Thomas and Dmitry glared at each other, a stare so intent and full of rivalry. Finally, the stopwatch started, and Thomas eagerly moved to pick up his first pawn.

Dmitry stared at the board, his eyes invisible through his spy-like sunglasses.

After a few minutes, the board was short of pawns, the first line of defence on the black and white chessboard almost all but extinguished.

_Time to take action_, Thomas thought to himself. He reached for the backpack beside him and pulled his gas mask over his face. He pulled a knockout gas grenade beside him and put it in his lap. Soon, the small room reserved just for the two of them was filled with a light green knockout gas.

But when he looked across the table, Thomas grew flustered and shocked to see an identical looking gas mask on Dmitry’s face. “Nice try, sucker,” Dmitry replied.

Suddenly Thomas felt something snap inside of him. He grabbed the chess board and flung all of the pieces off of it before he angrily smashed the board on the table and stormed off.

“Alright, alright, knock it off! Both of you are disqualified!” the judge said sternly and frustratingly.

Dmitry just sat there.