"Oh, are you sure?" A playful smile suddenly also ford on Sheva’s face. "I like a confident opponent. But all have fallen first before you, so why do you think that you are different?" Even though it was far from humble, after such a good period this month, Sheva’s confidence also soared to the sky, so facing an opponent like this, his arrogance also flared up unconsciously.
"Don’t worry, you will see later that I am indeed different." Dmitrij Kollar grinned confidently.
At that ti, they were both on the sa wavelength, and they couldn’t help but feel excited about the ga. Sheva, driven by curiosity, wondered where the source of his opponent’s confidence ca from. While Dmitrij Kollar, driven by his ambition, was so eager to break the invincible streak that the teenager in front of him was in right now.
Now that both players were so excited, what was left was one thing, and that was for the ga to start. A mont later, that mont finally arrived, as the alarm rang to show that the tenth round of the Olympiad had finally begun.
"Let’s have a good ga!"
After both players shook hands with each other, Sheva made his first move imdiately. Playing with the white piece, he was still sticking to the King’s Pawn opening, finding the system to be the most suitable for his part. Dmitrij Kollar also returned the favor in a second, not wanting to spend too much ti on the opening stage.
For this ga, Sheva had a simple plan. He had learned his lesson from his passing out experience, so going to the endga quickly was definitely not sothing he could afford. His stamina was shit right now, and it would be troubleso to lose consciousness twice in a row, especially in a foreign country like this.
So, he went for a slow opening, wanting to go for a positional battle that would lead to a complicated situation in the middle ga. Of course, the boy also didn’t want to delve deeper into theoretical lines, so he chose probably one opening that not a single person in the room would expect him to pull.
The Italian Ga.
"Oh, this is interesting." Arfan couldn’t help but lean forward. "For as long as I could rember, Sheva always despised the Italian Ga, seeing it as a boring and drawish opening. This is the first ti I saw him playing this willingly."
"No, you are wrong for that, Arfan." Bagas interrupted. "I rember one ga in the Hanoi Tournant a few months ago, Sheva’s first-ever official tournant. He pulled the sa opening, but with a twist in it. The variation should be called.... Evans Gambit, if I am not wrong?" He asked for confirmation.
"Ah! I rember that!" Arfan also nodded. His mory flew back to the first ti he was about to play against Sheva in the Jakarta International Chess Festival. At that ti, Novendra reminded him to be careful, as Sheva had a knack for a strange opening like the Evans Gambit or King’s Gambit. Rembering this, the boy couldn’t help but sigh in lancholy. "Man, it has only been four months since that ti, and he has left to dust, huh? What a genius..."
For the first ten moves, they blitzed their way without even a single hesitation, clearly showing their top-notch understanding of the opening. However, the ga went exactly as the variation line they picked suggested. Giuoco Pianissimo. A very quiet ga.
This was a more restrained version of the Italian ga, famous for its slow, deliberate developnt with both sides avoiding early confrontation. Instead of that, both players aid for a solid position, preparing for a strategic battle in the middle or endga. The goal was to build a robust pawn center and create a solid, strategic position, often avoiding the push pawn to the d4 square until the later stage.
However, this was the ti when Sheva realized the huge blunder he had made by choosing this opening. He forgot that the Italian ga had two different outcos. One was a complicated positional middle ga, and the other one was a quick endga where almost half of the pieces were cleared from the board, leaving so pieces that could lead to an easy draw if he was not careful. And based on how the ga looked right now, it seed that the most likely outco was the second one.
’Yeah, fuck! I ss it up!’ He cursed. ’System, I can deactivate and activate my title freely, right? I an, it is not sothing that I have to use for the entire ga, right?’ The boy asked.
[Indeed, Host. You can use the title when you need it the most, and you can deactivate that for the rest of the ti to preserve your stamina.]
Sheva couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh when he heard that. While the boy rembered vividly that the system had already told him about it, he still needed to confirm it to avoid suffering later. He was also glad that the title could be deactivated freely like this, as if not, it would only bring more harm to him.
’Yeah, thanks, System. Please, deactivate it for now.’
[DING!]
[The title Endga Master has been deactivated! To activate again, please, say, ’System, activate the title.’]
’Yeah, thanks for the information. See you later, System.’ Sheva muttered to himself.
Just right after he realized his own mistake, all the good idea that he had beforehand was gone instantly. The boy started to regret his decision, especially after realizing once again how he didn’t have the patience to play this slow ga. In the end, he decided to get into the endga quickly, exchanging all of his pieces without hesitation.
One by one, his generals had fallen to the abyss. First the queen, and then the bishop, and after that, the two rooks followed all along. Fortunately, they didn’t go to hell without fighting. No, before they fell, all of the generals still managed to drag the enemies into the sa hole, making the ga still pretty much equal. In the end, after the dust had settled, both players only had an opposite color bishop and a knight on their side, and the most crucial part of the battlefield was about to begin.
’Yeah, let’s see how far I could go in the endga stage without my title...’
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