8. Sakayanagi Arisu Loses to a War of Attrition Tactic!
Aragaki Shun and Sakayanagi Arisu each took a step back, finally choosing to halve the time for each phase based on the 6-hour international chess system.
That is, the first time limit was 1 hour per side for the first 40 moves, the second time limit was half an hour per side for moves 41 to 60, and the number of moves for the third and subsequent time limits was the same as the second time limit, which was the game time for adjourned games.
Right now, he had already completed twenty moves, so next, he had one hour of freely distributable time to make moves 21 to 40.
If the hour ended and 40 moves were completed, and a winner had not yet been decided between the two, then they would enter the second time limit and continue with moves 41 to 60.
After confirming the rules regarding time limits, everyone in the entire chess club, including the new students from Year 1 Class A and Year 1 Class B, once again focused their attention on the chess game.
But for some reason, this time the atmosphere in the activity room suddenly became much more solemn.
Even though Aragaki Shun hadn't made his next move for a long time, the onlookers held their breath, not daring to make the slightest sound.
Aragaki Shun stared at the black and white chess pieces on the board.
At this moment, a similar chessboard layout had already been sketched in his mind, and he was intently calculating which piece to move next, and how Sakayanagi Arisu on the opposite side could respond.
After deducing all possible next moves for his black pieces, it still wasn't enough to reverse the disadvantage on the board!
He needed to continue deducing the subsequent two moves, three moves, four moves...
Aragaki Shun, for the first time, exerted his mind to its fullest.
His spirit, which was at the limit for a normal person, continuously converted into calculation power.
At this moment, relying on his strong control over his body, he faintly felt the heat burning within him.
As his concentration continuously increased, all external noises receded, and the countless possible futures on the chessboard became clearer.
Seven moves... eight moves... nine moves... ten moves...
One minute... two minutes... three minutes... four minutes...
Time slowly passed, until at a certain moment, Aragaki Shun's eyes seemed to suddenly light up, finally grasping the greatest ray of hope from the future.
He picked up the piece that could bring him a turning point and made his 21st move.
"Phew~"
It was as if the entire club activity room sighed in relief at this moment.
Only Sakayanagi Arisu frowned at the young man's move.
She couldn't understand, what was the meaning of this step?
Looking somewhat puzzled at Aragaki Shun, whose expression was still calm and unperturbed, she deduced the next few moves of the game and found that the advantage was still on her side.
The girl dismissed his posture as mere pretense.
'Then let me see if you can still maintain this expression after you've completely lost!'
Sakayanagi sneered inwardly.
How could a mere mortal comprehend the heights of a genius?
Wanting to drag out time to exhaust her stamina, you think you're worthy!
Playing chess was indeed a type of exercise that consumed a lot of body heat, but that was on the premise that the skill gap between the two sides wasn't at a crushing level.
But based on the exchange of the previous 20 moves, Sakayanagi completely disbelieved that the opponent had the strength to entangle with her.
She could checkmate him with just a slight turn of thought, so what kind of stamina consumption was there?
Convinced that her victory was certain, the girl moved the piece whose path had long been determined.
Compared to the long time Aragaki Shun spent thinking, she made this move after less than half a minute of thought.
Aragaki Shun was completely unfazed.
At this moment, he had already fully immersed himself in the chess game.
Unless an external accident triggered his danger premonition, he wouldn't care no matter what others did.
The onlookers didn't know if Sakayanagi Arisu's move was within Aragaki Shun's calculations and deductions, but they could sense from the chess club president's timing next to them that the young man's 22nd move was much faster than before, with only about a three-minute pause in between.
Then, the 23rd move took a little over two minutes of thought, the 24th move was less than two minutes, the 25th move was about ninety seconds, and the 26th move only took 80 seconds...
Aragaki Shun played faster and faster, and Sakayanagi on the opposite side gradually noticed something was wrong.
Her originally calm and composed state of mind slowly became solemn.
She didn't know which step went wrong, but her originally advantageous position suddenly lost control.
Now, the chessboard was treacherous, and she could no longer play with the attitude of toying with him as before.
"Very good! Extremely good! It seems you are indeed not one of those mediocre talents. I misunderstood you before as just a despicable fellow with some petty cleverness. To underestimate you like that was indeed my mistake."
Sakayanagi Arisu let go of her annoyance and began to force herself to calm down, to face Aragaki Shun's gradually sharpening offense in her best state.
Previously, she was annoyed because the opponent's chess skills were clearly inferior to several members of the chess club, yet he still thought of using her physical weakness.
He was simply a scoundrel with nothing but a pretty face.
But now it seemed, Aragaki Shun was indeed rusty from not having played chess for a long time.
As long as he was given a little time to focus and calculate, he definitely had a chance to reverse the situation and turn defeat into victory.
This made the girl unable to continue viewing this opponent with the mentality of playing with a toy.
In any case, the time limit rules the opponent chose were standard international tournament rules.
She had even cut the time limit in half.
