My Game With Topalov

The sun had just gone down, and the three chess sets were on a long table outside in front of a train car. An excited crowd murmured in anticipation. At table #2 was Mickey Adams and Vishy Anand. At table #3 was Alexander Morozevich and Judit Polgar. And at table #1 sat Veselin Topalov and an empty chair.

I knew it would be a tough game, but soon I would be able to say that I had played the World Champion. I sat down across from Topalov, when he looked at me and said in his Bulgarian accent, “Do I have White or Black?”

“Um…, I’m not sure,” I said.

“Do I have White or Black? We can’t play until I know.”

I looked around for the pairings sheet and found it. Sure enough it said Topalov and I would play on board #1, but it didn’t specify the colors. The other pairings had clear notations for who had what color. At the time it didn’t seem unusual to me that colors were specified in this way. I only noticed that my game with the chess great was being held up. I frantically started looking for Scott, the TD, to resolve the issue.

The other players started their games. Topalov sat back impatiently. I asked people where Scott was. Nobody could find him!

Time passed and soon the reporters were interviewing Topalov as I sat on top of the train car, dejected. My game with Topalov was not to happen.

And then I woke up.