Corus Coincidence

From the keyboard of Phil Harris, "Sportsman" himself


I have a story, about an evening in a hotel in Holland which, depending on what you like to believe, is either mildly curious, or the work of the Devil. I will let you decide which.

I am lucky enough to be able to visit the Corus tournament in Wijk am Zee Holland every year. I would recommend every chess enthusiast go there at least once. It’s a wonderful tournament, one of the worlds best, and the people there are charming and welcoming. The whole town gets taken over by chess, and there are games in every bar, and famous players in every restaurant.

So, I am there this year (2006), staying in the same hotel as usual. On my first night, I go to the bar about 10 in the evening. Sitting at the bar is a player I recognised, but wasn’t sure of the name of.

As the bar was quiet, a conversation started and I found out he was GM Baduur Jobava from Georgia, playing in group B. He had not been too well, with a heavy cold, and was standing at 2/5 for the tournament.

We chatted for some time, I had a few beers; he had a few cups of tea. At the end of the conversation I wished him luck for the rest of the tournament, and promised I would buy him a drink if he won the next day. As we parted, he joked that with my support, he was certain to win.

His game the next day was against GM Ivan Cheparinov from Bulgaria, perhaps better known for being Topalovs second than for his own play, his rating is a little higher than Baduurs.

I followed the game, and was pleased to see Baduur win with the white pieces.

That night I met Baduur in the bar, and congratulated him on a good win, he joked that my support had made all the difference, and I bought him the promised drink.

After a little while, GM Levon Aronian appeared, with his second GM Sargassian. He was a friend of Baduurs and I was introduced. During our conversation some comment was made about me having brought luck to Baduurs game, and Levon joked that he hoped I would have the same affect on him.

After Aronian left, I set up my laptop in the bar, to show Baduur WCN, my favourite chess site, by coincidence Anna Zatonskih was hosting an audio event at the time.

It turns out Baduur and Anna are old friends, and he took the opportunity to say hello, using my account name. After a few moments of confusion about why this guy was talking to her in Russian, Anna realised who it was, and they had a conversation. He later played a Master Challenge game against her, after my friend and Admin Goran Urosevic had created an account for him, a fun game followed, with Anna winning on time.

So, that evening, directly or indirectly, I had spoken to Jobava, Aronian and Zatonskih. I don’t think Sargassian was comfortable speaking English, so although we shook hands, we didn’t actually talk.

Baduur went on to get a very solid forth place in group B scoring 5/7 in his remaining games

In the following couple of months, the results achieved by those three players have lent some credence to the idea that I might bring good luck to chess players….

Baduur Jobava went to the hugely competitive Aeroflot tournament in Moscow, and won it outright after a thrilling last round. Levon Aronian won Linares, after a thrilling last round. Anna Zatonskih won the US Women’s Championship, also in fine style.

I am not even slightly superstitious myself, and believe the idea of someone being "lucky" to be quite silly really. Though it did remind me that I had sat next to GM James Plaskett during an online tournament on WCN, which he had also won...
As a great fan of coincidences, he might find this story of some slight interest.



What Phil didn't know while writing this story is the fact that GM Sargassian is current leader of the very strong 22nd Reykjavik Open. See? Even shaking Phil's hand does miracles. I just hope he will save some of this magic for me to win next Hastings Chess Congress (I'll meet him there).