Checkmate

teeheehee

## Preface

*e4.*

"King's Pawn," Celeste heard her opponent mutter under her breath.

The other girl–Skylar–moved her pawn to e6.

"French Defense." Celeste nudged her pawn to d4. "Normal Variation," she murmured.

The game went on; d5, Nc3, Bb4, e5, then c5. Celeste moved her pieces carefully, not wanting to sacrifice anything before the time was right.

"Winawer, Advance Variation," Skylar muttered.

Celeste jumped forward her other knight to f3, and Skylar jumped her knight to c6 as well.

Celeste took Skylar's pawn with hers; the first sacrifice of the game. Skylar then took the pawn that Celeste had used with her bishop. Now both sides had lost a pawn.

Celeste moved a pawn forward a single space; it was a new pawn that could be moved two spaces, but she chose to not use the advantage.

Now Skylar moved her queen; the black piece moved three spaces diagonally, threatening only a single pawn at first sight.

Celeste moved her queen too; forward a space, into d2.

Skylar shifted a pawn from its starting square. Unlike Celeste, she chose to move it the full two spaces, ending up on a5.

The game continued, with both sides not willing to play aggressively. Na4, Qa7, then a capture by Celeste with her knight. A black bishop was out of the game. But Skylar retaliated, using her queen to capture the knight in turn.

Celeste moved her pawn; if Skylar didn't notice, she could take out her queen. But she knew that her opponent was too clever to fall for the trick, and Skylar was–retreating her queen diagonally, escaping from capture.

b5, then Nce7. Bd3, f5, a4, Qc5. Bd6 to attack the black queen, then Qd8 to retreat the attacked queen. The game went on.

A round of pawns. c4, b6. Then Celeste decided to castle; kingside, which meant an O-O. Bd7 in retaliation from Skylar. Then a round of rooks; Rac1, Rc8.

Celeste moved her own queen diagonally in an attempt to lure the black queen. That was Qg5. Then Ng6 by Skylar. Instead of choosing to save her queen, Celeste let the black queen capture it; taking a pawn instead. Skylar pounced, taking the queen; not knowing that her own was in danger.

Celeste's knight took the black queen; Nxg5. Then a white rook was taken by Skylar's; Rxc1 and four captures in a row.

Celeste's remaining rook captured the attacking black one; the same Rxc1, a trade by both sides. Then Skylar jumped her knight forward, attacking Celeste's bishop.

A white pawn took a black one; dxe6. Then the attacking black knight chose to take that pawn instead of the bishop, resulting in a Nxe6.

Nxe6 again, this time by Celeste. Then a black bishop took the white knight, a Bxe6. There had been four captures, all on the same square and all in a row.

After that came a rapid-fire chain of captures and chasing. Be5, Bb3. Bxh8, Bxa4. Rd8+, Kc5. Bd4+, Kb4. Bxb6, Bb3. Bd4, Bc4. b6, Bxd3. b7, a4. Then Celeste promoted her pawn; replacing the white piece with her captured queen. But now the queen was free; to checkmate the king. Kc4 by Skylar, escaping checkmate. But a series of clever moves–Rc8+ then Qd6+–combined with the black king's Kxd4 and Ke4 got Celeste to the end. With a single move of her rook, the game was over.

"Checkmate," she said quietly.

## Chapter One

*Per your win at the International Chess Competition, you have received a full scholarship to the Aurora Borealis Academy. Please report to the entrance of campus at 7:30 a.m., December 2nd. We look forward to seeing you.*

"Um... I'm looking for the chess club?"

It was unbelievable, in a sense; beating one of the best under-15 players in the world, receiving a full scholarship to the Aurora Borealis Academy, being invited to join the famous Queen's Gambit chess club of the prestigious school.

And now, here she was, winner of the International Chess Competition (under-15 category, of course) with a 180+ IQ, not even certain that the room she was in front of was the chess club's room.

Of course, that wasn't *her* fault–after all, all of the doors in the Aurora Borealis Academy looked identical. But with a white queen piece drawn on the white wood, and the words "Queen's Gambit Chess Club" printed on a crisp sheet stuck on the door, it was odd that she even had to ask.

"You've come to the right place! Come on in!"

A dark-haired girl, looking to be about fourteen or fifteen years old, jerked Celeste out of her thoughts. The girl smiled cheerfully and waved her in.

"You're our new member, right? Welcome to the Queen's Gambit chess club!"

"Oh, um... Hi, I'm Celeste. And um, yes, I've been told that I'm supposed to be a part of this?"

"Yep! Have a seat!" the girl pointed at a simple grey-cushioned chair made of dark wood. "Robin and Kiara are in a match right now. I'm *supposed* to be the arbiter, but all of us know that we can keep track of time, illegal moves, repetition, and all that ourselves. Oh, and I'm Giselle, by the way."

Next to them was a table, where a jeweled chess set sat. Most of its pieces had been set aside, leaving only the black king and queen along with the white king and queen. On opposite sides, seated in the same grey-cushioned chairs, were two girls about Giselle's age; one with short, curly red hair and pale skin and the other with jet-black braids and smooth caramel-toned skin.

As Celeste watched, the second girl checkmated the redhead in just a few moves; it was clear that she was very, very good.

And as soon as she turned to reveal her soft hazel eyes, it was also clear that she was the winner of the previous International Chess Competition, Kiara Arendse. The only reason why she hadn't gotten first place this year was because she didn't enter.

And of course the redhaired girl was Robin Kaisley, the top-ranked female junior chess champion at ICO and third place in this year's International Chess Competition.

Now that Celeste knew the kind of people she was dealing with, she also recognized Giselle as Giselle Levine, the winner of this year's Chess Olympiad–and gold-medalist in the 2192 Summer Olympics as a rhythmic gymnast.

*Oh, great.*

"Hi! I'm Kiara Arendse."

"And I'm Robin Kaisley. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Celeste. I was invited to join this club?"

Robin's face lit up. "Celeste Anderson! Winner of this year's International Chess Competition, right? Welcome!"

"Oh, *that* Celeste!" Kiara smiled and stuck out her hand. "Your endgame for that match with Skylar Evdiln was *beautiful*. Especially that promotion. And those bishop moves. And the-"

"Kiara's basically become a fangirl of yours. Bet she can recite every single one of the game's moves," Giselle teased.

"Sure I can! e4, e6, d4, d5, Nc3, Bb4, e5, c5, f3, c6..." Kiara kept listing the moves as Celeste stared at her, stunned.

"Photographic memory," the black girl explained when she had finished. "Really helps."

Celeste could only nod.