Chapter 3: How Strong is River Park?

"So, how did your second day at the club go?" Stewart asked Toki as the two sat together during lunch munching on the hamburgers that Toki once again managed to acquire. It was Friday and the chess club had a rest day before the final classical tournament before state on Saturday.

"Terrible," Toki replied taking an aggressive bite. "I gowt bwy aaa keet"

"What?"

Toki swallowed the bits of hamburger in his mouth.

"I got my ass kicked."

"I mean… I didn't expect anything different to be honest. These guys have probably been playing for years. Who'd you even play anyways?"

"That flamboyant bastard," Toki said angrily taking another bite, "He played some shit called the Rui Lopez which is apparently the oldest opening in history."

"Damn, you actually looked it up?"

"Yeah I mean… I gotta get past him if I ever want to beat Evelyn right? Its other name is called the Spanish."

"Well that makes sense; Rui Lopez sounds pretty Spanish to me."

"That flamboyant bastard won't get me again though." Toki said finishing his burger. "I spent all night yesterday looking for a defense and next time he tries that shit, I'm going to play the Berlin."

"I don't think Spain and Germany have fought many wars Toki. You sure that's a good idea?"

"Yeah, I can just force the Berlin endgame this way," Toki said, "Guaranteed draw 10 out of 10 times. Then I beat that bastard on white where he can't do his romantic 2 knights bullshit."

"How foolish,"

Toki nearly fell over again as just like the day before; another voice suddenly spoke up over his shoulder.

"Jesus Christ what the…"

As he turned around to see who had spoken, he came face to face with an older teenager with bleached white hair, piercings, skinny jeans, and a metal band T-shirt.

"Oh hi Ian," Stewart said giving him a wave, "you still want those tickets to the show Sunday?"

"What the… how do you know everyone Stewart?"

"Yes," Ian replied leaning down to Stewart to whisper something, "Tell your brother to meet me at the corner of main and 2nd today at 5PM. I will trade him… the goods."

"Not a problem! I'll pass that along to him." Stewart responded.

"Goods? What are these goods that…"

"Now then, with that out of the way…" Ian said interrupting Toki's thoughts and staring at him.

"You're… you're the 3rd board aren't you?" Toki said in a soft voice. The intensity of Ian's dark black eyes staring at him made him timid.

"Only for now," Ian replied, "But enough about me, let's talk about how foolish you truly are Toki Suzuki."

He sat down at the seat next to Toki's. He leaned in close to Toki who backed away as he did.

"You think just knowing the Berlin is enough to face Emmanuel's Spanish? Such a fool you are Toki such a fool, what about the Anti-Berlin? What will you do if he plays that?"

"There's… there's an anti-Berlin?"

"See…" Ian said backing off of Toki slightly and sighing. "You really are a fool, but even worse."

Ian opened his eyes wide and again leaned in close to Toki staring him down.

"You're weak."

"We… weak?"

"Playing for a draw on black is weak. Chess is not a game for the weak, you play to win, or else why do you play at all?"

"But… white always has the advantage because of first move don't they?" Toki asked as he rapidly shifted his eyes trying to avoid contact, "What's wrong with drawing on black and winning on white?"

"That's the mentality of the weak." Ian replied, "You can always win… with in balance."

"In… in balance?" Toki asked as he felt his own balance slip from his seat.

"In balance leads to attacking games, and attacking games lead to winning games. Learn that, and you might have a shot to beat Emmanuel."

Just as he finished his sentence, the bell of the lunchroom rang. As it did, Ian got up from his seat.

"I must go," He said beginning to walk away.

"Good Riddance," Toki thought, "Are chess players all this weir…"

"But!" He turned around again to stare at Toki only inches from his face.

"Before I leave, let me tell you Toki Suzuki, the one opening on black you need to create in balance… to attack… to win."

"What's… what's that?" Toki asked again darting his eyes randomly to avoid contact.

"The Sicilian," Ian said finally backing away from Toki to walk out of the lunchroom. Toki let out a heavy sigh as he did.

"Jeez… why do I feel like all the members of chess club are on drugs?"

"Well…" Stewart began shrugging his shoulders, "Ian does supply my brother with "goods" so…"

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"ehehheh, when you're older Toki."

The two began leaving packing up their backpacks.

"By the way, you play anyone else yesterday Toki?"

At the question, hearts formed in Toki's eyes.

