30th Saintonge-Iraelia Chess Summit

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30th Saintonge-Iraelia Chess Summit
Sommet des échecs de Saintonge-Iraëlie
סיינטונג-יראליע פסגת השחמט

Welcome to the 30th Saintonge-Iraelia Chess Summit! Now on its 30th edition, the Saintonge-Iraelia Chess Summit is a biennial invitational chess tournament organised by the Royal Santonian Chess Federation (Fédération royale saintongeaise des échecs, FRSE) and the Chess Federation of Iraelia (האיגוד היראליע לשחמט).

This year the Santonian and Iraelian teams will be facing off in a friendly competition in Saintes! Ten of the most promising youth players in Saintonge and Iraelia had been invited to represent their countries in the tournament!

Rules
Players
Both Saintonge and Iraelia will enter ten players, all aged under forty, to the tournament. These are the following minimum info needed per player.

Name:
Age:
Elo rating:

The Elo rating is representative of a relative skill level of players. Since this is a grandmaster-level tournament, the Elo rating of the players should be between 2251 and 2900. The total Elo rating of the entire team must be 26,000 or less (average of 2600 per player).

Games
The tournament will be in a round-robin format, in which each Santonian player will face off with an Iraelian player. In the next round, the pairs will change, still Santonian vs Iraelian. There will be ten rounds, after which all the Santonians would have played all the Iraelians and vice versa.

The games will be scorinated using a spreadsheet-based-scorinator like this. RP bonuses will be given based on a relative weight of 5 randomness and 0 RP score. (Because this RP is collaborative and there are only two people, so RP bonuses are not needed.)

Scores kept
Awards will be given to the team that wins the overall score, and to the highest-scoring individual players.



OOC Note: Thanks to Prydania for the logo :)
 
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Team Saintonge

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Name: Astruc, Joshua-Charles
Age: 21
Elo rating: 2546
Hometown: Saintes




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Name: Rothermundt, Cédric-Lambert
Age: 27
Elo rating: 2755
Hometown: Saintes




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Name: Cherrier, Charlotte
Age: 25
Elo rating: 2603
Hometown: Bâle




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Name: Syndergaard, Tobias
Age: 22
Elo rating: 2638
Hometown: Saintes




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Name: Jumentier, Jourdain
Age: 21
Elo rating: 2630
Hometown: Nyon




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Name: Lederlin, Kévin
Age: 22
Elo rating: 2645
Hometown: Nyon




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Name: Ryckeboer, Thibault-Albéron
Age: 22
Elo rating: 2651
Hometown: Malines




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Name: Colvard, Maximilien-Brice
Age: 30
Elo rating: 2826
Hometown: Ratisbonne




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Name: Milscent, Jeanne-Fabienne
Age: 32
Elo rating: 2406
Hometown: Torcy-le-Grand




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Name: Tardiveau-Bourdon, Audrey
Age: 37
Elo rating: 2300
Hometown: Côme
 
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Team Iraelia



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Name: Cherie, Avior
Age: 24
Elo rating: 2374
Hometown: Sarazed




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Name: Nicola, Amioz
Age: 27
Elo rating: 2566
Hometown: Adonai-Jireh





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Name: Shiran, Varda
Age: 29
Elo rating: 2422
Hometown: Yir'Opal





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Name: Eviatar, Avraham
Age: 32
Elo rating: 2540
Hometown: Sarazed




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Name: Shaike, Galit
Age: 21
Elo rating: 2538
Hometown: Shelah




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Name: Bareket, Netanya
Age: 25
Elo rating: 2816
Hometown: Ashkella




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Name: Yovav, Ahuv
Age: 22
Elo rating: 2760
Hometown: Adonai-Jireh




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Name: Elior, Amichai
Age: 22
Elo rating: 2349
Hometown: Saisrakh




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Name: Amarel, Gideon
Age: 39
Elo rating: 2823
Hometown: Shekufia




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Name: Niron, Liran
Age: 25
Elo rating: 2773
Hometown: Adonai-Jireh




Thanks to @Kyle for the formatting :D
 
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L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Sports

Chess tourney opens

by Jacques-Germain Hurault in Saintes
01 November 2020 - 1326h

SAINTES – Prince Timothée-Brice of Saintonge and Foreign Affairs Minister Eshkar Hiskiyah of Iraelia opened yesterday the 30th Saintonge-Iraelia Chess Summit at the historic Les Salles des Guildes in downtown Saintes. The Saintonge-Iraelia Chess Summit is a biennial friendly invitational chess tournament organised by the Royal Santonian Chess Federation (Fédération royale saintongeaise des échecs, FRSE) and the Chess Federation of Iraelia (האיגוד היראליע לשחמט).

30th edition
This year, all of the players are below the age of forty, to showcase the up-and-coming chess talent from both countries.

Saintonge’s team was organised by Ferrand-Patrice Dujay, head of the FRSE. The team’s coach is Grandmaster Robert-Sébastian Zavanelli, who had just turned forty and was thus ineligible as a player. The team includes Saintonge’s current top player Maximilien-Brice Colvard, and the country’s third-ranking player Cédric-Lambert Rothermundt. Also included are the “Next Generation” of Santonian chess players, all aged 21-22: Joshua-Charles Astruc, Tobias Syndergaard, Jourdain Jumentier, Kévin Lederlin, and Thibault-Albéron Ryckeboer. Rounding up the list are Charlotte Cherrier, Saintonge’s third-strongest female player; Jeanne-Fabienne Milscent; and Audrey Tardiveau-Bourdon.

It is also notable that three of Saintonge’s players are of refugee descent. Six of Joshua-Charles Astruc’s great-grandparents were Shaddaists who escaped to Saintonge during the Fascist Wars. Cédric-Lambert Rothermundt’s father is a Hessunlander who fled the Himdoch regime in the 1980s. The Prydanian Tobias Syndergaard was brought to Saintonge as an infant to escape the persecutions of the Social Commonweath regime. Even the coach was of refugee descent: GM Zavanelli said that “some of my great-grandparents came to Saintonge from Predice during the Fascist Wars.”

