Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 440: Everyone’s Future Plan

"Hey, man, great job!" Pragg offered a fist bump after they went back to their seat from the podium. "You are crazy, you know? Winning this tournament after the Olympiad, even Magnus himself will droll for your achievement." He joked.

"Magnus? Droll for someone’s chess achievement? Are you kidding me?" Aravindh, who sat next to them, snorted.

"... Well, not Magnus himself, but maybe, Hikaru would secretly do so while saying that he didn’t care on his stream." Pragg corrected after thinking about it for a second.

Sheva just snorted amusedly when he heard that. It was the closing ceremony of the tournament, and as the top three players in the standings, they were honored to sit in the front row, close to the podium, making it easy for them to come and go when they were invited to the awarding ceremony.

Yes, somehow Aravindh managed to sneak among all the top players and occupy second place, straight behind Sheva. After getting a draw in the eighth round against Pragg, in the decisive game against Arjun earlier this day, he stole the win in the last moment, trampling over so many geniuses before sitting comfortably in the second seat of the pack.

Honestly, if this were any other tournament, his achievement would be big enough to be a talk of the tournament. Unfortunately, with Sheva here slaughtering everyone left and right, his result was overshadowed, and everyone forgot that they didn’t really notice that the 13th player in the initial ranking somehow managed to sneak into the second place.

"Anyway, what is your plan next?" Sheva couldn’t help but ask.

"Me? Nothing much." Pragg shrugged, not having any trouble revealing his plan. "I still have one tournament in Norway a month later, and in December, I will play in the Asian Championship. You too, right?" He turned to Aravindh.

"Yup!" The older man nodded.

Sheva could only stare at them both in envy. However, he shook his head quickly, not wanting to get entangled in this matter again. He had already talked to Bagas about this, and the fat boy told him that none of the Indonesian players would go for this year’s Asian Championship. The preparation was quite short, either from the game itself or even the funds.

In the end, all the players agreed to prepare for the next year, and since Sheva had the National Resonance title that boosted his performance with more players from the same country fighting in the same section, the boy finally agreed to enter the next year’s Asian Championship with the others rather than having to fight alone this year.

"For me, I will also be the same, playing for the Asian Championship in December," Aravindh said. "It is quite rare for a tournament like this to be held back in Delhi, so I have to take advantage of it."

Even though Aravindh said it that way, in reality, India had been holding a lot of big tournaments in the last couple of years. Some might even say that this was the capital country of the modern chess world, what with everything always revolving around them. This allowed the Indian players to develop faster, since having big tournaments played back home meant they didn’t have to travel too far and spend too much money, which was one of the biggest reasons why Asian players found it hard to develop themselves.

"Anyway, those two are going to be my preparation before Tata Steel next January." Pragg dropped the bomb casually. Both Sheva and Aravindh turned around, eyes widened in surprise.

"What? Surprise for me getting into that tournament?" The boy smiled smugly as he noticed his friend’s envious gaze. "Well, it is still not sure, but I heard from a reliable source that me and Guki will play in the Master Section. Of course, Arjun is also the same. He was the winner of the challenger section this year, so he will also be there. So, if nothing goes wrong, us three will go together, challenging the best of the best in January." The grin on his face was also a mock at Sheva and Aravindh.

Sheva himself just clenched his fist on his thigh, trying his best to hide his ugly expression. This was also the tournament he wanted to play in, yet here he was, having to listen to Pragg bragging about his participation. Even though he didn’t turn around, the boy knew Aravindh would have a similar expression to his.

’Wait! Those three still have the Four Horsemen title, right?’ Sheva suddenly had his eyes wide as he realized something. ’That means, in that tournament, those three will receive a 6 percent stats boost from each other! They will have a huge chance to wreak havoc and make a name for themselves! Damn!’

This envy didn’t just come from the fact that he didn’t receive the same opportunity, but also because Sheva felt he also deserved to be there. Even if it wasn’t the Master Section, at least, he should still be able to get into the Challenger Section.

’Maybe, I have to ask Bagas about this.’ He took a note inside his head.’

"What about you, Shev?" Pragg suddenly asked, snapping the boy from his thought.

"Me?" He pointed at himself in surprise.

"Yeah, you. Who else?" The Indian prodigy just rolled his eyes exasperatedly. "We have already talked about our plan, so what about you?"

For that question, Sheva just gazed far, eyes full of uncertainty. He knew full well what he wanted, but the problem was that he didn’t know anything about how he could realize it. In the end, he just let out a deep, tired sigh before saying, "I... Haven’t really thought about it. My name isn’t even registered to any tournament in the future, so you can say that I don’t have any plan for now." He smiled wanly.

Both Pragg and Aravindh looked at each other with an unsure gaze before the older one finally put his arm around Sheva’s shoulder in a friendly way. "Bah! Don’t worry about that! I tell you what, it is normal not plan for anything like that!" He exclaimed. At Sheva’s disbelief, Aravindh nudged Pragg subtly, signaling his friend to take over.

"Indeed, he is right." Pragg nodded in acknowledgement. "Just search for any tournament and register for one that you like! Make your name bigger, and who knows? Maybe we will be able to stand in the same section again! Don’t worry, I will wait for you on top!"

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Author’s note: Hey, everyone! I just write a new novel as an entry to the WSA 2026 competition, with the title of ’I Am the God of Football in the Fantasy World’. Please, help me support this new novel by adding it to the library and leave your comment in it. Thank you!