Chapter 112: The Chosen Tournament
"So, you are going to play in Iceland?" Claudia sighed as she put her body on the table lazily. "Man... I am so jealous... Do you think I could get the same treatment if I asked Bagas?"
"Ia!" Anna hissed immediately, feeling embarrassed for her sister’s rudeness.
Sheva himself just scratched the back of his head awkwardly. It had been two days since the decision was made, and he had just gotten a chance to inform those two girls. The boy knew that Claudia was joking here, but in hindsight, he should’ve expected this kind of reaction, as not a lot of people would be fortunate enough to have the same opportunity as him.
Hell, saying ’not a lot’ itself didn’t quite reflect the reality. After all, who would be lucky enough to get a sponsor who was willing to pay everything without any question while they were still on the bottom tier of the community? Except for some of them who came from wealthy families, Sheva was very sure that he was one of the very few who were lucky enough here.
Still, he tried not to make this a burden, but more of a motivation to improve his career. After all, Sergei said in the past that those low-rated youngsters were either they who hadn’t had a chance to play in a high-ranked tournament yet or they who had never received any proper guidance, and now that Sheva had them both, there was no reason for him to stay on the bottom tier of the chess society for too long.
"Anyway, why would you choose the Iceland one?" Claudia asked curiously. "If you think logically, should Spain be a better fit one for you? I mean, temperature-wise, Spain is definitely warmer, and if we talked about food, theirs also pretty much closer and more acceptable for us Asian People. You would be able to adapt more easily in Spain, right?"
Well... That was a fair argument, something that Sheva had never thought about before. He was too immersed in the chess itself that he forgot his performance could be affected by external factors like that. Still, even after realizing this matter, Sheva still believed that he wouldn’t change his mind, not when Bagas’s arguments themselves were pretty logical.
—A little flashback—
"You want me to play for the Reykjavik one?" Sheva crooked one of his eyebrows questioningly after hearing his best friend’s opinion. "Any reason why?"
"Well, I can give you three reasons here," Bagas said. "First, the average rating of the participants here is higher, meaning your chance to face a higher-level player would be higher, which also correlates to your chance to improve your rating. Fair enough?"
Sheva nodded, could see the point here. He himself also preferred this Reykjavik Open after knowing that the average rating there was higher. Still, he wanted to know the other two reasons that Bagas had here.
"Secondly," Bagas continued. "You are an Indonesian, a country in the Asian continent. You wouldn’t have a lot of contact with those Spanish players in the first tournament in the future, so I don’t think playing them is necessary. Instead, in the Reykjavik Open, six out of the ten top-rated players are Indian, and sooner or later, you will have a lot of clashes against them. It is better for you to get used to it starting from now rather than getting caught off guard in a future important event like the Asian Championship or something like that."
That was also a good reason. Instead of playing in the Spanish tournament, where most of them were local or European players, it would be better to play in a tournament where a lot of Indian players were there. In the future, there would be a lot of continental tournaments that would force Sheva to play against those Indian prodigies, so it was better to test the water and check how big the gap was between him and them.
"Lastly, it is easier for me to get permission to do a live broadcast in Reykjavik compared to if you played in the first tournament." Bagas grinned as he stated the last reason. At Sheva’s disbelief gaze, he shrugged, adding, "What? Anna Cramling would also be playing there! You know, the blond beauty streamer? She got the permission to broadcast her whole tournament on her streaming account, and since there is a predecessor here, it is easier for me to ask for the same permission. It is important to keep promoting your game, you know?"
—End of the flashback—
Sheva could feel Anna and Claudia’s deadpanned gazes as he finished his explanation, especially for the last reason. Still, they couldn’t blame Bagas, especially when the idea itself worked really well. Just now, Sheva’s name had already catapulted into one of the best rising stars in the Indonesian chess world, even to the point that he was better than Arfan. Although Sheva was confident that he could achieve that in the future, it wasn’t the case for now. It was more like a successful PR rather than a confirmed fact, and honestly, even though it was awkward and uncomfortable, Sheva had no choice but to accept that silently.
"Enough about me!" Sheva suddenly clapped his hands, snapping the awkward silence there. "What about you guys? Any tournament to play in the near future?" He asked.
"Us?" Both Anna and Claudia stared at each other for a moment before shrugging a little. "Yes, we have one, but it is not as glorious as yours," Claudia answered playfully.
"Don’t listen to her, Shev." Anna rolled her eyes in exasperation. "We are preparing ourselves for the Southeast Asian Games next May, so we will not play in any tournament for the next month. Also, representing the country for such a tournament is a big deal, you know?"
"Yeah, if only I could play..." Claudia grumbled in a low voice. "Don’t you know that I am just a reserved member?"
"You will have your chance in the future, don’t be a brat."
Sheva just stared at their antics with amusement, having been used by their bickering like this. They were just like any ordinary siblings in the world, going to be the first to cry whenever someone defeated their sister, but still bickering nonstop outside as if they were old enemies.
Still, Sheva also took a note about the name of the tournament, intending to ask Bagas about that later.
He wanted to say something to interrupt their banters here, but before the boy could do that, his phone suddenly rang, catching everyone’s attention. Sheva took out his phone from the trousers pocket, frowning when he saw the name of the person who had called him.
"Master Irfan? Why would he call me at this time?"