Tak!
Tak!
Tak!
Tak!
The hall venue was dead-quiet, and the only thing that could be heard was the pieces hitting the chessboard. Not a single person said anything here; all of them were concentrating on their own games. Some players who were already exhausted and didn't really see any other reason to play again chose a quick draw, wanting to end their tournament prematurely. However, that didn't affect the tension at all, as the crucial round to determine the winner was still running.
The main focus, of course, lay on the match between Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa. Not only were they among the highest-rated players in this tournament, but both Indian geniuses were also the top contenders to win it all today. This made the civil war between two Indian teenagers more attractive for the viewers.
However, to everyone's surprise, the second-most anticipated game in the last round was Sheva against Hans Niemann on table 4, jumping past the two tables where top matchups like Mads Andersen against Max Warmerdam and Gupta Abhijeet against Mishra Abhimanyu were playing.
The reason was quite simple here. After eight rounds had been passed, the spectators had basically understood most of the players' playing styles here, and it was quite natural for them to pick up on the most attractive one.Coincidentally enough, both Sheva and Hans Niemann were dubbed with a new nickname here.
Whereas Hans was called the 'Crazy Scientist' for his aggressive and creative style that sometimes even pushed him to the edge of the cliff, Sheva got a nickname 'Giant Killer' for causing trouble to almost all the top players he faced against. The only one who managed to steal a full win against him was Gukesh, and that was because the Indian boy had already made good preparation to fight against Sheva's unconventional playing style.
So, yeah, the game between Sheva and Hans attracted quite a lot of people here as everyone wanted to see the madness on their board.
Well, not like both players cared about the attention they garnered, as they both were too engrossed in the board in front of them. The situation was pretty much complicated here, and Sheva himself also took more than ten minutes just to make a move. The same thing could also be said for Hans Niemann, as the boy was currently scrapping his messy, curly hair in stress. This showed that the chaotic situation on the board really messed their brains here.
"So…" On the live broadcast of the Black Rook Channel on YouTube, Bagas pondered for a moment, looking at Irfan, whom he had invited as the commentator here. "It has been one hour and forty minutes since the game started, and they are already in their 25th move. The computer still shows +0.4, basically giving nothing but an equal game here. However, as a professional, what do you think about their current situation on the board?"
"Well… This is quite difficult…" Irfan furrowed his brows, crossing his arms in front of his chest while also letting out a deep breath. "Even though, in hindsight, the game is equal, I would prefer Hans's position as a white piece in this situation. After all, his queen is very strong, staring directly at the dark diagonal on the A1 square, cutting off the escape route for Sheva's king. Not only that, he also forms a strong rook battery in the D file, and not just that, his knight and bishop could jump at any time to put pressure on the F7 square. Sheva is pushed into a passive situation, and it wouldn't be good if he couldn't get out of this position unscathed."
*Author's note: If you want to visualize the position better, check the comment below.
Sheva also noticed his current predicament. The nonstop position shift in his seat basically told everyone that he felt uneasy, trying to find a way to get a better position. Inwardly, several lines were calculated, and he was trying to pick one that was the best for his situation right now.
'Hmm… If somehow, he put his light bishop to C4, I would let my knight go back to the B6 square. He would have no choice but to defend his bishop or slide it back to a safe place, or the chain pawn on the A and B files would be broken, making it easy for me to strike back. No, no, no. If he put his bishop on the C4 square, I could start by taking his knight first. That would force him to break his pawn structure, opening up his defense on the kingside. No! If I did that, he could've just ignored my threat by taking my knight first with his rook battery and threatening my queen! Once his rook is able to infiltrate my defense, I would have no hope in overturning the situation!'
He took his sweet time here, threading every line inside his head carefully. The boy knew that playing against such a talented player as Hans, one mistake was enough to drag him down to the mud, and Sheva didn't want to suffer from that in this game.
Well, it was pretty much the same for Hans, as he also had his wariness in this game. The American grandmaster had witnessed with his own eyes how Sheva dismantled Idani Pouya's defense in the last game, so he knew that his opponent had a keen sense of a little detail that was hard to catch. It would be a fool for him to use his common strategy, making a shady move to lure his opponent out. No, against Sheva, the lure would only reveal his weakness, and he was not sure that he could survive the repercussions here.
So, after thirty minutes, the game finally turned into a tug-of-war one, where both players waited patiently before one of them finally had had enough here. It was so strange for dynamic and tactical players like them both to be this reserved, but this was the sacrifice that they had made to ensure that they wouldn't suffer from defeat here.
For a moment, the tension kept rising, yet the lack of action started to frustrate the audience. However, it was very unfortunate for Sheva to make a mistake in such a crucial situation, as within a second, the evaluation bar spiked up, giving Hans a slight advantage with +1.1 for the white pieces.
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