CHAPTER 98: A BORING GAME

"Oh, this is bad..." Master Irene, the commentator invited for the Black Rook channel, said solemnly as she watched the current situation on the board. "Sheva didn’t realize that slowly but surely, Claudia starts suffocating his position, putting more pressure on his kingside. He did a good job by trying to force a bishop exchange, especially since Claudia’s bishop on the B2 square is very strong, staring directly at Sheva’s king. However, Claudia could just ignore it and improve her position first. Now, the initiative is completely on the black side."

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

Yeah, even though the computer engine still said that the game itself was equal, for most of the players who couldn’t calculate accurately like a machine, the white pieces looked a little bit worse at first glance. However, Claudia was sweating right now, couldn’t find any way to capitalize on the situation on the board. Sheva grinned widely when he saw her state, knowing that this was a situation where she couldn’t do anything to improve her position.

For Sheva, what he had to do right now was to get rid of Claudia’s bishop as quickly as possible. However, he also played a waiting game here, in which he wanted the girl to take the initiative first. By doing so, he wanted to fix his pawn structure. Also, it didn’t matter if Claudia ignored the exchange offer. If anything, she was the one who would suffer, as her queen would be stuck on the seventh rank since it was the only piece protecting her bishop.

’Now, let’s see what you are going to do...’

Seeing the grin on Sheva’s face, Claudia couldn’t help but scoff, somehow feeling insulted. The grin was a blatant mockery of her current situation, and the only thing she wanted to do right now was to punch his face and get rid of his smug expression. Unfortunately, chess was a civilized game, so violence was never an answer here.

’Damn! I know that I have the momentum, but why is it that all the way to get through his defense is blocked?!’ She murmured, starting to get frustrated. ’Whatever. Let’s keep it slow and steady.’

Both players shuffled their pieces back and forth for a while, with none of them gaining any advantage. Sheva himself didn’t feel like he wanted to do something crazy like he usually did to break the deadlock. After all, he knew Claudia full well, and once his guard slipped, the girl wouldn’t hesitate to punish him.

The situation was stagnant on the board, and while the evaluation bar showed that Claudia had a slight advantage with -0.6, there was nothing else that she could do to break Sheva’s defense. This was always the case for almost every game. As long as the advantage that the computer gave didn’t pass the threshold 1, it was basically still an equal game.

In the end, though, both players couldn’t find any solution for this current situation, and after a while, Sheva who was already exhausted, finally offered a handshake. "Want a draw?"

Claudia was taken aback as she knew how much Sheva hated a boring game that ended up with a draw. However, she herself was also exhausted, so the girl accepted it, albeit reluctantly. "Sure."

"Oh, and that’s it, Folks!" Bagas announced to his audience. "Both players have agreed to the draw result. It is quite a pity for Claudia since the computer seems to like her position better, but this is definitely a fair result for them both. After playing for 36 moves, both players finally agreed to a draw, solidifying their position as the top three in the U2250 section!"

"The only pity here is the fact that Arfan managed to win his game, which catapulted him to the top of the table with a half-point advantage over Sheva. Now, if he still wants to win the section, Sheva could only hope that Arfan would slip in the last two rounds while he himself needs to sweep the rest of the tournament under the rug, something that is not easy to do." Master Irene added.

Sheva himself also noticed that this draw was definitely not a good result for his campaign to be the absolute winner of the tournament. However, he couldn’t help it. Right now, all he wanted to do was to lie down on his not-so-comfy bed and let his mind wander far to dreamland. The double-header day yesterday really took a toll on him, and he needed to recover his stamina first before gaining back his prime condition.

"Tch! What a disappointing result." Claudia suddenly murmured at him with a tone full of disdain as she set up the board after the game. "No decisive action, no creative move to break through, are you sure that you are not an impostor?" She tried to throw a jab here.

"Oh, well, I cannot help it." Sheva sighed helplessly. "I just follow your style, you know? The old and boring one that would always get you a draw result?" He returned the banter easily.

"Excuse me? Always get a draw result?" The girl scoffed. "You know that this is the first draw I get in this tournament, right?"

"Yeah, but your position is still below me."

Claudia felt the corner of her mouth twitching, yet she had no good comeback for that banter. After all, indeed, just like what Sheva said, it was her style that was boring and conservative, always waiting passively until her opponent made a mistake. Also, the reality was cruel here, as she was also a half point behind Sheva. So, no matter which angle she wanted to use, the girl couldn’t deny that she wouldn’t be able to win the banter here.

"Anyway, do you want to go home right after this?" She shook her head quickly, deciding to change the topic to avoid embarrassment. A smug smile formed on Sheva’s face, yet he didn’t mention their banter either.

"Well... While I really want to take a rest right now, I am also curious about your sister’s game." He said after pondering for a moment. "His opponent is going to be the International Master Azarya Jodi Setyaki, right? Let’s see how she fares against him first..."