Chapter 130: Sheva VS Praggnanandhaa!
The new day finally arrived again, and somehow, Sheva felt bad when he saw the deep bags under Claudia and Irene’s eyes. They stayed up quite late last night, and as a result, their quality of sleep was pretty bad, making Sheva worried that it would affect their performance today. It seemed Claudia also noticed his worried gaze, as she suddenly smiled with mischief and said, "Sheva, I want to have two portions of Chinese fried rice later, okay?"
Irene was stunned, but when she saw the mischievousness in the little girl’s eyes, she couldn’t help but add, "Kung Pao chicken and wonton soup for me, okay?"
Sheva could feel his mouth twitching when he heard that, yet somehow, this also gave him a sense of relief as they didn’t have any intention to blame him. Knowing that they did this just to ease the tension here, he answered with the same tone, "Well, sure! I know Bagas is eager to burn some money here."
Bagas, who was still enjoying his breakfast, coughed a little, staring at them all in disbelief. "Wait, how could it suddenly be me?!" He shrieked in shock.
Everyone laughed, enjoying this rare peaceful moment together. Somehow, after spending the entire night preparing for today, they felt at ease in each other’s presence, thinking that today would be a good day. Of course, there was still a hint of nervousness lingering around, especially for Sheva. After all, he was the main protagonist today, and all eyes would be directed at him.
Honestly, he wouldn’t feel this way if only it were a normal game. However, after receiving help from Irene and Claudia—Hell, Bagas even did his part too to compile the data they gathered last night—he was somehow nervous, a little bit afraid that he would lose and disappoint everyone here. It was quite a normal feeling, but since this was probably Sheva’s first time playing under the others’ expectations, he felt like carrying a huge boulder on his back, a pretty suffocating feeling.
Of course, the others noticed his current state too. However, they had already done everything to assure Sheva not to worry about trivial things, so this was his time to get out of the shadow he cast on his own and face his opponent head-on.
As the clock ticked slowly and passed 9 in the morning, they all went together to the venue on foot. Fortunately, they managed to get a hotel that was only five minutes away by walking from the venue, so that they could also save a little bit of money here. As they entered the building, though, Sheva, who was assigned to table 20, could see that his opponent was ready, concentrating on the board while also ignoring the noises from his surroundings.
"Oh, yeah, he is serious here, Sheva." Bagas patted his shoulder pitifully. "Don’t die easily, okay?"
"Good luck, Sheva!" Claudia also hit his back hard, trying to ease his tension. "Don’t be nervous! Just remember what we studied together last night!"
"Claudia is right." Master Irene joined the fun, patting his other shoulder lightly. "Remember, stay calm and don’t make any unnecessary moves. Let him throw the first punch, and when he lowers his guard, strike where it would hurt him the most. You can do this, Sheva, I know it."
Sheva took a deep breath, trying to calm his gut while he nodded. Somehow, their words only became another pressure, yet Sheva didn’t really hate this feeling. It was as if someone really trusted him, and now, he really wanted to ensure that the trust was not misplaced.
"Don’t worry, Guys, I will be okay. Just watch from the sideline, cause I will steal something from Praggnanandhaa here."
-0-
As Sheva went straight to the table he was assigned to, he tried to observe Praggnanandhaa one more time. Honestly, it was quite funny that besides their race and nationality, their build was pretty much similar. They both were quite tall, having tan skin, and quite thin for the boy at their ages. Oh, yeah, they were also the same age here, 16 in transition to 17. Just another similarity that made Sheva feel some sort of connection with his opponent.
Of course, he didn’t voice this out loud. After all, the huge gap between those two basically told him that they were living in a completely different world. Pragg was about to step into the big league where all the heavy hitters were playing, while Sheva himself was still entangled in mud, having to scrap points after points to improve his position first. So, it would be strange for Pragg to suddenly acknowledge him out of nowhere.
’Oh, well, it is not a big deal.’ Sheva comforted himself. ’I am sure that he would notice me instantly once the game starts.’
The next few minutes were spent in a pretty awkward silence, with Sheva himself trying to review all he learned about his opponent last night while Praggnanandhaa closed his eyes tightly, starting to do some sort of meditation. However, it only lasted for a while, as right after that, the alarm finally rang, indicating that the game was about to start.
They both shook hands with each other, and right after that, Praggnanandhaa, who played as the white piece, blitzed his way to the first move. However, the move itself was pretty much unexpected, and Sheva couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth in irritation.
’1.d4? Really? Are you fucking kidding me?!’ He cursed inwardly. ’Where is the fucking Ruy-Lopez that everyone is promising me? This is a fucking joke!’
If Irene and Claudia heard his complaint, they would smack his head hard instantly. After all, they had already told him that the probability of him playing 1.e4 and Ruy-Lopez was just around 60 percent, and that meant there would be around 40 percent he would go for another opening. Unfortunately, this was just a rare moment of Praggnanandhaa not playing 1.e4, so Sheva had no choice but to adapt.
’Tch! Whatever!’ Sheva clicked his tongue in annoyance, snapping all the bad thoughts inside his mind. Then, he moved his F pawn two squares forward, challenging him on the opposite wing directly. ’Well, you want to play 1.d4, right? Let me see how you would handle this!’