Black is considering draws. Specifically, black is going to threaten a stalemate, forcing the white king into a8 yet again and hopefully keeping it there with two of its minor pieces while the third one harries the pawns. Check check check check check.

"Why not go for d8?" Sora asks, when Shiro moves the king left instead of right. "Black moves the rook to d7, queen takes, bishop takes, king takes, the last bishop can't stop both pawns from promoting."

"Why on earth would black go for that?"

"Running low on time, dangerously obsessed with making checks, probably doesn't have very many other lines prepared for that situation, doesn't hurt if they decline the gambit…"

Sora is more right than he knows, because once the white king is safely ensconced in a8 once more the black player makes a mistake. Not a huge mistake, but at this stage of the game a single misstep can cost everything. The strongest move in this position is bishop to e2, which prevents the a pawn from advancing unless white gives up everything else to make it happen. Instead, black plays king to g3, to stop the queen from going to the h file and bullying the king into yet another indefensible position.

FINALLY, A MISTAKE!

Shiro immediately plays queen to g8, pinning the light square bishop to the king. Not only does this prevent e2, it also prevents f3, a check that would probably force her to pin her own pawn.

Uh.

With just seconds left black targets the pawn with rook to e5, aiming to stop the promotion threat now that the bishops are neutralized.

There is no way a bot played that move. Machines don't panic like that. Rook to e5 is a terrible move, it doesn't stop a6 in the slightest.

Should've played e6 first, sucker. Shiro covers both pawns with her king, and when the dark square bishop moves to reinforce the attack on the b pawn she moves the a pawn to the seventh rank, one step shy of a promotion. The rook takes the b pawn, of course, but once it's there it stands between the pawn and the enemy bishop, ironically keeping it safe.

"And that's the game," Sora says happily. "Black can't win the pawn race now. Good work, Shiro."

Once the white king moves to safety, black puts the rook on the a file to take out the pawn once it reaches the end and promotes. Unfortunately, that's going to happen on the next move anyways.

Black takes the newborn queen with the rook, and immediately loses it to white's queen. White now has a king and a queen versus black's king and two bishops.

And, as everyone knows, queen beats two bishops in the endgame.

Black resigns.

"Queen's too powerful, needs to be nerfed."

Shiro types 'ggez' into the chat, then hugs Sora fiercely. Now that the game is over she notices that she has apparently spent the last ten minutes breathing hard and sweating heavily, despite the fact that the air conditioner is cranked up as high as it can go. Maybe she should have a bath after all that.

…nah.

Sora does not love his sister's lackadaisical approach to personal hygiene, but he's not going to hold it against her. Everyone has their faults.

The chess.com window dings. No rematch offered, but there's a response in the chat box.

> good game

> have you ever felt like the world is unfair

Sora replies while continuing to hug Shiro with one arm.

> even infants in the womb know that life is unfair

> unfair the way a poorly designed game is unfair

> billions of players, trillions of moves

> no one explains the rules, because no one knows the rules

> no way to win or lose, just clocks that spin on for no reason

> it sure feels that way some days

> altho

> existential ennui is p bad, but aimbotting in counterstrike is up there

> lol

> so, hypothetically

> if there were a world that was also a game

> a board game, with rules and goals

> would that be awesome or what

"That would be the greatest, not gonna lie. We would kick so much butt in boardgameland."

He chuckles.

> yeah that would rock

> why, you got one of those lying around?

And now the walls are melting! Beyond the borders of the room, uncanny darkness smothers their tiny island in gloom. The lights flicker and turn red. Sparks drip from the surface of the computer monitor as it fizzles and dies.

Oh dear, that's not supposed to happen.