already asleep. Jaune signaled to Vinnie not to wake them up, which the latter acknowledged. The two friends quietly got themselves ready for bed, and then said goodnight to each other. Jaune fell asleep first while Vinnie still had some thoughts on his mind about the entire day.
"He'll do fine. I know he can win this." Vinnie whispered to himself. Suddenly, his scroll began to flash, and it was very obvious whom the message was from. "Oh great, what does that son of a bitch want." Sure enough, it was a message from Dr. Watts that was straight to the point.
'Excellent work. Keep a low profile and do not speak to anyone you don't know.'
"You're welcome." Vinnie sneered as he placed his scroll back on Jaune's desk. The street hustler positioned himself in the sleeping bag and closed his eyes.
In the exchange student dorm, Cinder and her two young followers were eagerly discussing their easy victories. Mercury was lying casually on his bed while the girls were sitting on the floor with a chess set.
"Good work you two. I saw that both of you had no trouble taking care of your opposition." Cinder said to her lackeys.
"I toyed with little red in the opening, and after that I had her hook, line, and sinker." Mercury bragged.
"Psh, the pink-haired ditz couldn't win her way out of a paper bag. That was the sorriest opponent I've ever faced in my life." Emerald scoffed.
"Once again, I applaud both of your wins, , but don't let that get to your head just yet. We still have four rounds left, and your opponents are going to be much stronger than today." Cinder warned. Before she could say anything else, the dangerous woman paused and stood up, glancing from left to right to see if they were being watched.
"Did we say something wrong?" Emerald questioned. The mistress looked back at the window and slowly shook her head.
"It's nothing… just the wind. The two of you need to rest up for tomorrow. We've only just begun." Said Cinder. Mercury and Emerald did as they were told and got themselves settled into their beds. Cinder was still in her own train of thought with something still lingering in the back of her mind. "Why do I sense a familiar presence? Could it actually be him?"
For reference:
I chose to use algebraic notation for the chess moves to help keep the word count low. I have provided a legend to help understand the moves being played in the games.
K – king
Q – queen
R – rook
B – bishop
N – knight
0-0 – castle kingside
0-0-0 – castle queenside
+ - check
# - checkmate
= - pawn promotion
ep – en passant
pawn moves are represented by the file letter (column) and the rank number (row).
