Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 537: Duta’s Surprise!

While everyone had their focus on the game on board 1 since it was a championship game, the game on board 2 was no less tense than that.There, Duta was fighting against the Russian FM Alexander Khripachenko, and they both still had a chance to snatch the first place if somehow they won and the game on board 1 ended up in a draw.

Well, at least Duta had the chance, because Alexander Khripachenko was beaten by Nayaka in the last round. If he won and the game on board 1 was a draw, Nayaka would be the winner due to the tiebreak, and the Russian FM would only end up in third place in the tournament. Still, at least, it was a consolation prize for him who didn’t have a good tournament here.

Well, of course, the keyword was that if he won.

However, Duta, who still had a chance to snatch the first place, was also eager for victory, so the Indonesian boy really put pressure on the Russian FM with a rare sight of him pushing aggressively since the beginning of the game.

Of course, the boy didn’t go all-out offense like the lunatic his friend Nayaka was. No, he was still sane and didn’t smoke anything weird beforehand.

The boy just tried to get out of his shell, wanting to push a little bit further with his normal setup. If usually, his Italian Opening would be slow and steady, this time, he didn’t hesitate to march all of his pieces to the opponent’s queenside, creating a strong attack that allowed his pieces to control some of the strategic squares there.

It wasn’t all flowers and sunshine, though. He basically gave the A file to his opponent’s rook to control, and honestly, the thought of letting the opponent’s rook and queen roam in that file was enough to make his skin crawl.

’No, no, no, I cannot just focus on that.’ Duta shook his head strongly, eliciting a questioning gaze from his opponent. ’Let’s see the better side here. Now, the queenside is cleared with only my pawn at the A line remaining, and all of his pieces are overextended right now. This should be my chance to attack... Right?’

The last part really reflected his character. To put it nicely, Duta was a steady player, but to put it bluntly, he was just a coward who was always hesitant to take the first step.

However, it was different today.

At least, for this game, when the glory was already in front of his eyes, the boy was finally willing to take a risk. It was a small risk, yes, but enough to give him the edge in this game.

Then, he spotted a nice strategy. The boy didn’t know whether it would be good or not, but his instinct told him to go for it, and for the first time for... Ever, he followed his gut.

The boy abandoned the pawn on the A file, which was his only advantage in this situation, attracting his opponent’s attention there. At the same time, he maneuvered his queen and bishop to stare directly at the opponent’s kingside, and with the overextended pawn structure from the black pieces, it was easy for the queen to infiltrate further.

The computer engine also approved this move. Right after Duta pulled the strategy, the evaluation bar spiked up, showing +3.1 for the white piece. Even though material-wise, everything was equal, Duta had already knocked on the Russian FM’s door, and soon, if his opponent didn’t want to lose too quickly, some materials had to be sacrificed.

"Yes, Duta is so close to winning!" Sheva clenched his fist as he stared at the screen on his hand. "Not bad... He doesn’t go for the path I point out, but doubles down on the style he is most familiar with.

Yeah, if in the earlier round, Nayaka’s win against the Russian FM satisfied him, this time, Duta’s game really blew his mind. After all, Sheva always thought that Duta was the least surprising one among the three, playing so steadily like a robot. Who would’ve thought that the boy would be able to find his own solution like this?

"Oh, that Russian dude is moving all of his pieces back!" Bagas laughed, also feeling happy to see Duta thriving like this. "Maybe, after this, he will start chucking all of his pieces one by one to save his ass!"

Alexander Khripachenko didn’t do that, though. It seemed that the Russian boy still believed that he could do something to defend himself. Even though Duta didn’t know what was inside his opponent’s head, at least he wasn’t that worried anymore, finding the situation under his grasp.

’If he wants to struggle more, let him be. I can just suffocate his king to death.’ He thought.

The rest of the process was cruel. The black king was cornered soon, with the white’s two rooks and queen already breathing down its neck. Not only that, Duta still had a dark bishop sniping from afar, supporting the whole offense from the long diagonal. The computer engine had already shown +6.2, as Duta’s advantage doubled quickly enough. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

In the end, the Russian boy was sulking, finding himself in a foul mood as the boy realized the situation to be unsavable.

’Cука блять! It is all because of those two country bumpkins!’ The boy scowled furiously.

Yeah, he blamed his failure in this tournament on the two Indonesian boys, Duta and Nayaka. After all, just in one day, he was beaten black and blue by them, and the trophy that he was about to win suddenly slipped from his grasp in the last second.

To make it worse, not only did he fail to get the number one spot, but losing this game would only mean he was thrown away from the top five. Also, the two defeats today were enough to make him lose 50 ELO rating in one go, making the tournament a total failure for his side.

Unfortunately, no matter how much he hated this, nothing could be changed. He glared at Duta one more time, somehow feeling reluctant about the result. However, the boy knew best that continuing would only prolong his suffering, so he made the most logical and yet painful decision today.

He resigned.

-Author’s note-

Hey, everyone! Thank you for supporting my story! I have written a new one with the hope of getting a contract for that story as well, the title is ’The Rise of the Iron Wall!’. It is a football story, so if you like, please give your support by adding it to your collection and giving your power stone to that story! Thanks!