CHAPTER 208: THE FIRST DAY OF THE TOURNAMENT!

The day that Sheva had been waiting for finally came, and the boy was ready even two hours before the first game began. Hell, he had already worn the formal suit with the BNI logo on the chest part, and after looking at his appearance in the mirror, the boy couldn’t help but smile, feeling satisfied with this.

"Damn, Brother! You look good!" Bagas whistled teasingly. "Now, just imagine how Anna’s appearance would be. Maybe you will appreciate her more." His grin widened immediately as he said the last part.

Sheva just rolled his eyes exaggeratedly at Bagas’s crude joke. Still, it would be a lie if he said he didn’t look forward to Anna’s appearance here. After all, just like him, the girl would be wearing the sponsorship suit, and he could imagine how good she would be at that.

"Anyway, are you ready for today’s game?" Bagas suddenly asked, a little bit concerned here. "This is going to be your first game wearing that sponsorship kit. If you couldn’t get a good result, you wouldn’t get any immediate hate, but people would scrutinize you, talking about whether you deserve this sponsorship or not." He reminded his best friend.

"Don’t worry, as long as I am careful, this game is in my bag," Sheva said confidently.

Yeah, unlike all of the tournaments he played in the past, where Sheva, whose rating was pretty low at that time and would always start the game against a higher-rated player, this time, the boy was in the middle of the pack, and his first game was against someone whose rating was even 200 points lower than his.

He would play against Cocoro Matsumura, a French player who, based on his name, should have Japanese roots inside him. The man’s rating was 2043, more than 200 points below Sheva’s. Although the boy was dissatisfied since his target in this tournament was to play against all the top players in this section, especially Yu Yangyi and Kirill Aleeksenko, whose rating was above 2700, he just accepted this pairing silently, knowing that nothing could be changed about this.

’Oh, well, the only way to get a stronger opponent would be to beat all the mediocre players first. I need to be careful, or one slip would be enough to bury my dream here.’

It wasn’t just him who got an easy pairing here. Both Medina and Anna were also the same, being in the middle of the pack. Medina would have to fight her first battle here against Fabian Frey, a local player with the rating of 2086, while Anna would be paired against Marcel Marentini, another local player with the rating of 2053.

’Oh, well... Let’s see my current stats first before going to the battlefield.’ Sheva couldn’t help but mutter at himself. ’System, show me my current situation.’

[DING! The scan is successful!]

[Name: Adrian Sheva]

Attacking 83

Defense 74

Calculation 79

Strategy 74

Intuition 73

Time management 77

Sheva couldn’t help but feel satisfied when he saw his current stats. Although not a single aspect got upgraded into a GM level, he was still happy to see that his calculation and time management skills were close enough to 80 points. More than that, the fact that his attacking stats were one point higher than last month was enough to make him ecstatic, as the boy felt himself the hardship of raising one single point after the stats crossed the GM threshold.

’Hopefully, playing against the top players in this tournament would help me stimulate my stats, especially the already higher ones.’

Fifteen minutes later, they finally met with the ladies, and Sheva had to turn away quickly to hide the blush creeping on his face when Anna’s appearance registered in his brain. Unlike how girls usually went to the tournament, with a pretty yet still formal dress, Anna went for the formal suit that was exactly the same as Sheva’s, giving her the ’boyish’ vibe. However, this only added charm to her usual beautiful side.

The smile on her face, though... Coupled with her shyness... Oh, God... Sheva felt his body could melt at the sight in front of him. Fortunately, Bagas could feel his current state, as the boy nudged his waist immediately, trying to wake him up from his dazed state.

"I know that you are charmed by Anna’s appearance, but don’t forget that we are here to play chess, eh?" The fat boy smiled mischievously. "Don’t be too distracted by her, or you would be suffering in your game."

"W—Who would be distracted by h—her?!" Sheva couldn’t help but stutter. "Anyway, are you both ready?" Sheva coughed, asking both Anna and Medina in an attempt to change the topic here.

"Yeah, we are far more than ready. If only you could stop ogling each other, maybe we could go to the venue soon." Medina answered with her usual sharp tone. However, this was enough to make the two teenagers aware that they had just stared at each other here, which only made the embarrassed feeling inside them grow more.

"Anyway, let’s go to the venue first." Sheva coughed, starting to walk away in embarrassment. Anna scampered from behind, following like a duckling. Bagas himself just shrugged, and in the end, after pondering for a moment, Medina decided to hold back her comment, being the last one to leave the hotel here.

It only took about two minutes before they arrived at the hall, and there, they all could see crowds gathering in front of the building. It was definitely less than the Reykjavik one, yet everyone here knew that the quality of the players in this tournament was far better.

As they entered the building, though, the tables there had already been filled by players who were ready to start the day. Their opponents could also be seen sitting at the assigned table already. Seeing this, Sheva turned around at all of his friends here and looked at them solemnly. With a single nod, the boy said the last word he wanted to convey here.

"Good luck, you all. Let’s get out of this building with a win today, okay?"