CHAPTER 348: HOW THE DAY ENDS

Bagas just snorted amusedly at Sheva’s poor attempt to change the topic. However, he knew that his best friend wanted to distract Medina from all the nasty things inside her head, so the boy just jumped into the boat and gave Sheva what he wanted.

"Well... How should I start it?" He hummed, pondering silently.

"From the beginning, I guess?" Sheva shrugged.

"Yeah, thanks, smartass," Bagas grumbled while also making a lot of rude hand gestures, enough to crack a smile on Medina’s cold face. Sarah also giggled a little, so at least he could consider that a win. "Well, let’s start with your game first. Even though you passed out, fortunately, it was when the game was already over, so the decision stands, and the win is given to us."

"Wait a second, you can nullify the result?!" Sheva interrupted with an incredulous tone.

"No, you cannot. The result still stands after the game ends." It was Medina who answered that. "You are so lucky that you passed out straight after the handshake was made, or the arbiter would be able to announce the game as a draw no matter how big your advantage was."

Sheva had a cold sweat on his back, thinking that he was so close to getting his win robbed away by the arbiter. If only he had passed out a few seconds earlier or Johan-Sebastian Christiansen could hold on for a little bit more... "Damn! I was just ten seconds away from disaster, right?"

"Indeed." Bagas nodded, not even mincing his words. "Still, the point you got is important, as indeed, the exact same scenario that you predicted yesterday happened on the board. Brother Novendra lost his game, while the other two managed to force a draw against their particular opponent."

Hearing this, Sheva couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh. Fortunately, his passing out didn’t affect the dynamic of the team too much. It would be a pity if they got distracted by him not being there and somehow ended up losing their games, wasting away the one point he earned with sweat and blood, literally.

"As for the women’s team..." Bagas’s words trailed behind before the boy looked at Medina awkwardly.

"We are not as lucky as you boys here." The woman explained with a flat face. "Sister Irene and Claudia lost their games, while Anna and Laysa couldn’t snatch the win from their opponent. We lost 3-1 and dropped into 9th place in the table."

Sheva nodded silently, not even offering any consolation. While it was a pity that the women’s team lost, anyone sane and knowledgeable enough about chess knew that Indonesia was no match against Georgia. It was a miracle that the team managed to go this far and challenge the Georgian team, but even a miracle had a limit here.

"So, we have a draw against the Norway team and got defeated in the women’s section, huh?" Sheva hummed, pondering. "What about tomorrow? Who are we going to face? The matchup should be out at this time, right?" He asked. If only he had his phone, Sheva would be able to check it out by himself. Unfortunately, right now, he had to rely on the others to do that here.

"I can tell you that we get lucky in our drawing tomorrow." This time, Sheva could see a hint of excitement in his best friend’s tone. "While the women’s team will face Spain, a strong opponent at the same level as us, the men’s team hit a jackpot for tomorrow’s game. We will have to face the Irish team that somehow is also sneaking with the same record as us!"

"Ireland?" Sheva frowned, trying his best to recall any notable player from that country.

"You will not notice them, Shev. On paper, they should be at the same level as us." Sarah, being helpful she was, informed the boy. "Their best player is Connor E Murphy, a 23-year-old GM with an ELO rating of 2400. That should tell you how bad they are, right?"

Indeed, that was the case. That man was at the same age as Novendra and was also a GM, yet his rating dropped so much to the level of an IM. Hell, even Novendra didn’t really drop that far! And that was the best player that Ireland could offer?

"How is his performance so far?" Sheva asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"A good question, straight to the point." Medina nodded in approval. Compared to the others on the men’s team who were so happy to see the opponent, Sheva was definitely calmer, knowing how to use his head clearly. "He is one of the best performers on board 2 right now with 6.5 points out of 7 games, just getting his first-ever draw in the tournament today. Before that, he was just like you, beating all of his opponents black and blue. His best wins are against Amin Tabatabei, a strong Iranian GM with an ELO rating of 2664, and Matthias Bluebaum, a German rising star with an ELO rating of 2674. So, you can see this as him being in his best form, just like you."

Yeah, this was what Sheva had expected earlier. If a mediocre team suddenly sneaked into a big league like this, there should be one person who stepped up big time on the team. It was him in Indonesia’s case, and it was this Connor E Murphy in Ireland’s case.

"So, he is the one we have to worry about, huh?" He muttered.

However, Medina just snorted when she heard that. "We? Puh! Lease! It is not your turn to worry about them. You have just passed out from overworking your brain, so you will sit tightly on the sideline while watching the others fight tomorrow."

Sheva choked immediately, his eyes widened in surprise. "What?! I am not playing tomorrow?! But I am fine! Look! I am in a good state right now! Even the nurse said that I could be dismissed tomorrow morning!" He stretched his body exaggeratedly to show that he was in great shape. Unfortunately, Medina didn’t bulge, shaking her head firmly.

"Nuh! Uh! This is your punishment for making us all worry for nothing!" She glared sharply, enough to make the boy feel guilty once again. "So, just sit tight on the sideline and watch how we fight tomorrow! Maybe you can learn how to take care of yourself better after that!"