Battle of Brain not Brawn (OPEN)

[Jay Downs]

Jay had just gotten into the Hammel Institute, though the where he would be staying while here, he still had no idea. Thus this left him with his bags down on the first floor of the dorm building sitting at one of the unused tables. The blond haired youth could not help but sigh as he looked around wondering if this school would be like the countless others he had attended, different. Opening his black backpack he would pull out a black canvas case seven inches tall and nearly two feet long. Unzipping the bag he would reveal a rolled up mat board, a chess clock, and two pouches yet to be opened.

With steady hands the blue eyed boy would slide the rolled up mat free of the elastic that held it in place. Unrolling it he would set down the checkerboard onto the table before him so that the white square on the bottom was on the right. The mat was also notated so that on the bottom where the letters "A" though "H" and along the sides where the numbers one through eight tallying the rows upon the board. Unzipping the right pouch within his back canvas bag he would remove black plastic chess pieces. The pawns he would set upon the seventh row, while on the eighth would lie a rook, a knight, a bishop, a queen, king, bishop, knight, and finally the other rook. With a zip of the other pouch he would reveal a similar set in white. The white paws would be lined up on the second row "A" through "H" and the other pieces set up appropriately with the Queen on her color. An extra queen for each color would sit out of play in their respected pouches.

Currently Jay had no one to play against but that was neither here or there as he move a pawn up one to designated square of b3. Happy with his unorthodox opening he would dig into his bag for a notebook and paper to notate his move as he waited for an opponent to join in on the game. Each piece was triple waited which made them feel good in the hand and made them more stable and less likely to tip over.

White | Black
b3|__

[Sung Jae Min]

Jae Min was on his way to the student dormitories with a bounce in his step. Seeing as a few new students arrived, and not all were from English speaking countries, he was on his way to greet them. He was told there was someone that needed translating. Curious to know what language he'd be needing to speak, he assumed possibly an Asian language since many students had been coming from that part of the world.

He entered the dorm wing, and stood there a moment. Some of the students liked to lounge around on the first floor rather than up in their rooms. Jae didn't blame them, a four person dorm can get a tad crowded if friends drop by. He looked around at all the young faces that populated the floor. Most were familiar from either teaching them, or just seeing them in the halls of the school. It was nice to see this building again. Sure, he's been there before for the same reason, but he clearly remembered living in room 503. His roommates quickly became good friends of his. Now God only knows where they are.

He shrugged off his nostalgia, and gave another sweep of the floor. Finally someone caught his eye. A blonde boy at a table with bags at his side. Jae took him as a new student, but wasn't completely confident on who he was looking for. If this was him, he wasn't sure which language he knew. He walked up to him, scanning the chess board that sat on the table and the empty seat across from him. "Pawn D7 to D5." Jae said as he sat down. He then slid the piece to it's place at D5. He looked back up at the boy. "You don't mind if I join, do you?" He asked with a friendly smile on his face. If the boy didn't understand what he said, then he found the right student. If he did understand, Jae would then enjoy a friendly game of chess in English.

White | Black
B3|D5
__|__

[Jay Downs]

Jay smiled as he heard the man speak. With a quick note he would mark down the pawns move. The move of the queen side pawn was not to new in fact it was kind of standard. Control over the middle of the board was key in most games and was why Jay had chosen a different opening other then a Knight or a pawn that was closer to the middle of the board as his opening.

"Not a problem go on ahead, tis' why I had set up down here.", His voice was calm as he studied the board wondering if his opponent would move the pawn from "E" or a Knight to strengthen the hold that his opponent had claimed with his pawn. Tilting his head to the left he would strain his neck causing the vertebra to realign with a few resounding cracks. His right hand hovering in the air over his front line before picking up his bishop and placing it on sector b2.

It was a set up play aimed to not really do anything as he would wait to see how his opponent world react that is if they did. It was rare for some one to pull the bishops out this way from the get go, still it was warranted.

"So who might I ask is my opponent?", The lads blue eyes leaving the board as he looked up at the person who had joined him a slight smirk on his face.

White | Black
b3|d5
Bb2|___

[Sung Jae Min]

Jae Min smiled when he got the ok. He knew how annoying it can be when a teacher interrupts what you're doing without a slightest notice. He didn't want to be that teacher. Jae watched as the boy carefully considered his move. The white bishop then took the pawn's place at B2.

