Chapter 120: Claudia VS Vignir Vatnar Stefannson
Meanwhile, on table 44, Claudia was also fighting for her life. However, unlike Sheva’s game that turned into a wild and uncontrollable chaos, she still went for her favorite game, a positional warfare and the theoretical battle. Playing with white, she decided to go for the classic and boring Italian game, something that definitely suited her playing style.
Her opponent, Vignir Vatnar Stefannson, somehow also had a similar slow and steady playing style. That was why the game turned into a slow tug-of-war battle, with them both trying to outmatch each other in terms of patience.
One hour had already passed since the game began, and it was surprising to see that the position was almost symmetrical on the board. All the four knights were already on the kingside trying to protect their respective kings, four rooks also stared at each other on the D and E files even though the pawn blockade on the center of the board still blocked their line of sight, four bishops were on the center to protect the middle, and the two queens were supporting from the second line for whenever any collapse happened on their own side. Everything was equal, and both sides were still waiting for each other to make a breakthrough.
*Author note: If you want to visualize the position better, check the comment below.
The engine itself gave +0.6 as the evaluation, showing that Claudia had a slight advantage in this situation. However, in a positional warfare like this, any advantage below +1 could be ignored, as everything was still too complicated to be judged as one side gaining the momentum. Still, in this case, it was clear that Claudia was the first one to try to force a pawn break here.
First, she pushed all the C, D, and E pawns to the fourth rank, trying to put pressure on the center of the board. Then, once Stefannson got baited into doing the same, she started to chop down everything in the middle, forcing piece exchanges, and in the end, settling with half of the pieces on the board gone already. Although the evaluation bar itself didn’t change by even half a centimeter, at least this showed Claudia’s determination to change the situation on the board.
’I have been practicing with Big Sis and that man for a long time...’ The little girl thought inwardly, remembering all the sparring games she had had against those two people in the past. ’If I couldn’t even learn anything from them, I would probably be the stupidest person on the planet! No, I couldn’t do that! I have to take initiative here!’
After a while, almost all the major pieces had already been exchanged and taken away from the board. Now, both players only had one bishop of the opposite color and two rooks, yet somehow, Claudia was up a pawn here. The position itself was still pretty equal, and finally, after almost one and a half hours of playing, they were about to enter the endgame phase, the most crucial stage in the game of chess.
Claudia was pretty excited when she saw this situation. Besides the fact that this kind of calculating game was her favorite, she had honed her endgame skills together with Anna and Sheva for about a month under Sergei’s guidance, and this was probably the first time she had a chance to test it.
’Now, it is time to see how far I have improved under Master Sergei’s guidance...’ The girl clenched her little fist, staring at the board intently.
It seemed that today, God was completely on the Indonesian players’ side, though. Just like in Sheva’s game, somehow, Claudia’s opponent tilted in a crucial moment. Instead of staying on the D file to protect his bishop, Stefannson somehow made a questionable decision by trying to get his rook to sneak from the B file. This gave Claudia a chance to pursue his bishop relentlessly, and once Stefannson’s attention was on it, she could push her A and B pawns forward to pressure the man on the queenside.
*Author note: If you want to visualize the position better, check the comment below.
Claudia’s eyes lit up instantly when she saw this, and Stefannson also regretted this move immediately after he realized that he had screwed up his position here. Unfortunately, this was the cruelty of the endgame. Even if he was somehow able to play perfectly for more than thirty moves, one tiny mistake like this was enough to destroy all of his effort instantly.
’Yes! This is it!’ Claudia got excited immediately. ’This is my chance to beat someone 400 points higher than my rating! Winning this game will be a huge improvement for my rating!’
However, a moment later, the girl took a deep breath, shaking her head quickly, trying to get rid of that thought as far away as possible. If there was one thing that Claudia learned about endgame, it was not to count the chickens before they hatched. It was important not to think about the final outcome before it happened, as any single mistake could just destroy everything she fought for the entire day. That was why, in this kind of situation, she needed to maintain her composure the most.
’Okay, let’s treat this slowly...’ Claudia took another deep breath, glancing at her opponent sideways. She could also see that the man started to lose composure here. Even though the temperature inside the venue wasn’t that high, the girl could still see sweat starting to roll on the man’s forehead. ’Now, the pressure is on him. I just need to play the best move possible, trying not to make any silly mistakes, and that’s it. The game is in my hand. I can do this!’
For the next twenty minutes, both players shifted their pieces quickly, trying to improve their respective situation on the board. Unfortunately for Stefannson, Claudia was in charge right now. First, she managed to force a rook exchange, turning the game into a simple bishop and rook game. With one pawn advantage, Claudia was confident that she would be able to win it all.
However, Stefannson also showed the stubbornness and pride that any high-rated player would have. The man refused to give up, trying to drag the entire game to an endurance fight and wait for Claudia to tilt. He forced the game into the 70th move, and Claudia even started to sweat since she still couldn’t find the win on the board.
Then, when everything looked bleak, the God of Chess finally smiled at Claudia.
Facing his own time that started to get closer to zero, Stefannson panicked, and he made probably the biggest blunder of the day. He brought his own king to the same file as his bishop, allowing Claudia’s rook to fork them both in one go. When Claudia noticed that, her exhaustion suddenly disappeared, and at that exact moment, she knew that everything was over.
’I win...’