For the last several days I haven’t posted. That’s because I’ve been in St. Louis at the US Championships.
At one of the late night parties at the chess house I met Zviad Izoria, and let me tell you, he’s one of the funniest guys I’ve met in the chess world! I was actually able to hang out with him on two separate nights and had an absolute blast both times.
A couple of classics from him:
“_____, if you’re mad, don’t hit ____, hit me. Or better yet, hit Chris!”
Then, later that evening when he was leaving he said to me “It was a good day at the office, neither of us got punched!”
Meanwhile he made quite the sensation on the board as well. He scored two wins in the event, one against Hikaru Nakamura, and one against newly minted world championship challenger Fabiano Caruana.
His win over Fabi came with the black bits in round four. They were in a level endgame when Caruana blundered. Zviad then converted with precision.
Three rounds later in his game against Hikaru he technically won on time as Naka flagged, but he had a won position over the board already.
So it looks like he had some good days at the office at the board as well!
Til Next Time,
Chris Wainscott
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