At 1:30 P.M. on 19th March 2004 I had just arrived at Luton airport from Spain and was about to make a call from a public phone when the one next to it rang. I picked it up. A South African voice was asking for ‘Katryn Jose-Piet’. I explained that he had called a public airport phone.
He said that he was aware of that and that she had just flown there from Glasgow en route to Paris and that she had only just phoned him from this very phone. He assumed that she had gone to the Check In desk a moment or two beforehand. He said she was blonde, 34, medium height...
I could see all of the 60 Check In desks, but no such person. I rang off. He called again. In the interim I had gone to the Paris Check In desk and discovered that she had checked in. I quizzed several women, but none was she.
He then asked me about myself, and in response he said that he was Terence Goldberg, a South African calling from Tallinn, Estonia, and that he knew a guy called Mark Levitt - a chess player who had represented South Africa - who had married one of his best friends.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/LevittMark
I said that on my only visit to South Africa in 1990 it was my brother’s company, Corporate Management Services, which had sponsored the South Africa. Open in Johannesburg and that I felt that Levitt had been one of my opponents. (See Entry 52)
The next day I met up at a chess event in West Bromwich with GM Jon Levitt (no relation).
On January 13th 2007 I met Mark Levitt at a 4NCL http://www.4ncl.co.uk/ meet in Coventry and mentioned this coincidence to him. Two days later he sent me this e mail -
Hi Jim,
Well I know Terence very well - he is a close friend of My Sister's(Taube Tobi) husband, Ian Tobi. Terence is from Sea Point in Cape Town South Africa - where I live.
I have met Katryn on a few occassions in the past as she has travelled through to Cape Town with Terence. Terence lived in Santa Monica for many years but then moved with Katryn to Estonia or Lithuania as far as I know. He is not a chess player himself.
I used to do a lot of work with Chess & Bridge in the early nineties and met up with Dunworth when he was formulating the 4NCL - I was not involved in the setup - but was a sounding board at the time.
I never thought it would ever amount to anything at the time - so I am quite pleased that it has taken off so well!
The last time I played in the 4NCL was at the Barbican (I think) many years ago. So I was not at the 4NCL when you took the call.
3 comments:
Hi James,
I've been having a wonderful and fruitful time journeying through your blog, starting at the beginning.
I've posted links at both of my blogs--Illumination, Inc. and Robert Pearson's Chess Blog
Found this site through Tim Krabbe's. I have enjoyed my copy of your book Playing to Win for many years and was delighted to see the interesting directions you've taken since.
Best Regards,
Robert
James,
I have completed reading this quite fascinating blog. A few interesting things popped up in the course of reading it:
You and I were born in the same year (you're about five months older). Our wives were born in the same year (yours 21 days younger).
After I started reading I remembered I also had bought your book on the Taimanov Sicilian a few years ago, and when I looked inside the dedication was to your family, and your son who you said you'd never be playing a game of chess with (if I recall correctly--don't have it in front of me). Did you keep to that?
I'd give 100 to eight that your student Kelly Cottrell is now Kelly Cottrell-Finegold, who played at last year's U.S. Championship.
Your experiences and conclusions parallel mine--strict materialism doesn't suffice as an explanation for the world that we live in. There's more here than meets the eye. Thank you for your substantial contribution to the conversation.
Robert Pearson
triumphe@gmail.com
I'm trying to find the same Terence Goldberg from Cape Town / Estonia and this blog is the 2nd in Google. 2002 At the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Joberg I met few from Cape Town area include Terence. Terence invited me to stay with him at Cape Town. One day wile walking with Martin and other friend Martin remind Branka form Slovenia.since I met Branka from Slovenia a year before at the Rainbow gathering I use may cellular to call her. I said something like Hello Branka? she answer Is it Martin?
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