Chapter 115: Preparation for the Next Tournament
"So, let me get this straight. Both Claudia and Sheva are going to Reykjavik and potentially stay in Europe to reach their target, while Anna, you are going to... Stuck in your country for the Southeast Asian Games?" Sergei’s voice was full of confusion as he was asking for confirmation after listening to Sheva’s story here.
Both Sheva and Claudia snickered instantly when they heard that, while Anna herself pouted indignantly whenever she remembered this. "You don’t have to rub it on my face, Master Sergei." She said sourly.
It was a day after the meeting with Irfan was over, and right now, those three were ready for another coaching session with Sergei. However, before they did that, both Sheva and Claudia told the man about this unexpected development, and even Sergei himself was still confused about this.
"Oh, sorry, dear, but it still confuses me a lot, you know?" Sergei couldn’t help but chuckle at this moment. "I mean, I get that it is a budget-related matter, but I couldn’t really understand why you are excluded here. I mean, you also need to hone your skills, right?"
"Exactly my point!" Anna said, slightly happy that someone agreed with her. "Still, there is no high-level tournament around Asian countries right now, and going to Europe will be quite costly since it is a peak season. It is better to wait patiently while also gathering more money if I want to play abroad in the future."
Yeah, Anna herself still remembered Irfan’s rule for the club. He could only cover the cost of one person, so if anyone else wanted to join, they needed to pay for themselves. Usually, the one who was chosen to go was always determined by the internal tournament. However, since this time, Claudia was trying to chase a higher rating for the Olympiad team, it was no wonder Irfan decided to put all of his support on the girl, and unfortunately, as the big sister here, Anna had to be satisfied with watching from the sidelines this time.
"Well, if you both are going to Reykjavik, maybe I could visit you both there too." Sergei suddenly dropped a bomb with a casual smile.
"Wait, really?!" Claudia widened her eyes in excitement. "Are you sure you can go, Master?" She asked for another confirmation.
"Well, if I schedule it properly, for sure! I mean, it has been a long time since I went to Reykjavik, so why not?" The man said nonchalantly as if Minsk—Reykjavik was just an hour journey with a train, not a more than 24-hour flight just like Jakarta—Reykjavik. Then, Sergei also noticed the sour expression on Anna’s face, and the man couldn’t help but chuckle. "Oh, don’t pout like that, Dear. Don’t worry, I have already planned for a short trip to Bali with Sabrina next May, so you can probably ask Ivanov to follow along, you know?"
"Really?!" This time, it was Anna who asked in disbelief.
"Well, yeah, but that is going to be a story for another day, okay?"
The man chuckled before taking a shot of something that the three teenagers recognized as vodka, making them look deadpanned at their teacher. For all the great things Sergei was, the man had an obvious flaw, like any other people from the Siberian Land; they were all a bunch of drunkards."Anyway!" He suddenly raised his voice once again, catching them all off guard. His face was flustered, and his accent thickened instantly as the effect of the alcohol started to kick in. "We have already wasted a lot of time here, so let’s start our coaching session now, okay?"
-0-
The next two weeks passed by quite fast, and Sheva spent most of his time honing and practicing his chess skills. The coaching session with Sergei really helped him a lot, as he managed to refine all the openings in his repertoire, re-understanding it instead of just memorizing each move like a computer. Not only that, he also sharpened all of his endgame techniques, and now, he was confident that as long as his opponent was not some sort of strong grandmaster, he would still be able to win the entire game.
Yeah, after learning under Sergei’s guidance, Sheva started learning that he—and they who got the GM title—was a grandmaster with a reason. Even though Sergei himself had been inactive for a pretty long time, the man’s sharpness and keen intuition on tactics were ridiculously strong, and Sheva had never settled a score against the man before. This was just an inactive GM, so he wondered how strong would an actual GM be?
Not only in chess-related matters, though, Sergei also asked him to learn and do two things regularly. First was to exercise for at least sixty minutes every day, and second was to meditate at least half an hour every night before sleeping. The man’s argument was that chess somehow affected everyone’s physique and mind, so getting those two things controlled better would also improve a player’s chess skill.
At first, Sheva was skeptical, but after doing it for a week, the boy found himself to be at least a calmer player, especially in an endurance fight after playing the game for hours. Yeah, those were somehow non-chess-related habits that Sheva had just learned to be affecting his game, and he was grateful that someone pointed out to him this early so that he could build the habit before it was too late.
The two weeks passed by quietly, and although it was boring and arduous, somehow, Sheva enjoyed the process of getting stronger every day. Fortunately, he wasn’t doing this alone. No, Anna, Claudia, and sometimes Bagas would join the morning exercise so that they could motivate each other to not get lazy. Yeah, the hardest part for a novice to stay consistent in doing exercise was to fight the laziness, and doing it with friends was pretty helpful to solve the problem.
He also witnessed with his own eyes how Anna and Claudia evolved into better players in the last two weeks. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who kept improving here. Somehow, though, this only motivated the boy to push further so that he wouldn’t be left behind in the dust by those two girls.
Everything happened so quickly, and in the end, the month finally changed, and that was when they had to fly to Reykjavik for their new quest.