Chapter 599: Malmö, Here We Go!
Unfortunately, that excitement was killed instantly the moment he stepped onto the airplane.
Oh, no, Sheva had already been cured of his motion sickness. No, with his long exposure to air travel this year, the boy was basically used to this traveling method at this point. However, that didn’t mean he had to like it, especially considering how long he would be trapped in this metallic bird.
The trip lasted for about fourteen hours, with the first half of the journey spent flying from Soekarno-Hatta Airport to Dubai for a transit. Then, they had at least three hours of resting in that luxurious airport, a time they could spend having breakfast if only the price there was a little bit more affordable.
"Fuck it, a normal fried rice with a kid portion is 10 whole dollars?! Are you kidding me?! That is around 160,000 Rupiah, and I could use the same amount of money to get at least ten bigger portions of the same fried rice back home!" Bagas cursed out loudly.
It was fortunate that they were not in Indonesia, or someone would smack his head for the outrageous comment.
Sheva himself tried to pretend that he didn’t know Bagas, not wanting to get caught in the second-hand embarrassment. He just ate the bread his mother prepared from back home silently, not wanting to complain about anything else. He knew that when talking about food, the next two weeks would be difficult, considering the Scandinavian country had a completely different taste compared to Asian countries.
’Yeah, at least, let’s save the complaint until we arrive later.’ He grumbled wryly.
Then, after three hours of transit, they changed planes to the one that went straight to Stockholm. The journey to Arlanda, the international airport in Sweden’s capital city, took about seven more hours, another long journey that was enough to hurt Sheva’s back. Fortunately, the food here was out of this world.
It was quite simple, just chicken with rice. However, the spices used here were so rich, creating a flavor bomb sensation inside his mouth that was hard to describe. The stewardess said that it used a lot of local spices from the Middle East, and while this was the first time Sheva tried it, the boy definitely enjoyed the experience here.
’Honestly, this is not the first time I transit or even stay at Dubai, but how come I have never tried this?’ He wondered inwardly, just to find the answer by himself in the next second. ’Oh, yeah, I don’t like trying something new, and always sticking with the Southeast Asian food. How foolish of me.’
The plane landed at around 13:45, and after a long and arduous administrative process in the immigration center, they were finally able to get out of the airport. Unfortunately, though, that was not their final trip, because they still had to take a train for almost four hours to go to Malmo, the city where the tournament would be held.
It was a city in southern Sweden, quite close to the country’s border with Germany and Denmark. Sheva also found out that this was the biggest city in the south, making the weather more acceptable for those who weren’t used to the constant snow or something like that. Not that he had to worry, though, considering this was spring already, and the warm and sunny weather outside was definitely the nicest atmosphere that Sheva had ever experienced in life.
The journey to Malmö reminded him a lot of when he had to take a train from Bern to Biel in Switzerland last year. It was quite a slow one, but the mesmerizing scenery outside was enough to bewitch his consciousness to forget about all of his tiredness from the trip.
Then, finally, after a total of about 20 hours spent from Jakarta, they arrived at the hotel where they would stay for the next two weeks.
"Goddamnit, I am so dead tired right now!" Sheva threw his body toward the fluffy bed instantly, feeling his energy being dragged into it within a second.
"Don’t go to sleep immediately, Shev. At least, take a shower first and change into a more comfortable shirt, or you will get sick tomorrow." Bagas nagged like an old mother while also tidying his belongings.
It was quite strange for a big guy like him, but the fat boy was far from being the messiest person in the world.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I also have to prepare for the game tomorrow, right?" Sheva waved the concern nonchalantly before groaning quite out loud. "Oh, God... Why was it that we picked an arrival date this late? If only we had arrived yesterday, I could have gotten a little bit of rest before jumping into action, right?"
In return, Bagas snorted sarcastically. "I told you about that, and you just said that it would only waste more money, right? Now, just suffer silently. Reap what you sow."
Sheva was silent for a moment, knowing that while it was cruel, Bagas was right in this regard. He was the one who insisted on arriving one day before the tournament began, even though he had a choice, and now, the decision really came to bite his ass.
In the end, no matter how much he complained, there was nothing he could do, so the boy just grumbled grumpily while also doing everything Bagas instructed before and jumped into his bed again with the phone shining brightly on his face.
"My first opponent is going to be Peter Svidler, huh?" He pondered silently. "An old man, and the last time he played in any official tournament was two years ago in the FIDE Grand Swiss 2021. Damn, that was a fucking long time ago! Why would he choose to come back right now?"
Normally, Sheva would assume this kind of inactive old player to have a common weakness, stamina, and a long endgame. However, this old man had been staying at the top level for so long, unlike any of the old men he had faced in the past. It would be foolish for Sheva to assume that.
Peter Svidler was also an experienced player, having won the World Cup in 2011, the second place for the World Blitz in 2006, and also helped Vladimir Kramnik to win the world championship twice in 2000 and 2004.
Now, that begs another question inside Sheva’s head.
’Would all of those glamorous experiences be enough for him to show a glimmer of his youth?’