CHAPTER 66: ANOTHER PREPARATION DAY

It was three days before the tournament started, and basically, most of the members of the club had finished their preparation already. What was left was to polish the edge of their game here and there, and probably to get experience playing against the higher-rated players on the club. That was why Irfan, Anna, Claudia, and Sheva were pretty popular in the last couple of days. Whenever they went to the club, there would always be a group of people who would invite them for a sparring game or two.

Yeah, Sheva was also included in the group of high-rated players whom everyone desired to train together. Even though his rating was the lowest among them, but no one looked down on him, thinking that it was all because Sheva had only played for one tournament. Everyone here was sure that once this Jakarta International Chess Festival was over, his rating would be skyrocketing again, leaving them all in the dust. That was why they savored every chance they had here, accumulating experiences so that they wouldn’t make themselves look stupid when they were paired against another top player.

Of course, Sheva himself didn’t really mind the intrusion. He welcomed every challenger and sometimes even gave some advice to his opponents. However, he also had to train, so after giving the other members time to face him, the boy would go straight to either Anna or Claudia. No offense to Claudia, who would always pout on the corner of the room whenever Sheva ignored her, but he knew that the girl’s ability was still too raw, not enough to push him forward. No, the only players here who he was eager to play were still the two titled players on the club, and fortunately enough, they both also welcomed any challenge that came at them.

Tak!

Tak!

Tak!

"Damn, he is about to get her!" Someone whispered as most of the members of the club watched another sparring game between Sheva and Anna.

"No, it is just a trap! Once he catches the bait, Anna will launch her avalanche to the spot where his queen leaves to protect." The other person, an old man, shook his head in disagreement.

"But except if any of them catches the bait, they would be stuck in this stalemate. Someone needs to break the deadlock here." Another one chimed in.

Sheva himself tried his best to ignore the disturbance from the sideline. No, currently, he was frowning hard, burning his time for the first time ever to think of any solution for this situation. He was so close to catching Anna’s king, but once his rook left the first rank, it would be his king that would be hunted, and that would be a suicidal move.

Anna was also the same here, racking her brain hard to think of any advantage she could exploit here. While her king was pretty much in an exposed position, Sheva only had his queen as the attacker, and it was far from enough to catch her. If he decided to be stubborn and pursue her king, she could just make the king walk from one corner of the board to another just to escape and get more protection from her other pieces. The problem, though, was that Sheva’s king himself was pretty secure; no leak in his defense could be seen or noticed to be exploited.

In the end, though, both players glanced at each other and finally reached the same conclusion. After the silent agreement, Sheva finally stopped the clock, offering a handshake to the girl.

"Draw?" He asked.

"Yeah, draw." She nodded.

Right after the agreement was reached, both Sheva and Anna let out a deep sigh, both having their shoulders slump against their chair, feeling exhausted after racking their brain all the time to outsmart each other. The audience loved it, though. Almost everyone clapped at the two teenagers, thinking that they had just witnessed a legendary game between two top players in the world.

"Damn, Shev! You are so close! I don’t know that your level is already that high!"

"Hell, yeah! Give it more time, and I am sure you will beat her!"

"Nah! Anna still has the edge in this game! If only they were playing a little bit more seriously, she would’ve won it all!"

Indeed, even though tension during the game was pretty high, it was clear that neither player was that serious. After all, in a blitz game, if they decided to go on, everything could happen during the time scramble, and the possibility of a draw happening was pretty low. However, a high-speed game where they both had to rely on their instinct wouldn’t help too much for the next tournament, so they decided to stop just like that. Still, Sheva grinned widely, feeling happy about this result.

"So, 6 draws out of 10 games, huh? Not bad, right?" He asked his opponent with a big grin.

"Huh! Why are you so proud over a mere draw?!" Unsurprisingly, it was Claudia who answered him. The girl scowled, clearly unhappy with the result. "Be grateful that Big Sis is not playing seriously, or you would be slaughtered mercilessly!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Sheva just waved his hand nonchalantly, ignoring the fuming little girl. By this time, he knew that Claudia was the biggest sis-con in the world, and she would get angry at whoever Anna’s opponent was who managed to get a good result against her. So, he had already gotten used to it and wasn’t bothered by her anymore. "Still, what do you think? Is there anything I need to focus on more?" He asked Anna genuinely, wanting to improve as much as possible.

"Hmm... I don’t know which part you need to focus on more, but I will give you a hat off for the big improvement in your opening preparation." Anna finally spoke, praising Sheva. She ignored her little sister, too, knowing that Claudia would make a fuss no matter what. "I mean, last week, your opening repertoire against 1.d4 is basically just the Nimzo-Indian, and while it is a solid opening, I can see that it doesn’t match your aggressive style. Now, you even know how to handle the Queen’s Gambit declined, the London Opening, or even the Queen’s Pawn game. Good job."

Sheva just scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Honestly, he also didn’t expect this to happen. However, right after the boy got the platinum-level Dutch Defense from the system, all of his opening repertoires against the 1.d4 opening were also enhanced into the new level. Even for the opening that he had never heard before, like the Benoni opening, the boy still found it easier to learn from scratch right now compared to before. It seemed that the platinum level reward was not a joke at all.

"So... Care to play again?" Sheva suddenly changed the topic, looking at the girl eagerly.

Yeah, he was still in the rapid improvement phase, and every chance to play against a high-rated player would be very valuable for his development. However, before Anna could even answer the question, someone had already done so, coming from behind with a melodious—albeit slightly flirtatious—voice.

"How about you play against me?"