Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 573: Sheva Killing Silently!
"And... She has done it, folks..." Sarah sighed as she saw that the handshake was formed. "After a short battle, only one hour, Laysa finally got what she wanted here, a quick draw against Bathkuyag Munguntuul. Now, they both are standing at the top of the table with 4 points out of 5 rounds, but not for too long, since some players with 3.5 points are still fighting in their respective tables."
Kon66: Damn, I know that this is what she wants, but why do I feel pity here?
Ersan013: I know, right? It should be because she had a chance to win!
Hilda99: Bah! What do you know about that?! You don’t know anything at all! That advantage is basically none for players other than elites like Brother Sheva!
Froggies: Exactly! Don’t act like that when you only see it from the computer!
There was some commotion on the broadcast chat as some people started to look down on Laysa for wasting the opportunity to win the game. However, that voice was killed immediately by those who truly understand how the game worked.
Yeah, even though at some point, Laysa was at an advantage, that wasn’t as clear as people thought it would be. No, if anything, the advantage was so subtle that for those who weren’t proficient in a positional game, they wouldn’t be able to see it. Also, it was the computer engine that said that the position favored Laysa, and just like what people knew about the engine, it couldn’t understand how human thought.
It could only see the best move possible, and except for a few elites who could follow that train of thought, like Magnus Carlsen or Fabiano Caruana, it was impossible to take advantage of every mistake that the computer pointed out. Hell, even those two couldn’t do it every day, and only on several occasions when they were in their best form could they think exactly like the computer.
As for Laysa...
Well, as the girl accepted the handshake, she sighed in relief, getting up quickly with a huge smile on her face. She didn’t care about anything else right now, because in her mind, the game was a huge success for her.
’Anyway, I wonder how the others are faring right now...’
-0-
Meanwhile, back in the men’s section, Sheva didn’t know that the plan he suggested for Laysa worked like a charm. No, right now, he was entangled by his opponent, Master Susanto, in a war of attrition that would last so long until one of them was burned to death.
More than an hour had passed, and they were already at the nineteenth move of the game. However, besides two or three exchanges at the beginning of the game, no progress has been made until now.
No, the game was still running so slowly, with both players just shifting their pieces back and forth and dilly-dallying without even any intention to poke their opponent’s defense. Minor pieces jumping all over the place like a bunch of monkeys, while not a single pawn dared to cross the center of the board.
It was quite strange to see Sheva playing so slowly like this, especially when everyone knew that he was one of the most aggressive players in the world.
’He is planning something right now.’ Master Susanto frowned, trying to read the boy’s expression. ’I don’t know how, but the quieter he becomes, the more dangerous the attack he is about to unleash. I need to be careful.’
If Sheva could hear that, he would’ve laughed his ass already. After all, it wasn’t him having a hidden plan, but the system didn’t really allow him to go all out without peeling the opponent’s defense layer by layer.
Well, this was the psychological advantage that the boy had after his image of a crazy player was planted in his opponent’s head. Now, Master Susanto was entangled with Sheva’s non-existent hidden plan, and even if the man didn’t make any mistakes, the time he wasted here would be accumulated in the later stage, and it would hurt him more than ever.
Still, things happened to change sooner or later. This time, just like the usual, it was Sheva who initiated that.
When the boy saw Master Susanto moving the rook in an awkward A3 square, he didn’t hesitate, using his bishop to take the pawn on the square in front of that rook immediately.
For a moment, it looked like this was a sacrifice move, but in hindsight, it was just a normal exchange that was delayed by one tempo. After all, once Master Susanto took that bishop, Sheva would be able to push the pawn on the B7 square two posts forward, forking the knight and the rook immediately. Master Susanto would have to choose, and there was no way he would sacrifice his rook for nothing.
For a moment, it looked like a normal move. However, this opened a can of worms for Master Susanto’s side, as it allowed Sheva’s two knights to jump into the center immediately. Hell, those two pieces even started to support each other, occupying a strategic position in the long-term warfare.
Not only that, the doubled pawn that Sheva forced the man to have at the beginning of the game also started to help the boy here.
With the white king lacking protection, Sheva’s queen also jumped into the fun, staring at the opponent’s king with only a bishop as the wall here, which was also a weak defense since the boy also didn’t forget to push the pawn further to keep pressure on that side.
Several small advantages that Sheva earned were accumulated, and now, even the computer engine showed that it was -3.8 for the black piece. Sheva had all the advantage in the world, and Master Susanto had to navigate his other pieces so that he could prevent any further attack to go deeper to his kingside. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦
In the end, it was Sheva who celebrated first, as he clenched his fist tightly under the table. ’Yes, now that we are in this position, what are you going to do, Master Susanto?’
