It was noon already, and the bakery shop was filled with a lot of people, mostly tourists who wanted to enjoy delicacies in a rare quiet place in Jakarta. The sound of cozy music in the background was able to put all the people there at ease, and coupled with the relaxing ambiance inside the shop, this was definitely a perfect place to find peace.
However, the sa thing couldn’t be said on one of the tables there, where one boy and three girls were gathering around. They all stared at their phone solemnly, as if the information they had just received was world-ending.
The first one who broke the silence was the youngest one, as she exhaled a breath full of relief at what she had just read.
"Good, I get an easy opponent." She nodded confidently.
"Don’t underestimate your opponent, okay?" Laysa sent a playful karate chop on her head. "Rember what happened to yesterday? Don’t make the sa mistake as ." She reminded the girl.
"Tch! I know. Who do you think I am?" Claudia clicked her tongue in annoyance. "What about you guys? Who is your opponent?" She couldn’t help but ask, curious.
"? I t a WGM from Vietnam." Laysa frowned. "Her rating has been falling, but she is still a strong player. She just beat a WGM from Mongolia earlier, so she is definitely in great montum. This will definitely be a difficult ga."
It was a major improvent, considering just yesterday, she ca with the attitude of ’I can beat you all easily.’ Now that the girl knew what subtlety and cautiousness ant, Sheva was so sure that she would go far in this tournant.
"As for ... I t your opponent yesterday, Laysa." Anna chid in.
"Oh?"
"Yup! Dita Karenza, a WIM whose ability doesn’t match her rating." Anna narrowed her eyes dangerously. "She has just beaten a WGM from Singapore, a player whose rating was 200 points above hers. That shows Dita Karenza was in her best form, and it wouldn’t be easy to crack her ga just in one hour." She clicked her tongue, annoyed at the lack of ti to prepare.
The girl also found it strange for her to have never t Dita Karenza before. After all, the won’s chess community in this country was so small that everyone should’ve t each other in the past, especially those high-rated ones. So, how could she have no mory of Dita Karenza?
Sheva himself didn’t really notice the girls’ conversation. No, he also had his own problem, courtesy of his next pairing.
Well... Saying that it was a problem was a bit far-fetched, since he was still confident that he would win the ga. However, the next opponent was indeed able to intrigue him, one of the few who could do that in this tournant.
’Brother Taher, huh? This is definitely going to be an interesting match...’ He chuckled.
Yeah, his next opponent was going to be Taher, the experienced IM who was also Sheva’s reliable teammate in the Olympiad last year. mories rushed the mont he saw that na paired against him, from their ti training together to fighting alongside each other.
Honestly, out of all the players in the country, there were only two n players who Sheva still felt intrigued to face: Arfan and Taher. Intrigued, yeah, not worried. Call him arrogant, but Sheva believed from the bottom of his heart that once he was in the zone, no one here could beat him in classical chess, even the two GMs, Master Susanto and Novendra.
Out of them all, Arfan and Taher stood out the most in Sheva’s mind, not only because of their good relationship, but also because they were always evolving into their new best version of themselves.
Even though Sheva had never said it to anyone else, he always caught up with the movent of all the Indonesian players abroad. After all, they would beco his teammates in any international tournant, so he wanted to know who would progress the furthest.
Not much surprise here, those two were the shining beacons for the country behind him.
For Arfan, he managed to win the Johor Open tournant in Malaysia last February despite being the seventh-seeded player of the tournant. Not only that, but he also managed to snatch the number two spots in the Hanoi Open, and while a local tournant didn’t count for his ELO rating, Sheva noticed that Arfan also won two rapid tournants and one blitz back ho, solidifying himself as one of the best prospects here.
As for Taher, his achievent wasn’t as shiny as Arfan’s. After all, he lived far away from Jakarta, and the amount of resources he had was very limited. However, in the two chances he had, the man always made the most of it with his improving performance. Last November, he was able to snatch the first place for the Bangkok Open in Thailand, and after that, a sponsorship landed in his hands, allowing him to play a tournant in Budapest, Hungary, which gave him the second GM norm of his career.
Now, Taher was so close to becoming the next Indonesian GM, sothing that he had been chasing for a while.
That was why, even though Sheva’s motivation in this tournant was quite low, there was still sothing he was waiting for, and that was to face them two here. It might sound arrogant, but he really wanted to test how far they had co since the last Olympiad.
’So, please, don’t disappoint here, Brother Taher...’
-0-
anwhile, back in the venue, Taher was sitting alone, his eyes shut as if he was ditating. The venue was still half-empty, with only a few people from the organizer wandering around.
It was lunchti, and usually, in a double-header ga like this, players would use it to fill their stomach and keep themselves energized to face the second half of the battle. However, this ti, Taher didn’t want to waste his ti outside. No, he just took two balls of onigiri and a bottle of water from the convenience store and went back to the building, starting to recount all of his preparation for the ga against Sheva.
’People say that it is impossible for anyone to stop him here, and he will end up with a perfect score after the tournant is over. I guess... It is my job as his senior to knock so sense into his head, right?’
-Author’s note-
Hey, everyone! Thank you for supporting my story! I have written a new one with the hope of getting a contract for that story as well, the title is ’The Rise of the Iron Wall!’. It is a football story, so if you like, please give your support by adding it to your collection and giving your power stone to that story! Thanks!
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