Chapter 598: A New Journey!
"It is just a few weeks since the last time you played in a tournament, so why is it that you have to go again?" Sheva’s mother huffed, slightly annoyed with her son’s busy schedule. "You are even busier than any ordinary worker, you know?"
In return, Sheva just sighed helplessly, saying, "I cannot do anything about it, Mom. This is a rare invitation, and I am still quite green in this field. I don’t have the luxury of rejecting it, or I would get blacklisted from the future tournament. Also, don’t you notice as well that it has been about four months since I went abroad? Don’t you think this is quite reasonable?"
Well, for that, his mother couldn’t complain further, knowing that she was just being unreasonable here.
It was the night before Sheva had to fly to Sweden, and right now, he and his mother were preparing for what he had to carry. From formal attire, casual clothes, jackets, snacks, books, and anything that could help him survive for about two weeks in that cold Scandinavian country, everything went into his luggage.
Bagas had also called him before, saying that all the administrative jobs, like a visa, hotel, and even the registration card, were ready. They just had to go there, only needing to think of the tournament that would start in the next two days.
"Okay, Mom, it is just a two-week trip, don’t worry too much about it." Sheva finally said before shutting his luggage. "Anyway, you still have an exam to face, right? I thought you would be studying at this point."
Yeah, it was a strange conversation, indeed, but his mother really had an exam to face next week.
This began a few months ago, when Sheva casually said that she had to have a hobby or something to do so that his mother wouldn’t be bored being alone at home. He didn’t expect, though, that his mother would pick up the strangest yet the hardest path he could possibly think of. She decided to go for the academic route, registering herself at a university where most of the courses were online.
"Bah! What do you know, Brat?! I was an honorary student in high school, and if not for my family’s financial problems, I would’ve been a professor at this point! Shu! Shu! Just go away!"
At least, that was the explanation that his mother offered. Not that Sheva complained, of course, since it basically gave her something to do at home.
"Anyway, the flight is going to be long tomorrow, so I have to sleep quickly tonight," Sheva said, yawning big as sleepiness started to hit quite hard right now.
"Yeah, yeah, just go!" His mother shushed him without hesitation. "Let me deal with the mess here."
After that, Sheva went for a quick nap, resting for about three hours before he was awoken by the alarm on his phone. The boy checked the clock, groaned lightly when he figured out the time.
20:30
"Urgh... It is time to go..." He stretched a little bit, still finding his body not fully awake yet.
Unfortunately, the flight would be at 00:45, and while there were still four hours to go, he didn’t want to rush later. It was better to go to the airport right now and get over the administration task first before finally relaxing, probably taking a sleep again until the flight finally boarded.
As he finished his last preparation, Bagas was already outside the house, waiting for him in a taxi. When Sheva went outside with one hand, dragging the luggage, he still saw his mother giving some instructions to his best friend.
"Please, keep your eyes on him, okay? I know my son can be a big baby sometimes, but he is a good kid."
"Don’t worry, Aunty! I have been friends with Sheva for so many years, this is nothing!" Bagas just grinned innocently, enough for the woman to gush over him again one last time.
"Mom, what did I say? Don’t worry about me, this is not my first rodeo, you know?" Sheva sighed helplessly.
"Well, what do you know about a mother’s feelings?!" She glared fiercely. "Oh, God... Anyway! Just... Go! Don’t forget to have fun, okay?!"
"Sure! I am going first, Mom!"
The moment he shut the car door quite loudly, the driver hit the accelerator, and the car also left the building quite slowly. Sheva glanced back at his house, finding his mother still waving at him from afar. This scene alone was enough to make him feel melancholic.
Unfortunately, Bagas was there to ruin the mood. The boy didn’t see his face at all, just asking, "So, are you prepared enough for the tournament?" Which Sheva answered with a little grunt this time.
"Well, I know that you are in a great momentum right now, what with sweeping the whole tournament by yourself a few weeks ago. However, don’t get too cocky about that, and remember, your opponents at that time are just small fires for you, who have already entered the top 100 list. This time, it would be different, you know that, right?"
"I know, I know. You are such a worrywart, Gas..." Sheva huffed annoyedly. However, he couldn’t deny that his best friend was right in this regard.
In the last tournament he played, the Asian Championship Zone 3.3, the average rating there was just 2331, with him being the top-seeded player of the tournament. This time, though, he was back in the grinding mode, becoming the lowest-rated player of the tournament.
There, in Sweden, he would face a lot of stronger opponents. Besides Gukesh, Sheva saw Arjun’s name there, and the two Indian prodigies were followed by the genius from Germany, Vincent Keymer, to be the three players with an ELO rating of above 2700.
Then, there was also Jorden Van Foreest, an experienced GM from the Netherlands, and after that, a bunch of veterans followed behind. There was still Peter Svidler, a legendary beast from Russia, Boris Gelfand, who had been fighting for so long from the era of Gary Kasparov to Vishy Anand to the current Magnus one, and the local hero Nils Grandelius, who also wanted to bring the glory back to the home country.
This lineup, coupled with Sheva’s current rating, had an ELO rating average of 2690, which was enough to put this tournament into one of the most elite ones this year. Knowing this, a small smile formed on Sheva’s face as he felt a long-lost excitement building up inside him.
’Yeah, this is gonna be fire!’