Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 508: Round 1: Sheva VS Vaclav Finek!

"Okay, hello hello hello, Everyone! Welcome back to the Black Rook Channel!" Bagas opened the live stream with the same enthusiasm as usual. "It is one month since our boy, Adrian Sheva, brought the glory back to our country in the Tata Steel Chess Challenger, and now, he is eyeing the second glory of the year in this Prague Chess Festival Challenger Section!"

Hilda99: Hell, yeah! Come on, Brother Sheva!

Froggies: Wait, since when did you call him Brother?! Have you met him?!

Kon67: Yeah! Confess, @Hilda99!

Hilda99: That’s not your business!

Bagas felt the corner of his mouth twitching when he noticed that the viewers had already started bickering the moment the stream was open. He could only shake his head in exasperation, knowing Hilda99, Devi, wanted to brag about her new student-teacher relationship with Sheva to the whole internet.

’Fortunately, Sheva has already foreseen this situation and warned her not to reveal her identity on the Internet, or things would be more chaotic than this.’ Bagas snorted. ’Anyway, what is she doing here? Should she be preparing herself for her tournament a few days later?’

Yeah, Bagas also knew about the girl’s schedule, since he would go together with Sheva to accompany them after the tournament was over. He had half of his mind scolding the girl for wasting her time like this, but he stopped instantly, thinking that it wasn’t the right time to do that.

’Anyway, let’s just tell Sheva about this later. It is his responsibility to scold his student.’ The boy made up his mind.

"So, today, we are going to be accompanied by two accomplished women in our community!" Bagas continued again. "Please, welcome, IM Irene Kharisma Sukandar and IM Aulia Medina Warda!"

Right after that, the camera split into three parts, with Irene’s figure popping in the middle, followed by Medina on the far right. It seemed that they were in their respective residence, and the moment they were connected to the streaming, the two women waved at Bagas with a smile.

"Hello, Bagas, good evening. It should be evening in Prague, right?" Irene asked.

"Good evening, Master Irene. I think we can still consider this afternoon." Bagas greeted back, checking the clock. It was still 14:00, time for everyone to take a lunch. So, he wasn’t wrong, per se.

"Hey, Bagas! It is good to see you again." Medina chimed in, smiling stiffly at the boy. Bagas had the urge to laugh at her poor attempt. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

’It seems that she is still not getting used to being a commentator, huh?’ He muttered with the corner of his mouth twitching in amusement. ’Oh, well, she doesn’t reject my request, so it should be okay for her to be like this...’

"Anyway, before we go straight to the venue, any preview for this tournament? What do you ladies think of Sheva’s chance of winning this tournament?" The boy asked again, trying to engage in small talk.

"Well, I think the chance is quite good. Just like any preview that the other website made, Sheva has a big chance of getting his second title this year. However..." Irene’s voice trailed behind. "It will be interesting to see the shift in position on Sheva’s status. If before, he will always be an underdog, now, he is a clear favorite, with his style being studied till the last move by his opponents. I am curious if that’s enough to stump Sheva or if this doesn’t affect his game at all. Hopefully, it would be the second one."

"Yes, I also think so." Medina nodded in agreement. "Sheva is the favorite not just because of his reputation or because he is a better player, but also because some of the opponents here are familiar faces to him, yet none of them have ever beaten Sheva in the past. He arrives with a strong momentum, so it will be hard for anyone else to stop him."

"So, it seems that the two ladies are optimistic about Sheva’s prospect, huh? I am glad. At least, this boosts my confidence to the roof." Bagas smiled playfully. "Anyway, it has been 5 minutes since the game began, let’s go to the venue and see how our boy is doing!"

Right after that, the camera’s PoV changed to board 4 of the challenger section, where Sheva was playing the local FM, Vaclav Finec. On paper, this should be an easy win for Sheva. However, the young teen in front of him came out with a bang, going for an opening that he was not familiar with.

The Bird Opening.

It started with the move 1.f4, the one that so many coaches would warn their students to avoid since it weakened the kingside from the beginning of the game. Honestly, Sheva was insulted when his opponent pulled this move, thinking that he was being underestimated here. However, he still treated everything carefully, as if the boy could take advantage of it; this opening could lead to a very sharp tactical battle that gave the slight edge to the white piece.

He had only ever seen a game with this opening in Dubai, when Medina went for a win against the young Indian FM.

’Honestly, I have half of my mind wanting to see what kind of attack he is cooking behind my back.’ Sheva shook his head a little. ’Unfortunately, this is the first day of the tournament, and I cannot see myself getting anything other than a W. So, sorry, Vaclav Finec, this is going to be my stage!’

With that in mind, Sheva started to take control of the center, intending to punish his opponent for the maverick opening choice. Even though he wasn’t really familiar with the system, his experience in developing so many weird attacks was enough to counter this situation, as he marched into the opponent’s side without hesitation. And soon enough, once he managed to infiltrate the opponent’s kingside with his queen, the boy couldn’t help but clench his fist, glancing at his opponent with a little smirk on his face.

’Now, what are you going to do?’