Iraelia’s team was organized by Ilias Kramer, head of Youth Development in the CFI. The team’s coach is Itamar Elisat. The sixty-seven year old Grandmaster has coached Iraelian top flight national chess teams for twenty years. This is his first tournament coaching a team specifically meant to highlight younger players, but he brushed off concerns.
“Chess is chess,” he remarked. “Be it a young person who’s just learning about the game or an old verteran, the keys to the game are there. Age is irrelevant next to the willingness to learn and better themselves as a player.”

The Iraelian team’s leading player is 39 year old Gideon Amarel. Mr. Amarel just made the cut, being a year shy of forty. “It’s a funny feeling,” he remarked. “I was the young guy on Iraelian teams for so long, and now I’m the old guy. I don’t mind though. I’m looking forward to competing.”

The Iraelian team is a balanced mix of the best of the younger generation, and “young veterans.” Amichai Elior, Ahuv Yovav, and Galit Shaike fill out the younger side of the team. Ms. Shaike, Mr. Yovav, and Mr. Elior are Iraelia’s top ranked Under 25 players, from one to three in that order.

“We have a good team,” Mr. Amarel, elected team captain, remarked. “Competing in this summit is an honour, and we’re excited to showcase some of the best young players in the world.”

Games
Ten players from each country will play with each player from the other country in a ten-round round-robin tournament. The first five games will be played next week (November 2-6), and the next five games the week after (November 9-13), with the weekend after for social events and a tour of the city of Saintes for the Iraelian players.

Record
The record between Saintonge and Iraelia is even, with Saintonge winning 15 editions and Iraelia winning 14. The last edition in 2018, held in Adonai-Jireh, was won by the Iraelians.

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
01 November 2020 - 1733h





OOC Note: Post made with @Prydania :D
 
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L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Sports

Chess Tourney Day 1: Iraelians edge out Santonians

by Jacques-Germain Hurault in Saintes
02 November 2020 - 1912h

SAINTES - Day 1 of the 30th Saintonge-Iraelia Chess Summit went well for Team Iraelia, with the guests finishing a full point ahead of the hosts. Iraelia finished with 5.5 points, Saintonge with 4.5 points.

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Joshua-Charles Astruc defeated Avior Cherie in an exciting 33-move Raoul des Loups game that saw Astruc sacrifice his queen and rook to force Cherie’s king to a menacing pawn mate on the corner. Tobias Syndergaard surprisingly defeated Avraham Eviatar in fifty moves, employing the little-known Labourdonnais variation of Cerdan Defence.

Saintonge’s top player Maximilien-Brice Colvard salvaged a draw against Amichai Eloir after a dubious seventeenth move. “It wasn’t my best game,” Colvard admitted afterwards. “I tried my best to correct my mistake.”

Time-troubled Jeanne-Fabienne Milscent fell to Iraelian captain Gideon Amarel in 45 moves of Orthodox Defence. Amarel hounded Milscent’s black queen across the board, eventually hemming and neutralising the black queen in the corner. Meanwhile, Liran Niron successfully swindled Audrey Tardiveau-Bourdon in 27 moves of Santonian Defence.

Iraelia’s second-ranked player Netanya Bareket fully took advantage of Kévin Lederlin’s 32nd move blunder (see game below) to retain her material advantage. The hapless Lederlin resigned on the 71st move.

Lederlin K - Bareket N
Saintes 2020 · Esplandian Opening (A10) · 0-1

1.c4 b6 2.Nc3 Bb7 3.e4 e6 4.Nf3 Bb4 5.Bd3 Ne7 6.O-O Bxc3 7.dxc3 Ng6 8.Be3 d6 9.b4 Nd7 10.a4 O-O 11.a5 Rb8 12.Qc2 h6 13.Rfd1 Qe7 14.axb6 axb6 15.Ra7 Nde5 16.Nxe5 Nxe5 17.Be2 f5 18.exf5 exf5 19.Qd2 Kh7 20.f3 Nc6

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Position after 20… Nc6.

21.Ra2 Rbe8 22.Bf2 Ne5 23.c5 dxc5 24.bxc5 bxc5 25.Re1 Qd6 26.Qc2 c4 27.Rd1 Qg6 28.Bg3 Re7 29.Kh1 Rfe8 30.Raa1 f4 31.Qxg6+ Nxg6

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Position after 31… Nxg6.

32.Bxc4? fxg3 33.hxg3 Ne5 34.Bd5 Bxd5 35.Rxd5 Nc4 36.Rc5 Nd6 37.Ra7 Rc8 38.Kh2 Kg8 39.Ra6 Ne8 40.g4 Rd8 41.g5 hxg5 42.Rxg5 Rd6 43.Ra8 Kf7 44.Rc5 Ree6 45.g4 Rc6 46.Raa5 Rxc5 47.Rxc5 Ke7 48.Kg3 Kd7 49.f4 Rc6 50.Rd5+ Nd6 51.Kh4 Rxc3 52.Rg5 Ne8 53.Kh5 Rc6 54.Ra5 Rd6 55.g5 c6 56.f5 Nc7 57.Ra1 c5 58.Rc1 Rc6 59.Rd1+ Ke8 60.Re1+ Kf8 61.f6 gxf6 62.g6 Ne8 63.Kh6 f5 64.Kh7 Rc7+ 65.Kh8 c4 66.Rf1 c3 67.Rxf5+ Ke7 68.Rf7+ Kd8 69.Rf1 c2 70.Rc1 Ke7 0-1

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
03 November 2020 - 0855h





OOC Note: Post approved by @Prydania :D

Guide to Santonian terms for Chess Openings:
Raoul des Loups = IRL Ruy Lopez
Cerdan Defence = IRL French Defence
Santonian Defence = IRL Sicilian Defence
Esplandian Opening = IRL English Opening
Other openings/variations are named as IRL.
 