"I played… herrrr," He said with gush in his voice.

"Her?" Stewart asked blinking, "Oh, you mean Evelyn?"

"Yeah! Evelynnnnnn, she kicked my ass but I liked it."

"Okay bro… TMI again, what opening did she play?"

At the question Toki broke out of his daze to look back at Stewart, a serious expression on his face.

"It's really sophisticated man, I can't really explain it well but the top GMs online all play it."

"Just tell me anyways, I'm just curious to see how a noob describes the game."

Toki sighed as they got up to walk out of the lunchroom.

"You really have to be good at chess to master this opening. That's what Evelyn told me, I believe her since she kicked my ass so bad with it. It's a secret weapon."

"What's it called?"

Toki looked left then looked right before turning back to Stewart.

"The Bongcloud."

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"Wait, so what do you do against the Queen's Gambit?"

The day was Saturday and Toki along with the rest of the chess club had made their way to Smithstone High School for the tournament that weekend. Inside their private practice room, Toki sat across from a very plain looking student with brunette hair, a white t-shirt, and regular blue jeans with a chess set between them.

"King's Indian," Nigel responded moving the pieces over the board in front of him as if he had them pre-moved online

"But… you just said you play that against the Italian."

Nigel nodded, "Yes."

"Okay…" Toki said resetting the pieces. "What do you play against the Rui Lopez then?"

"King's Indian," Nigel responded moving the pieces into the same formation.

"Jeez… this guy's our 6th board and he knows one opening?"

Toki flipped the board over so that this time the black pieces faced him and the white pieces faced Nigel.

"So what do you play on white then?" Toki asked.

"King's Indian" Nigel repeated plainly maneuvering the pieces to the exact formation that he had previously on black.

"So you just play the King's Indian against everything?"

Nigel nodded.

"King's Indian always good. Nigel always plays."

"And such a fool you are for doing so Nigel."

Startled, Toki fell out of his chair when a bleached white haired student's voice came from behind.

"Can… can you stop doing that Ian?" Toki asked getting up from the ground.

"I cannot," Ian said sitting down in Toki's seat.

"What the…"

"Like my play, I must always remain unpredictable, unlike your King's Indian dear Nigel."

He placed pawns on d6 and g6 to begin the standard King's Indian formation after 2 moves. For white, he placed the 2 central pawns to d4 and e4.

"Okay…" Nigel said. "So?"

But to Nigel's chagrin and Toki's great surprise, he made a 3rd pawn move, his f pawn to the f4 square.

Austrian Attack: https://imgur.com/a/t5fsQM2

"Behold Toki Suzuki, the ultimate King's Indian crusher, the Austrian Attack."

"Are… are you crazy?" Toki asked. As he recalled, one of the first principles he learned from watching YouTube was to never move the f pawn until you've castled. "Your king's vulnerable as hell."

"Perhaps," Ian said, "but for a strong attack, it does not matter."

"Grrr…" Nigel said. He couldn't move his knight out against this attack to complete his formation.

"Hey… enough chit chat, get to the boards, we start in 10!"

The trio looked over at Marcy who had her hands on her hips and a clipboard in her hand.

"Sure thing Ms. club president," Ian said in a high pitched mocking voice. Toki could see the annoyance on Marcy's face as she rolled her eyes though he wondered if that was just her default face.

"What do I do?" Toki asked as Nigel and Ian began packing their chess sets to take with them.

"Huh?" Marcy said looking over at him and blinking twice. "Oh uhhh… here,"

She handed Toki the clipboard that she had.

"Record down the results of each match okay? Observe our games and learn something maybe, I don't know, we've never had this many club members before. And bring us some water bottles when we need it."

"What am I your dog?"

"Ohhhh, but you'll do it for me won't you?"

The 4 of them turned to Evelyn who just arrived at their table. She was wearing a pink miniskirt, high heels, and white top showing rather revealing cleavage.

"Yes mistress," Toki said as he grabbed the clipboard from Marcy.

"Urghhh… I thought we agreed on business casual." Marcy said rolling her eyes again as Evelyn looked over her nails that were freshly polished.

"Yeah but… that's no fun. Need a little psychological advantage in chess don't you think Marcy?"

"You're good enough to not need silly gimmicks Eve… and where's Ms. Everstone? There's no way she'd allow you to wear that into the tournament room."

