Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 587: Lunch with Nayaka

"You know what, Brother Sheva..." Nayaka let out a long sigh as he stared at the burger in his hand as if it had just murdered his family. "I think it is so unfair to have you in this tournament."

Sheva just snorted silently, ignoring the childish whining from his student.

Unlike the girls, who chose an aesthetic place with a quiet and comfortable environment for their lunch place, the boy picked the favorite among teenagers, a fast-food chain restaurant famous for its burgers. The greasy smell of the food, combined with the sweaty and noisy surroundings from lunchtime, was so Jakarta, something that the boy from a city far outside wanted to experience firsthand.

Sheva didn’t quite understand, but who was he to say otherwise here?

"Anyway, don’t you hear me, Brother Sheva?!" Nayaka slammed the table angrily. It wasn’t loud, but it was enough to attract people’s attention. Well, for a second, of course, because this was Jakarta. Everyone turned around quickly, minding their own business.

"What is there to hear?" Sheva just sighed helplessly.

"I mean, you shouldn’t even be in this tournament! You are killing everyone’s chance to get the number one spot, you know? Go somewhere else to get the World Cup ticket, use your sophisticated method to get one from a high-level tournament!" The boy’s whining kept getting outrageous, eliciting another snort from him. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"First, this is the easiest way for me to get the ticket, so why would I miss it?" Sheva said shortly. "Then, you only complain about this matter because you are so close to me. If your position is worse than this, you wouldn’t even think about it, right? Hell, you will probably flatter me for being in the number one spot!"

Indeed, ridiculous as it was, Nayaka was in second place in the tournament right now. After pulling an upset by winning the game against Novendra yesterday, he continued his miraculous journey, taking down Master Susanto, the second-best player in this country, to establish his spot as the number two player in this tournament.

His achievement was so ridiculous that Sheva saw on the media social a few minutes ago that a post compared the boy to him when he first rose to the scene. Of course, Sheva knew that it was impossible for Nayaka to reach the same height since the boy didn’t have a system, but the praise was there, and it was also a legit one.

After hearing the accusation, though, Nayaka’s face flushed as he denied excitedly. "Slander! That’s a pure slander, Brother! I am just thinking about the other players!"

"Yeah, the other players, my ass. Who are you to qualify to do that?"

Still, truth to be told, Nayaka was right here. It was unfair for Sheva to be in this place. This was like Magnus Carlsen himself stepped into the Norwegian National Tournament, and even though there were still strong players here and there, it was clear that no one could touch even the corner of his clothes.

Now, the result was exactly what everyone expected since the beginning of the tournament. Sheva completely dominated the whole tournament, winning six games out of the six rounds that had been played. He only needed one win and one draw to secure the deal, which wasn’t difficult for the boy to do.

Hell, he had already beaten all of his competitors, and now, for the rest of the tournament, he would only meet lower-rated opponents, players who would never pose a threat to Sheva. So, the rest of the tournament was basically just a formality, as everyone knew that he had already won it all at this point.

"Tough it up, kid." Sheva snorted. "You are unfortunate to have me in this section. Just try your best to get another ticket from a different qualification stage."

Nayaka choked, so speechless at his teacher’s outrageous remark.

Not counting this tournament, there were only two more phases to get into the World Cup. Well, three, technically, but the last one was qualifying through the rating stage, which was impossible for Nayaka, whose rating was just around 2000.

As for the two, the first one was to get into the top three of the Asian Chess Championship that would be held in Azerbaijan next month. Yeah, this tournament would give three tickets, so it was the next best chance for anyone in this tournament to get a ticket, or probably even two.

Of course, Sheva could also join the fun. Hell, in everyone’s mind, this should be the path that he picked, since the opponents here were way too difficult for any Indonesian players to get through.

However, Sheva himself had a tight schedule, what with him having to play the TePe Sigeman tournament and also the Biel Festival one. Those two were the invitational tournaments he accepted, so backing down was definitely not an option.

As for the last method, well, it was basically through the federation’s recommendation. Basically, in every World Cup, each country had a free ticket to get one player into the tournament freely, making sure that this tournament was indeed a worldwide event.

Still, this route was way too unreliable. No one knew what the federation thought, and only those veterans who had a good relationship with them could be hopeful for the path. This was definitely something that no young players could achieve.

"Anyway, it is not like you aim this high, right? I thought your main target was to get your rating as high as possible?" Sheva asked.

"Yeah, but that was before I got this result." Nayaka nodded sulkily, mumbling through the burger he chewed on his mouth. "Now that I am so close to you, there is no way I didn’t dream about dethroning you!" He exclaimed, watching Sheva with eyes burning in determination.

Sheva himself just chuckled. If there was one thing he liked about his students, it was how ambitious they were. They didn’t care about Sheva’s mighty status in the chess world right now, but if they were paired against him, they could go with the intention to kill, never showing any mercy.

"Unfortunately, Brat, you have already been beaten by me, so not this tournament, okay?"

Nayaka pouted, feeling sour after being reminded of his defeat on the first day. Before he could say anything, though, his phone buzzed, coincidentally followed by Sheva’s phone. Without hesitation, they both took it out and accessed it, knowing that the pairing for the afternoon was out.

When he saw his name, though, Nayaka was so speechless.

"This..."