Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 415: The Importance of Title!

With four wins out of four games, including two massive victories against Alexandr Predke and Praggnanandhaa, Sheva had already gained 21.2 ELO rating points. Now, his current rating was 2498.2, only 1.8 points away from the 2500 threshold that would allow him to become a GM. He didn’t even need to wait for the rest of the tournament to be over. The requirement only told that he needed to get through that rating at some point in his career, and now, Sheva was so close to achieving that.

Now, with the chance to become a GM already falling in front of his eyes, there was no way Sheva wouldn’t be excited. Not just him, but the others also felt the same. After all, becoming a GM was a major achievement, and only four players had ever achieved that in the country’s history. This was definitely something to be celebrated for.

However, Sheva knew the concept of not counting the chicken before the egg hatched, the principle of not opening the champagne at half-time. Celebrating too quickly often became a bad omen, and in Sheva’s case, the chance for that to happen was quite big. After all, his opponent was not an ordinary player. Arjun Erigaisi was probably the most dangerous player that Sheva had ever encountered besides Gukesh, and while the boy was confident as usual, he didn’t dare to lower his guard even for a single second.

’System, compare his stats to Pragg.’ He muttered after arriving back at the hotel.

DING!

[Comparison successful!

[Name: Arjun Erigaisi – Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu]

Attacking 91 - 90

Defense 89 - 87

Calculation 89 - 88

Strategy 88 - 90

Intuition 88 - 88

Time management 89 - 89

Arjun Erigaisi’s Title Slot: [Madman] [Indian Four Horsemen]

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu’s Title Slot: [Indian Four Horsemen]

Madman: When in a tactical battle, calculation and intuition increase by 2 percent.

Indian Four Horsemen: Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Nihal Sarin, Gukesh Dommaraju, Arjun Erigaisi. For each one of them who play together in the same tournament, the players will receive a 2 percent increase in their original stats.

’Four horsemen, huh? What a fitting nickname.’ Sheva couldn’t help but snort. ’However, I cannot underestimate this. With him and Pragg playing in the same tournament, that means their stats get a 2 percent increase, right? Coupled with their original stats that are ridiculously high, they should’ve been in the same caliber as the top 20 players in the world right now.’

Well, it wasn’t a far-fetched analysis. Even though rating-wise, Pragg and Arjun were still not there yet, but everyone with clear sight could see that those two were top players already. Honestly, after seeing this comparison, Sheva was surprised at his own win today, as Pragg himself wasn’t just a pushover.

’System, how about my stats?’ Sheva couldn’t help but ask, wanting to compare his with theirs as well.

[DING! The scan is successful!]

[Name: Adrian Sheva]

Attacking 88 (+4.4)

Defense 85 (+4.25)

Calculation 84 (+4.2)

Strategy 84 (+4.2)

Intuition 82 (+4.1)

Time management 86 (+4.3)

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

[Note: With the effect of the title ’National Resonance’, the Host gets a 5 percent boost of all his stats, 1 for each player with the same nationality.]

’Oh, after playing against Pragg and Predke, my stats also gain a slight improvement, huh?’ Sheva nodded at the interface in front of him, couldn’t help but feel satisfied. ’Not bad... My offense stat is so close to 90, and with the addition of the National Resonance’s effect, I could be considered an elite player in that regard.’

At this point, Sheva really understood the importance of the title. His stats could leap and bound to the sky immediately with one good stats, just like his National Resonance or the Indian Four Horsemen that those prodigies had, and even if the title didn’t add the stats in quantity, the magical effect of the Endgame Master title that he had was enough to put him as one of the most dangerous players in the endgame phase, and this was something that the statistics couldn’t reflect.

’System, any way to get another title?’ He asked once again.

[Host, you can get a new title in two ways. First, complete the mission from the system, and second, strengthen the characteristic that you want to improve.]

’Strengthen my characteristic?’ Sheva couldn’t help but frown when he heard that.

[Exactly, Host. For example, if you keep improving your defensive skill, you will get the Iron Wall title that is the same as what Hikaru Nakamura has, and if you keep playing for more than 1500 blitz games in your career, you will get the Lightning Flash title that Magnus Carlsen and Daniil Dubov have.]

Well, the explanation made sense, to the point that Sheva didn’t have anything to comment here. Before he could react, though, the system added quickly.

[Host, the maximum value for any stats is 99, so in the top level, everything will depend on the title that the players have.]

This... This explanation made Sheva widen his eyes instantly. Indeed, how could he not realize that? If all the top players had the same highest stats, what would make each one of them different? It seemed that the title was the answer here.

’No wonder Magnus is such a beast. He himself has 13 titles, for God’s sake! How much does his skill get enhanced by those alone? It seems that I need to put this in my agenda. Oi, system, do you have any mission for me to get a title?’

DING!

[LIST OF HOST’S UNFINISHED MISSIONS!]

[1. Become a GM before the end of the year.]

[2. Get Host’s rating in Rapid and Blitz up to 2500.]

[3. Get into the top 100 players in the world.]

[4. Do the physical task every day for a full month.]

[5. Get into the top three of the Dubai Master Open 2022.]

Well, it seemed that he still had a lot of missions to finish. However, Sheva was not worried at all. After all, he was bound to finish one of them tomorrow, and that was to become a GM before the end of the year. Now that he was so close to getting it, there was no way Sheva would let anything delay his mission completion.

’Yeah, sorry, Arjun, I will not let you win tomorrow!’