CHAPTER 356: ANNA VS CARISA YIP!

"I don’t know if I am being stupid or not, but the game goes a little bit quickly, doesn’t it?" Sarah couldn’t help but ask.

"Indeed, you are right. However, this is the characteristic of the Italian Game." Arfan nodded in confirmation. "That is why I was so surprised to see Sheva pulling off this opening. This is definitely not his favorite game, and yet, he still jumped into the boat." He explained.

The reputation of the Italian Game had already spread across the entire chess community, so all the people knew how it would end up in a high-level game like this. Bagas himself was also surprised, but he knew that his friend had a plan here.

’Yeah, Sheva is not stupid.’ He said to himself. ’Sheva knows that he needs to win the most right now more than in any round, so he would definitely not mess this up.’ Fortunately, he couldn’t read Sheva’s mind here. If only he knew that his best friend chose this opening by mistake, Bagas would’ve bashed his head on the table already.

"On the other hand, we also have an interesting matchup against the USA in the women’s section," Sarah said, changing the topic. Right after that, the screen also shifted to the lady’s side, where Anna and Laysa were fighting fiercely against their opponent. "We have a matchup between two talented youngsters, Anna and Carisa Yip, on board 3, and the clash of two generations between Laysa and Abrahamyan Tatev on board 4! Claudia, what do you think about this matchup?"

Claudia looked pleased when Sarah tried to involve her in the conversation. The girl had been sitting on the same table silently, feeling quite awkward as she had no chance to speak her mind.

"I cannot say a lot about her, since I don’t know anything about Carisa Yip, but I think Big Sis is slightly better here," Claudia said with a tone full of confidence.

"Oh? How so?" This time, even Arfan and Bagas were intrigued by the answer. "Carisa Yip’s ELO rating is 2416, right? The youngest American girl to become an IM in history. Compared to that, Anna, who has a slightly lower rating, should be at a disadvantage, right?"

"Well, if you want to calculate it based on paper, I don’t think you are wrong with it." Claudia pondered before giving an answer. "However, what you don’t know is that most of her games were held in America, where most of her opponents are either veterans who just came to play in a tournament for fun or her fellow American players whose rating is a bit lower. I don’t think she has ever played in an open tournament in Europe or Asia with a more diverse opponent, so in this regard, I think Big Sis is slightly better."

This... Was a bold answer coming from Claudia. If the others didn’t know better, they would’ve thought that it came from Sheva, as the boy had a history of saying something stereotypical that would sound rude in people’s ears. However, no one could say that she was wrong here.

In fact, while not a lot of people talked it out loud, almost all the members of the chess community looked down on the genius coming from the USA. They all were sheltered, only needing to play in their home without having the need to go outside to search for an eligible tournament. This made some of them jealous, while the others were skeptical about whether their ability would still be there once they were out of their comfort zone.

It also didn’t help that most of the top players in America were those who changed federations. From Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, to Levon Aronian, the USA had never produced any top talent from the grassroots since Bobby Fischer’s era, so not a lot of people looked at the American prodigies seriously.

"Well, we can see that Carisa Yip is eager to change that stereotype here." Bagas chuckled dryly. "Look at the board. She is pushing all of her pawns on the kingside so far, taking all the space on Anna’s territory and also trying to suffocate her in the later stage. Anna’s position is a bit cramped right now, so she has to be careful about where to place her pieces, or a huge blunder could be on the board."

Claudia just rolled her eyes at Bagas while muttering, ’No trust to my Big Sis at all...’ Which only made the boy feel awkward here.

However, the situation on the board was indeed not that great for Anna. While the computer still said that it was an equal game, Anna’s pieces were almost blocked in all directions, so she had to consider how to move without making her situation worse carefully. One single mistake, and everything would collapse instantly.

’Well, she is going to castle on the queenside, right?’ The girl thought. ’Then, I need to start pushing back on that side. Even if it is pointless, at least, I could slow her down on the kingside.’

Anna also considered the possibility of having a pawn break on the center. This would give her a little bit more space to breathe, and the girl could also create more to counter Carisa Yip’s attack.

However, deciding the order was important here. She had to pick which part she should attack first, so that she didn’t make it easier for her opponent to put more pressure on her. In the end, she finally decided to march all of her soldiers on the left flank first, and once the knight blocked their way, she would make a pawn break on the center, letting the knight jump and control more strategic squares.

It was still an equal game, though, as both players were still entangled in a war of attrition. No one wanted to give the initiative to the opponent, so the game entered a passive stage, where not a single action was made for a long time.

However, after waiting for a long time, the deadlock was broken, as Carisa Yip finally made the first huge blunder of the game. Seeing this, Anna’s eyes lit up instantly, knowing that her patience paid off.

’Yes! This is my chance!’