Two weeks later…
"…. Up…"
"… Shev… Up…."
"Oi, Shev… Up…"
"Urgh…" Sheva groaned weakly as he felt someone nudging his shoulder a little bit violently here. Unfortunately, it wasn't the right decision, as the moment he felt his consciousness was back, he could feel his stomach spinning around and the nausea that seemed to ebb away before he fell asleep coming back to haunt him again. "What is going on? Don't bother me, Gas…" He groaned weakly, not even taking the eye mask off his face.
"No, Shev, wake up, you lazy bum!" The person next to him, his bastard friend, Bagas, shook his body off, trying so hard to hold back his laughter over his misfortune. "We are about to land here, so wear your seatbelt tightly."
"Oh, Lord have mercy… Finally, this torture is going to over…" Sheva groaned, trying to shake off the dizziness inside his head.
He could also hear the soft giggle and the mocking laugh from afar, yet Sheva didn't really care about that for now. He had never realized how much he hated traveling by plane until he actually experienced it. The constant vibration, the noisy background, and the fear of falling down kept lingering inside his head, stirring up his stomach to the point that he almost vomited on the spot. He didn't know why some people enjoyed this way of travelling. They must be a bunch of weirdos.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have just been cleared to land at the Noi Bai International Airport. Please make sure your seatbelt is securely fastened one last time. The flight attendants are currently passing around the cabin to make a final compliance check and pick up any remaining cups and glasses. Thank you."
When he heard that, Sheva was finally willing to take off his eye mask, preparing for the landing. Fortunately, even with the plane going around the airport for more than five minutes, the boy managed to survive until the end without vomiting even for a bit. Well, even though his stomach's condition worsened, of course.
"Never…" Sheva groaned weakly, holding a rail to support his posture. His face was pale, and as his best friend, Bagas, did a very good job at laughing his ass off, infuriating Sheva more in this situation. "I will never take any plane again…"
"Well, too bad for you, Mister, but we still have to go back to Indonesia with another plane, so you better get ready for another trip to hell." A little girl that Sheva was familiar with mocked him ruthlessly.
"Ia, you promised that you are not going to antagonize him, right?" The similar yet older girl sighed helplessly.
"But I am not mocking him, Big Sis!" The little girl defended herself with a pout. "I mean, even his best friend is doing the same, right?!" He tried to justify his action.
Those two girls were, of course, Anna and Claudia Marise, the talented chess players who left a strong impression in Sheva's head during the last internal tournament in Irfan's house. Even though the prize was finally earned by him and Anna, Claudia still joined them both for this tournament. It seemed that their parents decided to include Claudia in this journey so that the little girl wouldn't feel like her sister was leaving her out of the fun.
"Come on, let's not waste time here." Irfan, the only adult here, patted Sheva's shoulder while glancing around. "The others should've been waiting for us in the hotel."
Yeah, even though out of the Black Rook club, only those three were sent—Bagas didn't count as a player, by the way—in reality, PERCASI—The Indonesian chess federation—sent about six more players. The composition also varied, with some of them playing in the GM section, some in the IM section, and the rest would be in the U2200 section.
Those who were in the GM section usually had an ELO rating of more than 2400, filled with some of the grandmasters and players who aimed for the norm for their Grandmaster title. Meanwhile, the same could be said for the IM section, with most of them going to play for the norm to be the International Master. As for U2200, that was for those whose ELO rating was below 2200, filled mostly by untitled players from the home country.
Sheva and Claudia would play in that category since their rating was still a bit too low. Well, that was for Claudia, as her official rating was 2003. Not too high, yet definitely among the best for a girl at her age.
As for Anna, she was definitely the biggest surprise here. At first, Sheva and Bagas thought that the girl would be joining them and her little sister to swim through the mud. However, it seemed that she had already gotten through that dirty place, standing nicely on the ground while also starting to eye the sky. Yeah, to put it simply, instead of going to play against any other low-level players like him, Anna would fight in the IM section, aiming for the Women's Grandmaster title.
For those who didn't know, the WGM title was probably equivalent to the FIDE Master title, yet it was for women. To get this title, Anna had to have at least three norm tournaments, which basically meant three tournaments with the final performance result of more than 2300. More than that, she also had to have a peak rating of 2300 or more, which wasn't something easy to do.
However, Anna came here with a big goal. She had already had two norms in her pocket, and the girl only needed 5.5 points out of 9 games to complete the norm and achieve the title. If she managed to do so, Anna, who was currently just 15 years old, would break the record as the youngest Indonesian girl who became the women's grandmaster, beating the legendary Irene Kharisma Sukandar who did so when she was 17 years old in 2009.
Honestly, when Sheva first knew about this, he was flabbergasted. After all, even though she had been playing for far longer, Anna was still definitely younger than him. To achieve such a thing at a young age, this made Sheva somehow ashamed of himself, thinking that he wasted his youth doing so many useless things. However, this was also a good thing, as Sheva felt his spirit was burning. Now, as he stepped into the hot and crowded Hanoi, there was only one thing on his mind.
'The journey is going to start tomorrow. Let's try to have fun and win as many games as possible. I cannot wait to stand next to her side in the future…'