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L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Sports

Chess Tourney Day 2: Tied

by Jacques-Germain Hurault in Saintes
03 November 2020 - 1902h

SAINTES - Day 2 of the 30th Saintonge-Iraelia Chess Summit ended with a tie, with both team Iraelia and team Saintonge finishing with 5 points each. The wins by Gideon Amarel, Netanya Bareket, and Liran Niron, were cancelled by those of Cédric-Lambert Rothermundt, Charlotte Cherrier, and Thibault-Albéron Ryckeboer.

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Current Score
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9.5 - 10.5
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In the battle of the top players, Saintonge’s Maximilien-Brice Colvard lost to Iraelia’s Gideon Amarel in 68 moves. Colvard’s attempt to employ Nimzo-Iterian Defence collapsed against a smashing Amarel offence. Colvard admitted that his play during the last two days was not his peak. “I apologise for letting Team Saintonge down,” he reportedly told his teammates after the game.

Liron Niran caused Jeanne-Fabienne Milscent’s second loss, the only player who had lost both games. Netanya Bareket took another scalp, defeating Jourdain Jumentier in 55 moves of Queen’s Gambit Declined.

Cédric-Lambert Rothermundt prevailed over Varda Shiran in 51 moves of Santonian Defence (see game below). Rothermundt employed the Nimzowitch-Rossolimo attack of the Santonian Defence, with Rothermundt finishing up a pawn ahead.

Charlotte Cherrier penetrated through Avraham Eviatar’s Orthodox Defence, delivering a sneaky checkmate on the 29th move. Thibault-Albéron Ryckeboer demolished Amichai Elior’s Benoni defence by sacrificing a bishop, in order to hound Elior’s king.

Rothermundt CL - Shiran V
Saintes 2020 · Santonian Defence (B31) · 1-0

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 b6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Re1 O-O 9. Bd2 Ne8 10. Bc3 Nc7 11. Bxg7 Kxg7 12. Nc3 Ne6 13. Ne2 Bb7 14. Qd2 Qc7 15. Nh2 h5 16. Rad1 Rad8 17. f4 Nd4 18. f5 Nxe2+ 19. Rxe2 Qe5 20. Rf2 f6 21. Nf3 Qg3 22. Qe2 Bc8 23. Nd2 Rh8 24. Re1 g5 25. e5 Qxe5 26. Qxe5 fxe5 27. Rxe5 Kf6 28. Re1 Rdf8 29. Ne4+ Kg7 30. Ref1 g4


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Position after 30… g4.

31. hxg4 hxg4 32. Rf4 Rh4 33. b3 e5 34. fxe6 Rxf4 35 .Rxf4 Bxe6 36. Kf2 Rh5 37. Kg3 Re5 38. a4 b5 39. c4 Bf5 40. a5 Kh7 41. Nxc5 Kg6 42. b4 Kg5 43. Ne4+ Kg6 44. cxb5 cxb5 45. Nd6 Bxd3 46. Rxg4+ Kf6 47. Rd4 Be2 48. Kf4 Ke6 49. g4 Rd5 50. Re4+ Kxd6 51. Rxe2 1-0

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Position after 51. Rxe2.

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
04 November 2020 - 0836h





OOC Note: Post approved by @Prydania :D

Guide to Santonian terms for Chess Openings:
Santonian Defence = IRL Sicilian Defence
Nimzo-Iterian Defence = IRL Nimzo-Indian Defence
Other openings/variations are named as IRL.
 
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L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Sports

Chess Tourney Day 3: Saintonge surges

by Jacques-Germain Hurault in Saintes
04 November 2020 - 1932h

SAINTES - Day 3 of the 30th Saintonge-Iraelia Chess Summit smiled upon the Santonians, as they piled on a lopsided 7-3 score against the Iraelians. All four non-drawn games were won by the Santonians: Cédric-Lambert Rothermundt, Kévin Lederlin, Maximilien-Brice Colvard, and Jeanne-Fabienne Milscent all prevailed upon their opponents.

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Current Score
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16.5 - 13.5
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Rothermundt continued with his good streak, handing Avraham Eviatar a defeat after a punishing game of Raoul des Loups. Eviatar found himself in time trouble after 44 moves and resigned on the 52nd.

Meanwhile, Lederlin’s and Colvard’s fortunes have now improved. After a loss and a draw in the first two rounds, the two southerner boys had now experienced winning. Lederlin held his own as black, utilising a line of the Nimzo-Iterian defence ironically popular with the Iterians, and defeated Amichai Elior in 76 moves, a bishop up in the endgame. Saintonge’s strongest player Colvard, also with black, successfully employed Grünfeld Defence to wither an onslaught from Liran Niron, also ending up in a winning endgame position.

The most improvement came to Jeanne-Fabienne Milscent, who was the only player with a losing streak in the first two rounds. This time she emerged a winner over Avior Cherie, sneaking a blistering attack against Cherie’s Nimzo-Iterian Defence.

Iraelian top players Netanya Bareket and Gideon Amarel were held to a draw by Tobias Syndergaard and Thibault-Albéron Ryckeboer, respectively. Syndergaard came out swinging with a Raoul des Loups against an aggressive Bareket employing the Schliemann against the Prydanian-Santonian. (see game below). Conversely, Ryckeboer weathered an Amarel Raoul des Loups game to pluck out a draw against the Iraelian captain.

Syndergaard T - Bareket N
Saintes 2020 · Raoul des Loups, Schliemann Defence, Berger Variation (C63) · ½ - ½

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Nxe5 dxe4 7.Nxc6 Qg5 8.Qe2 Nf6 9.f4 Qxf4 10.d4 Qd6 11.Ne5+ c6 12.Bc4 Be6 13.c3 Be7 14.Bg5 O-O 15.O-O Rae8 16.Rae1

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Position after 16. Rae1.

