CHAPTER 49: EIGHTH ROUND OF THE TOURNAMENT, BATTLE AGAINST THE TOP SEED!

In the end, Sheva asked them to wait for a moment as he ran outside quickly to find Bagas, dragging his best friend into this mess. This was his first interaction with a real fan, and Sheva wanted to make sure he had the photo of it. Since phone was forbidden in a chess tournament, he forced Bagas to use his phone for this and to send it back to him later.

Sheva also didn’t forget to give his signature to two of his newest fans. Well, they weren’t fans of him specifically; he found out. They were just general fans who would ask any players who caught their eyes for a photo and a sign, and somehow, Sheva was also one of them. It seemed that Claudia was right; this was bound to happen sooner or later.

Still, this was definitely a welcome surprise. Sheva didn’t even realize that he was pretty tense in the last couple of days as exhaustion really took a toll on him, but once he saw the delighted smile on his two new little fans, it ebbed away instantly, replaced by the satisfaction that he couldn’t explain. He also stared intently at the photo that Bagas took, feeling a new motivation surging inside him.

"So, how does it feel to have a fan?" Bagas smiled, probably knowing what his best friend was thinking right now.

"It is... Wonderful..." Sheva whispered, still dumbstruck. Anna and Claudia also smiled when they saw his reaction. They themselves were used to this kind of commotion back home, so the two girls handled this matter pretty calmly. However, Sheva’s reaction here, the joy of getting recognition, was so pure that it made them smile unconsciously.

"Then, you have to get used to this wonderful feeling again!" Bagas laughed boisterously. "The better your achievement is, the more you will attract attention! You might not notice, but sooner or later, you will be as famous as all the football players we were talking about back in school!"

Sheva just ignored that remark, thinking that it was ridiculous and impossible. After all, compared to the football players who were exposed by media days and nights, he was just a small chess player. There was no need to compete in popularity.

They chatted for a while, but everyone could see that Sheva was still in a daze. After a while, Bagas decided to leave, letting Sheva get locked into his best state again. Anna and Claudia also stayed quiet, trying to concentrate on their game. In the end, after the gong’s sound echoed throughout the building, it was Claudia who broke the silence.

"If you lose or get a draw because you are getting too distracted by your new fans, I will laugh at your face, you know?" The little girl smiled mischievously. "Imagine how it would sound, a rising star got a draw result because he is too flustered after getting his first fan. Do you think it will make the others laugh?"

The thought of him making a fool of himself like that was enough to send a shiver down his spine. Sheva turned around and glared at Claudia, yet the little girl turned her head away innocently. Still, he recognized what she was trying to do here, and it would be a lie if Sheva said he didn’t appreciate it.

"Thanks." In the end, he just let out a small, embarrassed grunt before walking away from those two.

Meanwhile, Anna, who watched it from the sideline, could only shake her head in amusement. She didn’t know when or how Claudia and Sheva’s relationship improved this much. Hell, she could still remember the hostility that her little sister had for Sheva during his first few days in the club. Yet here they were, acting like they were just old-fashioned siblings, bickering while also supporting each other’s backs silently.

"Oh, well, this is the time." Anna finally also rose from her chair. Before she left, though, the girl didn’t forget to give a small pep-talk to her little sister. "You have already talked big to him, so if you lose or even take a draw, you know that his gloating will never end, right?" She smiled mischievously.

This time, it was Claudia who shuddered at the thought of Sheva gloating over her misfortune. "Don’t worry, Big Sis! I will defeat all of my opponents and not let him lord over me!"

-0-

Sheva himself didn’t really know the two siblings’ current state. Right now, he was already locking in for the next game, waiting patiently for his opponent to arrive. This time, he would face Cao Van Binh, the top-seeded player in this section, with an ELO rating of 1992. On paper, this should be his hardest opponent. However, Sheva was confident that this wouldn’t be as hard as everyone thought it would be.

’If Claudia could beat him one-sidedly, I am sure I could do the same.’

Although there was a little hint of arrogance in his tone, Sheva felt that he deserved this feeling a little bit. Not that he would underestimate his opponent, of course, but he had done very well in this tournament, cementing his belief that if he didn’t make any mistakes, no one here should be a difficult opponent for him. Not that he would say it out loud, of course. He wasn’t crazy enough to attract more hate than he already suffered from the netizens on Bagas’s YouTube channel.

Right before all the games in the hall started simultaneously, his opponent finally arrived. He was another boy around his age, and not to be racist, but honestly, Sheva had a hard time differentiating one Vietnamese player from another. After all, they had a pretty similar feature, and it was understandable for anyone who wasn’t familiar with them to make such a mistake.

Unexpectedly, though, even before the game began, there were a lot of people who came to watch the game. It seemed the match between the top-seeded player and the unrated player who somehow managed to dominate the entire section was able to attract some attention here. Hell, he could even see Master Irfan, the one who brought him into this tournament, also standing on the sideline. Sheva hadn’t seen the man for a while, but he really appreciated the IM’s support for him.

’Now, with him being here, I really cannot lose the game, huh?’ He thought to himself.

Once the game started, Sheva didn’t hesitate to blitz his way through the opening stage. Much to everyone’s surprise, though, he went for the Italian Opening, something that the boy had never shown before. Not a single person knew whether it was a bluff or not, but Cao Van Binh responded quickly with the Giuoco Piano variation, mirroring Sheva’s first three moves.

While it might not be the best variation, the Giuoco Piano was still stable enough for the black player to hold his ground. Cao Van Binh also wanted to force the game into a positional battle, having noticed that Sheva wasn’t quite fond of that approach. However, Sheva’s fourth move was enough to blow his mind. Not just him, everyone around also gasped in shock, not expecting Sheva to pull this bold move.

Yeah, instead of taking the normal approach, Sheva moved his B pawn two squares forward, sacrificing it early to his opponent’s bishop. He went straight for the old and forgotten opening, the Evans Gambit.