"Let's cheer for Sheva and his amazing performance in this tournament!" Bagas raised a glass of apple juice in the air.

"Cheers!" The three other Indonesians there followed his action, tapping their glasses in the air.

It was quite funny to see this, because usually, the cheers culture in a foreign country always involved alcoholic beverages. However, since all of them grew up in Indonesia, where alcoholic drink was frowned upon, they replaced it with the apple juice they had ordered earlier. Also, the cheers culture wasn't really that popular back home, but Bagas, an otaku nerd, always wanted to try something like this since he saw it in a lot of anime.

"Bagas, why are we just cheering for Sheva's performance?" Medina suddenly clicked her tongue, showing her annoyance. "I mean, sure, his performance is amazing, but don't you think mine and Anna's are also worth mentioning for?"

Bagas could only scratch the back of his head awkwardly. Indeed, Medina was right. Even though their performance couldn't match Sheva's, that didn't mean it was bad. Hell, if anything, they had already exceeded everyone's expectations.

For Anna, she had already gained 4.5 points out of 7 rounds, putting herself at the top 20 on the standings. Not only that, if she could maintain her performance, the girl would be able to grab her IM norm easily, getting her second one after the first in Jakarta a few months ago.

Medina even did better here. She got 5 points out of 7 rounds, including an important win against the Indian grandmaster, Gagare Shardul, in a tough five-hour battle. Even though it wasn't as impressive as Sheva's achievement, the woman had already learned her lesson, that she couldn't use Sheva as a benchmark since the boy himself was pretty much abnormal.

Still, she was ecstatic with her result, and although Medina knew that her last two opponents would be strong grandmasters, she still wanted to push her luck here. The woman only needed one win out of the last two rounds, and she would be able to secure her first-ever GM norm in her career. Getting that at the age of 25 might be a little bit late, but it would be a boost to her motivation to keep going in the future.

"Anyway, let's celebrate our temporary success right now!" Bagas shouted once again, trying to distract everyone from Medina's accusation. "Sheva with his amazing performance, getting so close to the top, Sister Medina being so close to crossing the threshold of 2400 again, and Anna also approached her second IM norm! Everything is going well for us, so let's hope that we can all maintain this result until the end!"

The atmosphere in the Vietnamese restaurant that they were currently in was pretty light, with chatters and laughter could be heard from the table they sat in. The mood was at its peak, and honestly, it would be good for them to take their time to relax a little bit here. Unfortunately, it seemed that the universe wouldn't allow them to do that, as right a few minutes after that, their phones suddenly vibrated, and when they all checked, the new pairing for the eighth round had already been out on the tournament's website.

"Oh, fuck off! Can we have a little break here?!" Bagas cursed pretty loudly, having his expression turned sour instantly. Yeah, even Bagas, who didn't really go to the battlefield directly and fought from behind the scenes, felt tired at the constant tense moment like this, feeling the need to have a little break from chess.

"Lower your volume, please…" Medina hissed sharply before turning around and apologizing to the owner of the restaurant, who came out after hearing Bagas's shout. "You should know that this is quite normal. Hell, you have been following Sheva from the beginning of his career, so this shouldn't be something new for you, right? Why are you making a fuss of it out of nowhere?" She asked, sending her fiercest glare at the boy.

Bagas turned his head away, wanting to avoid the gaze at all costs. Indeed, this was not his first rodeo, and it shouldn't bother him this much. However, a lot of things happened in this tournament, from the troll attack on the internet to the nervousness brought by Sheva in every game, and honestly, it took a toll on him. Right now, all he wanted to do was relax before going to sleep for at least eight hours. Unfortunately, it seemed that he asked too much here, as the tournament was still far from over.

"Okay, just be patient, Gas," Sheva said, trying to calm down the situation here. "It is only two days left before everything is over, so just wait a little bit more. I am sure that it will be worth your time."

In the end, Bagas could only nod sullenly, not having any way to retort that. As the atmosphere eased a little bit, they all finally picked up their phone again, wanting to check the pairing for the next round. Well, Sheva didn't really need to do that, as he himself could guess who his next opponent would be.

True enough, the moment the website popped into his screen, his name appeared on top of that, with the second-best player in this tournament being his next opponent.

Adrian Sheva (2309) – (2709) Kirill Alekseenko

Yeah, Sheva would have to face Kirill Alekseenko, the second 2700-rated player in this section besides Yu Yangyi. It was crazy that he, a mere 2300-rated player, would have to fight against those two in the same tournament. Usually, this kind of honor was reserved for those strong 2600-rated GMs who fought for the number one place in the tournament. Somehow, Sheva managed to sneak into the elite position here, and honestly, he couldn't wait to make another big upset in the next round.

'Kirill Aleeksenko's skill is slightly weaker than Yu Yangyi, and he is also less stable than that man.' Sheva thought to himself. 'He likes to play an aggressive middle game, and once he is in his rhythm, it would be hard for me to stop him. Still… He is definitely the type of player that I sought the most, so tomorrow's battle will be intense. Let's see whether I could catch him off guard first, or would it be him who gets my head first...'

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