On the sideline, Claudia bit her lips nervously, could see that her sister was in danger. No, in fact, both players were in danger, yet somehow, the initiative was completely in the opponent's grasp. Now, it was her big sister who was burning her clock, using all the time in the world to think of a solution to get out of this situation.
Then, her eyes turned slightly to her sister's opponent, and she clenched her jaws unconsciously at the boy's relaxed posture.
'That scoundrel…. How dare you take it easy against my sister…' She murmured with a tone full of maliciousness. Well, not maliciousness, per se, as that would be too much just for a chess game. However, the boy next to her sister really infuriated her, especially whenever Claudia remembered the humiliation after being forced to apologize earlier.
As for her defeat… Well, she had already dug this nightmare into the deepest hole that her brain could accommodate, not wanting to let it emerge even for a second. The defeat was like a fever dream, something so strange that it affected her perception of reality. She decided to ignore it completely, acting like it had never happened before.
Still, truth to be told, Claudia had to admit that the boy, Sheva, was an outstanding player. She considered herself to be an experienced player for her age, and she thought that nothing could surprise her anymore. Who could guess that in this small club, someone with the playing style that was far more aggressive than her sister would appear, taking everyone by storm.
However, that was it.
Claudia still believed that Sheva only won the game against her by a fluke. It was because she didn't know anything about him or his playing style. Once they played again, the girl was so sure that she would beat him to a pulp. As for this game… Well, she just scoffed at the boy's futile attempt to counterattack here. She knew her sister was just surprised here, and once Anna was able to get her head straight, everything would come together and her big sister would triumph over Sheva.
Or… So that was what she thought.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as well as what she had in mind. Anna's time started to catch up with Sheva's, and they both entered a time scramble right now. This was a situation where both players were low on time, and they just basically moved using their instincts. For a moment, silence dropped in the hall, with the only two things that could be heard being the sound of the pawn hitting the board and both players hitting the clock hard. No one dared to let any other sound except for their quiet breath, trying to keep up with the game in front of them.
To almost everyone's surprise, though, they could see that Sheva started to gain the advantage over the game. All the pieces that he 'undeveloped' earlier to save his king now turned into avalanches, ready to swarm his opponent to death. Not only that, his king was also in a completely safe square, and Anna's minor pieces that were still alive were so far away to support the attack that her queen initiated, making the queen get isolated in his area. This was the best-case scenario here, as Sheva himself didn't have to hunt for her queen. It was already trapped on the edge of the board, not being able to move, let alone participate in the game for a long time.
Tak!
Tak!
Tak!
Tak!
The sound of the pieces hitting the board kept getting louder, adding to the tension between the two players. The two protagonists here, both Anna and Sheva, had already left their chairs, standing so that they could move faster. Anna tried so hard to let her queen escape, even sacrificing two pawns to do so. However, Sheva didn't bulge, not letting the white queen escape from the jail he created so hard. No, instead, he focused on another flank, trying to snipe Anna's king side from afar.
Both his rooks were also gathered in the same file, creating a strong battery that stared straight at the white king's side. This time, only a single pawn separated the white king from the butchers that were Sheva's rooks. Even though it was still protected by another pawn behind, Sheva marched another pawn to challenge it, trying to break down the chain as quickly as possible.
However, in a time scramble situation like this, when both players were unable to see the whole situation clearly, blunders tended to happen, and usually, it was the one who managed to see through it and capitalize on the chance who would win the entire game. Unfortunately, for Sheva, though, in this game, he was the one who made the blunder first.
In fact, his idea was correct, trying to move back his dark bishop before it could get trapped in the opponent's territory. However, it was the destination square that was the problem here. He retreated his bishop back to the A6 square, yet he somehow forgot that his knight was in the C6, two squares away from him. Anna who had a pawn on the B4 square didn't hesitate for a second after seeing this, pushing it forward to fork both Sheva's knight and bishop.
"Oh, fuck off!" Sheva couldn't help but curse, realizing his blunder in a split second. However, the reaction around him was completely different here, as everyone was excited to see Anna gaining advantage once again.
"Damn! Finally, he makes a blunder here!"
"Yeah! Now, the game is completely in Anna's grasp!"
Sheva sulked a little bit when he heard the furious whispers around him, trying to get locked into the game once again. However, the blunder really messed up his momentum, and even though he was trying his best to recover, Anna's claw had already reached his territory. The two pawns that she wanted to use to help the queen escaped before suddenly turned into a sharp spear that was threatening to get promoted into another queen for Anna, and her original queen itself had already escaped back and now was supporting her rooks in three-fold batteries.
Sheva tried so hard to defend his position, yet Anna was like a well-oiled machine here, starting to capitalize on every advantage slowly but surely. In the end, she simplified the game by trading both rooks, yet it also helped her advanced pawn to get closer to the promotion square. Seeing this, and with only four seconds left in the game, Sheva finally did what he had never done before.
He resigned.