Chapter 122: A Tough Pairing for the Second Round
"Good job, everyone!"
It was the end of the day, and all four of Indonesian people who were involved in this tournament gathered in a small Chinese restaurant close to their hotel. Yeah, in the end, no one was willing to try the local delicacies and decided to go for something that they were already familiar with. Irene, the oldest one among them all and probably the richest one here—Bagas didn’t count since it was his father’s money—was somehow generous enough to buy them all dinner here, probably still feeling ecstatic about today’s result.
"I didn’t expect I would be there to witness two of my juniors beating a high-rated IM on the same day like this..." The woman heaved out a sigh while also taking care of the three teenagers in front of her. "It seems that the day chess rises in our country is close, and I will be able to witness it with my own eyes..." Her gaze wandered far, imagining the unknown future full of bright stars.
"Eh, no need to be emotional like that, Sister Irene. Just enjoy the moment in front of you first." Bagas smiled while devouring all the food in front of him like there was no tomorrow. "Anyway, can I order one more portion of the sweet and sour pork?" He asked sheepishly, not even wiping the stain oils on the corner of his mouth.
"Mind your manners and stop embarrassing yourself, Gas!" Sheva hissed, looking at his best friend in disgust. Then, he turned around to Irene and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Sister. It seems that a manners lesson is needed for him. Don’t worry, I will talk to his father after we are back in Indonesia."
Bagas froze instantly when he heard that, clearly remembering the military training that he had to suffer under his father’s watch whenever he acted like a prick. He pleaded silently to his best friend, just for Sheva to ignore him completely. Fortunately, Irene didn’t take this seriously. If anything, she just giggled amusedly at their antics.
"Don’t worry, just eat whatever you want here." The woman smiled gently, offering Bagas another portion of food he had wanted to order earlier.
"Sister Irene..." Bagas sobbed dramatically, looking at her as if she were some sort of angel.
"Oh, stop acting like that, you fucking drama queen!" Sheva scoffed at his best friend. Then, he turned to the person next to Irene, who hadn’t spoken anything yet since the beginning, busy with her phone. Curious, the boy couldn’t help but ask, "Is there anything wrong, Ia?"
Yeah, the person was Claudia, and by the look of the furrowed brows deeply on her face, Sheva could see that she was troubled by something. Both Bagas and Irene also noticed that, and they stared at the girl concernedly. Claudia herself still scrolled through her phone for a moment, ignoring the gazes directed at her. However, in the next second, she suddenly sighed, only making the others worry more for her.
"Uh... Sorry, I am okay here. Don’t worry about me." Claudia smiled weakly. No one answered that, but it was clear by the stares that didn’t move away from her that no one bought her weak explanation. In the end, she sighed once again before explaining this matter. "It is just... My next opponent is a troublesome guy..."
"Um?! The pairing is out?!" Sheva widened his eyes in surprise. Not just him, Bagas and Irene also had the same kind of reaction here. Then, within a second, those three were already on their respective phone, checking the official website about their opponent tomorrow. The moment Sheva saw the pairings, though, he couldn’t help but curse. "Oh, for fuck’s sake!"
There, he saw that three of them were going to have a tough day tomorrow, as their respective opponent were all top-seeded players in this tournament.
Irene Kharisma Sukandar (2386) – (2637) Hanns Moke Niemann
Adrian Sheva (2115) – (2582) Mads Andersen
Mishra Abhimanyu (2524) – (2102) Claudia Marisa
"I know that we have a chance to play against the top players here, but I have never thought it would come this early..." Sheva muttered to himself. "Man, tomorrow will be a roller coaster day..."
Yeah, their opponents tomorrow were definitely far stronger than today. Master Irene, who only beat a 2000-rated player, had to face the American prodigy and third-highest rated player in this tournament, Hans Niemann. The 19-year-old GM was a strong player with the potential to cross the threshold of 2700 and became another American super GM, so taking a positive result was definitely going to be difficult for Irene.
Sheva himself would also get a tough matchup here. He was going to play against the Danish GM Mads Andersen with white, and although his potential wasn’t as great as Hans’, the man had vast experience and was currently in his prime, definitely more than enough to deal with a mere low-rated player like Sheva. He was the type of GM whose rating was always on the borderline of 2600, and right now, the man was on a mission to get back into the 2600 rating again.
As for Claudia... Well, even though on paper, her opponent was the lowest-rated one, potentially, Mishra Abhimanyu should be treated as the best player among the three. After all, Abhimanyu was just 13, one year older than Claudia, and had already achieved his GM title. Hell, he held the record as the youngest player to earn his GM title, getting it last year when he was 12, and beat Sergei Karjakin’s record, who did that in 2001.
So, yeah, potentially speaking, Claudia had the toughest matchup for tomorrow’s game, and that was why even after winning her game today, she couldn’t get herself to be too happy about it.
"Eh, don’t fret about it too much, Ia!" Sheva suddenly spoke, breaking the awkward silence here. Claudia turned her head at him curiously, wanting to hear what the boy was about to say. "I mean, we have already expected something like this to happen, right? Just treat it as a measurement game, trying to see how far we are from those top prodigies outside! Do your best and never think about the outcome before it finally arrives, okay? Don’t get too stressed and try to play your best game! Whatever happens, just remember that we all have each other’s backs!"