Not long after, Sheldon brought the chessboard back. He was still bothered by the assessment that he was not as good as Mike.
Therefore, he actively invited Mike to compete in the first round, with the winner determined by a best-of-three series.
And because he took this competition very seriously, Sheldon played exceptionally diligently in the first game.
On the other side, Mike also wanted to see how big the gap between him and Sheldon was, so he also played exceptionally cautiously.
As for Paige, she kept an eye on the game while occasionally glancing at Mike.
For a time, the side hall became very quiet, except for the crisp sound of chess pieces landing.
The game also reached a stalemate for about ten minutes under these circumstances.
Afterward, as Mike's time spent in deep thought grew longer, his position on the board gradually fell into a disadvantage.
Another ten minutes passed, and seeing that the situation was irreversible, Mike decisively toppled his king, choosing to concede.
Watching Mike concede, Sheldon on the opposite side let out a sigh of relief. He wondered if it was his misconception, but he felt that Mike's chess skill had suddenly increased significantly.
Sheldon was certain that he had not held back in the slightest in this game.
If it had been before, playing with such focus, he would have easily and neatly defeated Mike in about fifteen minutes.
Moreover, in this game, if Mike had adopted delaying tactics, he could have dragged out the game for at least another five minutes before being completely checkmated.
Don't underestimate the five-minute difference.
Generally speaking, a novice needs only about five minutes to play a game, while an expert needs about ten minutes.
Only when both players are very skilled and evenly matched will a game last for more than thirty minutes.
So, from an objective point of view, although there was still a gap between Mike and Sheldon, it was not as big as imagined.
Sheldon seemed to have noticed this, so he said, "Mike, you are smarter than I imagined."
"Thanks—" Mike smiled.
Mike had become accustomed to Sheldon's straightforward remarks. Moreover, he could clearly feel that his mental calculation had become more powerful in this game.
"You seem very happy." Sheldon couldn't quite understand why Mike was smiling happily despite losing the game.
"Yes, I found that I have quite a talent for chess…" Mike casually found an excuse, then cautioned, "I'll go all out in the next game, so watch out."
After adapting to his high-speed brain, Mike was confident that he would perform even better in the second game.
"You can do it!" Sheldon, mimicking how Mike used to encourage him, cheered for him.
In fact, that feeling was really good.
As for Mike winning against him, in Sheldon's opinion, such a possibility did not exist.
After all, Sheldon, when serious, had never lost to Mike in chess.
And in Sheldon's view, the other party's excellent performance in the first game might have been an overperformance.
Then, the two quickly began the second game.
Paige, who had already seen Mike's true skill, suddenly asked, "Sheldon, what do you usually like to do?"
"Studying, toy trains…" Sheldon said unguardedly, "If possible, I actually want to learn a musical instrument."
Apparently, he had not given up on his pursuit of art.
Meanwhile, Paige, who had struck up a conversation with Sheldon, smiled and continued, "That's a great idea. My mom is also considering having me learn piano."
...
Next, as their conversation deepened, Sheldon, who was multitasking, unknowingly diverted a small portion of his attention to chatting.
And this was exactly what Paige wanted; the little girl was helping Mike in this way.
Sure enough, as Sheldon became distracted, the situation on the chessboard became increasingly unfavorable for him without him noticing.
Just like that, a little over twenty minutes later, when Mike made his final move, he announced, "Checkmate."
"How is that possible!" Sheldon was startled and quickly checked the situation on the board. When he found that his king indeed had no escape, a look of disbelief appeared on his face.
And realizing that the time Mike took to win this game was even shorter than the time he took to win the previous one, made Sheldon even more upset.
However, Sheldon quickly realized the reason he lost this game. He turned and glared angrily at Paige, saying, "It was you."
"What about me?" Paige feigned an innocent look, then pretended to be surprised and said, "Sheldon, you lost this game very quickly!"
Paige's remark was also a subtle reminder to Sheldon that he was not as good as Mike.
Of course, none of the three people present were foolish, and they all knew the reason why Sheldon lost this game.
However, it was precisely because of this that Sheldon became even angrier.
He knew that whatever he said now would sound like an excuse. So, he said glumly, "Don't celebrate too soon, the competition isn't over yet."
When he said this, although Sheldon was facing Mike, the meaning of his words was directly aimed at Paige.
"I'm waiting for your challenge." Paige still had a smile on her face and said, "But you have to win against Mike first."
The little girl seemed to want to provoke the other party's anger, but this time Sheldon apparently would not fall for it again.
As the third game began.
To block out external factors, Sheldon specifically found two small cotton balls and plugged his ears.
On the other side, Mike, who had become accustomed to two games, also felt that he was in excellent condition.
Thus, under these circumstances, their third game became even more exciting.
Finally, after a fierce battle of thirty minutes, Mike still showed signs of defeat in the overall situation. After enduring another five minutes, he lost the match by a narrow margin.
While Mike was a little unwilling to accept such a close defeat, it was not entirely unacceptable.
As the saying goes, there's always tomorrow.
And Sheldon, who had won after a hard-fought battle, also came to re-evaluate Mike.
He realized that even if the other party was not as good as him, the difference was not significant.
"Mike, when you have time, we can compete again." Sheldon removed the cotton balls from his ears and said solemnly.
"Okay," Mike nodded, then immediately moved aside.
It could be seen that the outcome of a single match did not significantly affect his mood.
Here, after Paige sat down, she saw Sheldon preparing to put the cotton balls back in his ears. She said provocatively, "Are you afraid to face me?"
Hearing the provocation, Sheldon's movements paused, and then he put the cotton balls aside, answering firmly, "No!"
Thus, the two super child prodigies on the field were already filled with a strong sense of rivalry even before the game began.
And as he was setting up the pieces, Sheldon's eyes darted, and he suddenly pulled out a "Wizard Chess" piece with a huge wizard hat from the corner of the chess box.
"What are you doing?" Paige asked in surprise.
It was known that although there were many ways to play chess, it had never been heard of adding characters to the board.
Sheldon's behavior was clearly a foul.