On Tuesday, April 30, Grandmaster Timur Gareev conducted a 33-board blindfolded simultaneous exhibition at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL). The event helped kick off the 2013 U.S. Championships, scheduled to be held in Saint Louis May 2 through May 13.
GM Gareev met and greeted the simul participants at 8 a.m. CT, and the event began at 9 a.m. It is part of Timur's preparation to set a new blindfold simul world record of 64 boards before the end of 2013. The date for the record-breaking simul is tentatively set for December 21 on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. We will report on his preparations in a separate article.
The 33-board blindfold simul in Saint Louis took ten hours and 39 minutes and left the chess community in Saint Louis dazed and amazed. His score: 29 wins, four draws and zero losses. The field, composed entirely of Saint Louis Chess Club members, had an average USCF rating of 1363, and featured of two experts, three class A players (1800-1999) and five class B players (1600-1799). CCSCSL Executive Director Tony Rich (USCF 2020) was the highest-rated player in the field and one of only four players to draw the blindfolded virtuoso. “It was a truly an amazing experience to witness this remarkable display of concentration and memory,” Rich said.
After switching federations from Uzbekistan to the U.S., GM Gareev will be competing in his first-ever U.S. Championship. He enters the tournament as the No. 2 rated player in the field, second only to GM Gata Kamsky.
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GM Timur Gareev, winner of the 2012 North American Open in Las Vegas
GM Timur Gareev at his First Annual Hawaiian Warrior Chess Camp, 2012 ...
... where over thirty students and adults dedicated an entire week in December 2012 to conduct intensive chess combat training under the tutelage of Gareev.
Timur the biker, touring Texas ...
... on a sleek Honda CBR600 motocycle
And on a sky-diving adventure. More on this
colourful GM,
whom a colleague called "crazy – but in a good way", in
an upcoming article.
