"Hey, when do you think Magnus Carlsen will arrive?"

"He is always late! Why are you waiting for him? Look! It is Hikaru Nakamura!"

"Hey, Anish Giri is there! Come on! I want to have a photo with him!"

"Wait! Let me get my mother first!"

"That's Arjun! Arjun! Can I have a sign, please?!"

The moment Sheva arrived at the venue, he was too dumbfounded at the crowd gathering in front of the building. If in Biel and Reykjavik, he could probably count about 10 to 15 people to gather before the game, this time, the boy estimated that the people who came here were around 250, and all of them brought the energy to rock the whole building.

"This is insane…" Sheva blinked repeatedly, staring at the crowd in disbelief. He couldn't even enter the building, as the crowd completely blocked the entrance door. "This is still the first day, right? The number should be increased more the closer we are to the final round, right?" He turned around and asked the veterans behind him.

"Well, that's India, and that's the Olympiad for you." Master Susanto shrugged nonchalantly as if what he witnessed here was something normal. "This is the biggest event in the whole world, with the title of the best country at stake here. Coupled with India being infected with the 'Vishy' virus, the entire tournament is definitely going to be crazy."

Well, it seemed that he had read something like that in the past. However, seeing it directly was a completely different matter here. The crowd was flocking from one player to another like there was some sort of magnet on the player's body, especially the higher-rated one. This craziness was something that Sheva had only seen once, and that was in a football match back home.

'No wonder their country could be improved that much…' He sighed. 'If this is the normal level of enthusiasm from the people here, the sponsor will definitely come without anyone asking them for.'

"So, how are we going to enter?" Anna finally asked the important question here.

"Well, wait a second." Master Susanto answered, not even looking anxious, that they still couldn't enter the building. Even though the others were confused, they still followed his action, knowing that the man was the most experienced among them. After probably two minutes of waiting, Master Susanto's eyes lit up as he noticed something. "Ah! That is our clue! Let's enter the building!"

Amidst the confusion of the others, they followed Master Susanto when the man started running a little. However, all the Indonesians there were dumbfounded when they realized that Master Susanto led them to follow the Norwegian team from behind, not knowing why they did that. The answer was revealed a second later, as the crowd suddenly gathered around one person from that Norwegian team, leaving the others alone on the front.

"Magnus! Have a photo with me, please!"

"Magnus Carlsen, I am your fan!"

"Hey, don't push around like that!"

"He shakes my hand! He shakes my hand!"

Sheva was flabbergasted when he saw this scene, not even knowing how to react to it. It seemed that he wasn't the only one here, as all the youngsters also felt the same way. They didn't even realize that this was the first time they saw Magnus Carlsen live, as all of those feelings were shadowed by their shock right now.

"Surprising, right?" Irene asked with a knowing smile. "This is the Magnus Carlsen effect. He is probably the second-most-awaited person here after Vishy Anand, and that is because he is the best in the world. He attracts crowds like a magnet, allowing any other team to come in."

Right after Irene said that, Sheva also noticed that they were not the only ones who rushed toward the building here. Some of the teams who were waiting outside earlier also walked faster to get through the venue, not wanting to get trapped in the crowd again. Seeing this, Sheva could feel the corner of his mouth twitching, somehow giving Magnus Carlsen a hat-off for his sacrifice.

"Okay, we are here." Master Susanto said, stopping everyone before they could enter further. "The men's and women's teams are going to a separate place after this, so any last word?" He turned to Irene questioningly.

"Hmm… Maybe one thing here." Irene pondered for a moment. "Well, Medina has already said not to underestimate our opponent, and I am sure all of you remember that message, right?" She smiled teasingly, making some of them here twitch their mouth uncontrollably. "Well, it is good not to underestimate your opponent, but since you are already here, at the Olympiad, don't forget to have fun, okay?"

Some of them were taken aback by this message, but once it sank into their heads, they couldn't help but smile at each other. Indeed, even though no one pointed it out, they seemed to be a little bit nervous here, so this kind of speech was enough to unwind the atmosphere.

"Thank you for that one, Sister Irene." Sheva nodded gratefully at the woman.

"Don't worry about it." Irene just shrugged nonchalantly, still with the warm smile that managed to ease everyone here. "So, yeah! Master Susanto and I will be waiting with Bagas on the back, so just go all out and don't forget to have fun!"

"Sure!"

As they walked into a different way, Sheva didn't forget to greet Anna first, wishing her good luck. He ignored the pouting Claudia next to the big sister, knowing that the girl was just being childish here. Right after that, Sheva followed Novendra and the others to go straight to the table where they were going to play.

While walking, the boy could also see the configuration of the tournament. In each match, there would be one long table with four boards set up next to each other, so that all the members of the team could see how each other was doing. Then, in front of the table, a board stood quite tall, showing the pairing that was going on that particular table, with one blank space next to it for the score later.

After they walked through the crowd for quite a long time, all four of the Indonesian players, Sheva, Arfan, Yoseph Taher, and Novendra, finally arrived at the table they were assigned to. There, four people had already waited for them, and even without introducing them to each other, Sheva knew exactly who they were.

'So, those people are going to be our first opponent, huh?'

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.