'Wait, a fucking system?! Are you kidding me?!' Sheva widened his eyes in disbelief at the interface that suddenly appeared in front of him.
Of course, he had an idea about what the system was. After all, Bagas was an internet addict who loved to read a web novel, and Sheva learned from his best friend almost everything about it, such as how it was reserved only for the main character and how it was essential in the early stage of the story to help the character grow into a strong person. However, it was all a fictional story, not something that could happen in reality.
'Am I hallucinating?' Sheva even started to doubt his brain right now. Still, there was one way to confirm whether this was real or not, and Sheva didn't hesitate to do that.
'Accept the sign-in.' The boy muttered inwardly.
[DING! Congratulations, the host gained [Diamond level Caro-Kann Defense opening] knowledge!]
[DING! Congratulations, the host gained [Silver level endgame technique: Rook & Pawn] knowledge!]
Then, right after that, a bunch of strange knowledge was inserted into his brain, sending a massive headache that was far from being tolerable for Sheva. Fortunately, when he was even about to pass out, everything was finally over, and he finally regained his footing again.
'Holy shit! That was so intense!' Sheva cursed, rubbing his sweaty forehead to relieve the headache. However, after using his brain carefully, he was surprised that he could recall a lot of foreign knowledge that he had never known before.
'The Caro-Kann Defense is a classic and resilient chess opening that begins with the moves 1.e4 c6.' He couldn't help but mutter to himself. 'This opening is renowned for its solid structure, offering Black a strong and resilient defense against White's attempt to dominate the center. Throughout history, the Caro-Kann has been favored by many legendary players, including former World Champions José Raúl Capablanca and Anatoly Karpov, who used it to showcase their strategic mastery.'
Beyond the descriptive explanation, a lot of knowledge about the chess game with this opening was also in his head. This was the kind of knowledge that any ordinary chess player would have to spend so many years to accumulate, yet here he was, getting them all freely within a few seconds.
'Well, it seems the system is quite powerful.' Sheva pondered for a moment.
"Sheva! Hey, Earth to Sheva! Are you done daydreaming?!" Bagas called him out a few times, snapping Sheva from his own thought. "Are you okay? You look a little bit pale, and you were also dozing off for a little a moment ago. Do you need to take a break? If so, just do it, okay? Don't worry, I will not tell my father."
"Oh, no, don't worry. I am okay." Sheva replied, his smile was stiff. Bagas could see that he was lying, yet his best friend decided to let this matter slide and didn't pursue it too far. "Oh, well, if you say so. Anyway, do you want to have a game?"
The chubby boy didn't even wait for Sheva to accept the invitation, having already been opening the game on his phone. It was the old apps that allowed people to play chess together, with a lot of features like computer analysis and even learning packages for the beginner player. Well, Bagas didn't even take a glance at that section, going straight to the black-and-white board and setting it for a two-player game.
"Come on! Since I invited you first, I will let you have the white pieces!" Bagas said, offering Sheva the first move.
Sheva, who was still trying to recover from all the knowledge that he received before, moved the pawn in front of the king two spots, going for the classic 1.e4 opening. This was probably the most used opening in the world, with all of the players, from amateurs to the world champion, all of them using it frequently.
To Sheva's surprise, though, as if wanting to become his stepping stone, Bagas went onto the pawn in front of the black's dark bishop, sliding it one spot forward. This was the Caro-Kann defense that he had just learned a while ago from the system.
"Ha! This is the opening that I have just learned, the Caro-Kann defense!" Bagas grinned smugly. "Let's see how you would deal with this one!"
Of course, Sheva was unfazed. Just like any normal Caro-Kann defense move, he moved the pawn in front of the queen two squares, setting a barrier in the middle of the board with the pawn that he had moved in the first turn. Just as expected, Bagas returned with the move pawn to d5, challenging his own pawn in the e4 square. This was the most basic placement for the Caro-Kann defense, which anyone who learned from the Internet would be able to pull.
However, to Bagas's surprise, instead of exchanging the pawn and going with the conventional exchange variation, Sheva decided to develop his knight first to the c3 square. "You are not taking the pawn? It seems you are not a complete amateur, Sheva!" Bagas grinned teasingly at his best friend.
Sheva just rolled his eyes, yet knew why his best friend would think so. After all, a player who had only learned this game for a while would only think of a way to take the opponent's pieces as much as possible, sometimes not even caring whether it was a trap or that taking would only worsen his position or not. Sheva was sure that he would also do that if not for the knowledge that he gained from the system before. However, he was smart enough to just stay quiet and let Bagas play his turn.
In return, the chubby boy didn't hesitate to take the pawn on e4. Seeing this, Bagas also moved immediately, picking up the knight that he had just moved in the previous turn to take back Bagas's pawn on e4 square. For a moment, the position looked equal, maybe with a slight advantage for Sheva since his knight was roaming freely in the center of the board.
Seeing this, Bagas also made a move. He followed his plan well, developing his knight into the d7 square, straight in front of his own queen. The plan was simple: just develop his pieces into a good square, clearing the backrow path from any other pieces, and castling to protect the king on the corner of the board with the protection of the rook and any other pieces around.
The castle move itself was basically a move that allowed the player to switch places of the rook and the king in one turn. To do that, there shouldn't be any other pieces blocking their way, and those two pieces themselves shouldn't have made a move yet. This was a special move that allowed the player to protect the king and also connect the rook at the same time.
Of course, Sheva also saw this from afar. However, right before he made a move, the boy was stunned a little, finding something to be interesting before moving his queen one square to the right diagonal, positioning it straight in front of his own king.
'Now, let's see whether he could see the trap or not…' Sheva smirked inwardly, feeling smug at the trap that he had just set.
True enough, Bagas didn't notice it. If anything, the boy didn't even think about his move at all, developing his other knight to the f6 square. This was a natural development move that any amateur player would indeed make. However, this was also the move that Sheva wanted his best friend to make, as without hesitation, he grabbed his knight that was in the center of the board, moving it to the d6 square before smirking at his stunned best friend, who saw the notification on the app pop out.
"Well, sorry to say, my friend, but it is a checkmate for me."