It was now Jae's turn to study the board for possible moves, and that's just what he did. He looked over his pieces, playing out a few of the possible moves in his head. After a moment of thinking, he took hold of his kingside knight, and brought it to F6. He realized it was in line with the bishop. But Jae figure it'd be better to loose a knight rather than a pawn, and possibly his rook. He enjoyed games of chess, but wasn't the best at it. He knew a few strategies, but that was about it. He had a tendency to wing it most of the time.

The Korean looked back up at the boy. "My name's Jae Min Sung. I'm an English teacher here." He answered, careful to put his name in western order despite it sounding strange. "So, are you a new student here?" He figured yes, but asked anyways for pleasent conversation.

White | Black
B3|D5
B2|F6
__|__

[Jay Downs]

(OOC: Just to make a note I set up the board for tournament play White on Right, Queen on Color so the knight you moved to f6 was actually your king-side not queen-side, just clarifying so their isn't any funny business when trying for checks ad check mates)

Jay watched and notated the move though it was not that interesting after all it was the knight he had assumed would be moved. Sure the black knight was wide open for his bishop to take but Jay did not like the idea of him losing the bishop to one of the pawns guarding that particular knight. Not only that Jay was not one for brash offensive. Yes he would let the bishop sit where it lie applying its pressure down the middle for a sweeter prize, while cutting off black's pawn to 'e5', less it becomes a free piece.

His right foot bounced with the excitement of the tension in the air as he tried to play out how the next few moves would go and trying to figure out which would leave him with the better odds at the end of the match. If his opponent still wanted his pawns to control the center Jay would predict that the queen side knight would be moved next, which gave him time to set up his own thing.

"Yep, I am the new kid, Jay Downs. But its nothing really. I have been the new kid more times then I have fingers on a hand.", his right hand gently picking up is pawn from the 'e' column and moving it up a space.

"I feel obligated to warn you though, English is not my best subject. I can read and comprehend it just fine but my writing skills is sub-par at best."

The movement of the pawn opened up his Queen and Bishop and reinforced his control over sector 'd4' in case Mr. Sung had even thought of moving his black pawn on 'd5' up again to tease Jay into going after it with the Bishop only to get it killed by the teachers Queen.

White | Black
b3|d5
Bb2|Nf6
e3|__

[Sung Jae Min]

[[OOC: Right, thanks. I fixed it.]]

Jae Min listened to the boy as he spoke, but kept his eyes on the game. He looked over the white pawn that was moved into the black square in front of it. He once again analyzed the board, playing out moves that could work. He figured the knight would make sense, but with that path Jae followed in his head, the kingside bishop would capture it in no time. So he began to look at other pieces. The bishop next to the queen had space to move, but he didn't feel like jumping the gun quite yet.

"I know how moving feels. I've been the new kid twice. First time I barely knew any English. Well, I learned it in a little over month and a few weeks after that to loose the accent, so it wasn't all bad. But that's not the point, now is it?" He began to ramble, and a small chuckle came as he stopped himself. "Well, I think we both know the point. It's that we're both now here playing chess."

Jae gave another chuckle, and moved his pawn in the C column to a lovely little square in front of it. "No need to warn me. I grade based on effort. You can write the most deep poetry in five minutes and throw it aside until due, but I'd still give a good, possibly better, grade to the poem with simple rhymes that took the whole assigned time to write because the you put more thought and effort into the latter." He assured Jay it was alright. After most classes they just discussed the assigned book and went over proper sentence structures.

White|Black
B3|D5
B2|F6
E3|C6
__|__

[Jay Downs]

Jay watched his opponent his right hand teitling his pencil out of habit as he waited for the move that his opponent was going to make. It shocked Jay when the English teacher moved a pawn. It through him for a loop. Still aside from Jays leaning back a little do to the shock he would simply shrug and notate the position.

Jay looked at the board and realized that when he had moved his second pawn to 'e3' it had left 'g4' open for his opponent to move to with the black bishop apply pressure against the white queen. Sure Jay could maneuver a knight to 'e2' like he was planning anyway but, is safest option would be his next move. Gingerly the teenaged youth would pick up the pawn on the far right of the board and like the past times he had moved a pawn. Jay would deposit the pawn upon the third row of the eighth column.