16. … Bxc4 17.Qxc4+ Qd5 18.Rf5 Qxc4 19.Nxc4 Nd5 20.Rxf8+ Bxf8 21.g3 c5 22.Ne3 cxd4 23.Nxd5 Re5 24.Nf6+ gxf6 25.Bxf6 Rb5 26.Bxd4 Rxb2 27.Bxa7 Rxa2 28.Bd4 Bg7

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Position after 30… g4.

29.Rxe4 Bxd4+ 30.Rxd4 b5 31.Rd5 ½-½

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
05 November 2020 - 0900h





OOC Note: Post approved by @Prydania :D

OOC Notes: Guide to Santonian terms for Chess Openings:
Nimzo-Iterian Defence = IRL Nimzo-Indian Defence
Raoul des Loups = IRL Ruy Lopez
Other openings/variations are named as IRL.
 
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L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Sports

Chess Tourney Day 4: Saintonge keeps lead

by Jacques-Germain Hurault in Saintes
05 November 2020 - 1844h

SAINTES - Saintonge won in Day 4 of the 30th Saintonge-Iraelia Chess Summit, increasing its lead. Cédric-Lambert Rothermundt, Jourdain Jumentier, and Maximilien-Brice Colvard registered wins over their opponents, enough to offset Amioz Nicola’s win.

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Current Score
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22.5 - 17.5
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Rothermundt defeated Galit Shaike in an exciting game of Albin Countergambit. As black this time, Rothermundt continued his energetic style of play like that seen in Day 3, when he won as white with Raoul des Loups.

Jourdain Jumentier hounded Amichai Elior’s black king around the board in another game of Raoul des Loups; while in another Raoul des Loups game, Maximilien-Brice Colvard had Avior Cherie fall into a subtle trap. Amioz Nicola also used Raoul des Loups to defeat Jeanne-Fabienne Milscent, who slipped again after a win in Game Day 3.

The Iraelian top 2 players settled for draws in this day as well. Kévin Lederlin held his own against Iraelian captain Gideon Amarel, utilising Nimzo-Iterian Defence against the Iterian. Meanwhile, in what was the shortest game this round, Netanya Bareket agreed to a draw with Charlotte Cherrier after nineteen moves of King’s Gambit Accepted. (see game below)

Bareket N - Cherrier C
Saintes 2020 · King’s Gambit Accepted, Philidor Gambit (C38) · ½ - ½

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 Bg7 5.h4 h6 6.d4 d6 7.c3 Nc6 8.O-O g4 9.Ne1 Qxh4 10.Bxf4 Nf6 11.e5 dxe5 12.dxe5 g3 13.Bxg3 Qxg3 14.exf6 Bf8 15.Nd3 Bd6 16.Qh5 Bg4 17.Bxf7+ Kf8 18.Qg6 Qh2+ 19.Kf2 Qg3+ ½-½

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Position after 16.. Qg3+.

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
06 November 2020 - 0903h





OOC Note: Post approved by @Prydania :D

OOC Notes: Guide to Santonian terms for Chess Openings:
Nimzo-Iterian Defence = IRL Nimzo-Indian Defence
Raoul des Loups = IRL Ruy Lopez
Other openings/variations are named as IRL.
 
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L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Sports

Chess Tourney Day 5: Saintonge edges out the Iraelians

by Jacques-Germain Hurault in Saintes
06 November 2020 - 1824h

SAINTES - Saintonge narrowly edged out Iraelia in Day 5 of the 30th Saintonge-Iraelia Chess Summit, with team Saintonge winning 5.5 points to Iraelia’s 4.5. On the Santonian side, Tobias Syndergaard, Thibault-Albéron Ryckeboer, and Maximilien-Brice Colvard won their games, netting the home team three points. Two of those points were cancelled out by wins by Netanya Bareket and Avraham Eviatar.

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Current Score
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28 - 22
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Tobias Syndergaard’s superior handling of his minor pieces enabled him to deliver a sneaky smothered mate on Ahuv Yovav’s black king at the corner after 28 moves of Santonian Defence. Thibault-Albéron Ryckeboer, handling black, defeated Avior Cherie using an unorthodox line of Orthodox Defence. Saintonge’s strongest player Maximilien-Brice Colvard is now back to his form, demolishing Amioz Nicola’s Szlav defence to end pawn up in the endgame (see game below).

Cédric-Lambert Rothermundt was stunned by Netanya Bareket after 55 moves of Szlav Defence, with the Saintonge’s second strongest player losing to Iraelia’s second strongest player. Thereafter a flustered Rothermundt said to reporters, “I don’t know how I lost, really. It was like I’m in a daze.”

Avraham Eviatar successfully employed the Nimzo-Iterian Defence against Audrey Tardiveau-Bourdon, defeating her in 67 moves. Meanwhile Iraelian captain Gideon Amarel again conceded a draw, this time to Jourdain Jumentier, in 33 moves of Santonian Defence.

