Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!

"Next week?! Are you kidding me?! That is not enough time to prepare!" Laysa started to panic once she received the news. "What are we going to do with that time?! We don't even have enough time to review one opening here!" She yanked her hijab lightly, her eyes red and bloodshot.

Yeah, instead of getting excited, her first reaction was panic. It was understandable, since she had been training at high intensity for so long without having any chance to test it in a real game. Now, the girl fell into a state of self-doubt, wondering whether all of her training was enough to deal with the tournament or not.

Anna, herself, also frowned; her expression was grim. No matter how intense her preparation was, now, everything seemed to crumble when the long-awaited event finally arrived.

"Okay, no need to panic like that." Sheva finally took over the discussion. "One week is still quite a long time, you know? Why are you acting like this is the end of the world?" He sighed helplessly.

The girl just stared at him speechlessly, looking at the boy as if he were an alien creature from another world. In return, Sheva ignored their gazes completely, focusing on the news that Medina sent to his phone.

"Okay, first of all, let's analyze the basic information that Sister Medina gives here." He spoke calmly. "First, the venue. It would be at the Hotel Century Park, a classic choice from the federation. At least, you girls wouldn't have to feel jittery from playing in an unfamiliar place."

Sheva could also still remember that the hotel was used in the Asian Zone 3.3 Tournament a few months ago. It seemed the federation really had a connection with that place, always using the same spot for any tournament they held.

"Then, the time. It will start next week, spanning five days." When he heard that, the boy frowned a little bit. "Such a short time? This will definitely not be a normal nine-round standard format tournament. Ah, here it is! They are adopting the triathlon format from the Biel Festival. The first three days, you guys will play nine games of standard chess, followed by seven rounds of rapid chess on the fourth day and ten rounds of blitz for the last day."

"Wait, what?!" Claudia widened her eyes in shock. "What do you mean we have to play for nine games of standard format in three days? Does that mean we would play three games every day?!"

Anna and Laysa also reacted, knowing that this format was far too harsh. They couldn't even last long after having to fight two double-header days consecutively, and now, they had to play three games every day for three days in a row? That would definitely kill them on the spot.

"Oh, it seems Sister Medina has already predicted your complaint here." Sheva snorted amusedly. "This is her words, okay? She said that in this World Cup, we need to ensure whoever plays will be the best, not just on the board, but also psychologically. We will probably play every day for the entire month, so this would be a mentally taxing tournament. That's why they need to select the iron-lunged player who could survive in that situation."

The more Sheva read the explanation, though, the more he felt the corner of his mouth twitching.

'Three games every day, no increment or additional time. That means at least three hours for every game, so they will have to play 27 hours in total for three days, and that still doesn't count the rapid and blitz formats. They would definitely collapse first before the result is out.'

The boy shook his head quickly, deciding to move on for now. "The format is done, and then… Oh, God, no…" He groaned immediately, attracting the girls' attention.

"What?! What?! Do you have any other terrible news for us?!" Claudia asked worriedly.

"Oh, no! I definitely cannot handle anything more here!" Laysa groaned weakly; her face was pale.

"Uh, oh! No, this is not for you, so don't worry about it. You will not be affected by this news." Sheva rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "This is related to Devi and the others, as only titled players will be allowed to participate. Damn, they will complain to me about this later…" He shook his head tiredly, having already imagined the scene later.

"Oh, for her?" Claudia's face turned flat so quickly when he mentioned Devi here. "Don't worry, that bint will be okay having to sit on the sideline. Whose fault is it not to have a title yet?"

"Ia… What did I say about not calling your friends with a cruel nickname?" Anna groaned helplessly.

The little girl's face flushed immediately at the reprimand as she answered weakly, "Urgh… Not to?"

Anna could only shake her head in exasperation, knowing that she wouldn't be able to change this side of her sister forever.

Sheva himself also sighed here. He could understand why this decision was made. After all, the World Cup was a massive event, and it would be embarrassing to have a non-titled player representing the country. Still, this was definitely an unfair situation for Devi and the others, as they would have to be satisfied watching the event from back home.

'No, this cannot do.' He shook his head inwardly. 'I have to think of a way to compensate them later, or their motivation would plummet. That would be the worst-case scenario here.'

After pondering for a moment, Sheva decided to take this matter aside for now. He still had three girls to deal with here, so he shifted a little bit to make himself comfortable before continuing his speech.

"At the end, this is all the information we have. As for the participants, you have up until the game day to register, and after that, the Hunger Games will officially start. This will be a big tournament, where all the hidden masters in the country will appear. You will also face so many unfamiliar opponents there, but you don't really need to care about them. Just be confident, and trust all the efforts you put into this! Come on, I am confident that the winner will come from one of you!"