Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 555: Medina VS Claudia!

Tak!

Tak!

Tak!

Unlike the game yesterday, Claudia approached the battle today extra carefully. It didn't matter that the opening she initiated here, the King's Indian Defense, was something that she was familiar with. Every move was always made after pondering for four or five minutes, calculating every single possibility, even in the theory phase.

It was excessive, but her opponent today deserved that treatment. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Medina also did the same here. She didn't rush things up, wanting to pick the variation that she was the most comfortable with. Against Claudia, the woman knew that positional battle would end up nowhere, so she tried her best to create an opening for her breakthrough in the future.

There was even a funny moment in the earlier part of the game. Somehow, both players repeated the exact same move twice in a row, with Claudia threatening Medina's queen, and Medina took it away immediately, then they went back and forth twice to make it look like they were about to force a quick draw here.

However, Medina was not having it today. She could accept a draw, but a quick one without even trying? No, she refused to do that. So, she changed her strategy, advancing her knight first instead of taking the queen to the spot where it could be threatened by Claudia's bishop again.

'Yeah, no thank you, Ia.' The woman snorted. 'No quick draw here. Let's just go all out and see how things go, and if the end is still the same, we can agree to a draw later.'

Meanwhile, Claudia just clicked her tongue in annoyance, yet was not that surprised to see her offer was denied like that.

'It would be great if she accepts it, though. Stopping me from a massive headache later.' She murmured.

Yeah, in her mind, while Claudia still wanted to win, she was realistic enough to know that Medina was on a different level compared to her opponent yesterday. It wasn't a cowardly, but a calculated decision to get a draw and steal half a point from the woman in front of her. But now that the offer was rejected, she had to fight again, and this time, she knew that Medina's wave of offense was coming.

'I have to brace myself here!'

True enough, after starting the game slowly, Medina began to kick her accelerators. First, she forced some exchanges to take out all the advanced pieces on Claudia's side, removing all the possible threats for her in the future. Then, that was when the fun finally began.

The woman marched all of her pawns on the queenside forward, trying to infiltrate her queen from that side. This was enough to make the little girl panic, and now that the A file was empty and under Medina's control, the evaluation bar moved down directly, giving the advantage for the black piece.

"The move to exchange that pawn on the kingside is definitely unnecessary for Claudia." Master Irfan explained in the broadcast room. "Now, Medina has the A file for herself, and coupled with the rook on the D file, once her pawn starts to knock on the door, Claudia's center position will crumble instantly, and after that, with so many strategic spots being controlled by black, it would be hard to recover later."

Sarah hummed, taking a note about it—literally, as she had a notebook in her hand—before asking, "So, what do you think Claudia should do right now? Is there a way for her to turn the tables? I mean, -2.5 is a lot, right?"

"Indeed, and it is not easy for her to fight back here." Master Irfan nodded. "The best choice right now is to at least exchange one of the rooks, weakening Medina's control over either the left flank or the center. Then, she has to deal with the two pawns in the center. Those are not the attackers, but are able to become the anchors for the other pieces."

"Claudia also has to do it fast, right?" Bagas suddenly chimed in. Even though he was not a player, his insight after becoming a host made it easy for him to read the direction of the game. "Because if not, Master Medina will start her expansion, using the right flank to put more pressure on Claudia's kingside. If that happens, she will be surrounded from all directions, and only death awaits her later."

The situation was definitely far from Claudia's favor. The little girl frowned; her brain somehow felt like mush. She tried so hard to think of a way to get out of the situation, but no matter what line she calculated, everything seemed to meet a dead end.

'What should I do here?' She had her hand supporting her chin. 'I have to cover three directions at the same time, which is impossible. I can at least cover two. So… Should I abandon the left flank? But if I do so, I would still be at a disadvantage, and it is almost impossible for Sister Medina to slip later. Should I take a gamble?'

She really got herself trapped here. Hell, the little girl could even see the end of her journey, and just as she said, except if Medina somehow slipped, the result should've been determined already.

"Yes, it is over for Claudia." Master Irfan shook his head in pity. "Medina's pawns are too active. Too strong. After this, she would be able to make a push, two squares away from the promised land. Compared to that, Claudia doesn't have anything to offer for a counterplay. Except if Medina is stupid—which she is not, I can assure you—black will win in probably four or five moves."

Of course, Claudia was still willing to try here. However, all of her resistance only met a dead end. Meanwhile, Medina's attack started to overwhelm the girl, even locking down the white rook on the edge of the board. The only way for Claudia to get out of the situation was to sacrifice her bishop first to get the rook out of the cage, but it would only prolong her life for a few more moves.

In the end, Claudia also realized that she couldn't do anything here, so even though she was reluctant, the girl didn't want to suffer too long in this game.

She resigned, giving Medina the second win of the tournament.

-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!