Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!

A 2600-rated grandmaster was probably the strangest creature in the chess world.

They were powerful players, yes, and no one would deny that statement. After all, they were halfway through the elite 2700-rated players club and were way beyond the ordinary grandmasters outside, whose rating was still around 2500. In their heyday, they could also cause a lot of problems for the elite players, giving them pieces of their mind and sometimes even winning one or two games.

However, they were also prone to a bad result, especially when they were in a bad state. For example, the two grandmasters whom Sheva and Anna beat in the second round yesterday. They were definitely not a weak player, but because they had a bad day, they were beaten by their opponents, whose ratings were 300 below theirs.

The same could be said for Aryan Chopra, Sheva's next opponent.

The man was a prodigy who became a grandmaster seven years ago, when he was just 14 years old. There was no way in hell that he was a weak player. However, the man seemed to stop playing chess for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, making Sheva doubt whether his opponent could still maintain the intensity of a 2600-rated player.

This Biel Festival would be Aryan Chopra's third tournament after coming back from his break, and the man probably wanted to gain a good result after his first two tournaments, but he didn't do that well. Oh, he himself didn't lose that much rating, but there were a few games where he should have won, yet the man failed to capitalize on his advantage. What made it worse, though, was that all the games in which he failed to win were against a lower-rated opponent. In his last tournament, he got two draws against IMs whose rating was at the low 2400s! He lost 7 ELO ratings instantly just from those two games, which somehow made Sheva doubt whether the Indian GM was in the best form or not.

This was why 2600-rated players were the most confusing things in the chess world.

'Oh, well, that just means I cannot underestimate him, right?' Sheva muttered to himself. 'Well, let's just stick to the usual strategy; observe and adapt depending on the situation on the board.'

Yeah, this had always been Sheva's basic strategy since his system let him scan and see his opponent's statistics. If his opponent's time management stat was pretty low, Sheva would try to overwhelm them by moving quickly. If his opponent's calculation stat was weak, he would try to get into a complicated positional game where every single mistake would only get them deeper into the pit hole. That was the same for all the other stats, and while it might not always work, Sheva still stuck with that strategy because he believed that it was his best way to take advantage of his scan ability.

'Okay, just stay calm and aim for Aryan Chopra's weakness.' Sheva took a deep breath. 'Come on, I can do this!'

After taking a quick shower and having breakfast with the ladies and Bagas, they all went straight to the venue, where all the players had already gathered. They went into their respective table immediately, and Sheva didn't forget to wish Medina luck since she would play against the top-seeded player of the tournament. Well, he also did the same for Anna, as even though her opponent's rating was the lowest here, Iniyan Pa was still a fucking grandmaster, a far stronger opponent than any of them.

As Sheva got into his seat, though, he was stunned by his opponent's appearance.

'Damn, he is pretty good looking here.' He muttered to himself. 'I swear, I remember an Indian actress with the same last name as him. Are they related or what?'

What Sheva meant by this was the famous Indian actress and movie star, Priyanka Chopra. Of course, they were not related to each other, as the last name Chopra was pretty common for people from the northern side of India. That didn't diminish Sheva's doubt about whether they were related or not, though, because Aryan Chopra suspiciously enough had a good-looking appearance here.

The man was tall with broad shoulders, and with his thin moustache and proportional eyebrows, Sheva didn't doubt that the man was a popular guy during his school day. Hell, if he weren't in a chess venue, Sheva would think that Aryan Chopra was some sort of Bollywood star here.

"Um… Sorry…" Aryan Chopra suddenly spoke, interrupting Sheva's train of thought. He had the usual thick Indian accent, yet somehow, it was easier for Sheva to understand him compared to the other people coming from European countries. "Is there anything wrong with me? You have been staring at my face for a while, you know?" He asked.

"Oh, sorry, I am being rude here." Sheva apologized immediately. He sat on his chair immediately, coughing a little before fixing the imaginary mess on his collar. "Let's have a good game." He said awkwardly, offering a handshake to change the topic of the conversation.

"Uh… Let's have a good game." Aryan Chopra replied while also accepting the handshake, still finding Sheva's action to be strange.

There was an awkward silence for a moment as Sheva tried his best to avoid the man's gaze, being too embarrassed to be caught staring at him offhandedly like this. Fortunately, it only happened for a short time, as in the next few minutes, the alarm finally rang, telling everyone that the third round of the game could be started.

Both Sheva and Aryan Chopra shook hands once again before the Indian GM made his first move. The man pushed his E pawn two squares forward immediately, which was followed by Sheva, who mirrored the move in a second. Both players went for a standard route for the 1.e4 opening, and in the third move of the game, Aryan Chopra finally revealed what direction would he want to go for this game.

He moved his light bishop to the C4 square, initiating probably the most solid opening that any other top players still use nowadays. He went for the Italian game, wanting to play in a positional battle against Sheva.