CHAPTER 355: A VERY QUIET GAME...

"Oh, are you sure?" A playful smile suddenly also formed on Sheva’s face. "I like a confident opponent. But all have fallen first before you, so why do you think that you are different?" Even though it was far from humble, after such a good period this month, Sheva’s confidence also soared to the sky, so facing an opponent like this, his arrogance also flared up unconsciously.

"Don’t worry, you will see later that I am indeed different." Dmitrij Kollar grinned confidently.

At that time, they were both on the same wavelength, and they couldn’t help but feel excited about the game. Sheva, driven by curiosity, wondered where the source of his opponent’s confidence came from. While Dmitrij Kollar, driven by his ambition, was so eager to break the invincible streak that the teenager in front of him was in right now.

Now that both players were so excited, what was left was one thing, and that was for the game to start. A moment later, that moment finally arrived, as the alarm rang to show that the tenth round of the Olympiad had finally begun.

"Let’s have a good game!"

After both players shook hands with each other, Sheva made his first move immediately. Playing with the white piece, he was still sticking to the King’s Pawn opening, finding the system to be the most suitable for his part. Dmitrij Kollar also returned the favor in a second, not wanting to spend too much time on the opening stage.

For this game, Sheva had a simple plan. He had learned his lesson from his passing out experience, so going to the endgame quickly was definitely not something he could afford. His stamina was shit right now, and it would be troublesome to lose consciousness twice in a row, especially in a foreign country like this.

So, he went for a slow opening, wanting to go for a positional battle that would lead to a complicated situation in the middle game. Of course, the boy also didn’t want to delve deeper into theoretical lines, so he chose probably one opening that not a single person in the room would expect him to pull.

The Italian Game.

"Oh, this is interesting." Arfan couldn’t help but lean forward. "For as long as I could remember, Sheva always despised the Italian Game, seeing it as a boring and drawish opening. This is the first time I saw him playing this willingly."

"No, you are wrong for that, Arfan." Bagas interrupted. "I remember one game in the Hanoi Tournament a few months ago, Sheva’s first-ever official tournament. He pulled the same opening, but with a twist in it. The variation should be called.... Evans Gambit, if I am not wrong?" He asked for confirmation.

"Ah! I remember that!" Arfan also nodded. His memory flew back to the first time he was about to play against Sheva in the Jakarta International Chess Festival. At that time, Novendra reminded him to be careful, as Sheva had a knack for a strange opening like the Evans Gambit or King’s Gambit. Remembering this, the boy couldn’t help but sigh in melancholy. "Man, it has only been four months since that time, and he has left me to dust, huh? What a genius..."

For the first ten moves, they blitzed their way without even a single hesitation, clearly showing their top-notch understanding of the opening. However, the game went exactly as the variation line they picked suggested. Giuoco Pianissimo. A very quiet game.

This was a more restrained version of the Italian game, famous for its slow, deliberate development with both sides avoiding early confrontation. Instead of that, both players aimed for a solid position, preparing for a strategic battle in the middle or endgame. The goal was to build a robust pawn center and create a solid, strategic position, often avoiding the push pawn to the d4 square until the later stage.

However, this was the time when Sheva realized the huge blunder he had made by choosing this opening. He forgot that the Italian game had two different outcomes. One was a complicated positional middle game, and the other one was a quick endgame where almost half of the pieces were cleared from the board, leaving some pieces that could lead to an easy draw if he was not careful. And based on how the game looked right now, it seemed that the most likely outcome was the second one.

’Yeah, fuck! I mess it up!’ He cursed. ’System, I can deactivate and activate my title freely, right? I mean, it is not something that I have to use for the entire game, right?’ The boy asked.

[Indeed, Host. You can use the title when you need it the most, and you can deactivate that for the rest of the time to preserve your stamina.]

Sheva couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh when he heard that. While the boy remembered vividly that the system had already told him about it, he still needed to confirm it to avoid suffering later. He was also glad that the title could be deactivated freely like this, as if not, it would only bring more harm to him.

’Yeah, thanks, System. Please, deactivate it for now.’

[DING!]

[The title Endgame Master has been deactivated! To activate again, please, say, ’System, activate the title.’]

’Yeah, thanks for the information. See you later, System.’ Sheva muttered to himself.

Just right after he realized his own mistake, all the good idea that he had beforehand was gone instantly. The boy started to regret his decision, especially after realizing once again how he didn’t have the patience to play this slow game. In the end, he decided to get into the endgame quickly, exchanging all of his pieces without hesitation.

One by one, his generals had fallen to the abyss. First the queen, and then the bishop, and after that, the two rooks followed all along. Fortunately, they didn’t go to hell without fighting. No, before they fell, all of the generals still managed to drag the enemies into the same hole, making the game still pretty much equal. In the end, after the dust had settled, both players only had an opposite color bishop and a knight on their side, and the most crucial part of the battlefield was about to begin.

’Yeah, let’s see how far I could go in the endgame stage without my title...’