"I think she's a little busy right now," Evelyn said.

"What? Why?"

"Flirting with the other teams' coaches probably," Evelyn said giggling, "Not that any of them are good enough to be worthy of her."

"Urghhh… again?" Marcy replied stunned, "Whatever, let's just go without her then."

As the students of River Park High exited the room, Toki couldn't help but feel a bit of an adrenaline rush. At least 100 students, all with their own chess sets, began entering the gym of the school they had been at. Sure, he had only joined the club to get closer to Evelyn. But the vibrant crowd, the smell of the pieces, and the aesthetically pleasing arrangements of the boards on all the tables of the gym room were very pleasing to his senses.

"Maybe chess is pretty cool after all," he thought.

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"Okay players, please go ahead and shake hands with your opponent."

Toki stood behind his teammates at River Park. The first school they were scheduled to play against that day was Maple Academy. According to Marcy, Maple was an extremely underfunded school. Their first board was rated in the ballpark of Noah being around 1500. Anything outside of a complete sweep of the boards would be a disappointing result.

"Let's have a good game!" Evelyn said giving her opponent a wink before shaking his hand and stroking it gently. Toki could see his opponent blush profusely as he attempted to avoid eye contact with Evelyn.

"God… why can't that be me?"

"Jesus, he's 800 points lower rated than you, why are you using cheap tricks?"

Startled, Toki jumped back a bit as Ms. Everstone appeared suddenly next to him.

"Okay, does everyone in the club do that?"

"Sorry Toki," Ms. Everstone said gathering herself, "just a bit agitated."

True to her word, as Toki looked at the club coach, he could see clear stress marks under her eyes.

"Are… are you alr…"

"Glad you asked Toki!" Ms. Everstone began as she clenched her fist, "Absolutely not! They told me some of the male coaches here would be handsome and good at chess. But damn, I bet Bobby could beat half of these scrubs. Jeez… and they were bragging so much in front of me too."

"I didn't ask… never mind," Toki said backing away a bit.

"Well anyways," Ms. Everstone sighed, "You have the clipboard of the scoresheets right?"

Toki nodded as he showed Ms. Everstone the clip board.

Board 1: Evelyn Hann

Board 2: Robert Bass

Board 3: Ian Viknik

Board 4: Pierre Bien

Board 5: Marcy Smith

Board 6: Nigel Bones

Board 7: Emmanuel Diego

Board 8: Noah Park

"Good good," Ms. Everstone said, "It may not look like it, but I do care about my students and their play. You could learn a thing or two observing their play."

"Whose game should I watch?"

"Depends, you like solid play, sharp play, or the King's Indian?"

"What do those words even mean?"

"Aggressive, stable, or King's Indian?"

"Oh uhh… stable I guess?" Toki replied still not entirely sure what those terms meant.

"Bobby then," Ms. Everstone said pointing to the curly haired student at second board. He had a serious look on his face as he stared down at his opponent who appeared to be a boy around maybe 8 years of age.

"Why is there a child here?" Toki asked.

"Don't be fooled, those opponents are the most dangerous," Ms. Everstone said, "when a promising young student in the region shows propensity in chess, they'll bring them to high school sometimes to play these tournaments.

"Let's have a good game," Bobby said reaching out his hand for a shake as his opponent stood up on his chair just to reach it.

"Okay everyone!" The announcer from the speakers shouted, "Whenever you're ready, students with the black pieces please start your opponent's clocks."

"e4," Toki thought as he observed Bobby's board. But to his surprise, Bobby made a counterintuitive first move to what Toki had learned from his chess videos.

Caro-Kann 1: https://imgur.com/a/DKvCEKM

"What? Why would you ever block in your knight like that?" Toki thought as Bobby played c6.

"The Caro-Kann," Ms. Everstone whispered to Toki, "One of the oldest and most fundamentally sound openings in chess. Bobby relies on superior pawn play to create a winning structure and slowly push forward."

"That… just sounds extremely boring," Toki whispered back.

"Hey, you asked for solid play, chess isn't always about crazy attacks."

Slowly, during the first rotation of moves, Bobby inched his pawns forward creating a V formation in the middle of the board. Then, surprising Toki again, Bobby reached for his c pawn moving it for a second time to the c5 square.

Caro Kann 2: https://imgur.com/a/NtsCPH1

"He could have just moved the pawn there on move 1!" Toki whispered to Ms. Everstone who simply shook her head.

