0105 The Chess Game

As Sherlock cast the Blasting Curse, the white king struck by the spell fell down and exploded into fragments.

"Well done, Sherlock!"

Hermione couldn't help but cheer.

Her face glowed with an excited flush, "If Professor Flitwick saw this, he'd definitely give Gryffindor five points!"

Only Hermione would remember house points even in this situation.

However, as soon as she finished speaking, something eerie happened.

The fragments of the chess piece that Sherlock had knocked down with the Blasting Curse began to move slowly on the ground like the T-1000 liquid metal robot from Terminator, creeping and converging with each other.

In no time, the fragments had reassembled and stood up again, completely restored.

Seeing this situation, the group exchanged glances.

Sherlock pondered briefly, then laughed:

"At this moment, I rather miss Mr. Finnigan."

Obviously, Sherlock's idea was that if he had the explosive genius Seamus Finnigan working with him and Hermione, they might be able to blast all the pieces to smithereens before they could complete their restoration.

Unfortunately, he wasn't there.

Although Harry and Ron were two people, their accomplishments in Charms, especially the Blasting Curse, were limited—their destruction speed couldn't match the white pieces' recovery speed.

Fortunately, Ron's wizard chess skills were quite good, making him a strong ally.

Sherlock looked at Ron, who immediately understood.

"I'll be the knight."

Ron said without hesitation.

Although the knight only had a point value of three in wizard chess, it was one of the few pieces that could jump over others, making it perfect for him to utilize.

Sherlock had no objection. He looked at the remaining Harry and Hermione:

"Harry will replace the rook, Hermione the bishop."

These two had limited chess skills, so Sherlock directly made arrangements for them.

"What about you?"

Hermione couldn't help asking.

"I'll be the queen."

Hearing Sherlock's words, Ron's eyes first flashed with surprise, then filled with excitement.

This game was in the bag!

Strangely enough, these chess pieces seemed to be waiting for them to make their decision.

As soon as Sherlock finished speaking, the black queen, along with the rook, bishop, and knight beside the queen, turned around, walked off the chessboard with their backs to the white pieces.

The four empty positions were naturally left for Sherlock and the others.

Ron mounted the black warhorse, looking around proudly, full of fighting spirit.

At this moment, he felt like he had become a real knight.

Suppressing his excitement, he looked intently toward the opposite side:

"The convention in wizard chess is for white to move first."

As soon as he finished speaking, a white pawn moved forward two squares.

"Very standard opening, isn't it?"

Sherlock smiled and looked at Ron.

Ron nodded, took a deep breath, and then began commanding the pieces on his side to respond.

He had never seen Sherlock play wizard chess.

But just looking at his chess skills, which were comparable to his own, and considering Sherlock's wisdom, Ron concluded that Sherlock would be a god-tier teammate.

Moreover, Sherlock had chosen to be the queen.

That was confidence!

Fighting alongside such a teammate was simply a pleasure.

Next, Sherlock commanded Hermione, Ron commanded Harry, and the two worked together to deploy their forces against the white pieces.

"Hermione, right front, diagonal up five squares."

"Harry, straight ahead four squares."

"Hermione, retreat to the left back beside me, two squares."

"Harry, left three squares."

In the opening phase, both sides proceeded methodically and cautiously, maintaining relative peace.

With two expert players like Sherlock and Ron, this phase passed quickly without taking much time before reaching the middlegame.

When a black pawn was captured, the white queen charged over from far away.

Under the surprised gazes of the group, she viciously swung a punch, knocking the pawn to the ground.

Then with a forceful motion, she elegantly flung it off the chessboard.

"Hiss—"

Harry and Hermione couldn't help but gasp.

Harry's knees even began to tremble—what if he were the one captured?

Although Ron was somewhat shocked, his emotional fluctuation was much less than Harry's. He said somewhat helplessly:

"No choice, this was the only way I could capture that bishop."

After saying this, he looked at Sherlock.

Sherlock's expression remained unchanged, hands clasped supporting his chin, uttering two words: "Interesting."

Soon, both black and white pieces began to fall.

Sherlock and Ron rampaged across the chessboard, capturing more white pieces than the black pieces that fell on their side.

Especially Sherlock.

If Ron could be said to be on a killing spree, then Sherlock could already be called the master of the game.

This was reasonable.

Anyone who plays chess regularly knows that although the king's checkmate represents the failure of the entire game, the queen is the most powerful piece on the chessboard.

The queen can not only move straight, horizontally, and diagonally, but also without limit on the number of squares, making it virtually unstoppable except for the inability to jump over pieces.

Although bishops and rooks also have unlimited range when moving, one can only move diagonally and the other only horizontally and vertically—it could be said that the two combined equal one queen.

The knight that Ron played was quite special.

Although it had limited range and could only move in an L-shape, it could jump over pieces, which was incomparable to other pieces.

Of course, Harry's rook could also jump over pieces through "castling," but currently it seemed unnecessary.

