It was the last day of the tournament, and with the title on her bag, Anna should be taking it easy, enjoying the day with a smile on her face. However, it was clear that the opposite happened here. The moment she and her sister left their room, everyone could see their eyes bloodshot red as if they hadn't slept well last night.
"Urgh… Did you pull an all-nighter?" Laysa asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, I have some ideas that I wanted to confirm, so I roped Sheva and Claudia to stay up late last night." The girl yawned big in a very unladylike manner. "How about you, Ia? Are you okay going with a lack of sleep like this?" She asked her sister in a tone full of concern.
"Don't worry, Big Sis. This is basically nothing for me!" Claudia sent a big thumbs-up, in contrast to the deep eye bag on her face.
The rest of the group just looked at each other concernedly before Dita Karenza, the oldest one among them all, stepped forward to check on Anna's condition. "Hmm… Mild dark circles and droopy eyelids, but the temperature and pulse are normal. Other than exhaustion, everything should be okay. Do you feel any discomfort right now?" She asked.
"No, Sister Dita. I swear, a cup of coffee is enough." Anna grinned, showing off her series of white teeth. "I mean, I have just finished my university entrance exam, where I had to pull so many all-nighters in the past. So, this is nothing at all, I promise."
Dita didn't listen to her, just checking the girl once again before finally nodding. However, she was not finished, but went straight to Claudia, who also did the same last night. Only when she found out that they were doing okay did she finally let out a relieved sigh.
"Just normal fatigue, nothing that a good sleep cannot solve." The woman spoke. Then, her gaze turned stern as she added, "I don't care what kind of celebration party we have after today is over, but once we are done with the game, you both will go back first to catch up some sleep!"
The two girls nodded furiously, not daring to say otherwise. It was as if they were facing their mother right now; one wrong word and they had to say goodbye to their freedom for the entire week.
"Sister Dita, you are so cool!" Devi had her eyes shining as she witnessed the woman doing her basic diagnosis. "I don't know that you can do that!"
"I have been volunteering in the health center close to my home for a while, so this is just a normal operation." Dita Karenza smiled while also wiping the sweat on her forehead. "If you want, I can give you a pointer. Who knows, maybe you can get a volunteer job close to your home as well?"
"Um! Um!" The girl nodded rapidly like a woodpecker, couldn't contain her excitement here.
"Where is Sheva, anyway?" Laysa suddenly asked a question, turning the attention to the boy who hadn't arrived yet. "It is rare for him to come late, right?" While Sheva was not the ultimate paragon of time discipline, the boy indeed always came on time, never leaving anyone waiting for him.
"He is still asleep right now." Suddenly, a familiar boy's voice mixed with a yawn popped from behind, getting everyone to turn around immediately. There, they saw Bagas, still with his sleepy eyes, having a bag of potato chips in his hand. "Even after coming back from Anna's room, he didn't go to sleep immediately, checking something before doing more research. Oh, Nayaka, check your chat, he should've sent it to you already."
"Me?" Nayaka, who hadn't spoken anything yet, was taken aback when his name was mentioned.
"Yeah, after doing some calculations, he found out that you need a draw against your last opponent to secure your first-ever FM norm. Not as good as Anna's title, but this is going to be important for you." Bagas shrugged.
"Oh…" Nayaka nodded confusedly, opening his phone while still processing what Bagas said. Once it clicked, though, he snapped his head to the older boy immediately. "Say, WHAT?!" His eyes widened in shock, wanting to confirm that he didn't mishear anything here.
In fact, it wasn't just him who was surprised, but the others as well. Duta and Devi were the ones who reacted the most, with their jaws dropped in bewilderment. The news really came out of nowhere, enough to shock them to the core.
"Brother Bagas, are you sure that it is true?" Devi shook the boy's body violently. "You might think it is funny, but this is not a fucking joke for us, okay?" The others also stared at the boy silently, waiting for him to confirm this matter.
"Who do you think I am, some sort of a jerk?" Bagas sighed helplessly. "Indeed, I also did my calculation, and I can confirm that you are one draw away from the norm. It is just a pity, though, since you need an opponent with an ELO rating of above 2450 to round your performance to around 2400, and that would mean you can get an IM norm immediately. Still, an opponent with a rating of 2374 is still quite difficult to handle, and that's why he spent the whole night doing research for you."
Nayaka himself only heard the first sentence before everything went blurry in his ears. His hand was trembling when he read the content of Sheva's message on his phone. Curious, Devi and Duta peeked around, just to be dumbfounded when they found out what was inside the message.
Deuer Maus – FM – Germany.
Style: Offensive, likes to do a quick exchange to clear the flank in the beginning. Always wanting to go for a complicated middle game in the center. Likes to play with the fianchetto bishop on the B file.
Weakness: Sloppy endgame technique, especially if you have a knight on your board. He is afraid of the knight's wild nature, wanting to exchange it as quickly as possible. Try to maintain those two on your board until the end. Also, do try to get into an imbalanced position too quickly. He is not good at an asymmetrical game.
Habit: …
Opening favorite: ….
Recommendation: …
There was still quite a lot in the message, as all the intelligence about his next opponent was there. Devi, who was next to him, was also gobsmacked here and couldn't help but whisper, "Lord have mercy… Brother Sheva really hands you a big gun to ensure you get this game in your bag, huh?"
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