Meanwhile, on the main hall where the highest section was held, Anna shut her eyes tightly, trying to visualize the chessboard inside her mind. Of course, she didn't know the distress she caused to Sheva, Claudia, Bagas, and Irfan, who were specifically watching her game from the outside of the hall. Well, not like she had a time to take care of that, since she had to fight for her own survival right now.
'His bishop is really annoying, anchoring the pawn on the back and creating a wall that couldn't be broken without giving anything to sacrifice. My only chance is to try advancing my pawn, using it to bait the bishop out of its comfort zone before hitting the knight and the two other pawns right after that. Still, I need to keep eyes on his knight first, or I will be screwed.'
Anna didn't even realize that her time was ticking down to below five minutes. Compared to her opponent, who still had about twenty minutes left on his clock, this was definitely not an ideal situation. She didn't know that her wasting time like this was enough to put her sister on the verge of breaking down.
'Come on, Big Sis! Your time is getting down so quickly! Make a move!' Claudia bit her lips, staring at the game on Sheva's phone.
Meanwhile, back in the commentary booth, both Irfan and Bagas frowned at the current position. For Irfan, he could assess Anna's current situation was bad at a single glance, and for Bagas, he had been observing the game with the help of the chess.com platform, giving him the exact analysis of the current situation. Still, they both reached the same conclusion here: Anna's position sucks.
"So, what do you think Anna should do, Master Irfan?" Bagas asked.
Irfan pondered for a few seconds before finally answering, "If it is me, I will use my only pawn as bait, trying to force Radha Devan to take it with the bishop. What Anna needs the most is to get the opponent's pawn out of the bishop's protection quickly enough, and once she manages to do that, even though the situation will still be tough, at least there is a chance that she could force a draw here."
"What about her chance to win?" Bagas couldn't help but ask again.
"Well, it is difficult to think about that in the current situation." Irfan frowned, crossing his arms in front of his chest while also leaning against his seat. "Even if somehow, Devan makes a mistake or an inaccuracy, it would only put the game back to the equal term, and with so few pieces left on the board, the biggest probability is a draw. The only chance Anna could chase for a win is if somehow Devan makes consecutive mistakes or a big blunder, but except for if he is drunk, I don't think that this is going to happen in this game." He concluded with a little bit of humor in it.
What Irfan said was exactly what Anna had inside her mind. They were both master and apprentice, so it was not strange to find them both having the same thought here. After simulating a lot of possible scenarios inside her head, Anna finally took action. The next few moves were done in a very short time, no less than five seconds. She did it to make sure that her time disadvantage wouldn't be her downfall here.
Of course, Radha Devan showed why he was the better player here. The veteran International Master from India didn't even bat his eyes at the bait set by Anna, ignoring it completely while also charging his pawns forward to get them as close as possible to the promotion square. He also did everything in a flash, not wanting to give Anna any chance to think.
Seeing this, Anna finally made a major decision here. She also charged her pawn forward, trying to get into the promotion zone as quickly as possible. Radha Devan crooked his eyebrows slightly at that, not expecting the girl to be so bold in this situation. However, he was not afraid of this blatant challenge. The man decided to indulge her in this silly game, going on about who was faster to get the new queen.
In the end, it was Anna who got it first, yet Radha Devan also got his deserved queen in the next move. Everyone who watched the game held their breath when they saw this, not daring to let it loose even for a millisecond. They knew that this was a crucial situation here, and no one dared to blink in fear of missing this moment.
"They have done it…" Master Irfan whispered, his fist clenched tightly in nervousness. "They both have a new queen! Now, the game will enter a new stage here!"
'Come on!' Sheva also clenched his fist unconsciously, feeling the nerve starting to get over his head. Hell, he was more nervous watching this game compared to when he was playing earlier, showing how high the tension of this game was. 'This is not over yet! Defend yourself!'
The game went for a while, and both players had already had their time short right here. Anna only had two minutes left on her clock, yet her opponent had already burned a lot of time before. Now, Radha Devan only had four minutes left, and with both in a time scramble, everything could happen.
They both kept trying to maneuver their queen from one corner to another, trying to push each other's king onto an unfavorable square. For a moment, it looked like the game was about to end in a draw, especially when a perpetual check happened on the board. However, Anna miscalculated one thing here, and that was the fact that Radha Devan still had one more pawn who was already two squares away from the promotion.
Knowing this, Radha Devan tried so hard to exchange the queen here, trying to get rid of them both before going for another queen again. Anna only realized that later, and once her brain finally caught up to his plan, it was all too late. Her queen was pinned by the opponent's queen already, and her only choice here was to exchange it. Now, with both players losing their queen again, Radha Devan had a better chance to win, and as long as the man didn't mess up, the final result wouldn't change too much here.
So, Anna finally let out a deep sigh, offering a handshake while also smiling reluctantly at her opponent.
Yeah, in the end, she finally did the hardest choice here.
She resigned.