spawn2: <Part 2>
Kitakits Anniversary Celebration
When the food arrived the feast and the "chessmis" simultaneously started.
<He gave the 3 of us tokens commemorating his being the president of the Sta Mesa Rotary Club.>
We started discussing the coming ACC and the Battle of the GMs on July.
We touched on his one year away from home campaign in Europe after the Skopje Olympiad of 72. He said that it was quite difficult because he was on his own and he was just around 21 going 22 then. He stayed in a hostel which was kinda affordable at that time. He also mentioned that he became friends with some Filipino seafarers who stayed in the same hostel.
Being alone, he learned to analyst by himself.
In one of his campaigns (if I remember correctly in Madonna di Campiglio in Italy 73'). His train arrived around midnight. He was forced to take a cab to the venue which was quite far and had to shell out a substantial taxi fare: ) But he also said that staying in town for the night would have cost him more.
Since he was able to read my post on his games with the Champions, he said that if it will be confined to standard games, his score will be 6 wins, 12 losses. With regard to draws he still need to check his records.
In passing, he said that he also played with Women Champions such as Gapridashvili, Chiburdanidze, Zhu Chen, the Polgar sister, Xie Jun. I know he has very good over-all record against these Lady Champions.
Will post his results in the next few days.
During the course of the dinner, representatives from Citibank arrived in the restaurant announcing that they have a promo. Those with Citibank credit cards will get a free item and a chance to have their dinner for free courtesy of Citibank. GM Eugene has a Citibank and upon flashing his card, got the instant freebie right away. Unfortunately, we were not able to win the grander prize (free dinner) but I have with me a photo of the 4 of us courtesy of Citibank: )(will display this prominently in the book shelf containing all my chess epektos!)
Every dinner with GM Eugene is always a memorable experience: ). As the night gets older and colder (we were dining al fresko), we started to relax. GM Eugene ordered for a glass of white wine (goes well with fish), while I was having my 3rd Coke Zero in can. Pulsar and Epistle were having their bottomless lemonade (a deviation from their usual Ice Tea).
Most of us know that GM Eugene can carry a tune. Since we are aware of this, our next recommendation for the venue of the next kitakits is Music 21! Then, carried by the moment, we started singing, led of course by GM Eugene: ) From the Platters, Four Aces, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and some other prominent singers, GM Eugene knows the lyrics. From time to time, we sing along with him if we know the song. The people who were hearing us were smiling because our behavior were not the "lasing type" who are rowdy and rude. They knew that we were just having fun: )
This is where it really gets interesting. GM Eugene asked, are you familiar with the song 'Those were the Days"..initially, we replied in the negative but when he started singing, ah yes we know that song!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ulI...
GM Genius told us that this was a Russian song "Dorogoi dlinnoyu" that was translated to English and the story of the song which was about friendship etc. (naks meron pa kami history lesson) We started digesting the song and its message.
Since we knew some of the lyrics we were singing with him. Then a group of foreigners arrived on the next table to dine. Upon hearing us on the "La la la la la la la part..one of the guys approach followed by another guy and they started singing with us!. Since these were foreigners they have big voices and can be heard by people from around 20 to 30 meters. GM Eugene being the consummate gentleman stood up and sang with them. People were smiling because they knew we really are having fun and in a way were showing our world renowned Filipino hospitality.
The two guys looked like they really enjoyed the moment. Even the companions of the two guys were smiling at us. After the song the two guys said "Spasiba"..GM Eugene immediately recognized that they could be Russians.
"Spasiba" is Thank you in Russian: )
We are in the Philippines, dining in a Greek restaurant and singing with Russians in English, how international can you get hehehe
When we checked our watches, its almost 11 pm! We did not notice the time: )
GM Eugene got hold of a pentel pen and signed the tokens and bid us good night. We thank him and wish him luck on the ACC. He already somewhat confirmed our June kitakits which will be held on the 16th..Saturday.
Pulsar, Epistle and I went to McCafe
for some coffee. As we were leaving Cyma, the group of foreigners agains said Thank you and Spasiba which we acknowledged back..Spasiba to you too!
Til next time guys!
