Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!

"Well, that's it…" Bagas sighed regretfully as he saw Anna offering a handshake to her opponent. "Once again, Yu Yangyi shows us why he is one of the best players in the world. After getting the first blood against International Master Medina yesterday, now, he lands his claw on Anna, making her the second Indonesian player that Yu Yangyi beat in this tournament."

"It is a pity, but you cannot blame Anna or Medina for this failure," Irfan added. "They have tried their best, but it is not enough. The top level of the world is still far from their sights, and it is clear by day after their encounter with Yu Yangyi. Hopefully, Anna and Medina could take their defeat as a lesson to get better in the future."

88rising: Tch! They lost against a mere Yu Yangyi, not even the best player in his country, so why would the host associate them with those top players? Our players are still fucking too noob to handle them all! Just bring them back home before they can embarrass us more!

MessitheGOAT10: Woah, calm down, dude! Who hurt you here?

Froggies: Fucking moron. @88rising, the one you call a 'mere' Yu Yangyi is the 24th best player in the world, do you even know how many players could steal even a half point against them, let alone those whose ratings were around 2300 like Anna and Medina?

88rising: Chill, dude! No need to write an essay that I would just ignore!

88rising: Just thinking that they are not as good as everyone here has portrayed them to be. This is fucking embarrassing, eh?

Hilda99: Oh, shut the fuck up, Bastard! No one asks your opinion!

Koumj23: That is what people who lose debates always say. *LOL*

Bagas read silently with a big frown on his face as the live broadcast was attacked by so many trolls who wanted to trash both Anna and Medina for their defeat against Yu Yangyi. He knew that those trolls were not real fans, as the boy himself had never seen their names on the broadcast. They were just here to smear names, set fires, and probably leave with a satisfied smile after triggering half the audience here.

This was a bad situation, as even though most of the viewers here knew that they were trolls, some could be swayed to change their minds. After all, it was indeed true that both Anna and Medina lost against the same player here, and for those who didn't know anything about chess, this looked pretty bad for the Indonesian players' overall skill. Knowing that, he made the decisive move here, showing no mercy to the leader of the trolls.

Ding! 88rising has been blocked by the moderator.

Hilda99: Oh! Good job, Mister Mod! Fucking finally!

Koumj23: Tch, coward! How could you block someone who is critiquing you?

AangKataraUwU: Critiquing?! Are you blind or what?!

RonaldOSIu: Okay, lads, let's ignore them and focus on the players here.

"Guys, I know that the defeat hurts, but let's keep the chat room civil and polite, okay? No need to bring down the players to the mud. They have tried their best already, no need to add salt to their injury, right?" Bagas said, trying to calm down his chat room. "Anyway, we still have one more game to go, and that is Sheva's game. Let's see how our boy is going right now."

Changing the topic was definitely the best decision here, as the Internet always has a short-term memory. This trick was enough to calm down all the trolls in the chat room, and Bagas couldn't help but let out a relieved sigh.

"So, what is going on in Sheva's game, Master Irfan? Can you explain a little bit to us?" Bagas inquired.

"Well… How should I say this…" The veteran IM thought for a moment, trying to think of a way to explain the situation so that the viewers could understand it better. "I have to say that this is a difficult endgame even for me. The situation is pretty much imbalanced, with Sheva still having a queen and a knight compared to Shant Sargsyan, who has two rooks and a light bishop remaining on the board. Psychologically, getting a queen on his side could ease Sheva's mind while also putting pressure on his opponent. However, Shant Sargsyan is an experienced grandmaster here, so there is no way this situation could bother him that much. So, yeah, for now, I am inclined to believe that they are going to a draw here."

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

Yeah, the situation was pretty complicated here. Even though a queen had some sort of advantage due to its flexibility, trying to break through two connected rooks wouldn't be an easy job for Sheva. Well… That was if Sheva really tried to win right now.

Yeah, Sheva himself still didn't forget his aim at the start of the game, and that was to get a draw here. It didn't matter if he had a slight advantage here; the boy would stick to his goal until the end. Hell, if anything, changing his goal in the middle of the journey would only be more dangerous, as he wasn't prepared to win from the start. It could break his concentration and, in the end, become his downfall in this game.

No, Sheva didn't want that to happen.

So, the game entered a pretty weird state here, where Shant Sargsyan, who had two rooks against Sheva's queen, was trying to win the game, while the boy himself was trying to run as far away as possible. It was like a hide-and-seek game, where one player tried to get his opponent while the other was just running for his life.

There were a couple of moments that gave Sheva a little fright, especially when he saw Shant Sargsyan's king get involved in the game. Yeah, in the endgame phase, the scariest thing to face was probably the king's advancement, as when the most powerful piece on the board started to move, it was as if it could hold the sky alone.

Fortunately, Sheva managed to maintain his composure here, staying calm and not getting bothered by the probes from his opponent. In the end, after playing for about 57 moves and exchanging more pieces, Shant Sargsyan finally couldn't find any way to win this game, so the Armenian GM agreed to a draw.

Sheva clenched his fist unconsciously as he muttered, 'Fucking finally!'