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Chessville
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Chess is a game of war but a peaceful war where no human lives are at stake. Susan Polgar is a mild mannered person and she always likes peaceful resolutions when conflicts arise. Therefore, when she was asked by Mikhail Korenman to take part in this Chess for Peace initiative with Anatoly Karpov and former President Mikhail Gorbachev, she jumped at this opportunity.
This is an event that was put together by Mikhail Korenman, director of the Karpov School of Chess in Lindsborg, Kansas, Wes Fisk and countless other people from Lindsborg and the state of Kansas. They worked hard for many months to make this event happen. A number of USCF people came to the event including current USCF VP Don Schultz and his wife, USCF VP of Finance Joel Channing and his wife, Barbara DeMaro (Managing Director of the US Chess Trust), Bill Hall (USCF ED) and Jerry Nash (USCF Scholastic Director).
Shortly after Anatoly and Susan arrived at the stage, President Gorbachev arrived with his daughter Irina, his translator Pavel and the rest of his party to enjoy the parade. He really liked the chess parade and even said that he suggested to his daughter and members of his party to take part in the parade. Unfortunately, the secret service did not permit them to do so. Therefore, they had to enjoy watching the parade from the stage.
She had no choice but to reluctantly accept the President’s generous offer.
As the press conference continued, one of the reporters asked what had been the most surprising part of the event in Lindsborg up to that time. Susan said that it was the manner of President Gorbachev. She said that he was so pleasant, friendly, warm, and thoughtful, etc. She did not expect that at all.
When he heard this, he gave her a kiss on both cheeks. After she thought he was done, he said no, the Russian way is to kiss on the cheeks three times and he gave her one more kiss. All the media people busted out laughing. After the press conference, President Gorbachev had a tour of Lindsborg while Anatoly and Susan attended a special luncheon with important members of the local business community and some members of the USCF. A lot of wonderful ideas were exchanged among the group. Anatoly and Susan had a short break following the luncheon to change and freshen up before their match. It was originally planned to be an eight-game blitz match. Unfortunately, it had to be shortening to six games because of time constraint. While Anatoly and Susan waited for President Gorbachev to arrive to make the first move, they answered a series of questions from the large crowd. The crowd loved it! President Gorbachev arrived at 4PM and they were ready to start. Anatoly had white in the first game. Therefore, President Gorbachev would make the first move for Anatoly. As he arrived to the board, he told the audience that this is a wonderful match between two great champions. “I am going to cause some difficulties for the older player,” he said, then proceed to play 1.g4 without asking Anatoly.
Both Anatoly and Susan looked up at President Gorbachev in shock.
Anatoly thought that the President was joking as Anatoly mentioned that he would like to make another first move. But the President was firm in saying there is no take-back in chess. Then off the players go with their first game. Because of this 1.g4 move, Susan achieved a very good position in the game. President Gorbachev was standing right next to them watching the entire game. All of a sudden, President Gorbachev opened the two bottles of water and poured the water into the glasses to serve Susan and Anatoly. Susan was in shock!
The match ended in a 3-3 tie again! Anatoly won the first game. Susan won the second. The third was a draw. Susan lost the fourth game with the white pieces. They then drew the fifth game and Susan managed to win the final game with white to even up the match. Unfortunately, there were technical difficulties again with the Shahcom sensory board and the moves were not registered properly on the computer. Luckily Grandmaster Yury Shulman was on hand to make the moves on the screen manually using the Fritz program. After the match, the players literally had to run out of the tournament hall because they only had about 10-15 minutes to rush back to their rooms to change, then come back for a $1,000-a-plate black-tie fundraising dinner with President Gorbachev. Mikhail Korenman’s wife Tamara and I managed to get Anatoly and Susan to the dinner timely. Countless dignitaries came to the dinner to greet President Gorbachev, Anatoly and Susan. The city and state presented the President with gifts. One of the gifts was of course a signed copy of Susan’s book Breaking Through. When a toast was made for the President, he once again displayed his wit. He mentioned the famous saying “If you drink without a toast then you would just be an alcoholic”. That once again got the entire room laughing. His daughter Irina offered to get together with Susan the next time she is in Moscow, which will be soon. Susan will be leading a group of American student chess players (an estimated 300-500 children) to Moscow to play a friendly match against the Russian youths sometimes next March as a continuation of the Chess for Peace initiative. This will be a very exciting event, especially for our young players. The Russians will then come to America the year after.
Thanks to about 100 state and local police officers and secret agents, Lindsborg was the safest place on the planet this past weekend. On a last note, approximately 2,500 tickets were sold for the Clash of the Titans II match and the address by President Gorbachev. That is 2,500 tickets for a one day chess event! The $1,000-a-plate fundraising dinner was also sold out - in advance. A wonderful ending to a wonderful cause! Mikhail Korenman, the city of Lindsborg and the state of Kansas really did a fantastic job to pull off a historic event. Susan Polgar Website Susan Polgar Foundation
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President
Gorbachev was charming and funny. When he was presented the key to
the city, he cleverly made a joke. He said that since he only got
the key to the city at that time, he apologized to the citizens of
Lindsborg for entering their city illegally the night before. That
got everyone laughing.
One
of the most memorable moments of the entire event was during the press
conference. President Gorbachev wanted to have some special Chess
for Peace tea. He requested for this in advanced. But as he
looked around, he only saw one cup. He offered Susan the tea.
She told him that no and stated that the tea was for him. He
insisted on Susan having the tea. He did not take no for an
answer. He then told her that he will prepare the tea for her just
the way he likes it and he did. Anatoly smiled, then told Susan that
she was in a zugzwang position.