Colvard MB - Nicola A
Saintes 2020 · Semi-Szlav Defence, Marshall Gambit (D31) · 1-0

1.c4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bb4+ 6.Nc3 c5 7.a3 Ba5 8.Nf3 Nf6 9.Be3 Nc6 10.Qd3 cxd4 11.Nxd4 Ng4 12.O-O-O Nxe3 13.fxe3 Bc7 14.Nxc6 bxc6

dSCD8Ur.png

Position after 14... bxc6

15.Qxd8+ Bxd8 16.Be2 Ke7 17.Bf3 Bd7 18.Ne4 Bb6 19.c5 f5 20.cxb6 fxe4 21.b7 Rab8 22.Bxe4 Rxb7 23.Rhf1 Rb5 24.Rf4 g5 25.Rf3 h5 26.Rdf1 Be8 27.Bc2 Rc5 28.Rf6 h4 29.e4 a5 30.Kd2 Rb5 31.b3 Bh5 32.Kc3 Rc5+ 33.Kb2 Rd8 34.R1f2 Rd4 35.Rh6 Bd1 36.Bb1 Rb5 37.Kc3 c5 38.Rb2 e5 39.Rg6 a4 40.Rxg5 Rxb3+ 41.Rxb3 Bxb3 42.Rxe5+ Kd6 43.Rh5 Rd1 44.e5+ Kd5 45.Bh7 Rc1+ 46.Kb2 Rg1 47.Bg8+ Kc6 48.Rh6+ Kd7 49.Bxb3 axb3 50.Kxb3 Rxg2 51.Rxh4 Ke6 52.a4 Kxe5 53.a5 Kd6 54.Rh7 Kd5 55.a6 c4+ 56.Kc3 Ra2 57.a7 Kc5 58.h4 1-0

oM8Mqm0.png

Position after 58. h4

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
07 November 2020 - 0903h





OOC Note: Post approved by @Prydania :D

Guide to Santonian terms for Chess Openings:
Szlav Defence = IRL Slav Defence
Santonian Defence = IRL Sicilian Defence
Nimzo-Iterian Defence = IRL Nimzo-Indian Defence
Other openings/variations are named as IRL.
 
Amichai Elior sipped some Diet Sharbat Cola. It was lukewarm. It had been chilled when he took it out of the hotel minibar but he'd been focused on his task at hand for so long that it had lost its chill. And so had Amichai.

"Fuck" he muttered, lowering himself as he looked at the board from a different angle.

"You're still at that?" Avraham Eviatar asked as he came into the room, holding a plastic bag that was stuffed full of junk food and pop.

"Yeah" Amichai grunted.

"Want me to help?" Avraham asked as he dumped the contents of the plastic bag onto his bed. Bags of Santonian chips and cookies, and bottles of Santonian pop, poured out.

"No, Gideon will know" Amichai grumbled.

Avraham did a double take.
"He's not here."

"He'll know" Amichai sighed.
"What are you even doing buying snacks? There's a minibar!"

"Yeah but they stocked it full of food from home" Avraham shrugged, a mouth full of chips.
"I want to try Santonian stuff."

"All the good Santonian cuisine and you want to try junk food."

"It's good" Avraham replied.
"Chip?"

Amichai looked up at the smiling Avraham and took a chip, munching it.

"Ahoy hoy" Gideon Amarel said happily as he entered the hotel room, tossing his wallet and room keys onto a table.

"Where have you been?" Avraham asked, having switched to some chocolate cookies.

"It's my room" Gideon said with a deadpanned expression.
"What do you mean 'where have you been?'"

"Amichai's having trouble with your game" Avraham said in an equally deadpanned voice that sounded sincere even though everyone who heard it just knew he was poking fun.

"Pawn to king's knight six" Gideon said as he took a seat in the corner of the room, under a lamp. He leaned his head back.

"So where were you?" Avraham asked as Amichai moved the pieces, grumbling.

"I was meeting with some of the Santonians for drinks. Netanya, Ahuv, and myself. She was supposed to be right up though... She's going to return a book I lent her. I wonder where she is?"




Ahuv Yovav checked his watch as the hotel bar began to clear out when he caught Netanya Bareket hanging out by the lobby area just outside the bar.

"Hey it's getting late, I'm heading up" Ahuv said with a yawn.

"I'm...gonna be a bit" Netanya replied with a nervous smile.
"Do me a favour. Stop by Gideon's room, and tell him I'll get him his book tomorrow."

"Yeah, sure" Ahuv replied.
"Is everything ok?" he asked, a bit concerned as he sensed Netanya's nervousness.

"No...I mean yes. Everything's fine" Netanya replied with a chuckle.
"I'm just not ready to call it a night."

"Alright. Catch you tomorrow" Ahuv replied as he took off towards the elevators.

"Remember to tell Gideon about my book!" Netanya called after him, eliciting a casual thumbs up from Ahuv as he kept stride towards the elevator.

Netanya looked around. She didn't know what it was...but there was something calming about a late night hotel lobby. She stropped to check her reflection in a mirror and noticed the lanyard with her picture, name, and Iraelian flag. She thought about it for a moment and stuffed it into her purse before she made her way back out into the main body of the lobby.

What was once a group of Santonian chess players in some of the lounge chairs was now just Cédric-Lambert Rothermundt. She and him had been part of the same group that had shared food and drink earlier in the bar, before everyone sort of went their separate ways. Now even those smaller groups were mostly dissipating to bed, leaving just the two of them. Netanya had tried to work up the courage to strike a conversation up with Cédric-Lambert, but she'd lost the nerve. Imagine that! She'd beat him in fifty-five moves earlier, and yet she was nervous about talking to him! Or maybe it was because she'd beaten him in fifty-five moves?

Netanya shrugged. She couldn't contemplate that or she'd get lost in her own head and never get around to it. So she just decided to do what she did earlier during their match- go for it and see if it worked.

"Hey" she said with a wave as she approached Cédric-Lambert.
"Is this seat taken?"
 
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Cédric-Lambert Rothermundt looked up at the newcomer. His heart skipped a beat as he saw who it was. It was Netanya Bareket! Cédric felt awkward, embarrassed, astonished, and anxious all at once. He felt his face turn red; suddenly the hotel lobby felt hot. “I… uh… er…” Cédric stammered, before finally managing to spit out the answer. ”Uh... no! Seat’s not taken… You can sit,” Cédric covered his feelings with a nervous laughter.

As the Iraelian girl sat on the couch opposite Cédric, he wondered why she had approached him, of all people. She was the first one to send him down to defeat – up before that day, Cédric either won or drew his games. Team Saintonge’s second-strongest player blundered to Team Iraelia’s second-strongest player. Then the reporter came hounding after him.

