Jansen, You Suck at Chess
Whirrr.
Holding hands with Seomi-unni and Mom, I walked into the academy with grim determination.
"Principal, I'm here-yeo!"
"How are you feeling today?"
"I'm in tip-top shape-yeo!"
I heard the enemy commander had already arrived.
In the academy lobby, a table and chess board were already set up.
And there he was, that blue-jeans-wearing punk, fiddling with the pieces and staring intently at the board!
"Seoyeon, you're here."
"You weren't late today-yeo?"
"I was too terrified of what you'd say to me if I was late again today."
There was absolutely nothing here to distract me.
The only spectators were my family, Miha-unni, and the Principal.
On top of that, the lovely audience had agreed to watch the game quietly from another room.
I was in absolute peak condition right now.
"Prepare yourself, Blue Jeans Man."
"...Blue jeans?"
With a solemn heart, I sat down at the table.
"Shall we begin? This game is a standard time control: one hour base, with a 30-second increment per move. You know the rules, right?"
I was White, Jansen was Black.
My opening of choice was, of course...
e4.
"Pfft!"
Jansen burst out laughing the moment he saw my first move.
Hmph! It wasn't funny at all!
"You really love e4, don't you? It's like you think you're the real Bobby Fischer. Sticking to one trick is fine and all, but if you want to grow, you should diversify your openings."
In both games where I played White against Jansen, I had chosen e4.
This is who I am. Chess is me, and e4 is me.
"e4 is my pride and soul-yeo. It's also 'best by test'!"
"That much, huh?"
"I'll only bring out other openings after I've sliced you to pieces with my ultimate sword, mister."
"Hmm... Well, alright then."
Jansen's choice was e6.
The French Defense.
Ugh, I hate it.
A messy, cramped setup that ruins the light-squared bishop—a completely unsound opening!
"I saw in your interview that you seem to struggle against the French Defense. Let's see how you handle mine."
Naturally, the pawns advanced to d4 and d5.
I played Nc3, and Jansen responded with Bb4.
The French Defense, Winawer Variation.
A line where Black pins the knight defending the e4 pawn with their bishop, and the most heavily analyzed line in the French Defense.
At the same time, it was a line I had found incredibly annoying in my past life.
"Pee-hee♥"
"What are you giggling at?"
"Oh, nothing. It's just that no matter which line we go into from here, I'm amazing at all of them-yeo."
"Fischer wasn't very good against this, though."
"Fufu, I'm not Fischer, I'm An Seoyeon-yeo. I was just wondering if I should let you take back a move. Before you regret it-yeo. Ooh-haha♥"
"A takeback? In the opening? Against me? Bahaha!"
The blue-jeans punk slapped his forehead, roaring with laughter.
Inside the Principal's office.
A monitor mounted on the wall displayed a live feed from the camera set up in the lobby.
Two figures sat facing each other across the table.
A six-year-old girl and the reigning world champion in his casual jeans.
As the two on screen began trading their opening moves, the air in the cramped room grew tense.
"...Is Seoyeon winning right now?"
Sujin asked, her eyes glued to the monitor as the game transitioned into the middlegame.
Sujin didn't know anything about chess.
What she was watching wasn't the board, but her daughter's face.
The day she had lost to that young man in jeans.
The child, who had been so bright and cheerful every day since she first started talking, had locked herself in her room, curling her tiny back as she fought back tears for the very first time.
Sujin couldn't help but worry that her daughter might get hurt again.
She clasped her hands tightly together.
"Don't worry, Mom! This is our Seoyeon we're talking about. She's going to win in style and tease him, calling him a 'noob, noob' again!"
Seomi, sitting beside her, spoke up with forced cheerfulness.
Meanwhile, Miha and Jihu's eyes remained pinned to the board on the monitor.
One draw and one loss in rapid against Magnus Jansen.
A six-year-old had managed to force a draw against the strongest player of the modern era.
No prodigy in the world, no matter how talented, could draw against Jansen at that age.
If she could just shake off the pressure of facing the greatest of all time and play to her true potential, she had a real chance.
Miha studied Seoyeon's face on the screen.
Seoyeon's eyes weren't wavering like last time; they were cool and calm.
"Thank goodness."
Yes. That's all that matters. Seoyeon, you can calculate deeper than anyone, no matter who your opponent is.
Miha's fists clenched unconsciously.
And in the deepest silence, Jihu stared at the screen with his arms crossed.
Having lived and breathed chess for decades, every detail of the match unfolded clearly in his mind.
Jansen was, in his eyes, the strongest player in history.
A man with virtually no weaknesses, the closest human being to chess itself.
He had only given Sujin, who didn't know chess, a rough explanation of his strength, but...
Five World Championship titles, a FIDE World Cup, repeating as champion in last year's esports chess division, and tearing through elite fields in regional tournaments reserved only for Super GMs—he was the absolute best of the best.
His fifteen titles in rapid and blitz tournaments proved that time pressure meant nothing to him.
Yet, just yesterday, even that Jansen had broken into a cold sweat after feeling Seoyeon's strength.
When Jihu had gone home and analyzed both games with an engine, the gap between Seoyeon and Jansen was razor-thin.
It was a performance that far exceeded even Jihu's high expectations of Seoyeon's abilities.
She can hold her own. But today is a classical game...
Compared to classical, rapid was the domain of the "fast-handed."
