Sheva sighed in relief as tension started ebbing away from his shoulder. Honestly, even though this was not his toughest match, the game was probably one he cared about the most in this tournament. After all, not only did he know that two legendary figures kept their eyes on him, but winning the game would ensure his perfect record. Moreover, there was a big chance that the next opponent would be Claudia, and knowing that little girl, Sheva knew that she would come for his blood. It was important to come with a high moral, or he would be punished.
He still kept his poker face, though, respecting the opponent in front of him. Sheva could see that the girl, Gloria, was vexed over her defeat. She had done almost everything perfectly, pushing Sheva to make a lot of reckless moves that gave her a little bit of an advantage during the game. However, on the journey, she got too impatient, forgetting that her main target today was just to force a draw. She realized it too late, as the next thing the girl knew, Sheva had already punished her for that.
"Good game, by the way." Sheva offered a handshake with a smile on his face. "You did well in most of the parts, but there was a moment where you hesitated on whether to go for a win or a simple draw. That hesitation costs you the entire game, unfortunately. Sorry for that part." He grinned politely.
"Yeah, you get me good here." Gloria sighed in defeat. "Anyway, your playing style is so weird! I know that you made some inaccurate moves, yet I don’t know why that is inaccurate or how to react to that." She smiled weakly, yet the frustration on her face was clear to Sheva.
"Why, thank you," Sheva smirked teasingly.
Honestly, this kind of playing style would only work against low-rated players like Gloria. For someone whose ability touched the threshold of the International Master, they would be able to see it clearly. After all, Sheva derived this kind of style based on his gold level calculation. He thought of all the moves that would be easy for an IM to handle, yet too confusing for the others below to react to, spamming all of them against Gloria. Fortunately, in this tournament, all the players were low-rated, and this was the source of Sheva’s confidence.
"Oh, well, good luck for the rest of the tournament." Gloria sighed once again as she rose from her seat. "I hope you are doing well later. Also, try to win the entire thing. It would be less embarrassing for me if I lost against the winner, right?" She smiled jokingly.
"Oh, sure." Sheva returned the smile before following her action, standing up and leaving the table.
It was only two hours since the round began, and honestly, Sheva was relieved to know that he ended the game this early. Now, he had about four more hours to rest before the next round, and he could use them to refill his energy first.
Out of about twenty tables there, only a few had already cleared, and glancing at them, Sheva could see that those who had already finished their games were the players who aimed for a quick draw. He shook his head quickly, trying not to let his mind be distracted for too long. He also went to the table next to him, where Claudia was still playing against someone named Cao Van Binh, a local player with an ELO rating of 1992. He was the top seed and the favorite to win the tournament, so the game should be pretty close between those two.
However, Sheva didn’t even have to spend more than ten seconds before realizing what was going on in that game.
’Claudia is winning, and it is not even close.’ He thought. ’She caught him straight into her web of trap, and now, every single move he makes would only choke him more.’
Sheva glanced one more time before nodding in satisfaction and walking away from the hall. Inwardly, though, he felt that Claudia would be more dangerous in the next round. After all, the victory against Cao Van Binh would get her rating through the threshold of 2000, bringing her morale to the sky. It would be tough trying to beat someone like that.
’Should I try aiming for a draw too?’ A thought suddenly crossed his mind. However, Sheva shook his head quickly, trying to banish that as far away as possible. ’No, what am I doing here? Those who aim for a quick draw have already lost half the battle. No, I cannot be conservative here. Let’s give it all and try to kill her too.’
After that, Sheva went out of the hall, going to take a little bit of rest. At first, he wanted to go to Anna’s game and take a peek at what was going on there. After all, she was playing against the top-seeded player in her section, International Master Nguyen Van Truong, with an ELO rating of 2411. He was pretty interested in how Anna would fare against that kind of opponent. Unfortunately, there was a pretty high mirror wall separating the tournament between the open section and the GM & IM one, so Sheva gave up on doing so, resorting to watching the live broadcast on Bagas’s YouTube account later.
Sheva had half of his mind to wait for the others first. However, he knew that this was going to be a long day, so getting his energy replenished first was important. He also bought some lunches from the small restaurant close to the hotel. After all, earlier this morning, he had only eaten two pieces of sandwiches, so getting a bowl of rice or two would be ideal to fill his stomach.
However, as he went straight to his hotel room, before Sheva could even get his phone, it buzzed immediately, showing that someone was calling him. The boy frowned for a moment, flipping the screen before realizing who was on the other side of the call, and a little, genuine smile suddenly formed as he accepted the call.
"Hey, Mom. How are you doing over there?"