Chapter 51: Dominating the Entire Game!
"Damn, what is he doing there?!"
"I have never seen this opening before! Is this a new one?"
"Are you an idiot? The Italian opening has been in the world for a very long time; there is no way there would be a new variation that hasn’t been studied before!"
"So, he just makes a nonsense move?"
"This... I don’t know..."
True enough, the Evans gambit was really forgotten, as most of the people around couldn’t recognize this opening. Hell, even Cao Van Binh, Sheva’s current opponent, also frowned, burning more than fifteen minutes to think about his next move. It was clear that the boy had never seen or played this before, and he was being extra cautious in every move he made.
Eight moves had already passed, and honestly, Sheva had to give his opponent a hat off for being able to hold his own ground in such a dark and unfamiliar territory. However, he wasn’t worried at all. If anything, the boy knew that it was his opponent who was sweating profusely right now. After all, Cao Van Binh had already burnt more than 40 minutes just in eight moves, and sooner or later, the boy would crumble under the time pressure.
True enough, in the next move, Cao Van Binh finally made the first mistake. Instead of keeping the tension on the center as it was and putting his bishop into a safe position first, the boy was being too eager, eating Sheva’s C pawn and wanting to exchange his weak bishop with Sheva’s knight. No one could blame him for being too eager here. After all, the prospect of leading with two pawns up was too good to be left out, and the exchange of his weak bishop to Sheva’s knight was just the cherry on top. However, those who watched the game from the live broadcast computer gasped when they saw the evaluation bar spike up immediately.
*Author note: For the current position, check the comment below.
"Oh! He makes a blunder!" Bagas jumped out of his chair excitedly. "I don’t understand where the mistake is, but the computer suggests that Sheva suddenly has the advantage here! Master, can you explain this to us?" He suddenly asked out of nowhere, grinning goofily.
Bajikari234: DAMN! HE DOESN’T EVEN KNOW WHY! HOW COULD HE BE THE HOST HERE?!
Si_Putih: What an idiot...
Hilda99: Cut him some slack, will you? *roll eyes*
Jiraiya106: Then, can anyone tell this newbie why his opponent’s move is bad?
Harambekun: Oh, you ask the wrong person. I am sure they will not know about it either. Just wait until Master Susanto explains it here.
Bajikari234: What do you mean, I don’t know?!
Si_Putih: Yeah! How dare you?!
Just as he expected, the chat immediately exploded after his stupid question. However, Bagas didn’t even bat his eyes at it. Hell, if anything, this was the effect that he was waiting for. As a host, his job was to guide the commentator to explain more about the difficult concept, so he had to act like the stupidest person in the world. The fact that he himself also didn’t know the answer to the question was another story here.
"Well, even though at first glance, Cao Van Binh has the advantage due to him being up to two pawns, in reality, this position favors Sheva more." Master Susanto started explaining. "You can see it yourself, in compensation for the two pawns that Sheva sacrificed early, almost all of his pieces are in active squares, staring directly at the black’s defense. Compared to that, look at Cao Van Binh’s pieces. They are all still stuck on the last rank and under the lockdown of the pawns in front of them, and the king itself is still on an open side, not being able to castle. Just based on this alone, the computer judges that Sheva’s tempo advantage is far better than it is worth a full pawn."
True enough, the advantage this time really lay in the tempo Sheva earned early. However, he planned far further than that. No, right after that, he coordinated all of his pieces in a way that would attack the opponent’s pieces in every move, not giving Cao Van Binh any chance to castle and put his king in the safety square. The hunt lasted for a long time, and he even forced his opponent’s knight to dance around aimlessly just to save itself.
Cao Van Binh frowned hard, trying his best to think of a way to get out of the tight situation here. He had just realized that all of Sheva’s pieces were in dangerous squares, and the best way to save himself from this situation was to exchange some of his pieces. Unfortunately, Sheva just ignored that, not even pretending to be interested in the trade. No, he kept improving his threat, and at some points, both his bishops even hung under the opponent’s swords, yet any moves that Cao Van Binh made to kill one of them would only be beneficial for Sheva.
That was when he made another blunder. Instead of ignoring the two hanging bishops, Cao Van Binh, who was under so much pressure, finally crumbled, too eager to eliminate the threat as quickly as possible. In the end, he made a hasty move, taking the light bishop with his A pawn, but in doing so, the boy also gave a red carpet for Sheva’s queen to infiltrate straight into the black king’s territory.
*Author note: For the current position, check the comment below.
Seeing his opponent getting sweaty, Sheva couldn’t help but smirk, clenching his fist hard under the table. Although he walked into the table with full confidence, the boy never expected the game would be this smooth for him. Everything went according to his plan, and now, all that was left was to chop down everything that protected the black king, and when that happened, he was confident that the game would be in his hands already.
’Come on, just give the fuck up...’ He bit his lips nervously, kept stealing a glance or two at his opponent. ’It is hopeless to keep it up! You cannot do anything about this! Just give up!’
Of course, Cao Van Binh couldn’t hear his thought. However, the boy also had a similar thought here. After all, even he could see that his position was getting worse. Adding to the fact that he only had 7 minutes left on his time compared to Sheva’s 44 minutes, it seemed that any hope he had to overturn this game had already disappeared.
However, the game still continued for a while, with both players shifting their pieces left and right for the next few moves. It didn’t last that long, though, as in the next few moves, Sheva managed to pin his opponent’s queen to the king, winning the most valuable piece on the board with only a bishop and a rook as the compensation. In that position, Cao Van Binh finally gave up, stopping the clock and offering a handshake.
*Author note: For the current position, check the comment below.
After 29 moves, he finally resigned, giving Sheva his seventh win of the tournament.