Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 416: Will He Become a GM Today?

"Hey, Shev! Have you done taking your breakfast? The hotel has something good on the menu today!"

"How are you doing, Shev? Don’t be too tense, okay? Even if you lose, your chance is still pretty much open!" 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Sheva, why are you so pale today? Have you not slept well? Come here, have something fresh! This will help turn on your brain!"

"Good luck today, Shev! I know you wouldn’t disappoint yourself!"

Sheva couldn’t help but have his mouth twitching madly. It was still early in the morning, yet somehow, everyone was making a fuss about him for nothing. Well... It wasn’t for nothing, per se. Sheva knew full well why their reaction was so exaggerated.

After Novendra did it in 2019, Sheva was going to be the next Indonesian player who would become a grandmaster. Although it was a bit pitiful for the entire country to celebrate thislittle achievement, it showed how bad the environment was back home for chess to develop.

However, this reaction was indeed a little bit exaggerated. Hell, they were even more nervous than he was, and Claudia kept latching on to his sidesince he came out of his room today. She might not want to admit it out loud, but the girl had already grown closer to Sheva, and she was afraid that he would fail everyone’s expectations.

"Don’t worry, Ia." Sheva patted her head fondly. "We will celebrate my title tonight. For now, just focus on your own game first, okay? No need to overthink. The same could be said for the rest of you guys! It is I who is going to fight for the title, so why is it you who are more nervous here?" He chuckled out loud, letting the others get embarrassed a little bit.

"You brat! Try to take it seriously!" Medina sighed helplessly. However, a slight curl on the corner of her lips was enough to tell everyone that her nervousness started to ebb away. "You don’t know about this, but the higher-ups are following your journey intently. Let me tell you that Mister Anies chatted with me last night, asking if you are ready or not."

"Mister Anies?!" Sheva blinked his eyes in surprise, definitely not expecting this development.

Anies Baswedan was the Governor of Jakarta, the person who gave Sheva the house he currently lives in. He only met that man once, and honestly, the boy didn’t make any impression on him. After all, the meeting was so short, and that happened in his exhausted period after landing back home.

Still, Sheva couldn’t help but feel touched here. After all, the man genuinely asked about him through Medina in such a crucial situation, so he should be following Sheva’s journey.

"I will thank him personally after today’s round is over." Sheva nodded solemnly.

"Not only him, but Old Man Wahyu and the others also show their concern." Bagas chimed in. "You don’t know, Old Man Nabiel kept asking Sarah last night about your preparation, which really annoyed the hell out of me!" He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Wait, how do you know that he kept calling her? And why are you so annoyed about that?" Sheva suddenly narrowed his eyes at Bagas. "Don’t tell me..." He trailed his words behind. However, the others figured out his implication and turned to the couple in disbelief.

"W—What are you talking about?!" Sarah stuttered, her face turned bright red. "We just edited the new video for our channels together! Nothing more and nothing less!" She tried to defend herself weakly.

"Editing video, huh... Sure..." Medina said sarcastically.

"Anyway, what about you guys?" Bagas coughed a little, trying to change the topic immediately. "Sheva is not the only one who is going to have a tough day, right?" His question forced them all to wake up, as, indeed, the other pairings were quite difficult.

Laysa, who won her game yesterday and bounced back after the defeat in the second round, would have to face a strong Indian IM, Aditya Mittal. Meanwhile, Medina’s luck was far worse, as the woman got paired against Amin Tabatabei, the fourth-seeded player of the tournament. As for the rest, their opponents were basically around 2300 to 2400, so while those were still pretty difficult, at least, they were quite confident that they could get something today.

"Don’t worry about us, we will be okay." Medina grinned widely. "If anything, it is you who needs to be careful!" She narrowed her eyes dangerously at Bagas.

"Me?!" Bagas pointed his finger at himself with a dumbfounded face.

"Yes, you!" Medina pointed her finger at Sheva’s chest to emphasize her point more. "You always let your emotions take over yourself, forgetting about everything else! But for today, you cannot do that, okay? Don’t let your carelessness ruin this historical moment for Sheva, or it will not just be me who you have to answer to!"

Bagas gulped nervously, knowing that this was a woman whom he couldn’t offend.

"Don’t worry, Sister Medina. I will keep her in line." Sarah smiled sweetly, which only made the boy squirm more. Seeing this, Sheva couldn’t help but chuckle, somehow feeling like his best friend was whipped completely.

He also appreciated the fact that no one tried to make a big deal about this situation. Well, the way they acted showed that this was a big deal, but they didn’t say anything to put pressure on him. All of them kept emphasizing that today was just like any other day, and they didn’t really treat it specially. However, because of that, Sheva knew that they were the ones who hoped for him to thrive the most here.

’With them being like this, losing is not really an option, right?’ He clenched his fist unconsciously.

"Don’t put pressure on yourself too much." Anna patted his hand gently, noticing that Sheva’s mind was starting to get distracted again. "Just know that no matter what happens today, we all have your back. Just don’t overthink about anything and go with all your might, okay? Don’t leave any regret for the future!"