Back to Sheva's game, currently, the boy was in such a complicated mood. At first glance, his position looked far worse than his opponent's. The boy had a rook, a queen, a knight, and a light bishop cramping on the eighth row, trying their best to defend against the opponent's attack. Not only that, the other two pieces that weren't on that row, his second rook and dark bishop, were on the seventh row, getting frozen on the spot without being able to move freely.

At first, Sheva thought that his position was so much worse that he had to find a way to get out of this embarrassing state and made a counter to equal the game again. However, after wasting about twenty minutes of his time, the boy had his eyes widen, realizing that things were not as simple as he initially thought.

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

'Wait… I don't have to worry about his attack! It looks good, but his pieces are disconnected from each other! It is just a shallow attack! I should be able to get out of this shit!' He thought inwardly, his brain spinning so fast, thinking of all the possibilities that could happen on the board.

'His most dangerous pieces are the knight on the F7 square and the queen that still has the flexibility to roam all over the board. I need to be careful about a knight sacrifice to open up my king's defense. However, take, take, move there, check, take, take… Yeah, I should be okay with this situation! Hell, if anything, I should've won! Once his attack is done, all my pieces have so much room to move that they would threaten his position immediately! I got this!'

After getting pushed back for most part of the game, Sheva finally saw a glimmer of hope, feeling like the God of Chess had turned the tide in his favor.

Of course, it wasn't such an easy position to navigate. No, if anything, both players started to rest their elbows on the table while also covering their heads with both hands, trying to figure out the best way to deal with this situation. It was about two and a half hours since the game began, and both players had only about 11 minutes on the clock. They were still quite far from the 40th move, which was the threshold to get their additional time, so they needed to speed up their thinking right now.

In the end, Wojciech Moranda finally made his move. Instead of maneuvering his queen to pin the pawn on the G7 square, as the computer suggested, it seemed that the man preferred to have the pawn on the E6 square, staying longer. He exchanged his own knight on the F7 square with Sheva's knight that was threatening to take his pawn, and after that, formed a quick rook-queen battery to support that pawn from getting taken away by force.

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

However, it was proven to be a mistake, as Moranda let Sheva have a chance to develop his own pieces. Just within a few moves, the boy let out his dark bishop and queen to stare at the diagonal where the white king took shelter. Now, Sheva had a massive advantage, and even the computer engine showed -2.4 for black's situation.

Tak!

'Um?!' Sheva was startled when the sound of a piece hitting the board snapped his concentration. While the sound was not a strange one, it was still a bit too loud, and the other players could complain to the arbiter about this distraction. It seemed that he wasn't the only one who was taken aback by the noise. Even Moranda also turned around, and both had the same thought here. 'What is going on?!'

To their surprise, when they turned around, the players on board 3 had already shaken hands. There, Sheva could see Taher breathing relaxedly, as if all the pressure on his shoulder had suddenly disappeared. Both Sheva and Moranda rose from their seat immediately, trying to get a better look at the game that wasn't theirs. It only took a moment for the former to realize what had happened there.

'Brother Taher manages to force a draw?' He clenched his fist, celebrating quietly. 'Well done, Brother! You did a very good job here!' The boy could also see the relief on Taher's face, probably glad that he didn't disappoint himself and everyone else.

Even though everyone hoped that Taher could get a win, it was definitely not a realistic target. Not all the players had a system inside their heads, and the mere thought of beating a 2600-rated player itself was something close to a miracle, let alone doing it twice in a row. Taher's initial target was not to lose the game, so this result was definitely within the man's expectations.

If only his game were not over, Sheva would want to high-five Taher, as the man deserved all the love he could get from the world. He had done fantastically in this tournament, and people should give more respect to his name.

Sheva could also see that Miranda was not happy with the result. The Polish GM seemed to be dissatisfied with his teammate there, and it might be because the man himself was not confident that he could survive against Sheva's siege. Even though Moranda was still confident that Duda and Wojtazsek could win their games, losing 1.5 points from boards 3 and 4 would hurt in the long run.

'Yeah, now that Brother Taher has already done his job, it is my turn to do the same here.' Sheva clenched his fist unconsciously, sitting back on his chair. 'We both still have 5 minutes on the clock, and I have a slight advantage on my side. However, this cannot last for too long, or I would lose all of my momentum for nothing. No, I cannot let that happen. I have to take initiative and try to kill him quickly!'

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