Two days later, it was finally the first day of the tournament. Sheva found himself next to Bagas, walking side-by-side as they entered the venue. Even though chess wasn't that popular, it had created a lot of traffic in the last couple of months due to Sheva's achievement, so there were some reporters gathered in front of the venue to take photos there.
As the top-seeded player and probably the biggest superstar in the venue, of course, Sheva was the most targeted person by the cameras. He still accepted some photo requests politely, but also refused any interview requests from them, wanting to focus first on the tournament. Truth to be told, he didn't really need to do that since he was confident that he could win. But the reporters didn't need to know about his thoughts, so he basically got a free pass to enter the building.
