Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 403: The End of the Third Round
"Wait... Suleymanli Aydin resigns... Just... Like that?" Even Bagas himself was confused here, not knowing what was going on.
This was like the battle of a protagonist and a villain, but the moment the protagonist was about to land the decisive blow, the villain gave up immediately, stopping the fight abruptly because he didn’t want to die. This was a realistic move, but not the one that people wanted to see.
"I mean, this is quite normal, you know?" Irfan just shrugged, having seen a lot of weirder things in a tournament. "It could be because Aydin is not in his best condition, or the blunder really messes up his entire plan. Nevertheless, he doesn’t have any obligation to stay and wait for Anna to kill him. Also, a win is a win, right?"
"Well, indeed, when you say it like that..." Bagas felt the corner of his mouth twitching madly.
Kora75: Damn! What a coward!
Likita70: I don’t know about you guys, but why do I feel that this win is a little bit... Hollow?
Hilda99: Bah! Why do you guys care about such a trivial matter that much?! Just like Master Irfan said, a win is a win, right?!
Even though most people were disappointed that the climax they had been waiting for didn’t appear, they were still happy with the result, as indeed, this was a win, no matter how bad the process was. Also, except for those exquisite and insane games, history would only remember who won, not how the process was.
Anna herself also recognized that fact. That was why, after shaking hands with the Azerbaijan GM while still in a daze, a massive grin spread from ear to ear, knowing that this was another historical moment for her. She could count on her fingers how many GMs she had ever beaten since the beginning of her career, and now, the addition of Aydin to that short list was enough to make her excited.
’Does that mean my skill is improved again?’ She muttered, clenching her fist tightly.
Her heart bloomed more like a spring as the girl saw Sheva waiting for her anxiously at the entrance gate. She didn’t know why the boy wasn’t on her side anymore and looked very anxious, but the moment their eyes met, a wave of relief seemed to get into Sheva’s heart, and when the boy smiled fondly at her, Anna could feel her heart melt instantly at that.
"Hey, why are you outside?" She asked, skipping down the venue so that they could speak louder.
"Oh, you don’t know this, but when you made a mistake earlier, my reaction was a bit too big to the point that the arbiter asked me to leave to avoid any cheating scandal," Sheva answered wryly.
"Puh~!" Anna giggled furiously when she heard that, especially after combining it with Sheva’s helpless sigh. "Yeah, maybe, that was for the best. Oh, wait! Wait a second! What do you mean by my mistake?" She narrowed her eyes slightly. Indeed, the girl still didn’t know that she made a blunder and thought that her game had gone perfectly from the start to the end, so she was slightly offended when Sheva told her that there was a mistake in her game.
Oblivious to the landmine that he was about to step on, Sheva explained nonchalantly, "It is when you put your rook to the A5 square. You don’t know this, but if he pushed the right pawn to go forward, he would be able to force more pawns exchange, which, in the end, would lead to an endgame with no pawns. I mean, you know that a rook against a rook and a bishop is a theoretical draw, right? That bishop’s advantage will not bring you anything else if that scenario happened."
Anna paused for a second, and her face turned pale immediately. After pondering quickly, she also recognized what Sheva said, and after simulating the play inside her head, the girl knew that she was just so close to throwing her game.
"Fortunately, he also failed to capitalize my blunder..." She sighed in relief. Then, the girl narrowed her eyes, looking at Sheva with her round eyes shining in curiosity. "What about you, Shev? How is your game?"
In return, Sheva just smiled smugly, patting his chest boastfully. "Do you even have to ask? Of course, I win!"
"Oh! As expected of you!" Anna applauded enthusiastically. However, there was no hint of surprise, as if this was something ordinary for the boy to do. "So, we both are still standing on top, huh?"
"Indeed, and the next opponent will be more dangerous." Sheva nodded in confirmation.
"Big Sis! Sheva!" Suddenly, a hellion rushed with lightning speed, crushing through them both with a bear hug that was enough to push them down to the floor. They both didn’t need to turn around to figure out who the culprit was. "I WON!" The girl panted heavily, yet her face was flushing red, showing how excited she was.
"Oh! Good job, Ia!" Sheva was the first one to praise the girl. "Any complication?" He asked.
"Hey, no way! Who do you think I am?!" Claudia patted her chest proudly in the exact same manner as how Sheva did that a few seconds ago. Seeing this, Anna couldn’t hold back anymore and just burst out laughing at them.
"You both could be real siblings, you know?" She asked amusedly.
"What do you mean by that, Anna / Big Sis?!" Those two complained simultaneously, then turned around and stared at each other in shock in the exact same moment comically. Seeing this, Anna just laughed more, enjoying the circus in front of her.
Yeah, the girl was Claudia, the one who played against an opponent with a similar rating as her. This was a great win for her, as the additional ELO rating she gained from the game was enough to catapult her rating closer to the 2300 threshold.
"Now, I only need 13 points to cross that line, and then, I could become a WGM!" She clenched her fist with eyes full of determination.
"Oh?" Sheva crooked one of his eyebrows slightly. "Have you already completed all of your norms?" He couldn’t help but ask. Even Laysa, whose rating was about to cross 2400, was still a WIM, still lacked one more norm to complete the requirement. She could’ve just done so with the Olympiad, of course, but her result at that tournament was so good to be an IM norm that she was unwilling to waste it away for a mere WGM title.
"Hmph! Don’t worry! I just need to get 4.5 points in this tournament, and my norm will be completed! Just say hello to your new WGM!"
