"Let's have a good game…" Sheva shook hands with Wojciech Moranda as the game was about to begin.

Unlike the other Polish players on the table, Wojciech Moranda seemed to be the friendliest one here. He had a pleasant smile that gave an impression of warmth and approachability while still looking professional in the dark blazer that he wore. The square glasses and terrible haircut also made it seem that the man was just a nerd, and if Sheva couldn't see the man's stats, the boy was afraid that he would underestimate him here.

[Name: Wojciech Moranda]

Attacking 84

Defense 86

Calculation 86

Strategy 82

Intuition 84

Time management 83

Unlike David Gasrilescu, whom Sheva faced in the last round, Wojciech Miranda's stats were more balanced around 85, showing that his true ability was around a 2600-rated GM. Well, not that it told anything new here, since the man's rating was around that point. Still, it was probably the first time Sheva saw someone with the ELO rating that could reflect his ability accurately.

Of course, the boy also didn't forget to check about the other players as well, and the first one that he was curious about the most was the Polish genius, Jan-Krzysztof Duda. He wanted to know how big the difference was between the man and the other 2700-rated players whom Sheva had already met, like Yu Yangyi or Kirill Alekseenko. However, the result here really made the boy flabbergasted, freezing stupidly on the spot.

[DING! The scan is successful!]

[Name: Jan-Krzysztof Duda]

Attacking 96

Defense 94

Calculation 95

Strategy 93

Intuition 95

Time management 97

'Holy fucking shit…' The boy murmured in astonishment, even wiping his own eyes to make sure that they were not deceiving him. 'What the fucking hell is this? Is he a human or what?! His average stats should be around 95, right? Also, what the hell is that 97 for time management?! This is beyond ridiculous!'

His surprise was not only because of Duda's rating, but also because the boy knew that Duda was still far from being the best player in the world. There were still about 14 players whose rating was ahead of his, so that meant there would be more players with those outrageous stats outside there!

'Man, I cannot wait to have a chance meeting with Magnus Carlsen or any other top players in this tournament! I wonder, how would their stats be compared to Duda?'

Well, that was, of course, a different story for the future. For now, he had to focus on the game in front of him, as Moranda had already made his first move. The man started the game with the ordinary queen's pawn opening, pushing his D pawn two squares forward. Not wanting to think too much here, Sheva just mirrored the move, inviting the man to go for the Queen's Gambit. Right now, the boy didn't want to overcomplicate things with what kind of Indian Opening that Moranda would use, so he forced the man to go for the basic.

Just in a minute, the board changed immediately to the normal setup of the Queen's Gambit Decline, with both players keeping the tension on the center and not wanting to break it too quickly.

However, Sheva had to think about it carefully, as just in the fourth move of the game, Moranda made a different move than what the theory suggested. Instead of pushing his E pawn forward and letting his light bishop protect the C pawn, which should be the essence of the normal Queen's Gambit, the man pushed his G pawn one square forward, ready to fianchetto his light bishop to the G2 square.

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

The man basically gave up the C pawn, letting Sheva break the tension in the center by taking that pawn while also tearing Sheva's center pawn structure. Now, the boy had to choose here. It was either him taking the bait and breaking his own structure or just keeping the tension there and waiting until Moranda revealed his plan here.

'I don't really have to take that pawn, right?' Sheva contemplated, having his index finger on his chin. 'Losing my D pawn this early would be bad, as he could control the center better after that. I should've just developed my pieces quietly first, starting with my other knight, until everything is out and ready to attack. I don't need to rush things up, I just have to wait patiently… Oh, screw it!'

It took about seven minutes for Sheva to make a move, and in the end, he decided to take the bait and kill that pawn. Even though his mind told him that he shouldn't do that, somehow, the boy trusted his intuition more in this situation, having a hunch that this was going to help him in the near future.

It was not like those two were bad choices, though. Taking the pawn or not, both moves were still considered inside the scope of theory by the engine, so none of them really mattered. Sheva was just taken aback by the move that he had never seen before, showing that even though he had already achieved a lot of things, the boy was still pretty green in this sport.

As Sheva took that pawn, though, what he feared before actually happened. After kicking out the boy's dark bishop, Moranda took over the center immediately, controlling it with his two strong center pawns. However, Sheva also didn't want to stay passive for too long. No, he struck back immediately, supporting the lone C pawn that took Moranda's pawn earlier with his A and B pawns, forming a strong chain that would become a menace in the long run.

He was also getting ready for Moranda to make a pawn break on the center, starting to put pressure on his knight on the F6 square. Eventually, the move was finally on the board, pushing the knight back to the eighth rank. Now, Sheva's position was weirdly uncomfortable, with almost all of his pieces getting pushed to his own territory. Even the two pawn advantage seemed to be useless in such a position, and right now, Sheva started to think hard about how the game should go.

'Okay… This is not good…'

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