Today's match, with its time increments, was a stage for the "deepest calculator."
A battleground that heavily favored Jansen, who held the advantage in experience, skill, and stamina.
But Seoyeon has her own weapons. Of course, since her opponent is Jansen, I can't guarantee a win...
Still, Jihu silently prayed, regardless of the outcome.
He prayed that the little girl would look back on this single game with pride for the rest of her life.
"Ah, Seoyeon's queenside pawn structure is damaged. This is going to be tough."
"After Qd4... why didn't he take the g-pawn? Ah! It was a trap! She escaped nicely with Bh5."
Clack, clack.
For hours, they watched Seoyeon's game with bated breath.
Knights clashed and were traded off.
Pawn chains were broken.
With one rook traded on each side,
"Huh?"
Miha was the first to notice the crack.
She leaned in so close she was practically pressed against the monitor, muttering under her breath.
"Jansen is threatening with his rook, but it's shallow. Yes, Seoyeon! That Bc5 just now was a stroke of genius."
"Queen versus rook. And the bishop pair supporting the rook."
Step, step, step.
Miha took a few steps back and sank onto the sofa, trembling with excitement.
Just what level of mastery did one have to reach to play a game of this caliber?
Even when Jansen calculated deeply, Seoyeon dug deeper to find her response.
And then, a piece that looked perfectly placed would rot away five moves later.
Yet Jansen would parry those blows as if it were nothing.
She felt incredibly glad that she had gotten into chess.
Because she had studied hard, she could truly appreciate and feel the beauty of the techniques on display today.
"I think Seoyeon has this game won."
"R-really?"
Everyone in the Principal's office turned their eyes to Miha.
"Even if Jansen is a cut above our Seoyeon, she only needs to play better than him today. Besides, that Blue Jeans Man actually loses surprisingly often."
Jansen glanced at the ticking timer.
Even with the increment, it was an absurdly short amount of time to respond to Seoyeon's moves.
Because her response to his Rd2—a move intended to seize control of the game—had been absolutely brilliant.
Qc6+ followed by Bc5.
If he responded with Rxc6, Seoyeon's bishop would play Bxe3, fork-attacking both rooks simultaneously.
In an equal game, gaining a tactical advantage meant victory.
Amidst a complex position where both sides had active play, Jansen's choice was precise.
"I can't let her take the initiative. Against Seoyeon's rook and bishop pair... I have no choice but to rely on my queen!"
With trembling hands, Seoyeon wiped the sweat from her forehead and calmly picked up her bishop.
Bc6.
A quiet move, but one that froze Jansen's hand for several seconds.
Knowing that a pointless attack would only leave them flailing, the choices of both players were more delicate than ever.
And even as her vision blurred, Seoyeon lacked one thing.
Confidence that she could lose.
"Giving me the bishop pair?"
Jansen had challenged Fischer, widely regarded as the greatest bishop-pair endgame player in history, to a direct duel.
He was a player who could counter Fischer's bishop pair perfectly, matching his reputation, but this time, Seoyeon, who had managed her time better, held the upper hand.
Jansen shook his head in disbelief.
"I have a passed pawn on the f-file, but..."
No matter how much he calculated, the Black queen had no way to stop Seoyeon's bishops, which were supported by her rook.
Before Black's c-pawn and f-pawn could promote, Seoyeon's second queen would be born.
"What if I try to defend with Qc5? No. It's over."
"Shit..."
He began to replay the game in his head.
The turning point was blurry. He had to admit his opponent had positioned her minor pieces perfectly and secured her king, but it shouldn't have been a losing game.
Why did he lose?
As he sorted through his thoughts, the realization hit him in just five seconds.
A blunder.
An absurd mistake had slipped through on move 38.
"...Ah. Ah, ah! Qa3! Qa3 was absolute garbage! I passed up Qd4 to play a blunder like that?"
He knew Seoyeon was strong, but for a grown Super GM—the world number one, no less—to make such a massive blunder under time pressure against a six-year-old was deeply humiliating.
Before he could stop himself, a curse escaped his lips.
"Fuck!"
Slam! Slam! Slam! Slam!
He slammed his fists onto the chess board.
"Oh my god! I can't believe this. Have my instincts dulled because I haven't played in tournaments lately?"
Seoyeon flinched at Jansen's sudden outburst.
"Hieee! W-why are you suddenly doing that-yeo! Are you crazy?!"
"Huh?"
Clack! Roll, roll...
A single piece fell to the floor from the impact.
The Black king.
"Oh? S-sorry. My bad. I just got angry at my blunder without thinking."
Jansen picked up the fallen king and placed it in Seoyeon's hand.
"Here, it's yours."
"Really?"
"You won, Seoyeon. You took a game off the former champion and current world number one."
"Jansen, you totally suck at chess...♥ *flop*."
She grinned at the Black king in her palm, then drifted off to sleep.
"Cute."
Jansen gently lifted Seoyeon and laid her down on the sofa.
Even if unofficial, Seoyeon was the first Korean to defeat Magnus Jansen in a classical game.
Her fame was about to spread across the globe—
Jihu came rushing in.
"Mr. Jansen! What on earth did you just do?!"
"Huh?"
"You know the match was being streamed live on YouTube, right?!"
"Ah."
Jansen's face went pale.
"Right."
Before Seoyeon's fame could rise, Jansen's reputation was on the verge of hitting rock bottom.