Chapter 133: Gaining a New Friend?!
"Oh, gosh... I am so close..." Sheva groaned weekly, feeling irritated that he couldn’t capitalize on his advantage earlier. Even though a draw itself was not a bad result for him, it felt like something felt amiss here, especially since there was a moment where he was completely on the lead. "Where did everything go wrong?" He frowned, recalling everything that had happened on the board.
Praggnanandhaa, on the other side of the board, couldn’t understand what he was saying since he spoke in Indonesian. However, having played chess for a long time, the Indian boy could understand the frustration on his opponent’s side, so out of respect, he decided to help Sheva here.
"The rook moving to F6 let me win a tempo earlier," Praggnanandhaa explained with a thick Indian accent.
"Um?" Sheva was taken aback, not expecting that his opponent would be kind enough to evaluate the game together with him. "You mean when I was trying to form a battery on the F file?" He frowned, recalling the game earlier.
"Indeed, I think that was your only mistake." The Indian boy nodded. "I know that you didn’t like the cramped space for your king, but my bishop’s threat was so close to null that you shouldn’t be worried about that. Instead, you could’ve just taken my B pawn, or if you really want to get away from the threat, move your king before I could check you."
"Hmm... Is that so..." Sheva pondered over the boy’s words. However, it didn’t take long before his frown deepened once again. "No, that shouldn’t be the case here. I mean, even with me doing all of that, you will still try to get your bishop on E6, right? I mean, that would strengthen your chain pawns, so no matter what I did, you would still do the same. Does that mean that my mistake is in the move order here? No, that shouldn’t be the case here. What is the difference?" He was lost in thought once again, not even realizing that Praggnanandhaa was staring at him admiringly.
Yeah, it would be a lie for Praggnanandhaa to say that he wasn’t impressed here. After all, there were not a lot of people who could catch up with his mind so quickly like this. Of course, there were a few Indian geniuses like Arjun Erigaisi, Gukesh Dommaraju, or Nihal Sarin who were capable of doing that. However, their playing styles were quite different, so it was hard for Praggnanandhaa to find a like-minded person like Sheva.
"Ah, I get it!" Sheva suddenly mumbled, widening his eyes in realization. "The purpose of taking your pawn is to open the F file, right? That way, I could infiltrate my rook directly at F3 instead of just putting it on F6. Then, rook C3, bishop E6, king G7, rook E1, then within the next few moves, I could finally simplify the game by either rook or queen exchange, right?"
"Exactly!" Praggnanandhaa exclaimed excitedly, not even realizing that he was analyzing with his opponent why he didn’t lose the game earlier. "You could also try this..."
"But then, you would be able to do this, right?"
"No, that should be impossible..."
"No, no, it is possible! You could just ignore my pieces and..."
"But that would give you an advantage!"
"The risk is worth trying, though!"
None of them realized that they had been discussing about this game for a while, and some players who had already finished their games and walked away couldn’t help but feel dumbfounded when they saw the sight of two young men talking animatedly like this.
Sheva himself also didn’t realize that they had spent a lot of time here. He really savored every second of this discussion, never finding that analyzing a game with the like-minded player would be so enjoyable. Yeah, after chatting with Praggnanandhaa for more than five minutes, he realized that their ideas were quite a match, and their way of thinking on the chessboard wasn’t really that different. It was just that Praggnanandhaa was more experienced—even though they were basically the same age—and had already seen more games compared to Sheva, so his reference was better here.
"You know what? I am impressed here." Praggnanandhaa suddenly praised him out of nowhere. "Your analysis is on point, and your level is way higher than 2100, you know? It is quite strange that your rating is still that low. You are definitely a huge trap for whoever is expecting an easy game against a low-rated player." The Indian boy smiled wryly, knowing that he was one of the victims here.
"Ah... I have only been playing this game formally for about three months..." Sheva rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, somehow feeling the need to give this information. He would deny it if anyone pointed out that he wanted to show off here.
"Three months? Yeah, that is impressive indeed." Praggnanandhaa nodded solemnly. "Anyway, want to exchange contact?" He suddenly offered, catching Sheva off guard.
"Um?! Are you sure that you want to exchange contact with me?!" Sheva pointed at himself in disbelief.
Well, his reaction was quite understandable, as he himself was still a no-name player. Compared to a genius like Praggnanandhaa, who was already on par with some of the best players in the world, it was as if the Indian boy was lowering his dignity by accepting this kind of friendship.
However, it seemed that Praggnanandhaa himself didn’t quite care about such a trivial matter like that.
"Of course, I am sure." The Indian boy nodded firmly, confirming his words again. "I mean, it is rare that I find someone who has a similar style to me and could match my thinking. As for your rating... Well, if three months could get you this far, I am sure that you will be standing on the same level as me and the other top players in no time. I mean, that is if you really want to try, I guess."
Sheva was stunned, not even believing that the Indian boy in front of him would offer such a genuine friendship just like that, even though his status was still at the bottom of the community. Hell, it was just yesterday that he doubted himself whether he could stand on the highest level or not, yet here he was, getting assured by someone at the same age as him, someone who had already been there, that he could do it if he wanted.
Somehow, he was touched by this small gesture.
"So, what do you think?" Praggnanandhaa asked once again, and this time, the smile on his face basically told Sheva that the boy knew his answer already.
"Fine, you win." Sheva smiled helplessly. "Let’s exchange contact later. For now, we need to leave the venue first."