It was Sunday morning, and Sheva had already found himself sitting on the small couch in his home while waiting for Bagas to pick him up. Today was the first day that he would go to Master Irfan's chess club, and besides the excitement he felt boiling up inside him, there was also a slight part of his heart that felt nervous and scared that he didn't belong there.
Yeah, after the talk a few days ago, his mother finally let Sheva join the club as he wanted. Truth to be told, he didn't expect that the conversation would be easy, having been expecting resistance from his mother, who probably thought that this was just a hobby that wasted his time. However, after remembering his childhood clearly, he realized that the one who was very strict on him and did not allow him to do a lot of things that any normal kid would do was his father. His mother always pampered him and let him do what he wanted, and that was probably why he was closer to his mother right now.
"Still, since my working time on Bagas's food stall has decreased, the wage will also be adjusted. Our financial situation will be pretty tight. Thanks to the prize that I received from the last challenge, the next two weeks would be bearable. But after that, we will go back to the dark day…" Sheva murmured to himself, clenching his fist tightly. "I need to show an immediate visible result as soon as possible, or I don't think I could keep my motivation high all the time. System, can you tell me my current status?"
[DING!]
A cold, mechanical sound suddenly rang inside Sheva's head as a futuristic interface that only he could see appeared there.
[Name: Adrian Sheva]
[Current ELO Rating: 0 std – 0 rpd – 0 bltz]
[Current knowledge: Diamond level Caro-Kann opening; Gold level King's Gambit opening; Gold level intuition; Silver level Vienna opening; Silver level Sicilian Defense, Alapin variation; Silver level Scotch Gambit opening; Silver level Trompowsky attack; Silver level calculation; Silver level Rook & Pawn endgame; Silver level Queen & Pawn endgame]
Sheva nodded satisfactorily as he read the knowledge he had accumulated from the system. Still, although it looked imposing, the reality was that those were not enough to put him into a top-level player. Right now, besides the Caro-Kann opening that basically reached the level of grandmaster and the King's Gambit that was on an IM level, everything was basically at the bottom rock. While it might be enough at the lowest level, once he stepped up into the next phase, everything would be difficult.
'No, I cannot rush things like that.' Sheva shook his head quickly. 'I will still get so much knowledge from the system. What I really need to do right now is to stay patient and accumulate experience. No need to count the chickens before they hatch.'
Then, Sheva's eyes went back to the interface, or to be more specific, to the two knowledges that helped him improve the most. Not that the opening and the endgame technique didn't help, but it was all theoretical, and how to use it was still up to Sheva. So, without experience, Sheva calculated that those theoretical knowledges were basically one level below what they displayed.
However, the two innate abilities there were definitely something precious. The gold level intuition and the silver level calculation were something that could be used immediately without having to accumulate experience first. Getting those two was like winning a big prize in a lottery, enough to elevate his game to a new level.
"Oi, Sheva! Are you ready?!" Bagas's shout from the outside of the house suddenly snapped him from his thoughts. When Sheva turned around and looked at the window, he could see his best friend waving at him.
"Wait a second!" Sheva shouted, grabbing his helmet before rushing outside. There was no one in his house, as his mother was busy at the market. After locking the door, he jumped onto the back seat of Bagas's motorcycle before shouting, "Let's go!"
The old motorcycle driven by Bagas ran slowly as the chubby boy tried his best to navigate his way through the crowded street. Even though today was a weekend, most of the residents of the city would always come out either for their morning jog, walking their dog, or just sightseeing the surroundings. It was even far more crowded than any normal working day, so it took real skill and experience to escape from this horrible traffic.
Fortunately, Bagas was a professional in this regard. He led the motorcycle through so many dark and narrow valleys just to avoid the traffic on the street. In the end, even though they took a longer route, both Bagas and Sheva managed to reach the club in a shorter time compared to what the maps on their phone suggested.
"So, this is the place, huh?" Sheva jumped off the vehicle quickly, staring at the fancy building in front of him quietly. "It sure looks like an ordinary house that the rich people live in, right? It seems that Master Irfan doesn't lie about it."
Yeah, before coming here, Sheva had already had an idea that the club would be held in a house, not just any ordinary building. To be more exact, it was Master Irfan's house. It was the gift from the government after Irfan somehow miraculously managed to lead the national team through the final of the ASEAN games and even beat the second seed Philippines before they had to be satisfied with the silver medal, getting beaten by the top seed Vietnam. That event happened in 2019, so this house was still pretty new.
After scanning through the entire building from outside, Sheva could feel that he was drooling. After all, even though he wasn't there yet, the boy was confident he could be a better player than Irfan in the future. After realizing the treatment Irfan got as the national hero, he started imagining himself in that position, and it would be a huge lie if he said he wasn't tempted.
"Come on, Shev!" Bagas suddenly snapped him from his daydreaming. He had a huge grin on his face, wanting to go inside as quickly as possible. Sheva felt his gaze soften, appreciating his best friend's enthusiasm. Even though he was the only one whom Irfan invited, Bagas was still willing to accompany him here, knowing that Sheva was not fond of a huge meeting with strangers like this. Realizing that Sheva was staring at him, Bagas's grin widened more as he patted his best friend's back. "Come on, Shev! This is your stage! Let's conquer this club, okay?!"