Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 578: Before the Game

"Okay, hello, everyone! Welcome back to the Black Rook channel, where we are going to follow the continuation of the Asian Chess Championship Zone 3.3, the tournament that put all the best players in Southeast Asia plus Mongolia for two tickets to the World Cup!"

Bagas opened with his usual style, showing no hint of fluctuation in his tone. Only the boy himself knew that he was more anxious than ever right now. His eyes kept glancing toward the entrance gate, wondering when his best friend would arrive.

’Damn it, Shev! Where the hell are you going?! At least, if you want to play along, say something to me first! This is such a big mess!’ He cursed inwardly.

Yeah, unlike the usual, this morning, Sheva decided to go alone, saying that he wanted to get some fresh air before the game began. Unassuming, Bagas just nodded, letting his best friend do whatever he wanted. It was clearly a mistake, though, since he couldn’t see any hint of his best friend’s presence even ten minutes before the game began.

’Shit! I have to call him!’ The boy scowled, signalling to his girlfriend silently that he was about to go behind the camera for a moment. Sarah nodded silently, giving the ’OK’ sign that told him that she was about to take this over.

Once he was behind the scenes and had his phone connected to Sheva, the boy couldn’t hold it back anymore. "Bastard! Where the hell are you?! Don’t you know that the game is about to begin?! Your table has been surrounded by people already. Come quickly before nothing is left anymore!"

For a moment, the only response he got was an awkward silence, before it finally broke with a panicked voice on the other side of the call.

"Fuck! We forgot about the time! Sorry, Gas, we will be there in a moment! Just wait!"

If anything, hearing Sheva’s voice allowed him to take a relieved sigh here. The boy was so worried that anything would happen to Sheva, as not only would he have to take care of the hospital bill if any accident happened, but he also had to explain things to his friend’s mother later, which was something that he couldn’t do.

At all.

"Don’t worry about anything else, just say where you are right now, and I will call a taxi for you," Bagas said so quickly, not wasting any more time here. "Anyway, who is the ’We’ that you are talking about? Are you with someone else right now? Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, okay?" He broke the tension with a crass joke.

Sheva snorted. "Ha! I am not like you, Bastard!" Said the boy shortly. "Anyway, I am here in Nayaka’s hotel, exactly in the same place as the venue. Don’t worry, we will be there in a moment. See you later!"

Bagas couldn’t help but have one of his eyebrows rise slightly. Out of any place in the world, it would be a lie if he said he expected his best friend to be there. However, after thinking about it carefully, he knew that this was Sheva’s responsibility kicking in, what with how the boy was still there, no matter if the opponent was his protégé or not.

"Okay, just come here in five minutes or less! The tournament is about to begin, so don’t disrespect your opponent too far!" He reminded his best friend once again.

"Bah! Since when have I ever underestimated my opponent?!" Sheva scoffed.

Bagas just ignored that, turning off the call while also going back to the media booth. Facing Sarah’s questioning gaze, he just gave a simple nod, telling the girl that everything was back under his control again.

Sarah sighed in relief before continuing the broadcast. "Anyway, let’s see today’s matchup! In the men’s section, we will have the two prodigies from the same era fighting against each other. In table one, GM Adrian Sheva will have to face his old rival Arfan Aditya Bagus!" She announced.

Then, Master Irfan, who also had just arrived, chimed in, "Don’t get fooled by the vast difference in rating between them two. In reality, the last game between them ended up in a draw after Sheva had to defend for his life for about 108 moves, about 5 hours of playing. It was a crazy matchup at that time, and if Arfan could find his performance that day, this game would still be unpredictable."

Hilda99: Bah! Master Irfan is so shameless! Why do you want to create a drama here?!

KonK08: I don’t know... Maybe... Because the men’s section is quite bland with Sheva’s dominance?

Goriq15: Tell you what? Maybe you are really cooking something here.

Indeed, even anyone who had just learned about chess knew that Irfan was just trying to create something out of thin air right now. While yes, their last meeting ended up between them in a draw, Sheva’s improvement was out of the world after that, while Arfan seemed to enter the hole called stagnancy after that.

To think that Arfan had a real chance in this game was definitely a naïve thought from anyone else here.

While the broadcast chat room was full of people chatting around, in the venue, Sheva finally arrived, followed by Nayaka behind. Those two were panting heavily, the sign that they had just run for their lives. Not only that, their hair was messy, and the button on their collar was off.

Instead of the dignified chess player that he was, this scene gave them the ordinary worker image that was about to arrive late on their first day at the office.

Yet, their expression was far livelier than anyone had ever seen in this tournament. It was clear that they had just laughed their asses off in their way here. After that, Sheva said something a little more to the boy, and after punching his student in the shoulder playfully, he finally went to table one, where he was assigned to play, offering a handshake with a smile on his face.

"Sorry for making you wait. Let’s just start the game, okay?"