"Oh! What do we have here? A Benko Gambit?!" Bagas shouted, watching Sheva's surprising opening choice on the board. "Now, we sure will have an exciting game here! Just stay tuned, because Sheva will bring us to the wildest adventure in the next three hours!" He announced as if it were a sure thing.

If in the past, Irfan would always criticize Sheva's maverick choice in his opening game for being too risky and unreliable, things were quite different now. If anything, everyone was so excited when Sheva pulled this kind of shit on the board, knowing that there was a huge chance that Sheva would be able to win this game. None of them criticized the opening choice anymore, since everyone knew that the boy had the strength to back it up.

"I am more surprised by the fact that you know the Benko Gambit, though." Taher, who was here to accompany him, together with Laysa and Sarah, commented calmly. "This is not the kind of opening that beginners would learn. Not only was it quite risky, but the activation phase is quite troublesome. The white piece has to go with the Indian Defense, and they also have to refuse the pawn offer for the Benoni Defense to initiate the gambit. It is so difficult that the gambit is probably one of the least popular openings in the world, even in the past."

Sarah and Laysa also turned around to Bagas, curious about the answer. The boy himself just shrugged, acting nonchalantly as if it was nothing big. "You might not remember this, but two weeks ago, Anna pulled the same opening against Eduardo Iturizzaga, the strong Spanish GM, and she won the game. It is a pretty memorable game, so of course, I still remember it."

Laysa nodded slightly, figuring out which game Bagas mentioned here. The girl also remembered that game vividly, and she was so impressed with how her rival managed to catch a strong GM off guard and beat him like that.

"Anyway, back to the game!" Finally, it was Sarah who forced the topic to go back to the original direction. "With this opening, Sheva basically gives up a pawn and his whole queenside for an early development on that side. However, the computer doesn't really like this, as it gives him +0.8 as the current evaluation. What do you think, Master Taher?"

Taher pondered for a moment, thinking about what to say here. In the end, he explained, "I don't think that we have to worry here, as this is indeed the risk that Sheva is willing to take. Also, from the computer's perspective, almost all the gambits in the world will put the opponent at an early advantage, so this is not something new for the players."

"Also, the advantage of this kind of opening lies in how it affects the opponent's mind," Laysa added. "You can see by Maksims's time management that he is not familiar with this system. Now, he has to think of every move carefully, while Sheva, who knows full well about this opening, will be able to blitz his way through the opening stage quite easily. The time pressure that he put on will be huge later, and it is not something that the computer could really evaluate."

Indeed, that was exactly the case on the board right now. Even though the computer evaluated that Maksims Golubovskis's advantage is so close to a whole 1 point, the time that the Latvian man burned was too much. It had only been the seventh move of the game, yet he had already spent more than 30 out of his 90 minutes. This would definitely bite him in the ass later, but that was only if Sheva didn't make a move beforehand.

Now with his queenside pretty much open, Sheva started to gather all of his pieces on that flank. Both of his rooks were ready on the A and B files, while the queen and the light bishop also supported the diagonal that stared directly at the white king. Everything was coordinated so perfectly that even with one pawn down, Sheva still felt like they were in an equal game here.

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

'Yes, now, everything should be under control here.' Sheva let out a deep sigh, somehow feeling relieved that everything went according to his plan. Looking at the stressed Maksims Golubovskis, a small smirk formed on his face as he enjoyed this feeling. 'Maybe, I have a little bit of sadistic tendency in my heart.'

While he was focusing on the board, though, Sheva didn't notice that someone was approaching his board, looking at his game with a surprised face. The man was Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu himself, the Indian young prodigy and the friend that Sheva made during his Reykjavik time.While they only communicated via social media, those two still followed each other's journey, and Pragg was so impressed when he heard the news that Sheva won the Biel Open.

Now, he was here to witness it with his own eyes how far Sheva had already improved, and the boy was not disappointed at all.

'I know that he is quite fond of this kind of an opening, but Benoni Defense? Benko Gambit? Seriously?' He raised one of his eyebrows incredulously. 'Isn't it a little bit too much here?'

Of course, Pragg couldn't stay for too long. The boy also had his own game, and after seeing Maksims pondering for a long time, he decided to peek at the scoresheet, wanting to know how the game had developed to this point. The Indian prodigy pondered for a second, trying to evaluate the situation by himself.

'Hmm… The game is still pretty equal here, but the disadvantage brought by the gambit has already gone. I say, this is the W for the black piece. Not bad…' He gave Sheva a nod of approval. 'Also, his time management skills are far better now. He doesn't waste too much time in an obvious move, getting more decisive and confident with his move…'

Pragg could still remember the time when they played against each other in Reykjavik, and while at that moment, he could see the potential in Sheva's game, the boy couldn't imagine that Sheva would be able to improve so fast like this. He himself was a prodigy, the youngest Indian player who earned the GM title in history, yet Pragg felt like the leap that Sheva made was a little bit too much.

Somehow, this made him feel excited, though, as the boy couldn't wait to play against Sheva again in the future. 'Come on, Shev… Climb higher, so that you can challenge me on equal ground… I will wait for you on the top, so don't disappoint me!'

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