"I cannot believe this…" On the other side of the world, Irfan, who was invited as the commentator guest in the live broadcast, shook his head in utter shock at the sight of what happened on the board right now. "A super grandmaster, a 2700-rated player, falls onto the cheap provocation that Sheva throws… Is this a dream or what?"

"Um… Master Irfan…" Bagas smiled stiffly as he heard what the man said. "Can you please explain what kind of provocation you are talking about? Also, why is it that the evaluation bar suddenly moves up slightly for Sheva's favor? Is there anything wrong with Kirill Alekseenko's move before?"

It was a valid question, as indeed, the evaluation bar suddenly spiked up slightly, with the number +1.3 displayed to show that Sheva gained an advantage out of nowhere. Even though Bagas was ecstatic to see his best friend thriving, his job as the host forced him to stay calm, and in this complex situation where the mistake sometimes lay in the move order, only those experienced enough like Irfan could understand what was going on here, so Bagas just gave up explaining by himself and waited for the man to recover soon.

"Ah, sorry, I got distracted here." Irfan shook his head quickly; the question from Bagas pulled him out of his silent reverie. "Anyway, sorry, what did you ask before?" He asked once again, clearly showing that he didn't pay attention before.

"I am asking…" Bagas let out another deep sigh, looking at the man on the screen with a helpless expression. "Can you explain what is going on here? What is wrong with Kirill Alekseenko's move that it is considered an inaccuracy?"

Honestly, this was probably the thing that annoyed Bagas the most here. Oh, don't get him wrong, Irfan was an incredible partner to host a game like this. The man was quick-witted, knowledgeable, and knew how to interact with the viewers. However, the man also had the tendency to doze off and get immersed in the game completely, ignoring his own task as the commentator to explain what was going on to the audience.

"Oh… How should I explain this…" The man pondered for a moment. "Well, let's just say that one of the essences of the Petrov Defense is to create a strong and stable position for the black side and avoid any tactical battle that could occur in the middle of the game. Sheva knows that, so he tries to bait Kirill Alekseenko into opening up his position, and somehow, the man takes the bait without even taking a second to think. Now, you can see that his king is pretty weak, and the light square toward it is open, allowing Sheva to snipe it with his queen. That's why the computer engine thinks that Sheva is better."

*Author note: If you want to visualize the position better, check the comment below.

Bagas nodded repeatedly, slowly digesting Irfan's words while also staring at the board intently. Even though he was an amateur in the game, that didn't mean the boy was stupid. More often than not, he only needed guidance like this, and he could think the rest of it with his brain.

"So, how do you think Sheva is going to capitalize on the advantage?" The boy inquired once again.

"Well, it is simple." Irfan leaned forward, using the mouse in his hand to operate the chessboard on the screen. "Just bring the dark bishop to threaten his queen. It doesn't matter whether Kirill Alekseenko would bring his queen back or push his pawn to cover up that diagonal; nevertheless, Sheva's advantage would only grow more as the man's king is going to be vulnerable."

On the board, Sheva did exactly what Irfan said. The boy improved his position slowly, and he even got his rooks to form a battery on the E file, ready to weaken the black's defense more. Of course, the process wasn't that smooth. He also made a couple of mistakes that made the evaluation bar move a little bit, yet every move that Kirill Alekseenko made to return the favor somehow only made the evaluation bar jump to Sheva's side once again.

Honestly, if anyone saw the evaluation bar, they would all think that this was a game between two low-rated players in this tournament. After all, the inaccurate moves happened quite a lot in this game, not something that they would expect from someone with a rating of around 2700.

However, they couldn't be blamed for this situation. It wasn't easy to navigate their current position right now, and the suggestion that the computer gave for both players was beyond ridiculous. Also, the computer engine liked to make a false alarm like this. One time, it thought that a player made a mistake, but once the opponent returned it, the evaluation bar went back to normal as if nothing had happened on the board. That was why the presence of an expert was needed to help evaluate the computer engine, as no one could rely on the machine to the fullest.

Still, the advantage that Sheva gained in this current position was far from a fake one. The boy managed to exchange one of the rooks on the board, and right after that, consolidated the rest of his pieces on the kingside of the board to defend the position well and attack once an opportunity came out. Compared to Kirill Alekseenko's position, which was more scattered, Sheva was confident that the momentum was completely on his side.

'Now, let's just capitalize it slowly and not get impatient…' He murmured to himself.

Unfortunately, that wasn't really the easiest thing to do here. Even though his position was worse, Kirill Alekseenko really showed his resilience in defending position, proving to Sheva that the man was not a super grandmaster for nothing. Hell, there was even a moment when the advantage that he had was gone away and the game was back to an equal one. Fortunately, the man didn't really notice that, continuing the fight while also letting the chance to equalize it all slip away from his finger.

Still, it somehow left Sheva with a frustrated feeling, as the boy couldn't help but curse, 'What the fuck is going on here?! Whoever says that his weakness is in his defense knows nothing about chess!'

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