Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 395: First Day! (II)

"Let’s have a good game!"

As the clock was pressed, everyone shook hands with each other, signalling that the first round of the tournament had just begun. 85 games were started simultaneously, and the venue that seemed to be bustling like a street market suddenly fell into quietness that was enough to suffocate anyone inside this building.

The tournament itself was held in the Dubai Chess and Cultural Club, located on the west coast of the city. It was a pretty iconic building, being shaped like a chess rook. It was definitely a nice place to visit, but the hot temperature and the high humidity of the city made everything seem far hotter than reality, and honestly, even with so many air conditioners in the venue, playing in this state was basically close to unbearable.

’Damn, this is going to be torture...’ Sheva smiled wryly.

Fortunately, for him who grew up in Jakarta, this state was nothing. The boy adapted quickly, and within a few minutes, he was already locking in, ready to slaughter his enemy.

If anything, though, it was his opponent who found this state to be suffocating. The Uzbekistan teenager, Miraziz Kuziev, was like a bear getting lost in a tropical forest. He was gaping madly, with sweat all over his forehead and a large bottle of water that was half empty already, even though it had only been five minutes since the game began.

Well, even though it was embarrassing, Kuziev couldn’t be blamed for this. It seemed that this was his first time coming to Dubai, and even though Uzbekistan’s summer was also quite hot, the humidity there was far below what he was suffering in Dubai right now. Moreover, this was still the first round, so it was understandable for his body to still adapt to the surroundings.

Sheva pitied the boy here, but that didn’t mean he would show any mercy. Hell, if anything, the best mercy he could offer here was to kill the boy as quickly as possible, so that Miraziz Kuziev could just go back to the hotel room and take a rest immediately. That was why, even at the beginning of the game, he didn’t show any reservation, striking hard while the iron was still hot. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

’Yeah, let’s try to end this game as quickly as possible.’ Sheva thought.

Playing with the white piece, the boy pushed his E pawn immediately, going for his usual king’s pawn routine. To his surprise, his opponent challenged the center immediately with the D5 move, triggering the Scandinavian Defense. This was definitely not the opening that Sheva played a lot, yet he still knew the basic theory and how to play it well.

’Hmm... Interesting...’ Sheva shifted his body a little, trying to get more comfortable while also putting more concentration on the board. ’Okay, let’s see how deep he knows his opening choice. Let’s just hope that he doesn’t embarrass himself.’

Unexpectedly—well, he should’ve expected this to come, really—it didn’t take too long for Miraziz Kuziev to make the first mistake of the game. Just in the seventh move of the game, the boy tried to bait Sheva’s flank pawn to move forward, which Sheva accepted without hesitation. However, after finishing its job, instead of dying with dignity by taking down Sheva’s knight, the black light bishop cowered in shame, painting a huge target on its back.

What Sheva was curious about the most here, though, was not the mistake, but how quickly Miraziz Kuziev made his move. The boy didn’t even spend more than 30 seconds, as if the mistake was a part of his preparation. Of course, more than anything else, this puzzled Sheva, as he didn’t really know what the boy in front of him wanted to achieve with this mistake.

’There is no way he made this preparation without the computer engine’s help, right?’ Sheva couldn’t help but mutter, a little bit hesitant. ’There should be a hidden conspiracy, right?’

With that thought in mind, Sheva spent seven whole minutes dealing with this inaccurate move. Not for thinking of the best way to deal with, of course, but more of what kind of hidden strategy his opponent tried to pull here.

However, as he couldn’t find anything worth noting, Sheva finally shook his head, deciding not to think too hard about this.

’Yeah, let’s deal with whatever conspiracy or hidden trap that he prepares later when I step into that landmine.’ He thought. ’For now, let’s just treat this game as usual. No need to overcomplicate things.’

This turned out to be the best strategy here, as Sheva indeed was overcomplicating things. He forgot that his opponent was just a mere 2000-rated player, not capable of any tactical mastermind that required so many preparations to pull off. No, this mistake was a pure slip that even Miraziz Kuziev himself failed to notice, thinking that this was still within his preparation.

However, the surprise didn’t stop just like that. No, it seemed that Miraziz Kuziev was eager to get something in this game. Knowing that three of his pieces were ready to attack Sheva’s kingside, the boy didn’t even hesitate, sacrificing his entire knight to open up the door to Sheva’s king.

This took Sheva aback for a moment, not expecting the attack to be this decisive. Regardless of the fact that all of his pieces were still pretty much coordinated, making the sacrifice seemed pointless, he still had to give a hat’s off to the boy in front of him.

’Yeah, he sure has the guts here.’ Sheva nodded in approval. ’Unfortunately, it is not alone to get something from me. He needs to calculate better.’

Seeing the mistake due to the boy’s eagerness, Sheva was determined to teach this Miraziz Kuziev a lesson. He accepted the sacrifice, inviting the opponent’s queen, light bishop, and rook to get closer to his king’s door. However, with the tight defense on that side, it was not easy for them to infiltrate. More than anything else, Sheva also made a move, coordinating all of his pieces to the point that they were ready to launch a counterattack at any time.

However, it seemed that Miraziz Kuziev was blinded by his own attack. That, or he recognized Sheva’s counterattack and was desperate since his own attack couldn’t produce anything. As a result, he pushed all of his pawns further, trying to add more variables to make Sheva panic.

Unfortunately, Sheva himself was a veteran in this playing style. He completely ignored the threat looming on his side, knowing that he could get to the opponent’s king faster. True enough, in the race to get to the opponent’s king first, he won with a devastating blow.

Sheva completely ignored his own bishop that was under the threat, and in return, his queen was so close to checkmating the black king on the other side of the board. Of course, Miraziz Kuzieev could just run away. However, doing that would leave his queen hanging in the air, and while he could survive in the short term, it would not be long before Sheva knocked on his door once again to get his life.

So, after thinking about what to do for more than thirty minutes, the boy finally sighed, knowing that he had no choice here.

He resigned, giving Sheva the first win of the tournament.