Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!

"Hello, Guys! Welcome back to the Black Rook channel, where you all will witness the journey to greatness here! With me, Septian Bagaskara, as the host, and our special guest, the International Master Irfan Aditya, we will be here to accompany you as you watch three Indonesian players fighting for their lives! Here, we have Adrian Sheva battling against the Armenian grandmaster, Shant Sargsyan, Anna Marisa trying to get revenge on Yu Yangyi for Medina, and Aulia Medina Warda trying to bounce back after failing to win in her last two games! Master Irfan, what do you think about it?"

Across the ocean, Irfan could only blink repeatedly with a hint of confusion on his face as the man listened to how Bagas opened the live broadcast in one breath, as if the boy was some sort of a rapper coming from the States. Fortunately, he adapted quickly, replying to the question coming out of Bagas's mouth before an awkward silence filled the room.

"Thank you for the wonderful introduction, Bagas." The man nodded. "Well, as you just said earlier, this is going to be another tough day for our players. We could only hope that they would be able to maintain their composure for the rest of the game, because it is going to be crucial in the later stages."

Bagas just nodded silently, even though he himself didn't quite listen to what Irfan said. No, the boy was busy operating his laptop, and within a second, the screen on the broadcast changed into one of the games that he recorded live with the camera in the venue, going straight to the game where Sheva was fighting against Shant Sargsyan.

"Oh, what do we have here? A Sicilian Defense?" Bagas exclaimed while also rewinding the game a little bit so that he could understand the order of the moves from the start to the current situation on the board. "Well… What do you think about this development, Master Irfan?"

"I cannot tell you a lot here, since it is still a bit too early to make any conclusion." Irfan pondered while also checking every move that had been made in the game. "The computer engine might show that Sheva was at a disadvantage, but that is basically nothing. I tell you what, look here. Once he castles his king to the queenside, the evaluation bar moves back to the equal state again. This advantage is only because Sheva hasn't done that yet."

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

Indeed, that was the current situation on the board. However, after following Sheva's career from the beginning a few months ago, Bagas could basically see the pattern in his style, and the boy found out that his best friend didn't follow the usual pattern right now.

"Um… Master Irfan…" The man said hesitantly.

"Is there anything wrong?"

"I don't know… But… Don't you think that they exchange too many pieces here?" There was a hint of uncertainty in his tone.

"Um?" Irfan narrowed his eyes slightly, bringing his own laptop closer so that he could see the situation on the board better. "Indeed, there have been several exchanges on the board, with two pawns and two minor pieces having been gone from both sides. However, I think that this is still in the normal range, nothing too outrageous." Irfan finally said, not finding anything wrong with the situation on the board.

"Indeed, it is pretty normal, but if that happens in any other game!" Bagas emphasized the last part quite strongly. "However, we are talking about Sheva here, the guy who likes to play an offensive and tactical game. He would always delay any exchange that would only lead the game into stagnation, improving his position first before striking when his opponent lowers his guard. This is not Sheva's usual style, and I couldn't help but think, What is he trying to do here?"

This was a valid question. Sheva was an aggressive player, and Bagas had never seen his best friend going to a game with the intention of not winning it all. The game that they currently showed was definitely not the kind that Sheva usually played, and Bagas couldn't help but wonder, Is he trying to get a quick draw here?

Little did he know, though, that it was exactly what Sheva was trying to do here.

Well, not a quick draw, per se, but he was just trying to get a draw result from Shant Sargsyan. The reason was simple, and that was because he was dead tired here. Yeah, after playing three long and arduous games in the last three days, the accumulated exhaustion started to take a toll on him. Coupled with the knowledge that Shant Sargsyan would give him another very long game, the boy felt tired already, even before the game began, both mentally and physically.

'Yeah, we are going to enter the endgame phase soon, and honestly, I am not looking forward to it.' Sheva muttered inwardly.

Still, this was probably the best decision he could make. Even after training a lot with Sergei, the boy could recognize that his biggest weakness was still his endgame technique. Against any other player, it might still be passable, but in the game against a strong grandmaster like Shant Sargsyan, he could be crushed easily without even noticing his mistake.

So, yeah, rather than dragging the game with the knowledge that it would enter the endgame phase, anyway, Sheva would rather choose to jump into that hole quicker, hoping that he would get more time to think every move carefully.

'Come on! You should be more comfortable playing an endgame, right? Here, I give you one!'

Of course, knowing Sheva's intention, Shant Sargsyan didn't just let the boy get what he wanted so easily. No, he backed down for a moment, choosing to develop his own pieces first rather than doing a meaningless exchange that would lead the game into a draw.

For a moment, the game went into a strange phase where Sheva was trying to chase Shant Sargsyan and force an exchange to happen, while the Armenian GM was trying his hardest to avoid the exchange at all costs. The evaluation bar could be seen moving up and down slightly, yet it had never crossed the +1 or -1 evaluation, showing how equal the game was.

After playing for two hours, though, in the end, it was Sheva who made his first move by exchanging his rook with his opponent's bishop, and right after that, both players understood that the real game had finally begun.