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Nigel Short, in his commentary on Round Ten of the Candidates, told this story about a dog.
In the 1990s I was staying at a hotel in Novogirost(?). I was to play Kasparov the next day. I went out for a walk in the evening, by the river, thinking which opening I should play. I heard some splashing in the water and continued on my way. Heard steps behind me. I turned around and there was this enormous dog just like the Hound of the Baskervilles and it leapt at me and took a chunk out of my arm. I am scarred; I can show you.
The owner was trying to stop the dog and it kept leaping me but was not very agile so I could get out of the way. I have never run so fast in my life – back to the hotel. I called an ambulance and they took me to a Russian hospital. But you should never go to one, people die there. Stay away! It was the middle of the night and I was in the waiting room. The organizer of the tournament was there, Irina Kibina, and she took her shoe off and started bashing the wall. She said she was killing cockroaches. I was taken into this room and laid down on this mat, which was covered in gore and pus, the most disgusting thing imaginable. I got these injections. I had to play Kasparov the next day and I got a draw. I survived.
And the thing was when I was bitten, they called an ambulance and also called the police. The Russian police were incredibly efficient. They immediately went out and arrested any person with any dog within ten miles of the place. They brought in all these bewildered people for me to identify the culprit. But he was long since gone.
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It reminded me a little of my days studying in Manchester. There was a young player - today we would say he was very much like Sheldon Cooper, in the Big Bang Theory, but unkempt.
You know the old expression:
"If someone calls himself a chess player, and at the same time carefully combed, not pulls his feet and speaks clearly - he is an impostor."
Ashot Nadanian (translated from Russian).
Anyway, his name was Louis De Veauce, an eccentric, who was of master strength and could play blindfold etc, etc. He was at a tournament in a little town in England and was out walking when he saw what he thought was a dangerous dog coming toward him and was so afraid that he climbed up on a line of parked cars and ran away jumping from top to top.
And that is all I know of dangerous dogs and chess.
In the 1990s I was staying at a hotel in Novogirost(?). I was to play Kasparov the next day. I went out for a walk in the evening, by the river, thinking which opening I should play. I heard some splashing in the water and continued on my way. Heard steps behind me. I turned around and there was this enormous dog just like the Hound of the Baskervilles and it leapt at me and took a chunk out of my arm. I am scarred; I can show you.
The owner was trying to stop the dog and it kept leaping me but was not very agile so I could get out of the way. I have never run so fast in my life – back to the hotel. I called an ambulance and they took me to a Russian hospital. But you should never go to one, people die there. Stay away! It was the middle of the night and I was in the waiting room. The organizer of the tournament was there, Irina Kibina, and she took her shoe off and started bashing the wall. She said she was killing cockroaches. I was taken into this room and laid down on this mat, which was covered in gore and pus, the most disgusting thing imaginable. I got these injections. I had to play Kasparov the next day and I got a draw. I survived.
And the thing was when I was bitten, they called an ambulance and also called the police. The Russian police were incredibly efficient. They immediately went out and arrested any person with any dog within ten miles of the place. They brought in all these bewildered people for me to identify the culprit. But he was long since gone.
+++++++++
It reminded me a little of my days studying in Manchester. There was a young player - today we would say he was very much like Sheldon Cooper, in the Big Bang Theory, but unkempt.
You know the old expression:
"If someone calls himself a chess player, and at the same time carefully combed, not pulls his feet and speaks clearly - he is an impostor."
Ashot Nadanian (translated from Russian).
Anyway, his name was Louis De Veauce, an eccentric, who was of master strength and could play blindfold etc, etc. He was at a tournament in a little town in England and was out walking when he saw what he thought was a dangerous dog coming toward him and was so afraid that he climbed up on a line of parked cars and ran away jumping from top to top.
And that is all I know of dangerous dogs and chess.