CHAPTER 340: THE FINAL BOSS OF CHESS!

If people talked about chess in overall, Norway was definitely not the best country in the world. No, that title was reserved only for three countries: the USA, India, and Russia. China might make its case, but its achievement in the chess world was still below those three. As for Norway... Well, they were probably just like Romania or Serbia that the Indonesian team had faced before; solid as rock, but not in the same tear as Poland.

In fact, up until now, they hadn’t shown anyone why they should be among the elite teams in the world. Out of their seven matchups, Norway lost two of them in a devastating blow. One against Italy in the third round, and the other one against Australia in the fifth round. Yeah, you’ve heard it.

Australia!

The country that had never been associated with chess somehow beat Norway! On paper, this should’ve been impossible, yet somehow, Norway choked so hard in that matchup, with Aryan Tari and Jon Ludvig Hammer, the two strong GMs with a rating of around 2650, getting beaten by Temur Kuybokarov and Bobby Cheng, the Australian superstars whose rating was only around 2550.

So, yeah, even though Norway was a solid team, it was never a powerhouse country in the chess world.

However, everyone, even the best team in the world, like those three countries mentioned above, still treated Norway as one of them. Whenever they met against Norway, they would be wary, treating the opponent as if they were also a title contender just like them, and this could be blamed on the presence of one person.

Magnus Fucking Carlsen.

Yeah, the five-time World Champion, the undisputed best player in the world, and a lot of players even said that he is the best player of all time. The chess GOAT. The final boss of chess.

He had so many titles that could strike fear into the opponent’s heart, and all of them were definitely not empty ones. All the players in the world recognized that Magnus Carlsen was probably the most talented chess player that had ever descended on earth, and his mere presence alone was enough to put the Norwegian team into the conversation of the elite teams in the Olympiad.

So, yeah, it was not that strange if the first reaction that all the Indonesian players had when they knew they would have to face Magnus Carlsen himself was nervousness and disbelief.

"Fucking hell..." Bagas muttered loudly, breaking the awkward silence in the room. "This is like facing the final boss when our character’s level is still around 20! How in the hell are we so unlucky like this?!"

"Apparently, it is because they lost two important matchups against Italy and Australia before." Sheva smiled wryly. "Still, this is ridiculous and fucking out of nowhere! How in the hell should we go tomorrow?!"

Yeah, even Sheva himself was nervous to face that man. However, behind that, an excitement bubbled inside his heart that couldn’t be hidden anymore. He didn’t know when it started, but somehow, Sheva started to enjoy the thrill of playing against a great opponent, and there was no greater player in the world other than Magnus Carlsen. His impulsiveness was so close to taking control of his brain and asking if he could play on board 1 tomorrow, but a logical part of his brain still worked the best, overcoming it easily with his rationality.

"You are not going to challenge him?" Bagas, who knew his best friend’s temper the best, couldn’t help but ask.

"Well, yeah, but not now," Sheva answered shortly. "I still want to get a medal, and losing a game will not be good in my campaign to do that. But in the future..." His words trailed behind as the boy clenched his fist unconsciously. Even without saying it, though, everyone could figure out what he wanted to say, and they couldn’t help but respect Sheva’s big ambition here.

"Back to the topic, how should we approach this matter?" Master Susanto coughed, turning the attention back at him. To everyone’s surprise, it was Taher, the silent assassin of the team, who spoke up first.

"We could copy Australia’s approach against them." The man suggested. When all the eyes turned to him, he continued, "It is basically impossible for anyone else to beat Magnus, so the best way to handle it is to throw the game away completely. Look, Australia did it, putting their worst player to fight against Magnus. In return, all of their best players could focus on the rest of the Norwegian players, and we saw how it turned out."

Indeed, this was the best approach. Magnus Carlsen was invincible, but that didn’t mean the Norwegian team was the same. Still, there was a huge problem with this strategy.

"It could work if we could match the other players. But you have to admit that even without Magnus, we are still worse compared to the Norwegian team." Master Susanto sighed helplessly. "Aryan Tari is a very talented player, and Jon Ludvig Hammer has been playing with Magnus together for a long time. Beating them is not as easy as you talk about."

Yeah, even without Magnus Carlsen, the Norwegian team was still elite. While yes, Australia managed to beat them, but Temur Kuybokarov and Bobby Cheng were two talented players who were so close to crossing the 2600 threshold. Compared to them, Indonesia only had Novendra, Taher, Sheva, and Arfan, all of whom had an ELO rating of below 2500. On paper, it was impossible to achieve the same feat here.

"Well, we might not be able to win, but a draw is not that bad, right?" Sheva suddenly asked.

At first, all the people there were confused about what he was talking about. However, it was Taher who figured it out first, and the man had his eyes widen in surprise. "You mean..."

"Yeah, if you are not confident in your game, try to force a draw." Sheva nodded solemnly. "Then, leave the rest to me. I will try my best to nullify Magnus’s win on board 1."