Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 519: Entering the 2600-Rated Club?!

Meanwhile, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan...

"Devi, you haven’t slept yet?" Nayaka asked as he noticed the small room where the girl stayed still had the light on. When he saw the girl was busy with her notebook, the boy couldn’t help but feel curious, approaching her. "You are watching Brother Sheva’s game? Why, though? You know that he will win, right?" He blinked confusedly.

This blind confidence toward Sheva had been quite common among chess fans from Indonesia. They all believed that as long as he didn’t face any prominent 2700-rated player, Sheva would still be able to thrive, let alone just against a local IM whose rating was about 150 below Sheva’s.

"Hmm... The game has just begun, so it still has around 3 or 4 more hours until the end." Duta suddenly popped out of nowhere, narrowing his eyes at the girl. "You don’t plan to watch it until the end, right?"

Those three teenagers were currently in Uzbekistan, and it was their second day already. After adapting to the weather and atmosphere of the new country since landing last night, they had one more night to prepare, as tomorrow would be the day when they began their fight. However, instead of using her time to get ready, Devi’s eyes were locked on her phone. To be exact, she was watching the live streaming of Sheva’s game, not wanting to miss it even for a single second.

Of course, getting reminded by Duta like this, she could feel her face flushed red, somehow feeling embarrassed as if she got caught offhandedly stealing a cookie from the jar. However, the girl really had a valid reason for doing that.

"This is a part of my preparation, okay?" She retorted. "Also, Master Susanto and Master Ervan watch the stream in their room as well. Don’t believe me? Just go there!" She challenged the two boys heatedly.

Both Duta and Nayaka just stared at each other speechlessly, not knowing how to fight back. The worst thing, though, was that they knew she was right. As veteran players, both Susanto and Ervan wouldn’t want to miss a milestone for the country’s community, so although those two old men reminded them all to go to bed quickly, everyone knew that those two would sneak out secretly to watch the stream.

"Anyway, forget about them. What is going on there?" Nayaka shook his head, leaning further to look at Devi’s phone. If he couldn’t beat her, it would be better to join the girl on her escapade, right?

Seeing this, Duta felt the corner of his lips twitching, staring at the older boy speechlessly. In the end, since two of them had already decided to go down the dark route, he finally accepted his fate, letting out a deep sigh before grabbing a chair to sit next to Devi.

Of course, the girl was the happiest here. She had this smug smile on her face, as if she had just won something. Ultimately, she decided not to make any sarcastic comment, just put her phone slightly further so that the two boys surrounding her could watch it too.

"Wait, how many moves have they played since the beginning of the game?" Nayaka frowned, catching something off on the board. "How could Brother Sheva be on a massive lead already? What is going on?"

Duta also narrowed his eyes, noticing that the game was already in white’s favor.

"It is still the seventh move of the game, and as for why he has such a massive advantage this early..." Devi sighed, staring at Sheva on the screen admiringly. "Brother Sheva decides that he wants to go for the King’s Gambit, and his opponent wants to be a smartass by declining the gambit. As a result, Brother Sheva’s position has already had an overwhelming advantage since move four, and it will be so for the rest of the game."

The two boys nodded unconsciously before one of them finally realized the weight of that answer.

"Wait, the King’s Gambit? In such an important game like this?!" Duta snapped his head in disbelief.

"Yeah, I also had a hard time believing that a moment ago..." Devi shook her head in exasperation.

"...It seems Brother Sheva wants to enter the 2600-rated club with a bang, huh?" Nayaka tried to throw a joke. "Still, his opponent is quite miserable. He doesn’t want to get into Brother Sheva’s scheme, yet he enters a deeper hole now, and it would be hard for him to get out of that predicament soon."

"Soon? Even later wouldn’t change anything." Duta snorted. "Do you think Brother Sheva would let go of his prey once they got caught like this?"

The three teenagers didn’t say anything because they knew exactly the answer to that question. They could only pity the opponent, the local IM Jan Vykouk, to get dragged into this mess and get forced into becoming Sheva’s stepping stone like this.

Time passed slowly, and that poor man, Jan Vykouk, had already burnt half of his time racking his brain to get out of the situation. Compared to that, Sheva still only used about 13 minutes of his time, and the glaring time difference between them would be huge later.

Well... That was if the IM could survive long enough, of course.

Unfortunately, Sheva didn’t show any mercy here. Knowing his opponent rejected the gambit, he was eager to punish that by piling up all of his pieces to stare at the opponent’s kingside.

It was still the 19th move of the game, yet Sheva had already had both of his rooks controlling the E and F files, the two vital lanes that would prevent any support from the black side from coming. More than that, two knights were ready to jump at any time, and the dark bishop hiding so far on the edge of the board was so close to pulling the trigger of the sniper.

In the end, though, as Sheva let his queen, the most dynamic piece on the board, knock on the opponent’s door, Nayaka let out a deep sigh, shaking his head in admiration.

"It is over." He stated firmly. "Black is getting suffocated from every direction possible. The only thing he could do now is resign, or he would only prolong his suffering. This is a game over for him, and Brother Sheva has finally entered the 2600-rated club."

-Author’s note-

Hey, everyone! Thank you for supporting my story! I have written a new one with the hope of getting a contract for that story as well, the title is ’The Rise of the Iron Wall!’. It is a football story, so if you like, please give your support by adding it to your collection and giving your power stone to that story! Thanks!