Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 552: Anna and Laysa’s Not-So-Great Situation

Unlike her little sister, Anna didn’t have a great time here. She was unlucky enough to have to meet Ummi Fisabilillah, a strong and experienced player whose rating didn’t match her true ability.

Yeah, usually, playing as a third-seeded, Anna would get an easier pairing in the first round, probably someone around the bottom line of the table. However, this time, she had to face Ummi, the player whom some veterans thought Anna would be before Anna emerged.

Yeah, Ummi was a former prodigy, having been the brightest prospect for the women’s chess community in the country after Irene and Medina. It was just unlucky for that woman to lack the resources to play in a better tournament, always mingling with the local one that didn’t give her any rating.

However, whenever she played in a rated tournament like this, she was always thriving, showing a glimpse of the genius she was in the past. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Just like in this game, she engaged in a war of attrition against Anna, and at some points even successfully baited the younger girl to overextend the pawns for nothing but to give the black’s dark bishop a very strong diagonal to control. Compared to Anna’s light bishop that couldn’t even see any of the opponent’s pieces in a radius of 8 diagonal squares, it was definitely a better one.

However, other than that, nothing really significant happened on the board. Both players were still shuffling their pieces back and forth, trying to poke each other carefully.

Rooks just slid from one corner to another, the knight jumped wildly from one place to another to create an opening, while the queens rerouted themselves for every three moves to get into a better position, just to find a brick wall set in front of them.

The game was so tough that Anna started to get a headache here, having already exhausted most of her resources on the board, just to find nothing really worked for her.

’I should’ve had something here, right?’ She bit her lips, fingers fidgeting on her lap. ’How could I not have anything to attack? My dark bishop is in a good position, and if my light bishop can follow it up... It still means nothing! Sister Ummi, what are you trying to build here, the Great China Wall?’

In fact, Anna was not the only one who was so frustrated here. Somehow, Laysa also found herself on the verge of a draw, racking her brain to find something on the board that allowed her to prolong it more.

Her opponent was Dita Karenza, a 23-year-old woman whose rating was just 2055. On paper, this should be an easy game for Laysa. However, embarrassingly enough, she underestimated her opponent too much, playing so recklessly and falling into the bait that Dita had set carefully since the beginning of the game.

As a result, now, here, she found herself having to exchange most of her attacking pieces if she didn’t want to lose everything later.

’Okay, no need to panic. Even though my attack is gone, I still have a chance here. Let’s try to beat her in the endgame phase.’ She muttered under her breath, trying to make her heart ease. However, the back of her head still whispered the doubt, saying, ’But with only two rooks and a bunch of pawns left, how could I turn the balance to my side? It is just a dead draw, right?’

This was definitely a frustrating day for the two girls who had been learning under Sheva’s wings for the last couple of months. They clearly felt the improvement after that camp session, yet here they were, unable to make a breakthrough against the opponent whose rating was clearly far below them.

And to add salt to the wound, they both saw Claudia finishing her game already, and by looking at the grin on the girl’s face, both Anna and Laysa figured out that she should’ve just won her game. This made them anxious and impatient, starting to rush things unconsciously.

’How could that girl win first? Is her opponent that easy?’ Laysa growled annoyedly.

Anna also thought along similar lines here. ’Does her opponent have a bad day? Only 90 minutes, and she has resigned already?!’

Oh, don’t get them wrong, they were happy for Claudia to win the first round so easily. However, that was if they were also on the same pace. But now, with them getting so close to a draw rather than a victory, they really didn’t want to know what kind of gloating the younger girl was preparing for them.

Oh, well... Not specifically for Anna, probably. Claudia was too sis-con to do that. However, to Laysa? The older girl could think of so many worse lines that Claudia could pick to mock her, and Claudia would still be able to double it down and make things worse for her. The little girl really had it in herself, that sharp tongue that could burn any poor victim of hers.

So, yeah, both Anna and Laysa were so determined to win this game, if not for wanting to start the tournament with a victory, also for the fear of the little menace named Claudia.

Unfortunately, determination alone was not enough in this scenario, especially since the situation on the board looked so bleak.

The first one to suffer here was Laysa. No matter how hard she tried to create an opportunity, her opponent would never budge, and rightfully so. The endgame with a queen, two rooks, and a bunch of pawns that were pretty much equal was definitely an easy draw endgame, and only an inexperienced player would slip and let the opponent win in this situation.

In the end, after her opponent managed to sneak the queen on the second rank, Laysa finally accepted three-fold repetition, not wanting to suffer for too much. No matter how she resented this situation, the girl had to accept the draw, or she would suffer more later.

Then, Anna followed her step later. With an opposite-color bishop endgame, she and her opponent just shuffled the bishop back and forth, couldn’t even make any pawn advancement to prolong the game. In the end, before they could reach the 50-move rule, Anna offered a handshake, taking a draw even though she was reluctant.

With the end of that game, the first round was finally over, and it was not hard to tell that the girls were not satisfied with their result.

-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!