Chapter 600: Sheva VS Peter Svidler! A New Mission!
"With the first move made by Nicholas Hammarberg, the president of Malmo Chess Club, the TePe Sigeman & Co. Tournament 2023 officially begins!’
Right after the announcement was made, a couple of flash shots were made, with the sound of the camera shutter echoing throughout the venue. Sheva just watched the festive atmosphere at table one exasperatedly before he put his focus on his own game, especially since Peter Svidler had already made the first move here.
It was finally the game day, and they were playing in the Elite Plaza Hotel, probably the tallest building in the city. It was also at the heart of Malmo, just showing how big the tournament was here. However, after playing back at home with so many fans surrounding the venue, it was strange to see that the first day was this empty.
’Yeah, besides the Indian and Nils Gradelius, none of us are really that popular players in this country, huh?’ Sheva thought to himself.
Sheva frowned immediately when he saw Svidler’s first move. It wasn’t a pawn move, but a knight jump to the G3 square. That meant the man wanted to go for one particular opening, but he didn’t want Sheva to avoid it, so he made a detour to make it unrecognizable.
This was a common strategy in top-level chess, as no top players would be stupid enough to let the opponent go for their most comfortable system. Now, Sheva had to wait in the dark for what kind of opening the man was about to pick, and he had to be ready for everything here.
’Oh, well... Not that I cannot guess anything here...’ He mused.
True enough, once the opening stage started to take shape, his guess became true.
’The Neo Grunfeld, huh?’
Honestly, Sheva was so impressed by Peter Svidler’s gut here. The Neo Grunfeld was a dynamic opening for black to combat 1.d4, and yet, here Sheva was, being forced to go for this opening by the Russian veteran in front of him. It was as if he had planned for this beforehand.
However, Peter Svidler had the right to be confident in picking the opening despite so many advantages that the black pieces had in this system. The man was essentially a scholar who thoroughly researched this opening from top to bottom, from the most famous line to the least explored line in the game.
His online course about this opening was quite famous among the top players, with some youngsters like Praggnanandhaa and Hans Niemann praising its thoughtfulness.
Still, the man’s confidence didn’t just come from the system. No, even with any other opening, Peter Svidler would still prove himself to be a formidable opponent. He was the man who was infamous for being a human computer in his opening preparation, and even some of the best players in his generation, like Vladimir Kramnik and Vishwanathan Anand, praised his meticulousness in this regard.
Still, even with all the information about the man inside his head, that didn’t mean Sheva was intimidated here. No, if anything, he was excited for this game, especially with the opening his opponent picked in this game.
’It would be interesting to see if I could beat him in his proudest system.’ A little smirk curled on the corner of his lips.
Of course, it was easier said than done. With his experience, Peter Svidler forced some quick exchanges, clearing half of the board already in the fifteenth move of the game.
First, the center pawn was gone. Then, the white’s dark bishop also fell in exchange for Sheva’s knight. Lastly, Sheva also initiated an exchange, letting Peter Svidler take his own knight before taking it back with his light bishop.
Somehow, if only the queen were out, they would’ve entered the endgame phase already, which would put Sheva at a disadvantage, considering the glaring title in the man’s stats.
Title: [Soviet Chess School’s Veteran]
[Note: With the effect of the title ’Soviet Chess School’s Veteran’, Peter Svidler gets a 7 percent boost for the calculation and will have an additional 35 percent in concentration during the endgame phase]
This was a similar title that he saw in Alexander Predke’s stats during the Dubai Chess Masters last year. The difference, though, was that Predke’s title was graduate, and the boost only gave the man a 5 percent boost for the calculation and 20 percent in concentration. Compared to that, Peter Svidler’s title was definitely way more superior here.
Hell, it was far better than Sheva’s own Endgame Master title, which only gave the boy a 30 percent boost in concentration. Just as people said, comparison was a thief of joy. Before, Sheva was satisfied with that number. But now, seeing this?
’Tch! System, do you have any mission to improve that title?’ He asked.
[DING!]
[The System detects a strong willingness from the Host to improve his endgame title, and a new mission is on!]
[Mission: Beat 5 Russian GMs in the endgame phase!]
’Um? That’s convenient!’ Sheva blinked, not expecting the system to respond. ’Does that mean that as long as I want to improve in some aspects, you can give me a mission for that?’
This time, he clicked his tongue in annoyance as the only answer he got was silence. Well, this was in line with how the system usually worked, so he didn’t have anything to complain about here.
Still, the mission wasn’t an easy one. In one and a half years of his chess career, Sheva had only met two Russian players so far, Alexander Predke and Peter Svidler. The effect of the war between Russia and Ukraine was quite significant, preventing a lot of players from there from playing abroad.
Then came another problem, which was how difficult it was to beat any Russian GM in the endgame phase. They were so pragmatic in this regard that they might not win the game, but they would avoid losing at all costs.
This added another layer of difficulty in completing the mission, and honestly, Sheva felt like it would be a long time before he could do that.
’Oh, well... Let’s not think too far right now.’ He shook his head lightly, trying to get rid of any distracting thoughts inside his mind. ’Let’s just try to deal with the opponent in front of me first, and think about the mission later. I have to make sure that I start the game with a win, or it will be difficult to catch up later.’