Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 482: The Crucial Matchup!

Time passed by, and yet, Sheva still couldn’t gain a foothold in the game against Mustafa Yilmaz. It would be okay if he went for an ordinary opening, but the key was that the Benoni Defense was a system that was suitable to catch the opponent off guard. If it failed to achieve the purpose, it would be Sheva himself who fell at a disadvantage.

Seeing that it was the 23rd move of the game without any improvement, with the computer engine still showing +0.8 for the Turkish GM, even Bagas himself couldn’t help but feel anxious.

"Mister Sagar, what is your take on the current situation?" He asked the Indian man on the screen, trying his best to hide the shakiness in his tone.

Sagar Shah just smiled subtly, knowing what was inside Bagas’s mind right now. He himself was also the same; whenever any Indian player was on the field, he would be like an old anxious mother, fussing about everything on the board.

So, with that in mind, he knew the best way to soothe Bagas’s anxiety.

"Don’t worry, in fact, this development is still quite normal in the Benoni Defense." He said calmly. "Everything is still going well for the black piece. Even though all of Sheva’s pieces are either at the seventh or eighth rank, they all stare directly at the opponent’s kingside and are ready to launch a deadly counterattack. Also, you can see that Mustafa Yilmaz’s attack meets a deadlock, and he starts to shift his pieces to the queenside again. Sooner or later, Sheva’s chance will come again, and it will depend on how precisely he can see once it comes."

Indeed, the only one who was anxious for this game was Bagas. Sheva himself was calm, even starting to wander around to see the others’ game. This was the confidence brought by his current hot state, and the fact that Mustafa Yilmaz played exactly the same thing as he imagined before the game also helped a lot in this case.

’As expected from someone who wants to follow Stockfish’s path, he doesn’t make a single unnecessary move at all. Still, how long could he do that, it is going to be another question...’

Looking at Mustafa Yilmaz, pondering hard about the best move in the current position that even Sheva himself could find within a few seconds, the boy couldn’t help but let out a small smirk. In his mind, this was just another weakness in going for this style, as it tended to make the player overthink everything.

’He wastes too much time checking and rechecking, so it is no wonder that he is down by 25 minutes already.’ He nodded his head satisfactorily. ’If I could speed up more and put more pressure on his time, he would soon crumble before being able to save himself.’

At least, that was his plan for the game, and that was also exactly what happened on the board. Soon, the situation changed, and Mustafa Yilmaz, who initially took the initiative to attack, started rerouting all the pieces back to strengthen the defense. In return, with Sheva’s queenside being so solid and strong, it was his turn to go on the offensive now.

"Now, all Sheva needs to do is take that pawn planted on D5 square." Sagar Shah explained, moving the cursor on the screen to demonstrate the move he wanted to show. "In Benoni, this is the anchor that gives the white piece life. This helps put the black pieces under pressure and also forces black to play only from their own area. That’s why it is heavily protected. However, once Sheva manages to get that, all of the white pieces will crumble instantly, and even without attacking, Sheva will get a massive advantage in a blink."

"So, can I say that the game shifts to Sheva’s side now?" He asked, his hopeful tone couldn’t be hidden anymore.

Sagar Shah couldn’t help but chuckle, finding the boy so emotional for his friend like this to be quite wholesome. "I wouldn’t say it like that. More like... Sheva has a chance to make the game shift in his direction, which should be the correct sentence. As for whether he could capitalize it or not, that is a different matter."

That was enough. Since this could potentially be a championship point for Sheva, Bagas had never expected that the game would be easy. However, as long as Sheva could gain an upper hand, the boy believed his best friend’s ability to capitalize on it.

’Come on, Shev...’ He glanced at his best friend on the screen, biting the corner of his lips unconsciously.

Of course, Sheva himself didn’t know that there was an anxious fat boy waiting for him outside the venue. He himself was not in a hurry. The boy knew that taking the white’s D5 pawn was essential, but he decided to wait a little bit more, engaging in a positional battle first against his opponent.

It was definitely a sight to see as Sheva coordinated all of his pieces beautifully. All of them protected each other, and not only that, but they were also placed either to block the opponent’s way or to stare straight at the opponent’s kingside, enough to make the Turkish GM in front of him squirm uncomfortably.

’Yeah, come on! Wipe your sweat and think more!’ Sheva clenched his fist under the table. ’Slowly, I will take everything from your side, and you will have nothing to defend! This is going to be my win!’

Honestly, if both Sheva and Mustafa Yilmaz knew that it was still +0.5 for the white piece, they would all laugh, with one being so bitter while the other was full of amusement. After all, at first glance, it looked like the black piece was one step away from knocking on the white’s door, and now, the Turkish GM got a massive headache thinking of how to prevent that.

Sheva himself also didn’t play perfectly. Hell, there was a point that his advantage was gone completely, and the computer engine said that it was +1.5 for the white piece. However, due to his quick playing style, Mustafa Yilmaz got entangled a lot of times, unable to figure out whether Sheva was just bluffing or not.

In the end, with the Turkish man being in a time of trouble, the chance finally arrived once again for Sheva, as black finally made a fatal mistake. Seeing this, Bagas couldn’t help but jump from his seat, shouting in excitement.

"FINALLY! THE CHANCE IS HERE!"