CHAPTER 44: THE FINAL RESULT?!

"It is so pitiful..." Irfan heaved a sigh, feeling his shoulder slumped a few inches down. "Claudia has done a very good job putting pressure on Sheva, and she has been treating everything with extra cautiousness, almost giving us a perfect game. It is just one mistake. One impulsiveness. One moment of eagerness to end the game quickly, that costs her the entire game..."

"This is the cruelty of the endgame phase..." Master Susanto also added with a solemn tone. "One tiny mistake, and everything she builds crumbles immediately as if it is nothing. Even though the computer still evaluates that Claudia is slightly better, in a practical game, this kind of position will end up in a draw."

Sheva himself also noticed this. He couldn’t help but heave a relieved sigh, feeling like he just got through the eye of a needle. By moving his light bishop to the e4 square, Sheva protected the promotion square that Claudia was just one step away from while also winning a tempo with the check. He pushed the girl’s king back to the seventh rank and blocked Claudia’s light bishop from controlling the promotion square, so as long as he didn’t move his bishop from that diagonal, the girl wouldn’t be able to move her pawn to the last square and get promoted, and the best result from this position would be a draw.

*Author note: For the current position, check the comment below.

Of course, there was a slight pang of disappointment surging inside his heart. After all, Sheva’s target was to sweep the entire tournament, and that also included Claudia. However, a draw wasn’t that bad either, especially considering how much pressure the girl put on him for the entire game. Hell, it was a miracle that he managed to get away with half a point here, so he wouldn’t complain too much about not winning the game.

As the next few moves unfolded, everyone could see clearly that both players had already given up on winning the game. Besides Claudia’s passed pawn that somehow got stuck one square away from the promotion spot, there was no other piece they could move to gain an advantage against the opponent. Claudia’s connected three pawns also got stuck, as once one of them moved, it would give Sheva a chance to fix his doubled pawn immediately. As for the bishop, well, of course, they both could exchange it, but that wouldn’t make any difference. In the end, after repeating the same sequences three times in a row, both players glanced at each other for a second before offering a handshake, agreeing to a draw.

"That’s it, folk." Irfan, in the commentary booth, also let out a deep sigh, feeling the tension ebb away from his shoulder. "After fighting for about three hours non-stop with so many ups and downs for both players, this roller coaster game is finally over! The draw agreement has been set, and those two are still going to be the leaders of the tournament with 4.5 points! A fair result after such a long and exhausting day for them both!"

Hitamka_11: Not bad... It seems that the boy has something in him.

Hikaroo0: Bah! He is just lucky here. If only Claudia were more clinical in her endgame, he would’ve lost the entire game.

Hilda99: Can you cut him some slack here? He is an unrated player, and this is his first tournament! Having 4.5 points out of 5 games is already crazy to consider!

Hakeem94: Yeah, it is a crazy achievement! I still remember my first on-the-board tournament, resulting in me getting smacked with only 1.5 points out of 9 rounds. Man, that was so embarrassing.

Hilda99: Only those who don’t understand what it means to play in this kind of tournament would mock him for this result.

Hakeem94: Yeah, their rating is probably only around 500, no need to give them the spotlight they don’t deserve at all.

Even though Bagas was a little bit disappointed after knowing that Sheva failed to win, all of those negative feelings were replaced by surprise and delight after reading the comment on the chat box. Although he knew that Sheva’s achievement would silence the hater sooner or later, he didn’t expect that it would be this quick. Hell, some of them even got ready to fight in such a meaningless debate in the chat box to defend Sheva. This was an unexpected yet definitely welcomed surprise for the boy.

’Hilda99 and Hakeem94, huh? I will remember those two usernames...’ Bagas thought to himself.

Meanwhile, back in the hall, Sheva could be spotted heaving a sigh, feeling the exhaustion finally hit him after playing two games in a day. However, he didn’t forget to shake hands with the little girl who was smiling smugly in front of him.

"Good game." He praised. "Even though I don’t know why you are so smug right now. After all, you just wasted a chance to win the game, right?"

Claudia froze on the spot after she got reminded of her failure to capitalize on the advantage earlier in the game. "W—Well, it is not a big deal! I—I mean, my initial target is to force a draw, you know?!" She tried to defend herself with a flustered face.

"Oh, yeah? Tell that to your rating, though. How many points will you lose after drawing against an unrated player like me?" The teasing smile on Sheva’s face grew wider when he saw the girl scowling at him.

"It is so unfair to have a strong player like you being unrated! You will make a lot of players cry because of losing too much rating, you know?!" She accused him heatedly. "Also, I have already earned 51 points for winning the first four games! This result wouldn’t hurt my ELO that much, I am sure of it!"

Yeah, even though she had only won four games, in a low-rated tournament like this, the rating’s movement was very volatile, and any result could either catapult a player into a higher spot or bury them back down to the earth. Unfortunately, in this case, losing against an unrated player was enough to make Claudia lose 18 points instantly.

They stayed in their seat for a while, chatting and bantering with each other about the game. It was quite strange how their relationship developed, but honestly, they both didn’t mind it. This was far better compared to the awkwardness they felt around each other after their first game ever.

However, it seemed that their voice drew unnecessary attention here, as one of the officials came to them and drove them away ’politely’ using the excuse that they were disturbing the other players who still hadn’t finished their game yet. Sheva just shrugged nonchalantly, not resisting the order at all. He took a glance at Claudia for a second before asking, "So, shall we go to see how your sister fares against her opponent?"