Compared to any other big countries like India or China, Azerbaijan seemed to be quite left behind in terms of chess development. However, that was the opinion of those people who didn't really follow the news here. In fact, the country had already produced two very strong super GMs in Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Teimur Radjabov.

Those two players had already been in the highest level of chess for so many years, and while they had already passed their prime ages, the two of them could still compete against the youngsters and rising stars in the chess world quite fiercely.

Not only those two, but the regeneration of chess players in that country seemed to work quite well. Inheriting their mantles, Nijat Abasov skyrocketed in the last couple of years, even crossing the ELO rating of 2650 quite easily. Even though the man was still far from being a super GM, at least he was already half a step forward here, and the only thing he needed the most to cross the line was the last push to let him enter that elite world.

Then, besides him, came the youngsters that Sheva was pretty familiar with.

Yeah, even though he didn't have that much contact with any Azerbaijan GM, this was definitely not the first time Sheva was in the same room with someone from that country. A few months ago, during the Jakarta International Chess Festival, he also played in the same building as Suleymanli Aydin, a super youngster who won several world junior chess championships in the past and also the one who won the entire GM section in that Jakarta tournament a while ago. However, at that time, Sheva was still playing in the amateur section, so they didn't really cross paths there.

This time, though, it would be a different case.

His opponent was going to be Muradli Muhammad, another talented youngster from that country with an ELO rating of 2526. Even though resume-wise, Muradli was way far behind Suleymanli Aydin, but at least, in the head-to-head between those two, Muradli seemed to win more games, even to the point of beating Aydin in the final of the Azerbaijan National Chess a few years ago. It showed that this man was not someone that Sheva could look down on.

Still, Sheva knew about that even before he researched his opponent's information. After all, he always had one principle, and that was to not underestimate his opponent, no matter how weak they were.

Even though it was unlikely, Sheva still believed that since he could 'miraculously' get a system inside his head, there was a very slim possibility that another person could also get one, and even a 'washed' player could rise once again the moment they got the benefit from the system. That was why it was better to treat everything carefully rather than getting caught off guard by the possibility of the second system descending on Earth.

However, the research that Sheva had done last night also brought him confidence in this game. The boy knew that Muradli Muhammad would go for the variant of the 1.d4 openings, and the man would also go for a form of Indian game, such as the Nimzo, the Queen's Indian Defense, or even the Catalan. It was quite rare for him to use any other opening, and even though sometimes, he would also go for the English, the man would always find a way to transpose the position back to the Queen's Gambit Decline opening.

Of course, knowing this didn't mean that Sheva could win the game easily. Hell, it was quite difficult to come up with a decent plan that could be realized on the board, especially when he only had one night to think about that. However, the boy was still confident, knowing that by mastering the opponent's information, he had already won half of the battle here.

'Now, the rest of it will depend on my own performance on the board.' He clenched his fist unconsciously. 'I cannot disappoint them all here! Come on, I can do this!'

Right after that, the alarm rang, indicating that the game had finally begun. Playing with white, Muradli Muhammad didn't hesitate to push his C pawn two squares forward, initiating the English opening.

Normally, after knowing that the man liked to go for the 1.d4 opening, there was no way that Sheva would let the game get transposed into that one so easily. However, he himself was also not really confident with his English Opening preparation, and the boy knew that Muradli would've already prepared if someone tried to be a smartass and forced him to go for the full English Opening.

So, instead of going to an unknown territory where he himself was also pretty much foreign there, it was better to walk into the bait straightaway, especially since he himself came prepared this time. Sheva bit the bait, transposing the opening straight into the Queen's Gambit decline within five moves. It was risky, challenging his opponent directly like this. However, Sheva was confident that he could somehow make everything work perfectly here.

'Now, come on! Let me see how you will respond to this!'

Muradli Muhammad also took his time to think here. Even though it was just the opening stage, the man didn't want to rush his way carelessly just to be punished in the later stage. Yes, since this was a championship game, Muradli also took his time to research anything about Sheva, and one conclusion that he got here was that the boy liked to play fast, even if it meant he would sacrifice his own accuracy for it.

That was such a decent strategy, and if anyone didn't know better, they would be intimidated by his playing style pretty quickly. However, since Muradli knew about this secret, there was no way he would fall into panic. Hell, if anything, the quicker Sheva made his move, the more time Muradli would waste thinking of any mistake that could possibly happen on the board.

Both players were too engrossed with the game in front of them that they themselves didn't really notice that some people had already come and visited their games, even though they hadn't revealed anything yet, and one of them was the Indian super youngster who was fighting in the GM section of the tournament.

The boy stared intently at the board there, and after a quick glance at Sheva, he walked away while also muttering, 'He has already improved that fast? If no one is stopping him, he should be a GM within a year, right?! That is crazy!'

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