Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 448: Watching the World Chess Championship (I)

"Come here, come here!" Irfan’s voice could be heard already the moment Sheva came out of Bagas’s car. "Everyone has been waiting inside! Oh, Bagas, please park your car a little bit further. People will complain if you block the road like that!"

"Sure." Bagas nodded, adjusting the car to Irfan’s request.

Sheva himself groaned, stretching his body a little bit as he inhaled the fresh air outside. Even though the journey from his new house to this place wasn’t that far, the traffic today was quite horrible, trapping them for about two hours on the road.

It was a nice Saturday noon, and right now, they were meeting at Irfan’s house to watch together the final day of the world championship. This was a spontaneous gathering organized by Irfan, who believed that since the community had a lot of talented players, a meeting like this to discuss a high-level match would be a productive day and could even lead to a breakthrough for some players.

Even if Sheva wasn’t really optimistic, he still played along with the idea, coming here with Bagas. Not just him, Anna and Laysa who also earned a medal in the last Olympiad, were also invited, with Irfan hoping that they could share their thoughts and experiences with some weaker players here.

’Master Irfan sure spends a lot to make this meeting successful.’ Sheva couldn’t help but mutter.

While waiting for Bagas to come back, Irfan couldn’t help but ask, "I don’t see Sarah joining. Is there something going on?"

"Oh, nothing else." Sheva shrugged. "She is also a streamer, you know? She still has a schedule to fulfil, and today is her third day of a full week marathon."

"A full week?!" Irfan had his eyes widen in shock.

"Yeah. Crazy, right?" Sheva chuckled. "That’s also my first reaction. I mean, she even continues her stream during her sleeping time, and the number of viewers she gets is still ridiculously high. Sometimes, I really wonder if she has ever done anything shady to attract that many simps to her streaming."

Irfan felt the corner of his lips twitching speechlessly, yet he couldn’t deny Sheva’s words here. Still getting a lot of viewers even though she was sleeping? Is that the new kind of witchcraft?

"What are you lot talking about?" Bagas suddenly appeared, looking at the two grown men—well, one of them is still a teenager—standing still in front of the building’s house.

Sheva gave a side glance before replying, "We are talking about your girlfriend and her ridiculously crazy simps. You know, those who just waited until she woke up on the stream?"

"A—Ah..." This time, even Bagas himself was speechless, not having any argument to defend his girlfriend. "A—Anyway, should we join the others? Who else has already arrived?" He asked abruptly, changing the topic of the conversation in panic.

Both Sheva and Irfan just rolled their eyes at Bagas’s poor attempt to divert attention. However, they decided to play along, with Irfan leading them inside his own house. "Well, both Anna and Claudia are already here, and Laysa said that she would be late. Taher also sent a chat telling me that he is still queuing for snacks, and some others that you might not know are also inside already."

Sheva and Bagas stared at each other at the last tidbit of information, with the former one gulping nervously at the thought of having to meet new people. It wasn’t like Sheva himself was an introvert or allergic to meeting new people, but after his current achievement, coupled with the Hans scandal, where he jumped into the mud foolishly, a lot of people had been coming to him, inviting him for an interview or even a podcast. Everything was fine at the start, but he started to get overwhelmed.

"Anyway, don’t worry, I have already talked to them beforehand," Irfan said, noticing Sheva’s discomfort. "They might be curious about you, but they know where the line is. Just be polite, okay?"

Before Sheva could respond to that, Irfan suddenly pushed another door, revealing the spacious living room with so many people sitting and chilling there. Some, Sheva had already met in the past, while the others were people whom he had only heard of once or twice in the past. The moment he entered the living room, though, it was Claudia who noticed him and reacted first.

"Shev! Bagas! You are here!" She jumped from the carpet excitedly. "Come here! It has been a long time since we played together, right?"

"Urgh..." Sheva glanced at Bagas hesitantly. Fortunately, his best friend came to the rescue.

"We would love to, Ia, but you see people behind you?" The fat boy pointed at the crowd behind her, looking at them curiously. "We have never met some of them before, so it would be rude if we didn’t introduce ourselves first. Hello, Senior, I am Bagas, and you know Sheva, right?" He smiled politely, nudging at Sheva with a subtle move.

"A—Ah! I am Sheva! Nice to meet you, everyone!" Sheva nodded politely.

A short pause seemed to fall in the room, as everyone scanned the boy with their eyes thoroughly, enough to make him uncomfortable. After a while, though, the commotion finally broke with all of them shouting and approaching Sheva enthusiastically.

"Damn! You are the real Sheva?! I have always wanted to see you!"

"Shit! I am a fan! You are so cool in the Olympiad!"

"Hey, you know what is cooler? Scolding Magnus Fucking Carlsen on the Internet!"

"Damn, yeah!"

Honestly, Sheva was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm here. While he was no stranger to fans, his interaction seemed to be very brief, what with him accepting a photo or a sign before he had to rush into the venue. Now, though, even though everyone here aspired to be a chess player, since he was the first to be successful, it was quite normal for them to idolize Sheva in this situation. That was why everyone showed their love to him.

"Anyway, who are you going to support today, Sheva?" Someone suddenly asked, attracting his attention. Not just him, but the others also paused, waiting for his answer. Seeing this, Sheva couldn’t help but smirk.

"Why would you ask such a stupid question?" He sneered. "Fuck Nepo! Today, I am Ding Liren’s biggest supporter!" He roared, followed by the other hot-blooded teenagers in the room. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"HELL, YEAH!"

-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!