CHAPTER 90: A TOUGH, POSITIONAL BATTLE!

Tak!

Tak!

Tak!

Time passed quickly, and without anyone noticing, it had been more than an hour since the game of full tension began. Even though the air conditioner in the hall was set to the maximum setting, it still couldn’t prevent sweat from rolling down everyone’s face here. Both players, Sheva and Arfan, could be seen frowning deeply while they leaned forward to get a better look at the chessboard. Not that it would help them get better, of course, but the tension here was too high that they couldn’t help but do that.

"This is tough..." Master Irene sighed deeply as she saw the situation from the live broadcast. "We have already entered the twentieth move here, but both players are still stubborn enough to play on the back. Now that almost all their pawns were interlocked, the only thing they could do to improve their position was to shuffle their minor pieces back and forth, yet it wouldn’t help them both in the long term."

Indeed, the situation right now was pretty tough, with both players not daring to take the first risk here. Hell, Arfan himself was surprised that Sheva was being overly cautious in this game. This was definitely different compared to the intelligence that he gathered before the game.

’Well, that means he treats this game more seriously, right?’ He muttered. ’Well, that’s good. That means he is a worthy opponent here.’

What surprised Arfan wasn’t just that. No, besides Sheva turning out to be so cautious, the fact that Sheva hadn’t made a single mistake yet, although it was his first time playing against the Queen’s Gambit, was astonishing. Yeah, Arfan had already researched, and out of about fifteen games that Sheva played, the older boy only had two games with the 1.d4 opening, and the two openings used there were the Dutch Defense and the King’s Indian Defense. So, for him to handle everything perfectly in this game was enough to catch Arfan off guard.

Sheva himself didn’t feel anything wrong with that. Even though he hadn’t gotten any reward related to the Queen’s Gambit from the system, with his calculation and intuition skills, there was no way he would make a rookie mistake in the opening stage. Of course, there was still a downside to not having the actual knowledge about that. He still had to take a lot of time to make every move so that he wouldn’t make a silly blunder. However, it was still better as he thrived in every opening stage of all his games.

"So, Master Irene, do you think that the game would end up with a draw?" Sarah couldn’t help but ask. Even though she had only delved into the chess world for a very short time, her perseverance in learning this game to get to know better was enough to bring her level high enough so that she could join the commentary stage.

"Hmm... How should I say it..." Master Irene pondered for a moment, with both Bagas and Sarah waiting for her answer patiently. "While at first glance, most of the games with this kind of position would end up in a draw, I still believe that it wouldn’t be the case for this game. I have seen both players in the last couple of days, and I know that they both are quite ambitious and would never be satisfied with an easy draw. They would still insist on fighting, and sooner or later, one of them will try to make a breakthrough here."

The others—even the viewers on their channel—nodded their heads as they understood what Master Irene wanted to say. Still, there was one thing slipping through her mind that everyone also didn’t notice. Even though the evaluation bar showed that this game was pretty much equal, it was Sheva who was at a disadvantage right now, and that was because the older boy had been burning more time in the opening stage compared to Arfan. Now, he only had 20 minutes left compared to his opponent, who still had 50 minutes, and with only 40 seconds additional time for every move, Sheva had to be careful once he got into the time scramble.

’Damn, I need to do something here, but what?’ He gritted his teeth, trying to stimulate every single cell inside his brain. ’I could exchange my bishop with his knight and force a double-pawn on the F file, but he could force a rook exchange in return and take over that empty file instantly. No, that wouldn’t do. What about a breakthrough from the kingside? I could make a bluff with h5. No, g6 or g5 is also possible. As long as I could tear the wall in front of his king, everything would be easy. Still... How?!’

Sheva wasn’t the only one who thought hard here. Arfan was also on the same boat, yanking his hair silently as his frustration grew more.

’Damn, why would he want to be stubborn right now?! Should he be a hot-headed and stubborn guy? Just stick with your own principle, goddamnit!’ The boy cursed inwardly. ’No, no, no, I need to stay calm right now. The more I am panicking, the sloppier I would become. For now, I need to channel my inner monk, standing on the sideline and doing nothing until my opponent makes a mistake on his own. Yeah, I could do this.’ He repeated the same words over and over like a mantra.

As more time passed by, the number of audiences around also increased, as everyone got curious about this game. At first glance, it looked like the game would end up as a draw, and even after shuffling pieces from one square to another in their next fifteen moves without having been able to find any hole to break through, both players seemed to be ready for a draw result. It was disappointing, but prolonging this game wouldn’t benefit both players.

However, in the next second, when Arfan was about to accept the draw offer, his eyes suddenly lit up at the move that Sheva made. Yeah, after almost forty moves, after more than two hours of fighting, a decisive breakthrough finally happened, as Sheva suddenly tilted. He made a blunder, and Arfan spotted it instantly, changing the entire direction of the game.