Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!

"Yes! The handshake is formed by both players!" Bagas roared excitedly, and even Sheva, next to him, was also jumping from his chair with the same energy. "The agreement has been made! Laysa wins her game, stealing the first point for Indonesia!"

Hilda99: Let's fucking gooooo!

Bronxist: She might not be as impressive as Sheva, but damn, Laysa is probably the second-best youngster in our country!

Chiko569: Hell, yeah! I think that she is even better than Anna and Claudia!

RonaldOSIu007: Hell, yeah! You rock, girl!

The result also shocked all the players on the same table, especially the Indian ones. They all knew how strong Vaishali was, and the girl had made such a huge leap in the last couple of months that she was so close to getting her GM title. No one expected that the girl would be beaten by a nobody like Laysa in such an important round like this.

As for the Indonesian team, all the players there clenched their fists under the table, and if not for their game being far from over yet, they would've stood and high-fived the girl for her amazing performance here. Hell, even Claudia, who was always hostile toward the girl, couldn't help but admire Laysa right now, feeling like her sister's rival was untouchable at this stage. This should've been her fourth win in this tournament, and with the draw she received against the French player in the last round, Laysa was definitely one of the front-runners for the medal on board 4.

This also lifted the spirits of the Indonesian players there, as Laysa's win put them in the lead for this matchup. As long as the other three could hold on until the end, they would be able to create probably one of the biggest upsets in this tournament by taking down the top-seeded team, as the country whose initial rank was below 20.

The mere thought of that was enough to excite them all, and even Irene and Medina, who were currently getting suppressed by their respective opponent, couldn't help but feel like God breathed a new life upon them, giving those two veterans another chance to not disappoint Laysa, who had been working hard in this tournament.

Claudia herself also felt the determination to follow Laysa's step. Although she was always cold and hostile toward Laysa since the older girl always teased her sister, Claudia still respected her, albeit begrudgingly. Not that she would say it out loud, of course, but in Indonesia, Laysa was probably the only girl who could fight back and forth against Anna, and that was enough to make Claudia respect her a lot.

This time, even though she had already entered a tough and meaningless endgame against Tania Sachdev that usually would lead to a draw, the girl was determined to create something, wanting to follow the girl's step to put Indonesia one step closer to creating a miracle.

'Yeah, I can do this!' Her gaze sharpened, staring at the chessboard with killing intent. 'I cannot disappoint Big Sis, Laysa, Sheva, and everyone who is supporting me right now!'

Of course, Laysa herself couldn't know what the others were thinking about her right now. No, currently, she was entangled in a deep discussion with Vaishali about this game, and the girl couldn't help but feel some sort of camaraderie here.

"I was too cautious in this game, wasting away all the tactical advantage that I could achieve," Vaishali said in barely a whisper, with her voice containing regret. "I mean, I could get your E5 pawn far earlier in the game by advancing my G pawn far ahead, but I don't want to take a risk there."

"Yeah, I can understand your feelings here." Laysa nodded in understanding. "Usually, I would've just sacrificed all of my pieces without hesitation when I saw a chance, screw with the consequence. But when I saw I had a knight sacrifice on the board, I hesitated before finally throwing away that idea."

"Girl, I see that sequence too! I thought you missed it deliberately!" Vaishali gasped in surprise. "I was so happy that you missed that, but I overthought it, thinking that you had some sort of a hidden plan!"

"So, we are really overthinking about it, and being too cautious for nothing, eh?"

"Yeah, probably…"

A bond was suddenly formed between the two teenage girls. Even though Laysa was three years younger, they could still connect to each other pretty seamlessly, chatting and giggling even in the middle of the tournament like this. Hell, Vaishali didn't really look like she had just been beaten in this game. If anything, her cheerfulness was pretty contagious here, and combined with Laysa's hyperactive nature, those two seemed to have the best day of their life.

Even their respective teammates stopped their game for a moment, staring at them in disbelief. If it were an opponent, they could use it to complain to the arbiter to disturb the opponent's rhythm. However, their teammate was also involved in this shenanigan, so it would be embarrassing to complain about this.

Fortunately, it seemed that the arbiter also noticed the awkward situation on the table. In the end, the middle-aged man with a bald head and a formal suit suddenly coughed, trying to get Laysa and Vaishali's attention.

"I am sorry for disturbing you, ladies, but your voice seems to distract your teammates here. Maybe you can go first outside of the building before continuing your chat?" He asked politely.

"Oh, we are sorry!" Laysa gasped, realizing that this was not the appropriate place to chat.

"Yes! We didn't realize we were disturbing the others! We will have to go first!" Vaishali also rose from her chair in panic.

As those two stammered away, a peaceful silence fell once again on the table. However, the situation on the board was far from being peaceful, as everyone was fighting for their lives right now. No, everything went pretty violently on the other three boards, and not a single one of them was close to being a draw. Even though Laysa had already given the first point for Indonesia, it was far from being a reassurance that they would get a good result, as anything could happen in this matchup.

After waiting for a while, the first decisive move was finally made on board 2, where Medina suddenly made a mistake, and Harika Dronavalli saw that instantly. Right after that, Madina's face dropped as she realized that she just gave India's team a chance to equalize the score, wasting away all of Laysa's effort on board 3.

'Goddamnit! How could I make such a rookie mistake like this?!'