novelzi Chapter 638: Meeting Friends Again
Chapter 638: Meeting Friends Again
Chapter 638: Meeting Friends Again "Sheva! You are here!"
"Hey, it is good to see you again!"
"Damn, Brother! Congratulations! Another trophy to bring back home, huh?!"
The moment Sheva met with all seven Indonesian players here, his grin spread so widely that it even hurt his facial muscles. It seemed the old quote was true. People would always appreciate their countrymen and women once they were in a foreign land like this.
After spending a full week only with Bagas, he was finally able to see familiar faces here. From Claudia, who was sulking and glaring at Laysa—probably bickering again, they were—Anna, who came to him directly, the three prodigies who were waving at him with a grin face, to even Dita Karenza, who just gave a polite nod, each one of them brought some peace in the boy’s heart.
"Let’s go back first, you guys need some rest." Bagas, the most professional manager of them all, started to act accordingly. "You guys need to be in your best state tomorrow, the tournament is about to start around noon, right?"
Some of the girls pouted slightly, still wanting to enjoy the peaceful evening in Biel. However, they knew that the boy was right, so after a few more selfies, they finally picked up their luggage and followed both Sheva and Bagas obediently.
"So, you are not going to play here, Shev?" After a while, Claudia finally couldn’t bear the silence here, asking a question to start a conversation. "I mean, not that I complain, but you are this close to being 2700, you know?" She put her index finger so close to her thumb, only leaving a small gap there. "It would be a pity if you missed the chance."
"Ia, don’t just ask such a sensitive question straight away!" Anna hissed immediately, and a big frown formed on her face. Then, she turned to Sheva apologetically. "Sorry, Sheva. You know how she is..."
"Don’t worry about it, I have already come to terms with this." Sheva just shrugged it off nonchalantly. Even though the others were still restraining themselves, the boy knew that they were also curious about this topic, so he added, "Yes, it is a pity for me to withdraw from the invitation, but you know what they say, health will have to come first. So, here I am."
He said it so nonchalantly, which was enough to make them all think that this was not a big deal. Well, not everyone, per se, since one person gave him a nod of approval.
That was Dita Karenza, the only adult in the group. Unlike the others, she had a lot of experience in life already, having to work day and night, and even had to give up chess just to survive. In that state, health was indeed the best capital, so the one who had a choice and decided to prioritize it was definitely a smart person.
Sheva also noticed the gaze, so he turned around and nodded back at the woman. While he didn’t expect her to be here, it was good to see a new person in the group, meaning that the sponsor back home started to cast a wider net to grab more talent.
"Anyway, what is the target here?" Sheva asked, changing the topic quickly. "I know that none of you guys are close enough to the top, but did anyone here dare to follow my footsteps last year?" His grin was so wide as he remembered his glorious past.
Last year, being an underdog with an ELO rating of around 2400, he slayed all the opponents left and right, just to fall short in the last round with a draw against Muradli Muhammad. In the end, that Azerbaijani GM ended up as the sole winner, but that was definitely the beginning of his career’s rise to heaven.
Unsurprisingly, he only got a snort as a result.
"You know that you are just a special case, right?" Laysa asked amusedly. "Our best bet here is me, Anna, and Sister Dita, and while we are a decent player in the women’s rank, in such an open tournament like this, we are just another snack to be chewed by the other top players. Getting a positive rating net is already a good target, why put ourselves under more pressure?"
Well, they were not wrong here. The highest rating among them all was Laysa with 2398, and she was in 33rd place in the initial ranking, let alone the others.
Devi was even more pitiful, sitting in 90th place out of the 99 participants in this tournament. However, she definitely had the biggest chance of success, what with her being able to gain so much rating with just one or two positive results. So, yeah, Sheva wasn’t really worried about his disciple.
Still, he didn’t forget to check their current stats here, wanting to see their current ability compared to the last time he met them back home.
’So, Anna and Laysa are still in a stagnant phase, huh? It is definitely not easy to improve themselves in the last couple of months, what with them having a University Entrance Exam to face. However, Sister Dita’s improvement was quite big here. Just based on her rating, gaining an IM title shouldn’t be a question. It seems the training session with Dmitrij and Muradli is quite successful.’
Yeah, as the other participant for Indonesia in the next World Cup, Sheva invited Dita Karenza into his little club, helping her get more exposure among the top players in the world. This definitely helped broaden her horizon, as the woman right now had an average rating of 71, with her strategic statistic being the highest, with 78.
That was definitely enough for her to get an IM norm in this tournament. As for the others...
’Well, let’s see, maybe, there will be a surprise coming from them...’ A small smirk curled unconsciously on his face. ’They say a true tournament is the best way to improve, right? Let’s just hope one or two of them are going to take a leap this week...’