“I don’t know how I lost, really. It was like I’m in a daze.”

Cédric was sure the reporter was going to quote him on that. His teammates Max and Toby laughed at his answer. After going over the scoresheet, Coach Robert joshed him about it. “Really, Cédric? You make this mistake?”

Really. He became very self-conscious after the game ended. He knew why he made the mistake. He was distracted. Her pretty hazel eyes, her long flowing brown hair, the way she daintily handled the chess pieces… she had that sweet innocent smile as she slowly crushed him in the game. He wasn’t even angry. He’d lose to her over and over again just to see that smile.

And now she was sitting in front of him. What was he going to lose now, when there’s no longer a chessboard in front of them? His dignity? Will she laugh at him for losing?

He wiped the nascent beads of sweat forming on his forehead with the sleeve of his red hoodie. He zipped down his hoodie and removed it, revealing the white printed T-shirt he was wearing underneath. It was a gag gift that Cédric’s brother bought for him for last Christmas: in front of the shirt were several anthropomorphic chess pieces on a chessboard. The caption read 'MAKE A MOVE.'

Cédric didn’t even realise it as he mustered the courage to introduce himself… again. Normally players tell their opponents their names before the games start, but this was different. “Hi… I’m Cédric-Lambert Rothermundt.” He extended his hand for a polite shake. “Cédric for short.”
 
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"Netanya" she said with a smile.
"But you can call me Net if you like. It's nice to meet you Cédric." It was Netanya's turn to blush how, realizing they had already met at their match.

"I mean outside of a chess game that is" she chuckled.
"Sorry I just...I'm not ready to head to bed quite yet. And I saw you sitting here alone. I figured I could keep you company. And congratulate you on a good game from earlier too."

She had actually defeated him relatively easily. It was blind luck on her part- or so she thought- she just decided to be bold. Something about Cédric made her want to be bold. And to her shock it had worked!
Still she nervously added to make it clear she wasn't patronizing him.
"I mean it. You're a very talented player. I've seen your other matches so far."

She smiled and felt her heart slow down a bit as she was looking around. A hotel lobby after dark was a calm, serene place. Just some comfy seats, a gift shop to buy snacks in, and a view out the front doors that was mostly black. It gave everything the feel of its own peaceful, contained world. A fun place to escape. And then she noticed Cédric's shirt and giggled.

"And I love the shirt" she smiled as she relaxed in her seat.

"I'm sorry" she added.
"If I talk too much."
 
A good game earlier? Nah, it was one of his worst. And he knew why and how it happened. She probably wasn't intending to rub his defeat in, but Cédric felt even more self-conscious.

"Thank you," was all Cédric could say for her compliments about his game and his shirt. He looked down at what he was wearing. 'Make a move'... was this what he gotta do?

Cédric shifted a bit in his seat, not pressured that Friday night since there would be no games on the weekend. No need to catch up on opening preparations or reviewing or researching opponent's games. He had researched Netanya's games the previous night, and he found more than her games. She was a 25 year old lass from Ashkella, and at that age, she was already one of Iraelia's top players. Her Elo rating is higher than his, which meant that his fight was going to be hard. He read a recent Iraelian news article detailing her games, which inadvertently mentioned that she was... available.

It was actually Charlotte Cherrier who came across the article, shortly after she had a drawn game against Netanya yesterday. The article was in Yihuddi, so she asked Joshua-Charles to translate. "This is who you're gonna play tomorrow, Cédric," Charlotte told Cédric. "She's single and loveless, like you," she teased him. "A perfect match."

"Oh shut up." Cédric brushed the comment off as Charlotte's playful banter. But later that night, the more she read about her and her games, he found that there was more to like. Maybe it was just his longing to be with someone? Cédric's previous relationship ended more than a year ago. Roxanne told him that he was too preoccupied with work and sports to have time for her; she said couldn't see herself being together with Cédric for the rest of her life.

It broke Cédric and made him think about cutting off some of the things he does. His day job was as a part-time physical education and sports teacher at the Lycée de Blondefontaine, in the 14th arrondissement of Saintes. He played chess professionally. He played as a forward in the amateur ice hockey club HC Blondefontaine, which plays at Saintes' city league as a feeder club for ARS Saintes. Hockey was what he coached in the lycée, one of the few high scools in the city that had an ice hockey programme... and so he could not cut that out. Maybe he should reduce his involvement in chess?

He was talked out of it by his older brother Günther. Chess was what Cédric mainly did, what he was known for in Saintonge. He was Saintonge's top ten players. "Chess is a part of who you are, Cédric," Günther told him. "If she wanted you to remove it from your life... or she wanted you to bring you down from something you excel in... something you are happy with - she clearly doesn't love you or accept you for what you are."

Günther also had another piece of advice: "Go find a girl that shares your interests. She'll understand and accept you better."

Netanya Bareket plays chess. Maybe she'll understand him better?

"No, it's okay," Cédric smiled as Netanya apologised, "You are right. I might need some company tonight." He chuckled. "Just not with a chessboard... you might beat my ass again at it," Cédric joked.

He turned the conversation away from chess. "So, how was your stay here in Saintonge so far?"



OOC Note: Post approved by @Prydania .
 
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The night before Day Five
Saintes, Saintonge


Cédric-Lambert Rothermundt. Saintes. 27.

Netanya Bareket knew little about her day five opponent at first, but she quickly got to know him. Well...his playing style at any rate. She had a routine when it came to studying her opponents. Soft music and a bath. Her roommates Galit and Varda were, thankfully, understanding. Well not so much that, as much as they each didn't have a problem letting Net prepare in her own way. So her phone was plugged into the speaker. The music playing not necessarily what one would think about regarding a bath time meditation. No, it was a techno party remix, with the volume turned down a bit. It was music she'd picked up in Adonai-Jireh at university.