Under these circumstances, the opponent couldn't be said to have taken advantage at all, but rather achieved this step through true strength.
Among her peers, a fellow with this kind of strength was undoubtedly a true opponent.
Then she too had to go all out in pursuit of victory.
Seeing Aragaki Shun offer no verbal response, Sakayanagi was not surprised.
She too began to completely immerse herself in the chessboard, comparing it with the countless chess scores and endgames memorized in her mind, deducing the dawn of victory.
Thus, the onlookers in the activity room were astonished to find that after Aragaki Shun's every move began to return to a normal speed, Sakayanagi Arisu's side, on the contrary, slowed down.
This quickening and slowing down made the atmosphere in the activity room even more solemn.
Among the onlookers, those who weren't very good at chess felt almost suffocated, wanting to do something but afraid of disturbing the game on the board and being beaten to death by others.
Time passed slowly again, but the person who hadn't made the next move for a long time became Sakayanagi Arisu's white pieces.
About four minutes passed, and the girl finally made a tentative new move, her 31st.
Aragaki Shun's gaze was calm.
After similarly spending three minutes deducing the new changes in the game, he followed suit and moved his own piece.
Sakayanagi Arisu was startled, frowning as she calculated her opponent's intentions, and then took even longer to choose what she believed to be the most suitable path.
Both sides went back and forth, mutually predicting the opponent's thoughts.
One move determined the layout ten moves later, so even though it was only a few pieces, it was filled with the clash of swords and shadows.
A single miscalculation could mean the end of the entire game.
Their respective holding times were depleting, until the girl moved her white piece to make the 37th move.
Aragaki Shun paused for a moment, but instead of moving any black piece, he broke away from his intense concentration and looked up at the girl opposite him, whose face was inexplicably flushed.
"Forget it, let's not play anymore. Let's call this game a draw. I was a bit too impulsive before."
The young man's words restarted the seemingly stagnant time.
The many students and teachers watching around the chessboard also seemed to have just woken from a dream, one by one starting to move their limbs, discussing why Aragaki Shun suddenly chose a draw.
Wait! How did so many people suddenly appear?
Aragaki Shun came back to his senses and felt that the surroundings were densely packed with people.
Looking around, he realized that members from the neighboring shogi club, whom he had challenged before, had also been attracted over.
Besides them, there were a few middle-aged men he hadn't seen before, who had arrived at some unknown time.
It seemed this chess game had gone on for quite a while, attracting a crowd to watch the excitement.
Aragaki Shun took out his phone; nearly eighty minutes had passed since the time limit rule was added.
After such a long game, plus the considerable time spent challenging the table tennis club, judo club, and shogi club before, by normal standards, it was now perfectly appropriate to go directly to dinner.
Thinking of this, Aragaki Shun couldn't help but feel a wave of hunger.
The previous concentration had consumed too much energy; he should hurry up and replenish it.
But he wanted to end it just like that, yet someone was unwilling.
"Stop right there!"
Sakayanagi Arisu's fists clenched, her face flushing even redder, as she stared deadly at Aragaki Shun who was about to turn and leave.
"It's your turn now!"
Aragaki Shun glanced at the other party's embarrassed expression, knowing that the opponent had realized: the move she just made was a low-level mistake that only an amateur would make.
Of course, this kind of game was about who made a mistake first.
Aragaki Shun wouldn't feel embarrassed for dealing her a heavy blow because of it.
However, looking at the other person's face, he realized that this Sakayanagi Arisu fellow was clearly just putting on a brave front.
If this continued, what if she directly collapsed on the chessboard?
Speaking of which, this person's body was so weak, where did she get the courage to compete in chess with others?
One must know, chess-like competitions, though they seem to only require sitting still and moving hands, are high-intensity mental sports in formal professional matches.
The physical exertion in one match is comparable to that of athletes in other sports.
In major international tournaments, it was normal for every professional player to lose an average of 1 kg of body weight per game.
There was even a case where a certain champion lost 10 kg in five months and almost died at the tournament.
"Do you think it's still necessary to continue now?"
Aragaki Shun sensed the girl's stubborn gaze and helplessly asked back.
He actually wanted to defeat the other party by strength, and was confident that the winner of this game would definitely be him.
But he didn't expect that halfway through, the opponent couldn't keep up anymore.
Clearly, Sakayanagi Arisu had made that wrong move because her physical energy was overdrawn and her mind was already becoming fuzzy.
How should this be put? Was Sakayanagi Arisu actually defeated by a war of attrition tactic?
So, forget it.
Losing this game was too embarrassing, winning had no meaning.
Calling it a draw was good for everyone.
"The game isn't over yet!"
The girl insisted so stubbornly.
Heaven had gifted her flawless beauty and a genius mind.
Because nothing in the world was perfect, it had taken away her health.
In the past, she had always consoled herself this way.
If she were to lose here, in such an unsightly manner, to a peer, then her long-held persistence would collapse like a joke, forcing her to confront that cruel and cold reality—
She was never a genius!
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