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Chess Grandmasters I've Met

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GM Eduard Gufeld
[IMG]http://www.lifeinlegacy.com/2002/0928/GufeldEduard.jpg[/IMG]

He was the teacher of both Kasparov and Karpov. He wrote over 100 chess books and beat all the Russian best players!

GM Alex Baburin
[IMG]http://www.correspondencechess.com/campbell/portrait/baburin02.jpg[/IMG]
A grandmaster from Dublin Ireland.

These beautiful women :)
[IMG]http://www.chessbase.com/images2/2003/zsuzsa11-usteam.jpg[/IMG]
WGM Anna Zatnoskih

[IMG]http://www.westchesterchessacademy.com/mediac/400_0/media/WGM$20Goletiani.jpg[/IMG]
WGM Rusudan Goletiani

[IMG]http://www.chessgateway.com/shop/images/susan51b.jpg[/IMG]
GM Susan Polgar

[IMG]http://www.chessbase.com/images2/2003/jennifer-shahade.jpg[/IMG]
WIM Jennifer Shahade

[IMG]http://www.monroi.com/tournamentgate/USChamp07/Photos/US4/DSC05376.JPG[/IMG]
Here is actually a picture of (left) IM Irina Krush and Frank Berry, and someone I whose name I don't know.

IM John Donaldson
[IMG]http://www.anatolykarpovchessschool.org/images/188_IMJohnDonaldson72-4x4.7.jpg[/IMG]


I beat Alex Baburin once in a speed game! It was time odds, though; 5 minute to 2 minute. Still :)

I've also been a piece up against IM John Donaldson, in a normal timed speed game, though he won. :)

Less known that some of the other world class players, like Smyslov...and probably Fine, Rubinstein, etc., is the GM Eduard Gufeld, who was actually the teacher of both Kasparov and Karpov. He used to the come to the chess club, being a long time friend/ roommate for a while of Frank Berry...when he came to the club he would annihlate everyone, as a grandmaster should. That was the chess club in Stillwater, Oklahoma. I met those professionals, as well as Pavel Blatny, GM Susan Polgar, and many women titled players, which the Berry's have tournaments for.
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Comments

  1. B-Mental's Avatar
    Man Nik, I envy you...I can barely crawl when it comes to chess. It is all strategy, and I am the pawn that marches headlong into annihilation.
  2. NikolaiI's Avatar
    The pawn has a lust to expand. :)
  3. kiz_paws's Avatar
    Very cool, Nik! You must be quite a good player!
  4. NikolaiI's Avatar
    Well a serious one, anyway. :)
  5. Niamh's Avatar
    wow! have you ever won any serious championships?
  6. NikolaiI's Avatar
    I am not at the level of any of these players, actually. At the level of my peak I could have gotten there had I studied more, but I never did. My best success was winning the Oklahoma High School Championship, special only because it made me eligible to play in the Denker tournament. The Denker is a tournament where each state sends a champion, who then compete with one another for the national title. I scored half wins half draws at the tournament, not great but performing 200 points higher than my rating. That tournament was held at the Raddisson Hotel, in LA; that's where I met Susan Polgar for the first time. Actually I did something very, very, embarrassing. I met her and I said something like, "Wow, are you Judit Polgar??" I mistakenly took her for her sister, which I should have known better. Her sister is a little more of a world-class chess player. Ha, anyway. And that was my freshman year, and I didn't win the state title the next year, my best friend did and went to it. Actually he came to LA with me for the tournament the first year, and his dad chaperoned. I won the first year 5-0 and he got 4.5, and he got 5-0 next year while I had 4.5. :)
  7. NikolaiI's Avatar
    Here's a crosstable from a Stillwater tournament, those five women are the top 5 places :D I'm number 15 down there.
    http://main.uschess.org/assets/msa_joomla/XtblMain.php?200402168100
  8. 's Avatar
    I once went two-out-of-three with the second best player in El Salvador...I actually won one! but I think he gave it to me...
  9. NikolaiI's Avatar
    Haha cool, Jihad! What's the person's name?