"Oh! Oh! Oh! What do we have here?!" Bagas started to shake Sheva's body quite violently, somehow feeling excited when he saw the evaluation bar finally moving up toward Anna's favor. "Bu Xiangzhi makes a mistake! He finally makes an inaccurate move!" He exclaimed in ecstasy.
Froggies: Let's fucking go, Anna!
Ken60: Hell, yeah! That's what we are waiting for!
Tenz23: Don't be too happy yet. Remember, yesterday's game went the same way, you know?
Froggies: Oh, shut up, will you?!
Just like the usual, the chat room went crazy with this one. Everyone started shouting Anna's name, somehow feeling hope that something big could happen here. However, there was one person who didn't share the excitement, and that was probably the expert in the room.
"This is difficult…" Sheva murmured with a big frown on his face.
"Um?" Bagas blinked, noticing his best friend's state right now. "Is there anything wrong with this position? I mean, is there any trap that Bu Xiangzhi is preparing against Anna?" Now, he was also concerned, remembering how Claudia slipped in the last second due to the pressure of so many ambiguous moves that the Chinese GM pulled in the last few minutes of the game.
"It is not like there is any trap here, but if you look at the position carefully, you won't notice where the advantage lies," Sheva explained. "I mean, look at the current board. Even I am still trying to find what is going on here, and if I didn't see the evaluation bar, I wouldn't think that I have an advantage in this position. Not that saying that Anna couldn't do what I couldn't, but I am just saying that the situation is still hard to live in."
Indeed, this was also what happened at the venue. Anna frowned for a second, for a moment thinking that everything was still equal for both players. However, after spending three minutes staring at the frozen pieces that sat still on the board, she blinked her eyes, andan inspiration suddenly struck in.
'Wait…' She frowned. 'I swear, there is something going on here…'
This was not from the calculation skill she had, but an intuition the girl honed since she became a chess player. She knew that she had something on her hand, and yet, everything was so subtle that it was so hard to find.
"The advantage, honestly, lies in her pieces' active position." Sheva finally spoke again, starting to calculate the position on the board. "With him moving his bishop, Bu Xiangzhi basically wants to lock Anna's king down the first rank. However, Anna could launch a counterattack here, starting with moving her knight to threaten the rook on the second rank. After that, she could go with a check, bring back the bishop with another check, and all of her pieces are strong and active."
"Oh, I get it!" Bagas also nodded in excitement, happy that he could see the complicated calculation. "Meanwhile, Bu Xiangzhi's position looks so dead, right? His knight cannot move, no matter what, and his rook has to stay on that B file all the time to protect the knight! His bishop looks dangerous for a moment, but it doesn't do anything on that E2 square! Now, Anna has a strong positional advantage that is worth a point of material!"
Sheva didn't really respond to that, though. He was still so afraid that Anna couldn't find it since the position really looked equal. However, it seemed that his worry was not needed here, because after pondering for a while, the girl started to make a move, and in the next few turns, everything went exactly the same as Sheva said earlier.
"Oh! Anna finds it! She finds the correct approach!" Bagas gasped, covering his mouth dramatically. "Now, the initiative is in her hands! I cannot wait to see what kind of attack she could pull in this situation, but Bu Xiangzhi will also not let her do anything she wants so easily! Now, after a passive positional battle, we are going to have a big confrontation!"
Anna also clenched her fist, somehow feeling nervous right now. Her palm was sweating, and her legs couldn't stop shaking under the table. Fortunately, it was quite spacious under the table, so she couldn't really bother her opponent here, or a complaint could be made that would be a detriment to the game right now.
Still, even though she was nervous, the grin on her face showed that the girl was also very excited right now.
'I still don't know where the advantage is, but I swear to God that this should be the correct move. I get this…'
To everyone's credit, though, Bu Xiangzhi didn't really react to this. It was either him not knowing that he was at a disadvantage, or the man was just such a stone-cold person who couldn't be bothered by anything in the world. Unfortunately, the first scenario was the most probable one here.
However, everything still went quite well for Anna. She managed to build up a strong attack to the point that she isolated Bu Xiangzhi's king from the other black pieces. It was blocked from the sixth rank by his three own pawns ranging from the F6 to H6, and with Anna controlling the seventh rank with the rook, the black king could only move on the eighth rank, having to wait for his own death.
Not only that, his bishop was so dead right on the edge of the board, not being able to move, let alone get involved in the game anymore. For a moment, it was Anna who held the game strongly, and the computer even showed +3.5 for her advantage.
"Yes, she can do this!" This time, Sheva even joined his best friend, shouting in excitement. "At this point, everything shouldn't be that hard for her! The best move is quite easy to find; she just needs to be patient!"
Unfortunately, just like any other low-level player, when having a strong advantage against a better opponent, Anna's emotions took over her for a second. It wasn't that long, but in that short period, she made a grave mistake, one that made Sheva cry in shock and sorrow.
"NO! DON'T GO TO THAT SQUARE!"
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