Both Bagas and Sheva talked to each other for a moment, not even noticing that someone appeared from the door. They only realized the person when that man greeted them from afar. "Ah! You both are here! I have been waiting for a while! Come here, it is almost time!"
That person was Irfan Aditya, the owner of the club. His face flushed in excitement when he greeted those two, inviting them both to enter his house. Both Bagas and Sheva stared at each other for a moment before, in the end, Bagas gave a nod of encouragement. Sheva gulped a little, following Irfan from behind. When he entered the building, though, he was greeted by a sight that was enough to put him in awe.
"Woah…" Sheva felt his eyes widen, stunned by the sight in front of him.
Even though he had only entered the living room, Sheva could feel that this building was designed especially for any chess lovers in this town. On one side of the wall, there was a mural full of chess legends. The figures there varied from those whose photos were still black-and-white to the modern ones. For Sheva, who was a novice in the game, he only knew one player on that wall, and that was Magnus Carlsen, the best player of this generation.
Meanwhile, a cabinet was placed on the other side of the wall, straight in front of the mural. There were so many trophies displayed, from the city-level tournament to an international event a few years ago. It seemed that even though Master Irfan failed to achieve the grandmaster title, in his heyday, he was a strong player to be reckoned with.
There were also a bunch of old photos displayed on the side of the wall that faced the door directly. Those were the photos of Irfan in his youth when he received several awards. Hell, there was even a photo of the IM shaking hands with the president of the country, showing that Irfan was definitely not an ordinary player.
As Sheva and Bagas followed Irfan through the corridor, they were led into a bigger room, something similar to a school hall, and there, they finally saw the other members of the club. There were about twenty people gathering in front of a huge screen, while behind them, twelve sets of tables were prepared with a chessboard and a clock set there. It seemed that those were the places where Sheva had to play next.
From their looks alone, Sheva could infer that most of the people there were older than he was. However, he could see a unique sight here, where two girls younger than him were in the middle of the crowd, fitting in nicely. Based on their appearances, Sheva could also guess that those two girls were siblings here. Still, those two were definitely the youngest players here, and coupled with the fact that they were the only female players here, Sheva had to give a hat-off to their bravery.
As everyone had their focus on the huge screen in front of them, no one noticed Bagas and Sheva's presence. Well, the two boys also didn't notice that Irfan had already left them among the crowd, walking toward the front calmly before finally greeting the people there.
"Well, since everyone is here, I will not talk too much about formality." He spoke casually, operating the laptop in front of him. "After I click this button, my laptop will generate 12 random pairings, so get ready, okay?!"
"Yes!"
"I have been waiting for this!"
"This time, I will be the one who wins the tournament!"
"Ha! Keep dreaming!"
As chatters broke there, Irfan finally clicked the button, and just like a roulette, a bunch of names filled the empty boxes on the screen, showing the pairings of the game. Sheva also looked up at the screen nervously. Even though he wouldn't even know which player he would face next, the tension around him was enough to turn his mind into a bundle of anxiety. In the end, he finally saw his name displayed at box number 14, and he narrowed his eyes a little at the name of his opponent.
Claudia Marisa – Adrian Sheva
'So, my opponent is one of the girls, huh?' Sheva glanced at the two girls on the front. 'I wonder which one I would face…'
After everyone got their pairings, they all stayed there, whispering at each other to discuss their opponents. In the end, it was Irfan who broke the tension here with a little shout, "Well, what are you waiting for?! Go to your assigned table!"
Right after that, all the players went to the table they were assigned to play. Sheva also followed from behind, going straight to table seven. To his surprise, though, he could see Bagas was already there, setting up his phone to record the game. When Bagas noticed his presence, the fat boy grinned goofily, waving his hand at him.
"Don't worry, I have Master Irfan's permission." He said before Sheva could even ask. Bagas knew that Sheva was not good in a new environment, so it was necessary to reassure him that there was nothing to worry about. "Just play with a calm mind, I believe you! Come on!" He slapped his best friend's back a little bit hard.
Sheva smiled a little at his best friend before finally sitting on the seat there. He glanced at the little girl who was still setting up the clock to 10 minutes. They played in a standard rapid format for the online game, not too fast and not too slow. Enough to test the player's theory and calculation, yet also enough to test the player's intuition once time runs short.
'It seems that I play against the little sister here.' Sheva murmured to himself. 'Well, I wonder how strong she is…'
The girl offered a handshake, which Sheva accepted immediately. Based on her tiny hand, Sheva guessed that she was probably just a middle school student. However, during his time searching for everything about chess, Sheva read that the younger the player was, the more dangerous he or she became. So, he didn't dare to lower his guard here.
As everyone was already in their seat, the entire hall went quiet, and none of the whispers before could be heard again. Irfan glanced at every corner of the room for one last time to make sure that nothing went wrong before finally shouting once again, "Well, since everyone is ready, let's start the 14th internal tournament of the Black Rook Chess Club! White pieces, make your first move!"
TAK!