Sheva was not the only one with a tough matchup. On the other side of the table, Medina's face also turned solemn as she read her next opponent. It was a Russian veteran grandmaster, Alexander Motylev, and while the man was old enough to be Sheva and Anna's grandfather, Medina didn't have any intention to look down on him, especially since the man's rating was still 2632.

Yeah, the man's age was around 45, and it was quite rare for someone that old to still be playing and not have retired yet. It was even rarer that Alexander Motylev could maintain his performance at the highest level, still hanging around the youngsters with an ELO rating of mid-2600.

Also, it wasn't just an empty rating that a lot of veterans still had even after their retirement. No, Alexander Motylev could still maintain a high-level performance, and he proved it in this tournament by getting 5.5 points out of 7 rounds, still fighting for the top spot here. If anything, the man was still ambitious enough to chase for the number one spot, so Medina's game would be far tougher than she could ever think of.

On the other hand, even though Anna's opponent was not as strong as the other two, that didn't mean she would face an easy opponent. No, she got paired against Raja Panjwani, a strong International Master from Canada with an ELO rating of 2450. The man had the same point as her, 4.5 points, yet unlike Anna, he still yearned for a GM norm here. Sweeping the rest of the tournament with a win would help his case, so the man would be far more motivated than ever.

Overall, they all would be in for a tough game tomorrow, so it was best for them to go to bed and have a rest soon, and that was exactly what they all did.

The next day, they all went to the venue much earlier than usual, half an hour before the game began. They didn't want to get late into probably the most important game of the tournament, as tardiness would affect their mind for the rest of the day.

Right as Sheva arrived, though, he could see Kirill Aleeksenko coming in. The man was tall with clear green eyes and brownish hair, making him look like he came out of Hollywood. Unlike Sheva, though, Kirill Aleeksenko didn't look tense at all, chatting with someone that Sheva thought of as the man's friend casually, as if they were here not to play a game at all. Hell, it was clear that Kirill Aleeksenko didn't think too much about Sheva, as the man just glanced sideways at him for a moment before turning away and ignoring the boy completely.

Well, not that Sheva could blame him, of course. After all, even though, based on the stats from the system and the current ELO rating, Yu Yangyi was the better player, Kirill Aleeksenko was probably the most experienced player in this building, even including those players in the master section.

In 2020, somehow, Kirill Alekseenko managed to sneak into probably the highest-rated tournament on the planet, the most prestigious one where the winner would be sent to challenge Magnus Carlsen for the world championship title, the Candidates. Even though the man only got his spot because he was recommended by the organizer as the wildcard player, and even though he didn't really do well and only got the second-to-last place in the standings, the experience really shaped the man and turned him into another super grandmaster in the world.

Having experienced that tournament, of course, Kirill Aleeksenko would look down on this kind of tournament and the lower-rated players like Sheva, and the boy understood the feeling quite well.

However, that didn't mean Sheva liked the treatment that he got here.

'System, can you scan his stats, please?' The boy muttered to himself, looking at the man intently.

[DING! The scan is successful!]

[Name: Kirill Aleeksenko]

Attacking 94

Defense 88

Calculation 90

Strategy 89

Intuition 92

Time management 89

'No wonder his rating is still hanging around 2700… His stats show that he is at the bottom tier of the super grandmaster list, with some of them even below the threshold of the elite player's stats. This is interesting…' Sheva muttered to himself. 'His attack is definitely better than Yu Yangyi, but other than that, everything is lower, indicating that Kirill Alekseenko is the weaker one here. Still, that shouldn't reflect his real skill on the board, right?'

Honestly, if Kirill Alekseenko could hear Sheva's thought, the man would punch him straight in the face without hesitation. After all, one of the most common traits that any Russian man had was their arrogance, which seemed to be far higher than that of any normal human being except for Americans in the world. Being told that he was not as good as the other man outside would trigger something inside him that Sheva wasn't sure whether he was ready to face the consequence or not.

Still, even though Kirill Alekseenko wasn't as strong as Yu Yangyi, Sheva didn't have any illusion that he could beat the man in his current state. Even though he had already done so many miracles in this tournament by beating one strong grandmaster after another, beating a 2700-rated player seemed to be a little bit impossible in his mind.

In the future, after getting more benefits from the system? Maybe. But now, with his skill still at the peak of an IM, it would take more than a miracle for Sheva to beat Kirill Alekseenko.

No, his aim at this game was not to win, but to force a draw. However, Sheva also didn't want to get an easy draw. No, he wanted to make the man sweat and fell into a panic state. The boy was confident that his playing style would be able to catch his opponent off guard during their first-ever meeting, and Kirill Alekseenko would also suffer from the same fate here.

He glanced sideways at the Russian man who had already sat on the other side of the table, and as time ticking down, Sheva clenched his fist unconsciously, inwardly thinking, 'Underestimate me? Fine. By the end of this game, you will never forget my name again!'

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.