Unfortunately, unlike Sheva, who managed to pull a miracle out of nowhere, Claudia and Irene didn’t have the sa luck in their ga. Although they tried so hard to defend their position, in the end, they got overwheld by the more talented player in front of them.
In Claudia’s case, although she managed to hold Mishra Abhimanyu back for more than twenty moves, her nervous system really betrayed her in the crucial mont. She tilted, and unlike Mads Andersen, the young Arican grandmaster had a keen eye to notice that imdiately, and without giving any rcy, he struck where it would hurt her the most.
She tried so hard to defend her position, but Mishra really pushed her to the edge of the cliff. He overwheld the girl on the kingside, forcing all of her pieces to go to the eighth rank just to escape from the relentless pursuit of Mishra’s pieces.
At one mont, looking at the overextended white pieces on the board, Claudia had half of her mind thinking of a way to counter this situation. True enough, she tried her luck by activating her queen, giving one check after another in the hope that it would force at least a draw result here. Unfortunately, Mishra’s king managed to find a safe place that was basically untouchable, forcing Claudia’s queen to go back empty-handed.
If anything, though, this counterattack was definitely the beginning of her downfall, as without her queen, Claudia’s defense crumbled imdiately. Mishra managed to plant his pawn on the H6 square, locking down the king’s escape square while also giving room for his pieces to infiltrate the G7 square.
There were slight ups and downs in the ga, and honestly, Mishra wasn’t as clinical as everyone thought he would be. However, in the end, he had the job done, eliminating all the threats coming from Claudia and finishing the ga cleanly. It wasn’t an even close ga, just pure dominance from the beginning to the end.
anwhile, the ga between Irene and Hans Niemann ended up more tragically. Opting with the closed Sicilian just like Sheva’s ga, sohow, Irene went all out, putting pressure on the Arican prodigy since the beginning of the ga. She managed to develop all of her pieces perfectly before Hans could even get out of the pressure, and the woman also had a slight advantage in ti, giving her hope that she could get a positive result or even win this ga.
However, Hans really showed why he was a genius here. The 19-year-old GM managed to defend well, and not only that, he even sent a counterattack that prevented Irene from castling for the rest of the ga. Not only that, but Hans also forced Irene to make a few inaccurate moves that led to him gaining an obvious advantage in the ga.
It was clear by the middle ga phase that both players had an aggressive playing style. They all basically abandoned their defenses and raced to get into each other’s throats first. One blunder after another kept being made, and the evaluation bar moved up and down violently like it had just finished a full marathon.
What made it tragic, though, was the fact that at so point, Irene really had a chance to win the ga. At that ti, Hans really overextended his pieces, leaving his defense open to being exploited by Irene’s counterattack. Hell, even the computer engine gave 2.4 for the evaluation, showing that the woman’s advantage was so good it was as if she was up to two full pawns.
Unfortunately, Irene failed to capitalize on the advantage, and not only that, but the constant blunder she made only put her life closer to the death door. In the end, she was even down a whole knight, having to sacrifice it to give a chance for her king to escape. Unfortunately, it was a futile attempt, as in the end, the relentless pursuit from Hans’s queen and two rooks was enough to corner her king into the edge of the board, checkmating her brutally on the king’s original spot.
In the end, after having a good first day, everything was spiraling down for the three Indonesian players, with only Sheva managing to force a draw against a high-ranked Grandmaster Mads Andersen.
Still, while a lot of people were disappointed at this result, none of them blad the players too much. After all, this kind of result was already expected, especially considering how strong their opponents were. Hell, besides Mishra Abhimanyu, whose rating was still just 2524, Mads Andersen and Hans Niemann’s ratings were so high that even Master Susanto garanto, the best Indonesian chess player of all ti, wouldn’t be able to match them in their peak.
That showed not only how strong the three opponents were, but also how weak Indonesian chess was.
"Eh, no need to pout like that, Ia..." Sheva smirked a little, poking the girl’s cheek playfully. "Co on... You said it yourself that it is normal to get beaten by your opponent, right?"
Yeah, it was after the day was over, and just like usual, all four Indonesians gathered at the small Chinese restaurant for dinner. Sheva snorted amusedly as he saw Claudia pouting like a child, and even Bagas and Irene found this pretty much amusing.
"Well, yeah, it is normal! What is not normal is you, you know?!" Claudia was pointing her finger at him accusingly.
"?!" Sheva was taken aback.
"Yeah, you!" Claudia nodded once again in confirmation. "You are just playing chess for what?! Three months?! How could you be so good to force a draw against a GM?! It is not normal at all!"
"Oh, yeah, I am curious about that too." Irene and Bagas, who just sat relaxedly, suddenly turned to him when they heard Claudia’s question. "I an, what is your secret here? It shouldn’t be just talent, right? I an, there are a lot of geniuses in the world, but I don’t think I have ever heard soone who could do what you have done here."
Facing the scrutiny of the three people here, Sheva was sweating like a bullet, knowing that he had no good answer to explain this matter. He couldn’t just say that it was all due to the system inside his head, right?
"Anyway!" Sheva coughed awkwardly, opening his phone in a desperate attempt to change the topic here. However, the mont he scrolled through his phone, the boy was stunned at the content that he read, and before the others could ask what was going on, he muttered lowly, "The pairing tomorrow is out!"
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