"Oh, is it finally time?!"
"Yeah, the newcomer will have to fight against Anna!"
"Man, I cannot see how the game would be unveiled!"
"50,000 rupiah for Anna!"
"Hey, no bet is allowed here!"
"Also, don't underestimate the newcomer! He is also having a perfect score here!"
"Man, I really want to see their game so bad! Damn, should I just give up my game to see it?!"
"Well, feel free to do so and receive Master Irfan's wrath…'
Amidst the excited whispers from the crowd, Sheva walked nervously to the table one where Anna Marisa had been waiting for him. He gave the girl a simple nod and offered a handshake, which was returned with a flat expression as if she had come here for a war. For that, Sheva could only smile wryly, not knowing how to react.
As they both sat down, most of the players didn't go directly to their assigned seats, but tried to have a look at them first. It was ridiculous to see them like that, especially when the game itself hadn't even started yet. Still, Sheva could understand their reaction here.
This was probably the marquee match of the day. On one side, there was Anna, the best player on the club. She let Sheva who was just a newcomer understand who was the boss here by slaughtering her first four opponents without even sweating. Hell, she won her games absolutely, not even spending more than five minutes in each game. What annoyed Sheva the most, though, was the fact that she would always end the game before him, preventing him from getting an idea about her playing style.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, while Sheva was just a newcomer, he had already announced himself as another talented player here by beating Claudia, the second-best player on the club. He didn't just stop there, continuing to sweep the floor for the next three rounds to make his name soar to the sky. More than that, his playing style was so entertaining here, always aiming for a win and never accepting a cheap draw. He was always going for blood, and even though most of the time, he would make his own position vulnerable, not a single one of his opponents was able to capitalize on it up until now.
In the end, here they were, playing on the table one as the only two players with the perfect score. Both were young, both were aggressive players who would always go for a win.This game would be guaranteed to be a bloody and entertaining one.
'Okay, let's see how she would open this game…' Sheva thought, shifting a little bit to make himself comfortable. However, the first move that Anna made was beyond his expectations. Right after the girl started the clock and pushed her pawn, Sheva felt the urge to curse at himself. 'Of course, it would be 1.c4! She notices that I am still fucking new to this game! Damn, she has no mercy at all!'
Yeah, instead of the usual 1.e4 that most of the players would use, Anna made a different approach by pushing her C pawn two squares forward. She had already noticed that during all four of Sheva's games, everything always started with 1.e4. She wanted to test the water here, making a different approach. Who knew that she unconsciously dragged Sheva into the unknown land here?
'Oh, well, no need to cry over the spoiled milk.' Sheva shook his head, recovering quickly from his shock.
Still, even though he didn't know anything about Anna's opening, after gaining a lot of knowledge from the system, Sheva was confident that at least he could understand the basic opening well enough to survive against anything. In this case, facing such a strange opening, what he needed to do was to stay calm, occupy the center, and develop his pieces to pressure his opponent.
Unfortunately, that was his hopeful thought. In reality, every opening had a different approach here, and this time, Anna used this opening to control the flank as early as possible. She also built her position very slowly, trying to turn this game into a positional fight. Honestly, this gave Sheva a déjà vu moment as if he had fought against her little sister.
'Man, this is troublesome…' He muttered to himself. 'Both her rook and light bishop are staring at my H pawn. Once she makes a breakthrough in the center, my position will be torn apart in a blink. I have to reinforce it first without opening up too much of my position here, or her knight would jump instantly to the heart of my defense. I need to be careful…'
Sheva shifted his body a little once again, starting to feel uncomfortable. Honestly, this was the first time he felt this way. Even when he played against Master Irfan, the boy still had the illusion that he was able to win the game. This gave him a terrifying idea that the girl in front of him was stronger than the IM who owned this club.
'No fucking way…' As that thought crossed his mind, Sheva glanced at the girl subtly with awe on his face. 'Is this fucking real?! She is stronger than Master Irfan?!'
Of course, there was a little bit of a misconception here. It wasn't like Anna was stronger than Irfan, but Anna faced Sheva with a prepared mind here, ready to fight against a strong opponent. She also had already learned his playing style at a glance, giving her an idea of what to expect from Sheva.
It was completely different compared to when Sheva played against Irfan. The IM went into the game blindly and underestimating him. Even though it was disrespectful, Irfan had the right to do that. He was the International Master here, the one with more experience. However, Sheva managed to take advantage of that by catching Irfan off guard to the point that he was able to force a draw. If those two had another game against each other, Irfan was sure that he would be able to beat Sheva.
'Man, the newcomer has it tough…'
'What can you expect from Anna? She always has no mercy no matter who her opponent is…'
'Still, it would be good to see Anna lose here.'
'Yeah, I want to see someone knock her arrogance, but it seems I am too hopeful.'
Bagas who was recording from the sideline couldn't help but frown. From the whispers around, he noticed that everyone was pessimistic about Sheva's situation. However, he knew Sheva. If there was one thing that his best friend excelled at the most compared to other people, it would be his resilience. He didn't know how to give up no matter how tall the mountain in front of him was. Just like right now, even though everyone felt like the game was already in Anna's grasp, he could still see the light shining in Sheva's eyes. Seeing that, Bagas couldn't help but clench his fat fist tightly.
'Come on, Sheva… Prove them all wrong here!'