Chapter 627: Sheva VS Arjun Erigaisi!
"Let’s have a good game." Sheva offered a handshake the moment he sat on his chair.
Arjun, who had been there earlier, nodded slightly as he replied in a barely whisper, "Yes, let’s have a good game..."
It was five minutes before the game began, and Sheva was already in the venue, sitting straight next to his opponent. They spent the time there in an awkward silence, as Arjun himself was not the most talkative person in the community.
Hell, all of Sheva’s interaction with the boy was only when they were with Pragg, as that Indian prodigy was the definition of a social butterfly. Now that the middleman was not here, they were back to basics again, acting like they were just strangers and didn’t know each other at all.
Sheva also turned his gaze around, taking a look at the matchup today.
"Peter Svidler is going to face Nils Grandelius, huh? Let’s just hope that the local hero doesn’t fail today." He couldn’t help but mutter.
Arjun perked up for a moment; his ears were sharp enough to catch him talking to himself. However, since Sheva muttered in Indonesian, the Indian boy didn’t know what his opponent was talking about, so he could only ignore it for now.
Right now, Sheva’s focus shifted toward Peter Svidler, as the man was the only one that he had his eyes on today. Not because he looked down on the others, but the man was his biggest competitor, what with them only being half a point away from each other.
After that, his gaze moved again to the crowd, and honestly, this was probably the biggest crowd of the tournament so far. Around 30 or 40 people were watching in the fans zone, most of them were teenagers with a chessboard and a pen in their hands to ask for a sign. This was always the case in every tournament. People would only start to gather when they were so close to the conclusion.
After waiting for a while, the alarm finally rang, and they all could start the game immediately. Playing with the black, Sheva shook Arjun’s hand quickly, waiting for the boy to make the first move. When he saw the queen’s pawn was moved, though, he suddenly recalled his conversation with Bagas last night.
"Maybe, you need to find a more solid opening choice to face 1.d4 than your lackluster Dutch Defense!"
Sheva blinked, pausing for a second before finally moving his knight to the F6 square. This was an ordinary move, a common response that also led to so many solid opening choices here.
’Anyway, since I am going for a draw, let’s just have fun and test my understanding of the other opening theories. Let’s just show the world that I am also good at being mainstream.’
Arjun himself didn’t even blink, just responding quickly with his own move. It was clear that right now, the Indian boy was immersed in his own world, not caring about anything around him. This was a scary mode to have, and honestly, Sheva thought that Gukesh would be the one who had something like this under his sleeves.
’I wouldn’t be surprised if Arjun also has a title similar to Buddha.’ He smiled wryly.
However, after Sheva checked it again, Arjun’s title list didn’t have any additions, just the usual ’Indian Four Horsemen’ and his unique ’Madman’ title that adds his concentration and intuition by two percent in a tactical game.
The game progressed at a quick pace, as the opening stage finally took its shape. After dilly-dallying for a moment, both players finally agreed on the Queen’s Gambit Decline, opting for a strong positional battle to reclaim that queenside.
Some exchanges were also made in this early stage, which Sheva took without hesitation. After all, in his mind, getting a quick draw was the best thing possible today, so with more pieces off the board, it would be easy for him to achieve that target.
First, one pawn was taken, and a few moves later, the second one was gone. The knight was exchanged for a bishop as well, allowing Sheva to develop the queen in the process. Everything went perfectly as Sheva planned, and the boy couldn’t help but glance at his opponent in doubt.
’Is he also aiming for a quick draw?’ Sheva couldn’t help but think.
Unfortunately, that was a hopeful thought that Arjun shattered instantly in the next moment. After the first few exchanges, the Indian prodigy started to consolidate his pieces, building a strong momentum to launch a counterattack later.
’Yes, of course, things will never go that easily! Why would I expect anything else here?!’ Sheva couldn’t help but moan, clicking his tongue in annoyance.
As the game entered a complicated territory, he also started exerting more from his brain. In the next second, he had changed his pose already, one with both hands clutching his head as he just stared at the board with a frown. This had always been his pose when he was in a deep, calculating mode.
’I cannot hold this positional battle forever. I need to find more breakthroughs and another chance to offer an exchange. How should I do this, though? Well, first of all, the queen has to die soon. Then, I cannot let the exchange give him a chance to infiltrate my territory. I need more flexibility here. Which move should I consider first?’
After a while, Sheva started to burn his time more, using every single second to think of a possible solution for the position. Arjun was also so tense right now that the boy’s finger could be seen playing around with the losing piece off the board.
It was strange, honestly, to see them both so nervous like this. After all, those two didn’t have any deep history, and their current standing was also far from each other. Sheva was sitting comfortably at the top, while Arjun had to be satisfied watching from the fifth spot of the table.
However, Sheva forgot that in their first and only encounter so far, he beat Arjun quite decisively, and while the Indian prodigy was quite shy, he was never timid on the board. No, Arjun was in for his blood, and he wouldn’t settle so easily, no matter what.
’You want to have revenge on Gukesh? Very well, but you also have to be ready for my revenge!’