"Learning languages must be easy for you. I was in the Philippines for five years and I only picked up kaunti lang Tagalog."

It was true he knew a little bit of Tagalog the most common of the filipino tongue.

White | Black
b3 | d5
Bb2 | Nf6
e3 | c6
h3 | ___

[Sung Jae Min]

Jae watched Jay's pawn was placed forward. The teacher looked around the board again. He took the pawn in the E column and brought it to the sixth row. He realized it blocked off his white bishop, but that was fine for now. In the mean time he was going to try and take control of the center of the board.

Jae Min shrugged. "Book learning in general comes easy to me I guess. But that's just me. Tagalog... Don't know that one." He continued to observe the pieces on the board. "What about you? What power brings you to this fine institution?"

He leaned back in his chair to let Jay make his move. He watched the boys face, and smiled. "Adjusting to this school is a little strange cause everyone here has powers, but it's a good place to be." His voice was calm. He didn't want to worry the new student.

White | Black
B3|D5
B2|F6
E3|C6
H3|E6
__|__

[Jay Downs]

"My power... I never realized I had one, that is until the recruiters came. The power that they deemed I had, have has to do with kinetic absorption and its release.", Jay spoke his eyes glues to the checkered board before him. It was rather strange to watch how his opponent continued to stagger his pawns, all upon the white tiles. Making a wall nearly impenetrable for his white bishop or any piece that wanted to live.

"I apparently absorb the energy created by motion and then I can hold or release it though my own body to increase my strength, speed, stamina, or whiplash it back into what is touching me as though I was hitting them with my own and their strength combined, thus my stardom as an athlete came falling down."

Making quick notations with his right hand, Jay would grab the white pawn out on the left side of the board and place it on 'a3'. In his mind this would stop the black bishop from trying to check him when he would make his next move.

"Its rather humbling to go from the new kid, to popular, to outcast within a single semester. At least here I lose the outcast and pick up the new kid role.", Jay smiled looking on the brighter side of things.

White | Black
b3 | d5
Bb2 | Nf6
e3 | c6
h3 | e6
a3 | __

[Sung Jae Min]

"Kinetic absorption and release, huh?" Jae Min repeated Jay's power. He gave a little smile. "I know that feeling too. Finding out you have a power by a recruiter. It can be mind blowing. Of course, I always wished for a more physical power like yours, I guess." He shrugged. Jae had always envied the other kids who could manipulate things or change form or such. His power was just something a normal person would never notice he was using if he was in the middle of a crowd.

"Trust me, remembering everything you've ever experienced isn't very exciting." He chuckled, and though about his moves now that Jay's pawn was at A3. "I got over that though. You tend to... grow into your power while here. It'll hopefully fit you like a glove when you graduate."

Jae took the kingside bishop, and brought it across to D6. That would bring some protection from Jay's black bishop. "Well, hopefully there will be no outcast title during your years here." He looked up at him and smiled back. "We try to keep things fair, but this is high school we're talking about."

White | Black
B3 | D5
B2 | F6
E3 | C6
H3 | E6
A3 | D6
__ | __

[Jay Downs]

Without thinking or truly looking at the board, as soon as the teacher took his hands off his bishop, Jay would snatch the pawn from in from of his queen and drop it onto the third row. Cutting off Jae's king side knight from being able to progress onward to 'e4'. All of the fourth row was a death trap to be taken by pawns. It made Jay chuckle to himself as he notated his move as non of his pawns could be taken either without consequences.

"Wait, you have an Eidetic memory. So does that mean people born with Myostatin-Related Muscle Hypertrophy would be sent here as well even though it is a birth defect not caused by the meta gene?", Jay was curious about that fact just like he was curious the days prior of meeting his recruiter and spent looking up random things that could explain how he was so good at football.

Looking back down at the board as he notated he could not help but realize his king could be put into check if the black queen moved to 'a5'," Ay Nako."

In other words, Tagalog for, Oh My Goodness.

