Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 369: Interview & Reward

’Wait, already?!’ Sheva widened his eyes in surprise. ’Have we already won the matchup?’ He wondered. After all, based on his calculation, a win was enough to sneak into the 14th place in the standings, no matter what the score was.

When he turned around to inquire about the other’s situation, the boy finally found out why the system gave the notification. It seemed that a moment before he won his game, Master Susanto had just sealed a draw against Surya Sekhar. This result alone was enough to secure the win for Indonesia, and, coincidentally, it also led the team to meet the target that Sheva had set before the tournament began.

’Nice, Master Susanto!’ Sheva gave a big thumbs-up, which surprised the man a little. In fact, Master Susanto and Novendra seemed to misunderstand Sheva here. They thought that the boy hated them to the core, but in reality, Sheva just hated how they took advantage of the system to prolong their stay when their abilities were not on par. As long as they had the ability, he would never care about anything else.

’Okay, system, what reward did you give me?’ The boy inquired, a little bit impatient. He checked his inventory just to find out another title was there. ’National Resonance?’ The boy was taken aback, feeling confused. Curious, he clicked it, and the description appeared below the title.

NATIONAL RESONANCE

[With this title, all of Host’s stats will increase 1% for every Indonesian player who is playing in the same section.]

’Um? Only one percent? System, isn’t that a bit too low?’ Sheva frowned. ’This is the reward of my climbing through the top 15 in the Olympiad, you know? Isn’t this reward a little bit too cheap?’

[Host, you underestimate the title here.] The system sounded displeased. Wait, how could a machine feel unhappy? [The main advantage is that it works for every Indonesian player. Now, imagine that you are in an Asian Championship, and you have at least 5 or 6 players from the same country fighting there. Then, you will have 5 percent boosts of all your stats, and that is enough to give you at least 4 free points for all your stats above 80. Don’t underestimate that small point, because in the highest-level tournament, that could play a huge difference for you!]

Only after this explanation did Sheva understand the value of this title. ’Well, it still depends on my current stats, right? System, show me!’

[DING! The scan is successful!]

[Name: Adrian Sheva]

Attacking 86

Defense 84

Calculation 83

Strategy 81

Intuition 80

Time management 85

Title Slot: [Endgame Master] [Empty] [Empty]

’Um?! My stats have improved this much?!’ Sheva was taken aback. ’All of them are already above 80, with my attacking and time management stats being above 85. This should put my level in around the high 2500-rated GM, right?’ He calculated inwardly.

Of course, this was just a dead statistic that showed Sheva’s level in a normal situation. However, in real life, everything still depended on the form, just like how the boy achieved greatness in this tournament. Nine wins out of nine games. Those were the records that even the best players in the world would drool in envy when they saw that, and here, Sheva was, getting that in the highest-level tournament in the world.

"Shev! Here!" As he walked out of the venue, Bagas had already been waiting for him. It seemed that the interview that the boy was talking about was finally here, as Sheva could see Sagar Shah also standing next to his friend.

After arranging a small place on one corner of the building, the interview finally began. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"Hello, everyone, here I am with Adrian Sheva, the one and only who shatters all the records in the Olympiad, getting a perfect score of 9/9! Sheva, please tell me how you feel?" Sagar Shah asked, still with his thick Indian accent.

"Of course, I am happy. This is something that I have never thought of before." Sheva nodded, starting to give his answer. "In fact, I only have two targets here: to get the team into the top 15, and to sneak into the podium for the individual medal. Never even in my wildest dreams that I could get the gold medal, let alone with such a perfect score."

"Oh, you have already set a high target since the beginning?" Sagar Shah smiled, intrigued. "I mean, you came in as a 2318-rated player, and your team’s average rating should be around 2400, right? On paper, the target seems to be unrealistic, yet you still set the bar high. Are you really that confident?"

"Oh, no, I am not that confident. I also have a slight delusion, which helps me dare to dream bigger." Sheva laughed at himself. "I am not crazy, you know? Initially, the target is just a bravado to motivate me to do better. However, as more rounds passed, I genuinely thought that we could achieve that, and I started pushing the team further for the last couple of rounds. I am so glad that I did that, because you see now that we have achieved what I bragged about before the tournament began!" He smiled, proud of the team’s achievement.

Sagar Shah could only smile, praising this young man for his boldness. Well, it was bold and courageous since Sheva won, but if the boy failed, it could only be seen as arrogance and delusion.

"So, I checked the database before, and you have already earned three GM norms by now, and the only reason you are not a GM yet is because of your rating. What do you think about it?"

"Well, I am grateful that I could get my third GM norm here, and while it is a pity that I am so close to getting the rating requirement, I am not thinking too much about it," Sheva explained. "I mean, with my win today, what would my rating be? Around 2470, right?" He asked.

"It should be 2477, to be exact." Sagar Shah confirmed.

"So, 23 more, right? I am not in a hurry, so I don’t want to think too much about it." Sheva added.

"Then, what is your plan for the future?" Sagar Shah asked once again.

"My plan for the future, huh?" Sheva pondered for a moment before a small smirk formed on his face. "Well, it is simple. I want to get my GM title in the next tournament that I play, and after that, raise my rating as high as possible and get into a good invitational tournament! Only then did I get a chance to elevate my career higher!"