CHAPTER 35: FLIPPING THE TABLES!

Of course, the main character here, Sheva, didn’t realize that he had made a commotion outside the hall. He just sat calmly on his chair, laying out the perfect bait carefully so that the girl in front of him would catch it in the perfect moment. It was reckless, he knew, but in such a dull game like this, Sheva believed that this was the only way for him to win everything.

Almost two hours had passed since the game began, and even though the room was full of air conditioning, he could see that Gloria Divata was sweating all over her forehead, almost like she had been playing outside under the scorching sun. It was clear that she was just a stable positional player like Claudia, and there was nothing wrong with that. She was just unlucky to meet Sheva here, the unconventional player who liked to flip the table and caught the kind of player like her off guard.

’Now, let’s see if she would take the bait or not...’

In Sheva’s mind, though, this bait was too perfect not to be caught, and it would be hard for Gloria to ignore it. After all, the chance to win two pawns for nothing was too good to pass up. However, once she stepped on the landmine, Sheva would’ve launched the counterattack, and he could get the compensation instantly by taking at least one of her rooks and bishops.

Still, that wasn’t what Sheva aimed for here. No, what he wanted to do was to strip off Gloria’s king protection, exposing it in the middle of the board. Once he managed to do so, he would’ve frozen her queen as well, and her other rook would’ve been trapped in the corner, not being able to get out and enter the battlefield again for the rest of the game. By then, if she wanted to stay alive, the girl had to sacrifice most of her pieces, which would only prolong her life, yet not enough to open her chance to force a draw, let alone win the game.

It seemed that Gloria also noticed how dire her situation was. The girl was still confused about what was going on here. For a moment, she felt like she had a slight advantage over Sheva, yet whatever she did, she failed to capitalize on it. Now, the table was turned, and she didn’t even know when Sheva would strike back. She frowned deeply here, burning her time thinking of a way to save this position.

’I need to take them.’ She gritted her teeth, realizing that this was her only option. ’If I didn’t do that, he would’ve just charged forward, and those two pawns would take all the space I need on my king’s side. I cannot let him do that to me.’

After burning her time more, Gloria finally made the decision, jumping into the landmine without hesitation. She didn’t know what was waiting for her on the other side of the darkness, yet without doing this, she would’ve never seen the light again.

However, this was exactly what Sheva was waiting for. His eyes shone brightly the moment he saw the girl take his bait. Hell, he had to hide his trembling hand here, not wanting to give away his emotion. Still, he didn’t take more than ten seconds to return the move, confirming Gloria’s guess that this was the trap he had prepared for a long time.

’I have fallen, right?’ She scowled, starting to realize what was the main goal of the trap was. ’I need to keep going, or I will fall more into the abyss.’ The girl gritted her teeth, moving her pieces quickly.

Sheva was shaking in excitement right now. This was the plan he laid out very carefully, and when the fruit was ripe, the satisfaction he felt was impeccable. He took a deep breath, taking his time carefully so that this chance he earned with difficulty would not get away so easily.

Still, there was one person who lost his calm when he saw the series of movements he made in this game, and that was Irfan. The International Master barely sat right now, leaning his body over the table to get a better sight of the game. The frown on his face was a clear indication that he was trying hard to figure out Sheva’s thinking right now.

"I cannot believe it..." He whispered in shock and disbelief. "He has done it, everyone! Sheva has turned the tables! He forces Gloria Divata into her own area, locking her down and freezing all of her pieces on the spot! The only way she could survive is to sacrifice most of them, and it would still end up in a disaster! Sheva is winning right now!" He shouted excitedly, completely forgetting how he had doubted the boy earlier.

True enough, after that, Gloria started to make a panicked move, sacrificing her pieces one by one. First, it was her B pawn, trying to attract Sheva’s bishop so that it would let go of the pin toward her knight. Then, she exchanged her other knight with that bishop, letting Sheva’s queen come over. It was a dangerous move, but the exchange was vital to reduce the number of pieces that were attacking him.

What hurt the most was the fact that in order to save her queen, Gloria had to ignore her own rook. As a result, in the next turn, Sheva’s knight forked her king and rook, forcing her to sacrifice that rook.

However, the humiliation was not over. Instead of taking that useless rook on the corner and getting trapped like a deer caught in headlights, Sheva let that knight on the most dangerous place there, getting anchored by the rook from afar while Sheva made sure he kept hunting that king on the open space.

The game turned bloody for Gloria, and she ran the desperate strategy of running the king forward to escape. Unfortunately, Sheva was ruthless in this part, hunting her down without even letting her take a breath. In the end, when almost all of her pieces were sacrificed and her own king was already half a step forward to the death door, Gloria Divata finally sighed helplessly, stopping the clock before offering Sheva a handshake.

Yeah, she resigned.