Khalifman v. The Kid - Fond Memories

Happy Sunday, darlings! It's cool but mostly sunny here today - and I should be outside cutting the grass one last time but here I am instead, slaving away over the keyboard to keep our myriads of fans happy (all 97 of you). The Packers are coming on at noon, so I guess the grass cutting will have to wait until post-game, 3:15 or so. Darlings - I just read at The Week in Chess that the chessplayer Isis and I fondly call "The Kid" a/k/a Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu is a last minute substitute for another of our favorite chessplayers, GM Alexander Khalifman, participating in the Tournament of Champions in Spain. Khalifman had to withdraw due to illness. We hope it's nothing serious. We have great memories of attending the FIDE Knock-Out World Chess Championship at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas in August, 1999 - my first exposure to chess up close and personal. In fact, we were sitting in the front row at the quarter-finals, LOL! At the time Nisipeanu looked about 16 and was under legal drinking age for the state of Nevada - he had short hair and a slender, boyish figure and was cute as a button. Judit played Khalifman on that day, Friday August 13, 1999, and she was held to a draw, not making a score to advance the semi-finals. Khalifman, The Kid, Vladimir Akopian and Mickey Adams all advanced, and I watched every game of those semi-finals. I wrote all about it from Las Vegas in daily posts to the old Art Bell Message Board, which we captured for all eternity in The Weave at Goddesschess. You can read all about it here if you're interested. Now, The Kid has a long ponytail - what's that all about anyway? - and he looks much older than he should, darlings, at least, in my opinion! Egoddess - here I am getting younger and younger with each passing year (and I haven't even sold my soul to the Devil like Dorian Gray did) and The Kid looks like a 40 year old! Eek! In any event, since Akopian and Adams are playing in the European Team Championships, I'm glad The Kid was available to step in as a fitting substitute for Khalifman. I remember well the round of applause The Kid and Khalifman received after their final semi-final game and The Kid could not pull out a win. The official website for this event is in Spanish and absolutely undecipherable to me! Judit Polgar is playing, although she's not actually a "World Chess Champion" - but she is the best woman player in the world and if she had played in women's championships would no doubt have won the title and held it as long as she wanted. This event is for a good cause (did the star players waive their appearance fees, I wonder?) According to TWIC: The aim behind the tournament is to get funds to build up and/or send equipment to a Hospital in Mbuji-Mayi, one of the poorest regions in Congo. Side events which aim to raise this money include: To begin with, the the Moscow Orchestra will play several times in Vitoria duting the tournament (including at the opening ceremony), and they will donate all the benefits they got from the concerts to the project. -- The models and fashion designers from the Pasarela Cibeles Fashion Show (Madrid) will make an special appearance in the tournament, and some of the most famous fashion designers and models will offer a fashion show next to the playing hall. They will then give us the dresses and customs to be sold at auction. -- Some of the best Spanish sportsmen (the likes of Rafa Nadal and Miguel Indurain) will donate some items to be sold at auction. Topalov, for instance, has donated the medal he got when he became World Junior Champion in Puerto Rico 1989! Standings After Round 2: Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts SB. 1 5 GM TOPALOV Veselin 2769 BUL 2 0,50 2 6 GM PONOMARIOV Ruslan 2705 UKR 1½ 0,75 3 4 GM NISIPEANU Liviu-Dieter 2668 ROU ½ 0,75 4 1 GM POLGAR Judit 2708 HUN ½ 0,25 5 2 GM KARPOV Anatoly 2670 RUS ½ 0,25 6 3 GM KASIMDZHANOV Rustam 2690 UZB 0 0,00