Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!

"… Shev…"

"… I… Shev… Up…"

"… Oi, Shev… Ke Up!"

"Urgh…" Sheva groaned lightly, trying to regain his consciousness as someone shook his body pretty violently. "Just five minutes…"

"No, Shev! Wake up! Holy shit, it is 8 in the morning already!" This time, Sheva started regaining his focus, as his brain could register that it was Bagas's voice that had just called him out. "Why in the hell did you wake up so late today? It is not like you, Shev! Did you stay awake pretty late last night?" Sheva could hear the exasperated tone in his best friend's voice.

"Urgh… Headache…" Sheva rubbed his forehead slightly, feeling his head spinning around. "A water, please…" He said with a raspy voice.

"Here." Bagas was kind enough to prepare a glass of water for him.

Sheva didn't hesitate even for a second, drinking the whole glass to relieve his thirst. Right after that, his headache finally got relieved slightly, and that was when he was finally fully awake. "Thank you." He said gratefully. "What time is this, by the way?" The boy followed with another question.

"8.10. You'd better get up quickly, because you only have one hour left before the game begins, you know?" Bagas answered, sitting on the corner of Sheva's bed while looking at his best friend concernedly. "What is wrong with you, by the way? It is not like you to stay awake for too long. Did something trouble you or what?"

Being best friends with Sheva for so many years, Bagas knew that his friend was not someone who was willing to stay up late without any reason. Hell, this was one of the reasons why a lot of friends mocked the boy in the past, as Sheva would rather go to bed at 8 P.M. rather than play a game with them all until midnight or something like that. So, it was quite rare for Bagas to see Sheva in this kind of state, and his curiosity piqued immediately, wondering what had happened last night.

"Urgh… We are just helping Sister Medina sort out any useful information against Yu Yangyi." Sheva answered, still feeling a little bit groggy.

"Just like what we did in Reykjavik?" Bagas raised one of his eyebrows slightly. Indeed, he still remembered how, almost every night, he helped Sheva, Claudia, and Irene compile all the necessary information about their next opponent. At Sheva's nod, he couldn't help but ask, "So, what do you think is Sister Medina's chance to get a positive result here?"

Even though it looked like a casual question, Bagas really needed that answer right now. After all, the opponent was Yu Yangyi, a super grandmaster who was in the top 30 players of the world. If somehow, Medina's chance to get a positive result is good enough, Bagas would ensure that he would give more exposure, knowing that it would boost the viewership of the stream. On the other hand, if Sheva said that Medina couldn't do that, Bagas would just give her an ordinary treatment like usual, as, since the beginning of this channel's establishment, the main protagonists here would always be Sheva, Anna, and Claudia.

"Hmm… It is a little bit hard to say…" Sheva frowned, pondering over Medina's chance here. "I would say that if Sister Medina could contain her excitement and just play like a fucking hermit, she would have a chance to at least have a draw result here." This was the final answer that Sheva gave.

Yeah, this was the conclusion that the three players got after spending a full night researching Yu Yangyi's previous records. While yes, his stats were ridiculously amazing, somehow, it didn't reflect his true skill on the board. Hell, he looked like an ordinary grandmaster whose rating was just around 2600, not someone who was one of the top 30 players in the world.

After some confusion, though, it was Anna who finally realized something strange here.

Out of all the games that Yu Yangyi played, he would've never shown any intention to take the initiative. No, the Chinese man would just stay on the back and set up a strong cocoon as his defense, ignoring his opponent completely for most part of the game. He would only start making a move when his opponent got impatient, and once the opportunity came, the man would strike immediately like lightning.

However, the problem was still there.

He would've always stayed passive, so if his opponent didn't want to take the initiative, they both would've just dilly-dallied around aimlessly before finally settling in a draw. This was not just a baseless claim, but they backed it up with data, as those three found out that out of 5 draw games that Yu Yangyi played, 4 of them ended up in this exact scenario, with the game in the second round being one of them.

So, if only Medina could stay patient on the back and not get tempted by anything else, she would be able to ensure a draw result, which, of course, would be a huge deal for her. However, that was only the case if she didn't make a mistake. On the board, though, anything could happen, so she needed to stay calm and approach everything cautiously.

"So, how about you?" Bagas suddenly asked. "Are you confident with the game today?" Yeah, after helping Medina research everything about her opponent, it wouldn't be funny if somehow, Sheva lost because he wasn't prepared enough for the game.

"Oh… Well… I really don't know…" Sheva sighed helplessly.

"Really?" Bagas raised his eyebrows slightly, somehow not believing that Sheva would enter the battlefield blindly like this. "Is it because your opponent is a strong player?" He asked, couldn't help but feel curious.

"No, honestly, I wouldn't mind if my opponent is way stronger than me. In fact, I would still prefer that, because I know what exactly I would face next." Sheva answered. Then, he finally let out a deep sigh before confessing, "I just don't know if I could say this Aryan Chopra is a strong opponent or not, and this has been confusing me for a whole fucking night!"