Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 591: Anna VS Laysa! (III)
’Damn, I forgot that she could also do this!’ Anna cursed inwardly, both hands were up on her forehead as she tried to think so hard in this situation. ’Is there a way for me to break through her defense again?’
Honestly, her mistake here was stupid and fundamental.
In her eagerness to push forward, Anna forgot completely about how Laysa would react, only thinking of herself and what she could do. This was what GothamChess described in his video as a player being egoistical, which was the downfall for most of them.
The H file that she broke so hard to let her queen infiltrate was now controlled fully by Laysa’s force, as the girl had her queen and one rook shifted to that side decisively. Now, gone was her chance to go deep, and Anna had to be wary that Laysa would do that to her right now.
It was worse because her king was basically in an open position right now, looking like a lamb that was ready to be slaughtered.
Honestly, Anna was lucky here because while her king was exposed, all of her pieces were still close enough to provide support. Her rook was still controlling the eighth rank, preventing any infiltration on H8 square. Her knight was in position to kill anyone who jumped to the H7 square, and the H5 and H6 squares were still under her queen’s control.
The only piece that wasn’t involved in defense was the bishop, and that was only because it stood on the edge of the board with a scope on one of its eyes, ready to snipe any foolish soldier who forgot about its presence.
Still, a big problem was revealed after this.
Due to the pawn advancement from both sides, they were interlocked with each other, with neither of them being able to move. It was a rare occasion when six pawns from both sides created a long chain, meeting against each other in the middle of the battlefield. This prevented the king from rushing forward, as any road was blocked for them.
Now, the only pieces that could move were the major ones, and yet, neither girl dared to create more space for their opponent to move. They just shifted pieces back and forth, dilly-dallying for so long without taking any single action.
They had already entered the situation where the first one who took the initiative would fall into passiveness, maybe even lose one of the pieces for nothing. No, that would be a stupid, disastrous move for that side.
That was why, after a game full of action, both players finally met a wall right then, unable to make any other breakthrough like before.
’Tch! A draw?!’ Laysa clicked her tongue in annoyance. ’How could everything get interlocked like this out of nowhere? What the hell did we do before?’ She glanced at the scoresheet, trying to recall the whole game before it reached this position.
Coincidentally enough, Anna was also doing the same. She was still unwilling to give up the win, especially when the girl realized that she was still a half point behind the top standing. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
If somehow, Dita Karenza managed to continue her amazing record and steal a win against Bathkuyag Munguntuul in this round, she would be down by a full point by then, and overtaking the first place would basically be an impossible task with only two rounds to go.
’No, this is not over yet.’ She shook her head, refusing to accept the draw yet. ’I swear, there should be something here. Should I sacrifice my piece? If so, which one do I need to let go of? My knight? No, I still need its flexibility. Rook? Plausible, but it wouldn’t change anything on the board. No, it should be the knight, right?’
Laysa herself was also racking her brain right now, trying to find a way to break the deadlock. Even though her position would still be better than Anna’s if the game ended up like this, the chance to beat her rival was something that she didn’t want to let go of that easily.
Unfortunately, even if they both had the thought of sacrificing their pieces to open up the path, none of them dared to do so, knowing full well that their opponent would never let go of that chance later. Compared to losing, a draw was definitely a far better result in this game.
In the end, as they closed to 50 moves without having any pawn advancing or any exchange happening, Laysa clicked her tongue, knowing full well that this was not going anywhere.
"Draw?" She offered a handshake, although her expression was reluctant.
"...Sure." Anna sighed, yet her face was so sour as if she had just swallowed a whole lemon by herself. "Damn, I am so close to winning that game! If only I didn’t rush things up..." She covered her face in regret.
"Tch! As if you are that close!" Laysa snorted. "You didn’t notice that it was my trap, right? If only you caught it fully instead of just a portion of it..."
"Ha! You think that little trap was going to stump me?! Since when did you become so naïve?!"
"I don’t know, since I beat you to pulp, I guess?"
"Ha?! You want a fight?!"
The quiet conversation suddenly became a full confrontation, with none of them caring enough about their surroundings. The final result was disappointing for them, and since the game finished in just two hours, they both still had a lot of energy to waste right now.
Someone suddenly coughed, snapping their attention. When both girls turned around, they saw the arbiter glaring at them sternly, and they just rubbed the back of their heads sheepishly.
"Just... Go." The man let out a deep sigh, as if he had had enough of this shit.
Those two walked away dejectedly, knowing that they were at fault here. However, that expression was gone immediately as they were out of the venue, especially when they saw a familiar figure waiting there.
"SHEVA!"
