anwhile, on the other side of the venue, Anna couldn’t really put her mind on the board in front of her, too distracted by her worry about Sheva’s ga against Yu Yangyi. Even though they didn’t really talk about it yesterday, she herself knew the implication if sohow, Sheva lost his ga today.
’No, if he lost the ga, those trolls would scold us more, right?’ The girl thought to herself. ’Bagas said that the attack toward us is still pretty ta, but Sheva’s ga could be the last straw, right? I an, even though Yu Yangyi is a really, really strong player, but us three losing against him continuously would be the perfect excuse for those trolls to bash us. Could this also affect Sheva’s sponsorship? Damn, this is really bad!’
Yeah, just like Sheva, she also suffered from her own wild imagination, thinking the worst-case scenario already. This was really Bagas’s fault, as if only the boy told them bluntly of what was going on, they wouldn’t be this worried about the current situation.
Fortunately, Anna’s opponent right now was pretty weak, with an ELO rating of only 2230 from Kazakhstan. Even though she was not in her best state, the girl managed to outsmart her opponent with a clever tactical ga, and even though she had no access to the engine, Anna believed that her advantage was so big, even to the point that she was close to checkmating her opponent.
Knowing that she didn’t have to worry about her own ga, Anna decided to go and look around, particularly at Sheva’s ga on table 6. Unsurprisingly, though, a few players had already been there first. Anna could even see so of the players whom Sheva faced in the last few rounds, like Aryan Chopra and Shant Sargsyan, observing the ga intently. Even though no one talked there, the atmosphere was quite heavy, as everyone was looking forward to another upset by Sheva.
Anna herself didn’t question why they were here. She knew that compared to any other players in this building, those who were here were the ones who had already seen a glimpse of Sheva’s potential, and they were curious to see if the ga against Yu Yangyi could stimulate the hidden talent inside him more or not.
Unlike them, though, Anna had her own business to co here. She just didn’t want to see Sheva losing this ga, so the girl hoped that her friend wouldn’t try sothing outrageous in this round. Even though she knew that Sheva was intelligent enough to know the consequences of losing this ga, the girl couldn’t deny that sotis, Sheva’s adventurous sense would overwhelm his own reasoning, turning the ga into a circus.
That was probably the least thing Anna wanted to see, as right now, she really needed Sheva to be stable.
Sheva himself didn’t know what Anna thought about his ga. No, he couldn’t care less about it, as right now, the ga had already entered the endga phase. The position was pretty equal, with them both having six pawns, a queen, and a light bishop on their side. Based on this position, any sane player here would think that this would end up in a draw. However, both Yu Yangyi and Sheva still thought very hard about this current position, not thinking that the ga would end up that easily.
’Why in the hell does he still want to keep going on?!’ Sheva gritted his teeth, sliding his bishop to protect his pawn on the far end of the board. He glanced sideways at his opponent, yet still could not see Yu Yangyi’s true expression behind the man’s glasses. ’It is a fucking draw! Just accept it and move on!’
Of course, Yu Yangyi would’ve never done that. The man was confident that Sheva, a 2300-rated player, would never have been able to maintain this level of accuracy in the endga phase, and once the man saw him tilting, that was the ti when he struck like lightning. Yu Yangyi had already planned that, so right now, he was just shuffling his piece back and forth, wanting to put more pressure on the boy in front of him.
Sheva could only scowl here, knowing exactly what his opponent was trying to do. Inwardly, though, he also started to worry about his fate here. Even though in the last few gas, he managed to steal one point after another, the boy was not blinded by the fact that it wasn’t due to pure strength that he managed to do that. No, the result he achieved currently was due to the combination of pure luck, a well-done preparation, and a surprise attack that his opponent didn’t expect at all. Unfortunately, those things didn’t really work against Yu Yangyi, as the man was unfazed by any trick that Sheva prepared for this ga.
’Okay, I need to keep my head calm here.’ Sheva took a deep breath, trying to maintain his composure. ’The more I get anxious, the higher the chance I make a mistake. No, I cannot do that. Let’s just play slowly and not rush things up. I can do this. Yeah, I can do this!’ If he could, Sheva would try to slap his own cheek right now to hype himself up.
The ga kept running for a while, and even though all the players who spectated it around the table agreed that this was a draw endga, sohow, both Sheva and Yu Yangyi didn’t have any intention to take that agreent. Yu Yangyi himself also felt that way, as he had already gotten a draw against a lower-rated opponent in the second round. Getting a second draw in this tournant would hurt his rating, especially since his opponent, Sheva, was 400 points below him.
So, yeah, for the Chinese GM, anything except a win was not a choice here.
Ultimately, the ga that should’ve ended in move 28 sohow got dragged into move 65, with neither player wanting to offer the draw first. More pieces were exchanged, yet no advancent happened on the board. Hell, their king was still stuck on their own back rank, unable to move even for an inch because every road was blocked by the opponent’s pawns.
In the end, after playing for more than four hours, Yu Yangyi finally relented. The ga had already entered the phase of the endga that even the most amateur person in the world would be able to defend himself, let alone a talented player like Sheva. Even though this would hurt his rating, the man knew that nothing could be done about this.
He offered a handshake, which Sheva accepted decisively, and that was the end of the ga.
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