Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 468: Four Wins in A Row! A Tough Opponent for the Next Round!

"Sheva, you beast!" Pragg jumped out of his seat instantly the moment he saw Sheva walking through the resort’s door. "Four wins in a row?! Are you kidding me?! Are you sure that you are not cheating here?!" He barraged the boy with one question after another while also offering a dap; the huge grin on his face clearly showed his mood right now.

Sheva himself could only feel the corner of his mouth twitching. If it were another player, he would’ve been offended by the cheating accusation. However, he knew that Pragg was just joking around here, and his words about him cheating were more like praise rather than an accusation.

He snorted slightly, accepting the dap perfectly before saying, "What is ridiculous about me? It should be you who goes crazy, right? I mean, beating the World Champion himself? That’s not something that any other player could brag about."

Indeed, even though Sheva managed to secure his fourth win, he was not the center of attention today. No, that right was reserved for Pragg, the one and only who managed to break through the camel’s back, becoming the first player to beat Ding Liren after the Chinese GM became the World Champion last month.

This was huge news, especially considering that Pragg was the second-lowest rated player in this section after Jorden Van Foreest from the Netherlands. Moreover, Pragg was still a young player, 17 years old, so it was no wonder everyone was so excited for this result.

"Ah... It is just luck..." Pragg rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, trying to act modest. However, the shining eyes Sheva saw on his face clearly betrayed the Indian prodigy, as the boy was probably the one who was excited the most here.

"Till when will you talk in front of the door like that?" Bagas’s voice suddenly snapped their conversation. He came out of nowhere, bringing a box of pizza that he definitely ordered for dinner tonight. "Also, Pragg, your sister and your mother are looking for you outside, asking me to convey their message that they are going to the restaurant first. They said that you know where the place is."

"What?!" Pragg had his eyes widened in shock. "It is a celebration for me, but how could I be left behind like this?!" He cried while also rushing outside in a hurry. However, before the boy went further, he stopped, pondering for a while before turning around at Sheva and shouting, "Shev, you are going to play against my sister, right? Show some mercy, will you?!"

Without waiting for Sheva to answer, the boy vanished like lightning, leaving both Sheva and Bagas in an awkward silence.

"Well..." Bagas’s eyes met Sheva’s for a moment before the fat boy broke the tension here. "What are we waiting for?! Even though it is not the proper celebration that befits your achievement, at least you can relax a little bit! Let’s go back to our room and have a pizza party!"

Now that Bagas had already said it, Sheva didn’t have any excuse to object. Not that he wanted to do that, of course, since his stomach was grumbling quite loudly right now. So, he just followed his best friend from behind while his mind was drifting far away, leaving his body walking like a zombie.

"Hey, Shev!" Bagas raised his voice once again, bringing Sheva back to the living plane. "What are you daydreaming about? Don’t tell me you want to amuse Pragg’s ridiculous request?" He asked jokingly.

In return, Sheva just snorted incredulously. "Who the fuck do you think I am, Gas?" His tone was laced with a hint of sarcasm.

"Okay, okay, no need to get offended like that." Bagas got both his hands up, surrendering. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Also, even without my relation with Pragg, I would still not lower my guard just because Sister Vaishali’s rating is lower than mine or even because she is just a girl. I know for a fact that even though she has quite a bad tournament so far, once she is allowed to get into her rhythm, Sister Vaishali will bounce back faster than ever."

This was not something that Sheva came out independently, but the intelligence spread from Laysa after the girl befriended Pragg’s sister. However, this, coincidentally, was also in alignment with the thought that he had in mind.

The Indian players, once given a chance to find their rhythm, would be a force to be reckoned with in any field of the chess community. This worked not just for Pragg or Vaishali, but for anyone who came to this tournament.

"So, what are you worried about?" Bagas asked once again, walking through their room with a slice of pizza already in his hand.

"My opponent tomorrow..." Sheva’s steps turned heavy as he thought about that. "Javokhir Sindarov... It’s probably the most troublesome one in this tournament."

"Oh? How so?" Bagas asked once again. However, he didn’t show any concern at all. This was not the first time he heard Sheva saying a player was troublesome, and what was the result? The boy still won. So, it was just probably Sheva’s way of coping with all the wins he got to keep himself humble and far from cockiness.

"Javokhir Sindarov..." Sheva murmured, recalling any information he had inside his head. "16-year-old boy, one year younger than me. However, he is already 2650, the second-best player in this section. Compared to Amin, he is indeed more troublesome. Also, he is a part of the Uzbekistan team that won the team gold medal in the Olympiad last year, and he himself also got a bronze medal for board 3. There is no way he will give me an easy game tomorrow."

What made it more difficult for Sheva, though, was that unlike Donchenko or any other opponent that he had ever met, Sindarov was a jack-of-all-trades, very flexible with his playing style, and could do anything perfectly.

Sheva wanted to play aggressively? Sindarov was very resilient and resourceful in his defense. Sheva wanted to play a positional battle? Sindarov’s calculation was a top-notch even among the prodigies. Sheva wanted to wait and throw bait? Sindarov’s tactical intuition was so strong that he would smell bullshit when he saw one.

Honestly, Sindarov was probably going to be the toughest opponent that Sheva faced after becoming a GM, and somehow, he was having a headache about how to handle the game tomorrow.

’Man, this is troublesome...’