So she lay there in a warm bath, looking up at the hotel bathroom's ceiling, with twenty-seven year old Cédric-Lambert Rothermundt of Saintes' play style and proclivities on her mind. She kept her hands by her sides in the water, but moved her fingers as she imagined the chess pieces moving.
"You'd move there..." she muttered to herself.
"And if I did this..." she moved the rook that existed in her mind..."well then you'd have a couple of options. So you'd...." hmmm. She wrinkled her nose and raised her left hand from the bath, pointing at the ceiling.
"You'd go there. Which means...." she smiled.
"That's how you play" she said to no one but the phone playing a party mix.
"And that means..." she thought for a moment. The pieces were arranged in her mind, almost "projected" against the ceiling. She knew how she played. And she thought she had a good idea of how Cédric-Lambert played. She had a skill, for inferring about a player's habits and figuring out what sort of moves were best to play to their weaknesses. The best player in the world could be beaten in a relatively small number of moves if you knew how to knock him off balance from the get-go.

It was all, admittedly, a game of luck. Which seemed antithetical to chess, but it was true. A good player, even if flummoxed by an opening gambit that played to their weaknesses, could refocus and rebound. Specifically trying to figure out a player's vulnerabilities relied on them stumbling and not correcting. Still...

She tracked potential moves in her mind, clumsily using her foot to fill the tub with more hot water, as the bath was getting tepid.
"I'm in Saintes" she said happily. She'd only left Iraelia a few times before this. Her parents, one a corporate attorney and the other a board member of Ashkella's largest investment bank, had been protective sorts. Chess tournaments were her only excuses to travel abroad. So when she said "I'm in Saintes" it had meaning. This great foreign city, that movies and books and tv shows were set in, was no longer an abstract. She was here! It wasn't something she could take for granted. She might not be back here for some time.
Her lips curled into a smile. She'd be daring. She'd be aggressive. So what if she lost? She'd go home, knowing she made the most of her time in Saintes.

Net had slipped into a t-shirt and sweat pants and was drying her hair when Galit and Varda returned.

"You get your preparation in?" Galit asked.

"Yep" Net beamed happily. Galit just shrugged. She was among the Iraelian team's youngest players. Varda, however, was bit older. She understood the value in everyone having their own rituals.

"You have Cédric-Lambert Rothermunt, yeah?" Varda asked, stumbling a bit with the Santonian surname.

"Yep" Net replied as she lay down on her bed.
"But it's Rothermundt I think."

"He's tough. Undefeated so far" Galit remarked. Net just shrugged as she plugged her phone in by her bed.

"Everyone's tough at these things Gal" she replied.

Galit nodded.
"I guess. Hey does anyone want to watch a movie?"

And it was about five minutes into that movie that Netanya slipped into sleep.

The Present

She'd beaten Cédric. It was a great feeling, to end her final match of the week on before the weekend where they'd get to see the city that was hosting them. There was something else though, as she was playing him though. She found herself...thinking he was cute. Her own experiences with dating were a bit limited. Net was best described as "a bit shy," and "eclectic." Maybe that's why Cédric seemed so inviting? On a Friday night, in the middle of a mostly deserted hotel lobby?

She blushed a bit as he made the joke about her beating him again at chess. She definitely didn't want him feeling bad about that! Still, he seemed in good spirits as he asked her how her stay in Saintonge had been.

"Well" she said as she took a seat, "it's been wonderful! I've never visited this country before. So it's been really interesting. All of the cathedrals in this city...it reminds me of all the temples in Adonai-Jireh, where I went to university. Just so much history. I wish I had more than two days to see it all." She smiled nervously. She HAD told Cédric that she talked too much...but he didn't seem to mind.

"I'm sorry. I saw that you're from here" she said with a smile.
"So it must all seem pretty boring to you, but believe me, it's something else for someone like me to see." She didn't mean to come off as some yokel. Ashkella wasn't a small city by any stretch of the imagination, but there was a saying in Iraelia. "Adonai-Jireh prays, Ashkella does business, and Sarazed parties." So Net's hometown, while not small, still didn't seem to measure up to a place like Saintes.

"So" she continued, starting to feel just a bit at ease talking to Cédric, "what keeps one of the best chess players in Saintonge up late on a Friday night?"
 
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Cédric stared downwards, focusing his gaze on his sneakers. “I’m not the best player in Saintonge,” Cédric muttered in a tone that was of a mix of embarrassment and awkwardness. He then looked up at her with puppy eyes. “I mean… you just beat me, so that means I’m a loser.”

His face brightened up with an idea. “You know what, since I lost, I will pay up by giving you a short tour of this area. How does that sound?”

“Sure!” Netanya answered.

Cédric and Netanya picked up their jackets and went out of the hotel for a stroll in the Saintes night.

* * *​

Cédric showed Netanya around the area. As they exited the door of the hotel, he pointed to the building across the street, where they held the tournament earlier. “So, the building where played is Les Halles des Guildes, Santonian for ‘the Guild Halls’. It used to be the central meeting area and administrative centre governing the mediaeval guilds of the city of Saintes. Now it’s a convention centre and conference hall.”

The old-fashioned streetlights of the area were designed to mimic the gas lamps that used to illuminate the old city. Only now, it was more reliable, brighter LED bulbs that produce the light instead of burning, flickering gas. The light illuminated the mediaeval façades of the buildings of the old city.

“I’m sure you’ve passed by the Guild Hall many times this week, and in the central lobby, there are the coats-of-arms and seals of the 360 guilds in the city of Saintes,” Cédric continued.

“Where are those guilds now?” Netanya asked.

“They’re now converted into social, charitable organisations,” Cédric answered. “Even though most are mediaeval, there are modern ones too. The most recent one was established in 2004, when the Worshipful Company of Refugee and Aid Workers was established.”

Netanya smiled. “Sounds appropriate for Saintonge.”

