"Hello, Guys! Good afternoon to everyone in Indonesia, and welcome back to the Black Rook Channel, where we are broadcasting the 44th FIDE Olympiad live from Chennai, India! This is the biggest event in the chess world this year, and we are going to witness how our athletes are fighting for Indonesia today! I am Bagas, your host, and with me today are the International Master Aulia Medina Warda and the talented superstar Arfan Aditya Bagus! Good morning, you two, how are you today?"

The two commentators who were invited today could only twitch the corner of their mouths unconsciously, feeling a little bit overwhelmed by Bagas's opening statement. While they were pretty familiar with this channel already, this was probably the first time those two were going to be the commentators here, and looking at how Bagas controlled everything from a close distance was very impressive.

"I am good! Thank you for the greeting, Bagas." Arfan replied quickly, not wanting to make things awkward for the host.

"Yeah, me too." Medina nodded, putting on her usual flat expression that could intimidate even the best player in the world.

Froggies: Damn! Master Medina is not playing?!

MaewaO: Are we sure that it is wise to let Claudia play at this stage?

GoroGoro: Yeah! I mean, she is a… What? 12-year-old?

Hilda99: Well, the team there knows better about the situation, so maybe they have a valid reason to do that.

Seeing the barrage of chats questioning why Medina was not playing, Bagas decided not to let any wild guesses spread too far, so he asked the woman involved in this matter immediately. "It seems that people are interested in why you are here, not on the board. Can you tell us the reason, Master Medina?"

"Well, it is simple." The woman coughed a little, putting the microphone closer to her mouth. "It is not a secret that Anna and I just finished a tournament about a week ago. So, to avoid getting burned out, we will take turns to have a day off. Today will be me, and tomorrow it will be her. The same could be said for Sheva in the open section, and if not for his great momentum, it would be Arfan who is on the board right now. But I can assure you that he will get the rest he deserves, just like what I get today."

Jeagaeeer: So, that's it…

JohnTitor99: I thought there would be a hidden conspiracy or something…

Hilda99: *O* Please, don't think too much, okay?

Froggies: Still, it is good that they consider taking a break. Burnout is never a pleasant experience, especially when you are still a teenager.

Seeing the topic was under control, Bagas couldn't help but nod, feeling satisfied. "So, Arfan, which game do you like to watch the most here?" He changed the topic, trying to involve the boy next to him in the conversation.

"Hmm… It is difficult to say one, because I have already set my eyes on a few of them." Arfan pondered. "Sheva's game is definitely the most exciting one, since everyone will want to see whether he can continue his great streak or not. However, Master Susanto's game against Duda cannot be ignored here. It would be an educational experience to see how one of the best players in the world goes against our best one. Also, there are still the Marisa Siblings on the women's side, which I am quite interested in, and Laysa has been doing well since the tournament began. If you ask me which one is the most exciting, I believe that I cannot pick one here."

Bagas nodded slightly, understanding the difficulty of his question. All the games there had their unique narrative, so it just depends on a person's preference to determine which one was their favorite.

"Well, let's see the general situation on all boards first." Bagas operated his laptop, and suddenly, the screen showed all eight games that the Indonesian players were currently fighting. "Well, it is still pretty early in the game, so we cannot make any conclusion right now. However, we can see that some actions are brewing on the board, slowly leading to a big explosion. There, Sheva is getting pushed on the back, while Laysa is trying to create an opportunity on the board. Oh! What is this?!"

The camera suddenly panned on Claudia as the girl was concentrating on her game. Not only that, on the screen, Bagas also put the computer board so that everyone could evaluate the position together with the engine, and right now, the evaluation bar spiked up slightly to the girl's favor.

"Claudia is getting an early lead on her game!" Bagas exclaimed excitedly. "What is going on here?! Her opponent makes the first mistake of the game!"

Indeed, on board 4 of the women's game, the French WIM Andreea Navrotescu committed the first mistake. Playing as the black piece with the Sicilian Defense, it seemed that the woman didn't want to exchange her knight on the F6 square, still wanting to get her kingside intact. In the end, she offered an exchange with Claudia's knight on the C3, which was a big mistake since it would lead her into getting a double-pawn in the D file, a crucial center where they would have to fight for later.

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

Of course, Claudia didn't have any problem accepting that offer. If anything, she even had to make sure that this really happened, as it was quite rare for a mistake to happen pretty early in a game like this. She took the knight offered on the D5 square, and once her opponent took it back, the girl also let her other knight that was on the B5 square jump back to her territory, which made her have another knight on the C6 square.

Well, that particular knight was chased quite intently by Andreea, and Claudia had to maneuver it in such a clever way to avoid all the threats aimed at it. However, once everything was settled and the attack was finally over, the girl felt like her advantage was quite big, and she couldn't help but clench her fist tightly while also staring at her opponent straight in her eyes.

'Come on! Let me show you my determination here!'

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