English Chess Forum

Was anybody else in the audience back in 1995 when Tony Miles beat Vladimir Kramnik during the PCA Intel Rapid Chess Grand Prix? I remember Tony spinning round to acknowledge our wild applause (by chess spectator standards) - and nearly knocking over a certain Raymond Keene in the process!

That day Viswanathan Anand watched part of a game I played against one of the computers available at the venue. He probably had a good laugh.

Brendan Brown wrote:Was anybody else in the audience back in 1995 when Tony Miles beat Vladimir Kramnik during the PCA Intel Rapid Chess Grand Prix? I remember Tony spinning round to acknowledge our wild applause (by chess spectator standards) - and nearly knocking over a certain Raymond Keene in the process!

That day Viswanathan Anand watched part of a game I played against one of the computers available at the venue. He probably had a good laugh.

Not sure if I was at that one, but I was at one of the Intel Rapid Chess Grand Prix events held in London (if there was only one, then it would have been the same one) and remember watching Dreev win a game where he mated with only seconds left on the clock. I don't think it was increments either, proper old-fashioned blitz finishes. If there is a listing or history of these events on the internet somewhere, it would be nice to be able to confirm the details.

Oh, here we go:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscol ... id=1017119

I was right about Dreev being there (so clearly I did go to the one in 1995 and not the one the year before in 1994 where Kasparov famously lost to a computer program, Genius, I think), but I don't remember Adams winning! Maybe I was only there for part of the day/weekend/week. I do remember that being the first time I saw Kasparov in the flesh. I'd just arrived and you became aware that some VIP was arriving from the hum of excitement as Kasparov and his entourage swept through the foyer with a crowd gathering in his wake.

Does anyone remember exactly where in London that was held and what the exact dates were? I've been Googling without success. I vaguely remember the venue being some big conference centre possibly over on the east side of London somewhere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irCuJgBwEJw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA3TapT8oB4

This suggests you should ask Mark Crowther where it was played:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.game ... 79bdb2965c

Not too sure of the exact place but it was a short walk from Aldgate tube.

Not sure of the exact dates either but there was four in a year both times and it was in the order Moscow/New York/London/Paris

I was there and yes, the venue was at Aldgate. IIRC the events were sponsored by Intel.

Thanks. If I'd gone by tube, I'd have remembered that, but as I was driven there that would be why I didn't have a clue where it was!