After they all settled in the hotel, the nine people from Indonesia hung out together, enjoying a warm dinner in the Chinese restaurant near the venue. Coincidentally enough, this was also their basecamp last year, and the owners also still rembered so of them well.
"You are the Indonesian people who went to a chess tournant here last year, right? I rember you guys! You two even had a lovely date at that ti!" The aunty there smiled teasingly at Sheva and Anna, enough to make them blush.
Yeah, that was a beautiful ti when Sheva invited Anna to hang out in one of the outdoor parks in the city. Claudia pouted slightly, but she didn’t comnt on it. She was old enough to realize that her sister would have a boyfriend one day, so being too possessive would do them no good in the future.
"So, you are here again with more people?" The aunty smiled so warmly, enough to make everyone reveal their secret willingly.
"Yup! We have a lot more people, and we are not just a newbie anymore, Aunty! We are the veterans now!" Anna nodded like a pecker, grabbing Sheva’s arm to show off themselves. "Besides Sister Dita, most of the guys here are new to this town, so we have to guide them well!"
"Oh, yes! You have to visit Central Park again! The renovation they put in is quite nice!"
"Really? I heard that..."
"No, no! You cannot do that! You have to..."
"Oh, thank you, Aunty! Can you tell ..."
Sohow, the conversation shifted to Anna and the aunt of the restaurant, with the others just looking at them amusedly. Sheva’s three disciples were confused, though, since they were not that proficient in English.
After a while, they finally went back to the hotel room with warm stomachs, and combined with the exhaustion after being on a flight for more than 15 hours, the mont they t the bed, most of them fell asleep imdiately.
Sohow, though, Bagas took the role dina had last year, becoming the group’s mother hen. He inspected each room one by one, making sure that none of them stayed quite late.
"I don’t care if you want to have fun here, but make sure that you are asleep before 10! Your body will need adjustnt after a long flight, and the opening ceremony will be around 12 in the noon! Don’t cry at if sohow, you miss everything, okay?!"
Of course, none of them dared to say otherwise. Except for Dita Karenza, who was basically an adult and could take care of herself, the others just nodded along, following the instructions without any complaint.
After he ca back from his inspection, Bagas found Sheva was still awake, looking at him amusedly.
"...What?"
"Nothing. Just not expecting you to be like this." Sheva snorted. "I an, yeah, you did the sa for , but I don’t expect you to be bold enough to order them left and right as if you are their mother."
"Bah! They know that I am right, so they have no choice but to accept it." Bagas waved his hand nonchalantly, letting his big body fall onto the bed. "Anyway, what about you? Aren’t you tired as well?" He asked.
After pondering for a second, Sheva answered, "Well, not really. Also, this is my vacation ti, right? I can just wake up late tomorrow since I don’t have to rush things up there."
"Valid enough." Bagas nodded. He glanced at Sheva’s phone before asking, "So, what are you doing? Still feeling pity for not joining the tournant?" He smirked teasingly.
Yeah, he caught Sheva checking the list of the participants from ti to ti, and if Bagas didn’t know better, he would think that Sheva was regretting his decision here. The boy himself just snorted back, shaking his head quickly.
"Nah. Just finding the participants to be interesting. I an, Vincent and Arjun are in the tournant again? After a week full of tension in Sweden? Are they made of iron or what?" He asked incredulously.
Indeed, after the tournant yesterday, Sheva was not the only one who flew straight to Switzerland. Arjun Erigaisi and Vincent Keyr also ca here, ready to fight against each other again for the second ti in a week. Just imagining that was enough to give Sheva a headache, let alone having to sit there and fight for himself.
"Well, you might not notice this, but the amount of prize money is quite big in this tournant, and not only does it offer the standard format, but the organizer is also kind enough to include the rapid and blitz ones. You can just grind three ratings at the sa tournant, so it is no wonder that they are willing to be in this tournant even with no ti to rest at all."
Sheva nodded along, could see where Bagas ca from. He checked the list once again, finding it to be quite interesting. Yu Yangyi was there, from being the highest rated player in the open section last year to becoming the highest rated one in the invitational section. That was definitely a big upgrade for the Chinese GM.
There were also so strong players besides Arjun and Vincent, like Le Quang Liem from Vietnam or even Amin Bassem, the strongest player in African history.
As for Sheva’s replacent, it seed that the organizer did a great job here. With only a few days of preparation, they managed to get the French GM, Jules Moussard, to be on the list, and while he was the lowest-rated player in the group, at least, his rating was still high, around 2650. This made the field even, so that everyone had a chance to beat anyone else in this section.
However, Sheva couldn’t care less about that section right now. No, since he ca as a supporter, the boy would just focus on who he supported, and since everyone was in the open section, of course, his eyes would land there.
It was also a coincidence that the pairing was out at the sa ti, so at least he could see their opponent firsthand. However, the mont Sheva saw the top pairing there, his eyes bulged in shock at the nas there.
"Damn, Devi sure has the worst luck in the world, huh?"
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