Chapter 179: Mainstream Opening
Five minutes later, a full set of a chessboard was finally ready, complete with the clock too. Both players had already sat on their own chairs, being surrounded by the other top Indonesian players around them. Sheva could hear some whispers behind him, and while most of them thought he would lose, the boy still appreciated a few—it should be Claudia and Anna, if he wasn’t wrong—who supported him.
’Novendra gets this, right?’
’Yeah, I am sure. While Sheva improves so quickly, I don’t think he has reached Novendra’s level already.’
’Don’t underestimate Sheva too much. I am sure he will be able to surprise you.’
’Yeah, you don’t know Sheva like we do.’
Sheva took a deep breath one last time, glancing at Master Priasmoro, who also stared at him with a smug smile on his face. "What, Boy? Regretting this decision? Don’t worry, if you give up now, it will not count as a humiliation." The man said mockingly.
Sheva just snorted coldly, ignoring the unnecessary banter from the man. He was all in for trash talk, but it would be sweeter for the boy if he did that once he managed to gain an advantage in the middle of the game. Let the chess talk for itself first, and once it was time to put his opponent in his place, then it would be his mouth’s turn to take over he game.
The two players sat at the table with confidence to win. For Master Priasmoro, not only was it because he was more experienced and had a higher rating—currently—but the man also learned that Sheva’s rapid and blitz ratings were still zero. In the man’s mind, this meant Sheva was pretty new to those two formats, and it was his chance to establish his domination over the arrogant boy.
As for Sheva, while he himself didn’t possess the kind of obvious advantage that Master Priasmoro had, the fact that the boy was able to see his opponent’s ability stats was enough to give him confidence. It also helped him that Master Priasmoro’s stats were pretty similar to Sheva’s, letting the boy think that they were the same caliber of player.
’Well, his defense rating is quite high, 82. But my offense rating is also the same, 82, so it would be the battle of a spear against a shield. Still...’ Sheva noticed another part that he could exploit. ’His intuition and time management stats are pretty low, so if I could drag the game into a time scramble, I don’t think I would lose the entire game.’
As the thought came into his head, a game plan was also formed, and it was definitely enough to boost Sheva’s confidence. It was as if he came into a tournament with everything ready, playing in good weather without any distractions around him. Everything was set to be right, as if the universe aligned at the same time to help him win this game.
With all of that, Sheva was confident that at least, he wouldn’t lose the game today.
"Let’s have a good game / Let’s have a good game." Both players shook each other’s hands once they were ready to play, and right after the first move was made, Sheva slammed the clock immediately.
Playing as the white piece, Sheva started the game with 1.e4, a normal opening. Master Priasmoro returned with his E pawn too, and right after that, both knights also went out, with Sheva’s on the F3 square while Master Priasmoro on the C6 square. This was just a basic operation, nothing worthy of mention.
After thinking for another two seconds, Sheva let his light bishop go to the B5 square, initiating a Ruy-Lopez opening. Master Priasmoro frowned immediately, finding this to be outside of his expectations.
’Since when did he start playing the Ruy-Lopez?’ The man wondered. ’This should be his first time taking the initiative to do so, right?’
Indeed, Sheva himself had never pulled this opening in an official game. However, after his defeat against Gukesh in Reykjavik, the boy realized the importance of developing mainstream openings like this. After all, the rare and exotic openings like the Dutch, the King’s Gambit, and even the Evans Gambit, became unpopular for a reason. The engine had already determined all the weaknesses of those openings, so if his opponent knew he wanted to pull up one of them, Sheva would be screwed up.
The right strategy was to choose the mainstream yet still aggressive opening like the Ruy-Lopez, the Nimzo-Indian, the Sicilian, the English, or something like that as his main repertoire, and when the boy saw the right moment, he could throw an unexpected punch with the weird opening from his secret stash to catch his opponent off guard.
One thing Sheva didn’t like about the mainstream opening the most, though, was that his opponent was also ready for everything, and if he met someone conservative, the game could also be forced into one that would end up in a draw. Unfortunately, this was exactly what Master Priasmoro did in this game, which kinda rubbed Sheva’s skin the wrong way.
Well, what could he expect from the mainstream line? It was considered mainstream for a reason, and that was because it was popular even among the top players in the world. In this modern era where all the opening resources could be accessed freely, there shouldn’t be any hidden line in this popular opening that could catch a grandmaster off guard. Still, it quite annoyed Sheva when something like this happened, and the game suddenly entered a stagnant phase where both players tried to play exactly like the engine.
Oh, well...
"For all the smack talk about giving me a lesson, you sure are quite timid on the board, Master Priasmoro," Sheva spoke casually out of nowhere, catching everyone off guard. The boy himself didn’t even raise his head, still having his eyes completely on the board. However, everyone could see a glimpse of an evil smile on his face, enough to creep them out. "What’s wrong? Afraid of someone ’weaker’ than your Arfan, ’Master’?"
The tone he used was full of mockery, which was enough to trigger the GM’s fury.
"Oh, shut up, Boy!" The man growled, almost slamming the board out of anger. "You want me to get you?! Fine! Don’t blame me for being ruthless!"