10/28/2004 - I took a look at Kasimdzhanov vs. Shirov from round
13 of the 36th Olympiad. Kasimdzhanov
took the full point home against the 10th rated player in the world. I keep
thinking about Kasparov vs. Kasimdzhanov showdown in January. It reminds
me of the movie Rocky. Which matched Apollo Creed, the champion, vs.
Rocky Balboa, a journeyman.
Today's game reminded me of the scene where
Rocky is at the meat processing plant. The news media is there to
interview Rocky. He's pounding on a side of beef. You can hear the ribs
cracking. His brother in-law, says " easy Rocky your breaking the ribs." Apollo
Creed's manager sees this on TV and says " hey champ, take a look at this guy, he
looks tough." Apollo too distracted withoutside business matters, ignores
his manger and says :" I'm tough too."
Well Rustam
"Rocky" Kasimdzhanov pounded a big side of beef today in Alexi Shirov.
In 1998 Alexi Shirov defeated the
current champion Vladimir Kramnik in the candidate final by a score
of 5.5 - 3.5. Alexi Shirov earned the right to face Garry Kasparov
for the world title. However a divided chess world could not come up
with the proper sponsorship for the match. I wonder if Kasparov's manager
has the watched Kasimdzhanov vs. Shirov game. I wonder if he had told his fighter, "hey
champ take a look at this guy, he looks tough. I wonder if a distracted
Kasparov said :"hey I'm tough too." It would not surprise me if
Rustam "Rocky" Kasimdzhanov is drinking raw eggs and doing one handed push ups to get
ready
for his big fight against Garry "Apollo Creed" Kasparov.
One
thing is for certain, this Rocky is not fighting bums. Alexi Shirov is no
Spider Rico. I think today's win over Shirov shows us that Rustam's
winning the 2004 KO was no fluke. Garry Kasparov better not let
outside business matters prevent him from properly preparing for this
tough match. One thing is certain Rustam "Rocky"
Kasimdzhanov will be ready to move thunder and check lightening by
January.
The 14th World Champion Vladimir Kramnik has this to say
about the Kasparov vs. Kasimdzhanov match: I don’t know quite frankly,
Kasimdzhanov is a dark horse. And Kasparov is in an obvious crisis. If he
gets over this crisis, then he is an obvious favorite. If not, then… I
don’t know, don’t know… One should not underestimate Kasimdzhanov.
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"Trying hard now, it's so hard now, trying hard
now…
Getting strong now, won't be long now, getting strong now...
Gonna fly now, flying high now, gonna fly, fly, fly!"
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