"Let's have a good game." Sheva offered a handshake as he sat in the chair.
In return, the man just nodded silently, accepting the handshake without even saying a single word. Well, not that Sheva would blame him, of course. If something really came out of the man's mouth, it would destroy the mysterious persona he tried his best to maintain, so this move was necessary.
The sun had already gone from the sky, replaced by the gentle light of the moon. Coupled with the breezing summer wind around, the night in Biel was quite peaceful. However, not in that particular park, as it seemed that the crowd was getting bigger at this time. If before, Sheva counted that the spectators were around 20 people, now he estimated the number to be doubled, up to around 40. It was definitely a lot, especially when they only gathered to watch a chess game.
However, Sheva didn't feel any nervousness here. Hell, if anything, he felt a little bit nostalgic, as this was how the fateful encounter between him and Irfan had gone in the past. Now, the boy wondered whether he could impress the mysterious man just like what he did to Irfan in the past or not.
'Oh, well, since we are going for a nostalgic moment, let's just follow the plot line.' The boy muttered to himself.
Having already set his mind to a mischievous plan, Sheva grinned slightly before making his first move. Playing with the white piece, he didn't hesitate to move the E pawn two squares forward and slam the clock afterward. The boy went for a standard King's Pawn opening, which the mysterious man returned with at the exact same moment.
However, just right in the second move, the move that Sheva pulled was enough to startle everyone here. Hell, he could even hear some of them gasping in shock when they saw him moving his F pawn two squares forward, initiating the legendary King's Gambit opening.
"The King's Gambit? Is he fucking serious?!"
"Man, this is just a waste of time!"
"It seems that he has too much money here!"
Even though Sheva couldn't understand what most people around him said since they talked in German, he could hear the disapproval in their tone. Well, not that he could blame them, since it seemed that no one recognized him as the biggest underdog in the tournament yesterday here. Everyone probably thought that he was just a young man wanting to impress his girlfriend here, and they all had already envisioned how this would end.
Only two people didn't have a negative reaction to his opening choice. The first one was, of course, Anna, who seemed to be delighted with this. The King's Gambit really brought back memories of the first few weeks Sheva started learning the game, where this was his go-to opening whenever he played with the white piece.
It seemed that the boy had already learned his lesson about what kind of opening should he use as the main weapon and which one should he use as a surprise one, so it had been quite a long time since Anna saw him playing with this opening, and somehow, the girl was excited to see how good Sheva would be with this opening after his astronomical improvement in the last couple of months.
As for the second person, it was the mysterious man on the other side of the table. Even though Sheva couldn't see the man's eyes, let alone his expression, based on the fact that the man paused for a second before turning his head up to look at Sheva, the boy knew that this opening choice startled the man slightly. This was a good start, as in a blitz game, a surprise element mattered a lot.
'Okay, let's see how he would fight here…'
Much to Sheva's surprise, the man didn't jump for the classic line that everyone who was not familiar with this opening would go for. No, instead of trying to destroy Sheva's whole defense on the kingside, the man chose to develop the middle area first, trying to open up more space for him to develop his piece.
*Author note: If you want to visualize the position better, check the comment below.
It was clear at this point that the man knew the theory line here, and that told Sheva that he should be a professional one with vast experience.
'Well, this is already within my guess, so I shouldn't be this surprised, right?' The boy muttered to himself.
In the next minute, the game went quite fast, with both players moving like lightning. Pieces were flying all across the battlefield, and the tension rose as a couple of exchanges were on the board.
One of Sheva's knights and his light bishop had already gone down in order to take their counterpart on the opponent's side. The board that looked pretty full a moment ago was quite empty right now, with some of the black pawns being isolated from the maneuver that Sheva pulled.
The boy himself was quite satisfied with his own position, knowing that other than the fact that his surviving pawns were all still in their original spot, the position itself was far from the word horrible. Coupled with his minor pieces that were developed in a nice square, he had no reason to complain about the current situation.
In the next move, though, things finally started to explode for real, when Sheva decided to castle on the queenside after thinking for more than five seconds. It was such a bold move, as, usually, in the King's Gambit system, the white piece would rather not castle at all, so that the king could maintain the order on the kingside. It also ensured that the game would enter a wild territory after this, as the opposite side castle situation always led to a race to see which one of them would be able to reach the opponent's king first.
True enough, the first thing the mysterious man did after seeing Sheva castling on that side was to push his A pawn forward. Coupled with the C pawn that was ready to support from behind, those two marched into Sheva's queenside bravely, ready to sacrifice themselves to tear a hole in Sheva's defense.
However, the boy wasn't unfazed by this push. If anything, he had already waited for the mysterious man to do this, as he leaned his body forward with an eager look.
'Now, it is time to start the party…'
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