Sheva wasn't the only one who fought for his life right now. No, close to the table where he was currently playing, the boy could see from the corner of his eyes that Medina was also thinking hard about her own situation, and even though he couldn't see it by himself, the boy could guess that she was probably in a tough situation.

Indeed, Medina didn't really have a great time here. Honestly, her job should be pretty easy here, trying to get a draw against Victor Erdos, the Hungarian veteran GM who didn't play that well in the last couple of rounds. It shouldn't be that hard, especially since the man went for the exchange variation of the Caro-Kann defense. That was probably one of the most boring opening lines in the world, which more often than not was associated with a draw result.

Everything seemed to be great, yet somehow, Medina felt like Victor Erdos's position started to get better, especially since the man managed to push his queenside pawns forward and threaten to make a breakthrough from that side. Once they started to exchange more pieces, the woman knew that her position would crumble instantly, so she needed to maintain the tension on that side while also putting more pressure on the other side so that Victor Erdos's attention was not on that side completely.

Of course, it was easier to be said than done.

Even though the exchange variation of the Caro-Kann defense often led to quick piece exchanges all over the board, it was also still complicated enough that once the white piece held back and avoided the exchange, the game entered a complicated situation that could lead the game to a wild ride. While it was still an equal game, the risk was greater here, and Medina somehow got frustrated because of that.

'Why is it that most of the time when I want to draw, my opponent would play like this?!' She scowled inwardly. If not for the hijab covering her head, the woman would've yanked her hair in frustration at this point. 'No, I cannot do this! Goddamnit!'

The computer engine itself showed +0.8, telling everyone that even though the position looked equal, Victor Erdos still had a slight advantage in this situation. All of the white pieces were out in the middle of the board, ready to snipe at Medina's defense whenever she made a mistake. Not only that, the man was also ready to make a breakthrough from the middle, having a chance to mess with Medina's pawn structures. Everything went so great for him that Medina even had to push back her bishop to the original square so that it could contribute more in defense.

In the end, Medina was desperate for a counterplay that she tried to force an exchange to happen, just to make herself look stupid. She opened up her king's defense, doubling her pawn structure on the G file that would only become a target in the future.

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

'How could my position be this bad out of nowhere?' Medina thought inwardly, rubbing her forehead unconsciously. This was always the problem playing in a positional battle, always hard to notice how the position got much worse before it was too late. 'No, I cannot initiate the bishop exchange on that side. It would only help him bring his queen to the game. I need to keep the tension on that side first. Stil… How?'

The plan was valid, except that Medina herself didn't know how to run it. The woman spent about fifteen minutes thinking, just for her to make a mistake instantly by moving back her knight to give her own dark bishop another layer of protection. It was a decent thought, but the move itself also removed the protection on her queen, and once Victor Erdos moved his knight to threaten something, the discovered attack would force Medina to choose either to sacrifice her queen or to let that knight do everything it wanted in her own territory.

Both options were pretty terrible, and that was why the computer engine moved slightly upward to give the white piece more advantage, +2.4.

Fortunately, Victor Erdos failed to capitalize on that advantage, and instead of suffocating Medina more, he gave the woman another room to breathe. Even though it was at the cost of the white's center pawn running amok, at least Medina felt like she could move a little bit better, not just in a cramped space where all the moves that could be made were just one or two squares away from the original position.

Hell, Victor Erdos was also kind enough to let her terrible knight on the edge of the board to get out of that embarrassing position by forcing an exchange to happen on that side, which brought down the evaluation bar back to +0.6. Even though the Hungarian GM was still on the advantage, at least, the possibility of drawing this game was bigger this time, and Medina was in for it.

'Come on… Just please, let me get my first ever GM norm…' The woman prayed silently, still trying to make herself look tough. 'Just for this one… Please, God, please help me…'

It seemed that God really answered her prayer at this moment. The game succumbed to chaos, with the evaluation bar moving up and down quickly, as if it were hyperventilating over the terrible game on the board. If anyone could see the accuracy of the game, they would've been appalled by how low the percentage was, probably thinking that it was a game between a bunch of amateurs.

As the dust had settled and more than half of the pieces on the board were clearer, Medina felt like the game had finally gone in the direction she wanted. Her eyes lit up, and she even had a hard time trying to contain her excitement.

'Okay, I cannot mess this up…' She took a deep breath, trying to calm down her nerves.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite work, as in such a nerve-wrecking moment, Medina suddenly made a huge blunder, and the evaluation bar went straight to the sky, giving +3.8 advantage for the white piece.

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