CHAPTER 324: THE SUMMARY OF THE CURRENT SITUATION

"Yeah, this is finally over..." Bagas let out a deep sigh, somehow feeling relieved when he saw that the handshake was formed on Arfan’s game. "After playing for three hours and 39 minutes, Arfan finally seals the deal, securing the win for the Indonesian team! It is a shaky performance, but the job has been done, so we cannot complain here."

Unlike in the past, when he would always try to hype up all the wins that the team achieved, this time, Sheva didn’t bring the same energy. If anything, he sounded exhausted, and it was indeed the reality here.

On paper, Latvia was a weaker team than Indonesia. Only slightly, but they were still the weaker ones. So, of course, Bagas would expect a clean win, especially since they could fight tooth and nail against a far better country, and even won against Romania when they didn’t have any business to pull that shit a few days ago.

Who would’ve thought that Latvia, whose performance could be described as lackluster and only got to this point by beating a far worse opponent than them, would be able to resist for so long? Their win on board 2 also hurt, as Novendra really needed a positive result to boost his morale. The defeat would affect his confidence, and even without the external influence, Master Susanto would be hesitant to play him again in the future.

Still, this was definitely a good result, allowing the team to bounce back after the devastating defeat against Serbia yesterday. Now, their record was 4 wins and 2 losses, enough to put them in the top 30 in the standings. Their opponent in the next round would also be back to the strong countries again, so Sheva couldn’t wait for that to happen.

Meanwhile, the women’s team was also thriving on the other side of the venue. Playing against the Netherlands, they had the slight advantage on the top two boards, with the rating of the opponent’s best player being just 2344, the same level as Anna and Laysa, who were at the bottom of the roster.

However, the decisive result didn’t come from Irene’s game. No, although the rating difference between her and Eline Roebers, the Dutch girl who was on board 1, was quite huge, that didn’t reflect in the situation on the board. If anything, it seemed that Eline was also the same kind of prodigy as Anna, who was still climbing to the peak of her career, so the rating couldn’t really reflect her ability.

Anna and Claudia also failed to get a win in their respective game. Anna tried to create something with the English Opening, but the symmetrical approach really didn’t give her any room to create. Claudia was even worse. The little sister went for the London System, the most ’fine’ opening in the world.

There was nothing wrong with the opening, of course. It was solid, following all the principles of the openings that any beginner player would be taught, and quite easy to put on the board. Sheva himself also remembered the GothamChess video where he learned this opening, and the boy didn’t think that it was a bad one.

The only problem, though, was that its solidity could easily lead to a drawish game, and the lack of action in this game could bore both players to death. It was also quite hard to gain an advantage in this system, and at some points in their early career, all the chess players who yearned to be professional would learn the London System to enhance their sense of position. That was why, while the London System was solid, almost everyone knew about it, and there was no point in playing it anymore at a higher level except if the white player wanted to get a quick draw.

So, yeah, with the three other boards going for a draw, the decisive result came from board 2, where Medina beat the veteran Chinese-born GM, Peng Zhaoqin, in a long and arduous game. The woman was about 54 years old, so it was cruel for Medina to force her to enter the endurance contest. In the end, she couldn’t hold back forever, and in the 47th move of the game, she resigned, giving the win to Indonesia’s women’s team.

Now, the women’s team had 5 wins and 1 defeat, sneaking into the top 10 in the standings once again. They sat alongside some powerhouse countries like Georgia and Poland, with India’s first team that beat them yesterday being the leader of the pack as the only team in both sections that still had the perfect record, winning all 6 of their games cleanly.

Still, this result was definitely beyond everyone’s expectations, and both Master Susanto and Irene, as the leaders of the team, were more than satisfied with their current situation. After all, they didn’t really have any target in this tournament, just didn’t want to embarrass the country while also training the youngsters and letting them get used to this kind of a high-level tournament.

Who would’ve thought that they would have such a great success like this?

Not only were they thriving, but even two of the youngsters, Sheva and Laysa, had a great chance to get a medal. That was something that both leaders had never expected to see, at least in this tournament.

Oh, don’t get them wrong, they knew that the youngsters in the team were quite strong, some even far stronger than themselves. However, they lacked experience, and the main purpose of bringing them here was to give them one.

Not a single sane person in the world—probably except those youngsters themselves—would dare to use this Olympiad as their stepping stone to jump into the higher level, and yet here they were, announcing their presence to the whole world so loudly that it forced people to turn their attention to them.

Now, they have also started gaining some fans, and a lot of people couldn’t wait to watch their game for the rest of the tournaments.

However, that was a problem for the future, as right now, chaos seemed to reign in the hotel room, where all the teenagers were fighting against each other.