Chapter 127: The End of the Second Day
Unfortunately, unlike Sheva, who managed to pull a miracle out of nowhere, Claudia and Irene didn’t have the same luck in their game. Although they tried so hard to defend their position, in the end, they got overwhelmed by the more talented player in front of them.
In Claudia’s case, although she managed to hold Mishra Abhimanyu back for more than twenty moves, her nervous system really betrayed her in the crucial moment. She tilted, and unlike Mads Andersen, the young American grandmaster had a keen eye to notice that immediately, and without giving any mercy, he struck where it would hurt her the most.
She tried so hard to defend her position, but Mishra really pushed her to the edge of the cliff. He overwhelmed the girl on the kingside, forcing all of her pieces to go to the eighth rank just to escape from the relentless pursuit of Mishra’s pieces.
At one moment, looking at the overextended white pieces on the board, Claudia had half of her mind thinking of a way to counter this situation. True enough, she tried her luck by activating her queen, giving one check after another in the hope that it would force at least a draw result here. Unfortunately, Mishra’s king managed to find a safe place that was basically untouchable, forcing Claudia’s queen to go back empty-handed.
If anything, though, this counterattack was definitely the beginning of her downfall, as without her queen, Claudia’s defense crumbled immediately. Mishra managed to plant his pawn on the H6 square, locking down the king’s escape square while also giving room for his pieces to infiltrate the G7 square.
There were slight ups and downs in the game, and honestly, Mishra wasn’t as clinical as everyone thought he would be. However, in the end, he had the job done, eliminating all the threats coming from Claudia and finishing the game cleanly. It wasn’t an even close game, just pure dominance from the beginning to the end.
Meanwhile, the game between Irene and Hans Niemann ended up more tragically. Opting with the closed Sicilian just like Sheva’s game, somehow, Irene went all out, putting pressure on the American prodigy since the beginning of the game. She managed to develop all of her pieces perfectly before Hans could even get out of the pressure, and the woman also had a slight advantage in time, giving her hope that she could get a positive result or even win this game.
However, Hans really showed why he was a genius here. The 19-year-old GM managed to defend well, and not only that, he even sent a counterattack that prevented Irene from castling for the rest of the game. Not only that, but Hans also forced Irene to make a few inaccurate moves that led to him gaining an obvious advantage in the game.
It was clear by the middle game phase that both players had an aggressive playing style. They all basically abandoned their defenses and raced to get into each other’s throats first. One blunder after another kept being made, and the evaluation bar moved up and down violently like it had just finished a full marathon.
What made it tragic, though, was the fact that at some point, Irene really had a chance to win the game. At that time, Hans really overextended his pieces, leaving his defense open to being exploited by Irene’s counterattack. Hell, even the computer engine gave +2.4 for the evaluation, showing that the woman’s advantage was so good it was as if she was up to two full pawns.
Unfortunately, Irene failed to capitalize on the advantage, and not only that, but the constant blunder she made only put her life closer to the death door. In the end, she was even down a whole knight, having to sacrifice it to give a chance for her king to escape. Unfortunately, it was a futile attempt, as in the end, the relentless pursuit from Hans’s queen and two rooks was enough to corner her king into the edge of the board, checkmating her brutally on the king’s original spot.
In the end, after having a good first day, everything was spiraling down for the three Indonesian players, with only Sheva managing to force a draw against a high-ranked Grandmaster Mads Andersen.
Still, while a lot of people were disappointed at this result, none of them blamed the players too much. After all, this kind of result was already expected, especially considering how strong their opponents were. Hell, besides Mishra Abhimanyu, whose rating was still just 2524, Mads Andersen and Hans Niemann’s ratings were so high that even Master Susanto Megaranto, the best Indonesian chess player of all time, wouldn’t be able to match them in their peak.
That showed not only how strong the three opponents were, but also how weak Indonesian chess was.
"Eh, no need to pout like that, Ia..." Sheva smirked a little, poking the girl’s cheek playfully. "Come on... You said it yourself that it is normal to get beaten by your opponent, right?"
Yeah, it was after the day was over, and just like usual, all four Indonesians gathered at the small Chinese restaurant for dinner. Sheva snorted amusedly as he saw Claudia pouting like a child, and even Bagas and Irene found this pretty much amusing.
"Well, yeah, it is normal! What is not normal is you, you know?!" Claudia was pointing her finger at him accusingly.
"Me?!" Sheva was taken aback.
"Yeah, you!" Claudia nodded once again in confirmation. "You are just playing chess for what?! Three months?! How could you be so good to force a draw against a GM?! It is not normal at all!"
"Oh, yeah, I am curious about that too." Irene and Bagas, who just sat relaxedly, suddenly turned to him when they heard Claudia’s question. "I mean, what is your secret here? It shouldn’t be just talent, right? I mean, there are a lot of geniuses in the world, but I don’t think I have ever heard someone who could do what you have done here."
Facing the scrutiny of the three people here, Sheva was sweating like a bullet, knowing that he had no good answer to explain this matter. He couldn’t just say that it was all due to the system inside his head, right?
"Anyway!" Sheva coughed awkwardly, opening his phone in a desperate attempt to change the topic here. However, the moment he scrolled through his phone, the boy was stunned at the content that he read, and before the others could ask what was going on, he muttered lowly, "The pairing tomorrow is out!"