"Unless it's the King's Indian, openings can't just be pre-moved like that. He's playing against the advance Caro thus he needs to free up his bishop. Especially on black, chess isn't just about knowing your own moves, but reading your opponents structure as well."

"That… still sounds boring."

At this point, Ms. Everstone eyes were twitching a bit as she stared down at Toki.

"Look Toki… if you're going to complain then go watch Ian's game. He's usually pretty aggressive."

"Right…" Toki thought, "Ian did say chess was all about the attack. His game's bound to be better than this snooze fest."

As he looked over at Ian's board however, it appeared Ian lost his b pawn as his opponent's bishop took on b4.

Evan's Gambit: https://imgur.com/undefined

"What the… did he just blunder?" Toki thought shocked.

"Urghh… I thought I told him just to practice the Giuoco Pianissimo." Ms. Everstone sighed.

"Did… did he just blunder?" Toki asked.

"No, this is known as the Evan's Gambit, it's a really aggressive line but for the record, engines do not support this."

As his opponent captured his b pawn however, a grin appeared on Ian's face. It was a chaotic almost psychopathic kind of grin as he stuck his tongue out. Toki could see his opponent was shook as Ian quickly marched his center pawns forward.

"Damn, he came to fight," Toki thought, "I wonder how Evelyn is…"

"I resign."

Suddenly, all the boards froze for a moment as they turned in shock to the first board match up.

"I resign," his opponent repeated as he knocked over his King.

"Ahhhh well good game," Evelyn said with a sly smile as she reached her hand out to give her opponent a hand shake.

"Holy…" Toki thought in shock as the two shook hands and got up from their board.

Fried Liver: https://imgur.com/undefined

"Looks like a classic fried liver," Ms. Everstone said examining the board. "Write down a win for Evelyn, Toki."

"Al… alright," Toki said writing down the result still in disbelief. "Is… is this the power of our first board?"

"Oh errand boy," Evelyn said walking up to Toki. Toki's face flushed red as he searched for a response.

"Ye… yes Evelyn?"

"Be a dear and grab me a water bottle from the cafeteria will ya? Then meet me back in the practice room, I'm quiteeee thirstyyyyy," she said in a seductive voice.

"Ho," Toki could hear Ms. Everstone whisper under her breath.

"Ye… yes Evelyn," Toki responded as he exited the room, his body seemingly moving on its own at his queen's command.

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About an hour passed as slowly, one by one, each one of the River Park boards won with relative ease.

"Damn, that was effortless!" Toki said as he returned to the room with Nigel, the final one to finish his match. As he made his way back however, nobody really paid him much attention as the students were already studying the games they had just played except Noah, who was mysteriously missing from the room.

"Ahhhh Toki what'd you think?" Emmanuel asked turning his head away from his board upon Toki's arrival.

"Amazing, holy crap, you guys are so good," Toki said, "Are we the best in the state or something?"

At the question however… the whole room fell silent as the students all began to glare intensely at Toki especially Bobby, Ian and Marcy.

"Oh crap…" Toki thought, "Did… did I say something wrong?"

"Relax, relax guys, remember he's new," Emmanuel said attempting to defuse the situation pulling Toki to the side.

"Did… did I say something wrong Emma…"

"We're not the best," Marcy said plainly.

"What? But that was a perfect score, if we're not then who…"

"You sure like asking questions don't you weakling?" Ian said glaring at Toki.

"I… I'm just curious who…"

"Lake Tech High," Ms. Everstone spoke. At the mention of the name, the entire room gave out a groan.

"They beat us last year in the finals," Pierre said, "It… it was close, came down to the last match even but…"

"I choked."

The group turned to Bobby whose face had gone pale as he recalled the memory.

"Don't be like that Bobby," Marcy said going up to him and patting his back, "I lost too; you were just the last to…"

"I had a winning position," Bobby interrupted. As Toki looked closely at him, he could see tears almost forming in his eyes.

"Yeah but…"

"And I blundered a damn knight fork," Bobby said holding his hands onto his head.

"Hey now…" Marcy said continuing to comfort him, "Even Evelyn drew her match, it was a team los…"

"Yeah, against a damn IM. My opponent was 100 rating points lower than me, don't try to justify it Marcy." Bobby said batting her hand away, "it was on me to win against Ronald, and I choked."

