"That's it, folks…" Bagas announced, choking a little bit as he felt teary-eyed right now. "Idani Pouya finally resigns, giving Sheva his first-ever win against a grandmaster in his career. A milestone that seems to be impossible to achieve this quickly, but he has done it! We are truly witnessing something legendary here! This might be one small step for him, but it is definitely a huge leap for the Indonesian Chess community!"

If Sheva heard how Bagas quoted Neil Armstrong's famous words after the man landed on the moon to describe his achievement right now, the boy would vomit immediately. That, or he would slap his best friend hard, trying to wake the fat boy up from his daydreaming. After all, while the win itself was impressive, Bagas really exaggerated it here, putting it in a way that Sheva was the only hope for the Indonesian Chess community. If the senior players in the country heard that, they would have the urge to beat him on the spot, something that Sheva really didn't want to deal with once he was back in his homeland.

Bagas himself didn't notice that he just put his best friend on fire. No, he was too emotional, staring at Sheva from the screen with tears falling from the corner of his eyes. The boy still remembered the first time he dragged his best friend to play against Irfan a while ago, and in just three months, the boy really defied fate and emerged as one of the most talented players in the country's history. Having the privilege to witness the rise from the start up until this point, Bagas only had one thought right now.

'Damn… I am so proud of you, Shev…'

As for Sheva, the boy could feel his shoulder slumped as all the energy he had suddenly ebbed away from his body. While the game wasn't that long, it was basically the most draining one for him mentally. After all, with the excitement he felt, the boy had to balance it out constantly for the entire game, draining his brain quickly. Now, he was not sure that he could continue playing for the last round later.

'Still… A win against a grandmaster, huh? And it is a strong one with the rating of 2600 above…' A small smirk formed on his face as he recalled the win a moment ago. 'Damn, I am really awesome!' He clenched his fist under the table, still feeling the euphoria of the victory here.

The boy was still too flabbergasted here, not even realizing that Idani Pouya had already left the table. Yeah, after shaking hands with each other earlier, the Iranian grandmaster walked off the venue quickly, probably too embarrassed to stay here. After Sheva's consciousness was back, though, he finally realized that the table was surrounded by most of the top players of the tournament.

Sheva could see Hans Niemann nod his head repeatedly while staring at the last position on the board, Gukesh walking back to his own table, but not before sending one last glance to Sheva, and Praggnanandhaa, who gave him a nod of approval for a wonderful performance here. Somehow, their acknowledgement really sparked something inside his heart, as this was the recognition from those top players for him.

'Just wait, you guys…' He clenched his fist once again. 'Soon, I will chase you all and stand equally against you. Just wait…'

After the euphoria from the victory finally started to dissipate, Sheva took one last deep breath before rising from his chair. He still had one last round later this evening, and based on his win earlier, he would definitely play against another top player. He needed to rest now more than ever, at least to gather a little bit more energy for a tough game the next evening.

However, the moment he walked out of the venue, the boy was stopped by a man with glasses whom he was familiar with.

"Um, excuse me, young man. Do you mind for a short interview?" The man asked with a thick accent.

"Sagar Shah from the ChessBase India?" Sheva blurted out unconsciously, not expecting the famous man to appear here and ask him for an interview. "Why would you want to have an interview with me?" He asked confusedly.

Yeah, the man was Sagar Shah, probably the second-famous person in the chess world who helped the community grow bigger besides the infamous GothamChess himself.However, unlike GothamChess, who was a pure influencer and entertainer, Sagar Shah was a true journalist, so the story that he produced was always deeper, more formal, and more sophisticated.

"Why do I want to interview you? Of course, because of your impressive win against Idani Pouya." Sagar Shah chuckled warmly, showing that he was as approachable as the person he showed in front of the camera. "Don't worry, it is just a short, formal interview to ask about your feelings and something like that, no difficult questions at all. How about it?"

"Um…" Sheva wanted to say something, yet words seemed to be stuck in his throat. His nervousness kicked in, especially when imagining him talking in front of the camera. This time, though, he didn't have Bagas, Anna, or Claudia to use as his shield. "Do I have to?" He asked weakly, glancing at the camera that the Indian man brought.

"Well, you don't have to, but this is an opportunity to make everyone notice your name. Also, if you are nervous about talking in front of the camera, don't worry, it is not live. We can rehearse it as much as you want, and if you still feel that you don't want it to get uploaded, I will respect your choice and delete the video."

Good man… It seemed that Sagar Shah also noticed him glancing at the camera a few times just in that short period and connected the dots immediately. Still… Honestly, Sheva was tempted to reject the interview request. After all, his anxiety whenever the camera was pointing at him was hard enough to cure. He could already imagine how his palm was sweating and his entire body was shaking from the nervousness.

Still, he remembered what Bagas said about him making a name for himself, and this was indeed a chance for him to get free exposure. Looking at the expectant Sagar Shah, he was also too embarrassed to refuse. After all, who was he here? The boy was not in a position to refuse the free interview. Hell, if anything, he should've been the one who begged for that.

So, with that in mind, Sheva finally took a deep breath, resolving his determination before giving the man in front of him a short nod. "Fine, let's do this interview."

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.