"Hello, everyone, we are here currently with the new rising star from Indonesia, the man who just beat the Iranian grandmaster Idani Pouya earlier, Adrian Sheva!" Sagar Shah introduced him pretty quickly, and honestly, if Sheva were not that nervous, he would have been flattered to be called the new rising star from Indonesia by the Indian man. "First of all, congratulations on your fantastic win. Please, tell us how you feel right now."

Sheva took a long breath, trying to calm his body before saying flatly, "I am ecstatic." He also tried to smile and greet the camera, but the nerves and exhaustion really got him, resulting in his expression being too stiff and funny for the camera. Fortunately, Sagar Shah was kind enough to make a gesture for him to calm down and relax, allowing the boy to breathe once again. "I might not look like that, but trust me, I am very happy with the win earlier. You don't know that my body has been shaking for the last twenty minutes before Mister Pouya himself resigned the game."

"I find that you have a pretty interesting choice in your opening game. I mean, the Dutch Defense? The King's Gambit? Those are not the most common openings that a player with your rating would usually choose, right?"

"Indeed, but those are the openings that I have the most fun playing with." Sheva nodded quickly, shifting his posture to make himself comfortable. "I mean, I wouldn't lie that that kind of opening only works as a secret weapon, and once the opponent is prepared, just like how I played against Gukesh Dommaraju a few days ago, I would be screwed up. However, looking at my opponent getting flustered by something they have never expected to see is something I take pleasure in, you know?" He couldn't help but smile, remembering his experience with all of the strange openings he got from the system.

"Any plan to expand that repertoire, or do you think you can stick with what you already have here?" Sagar Shah inquired more.

"Oh, I definitely have a plan for expanding my repertoire," Sheva confirmed with a nod. "I mean, those maverick openings are good, but I couldn't definitely use them as my main weapon. No, I still need to learn more, especially for the mainstream opening lines like the Ruy-Lopez, Sicilian, King's Indian, Queen's Gambit, and something along that line."

At this point, the nervousness was gone already, and Sheva could answer all the questions in a more relaxed manner. He had to give a hat's off to Sagar Shah, though, as the man's presence had some sort of soothing effect that could calm his nerves.

They chatted for a moment about the game, like what kind of thought he had during a particular move, and why he didn't go for the alternative way. In that short period, Sheva managed to impress Sagar Shah with his brilliant memory and sharp calculation skills. Those two were the common abilities that any other top players would have, but it was quite rare for a player this old with an ELO rating of 2100 to be able to remember the game and visualize it clearly, like what Sheva did right now.

Still, the Indian journalist also noticed the slight exhaustion on Sheva's expression, so the man was kind enough to end the interview abruptly.

"Last question, Sheva." At this point, Sagar Shah was close enough to the boy to call him by his name like that. "You have done very well in this tournament, getting 6 out of 8 points already. Are you satisfied with your performance? Or do you still have your eyes on the number one spot here?"

"Um?!" Sheva was taken aback by the question. "What do you mean by that?" He asked immediately.

"Urgh… It is exactly what I mean…" Sagar Shah also hesitated, not knowing which part of his question confused the boy in front of him. "Even though most of the top players on the standings haven't finished their games yet, with points out of 8 rounds, you are currently second in the table, having the same points as Max Warmerdam from the Netherlands and only behind Praggnanandhaa, who just won the game a moment ago. There are still a few players who, if they won in this round, they would be able to climb higher than you. Still, the fact remains that you will only be down by a half point to the leader of the tournament, and with one last round to play, your chance to win is still pretty much open. What do you think about it?"

Hearing that tidbit of information, Sheva was speechless, too stunned to say anything. While he knew that his performance was good, never in his dream did he expect that he was among the best players in this tournament, especially considering how big the rating difference was between him and them all. If anything, he just thought that he would be in the top twenties, and he would already be happy if that happened.

Seeing him too dumbfounded to answer, Sagar Shah was kind enough to snap the boy from his thought. The man nudged him a little, trying to get his attention. Once Sheva's consciousness was back, he finally realized that he was still in the middle of an interview.

"Ah… Ahem!" Sheva coughed a little, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Uh… Well… I don't know about aiming for the top spot here, as it has never been my target since the beginning of the tournament. No, since I am still pretty green in this field, my target is quite simple, and that is to raise my rating as high as possible, and at least to win one game against a grandmaster. Now that I have already achieved them all, I am quite satisfied with my result in this tournament. As for winning it all… Honestly, if there is a chance, I would want to try my luck, but nevertheless, I wouldn't hope too much about it."

Sagar Shah gave a short nod of approval, clearly happy with the clear and articulate answer that Sheva gave. "Well, thank you for this short interview. I wish you the best for this tournament. Good luck, Sheva."

"Yeah, thank you for giving me a chance to appear on your platform, Mister Sagar. It is my pleasure." Sheva also nodded politely.

Then, after they shook hands with each other, the two men finally left, which was also the end of this short interview.

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