"Hmph," Ian said, "Glad you recognize it at least weakling. This is why I should be second board when we play them."

"Ian!" Marcy said, "please, he feels bad enough already."

"It was tough," Pierre said, "For our seniors, that was the last year for them to win state." He then looked over at Bobby setting up the board in front of him.

"But that's why we're beating them this year for sure."

"Ri… right." Bobby said.

"Oh please," Ian said, "I would have crushed Ronald like I crushed Alexander on 7th board. He's gone now, but Ronald's still here. What if Bobby faces him again?"

He turned to Ms. Everstone.

"Promote me, Ms. Everstone, I guarantee as 2nd board..."

"Alright alright that's quite enough." Ms. Everstone said interrupting everyone and standing in the middle of them.

"You'll get your first crack at revenge anyways round 3. But you won't be cracking anything without proper study, where's Noah?"

As everyone looked around the room, Noah had indeed still not returned from who knows where.

"I think I saw him at the cafeteria earlier," Pierre said, "he was talking to some of the other students."

"What! We have a match in 20 minutes, what the hell is that boy doing?" Ms. Everstone said. She turned to Toki glaring at him, "Errand boy, go get his ass."

"Yes… yes Ms. Everstone," Toki replied exiting the room not daring to disobey orders. As he made his way back to the cafeteria however, he noticed Noah there with his chess board at one of the café tables set up with a student sitting across from him. Next to him was another student and a chess board set up but no one across from him.

"Oh Toki! Perfect timing," Noah said walking up to him, "Our 4th just left, care for a game of bug house?"

"Bu… bug house?"

"He new or something?" One of the students sitting next to Noah asked.

"Yeah, he just joined this week Liam," Noah said, "But don't worry, he uhhh… knows enough to not blunder scholar's mate?"

"Pshh… like any of that matters in bug house," the other student said, "Give him the run down Noah, and let's money match another one."

"You're on!" Noah said motioning Toki to sit down at the vacant seat next to him.

"So… how does this work?" Toki asked.

"Pretty simple," Noah began, "Basically let's say you capture a piece."

He made some basic opening moves capturing a pawn.

"Now this pawn is yours," he said handing Toki the pawn, "And for one of your turns, you can place it anywhere on your board."

"What… the hell."

"Sounds fun right?"

"Yeah! How come no one told me about this before?" Toki asked, "This looks fun as hell."

"Well… Ms. Everstone banned us from playing it during normal club time. It's not really good for normal chess skills but ehhh… it's too fun to pass up."

"Especially when you gamble money on it!" Liam added, "20$ on this one Noah?"

Before he responded, Noah leaned over to Toki to whisper something in his ear.

"Just trade as many pawns as you can, I know how to cheese a win."

"Uhhh… alright," Toki whispered back.

"You're on!" Noah said.

"Alright let's start then!" Liam said moving his g pawn up 1 square.

"Crap…" Toki thought, "King's Indian? How am I supposed to force trades like Noah said? Okay… I just have to…"

His thoughts were interrupted however as he heard a loud smack coming next to him.

"Owwww…" Noah said holding his noggin.

"What do you think you're doing?"

The 4 students looked up to see a scandalously dressed but extremely ticked off Evelyn looking over Noah's shoulder. She turned to the two students from the other school.

"Would you two cuties be dears and leave for now? Noah and Toki are coming with me."

Terrified, Liam and the other student quickly nodded and packed their board scurrying off.

"Why is this turning me on?" Toki thought to himself.

"Hey what's the big idea sis?" Noah asked groaning as he packed up his board, "I'm not even playing the next round, what's the problem with…"

Evelyn gave Noah another smack on the head.

"You're teaching Toki bad habits dumbass."

"Jeez…" Toki thought, "It's hot but he's right, if he's not playing next round… wait…"

"Wait," Toki spoke out loud, "What do you mean you're not playing next round Noah? If you're not playing then who is?"

Evelyn looked at Toki and blinked a couple times, a confused look appearing on her face.

"Oh, Ms. Everstone didn't tell you?"

"Do we have another alternate or something?"

Again, Evelyn looked at Toki with a puzzled look. Suddenly, she smacked Noah in the head again.

"Owww… what was that for?"

"Sorry just felt like it." Evelyn said giggling. She then turned to Toki, "We only have one alternate to play board 8 Toki dear."

"Wait but that means…"

"You."