White | Black
b3 | d5
Bb2 | Nf6
e3 | c6
h3 | e6
a3 | Bd6
d3 | __

[Sung Jae Min]

Jae was slightly surprised by how quickly Jay made his move. But he didn't doubt his motives. The student seemed well informed with chess. Jae took this chance with empty space in between his king and kingside rook to castle, bringing his king to G8 and his rook to F8. After building up and strong line of pawns in the middle of the board it was rather unexpected, but with both of them setting up defenses it may just move the game along.

"Well, it's not exactly photographic memory that I have. Yes I remember great detail, but I also remember every word of every conversation. For instance the first thing you said to me, and I quote 'Not a problem go on ahead, tis' why I had set up down here.' So it's a little more broad than Eidetic memory." He explained to Jay, though he made a good point. "As for Myostatin-Related Muscle Hypertrophy I'm not completely sure. Most of the recruiters have a way of sensing if you are a meta or not. There may have been some instances, but I'm not completely sure."

"'Ay Nako?'" Jae Min repeated the student in a questioning tone. "That's Tagalog I presume?" Understanding many languages had it's perks. For one you could deduce what language and unfamiliar word is from. Jae scanned the board again, and noticed his queen was able to attack. He would have to take a chance at that his next move if Jay didn't plug up that hole in his defense first.

White | Black
B3 | D5
B2 | F6
E3 | C6
H3 | E6
A3 | D6
D3 | F8,G8
__ | __

[Jay Downs]

Jay was relieved when When his opponent did not make the move with his queen, yet as he notated he decided that it would have been easy to block the queen with the 'B' pawn, pressuring the queen to back off or if his opponent really wanted to keep him in check and bring out his Bishop to take the pawn. The pawn in row 'A' could take revenge bishop while pressuring the queen again with both the pawn and the newly revealed rook. Queen takes pawn then Knight moves to block queen. No the set up was to dangerous, leaving The opponents Queen to free to roam in the end. With that decided he would simply take away the temptation.

Picking up his queen side knight he would set it in front of his queen as he replied,"Yes it is Tagalog. Ay nako, is basically an equivalent to an oh em Gee in English. I fixed the problem though. The early castle is an odd choice though."

White | Black
b3 | d5
Bb2 | Nf6
e3 | c6
h3 | e6
a3 | Bd6
d3 | O-O
Nd2 | ___

[Sung Jae Min]

Jae smiled. "I see, I'll have to keep that in mind then. In Korean we just moan 'Aigoo' or such. We kind of whine about that stuff. Of course this a my interpretation of a group of people. But from compared to other languages Korean and Japanese do sound rather whiny when the speaker is upset."

He figured Jay would try to block the opening, and he was right. The now stood in his way. "I'm full of odd moves that I don't even know why." He chuckled, "so if you ask why I can't really say. They just manage to get me through though." Jae took the pawn in front of the King and pushed it forward one, giving a mini version of the center's defense to the king. He leaned back in his chair to let the student make his move.

White | Black
B3 | D5
B2 | F6
E3 | C6
H3 | E6
A3 | D6
D3 | O-O
D2 | G6
__ | __

[Jay Downs]

(OOC: I'm just guessing but since your rook is on 'f8' that you moved your pawn to 'g6' and not the rook)

Jay watched as the teacher pushed up his pawn under the pretense that he was just moving random pieces.that to Jay was a little disheartening to hear after all his opponents meta ability dealt with memory, though to be honest the Hippopotamus Defense was not commonly utilized as an opening and especially not as white opening. He had yet to open up the rest of his king side to complete the Double Fianchetto but he also wanted to get his queen out from the soon to be closed defense. Gently picking his queen up he would noe the black nights claim to 'g6' and 'h5' thus he really had only a single option as to were he could place his queen. Jay thus set down his queen on 'f3' as he let out a sigh. It would have to do for now.

Notating the move he understood the risk that having the queen out of the back could possess but with great risk could reap great reward or so he hoped a smile finding its way across his lips as he sat in silence focused on the rook at 'a8' just sitting there behind its troop of pawns, as he waited for his opponent to make a move. A move that might cost them valuable pieces.

White | Black
b3 | d5
Bb2 | Nf6
e3 | c6
h3 | e6
a3 | Bd6
d3 | O-O
Nd2 | g6
Qf3 | ___