Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 423: Formality
Shocking! The Olympiad GM Medalist Becomes a GM, The Youngest Ever from Indonesia!
A New Grandmaster is Coming! Who is Adrian Sheva?
Take a Look at How Much Adrian Sheva is Worth!
Is This the Beginning of Our Rise?!
Just within one night, so many online news outlets had already written about Sheva’s achievement. Some were just basically a report, while the others were with a little bit of seasoning to make them more exaggerated. Honestly, Sheva himself blushed when he read some, and he clearly avoided one that tried to calculate his net worth. Those articles were scary as hell.
Of course, while he could still avoid the swarm from the people back home, there was no way Sheva could avoid the playful teasing and banter that the other members of the group threw.
"Hey, new GM! Want to help me prepare for tomorrow?" Laysa smiled playfully.
"Don’t be like that, Laysa!" Claudia, in a rare scenario of her teaming up with Laysa, smiled at Sheva as well. "Our new GM is busy! He has to go to twenty different interviews in one night! Us pheasants don’t have the right to ask him, you know?"
Sheva intended to play it cool, just smiling politely without offering any words as ammunition for them to tease him more. Unfortunately, Anna seemed to think otherwise, as she didn’t show any mercy here.
"Sheva, why do your ears look so red?" The girl, bless her soul, smiled innocently at him.
"Anna, not now!" He whined, covering his face in embarrassment. Everyone laughed immediately, finding the situation to be funny. Unlike any other GMs back home who were always haughty, Sheva was always down to earth and willing to talk to everyone, making it easy for the others to approach him.
The situation was quite festive with so many foods on the table. It seemed that Bagas didn’t hold back the expenses anymore and went all out, buying almost everything on the menu. Well... That, or he suddenly got a financial boost from Mister Wahyu himself as a bonus, as Sheva was sure that the man would know immediately about this news.
True enough, a moment later, Medina suddenly tapped his shoulder and twisted her head a little toward the outside of the restaurant, signalling him to meet her there. Based on what she said before the round today, Sheva was sure that some important people who tried to contact him through her wanted to say something here.
"So, who is it?" Sheva asked immediately, not wanting to beat around the bush.
"You are still sharp as hell." Medina sighed helplessly, knowing that there was no way Sheva wouldn’t guess what she wanted to do. "Don’t worry, it will be short. I have already arranged it in order. First, it would be the Minister of Youth and Sport, Mr. Zainudin. You have already met him, right?"
"Yeah." Sheva nodded.
"Then, we also have Mister Utut himself. He is the leader of PERCASI, our association, so it is important for you to meet him as well." Medina continued.
"...Understand..." Sheva sighed helplessly.
"Lastly, Mister Anies himself. You know that he has been following your journey since the beginning, right? Even though he is the least related person here, I think he is the one whom you are willing to talk to the most." Medina finished her words.
...Well, Sheva couldn’t really deny that.
Honestly, he still found this ceremony to be a waste of time and unnecessary. However, the boy still had to go through that, since he really couldn’t stand alone. He still needed the support from people in the higher-ups, not just for himself, but also for the entire chess community in this country. In this case, even Mister Wahyu himself suggested that Sheva followed along obediently, thinking of the bigger picture rather than just following his ego.
Still, Sheva found this formality to be troublesome, even more than when he won the gold medal in the Olympiad. After all, anyone could contribute their win as a combination of luck and great form, and it would change once again in the next Olympiad. However, the GM title was a symbol of status and lasted for a lifetime, so people indeed found this to be a bigger deal.
’Oh, well, at least one of them really cares about it.’ He muttered under his breath.
After that, he and Medina found a quiet place to hold an online call, and there, the torture began. Sheva had to listen to those politicians talking nonsense for about half an hour nonstop while also putting on his best smile to not offend the person on the other side of the call.
Honestly, it really blew his mind how they could make this about them, only congratulating Sheva in the first sentence before going all around about how they would support the chess community, how they loved chess, and so much nonsense that came through his right ear just to go away through his left ear instantly. Medina even had to pinch his waist several times secretly whenever he started drifting away, and his poker face started to slip. It seemed that this was also a difficult event for her.
Oh, well, at least the last person was way more enjoyable to talk to.
"So, you mean you beat two of the most famous prodigies in the chess world right now? Does that mean you are on the same level as them?" Mister Anies asked.
"No, not really." Sheva shook his head quickly. "Even though I won against them, our huge difference in rating still tells me that we are living in a completely different world. They are about to go to the top level of chess, and soon, they will compete against the best players in the world. As for me, I still have to climb further to reach their level, so I still think my level is still below them."
Honestly, outside of Mister Anies’s status as the Governor of Jakarta, Sheva really enjoyed chatting with him. The man had already done his homework, knowing exactly what Sheva was facing right now. This made the boy think that the man genuinely supported him, compared to those politicians who just wanted to use him as their political clout.
"So, what are you going to do after this, Sheva?" Mister Anies asked. "It should be time to relax, right?"
"Relax?" This time, Sheva let out a small smile. "No, Mister Anies. This GM title is just the beginning. People are getting blinded by this, so they don’t really notice. I am the current leader of the tournament."
This time, Mister Anies raised one of his eyebrows while Medina was utterly dumbfounded. "So, you mean..."
"Yeah, I am still hungry." Sheva smiled ferally. "So, my next target is to dominate the entire tournament and make my name resound throughout the chess world once again!"
