Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 428: The Others Go Crazy~! (I)
Meanwhile, slightly far from table 1 where Sheva was currently playing, Anna was having a great time, feeling somewhat a little bit smug as she got an upper hand in her game. Her current opponent was Raja Rithvik, a young GM who was about Sheva’s age with an ELO rating of 2491, not too excellent for a GM caliber, but definitely a strong young player. However, it was clear from the struggle the man was going through that he couldn’t find any way to hold back the wave of attack from Anna.
’Indeed, Sheva’s strategy works the best here. It seems that I can do this whenever I face the other young Indian prodigies.’ She muttered under her breath.
Yeah, in this game, Anna really let loose of herself, stopping to restrain her primal instinct to go berserk on the chessboard. The girl had already planned about this since Sheva told her about what to do, and the moment the alarm rang, she blitzed her way already, going for the King’s Gambit Opening.
It was a risky move and something no one would dare attempt in such a tournament. However, Anna had great confidence. This was one of Sheva’s arsenals in the beginning of his career, and she helped the boy perfect this art in the past. So, it wasn’t that hard to think that she was quite apt with the King’s Gambit opening.
Her opponent, though, was so stunned that she even stared at her in disbelief for a few seconds. Maybe, he thought she was joking or trolling here, but looking at Anna’s determined gaze, the young man finally swallowed back all the words in his throat, knowing that the girl was in for her blood.
’Yeah, she is in for a business here...’
Raja Rithvik didn’t know, though, that unconsciously, the pressure radiating from Anna was enough to put him in a passive state. That was why, even though the King’s Gambit allowed the black pieces to have a very strong initiative in the beginning of the game, the man decided to play solidly, not wanting to overextend any of his pieces. Gone was all the advantage that this opening offered, and now, the man had to fight for his life for the rest of the game.
Hell, just in the seventh move of the game, Anna had already gained a strong advantage. All of her minor pieces were out already in an open space, controlling the center of the board like they owned that place. Compared to Raja Rithvik’s pieces that were still sitting lazily in their home square, with only one knight out of the territory, it was clear that the initiative shifted back to Anna’s side.
It was ridiculous, honestly, that the computer engine said that it was black who had the advantage. It gave -0.4 as the evaluation for the current situation, and that was probably because Anna’s kingside was quite weak. However, anyone who was not blind would pick the white piece without batting their eyes, knowing that the evaluation bar could flip at any moment.
In the next few moves, Raja Rithvik managed to get some exchanges that put him in a better position. The dark bishop and knight were gone for both sides, and for a moment, Anna’s attack seemed to subside already, with the white piece managing to stabilize the situation. However, once Anna decided to castle on the queenside, triggering the opposite-side castle in this game, everything changed.
The nature of the game shifted once again from the stable endgame to the race of who would get to the enemy’s king first. Both Anna and Raja Rithvik started to march their pawns, and hell, the girl was even willing to sacrifice a whole rook just for a bishop so that she could get closer to the enemy’s territory.
Of course, Raja Rithvik himself was not a complete vegetarian. No, he knew a trap when he saw one, so instead of taking the rook and abandoning his own defense, he maneuvered his knight first to prevent Anna’s advancement while also protecting the bishop as well. This was a decent approach, but suddenly, the man made a huge mistake, and Anna couldn’t help but have her eyes shine brightly.
’Yes! This is what I have been waiting for!’ She clenched her fist unconsciously under the table, and a thick vein popped on her forehead as the girl started to activate every single brain cell inside her head. ’All I need to do is to plant my knight into the D6 square, and he will fall into a very passive state. I don’t need to worry about him taking that knight, because the discovered attack from the rook and bishop later would only kill him. There is no way he would fall for that childish trick, so I think I can just throw away that line. Still, after this, the only piece that he could still activate is his bishop, and since the move is quite limited, I don’t need to worry about it. Yeah, I can do this!’ 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
The mistake itself was quite simple. Raja Rithvik felt like his knight was pretty much exposed, so to reassure its position, he slid his queen to the B8 square to protect it from the diagonal. It was a well-thought-out move, since it not only protected the knight, but it also threatened Anna’s pawn on the B2 square. This was so close to her king, so if the girl was careless, it would be her who got punished.
However, outside of that threat, he didn’t really have any way to get through Anna’s defense. If anything, that move basically removed the black’s queen from getting into the center of the battlefield, and now, once Anna’s attack started to explode, it would be too far to support its own territory. Not only that, if Raja Rithvik were careless, he could lose either his bishop or his knight for nothing, which would only put him closer to the edge of the cliff.
That was why the evaluation bar moved immediately from -0.1 to +4.8 for Anna’s advantage.
’Hmm... Not bad...’ Sheva, who was hidden in the dark and only saw the game from the sideline, nodded in satisfaction. ’At least, I don’t need to worry about Anna right now. Let’s see how the others fare in their game...’
