Hold up. Did Shin just.. make the move for Haiyan? He killed his own knight with Haiyan’s rook? Shin did Haiyan’s turn for him and handed him the captured knight like an insult! Boy that’s pure INTIMIDATION! Shin, why you gotta scare the poor boy like that? No wonder he gulped.

No one’s asking but I like explaining things so here’s a thread. Chapter 38 is one of my fave chapters (along with the one about Randolph’s past). These chapters are just... wow. Reading them is like watching a very satisfying domino rally. The beat and the buildup is just

I could go on and on about those chapters but that’s not what this thread is for, so I’ll stop here. I like reading Chapter 38 again and again but I never paid attention to the chess part. I thot Haiyan was intimidated simply because

who wouldn’t be if you play against THE Shin Soohyuk. Until I decided to just check, thinking maybe there’s an easter egg in there. so here we are . Disclaimer: I’m not an expert. I play for fun. Never for tournaments. So what I know are just the basics.

The black tower piece is called a Rook. It’s Haiyan’s. A rook moves in a strict straight line, horizontally or vertically and captures whatever piece is on their way, regardless of rank. So in this setup, Shin’s golden horse, the Knight, will be captured if Haiyan moves forward.

But ONLY IF Haiyan moves forward. as you can see here, Haiyan still has a lot of pieces on the board and he can make other moves and not kill Shin’s Knight.

However, any move other than pushing his Rook forward to capture the Knight will be weak and a checkmate is Haiyan’s goal, so he must have been cornering the King since the game began. Not until he realized his mistake.

See here, if he decides to capture Shin’s Knight, he has to move his Rook forward to the box where the Knight stands. If he does that, he will put his Rook in danger because it will then stand right beside Shin’s King. And unfortunately for him, Kings can capture whatever piece

is beside them. Hence, Haiyan’s Rook will be captured by Shin’s King in return, leaving them in an Opposition. The Opposition is a position in chess where both Kings have an odd number of squares between them, regardless of direction

and the one that does not have to move, is said to have the Opposition. In this case, after Shin’s King captures Haiyan’s Rook, it will be Haiyan’s turn to move next. In short, Shin is in the opposition. Shin has the upper hand.