Even before having a chance to go to my room, I joined Mr. Frederic Friedel (founder of ChessBase) and Robert Rice, former Commissioner of the Professional Chess Association, for dinner. He was the man behind the Kasparov – Anand match on top of the World Trade Center and Intel events. He still has the picture with Kasparov, Anand, former NY City Mayor Rudy Giuliani taken on 9/11 (some years before 2001) on top of the World Trade Center.
At the same restaurant we’re at were Svidler, Leko, VanWely, Carsten Hensel (Manager of Leko and Kramnik), Motylev, Petrosian, Morozevich and the list goes on. I also briefly saw Gelfand. Of course the players would be dining with the seconds or families and not each other.
But before the restaurant, all the talk was about Anand’s win to move to clear first at the half way mark, 1/2 point ahead of Gelfand and 1 point ahead of Kramnik. It is quite an exciting atmosphere with a lot of energy.
All I can tell you is it is priceless to sit at dinner with Frederic and Bob (Rice). They have so many chess stories to tell, from Tal to Anand, Kramnik, and of course the Polgar sisters (since we have known them for a long time.) I even forgot about some of these stories. I told Frederic that I have to reverse role and interview him 🙂 The man knows so much about chess players and history.
Susan – What’s the most interesting anecdote that you heard of? Can you please share some anecdotes with us? 🙂
susan tell bob I say hi, he organized the previous reshevsky eric