Chapter 132: Praggnanandhaa’s PoV!
The 17-year-old Grandmaster Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu was not having a great time currently. He came a long way from his homeland, India, to Reykjavik to win and sweep the entire tournament, and yet, what had he found here?
A disappointment.
Yeah, it was still the third day of the tournament, yet he found his rhythm to be pretty chaotic. Even though he managed to win his first game, he failed to capitalize on his advantage in the second one, being forced to a draw against an old and washed IM from England, causing his rating to go down pretty badly. Then, as if God of chess wanted to rub it on his face, now, in the third game of the tournament, he fought against a no-named player with the rating of 2100 who played like Alireza Firouzja or any other beast on top of the world.
It was so frustrating when even the world itself seemed to fight against him.
’No, Gukesh would’ve laughed when he saw me in this state.’ Praggnanandhaa shook his head, remembering that his rival was still here. ’I need to keep going and wait. There is no way he could play so accurately for the rest of the game. Be patient and don’t make a mistake again!’
Unfortunately, his opponent—Adrian Sheva, if he didn’t remember it wrong—played like a machine today, moving so accurately for more than twenty moves in a row. It was so crazy that a 2100-rated player could do that, somehow reminding him of his past. Then came the disaster, when his mind somehow slipped as he made this horrible mistake. He slid his rook on the wrong file, causing it to get trapped by his own pieces. As a result, he had to sacrifice it for nothing, and even without looking at the evaluation bar, he knew his position had worsened in a second.
’Oh, God... What am I doing here...’ Praggnanandhaa groaned inwardly. ’That is a horrible mistake! How could I make such a rookie move like that?!’ He questioned himself.
Now that it was a rook, a bishop, a queen, and seven pawns against two rooks, a queen, and six pawns, Praggnanandhaa had the right to feel uneasy straight away. Even though he tried his best not to show it to the entire world—especially to the opponent in front of him—Praggnanandhaa was sweating profusely right now.
The back of his shirt was drenched as if he had just finished a full marathon. He was so nervous, hoping that somehow, his opponent would tilt soon. After all, any result other than a win would hurt his rating a lot, especially since his opponent’s rating was 500 below his. Hell, even a mere draw would feel like a defeat, as he would lose probably around 10 rating points instantly.
’Come on... Just make a mistake already...’
Unfortunately, everything really didn’t go as he wanted it to be right now. His opponent played perfectly, not even giving him any chance to breathe. Praggnanandhaa didn’t know how, but his opponent always made the perfect move that he thought would be, even finding the hardest move ever to be seen on the board. It was ridiculous how there would be a strong player who was still around 2100 here.
However, he managed to stay patient the whole time, and in the end, the boy finally reaped the fruit of it. The moment that he had been waiting for finally came, as his opponent finally made a mistake.
The mistake itself was very small, an unfortunate inaccuracy. Hell, Praggnanandhaa himself could understand why the mistake was on the board. Even though his opponent was in the lead, it was clear that he didn’t like the cramped space in the back. So, his opponent wanted to push the F rook to the sixth rank, trying to form a battery in the next turn to put pressure on the F file.
*Author note: If you want to visualize the position better, check the comment below.
It was a decent thought, yet somehow, the computer evaluated that as a mistake.
This move gave Praggnanandhaa enough reason to let his bishop, which was on a horrible square, get out with a check, and after winning a tempo here, he also followed it up by letting his terrible rook get out, getting supported by his queen to pursue the opponent’s queen. The evaluation bar also jumped instantly, from giving the advantage to his opponent by –1.8, now it was back to an equal game again.
’Yesh! I am back at it again!’ Praggnanandhaa clenched his fist in victory, somehow not even realizing that he treated his opponent as if it were him against a top player, not just a mere 2100-rated player. ’Now, what would you do?!’
Somehow, he felt smug after noticing that his opponent also realized the mistake. Looking at his opponent, who groaned just like he did earlier, Praggnanandhaa felt like the world seemed to be pretty fair here. Of course, this mistake only turned the game back to the equal state, and if he wanted to win, he had to start putting more pressure on his opponent’s side again.
Unfortunately, just like his last mistake, it seemed that the blunder his opponent had just committed earlier would also be the last one to be seen on that side for today. They played back and forth for a while, moving their pieces all over the board to try and get something here. However, they could only meet the brick wall set by the opponent’s defense here.
For Praggnanandhaa, he couldn’t do anything to break through the opponent’s defense without sacrificing anything, as the two connected black rooks on the F file really did a good job protecting the black king from any harm.
Meanwhile, for the opponent himself, even though he was up to a rook compared to Praggnanandhaa’s bishop, the fact that the Indian boy himself could make four unbreakable connected pawns while also getting supported by the bishop also made it impossible for him to get any advantage here. Even with two rooks against one bishop and one rook, the opponent still couldn’t find a way to break his defense.
In the end, they shuffled their pieces aimlessly, and after playing for 52 moves, they both found that there was nothing they could do and offered a handshake here, ending the game in an upsetting draw for Praggnanandhaa’s side.