"Argh.... Finally!" Sheva couldn’t help but let out a pretty loud groan after the ga was over, stretching his stiff body after fighting for four whole hours against Yu Yangyi. It was a stressful ga, especially knowing that his opponent only needed him to make one mistake before slicing his throat rcilessly. He was just glad that the ga was over and he could take a proper rest after this.
As he rose from his seat, though, so of the players who watched from a close distance ca to greet him. One of them was Aryan Chopra, the handso Indian man whom he beat in the third round of the tournant.
"You did an amazing job in this ga, congratulations." The man said with a thick Indian accent.
"Ah! Thank you very much, I appreciate it!" Sheva was taken aback, yet still replied politely.
After exchanging a few words, the Indian GM finally left, but not before asking to exchange contact information with him. Sheva could only shake his head in exasperation. This was the second Indian GM that he got in contact with, with the first one being Praggnanandhaa himself. He knew that it was a coincidence, but Sheva couldn’t help but think about whether he had sothing inside him that could attract the attention of the Indian players outside.
’Nah, no need to think sothing absurd like that.’ He shook his head once again, snapping himself from his own wild thought. ’Anyway, let’s go to the other first. I wonder, how is Bagas doing with his stream?’
Yeah, after getting rid of the pressure from Yu Yangyi earlier, the thought of the trolls back ho ca back into his mind once again, and he couldn’t help but wonder whether the situation had gotten better or not. After all, he managed to force a draw, and even though it was not a win, this was definitely a better result compared to his other companions.
’I an, no one should expect beating a fucking super GM, right?’ He asked himself with a little bit of uncertainty in his tone.
As he left the venue, though, it seed soone had been waiting for him there. The boy couldn’t even escape, as the man greeted him imdiately with the sa level of enthusiasm that Aryan Chopra showed earlier. This ti, though, Sheva was familiar with the man, and the boy was startled to see him here.
"Mister Sagar? You are here too?" He asked, taken aback by the man’s presence.
"Yes, young man! It seems that you still rember !" The man laughed happily. "I heard you have done a very good job in this tournant, making one upset after another. Congratulations!" The man didn’t forget to praise him, knowing that Sheva’s run in this tournant could be described as magical.
"Ah... Thank you... You are so kind..." Sheva could only rub the back of his head awkwardly, not expecting to get praised by a stranger like this. "Anyway, are you going to..." He trailed his words behind, sohow having a bad feeling when he saw the man take out a smartphone and get ready to record sothing here.
"Oh, yes, I want to ask you for a short interview here. Can we do this?"
Sheva groaned instantly, knowing that he should’ve expected sothing like this to happen. The man in front of him was Sagar Shah, the owner of the infamous ChessBase India. The last ti they t each other was in Reykjavik two or three months ago, and at that ti, Sheva also made a big wave in that tournant.
However, this ti was different, as the wave he created was far bigger compared to the Reykjavik one. In total, he gained 4 points out of 5 rounds, beating two very strong grandmasters and forcing a draw against two super grandmasters, including the top-seeded of the tournant, Yu Yangyi, in the round earlier. There was no way Sagar Shah would let him go so easily like that.
As for why the man was here... Well, Sheva wasn’t really curious about that. After all, Gukesh Dommaraju, one of the biggest prospects in Indian chess, was playing in this tournant, so it would be a no-brainer for the biggest chess dia in that country to follow him up. Sheva just didn’t expect that, besides following Gukesh’s journey, Sagar Shah would be willing to take ti to interview him like this.
In the end, he agreed with the short interview, seeing no reason to refuse it. The boy saw Sagar setting up his phone to record their conversation, and after everything was ready, the man greeted the cara as if he was about to start recording a vlog.
"Hello, everyone, I am here at the Biel International Chess Festival, and here I am accompanied by the talented youngster from Indonesia, Adrian Sheva. How are you today?"
"I am great, thank you." Sheva nodded stiffly. Even though he wasn’t overly nervous like the last ti Sagar interviewed him, that didn’t an Sheva could be comfortable enough in front of a cara. Fortunately, Sagar knew about this already, so the man wasn’t bothered by his stiff answer at all.
"You have done amazingly in this tournant, getting 4 points out of 5 rounds. You are now in seventh place in the standings, only behind so of the grandmasters who have 4.5 points. How do you feel about this?"
"Of course, it feels great. I am just a 2300-rated player, so this is far more than what I deserve. I an, look at the players with a similar rating to . Not wanting to sound arrogant, but I can say this confidently, that my performance is the best among them all."
They chatted for a while about a lot of things, from Sheva’s performance in this tournant, his thoughts about playing against higher-rated players, his impression of his opponents, his experience in Biel, and so many more. After about seven minutes of the interview, Sagar was satisfied with the result, so he was about to end this recording in a mont. Of course, he wouldn’t do that without one last question, so the man fired up one more question that made Sheva think for a mont.
"Lastly, Sheva, you have done a great job in this tournant. So, what is your target here? Do you have your eyes on the first spot of the tournant?" Sagar asked with a provocative smile.
"Winning, huh?" Sheva pondered for a mont, trying to answer this question carefully. "I don’t think I can maintain this amazing performance for the rest of the tournant, so it seems winning is a little bit out of my reach right now. However, I can tell you my target here. Since I have already gotten 4 points, I want to get so more and follow my achievent in the Reykjavik tournant a few months ago."
"You an..."
"Yeah." Sheva nodded firmly, confirming the man’s unasked question. "I want to get my second GM norm in this tournant, so wish luck, okay?"
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