“It is,” Cédric replied, feeling proud of his adopted home country. He then added: “Some of the livery companies became important later on in the history of the city. Like the Worshipful Company of Labourers – which was erected in the 18th century to protect manual unskilled labourers from exploitation by the rich.”

“So, you mean, like… a proto-union?”

“In a way, yes,” Cédric chuckled as he led Netanya down the cobblestoned streets of the old town. “Tomorrow you’ll be getting a tour of the old town aboard the Saintes streetcar. You will notice that many of the stops have names related to occupations… like Plombiers (“plumbers”), Selliers (“saddlers”), Blanchisseurs (“launderers”), Gantiers (“Glovers”), or Forgerons (“blacksmiths”). It’s because the stops are near the guild houses – the headquarters of the individual guilds.”

Cédric led Netanya across through a narrow alleyway to emerge in another street, with another mediaeval building with a small church beside it. “Most of the guild houses built or sponsored a church, usually in honour of their patron saint. This is the guild house of the Worshipful Company of Bankers… and this is their guild church. Saint-Matthieu-des-Banquiers. Saint Matthew of the Bankers.”

After several more minutes of strolling through the darkened city, the pair reached a part of the medieval city that was undoubtedly more colourful than the earthy tones of the old town. Still recognisably medieval in structure, the building in front of them were painted in dappled colours. The pair approached the building. It wasn’t modern latex or acrylic or elastomeric paints used for modern buildings. Its walls were decorated with an ancient type of paint, traditionally made in Saintonge.

“This is Maisonpeinte,” Cédric told her. “Literally, “Painted House”. This is the guild house of the Worshipful Company of Painters.” He then pointed to the streetcar stop. It too, was also named Maisonpeinte. “See what I mentioned about streetcar stops?”

Cédric recalled the tram route and decided to show Netanya one last thing she might like. Walking southward along the tram route, the pair soon encountered a small cobblestoned city square that looked like it had been yarn-bombed: multicoloured knitted and weaved cloth covering many street furniture, parts of buildings, and even a welcome sign.

He pointed out to the building with a woven welcome sign. “That’s the Maison des Tisserands. Guild hall of the Worshipful Company of Weavers… and so the streetcar stop is Tisserands.”

Cédric led Netanya towards one of the windows of the Maison des Tisserands. Embedded in one of the windows and facing the public space was an odd wooden contraption. It had a small wooden slot at the top, and a space at the bottom. “ It’s an ancient vending machine.”

Cédric took out five 2-livre coins and inserted it into the wooden slot all at the same time. After two seconds, a pair of multicoloured knitted gloves dropped onto the space. He passed to pair of gloves to Netanya. “Take this as a souvenir.”

“Thank you,” she blushed a bit as she accepted the small gift. It was a good thing that it was dark and her blushing won’t be as obvious.

“But… a glove vending machine?”

“Heh, yes,” Cédric mumbled. “It’s a centuries-old outreach programme by the weaver’s guild and the glover’s guild for the city's poor. They manufactured gloves that would be easily accessible and very affordable. I didn’t really have to put a lot of coins there – even 25 centimes would suffice to activate the mechanism. But they welcome donations through that box, so I put more coins.”

“Interesting,” she said as she fitted the soft and comfy gloves.

“There’s two of these contraptions, the other one is in the Maison des Gantiers, the guild house of the glovemakers.”

“I see… thank you for the gift.”

Cédric smiled as he gazed at the gloves on her hand. And then he noticed her watch. “Uh… it’s getting late. Maybe we should go back to the hotel?”

“Agreed. Maybe we should get some rest before the city tour tomorrow,” she replied. “I’m glad that Saintes was able to maintain its old town.”

“Well, not quite,” Cédric answered as they walked back to the hotel. “We are in left-bank Saintes, which is the western part of the Old Town. But right-bank Saintes, the eastern part, is more modern, with more open spaces. That’s because right-bank Saintes was a planned city, redesigned after the Great Fire of Saintes in 1850.”

“That’s unfortunate that the city burned…”

“It was the work of arsonists. Nobles who were unhappy about their defeat in the Santonian Revolution sixty years before. The entire eastern half of the city went up in flames. Fortunately, we were able to save most of the movable cultural treasures such as paintings and books. But the immovable ones like the architecture… were not. That’s why you can see that there is a difference between left-bank and right-bank Saintes… tomorrow, with the city tour, it will be obvious to you.”

“I can’t wait for the tour!” Netanya remarked. “Will you be there too?”

Cédric frowned a bit. “Actually, we’re not invited.”

“Why not?”

“Well, it’s our city anyway, so they figured they don’t need us to tour it. But we can invite ourselves. Thibault, Jourdain, and Kévin are inviting themselves because they are from southern Saintonge and are not from these parts.”

“Why don’t you invite yourself too? I’d be happy if you tour me around.” She inadvertently reached out and held Cédric’s hand. “You know a lot about your city… you know all these interesting stuff.”

Cédric blushed as Netanya held his hand. His mind ran on a mental block, not knowing what to say as he gazed at her gloved hand holding his. After a few seconds, she also realised what she was doing and awkwardly let go of his hand.

“I mean… You seem to be a nice and knowledgeable tour guide…”

“Uh…. Thank you for the compliment…”

“So, are you coming tomorrow?”

Cédric hesitated a bit. Not because he didn’t want to be with her – heck, he found her very interesting and enjoyable to be with – but because people might think he’s hitting on her. But then again… why shouldn’t he… make a move?

“Do I need to beat you again in chess so I can make you pay up?” she joked.

“Whoa no!” Cédric exclaimed in faux indignance. “Please don’t beat me again,” he then pouted, making a playful pleading expression.

The pair reached the hotel where Netanya was staying.

“Alright, alright, I will go to the tour tomorrow with you,” Cédric told her before they parted. “I will have to go home now. You get a comfortable sleep for the tour tomorrow!”

“You too, Cédric,” she answered. “See you tomorrow!”
 
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