I finally had a chance to say hello to Peter Leko tonight. He had a nice win against Grischuk and obviously he was very happy.
At the restaurant tonight were Kramnik, VanWely (Kramnik’s second), Carsten Hensel (manager of Leko and Kramnik), Svilder, Motylev, Anand and his wife, Peter Heine Nielsen (Anand’s second), Petrosian (Leko’s second), Gelfand, Huzman (Gelfand’s second), Eljanov (Gelfand’s second), Morozevich, Kuzmin (Morozevich’s second), Peter Doggers (ChessVibes), Gerard Demuydt and GM Robert Fontaine (Europe-Echecs), team Zappa, team Rybka, and of course the FIDE officials and organizers. I am sure I probably forgot a few people.
We were dining with Geoffrey Borg, CEO of Global Chess, the marketing and promotion arm of FIDE. Joining us for desert were the organizers themselves, Veronica Roldan and her husband Jorge Saggiante. Frederic Friedel (ChessBase), Berik Balgabaev and Bob Rice were at the table next to us.
Both Gelfand and Leko were interested to know what SPICE and Texas Tech are all about. As you can see from the picture above, Leko was holding the SPICE brochure. Leko’s wife was originally from Armenia but she speaks fluent Hungarian. Since I live in the US and no longer compete much, it is nice to catch up with old friends and colleagues.
Who is anand’s second
Leko is a gentleman and a grandmaster of a rare kind. I am so happy he is your friend, too. Thank you for this wonderful pictures.
hes more than hes friend ana, tehy were both born on the same country!
nice live u all have.