'Forget about winning the tournament? Is that even a choice here?!' Sheva was too dumbfounded to utter his mind. 'I mean, it would be okay if this were just the first round, but we have already entered the last round, and I am just a half point away from the first fucking place?! Could I just throw it away like that?!'

Hell, he had half of his mind thinking that Claudia was joking here, trying to wind him up. However, the girl smiled convincingly, not even showing any hint that she was not serious in this conversation. No, the girl felt like what she said made sense, and it was Sheva who couldn't comprehend it right now.

Taking a deep breath, Sheva tried to calm down his mind before finally asking, "Any reason why?"

Unexpectedly, Claudia's smile widened as the girl nodded in appreciation here. "Good, you cannot accept what I am saying, but your head is still clear enough to listen to me first." She praised the older boy genuinely, a funny sight since Claudia was five years younger than him. "The biggest reason why you should try to forget about winning the tournament is because of an experience. Well, it is Big Sis's, to be more exact." Said the girl.

"Um?! Anna's experience?" Sheva was taken aback, not expecting to hear anything about Anna besides the fact that the girl was now a regular guest at his house. "What is going on with her?" He asked, and this time he was intrigued.

"Well, this is something that happened three years ago, when Big Sis played in the national tournament for the first time ever in her career." The warm water on her glass slid smoothly through her dry throat as she gulped a good amount of it, letting the anticipation of the story get Sheva first. "At that time, she was just a 12-year-old girl, playing in the girls' U14 category. She was the youngest participant at that time, and no one thought she would be able to make any noise there. Hell, even her own coach realized that and didn't put too much pressure on her. The target was just to get 5 or 6 out of the 11 rounds, at least getting half of the maximum points that anyone could get in the tournament."

"Then, she blew up everything, and the hope of winning the national tournament was also opened up for her, huh?" Sheva let out a deep sigh, starting to see where this would go. "Man, she sure is unlucky…" He mumbled to himself. Unbeknownst to him, Claudia was pouting, unhappy that he got the gist of the story immediately and interrupted her storytelling here.

"Oh, well… Just as you said, somehow, Big Sis got 7.5 points out of 10 rounds, putting her in the first place of the standings together with that bitch Laysa." Sheva had a sweat drop on his face at how easy it was for Claudia to curse Laysa. It seemed that their rivalry ran deeper than what he initially thought in the past. "Long story short, in the last round, everyone started to put more pressure on Big Sis, planting the idea of what would happen if she won the entire tournament. As for Big Sis herself, since that was her first national tournament ever, she also became more ambitious, completely forgot her initial target, and stared directly at the sun. As a result… She got burned, just like Icarus in the story."

Icarus. That was the story of a young boy in the Greek Myth who died because he flew too close to the sun, getting his wings burned, and ended up drowning in the sea. Sheva knew this story because Bagas was quite a nerd regarding Greek mythology. However, he was impressed by Claudia's knowledge about it, as usually, girls weren't that interested in something like this.

"So… She lost?" Sheva asked once again, this time with a little bit of hesitation.

"Yeah, and I tell you here, it was an ugly defeat." Claudia nodded solemnly. She picked up a glass of water that was already half-empty in front of her, took another gulp and let it slide through her burning throat. "Her opponent was a no-name player who also played for the first time in the national tournament, and based on the paper, it was clear that Big Sis was the favorite at that time. However, as time was ticking down and she couldn't find her win, Big Sis got too nervous, then started to blunder several pieces out of nowhere. It was probably Big Sis's biggest regret in her career."

Sheva pondered for a moment while also leaning his body against the chair to make himself relax. At this point, he was already calm enough to think clearly, and the boy knew what Claudia wanted to say from this story.

Anna was basically the calmest girl he had ever known, and even though it was three years ago, Sheva doubted that she would be much different compared to her right now. There was no chance that the girl would lose her calm just because she couldn't find the win, especially against a lower-rated opponent. No, that meant her mind was clouded by the imagination of her winning the entire tournament, and somehow, that made her feel anxious in the crucial moment. The consequence was fatal, as it cost her the entire tournament.

This was basically Claudia's way of telling him that, if getting the first place had never been his focus since the beginning, then he shouldn't change it in the middle way just because there was a bigger meat in front of him. Just focus on one game in front of him first, because overcomplicated thought was the source of a disaster.

"Heh…" Sheva suddenly let out a small chuckle, finding this situation to be amusing. "It is funny that I will be lectured by a girl five years younger than me."

"Well, you'd better get used to it, you know?" Claudia snorted back. "After all, it is pretty common in chess for the younger generation to be better, right?" Indeed, chess was probably the only sport where the veterans would fear children and teenagers, probably one of the biggest charms of this sport.

Sheva took a deep breath one last time, staring at the girl in front of him appreciative. Even though he said during the interview with Sagar Shah before that he wouldn't think too much about winning the tournament, it was a big lie, since this was a chance for himself to establish his name. However, the story that Claudia told was enough to knock some sense into his head, and now that his mind was clear enough, the fog had finally been lifted, and he knew what he should do in the last round.

'Just think of it as a normal game. The first place or not, I have already done my best, and now I can just let God do the rest for me.'

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