Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!

Chapter 272: The Last Preparation before the Olympiad!


In the end, they chatted for a little bit more before exchanging contact information with each other. When Le Quang Liem learned that they would also stay here to wait for the flight to Chennai, the man proposed a little training session every evening so that they could still maintain their best shape for the highest-level tournament in the chess world next week.

"Well, you guys will need someone high-level to train with you, right? I mean, not to brag here, but I am in the top 20 in the world right now. As for what I get? Oh, let's just say that I have a good feeling about you guys, so when you finally do something amazing in the future, I will have the right to brag about how I contributed something in your career."

That was Le Quang Liem's reason when Sheva inquired about why he was kind enough to do this. It was a bit far-fetched and suspicious, but since he gained most of the benefit here, Sheva had no reason to refuse this.

After spending one day to wind down, all three of the players who were still stuck in Biel also began their preparation for the Olympiad. Bagas, who was also the PR of the team, was also busy, contacting the official organizer about the possibility of doing a live broadcast during the event.Sheva didn't know about the details, but it seemed getting the permission was pretty hard, as he often found his friend in a call with so many foreigners.

As for the three players, their daily routine was pretty simple. In the morning, they would be connected to Master Susanto and the others in Indonesia, wanting to get in touch while also getting to know the progress of the other players there. Much to their surprise, though, back home, almost all the national players gathered in Jakarta to help the representatives prepare themselves for the tournament, all finding this event to be important enough for the country.

Sheva could see several times during the online meeting the presence of people whom he had never met before, like the IM Azarya Setyaki, Ervan Muhammad, or even the WIM Chelsie Sihite, with all of them helping with everything from preparing the opening line and giving some strange ideas to the point of being the sparring partner to see the result of their research.

Everyone was willing to fight together, even though they weren't chosen to go to the event, showing how eager they were to elevate the level of this country in the chess world. They all reached the same agreement here, that this was the golden age of Indonesian chess, and this Olympiad event was important to solidify the foundation for a better future.

In the evening, they would go to a nice hotel, which was slightly better than theirs—which was crazy, anyway, since they all thought their hotel was the best one here—to meet Le Quang Liem. There, Sheva and Anna introduced Medina to the man, and they exchanged a lot of ideas about chess and stuff.

The man was kind enough to help them prepare here, especially since he himself would also represent Vietnam for the Olympiad. For that, the three Indonesian players were grateful, as it was quite hard to find a high-level player to coach them in the middle of nowhere like this.

With all the preparation going on, and also with the help of Sergei Azarov and Ray Robson, who stayed in Indonesia, Sheva somehow felt confident that being in the top 15 would not be a dream anymore. As long as everyone can show their best performance, there should be nothing to worry about.

Of course, Sheva himself also had a personal target in this Olympiad. Since he would only be a reserve member, where his opponent probably would be the lowest member of the opponent's team, the boy was determined to sweep all the floor of the field, wanting to get a perfect record and snatch the gold medal for the individual award.

Yeah, in this Olympiad, there would be individual awards as well, where there would be gold, silver, and bronze for each board that was played. This was a nice gesture to award those who had a great run while their teammates suck, giving an appreciation for a slightly weaker country with one or two very strong players in it, like Norway with Magnus Carlsen or Vietnam with Le Quang Liem.

The top runner of the gold award for the reserved board was, of course, coming from the strongest country, the USA. Their reserved member was Sam Shakland, a super grandmaster with an ELO rating of 2720. Ridiculous, indeed, to see such a high-rated player who was enough to be on the second or even first board for most of the countries could only sit as a reserve member. That just showed how strong the USA was compared to any other rival countries there.

However, Sheva was determined to grab the medal here. Even though most of his rivals would be strong grandmasters, the boy didn't have any stage fright against them anymore, feeling like even if their stats were higher than his, he still had a huge chance to win as long as he stuck with his plan. He had already proven that when the boy beat Kirill Alekseenko, Niclas Huschenbeth, and many other grandmasters in the last tournament, and he was confident that he could also do that in the Olympiad.

As time went by, though, a week finally passed quickly. They hadn't even enjoyed this beautiful city completely yet, before the date of their flight to Chennai finally arrived. Right now, Sheva found himself waiting for the train to Zurich to finally come while also staring back at the city that somehow gave him a lot of good memories with melancholy eyes.

'Well, yeah, goodbye, Biel…' He muttered to himself, his gaze wandering far away. 'I will be back in the future, and for that, I promise. But now, I have to go first, as the next adventure is already waiting.'

"Come on, Shev! The train is about to arrive!" Bagas suddenly shouted, snapping Sheva from his thoughts.

"Yeah! A moment, please!" The boy shouted back. He gave the city one last glance before smiling, turning around while muttering inside his heart, "See you later, Biel! Wish Chennai will be another good city for me, okay?!"

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