"CHECKMATE!" As Sergei placed the pawn ahead of the king, the crowd around him erupt with cheers and claps. The self-proclaimed chess master had now won his fifteenth or sixteenth game of the day. As his opponent left, Sergei proceeded to stand in front of the crowd. As he raised his arms, he spoke with a deep, rich voice. "Is there no one here that can defeat me? C'mon! Whoever beats me will get 1,000 money!" With those words, Shin's ears picked up. As the rest of the crowd awaited a new opponent, Shin sifted his way through the waves of peoples, making his way over to the chess table. Noticing Shin, Sergei returned to his seat across from Shin and set up the board. Shin was interested merely in gauging how good of a chess player Sergei really was, the money was simply a bonus. The words Sergei had spoken were a declaration of war.

Once the board was set up, Shin decided to allow Sergei to be white while he would be black. Sergei proceeded to make the first move, moving the pawn in the H2 position two spaces ahead. Shin did the same. Sergei would then move his pawn in the A2 spot up two spaces. Shin would the same. Unlike most players of chess, Shin followed the same moves his opponent made. It was as if he was playing in their shoes, dissecting each move they would make. It was also a strategy that caught his opponents off guard. It would begin with the opponent hesitating, potentially changing up their direction of attack and strategy. Sergei had certainly noticed what Shin was doing, but decided to stay with his original plan. He wanted to bring in all the pieces from the back, surrounding Shin's pawns and slowly ridding of them. A basic plan, but quite effective if not stopped quickly. The only problem is that if the opponent were to do the same, it would become a stalemate.

Ten minutes passed and the board was begging to take shape. Pieces were flying off the board tick-for-tack. As predicted, the board was a stalemate. Sergei was hesitant to change his strategy as it had yet to fail him so instead, Shin decided he would make the play to change the tide of the game. As Sergei placed his rook and took out one of Shin's pawns, Shin would counter by using his queen to take out one of Sergei's bishops. Sergei had been so caught up in trapping Shin, he had left an opening directly to his bishop, allowing Shin to sit in a perfect spot. No matter what Sergei would do, the queen would take out his pawns. Sergei began to panic, focusing on the queen. This would lave his left side open, allowing Shin to push up with his remaining pieces. With one last placement of his queen, the crowd behind Shin were in awe. Sergei's side of the board had been decimated. His remaining piece was the king and with that, Shin stood up from his seat and spoke a single word, "Checkmate."

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