CHAPTER 212: THEIR NEXT OPPONENTS!

Unlike Sheva, who got excited like a child getting his first Christmas present, both Medina and Anna had a pretty gloomy reaction. They both didn’t have the adventurous sense that Sheva possessed, so while they knew that playing a better opponent was necessary to make themselves stronger, that didn’t mean they would enjoy the stress of that process.

"So, who are your opponents?" Sheva couldn’t help but ask when he saw the solemn expression on the ladies’ faces.

"Victor Erdos," Medina answered without even turning her head around. Her hand started scrolling through her phone to get any information related to that man. "A veteran grandmaster from Bulgaria, still strong enough to have a 2580 ELO rating. His performance has been declining for the last couple of years, but the man could still play at the highest level with no problem."

"Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli," Anna added. "A veteran grandmaster from Spain, his rating is 2619. Even though his age is about to reach 35, he still hasn’t shown any sign of declining, still consistent with the rating around 2620 for the last three or four years."

Both ladies were definitely troubled by this pairing. Even though they knew that sooner or later, an unfavorable pairing would appear, that didn’t mean they would like it. In their mind, it would be better to play against someone with a similar ability or even lower than them for the first few rounds to get a good result, and once the momentum was there, it would be easier for them to face the stronger opponent.

"Oh, well, you cannot always get what you want, right?" Sheva shrugged nonchalantly, knowing full well what the girl thought right now.

"Still, the pairing is quite interesting," Bagas added, smirking a little after he found something... Amusing? "Tomorrow will be the day of Indonesian superstars VS the veteran European GMs. A quite nice theme, right?"

The three chess players on the table were stunned by this new information, and after it connected to their brains, they gasped incredulously, finding this to be a shocking coincidence. Yeah, the Spain GM was about to reach 35, while Victor Erdos was already 40. As for Sheva’s opponent, the German GM had just celebrated his 33rd birthday, so he could be called a veteran of the game already. Who would’ve thought that something like this could happen?

"Yeah, that is funny." Medina snorted in amusement. "Unfortunately, this fact wouldn’t help us at all, you know?"

"Oh, at least, it is a good fun fact to ease our minds." Sheva shrugged nonchalantly, grinning as he high-fived Bagas excitedly. The two ladies just rolled their eyes in exasperation, yet the fondness in their eyes told the boys that they enjoyed this moment. "Anyway, want to help each other to prepare for tomorrow?" Sheva offered.

Both Anna and Medina exchanged glances for a moment before they nodded simultaneously. "Sure, why not?"

They were lucky that their next opponents were pretty prominent players, making it easier for them to do the research. They found their opponent’s last few games and also the basic information about them, and something interesting caught Sheva’s attention. While yes, Victor Erdos and Niclas Huschenbeth were top veteran players, this didn’t really bother him. No, what the boy was most concerned about was the Spanish Grandmaster, Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli.

The man was the fifth-best chess player from Spain, and based on the news he got from a particular website, Sheva noticed that Eduardo Bonelli was going to play in the Olympiad too, representing Spain as the reserve member of the team. This was exactly the position that Sheva also held in the national team, and he couldn’t help but feel some sort of connection here.

’Interesting...’ The boy murmured. ’Does that mean that I will have to fight him if somehow our countries met against each other? Oh, well... Maybe, I have to keep my eyes on Anna’s game tomorrow.’

Time passed by, and before they all noticed, the sun had already gone, hiding below the horizon. It was Sheva who first yawned, and then everyone realized how exhausted they were. After paying the bill to the restaurant’s owner, they all went to their respective room and had a rest, trying to regain energy for the second round of the tournament.

The next day, everything happened so quickly, and before Sheva knew it, he was already back at the venue, walking through the sea of people who also tried to enter the building together with his three companions.

"Man, we are lucky to arrive on time..." Sheva wiped the imaginary sweat on his forehead, feeling his heart beating fast. "It is always bad to start the day with tardiness, right?" Both girls also nodded in agreement here.

Indeed, due to the tiredness that they felt yesterday, coupled with the fact that their body hadn’t recovered yet from the long journey to arrive here, the four Indonesians somehow woke up pretty late, and if not for Bagas’s alarm banging into the boys’ ears, there was no guarantee that they would be able to wake up in time to join the second round of the tournament.

After they chatted for a while, the four of them finally went their separate way, going straight to their assigned place quickly. Sheva also did the same, walking straight to table 12 where he would play against the German grandmaster. The boy gulped nervously when he saw the stern expression on his opponent’s face, finding himself to be intimidated a little here.

"Um... Let’s have a good game." Sheva greeted quickly, offering a handshake.

"Ja, let’s have a good game." Niclas Huschenbeth nodded shortly before focusing on his own business. It was clear that the man was not here to socialize, and Sheva could respect that.

After spending five more minutes in an awkward silence, the alarm finally rang through the speaker, signaling the beginning of the second round. Playing as the white pieces, Sheva moved his E pawn two squares forward immediately, going for the standard king’s pawn opening. However, when he saw the first move that Niclas Huschenbeth made, the boy couldn’t help but frown immediately.

"What the hell..."