"Good job!" Sheva didn’t forget to praise Anna once she walked away from the table. "It is a difficult endga to navigate, and you managed to hold your ground until your opponent finally made a mistake! That is a magnificent performance!" He offered a high-five, which the girl accepted with a shy smile.
Next to them, Claudia and Laysa pouted slightly. The first one was because she got ignored, and the second one was because she was forced to see this affectionate display without even asking for it. In the end, it was Laysa who destroyed the intimate atmosphere between those two with a cough.
"So... Sheva... Are you not going to praise for a draw too?" She smiled teasingly.
"Yes, Sheva! You didn’t praise this genuinely earlier, and I won my ga, you know?!" Claudia added, crossing her arms in front of her chest petulantly.
Anna could feel the heat rising on her cheek, and if she could see her face, the girl would mistake it for a boiled lobster. She was always okay with Sheva being lovey-dovey, but Anna seed to have little to no resistance to people teasing about their ambiguous relationship.
"D—Don’t say that, Ia..." She smiled weakly, especially since the girl saw jealousy on her sister’s face. "You also did a very good job today. If not for you, we will not be able to win this difficult matchup, you know?"
Just within a second, all the color went back to Claudia’s face as her mood lightened up instantly. "Really?" She asked with a hopeful tone. Even though she knew it was the truth, it was still better when it ca from her sister’s mouth.
"Um, of course, I am saying the truth." Anna smiled warmly, pinching her sister’s cheek playfully. "My cute little sister is so reliable right now, I don’t have to worry about her anymore. You have grown up so well, and I am very proud of it..."
"Ehehe..." Claudia could only rub the back of her head, sohow feeling embarrassed at the praise.
Sheva could only twitch the corner of his mouth when he saw this, deciding to shut it up rather than saying sothing wrong that could ruin the mont. Still, he swore that Claudia was the biggest sis-con in the world, and she was just fortunate that Anna loved her so much that the big sister didn’t mind it. Sheva could still rember so of his friends in high school who had a sister, and they would always complain about how they and their sisters would fight against each other at ho.
"Well, while I hate to ruin your sisterly mont like this, I think we have to go now." It was Laysa who finally broke the silence. She ignored the glare that Claudia gave her, having already been used to that by now. "Look, people also start cleaning out the venue. I am sure that soone will kick us out soon if we still insist on staying here. Also, the others should be waiting for us, so we need to et them first."
Indeed, after being used for more than six hours, the janitors started to appear to clean the room. Almost all the gas were over at this point, with so still running due to the players’ stubbornness.
Sheva could also see a crowd gathered in a few spots, surrounding top players who were still kind enough to accept the photo and signature request. On one corner, Wesley So, the Philippines-born USA GM, could be seen still interacting with fans, chatting and laughing with them. The man was infamous as one of the kindest people in the chess community, so his appearance here was not strange. The Indian first team was also still in the venue, hanging out together while also chatting in front of the chessboard, seeming to analyze sothing there.
Both India’s first team and the USA were currently leading the pack in the open section with a perfect record. However, they were not the only ones who achieved that. No, so countries also trailed with the sa record, like Israel, Arnia, England, Spain, and even Poland, which had just beaten Indonesia. It was clear that the fateful encounter between India and the USA would not happen in the next round. However, everyone predicted that it was going to be either the sixth round or the seventh round, and the venue would be jam-packed with people at that point.
Well, that was the story for a different day.
After Sheva and the girls left the building, they were greeted by Arfan, dina, and Sarah at the entrance door. It seed that they left the broadcast quickly, while Sarah herself had been there since the beginning of the ga, as she was the one who did the live report in the venue. All of them could see that those three were excited over the result that they had achieved, and even dina had a small smile on her face.
"Good job, everyone!" dina praised them all genuinely. "Even though it is still too early to say anything, now, we are currently among the top 10 teams that still have a perfect record. Also, don’t be too discouraged, Sheva. Even though the n’s team lost, your win is still enough to make us all proud."
"Wait!" Claudia suddenly interrupted, turning to Sheva in disbelief. "You win again?! Against another 2600-rated player?!" That was when all the girls realized that they hadn’t asked how Sheva’s ga went. They mimicked Claudia’s reaction, having their jaws drop in astonishnt.
"What? Why are you so surprised like that?!" Sheva asked, feeling uncomfortable with the gaze he received. "I an, you have already seen doing the sa thing over and over again, right? Why are you still acting like this is the first ti I did this?" He asked innocently.
For that, everyone just twitched their mouth in irritation, not knowing whether Sheva was genuine or trying to mock them here. Even though what the boy said was true, this was probably the most outrageous thing that they had ever heard before.
"Not everyone is a genius like you, you know?" Arfan slapped Sheva’s back pretty violently. "Anyway, we can talk about this later. For now, let’s go back to the hotel. Master Susanto and the others should’ve been there with dinner already! Co on, I am starving right now!"
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