Finally, the game reached the endgame phase.

Under the joint deployment of Sherlock and Ron, the black pieces had gained a huge advantage.

The queen, bishop, rook, and knight played by the four were naturally unharmed.

More importantly, the black king was now positioned in the upper right corner of the giant chessboard, protected by two black pawns in front, with Harry's rook on the left—it could be said to be impregnable.

In contrast, the white king's kingside was wide open.

The left side was controlled by Harry's rook, the upper and right advance routes were blocked by Hermione's bishop, and Ron's knight was stirring restlessly nearby.

More importantly, the opponent's white queen was firmly pinned down by Sherlock, completely unable to exert its role as the strongest fighting piece in wizard chess.

It could be said that at this point, basically any move would lead to checkmate of the white pieces within a dozen moves.

Either Harry or Hermione could do it.

Harry and Hermione had also seen that the current situation was many against few, with the advantage on their side.

Both had excitement flashing in their eyes.

On the contrary, Sherlock and Ron remained silent.

They weren't here specifically to play chess.

Although Sherlock and Ron were already quite fast, at this moment there was no fastest, only faster.

Seeing Ron mounted on the black warhorse with a conflicted expression, Harry, who was not far from him, felt something was strange.

"Ron?"

He couldn't help calling out.

"Let me think—let me think—"

Ron lowered his head, "Almost there, almost there—"

Harry didn't understand what was happening and could only look to Sherlock for help.

Sherlock didn't speak.

He naturally knew what Ron was thinking.

In fact, he was also waiting for Ron to make his decision.

Just then, the white queen turned her faceless head toward Ron.

This action immediately made Ron make up his mind.

He suddenly raised his head: "I'm counting on you, Sherlock!"

Sherlock raised an eyebrow: "Have you decided?"

Seeing Ron nod, Sherlock said without hesitation: "Then let's act!"

At the same time, he said to Harry and Hermione, "You two stay where you are and don't move!"

The conversation between the two left Harry and Hermione completely confused, not understanding what these two were up to.

The answer was quickly revealed.

Ron moved to the edge of the chessboard in a side-forward direction.

"Check!"

Almost simultaneously, the white queen pounced over from the other side of the chessboard just like the previous times.

She raised her stone arm and heavily struck Ron's head with a punch.

Ron fell to the ground without question, and then, like other captured black pieces, was dragged up by the white queen and thrown directly off the chessboard.

No—

Harry was stunned with shock, and Hermione couldn't help but scream.

But she didn't leave her square—Sherlock's reminder was still ringing in her ears, and reason took control at this moment.

Since Ron had made his choice, she absolutely couldn't act emotionally and ruin everything.

The next moment, Sherlock wasted no time in rushing forward, taking advantage of the white queen being lured away to charge before the white king.

"Checkmate!"

The white king removed the crown from his head and threw it at Sherlock's feet.

This game of chess was finally won ahead of schedule.

The white pieces all bowed and retreated, clearing the way so they could smoothly walk toward that door.

Sherlock walked forward without hesitation.

Harry and Hermione looked back sadly at Ron one last time, then followed Sherlock through the door, rushing down the next corridor.

At this moment, even without Sherlock's explanation, both understood what had just happened.

The giant chess pieces transfigured by Professor McGonagall all took time to move, plus the actions of capturing opponent pieces sometimes took up to ten seconds or more.

Although the black pieces now held an absolute advantage, if they could change what would originally take over ten moves to checkmate the white pieces into three moves, it would obviously greatly improve efficiency.

But the prerequisite for doing this was sacrificing one piece.

If it weren't pieces they were playing, it would be fine.

But reviewing the current situation, the reality they faced in the endgame was that if they wanted to win as quickly as possible, they had to sacrifice either Harry's rook or Ron's knight.

That's why Ron was so conflicted.

That's also why Sherlock confirmed with him again after Ron made his decision.

It must be said that Sherlock's performance just now was rational to the point of being somewhat cold-blooded.

But that was precisely the most correct choice.

However, understanding was one thing—accepting it was still somewhat difficult.

Hermione looked at Sherlock's silent appearance and couldn't help but jog a few steps to come beside him: "Sherlock, don't worry, Ron will be fine."

Sherlock looked at her strangely, "I'm not worried about him. It was just a punch—judging from the force and his physical condition, he'll wake up soon."

"Then why haven't you been talking—"

"I'm thinking about which method to use to deal with the troll that Quirrell arranged."

Sherlock said calmly.

Hermione: (￣□￣|||)

I should have known—how could this person feel guilty?

Even that plan just now was something he and Ron came up with together!

I was worrying for nothing.

However, even Sherlock hadn't expected that he wouldn't need to figure out how to deal with Quirrell's troll.

Just as he pushed open the door and stepped into the next room—

The stench was overwhelming.

However, the troll emitting this odor was lying on the ground, already unconscious.

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