Even though it was said before the first round of the tournament that whoever failed to win the game in the matchup against Hong Kong would be benched when they faced a strong opponent, no one took it seriously before. After all, it would be crazy not to go with the strongest team when they had to face a strong opponent. However, they didn't know that Master Susanto and Irene had already discussed this matter since the beginning of the tournament.

They recognized the amazing result that Sheva earned in Biel a week ago, and while there might be a concern about his endurance, the momentum that the boy carried here was too great to be ignored. The problem, though, was how to rebuild the roster, as everyone would want to play in the first matchup against a strong opponent.

Fortunately, Novendra's below-average performance made it easy for them to make a decision here. Even though the man would not be happy, he was not stupid enough to complain about it out loud, especially since he couldn't even get a win against two weak opponents before. It would be better to let him sit and calm his head rather than forcing him to come to the battlefield in a wounded state like this.

Of course, the happiest one with this news was Sheva. He couldn't even hide his grin anymore, as the boy felt his facial muscles hurt even to talk.

"So, I am going to play either David Gavrilescu or Vlad-Cristian Jianu, huh?" He read the name of his possible next opponent, still not knowing whether Romania would play with the reserve member or not for the next game. "Both are grandmasters with a rating of around 2500. Personally, it would be better to play the first one, since this David just got a draw against a 2300-rated opponent. But whoever it is, I am sure that I can get a positive result against them." Sheva nodded resolutely.

"Don't underestimate your opponent, okay?" Arfan, who sat next to him, couldn't help but remind the boy. "They are a grandmaster for a reason, you know?"

"Underestimate my opponent? Don't worry, that sentence has never been in my dictionary. Ever." Sheva scoffed, just brushing the concern nonchalantly. Of course, Arfan just stared at him in disbelief. After all, in the boy's mind, Sheva was the person who liked to look down on his opponent even before the game began.

What Arfan didn't know, though, was that it was Sheva's strategy to hype himself up. Inwardly, the boy had never underestimated his opponent, even if he played against someone with an ELO rating of below 2000. His motivation for walking to the game was always the same.

He wanted to use the higher-rated opponent as a stepping stone, but he didn't want to be used as a stepping stone by a lower-rated opponent. The boy kept repeating this mantra inside his heart before the game so that he could walk into the table with the same motivation, whoever his opponent was.

"How about you, Anna?" Sheva couldn't help but ask, glancing at the girl on the other side of the room.

"I have to play against Soumya Swaminathan, a veteran with a rating of 2335." Anna bit her lips while still having her eyes locked on her phone. "Even though my rating is higher, her experience in such a high-level event like this will play a big role. I am a little worried here."

Master Susanto and Irene perked up when they heard what she was saying.

This! This was exactly what they imagined a youngster should act, respecting the elder while also worrying about the veteran's experience. Instead, what did they have here? Only one out of the five teenagers here acted normally, while the other four were all disrespectful brats. Even though they had the strength to back up their words, at least, Master Susanto would like to have a youngster who could act normally in the team.

"So, you are worried that your inexperience will be a problem?" Irene smiled at her. "Then, come here, I will give you some tips to deal with that."

Sheva could only stare awkwardly as Anna got dragged by Irene outside of the room, probably going back to the girls' room next to theirs right now. Seeing that everyone was still so focused on preparing for tomorrow's game, he finally decided to sit next to Bagas before delving deep into his own research.

Even though the third round was still pretty far from being the climax of the tournament, some good matchups had already happened. Indian's first team, which was the second-best team in this tournament, would play against Greece. Not the best country in the world, but Greece definitely had some heavy-hitters that could pack a punch against them. On the other hand, the USA would play against Georgia, one of the few countries that managed to sweep all of their opponents from table one to four in the first two rounds.

Those were definitely the matchups that would attract people, and Sheva couldn't help but feel interested in them. In his mind, he had already imagined the scene where Indonesia had to play against those top teams in the world, and what kind of strategy they would have to use to steal something from that matchup.

'I wonder, how many rounds do we need to win our matchup before we could face one of them?' He muttered under his breath. 'Probably not too long, eh? If we can steal a win against Romania, I am sure our next opponent will be around the top ten countries here. So, it is important to win the matchup against Romania. Come on! At least, I have to steal a point tomorrow!'

Night passed pretty quickly, and without anyone else noticing, one by one, people in the room started to fall asleep. Even though the atmosphere was good to conduct a chess training or research, the exhaustion they all felt was too much to handle, and even though it was still around 8 at night, no sound could be heard inside the room anymore.

A few hours later, Sheva finally woke up due to the sun peeking from the window. He groaned lightly, just to find out that most of his roommates were still sleeping. Hell, Bagas even snored while sitting on the chair, and looking at the weird posture that his best friend was currently in, the boy cringed instantly, feeling the phantom pain on his back.

'Still 5:50, huh?' Sheva squinted his eyes at the phone in his hand. 'Man, this is going to be a tough day… God, please, give us a good time and let us win the matchup today!'

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