Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 426: Aravindh’s Shocking Stats & Sheva’s New Title!
Well, the suggestion was well received, but how they executed it was not Sheva’s business. After all, he himself still had a tough matchup to deal with later, and while the boy was confident, he didn’t want to be blindsided in this game.
’Aravindh Chithambaram, huh? Let’s see how I should approach this game...’
A moment later, Sheva had already found himself sitting in the arena. The boy tried his best to deafen himself, trying to ignore all the commotion around him. Inwardly, though, he was grumbling at how quickly the news spread.
’The application submission to become a GM should be sent for the next month, right? How could they know about it already? Are they following the Indonesian news? If so, this is fucking ridiculous!’ He grumbled under his breath.
He misunderstood one thing, though. It wasn’t that he became a GM that people got attracted to him. Instead, it was his record, getting paired against three of the strongest players in the tournament and walking off victoriously, that made people come. If before, Sheva made a name for himself in the Olympiad, this time, his current result solidified all of the fame he received.
’Oh, well, not really my problem.’ Sheva grumbled once again. Seeing that the opponent finally arrived, he decided to check the man’s ability. ’Oi, system, scan him for me.’ He asked casually. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
[DING! The scan is successful!]
[Name: Aravindh Chithambaram]
Attacking 92
Defense 83
Calculation 88
Strategy 86
Intuition 88
Time management 82
Title Slot: [Icy-Hot Man]
[Icy-Hot Man: Once the user gets three wins in a row, all of the stats increase by 5 percent. However, once the user fails to get a win in three consecutive games, all of the user’s stats decrease by 5 percent]
’This...’ Sheva was speechless for a moment, words stuck in his throat.
There were so many things that he didn’t expect. First of all, it was the man’s ridiculously high attacking stats. I mean, 92? That was even higher than Arjun and Pragg! Even though it was just by one or two points, at a high level, those points were crucial enough to make a difference. That meant Aravindh’s offensive game was already up to the highest level in chess!
Then, came the title. Honestly, the fact that Aravindh had one surprised Sheva a little bit. After all, in his mind, the one who had one usually made a living with that playing style. For example, Arjun, with his madman title, was famous for his crazy offensive style, or Predke, who got a boost in his endgame mastery with his Russian Chess School Graduation title. Hell, even Pragg only had one because he was a part of the famous prodigies, not really from his playing style, and this one... Aravindh, had one?
’Also, what the hell is this name? Icy-Hot? Can you get any more cringe, System?’ Sheva felt the corner of his mouth twitching.
[It is a suitable title name for his style, Host.]
Oh, well... He couldn’t really blame the system. Still, the title was quite unique. Once Aravindh got into a hot streak, all of his abilities were enhanced, allowing the man to go on a rampage. However, once he started on his cold form, it would be very hard to get out of the slump since all of his abilities were nerfed. It was a double-edged sword, and if not wielded properly, it would only kill the user quicker than ever.
’But in an open tournament, where the first two or three rounds are quite easy, this title is quite helpful, right?’ Sheva pondered. ’The only way I could think of that he could get that bad of a streak is when he plays as a bottom-seeded, and it could only happen in an invitational tournament. So, with that in mind, his career should be rising soon just from the open tournament, right?’
Somehow, this made Sheva look at Aravindh differently. At first, the boy thought that he would only play against any normal 2600-rated player, which was pretentious to say that. Well, this was the confidence that Sheva gained after winning so many games against strong players, so he got a little bit conceited right here.
However, just based on Aravindh’s stats, it seemed that the man was not an ordinary opponent. That was why Sheva started to think of a way to deal with it.
’By the way, system, I just completed my mission to become a GM, right?’ Sheva suddenly asked, as if he remembered something. ’Where the hell is my reward?!’ Demanded the boy.
DING!
[Congratulations, Host! Your reward is here! Do you want to open it?]
[Yes / No]
Sheva felt the corner of his lips twitching. Honestly, he was so sure that if he didn’t remember it, the system would completely forget about this reward. Still, the boy didn’t lament it too much, just accepting the reward quickly.
DING!
[Congratulations, Host! You have got a ’Strong Man Aura’ title and one more slot for a title!]
[Strong Man Aura: When playing against a lower-rated opponent, all of your opponent’s stats decreased by 5 percent.]
’Damn! That changes everything, right?!’ This time, Sheva was dumbfounded when he read the effect of the title. ’This is going to be a sick effect in the long run!’
Yeah, Sheva acknowledged the usefulness of the title, but he could only maximize it when his rating was so high that he would be a top-seeded player in a tournament. In this tournament’s case, he doubted it would be useful, since with his current record, he could only receive the effect of this title during the first few rounds when his opponents are still weak or when he had a bad record. That, or if he played in a low-rated open tournament. But in the long run, though, once his rating was up to 2600, he could maximize this title to its fullest.
’Oh, well, at least I could get a sure win against a lower-rated opponent. This is not something that I could scoff off.’ He muttered to himself. ’The additional title slot is nice as well. At least, I now have one more slot to use.’
While he was pondering so many possibilities, though, the alarm suddenly rang, bringing Sheva’s mind back to the living plane. That was the signal that the game began, so he shook the young man in front of him without hesitation.
"Let’s have a good game!"
