CHAPTER 74: THE LIVE STREAMING REACTION!

Meanwhile, in the commentary booth outside of the room...

"Oh! Ardianto finally resigns!" Bagas exclaimed excitedly. "Adrian Sheva has already secured his first point in this tournament! A good start from our rising young man!"

"He also follows Claudia Marisa’s step as the second player from the Black Rook club to win the first game in this tournament!" Sarah added with the calmness that balanced out Bagas’s craziness here. "They both are continuing their good form after their amazing performance in Hanoi two weeks ago! With Claudia being ranked at the 27th place and Sheva in 51st place in the initial ranking, they are definitely the biggest underdogs in this section!"

Hilda99: Damn, I know they will be good, but I never thought they would be this good!

JiminmyLove3: Claudia is okay since she only faces a player with a rating far below her. But damn, Sheva beats someone with a rating about 300 higher than his! HE is awesome!

NotSasuke: I checked on the Internet, and if the website is not wrong, he will get 34 additional ratings for winning this game!

AangKataraUwU: That much?! *Surprised Pikachu face*

IamnotWEEB99: What I still cannot believe, though, is that this channel managed to rope SaraLia to be their host too...

Frwoggies: I freaking know, right?! My goddess is here, standing next to a fat man... T.T

Flaminggauss: I have never expected that my goddess is interested in chess... Should I learn one too?

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The reaction on the live broadcast chat is split into two parts here. One is still excited about the win that both Sheva and Claudia bagged in this first match. Those two managed to get their victory in a pretty short time, with Sheva managing to beat Ardianto in about 73 minutes, while Claudia even did that in a shorter time, 55 minutes, to force her opponent to resign. Both players gave a pretty exciting match, which was enough to arouse everyone’s interest.

Still, there was also another part of the chat whose focus was completely far from the game. They were the new viewers who only came to the broadcast when they heard that SaraLia, the gaming streamer with more than 2 million followers, became the host on this channel. Her big name seemed to be enough to attract more viewers here, as this live broadcast alone was watched by more than 200 people, about five times more than the average viewer that the channel gained during the Hanoi tournament.

Much to Bagas and Sarah’s relief, though, the reaction was pretty tame. Even though there were a few who mocked Bagas for his fattiness, they all could be considered small banter, with none of them being rude to him. Indeed, just like what Sheva said in the past, Bagas’s body had been transformed so that he didn’t look fat at all. No, he was muscular, and with a better attire choice, he looked far more than decent to appear in front of the camera.

Somehow, this reaction really reassured Bagas that it wouldn’t be a problem if Sarah wanted to announce their relationship in public. Still, it would be in the future when he was successful enough in the chess world. For now, his focus was on the tournament in front of him, and the boy didn’t want to get distracted by so many unnecessary things inside his mind.

"Now, let’s get back to our marquee match." He coughed a little, trying to calm down his emotions. "We still have both WGM Anna Marisa against the top-seeded of the tournament, the legendary GM Susanto Megaranto, on table two, and IM Irfan Aditya against the young Grandmaster from Azerbaijan, Suleymanli Aydin, on table five. Unfortunately, it seemed that both players were in a tough situation, getting surrounded by their opponent’s pieces." The boy frowned, looking at the evaluation bar on his screen.

Yeah, unlike Sheva and Claudia, who won their games cleanly, both Anna and Irfan were struggling against their opponents right now. Anna, who wanted to play conservatively in her first game by going for the Caro-Kann defense, was outplayed by Master Susanto. Even though the game still looked dangerous for both players since Master Susanto really extended his pawns too far and left the protection of his king pretty much open, it was clear that he would get Anna first before the girl could make a counterattack. Hell, Master Susanto was just one step away from planting his knight on Anna’s defense, locking down her king on the edge of the board. Her position was pretty much dire, and she had to do something if the girl didn’t want to be eaten alive.

*Author’s note: If you want to visualize the position better, check the comment below.

Meanwhile, Irfan, who had to face the Sicilian Defense Najdorf variation against Suleymanli Aydin, was also in a difficult situation. Honestly, if anyone watched it with the computer line, they would know that the game itself was pretty chaotic. Both players made a lot of unnecessary inaccuracies, forcing the evaluation bar to have a cardio exercise. Unfortunately, Aydin managed to stabilize his own position first, recovering quickly while also watching Irfan make mistakes, slowly taking advantage of them all. It was scary how good a 17-year-old boy like Sheva could be after being trained since he was a mere child.

"What do you think about their game, Master Irene?" Sarah asked the third person in the booth.

Indeed, since both Bagas and Sarah were novices in this game, it was impossible for them to guide the audience through their own perspective. They needed someone professional to be the commentator here, and somehow, those two lunatic teenagers managed to rope Master Irene Sukandar into this shenanigan. No one knew what kind of string they pulled here, but the reality was that Master Irene, the best women’s chess player in Indonesian History, was there with them.

Surprisingly, though, hearing the question from Sarah, Master Irene shook her head firmly, giving a shocking verdict. "I don’t know about those two players, but even if it was me, those two’s positions were unsavable. Their only hope is to wait for their opponent to make a mistake, but I don’t think they will live long enough to see that happen."