CHAPTER 339: THE CELEBRATION AND A CRAZY MATCHUP AWAITING TOMORROW!

"Let’s cheer for our great result today~!"

"CHEERS!"

The situation at the hotel where the Indonesian team lived was quite festive that night. All of the Indonesian players gathered in Master Susanto’s room as they all celebrated the great day they had, knowing that they were in a historical run in this tournament.

After winning the matchup against Italy, the men’s team made a huge leap, jumping ten stairs directly into the top 20 in the standings. Now, they were in the 16th place with 5 wins and 2 defeats, far beyond what all of them could comprehend before the tournament began.

As for the women’s team, they were in even greater form. Their win against Poland today allowed them to sneak into the top 4 of the table. Currently, they were only behind India and Ukraine, while there were two other countries with the same record as them. Those two were Armenia and Georgia, two powerhouse countries in women’s chess nowadays.

Even though it was hard to predict what would happen for the last four rounds, at least they were all happy with their current result.

"I am just glad that I didn’t lose." Master Susanto said, leaning his body against the sofa while also enjoying his coffee. "Imagine I lose the game. Man, people will go crazy for it." He also took a glance at Sheva, knowing that the boy was the one who was dissatisfied with him the most.

Honestly, even though it was a bit weird to say this, Master Susanto had a healthy amount of fear of Sheva. Not only was it because the boy had a strong backing, but his career was also built on the persona that he was a chess prodigy, and everyone could see his development clearly on his YouTube channel. The boy gained a lot of fans, so if he suddenly talked shit about someone, they all would back him up immediately. Even though it was unlikely, it would be bad if somehow, Sheva had had enough with the team and revealed all the bad things here to the Internet.

"Well, let’s just be grateful that today ends well for us." Irene smiled, also enjoying her cup of black coffee.

"So, at the end, only Sister Medina lost the game today, huh?" Laysa, being the one who knocked on the death door recklessly as usual, smiled mischievously. "Well, then, Sister Medina, what do you have to say here?"

Medina’s face turned dark instantly, and the other teenagers stiffened their laughter and turned their faces away immediately, not wanting to get caught in this crossfire. "Oh, shut up! How many times do I have to tell you that my opponent today is the one with the greatest form in this tournament!"

"Excuse, excuse!" Laysa said mockingly, only infuriating the woman more. "Also, Brother Novendra, you are the only one with the bad form right now. Any words to explain yourself here?"

Sheva choked immediately, turning his head at Laysa in disbelief. While he also had the same view as her, the boy didn’t expect that Laysa would be brave enough to say it out loud like this, straight in front of the person’s face. If he didn’t know better, Sheva would’ve thought that Laysa had a low EQ and didn’t know how to read the room.

Somehow, the others also thought the same. The temperature dropped instantly, and while everyone was still busy with whatever they were doing, some still sneaked glances at Novendra, wanting to see his reaction.

Master Susanto was also tensed for a moment, getting ready in case somehow, Novendra snapped and lashed out at Laysa. While the girl’s words were a bit too much, she was also the best player on the women’s team right now, so if she got injured out of nowhere, it would be a huge loss for the team.

However, the explosion that everyone was waiting for didn’t come. No, if anything, Novendra just glanced calmly at Laysa before saying, "No matter what I am saying right now, I wouldn’t be able to change the fact that I am in a bad form. However, just wait. Tomorrow, let me show you that I am still the second-best player on the team."

While it was arrogant and ignorant for someone with 3 draws and 2 defeats to say that, Sheva himself felt satisfied to see the spirit burning in Novendra’s eyes. This was definitely better than the frustrated state the man was in yesterday, and while it didn’t guarantee a good performance tomorrow, at least, Novendra was ready to fight once again till his last breath, and his eagerness to prove himself here would be a great weapon for the man in tomorrow’s game if he could control it for the entire game.

’System, please, scan his stats one more time for me.’ The boy muttered to himself.

[DING! Scan successful!]

Name: Priasmoro Novendra

Title: GM

Attacking 73

Defense 79

Calculation 81

Strategy 80

Intuition 70

Time management 71

’Hmm... Nothing changes too much here since I saw his stats. He is still a high-level IM or a low-level GM, but it is a relief that his bad performance is not because his ability is declining.’ Sheva nodded. ’He could definitely play better, so once he gets his rhythm back, he wouldn’t be a burden for the team anymore.’

It wasn’t like Sheva disliked or, for God’s sake, hated the man. No, the boy had never thought that far. However, he was completely frustrated by Novendra’s lackluster performance in this tournament. He kept dragging the team into the mud, and his constant mood swing also affected the team’s morale for a while. Fortunately, after having a break today, all of the negative aura surrounding the man was gone already, so it was a good sign that tomorrow would be better.

DING!

While everyone was chatting, all the phones suddenly vibrated, catching them all off guard.

"The matchup for tomorrow is out!" Bagas reacted first, opening the website immediately. "Let’s see who our opponent is tomorrow!" The others also did the same, accessing the tournament’s website from their respective phone.

However, once they saw their opponent for the eighth round, the temperature dropped instantly, and all of them just stared at each other with dumbfounded faces.

Men’s team: Indonesia VS Norway

Women’s team: Indonesia VS Georgia

’Holy fuck...’ Sheva muttered in disbelief. ’We are going to play the fucking final boss tomorrow!’