CHAPTER 354: THE TENTH ROUND BEGINS!

"Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the 44th FIDE Olympiad 2022! We are here, back again, striving for history! Today, we have a tough match on both sides. The men’s team is going to play the young and super talented German team, while the women’s team is challenging the strong combination of youth and experience from the USA. Here is the lineup that we have today!"

Right after that, the screen changed into a table full of names, and even though the live broadcast was still early, the reaction exploded after the audience read the list.

Hilda99: Damn! Sheva is back? Let’s fucking go!

Ijimae5: Yeah, putting Arfan off the table is the best decision. He hasn’t done great in this tournament.

RonaldOSIu007: Will Sheva be alright, though? I mean, he just passed out two days ago, right?

KillingKii13: Yeah, exactly my concern! Would it be better to let him rest? He has done well and made us proud. What does he want to achieve here?

A smile spread on Bagas’s face as he read the comment. ’With this kind of support, there is no way Sheva would consider leaving the country.’ He nodded unconsciously, feeling satisfied with the audience he had groomed to love Sheva unconditionally in this way.

He still had to answer the concern, though, so the boy explained, "Don’t worry, Sheva is alright. The doctor has already sent a green light, and not being able to play when his condition is good will only stress him out. I can tell you that he is excited to play today, not only for the country, but also for himself."

"Indeed." Sarah, who was sitting next to him, also nodded with her business smile. "Besides the fact that Sheva is so close to getting the gold medal for the reserve player, his result is also good enough to get him the final norm for the GM title. The only requirement to get that now is to meet the standard minimum of 9 games, so he has to play for the final two rounds to be eligible for that norm."

Froggies: Ah, so that’s the case...

RonaldOSIu007: Wait, does that mean we are going to have a new GM after this?!

Hilda99: No, his rating hasn’t passed 2500 yet. If he could win the last two games, he would be so close, but I think he would need one more tournament to pass the rating requirement.

RonaldOSIu007: Damn!

Some people lamented the fact that Sheva couldn’t get the GM title straight away after the tournament was over. However, they didn’t know how legendary the boy’s journey was. He entered July with an ELO rating of 2315, and after getting the second place in Biel, his rating bounced far to 2394. Now, after getting 7 wins with most of his opponents being GMs, his rating was about 2466, only 34 rating points away from the threshold.

Getting more than 150 ELO ratings in just one month is crazy, and he could still earn more in the last two games of the tournament. So, yeah, his crazy run made his fans greedier, not satisfied that he couldn’t sweep the GM title in one go.

Meanwhile, at the venue, Sheva had already found himself sitting next to Taher. He didn’t even take a glance at board 1 and board 2, knowing that the Cold War had already started. Poor Taher, he got caught in the middle of a conflict like this.

"How is your preparation?" Taher suddenly whispered, asking a question.

"Not bad, I guess," Sheva replied. "While I cannot say 100 percent for sure, I am confident that I could still continue the streak." It was a bit pretentious to say something like that, but Sheva had every right in the world to brag. His performance was one of the greatest so far, and unbeknownst to the boy himself, even some big eyes had already noticed his presence.

"Good." Taher nodded satisfactorily. "You have to win, or everything you fought for yesterday would be put against you immediately."

Sheva nodded solemnly, knowing what Taher was saying. This was the world of the jungle. If he were strong and winning, the boy would appear brightly in front of the camera. However, once he fell from the sky, everyone would want a piece of him, even to the point of sacrificing everything else just to make sure that he was killed.

"Don’t worry, I got this."

Right after that, the German team finally arrived. Sheva’s eyes locked with a handsome man on the back immediately, recognizing him as the opponent that he would face later.

’Dmitrij Kollar.’ He muttered, trying to recall the information he searched for yesterday. ’23 years old, the same age as Brother Novendra. In his teenage years, he dominated the entire German chess community, beating everyone mercilessly. His ELO rating also rises steadily, but his light is overshadowed by Mathias Bluebaum, who is also at the same age as him and Vincent Keymer, the German prodigy who is a few years younger. However, he is still an elite player, and it would be stupid for me to underestimate him.’

Much to his surprise, though, Dmitrij Kollar suddenly offered a handshake with the politeness that Sheva had never thought would see from a German person. "It is good to see you back, Mr. Sheva. You made a huge commotion a few days ago." The man said with a thick German accent.

"Oh?" Sheva raised one of his eyebrows, slightly taken aback by this.

"Yeah, it is quite rare for someone to pass out in the middle of the game, and the fact that you beat Johan-Sebastian Christiansen just a few seconds before that incident happened made people more impressed with you. You don’t know this, but even Magnus Carlsen is praising you highly, saying that your approach is imaginative and rare to be seen in the youngsters nowadays."

Well, it would be a lie if Sheva said that he wasn’t flattered. After all, the best player in the world had just praised him, so his status would probably rise higher in the future. Still... "The praise is nice, but don’t think that I would lower my guard against you, okay?" Sheva joked playfully.

For that, a feral grin suddenly formed on the man’s kind face, as he said, "Don’t worry, a hunter never expects its prey to come and die easily without a fight. Just wait and see, Mr. Sheva, I am sure that you will find this game to be the hardest that you have ever faced before..."