Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 446: Good News & Great News

"Ordinary news and great news?" Sheva was taken aback, furrowing his brows a little. "Should it be bad news and great news?" He couldn’t help but ask, speaking from his mind. Hearing that, Bagas paused, turning his eyes away from his phone to Sheva speechlessly.

"What kind of movie did you just watch earlier?" The fat boy couldn’t help but retort.

"Well, that should be my question! What kind of movie did you just watch? It is you who throws the format here, you know?!" Sheva retorted back.

They kept throwing banter at each other for a moment before finally stopping once one of them entered the landmine area, starting to go for an insult. "Anyway, let’s start with the ordinary one first. Let’s just hope that it is going to be a good appetizer." Sheva finally decided.

"Well, it seems that your support for Hans has become the trigger for the wave of support to be announced on Twitter," Bagas said, unlocking his phone. "Not necessarily supporting Hans, per se, but a lot of people start to condemn Magnus’s reckless act to start the witch hunt. Here, even MVL himself also chose to be on your side."

Sheva leaned ahead, reading the content on the phone. Indeed, the French Legend, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, also tweeted about how this was bad for the community, even mentioning Sheva’s tweet as well. With the backing of a top player on that side, another wave of support also came, with some of the prominent GMs also jumping on the boat.

Sheva himself also remembered that a few days ago, amidst the wave of criticism and accusations of him cheating and in the same league as Hans, the American GM also sent a private message to his account.

GMHansNM: Thanks for siding with me. I owe you one. No need to get involved in this mess, I’ll handle everything.

The message was short, and it was clear that Hans wasn’t having a good time back home. However, what Sheva and Bagas didn’t know, though, was that Hans was very grateful that Sheva was the first one who spoke up for him against Magnus himself in public. It meant a lot, especially since Sheva was the first one doing so, which meant half of the criticism that Hans received would be transferred to him.

Sheva didn’t have to do that. The boy could just wait for a moment until a prominent player spoke before riding the wave. That way, he wouldn’t be affected too much by public opinion. However, Sheva didn’t do that and went straight to the point, which made the American GM feel grateful to him.

Still...

"Why is this ordinary news?" Sheva asked with a frown. "Should this be a good thing?"

"Well, yeah, but the amount of criticism you receive is also quite high, so it negates all the support for you." Bagas shrugged. "I mean, even Nepo—Ian Nepomniachtchi, I mean—said in a Russian podcast that he would want the anti-cheating device to be tightened in any tournament involving you and Hans, finding your achievement in Dubai and Chennai to be suspicious as well. So, you can expect a harsher treatment from the organizer in the next tournament you play."

Sheva frowned when he heard that. While he had expected some big names to come and try to kill him, he didn’t expect it would be Nepo. Well, he himself didn’t have any impression on the Russian super GM other than the fact that he would play in the World Chess Championship next December, but this news cemented the thought of who he should support in that event.

"Let’s just hope that Ding Liren can show his best performance there." He muttered under his breath.

"Ha! You and your pettiness." Bagas shook his head, knowing that his best friend was fuming right now. "Anyway, don’t you want to hear the good news too?" He changed the topic again before Sheva’s mind spiralled further into negativity.

"Oh, yeah! What news?" Sheva shook his head quickly.

"Well, this is really out of my expectations, but..." He smiled mischievously, letting his words trail behind for the dramatic effect. "Your email for the Tata Steel Chess has been replied to, and you are now officially invited to the Challenger Section next January!"

"FUCK!" Sheva choked instantly, staring at his best friend in disbelief. "Really?!"

"Yeah! Really!" Bagas grinned, knowing how Sheva wanted to play in this tournament. "Here, the list is even announced on their website!" He slid his phone to Sheva’s hand.

Still with trembling hand, Sheva accepted the phone, reading the list carefully from top to bottom.

2023 Tata Steel Challengers, 13–29 January 2023, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands

GM Amin Tabatabaei (Iran)—2686

GM Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan)—2654

GM Jerguš Pecháč (Slovakia)—2631

GM Alexander Dorchenko (Germany)—2627

...

...

GM Adrian Sheva (Indonesia)—2529

...

...

Sheva didn’t really pay attention to the names there, just the name in the third place from the bottom. His name. Yeah, with the label of Indonesia proudly hanging behind. The GM title in front of his name. That was real. Everything was real.

"FUCK!" He cursed once again, but this time, out of excitement. "How could you just tell me now?! You should’ve just told me from the beginning, you fucker!" He got his best friend in a weak and playful neck lock.

"Ah! Have mercy! Have mercy!" Bagas tapped Sheva’s thin hand on his neck repeatedly, finding it difficult to breathe. After he was released, the boy couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh before saying, "It’s not my fault that you chose the ordinary news first! Blame yourself, Bastard!"

Sheva felt the corner of his mouth twitching, yet he couldn’t deny it. Still, he was curious, though. "While I have already expected something like this to happen, why would they suddenly accept my request?"

"It should be because of Hans’s scandal," Bagas answered immediately. It was clear that he had thought about this matter beforehand. At Sheva’s questioning gaze, he continued, "Before, your only appeal was that individual gold medal in the Olympiad, which should be enough to put you in any high-level invitational tournament, by the way. But this time, with this scandal, the organizer of Tata Steel Chess wants to use that opportunity to become the one who reveals your secret. If you are cheating, just like everyone said, their anti-cheating measurement would go viral for its accuracy, and if you didn’t really cheat, they would become the first ones to tell the world the birth of a legend. Overall, they will not lose anything, and maybe even winning some reputation in the community."

Sheva nodded silently, processing the hypothesis inside his head. He had to admit, though, that Bagas was not wrong here. Still...

"So, no matter what happened, I would always be under a lot of scrutiny, huh?" He asked lowly, his eyes still locked on the phone.

At Bagas’s nod, a small smirk spread from ear to ear as he chuckled. "Fun! That means I just have to slap them in the face, right? Man, I cannot wait for that day to come!"

-0-

Author’s note: Hey, everyone! I just write a new novel as an entry to the WSA 2026 competition, with the title of ’I Am the God of Football in the Fantasy World’. Please, help me support this new novel by adding it to the library and leave your comment in it. Thank you!