My simul against Garry Kasparov

Wow, that sounds like quite an experience! Thanks for sharing the story and the photos - it was a really interesting post.

Ng6, I suggested it too :)

And yes, I agree that must be great to play with GK! :)

$24,000 isn't bad for a few hours 'work'.

Why Kasparov resigns the game?

I think Fritz was more than of Kasparov's strength. They're just paying Kasparov because of his professionality.

Hey, this was a superb coverage of a very interesting event! Well done and thanks for sharing, it must have been an awesome experience to play against the guy.

The 3000$ seems really really expensive though, was it donated to some charity or did all that money go down Kaspy's pockets?

Thank you for the input IM pfren.

With regards to the money Garry was charging for the event, I don't think it's at all unfair. 

Why would a former world champion, arguably the best player of all time waste his time charging pennies to play patzers?  His skill was not obtained overnight and he had to work very hard for it.

ROFL Firebrand!   You describe how I felt almost exactly!

But on the flip-side of things I have to say that it kept the event exciting.  Most of the spectators you see on the photos watched all the games from start to finish.  Some of them didn't even know the rules, but they sure knew who Garry Kasparov was, and they cheered and clapped after every win.  Everyone was entertained.

If the event lasted longer than say two hours, I doubt if that would have been the case.

You would get some time.  He has to move around the tables making his move at each.  I suspect it would be difficult to run a simul on the basis that various of the participants might take 20 minutes over a move from time to time.

As I understand it, Theuns employers paid the board fees.  If that is right they must have figured that the boost to goodwill among their staff is worth it to the company - which I am sure it was.

He can have an easy victory whatever the pace. He has an 8 to 1 time disadvantage anyway.

This is normal for all simuls I've ever seen.

I read somewhere that a strategy employed by masters giving simuls where there are a lot of boards is to identify weak opponents and to use some time and energy on those boards early on while making more routine but sound moves against players identified as stronger.  As the weak players fall so the master starts to put in more time and effort against the stronger echelon.

was he a jerk about it, or was he good about it?

You might be quite correct in saying that johnyoudell.  We were lined up according to playing strength.  Since I was one of the few unrated players there, I was positioned second.  The strongest player (Woman's International Master) was seated last.  Next to her was a player that was rated 2000 and next to him a player rated around 1800.  If I remember correctly there was a 1700 rated player in the mix as well as some 1500's.

Before Garry started playing I even heard him ask which side was the strongest end.

Maybe, but doesn't mean that playing forced moves without a clock isn't normal.

http://www.chess-game-strategies.com/chess-simul.html

Interesting question chasm1995.   

Personally I found him quite serious at times, but still relaxed.  He shared a couple of stories and exchanged a few laughs with the spectators.  One can tell that he is an intelligent man and he gave me the impression of someone does not like to waste his precious time on small talk. 

When he started playing it was all business.  He has a very "heavy" walk which I found quite intimidating, especially when he was on his way to my end of the queue.

I too very much enjoyed this post. Thanks for sharing the experience with us. I am also impressed with the organization that went into this, and the manner which both you and Kasparov conducted yourselves.

Wishful thinking on my part nyLsel.    Fixed it.

If Kasparov resigned the game against Theunsie, I guess he would now be on the homepage of chess.com 

I could tell nerves played a part.  But nice shot