Jessica was only really there for one day, August 9, 1999, but that day was memorable.

Jessica Vithanage Sloan

Not long after we arrived, Jessica made friends with a lady who was working for FIDE by renting out headphones for $3 each to the spectators to hear grandmaster commentary, while the games were in progress. On the day in question, this commentary was being provided by grandmasters Christiansen and Seirawan.

Perhaps the most exciting and noteworthy game of the event was being played, which was Shirov vs. Short, in which Shirov sacrificed almost all of his pieces before mating Short. I watched the game, leaving my daughter to talk to the lady.

When I returned, the lady was gone. Instead, my daughter, Jessica, was sitting in the chair where the lady had been sitting and was renting out headphones for $3 each to the spectators who had come to watch the world chess championship.

More than that Willie Iclicki, the FIDE official in charge of the entire event, was coming up and telling my daughter what to do. Furthermore, my daughter had the cash box, which contained about $300, which the spectators had paid to rent the head phones.

Spectators were coming up asking my daughter for information, such as where things were located and when the next bulletins were coming out.

I asked my daughter, who was 10 years old, how this happened. Jessica said that the lady who had been renting out the head phones had quit the job and had gone back to California. Before leaving, she had turned the job and the money over to Jessica.

Jessica expressed amazement that she had $300 in the cash box (she counted the money) and that all this money was completely under her control. Nobody was watching her.

When the games of the round were finished, Willie Iclicki came up and took the cash box with the money.

It is a good thing that my son, Michael, who was also 10 years old, was not there and was not given this job, because as soon as Michael had seen the money, he would have run off with it and used it to gamble in the casino.

For this work, Jessica was paid a Coca Cola. I had thought they would give her $5, but at least Jessica can now put it in her resume that she once worked for FIDE and at least in getting paid a Coca Cola she got more than some of the prize winners received.

Sam Sloan

Here is the game:

[Event "FIDE WCh KO"]
[Site "Las Vegas USA"]
[Date "1999.08.09"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Shirov,Alexei"]
[Black "Short,Nigel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2734"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[ECO "C11"]


1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6 7. Nf3
Nd7 8. Bc4 c5 9. O-O O-O 10. Re1 Nb6 11. Bf1 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Kh8 13. c3 e5
14. Qh5 Nd5 15. Rad1 exd4 16. Rxd4 f5 17. Ng3 Bc5 18. Rd2 Qb6 19. Qe2 Nf6
20. Qe5 Kg8 21. h3 Re8 22. Qxe8+ Nxe8 23. Rxe8+ Kg7 24. b4 Qc6 25. Rdd8 Bb6
26. Rg8+ Kf6 27. Nh5+ Ke5 28. Rd3 Qh6 29. Be2 Qc1+ 30. Rd1 Qxc3 31. Bf3 Be6
32. Rxa8 Qxb4 33. Re8 Bd4 34. Rd8 Bb6 35. a3 Qa5 36. R8d2 f4 37. Bg4 Bc4
38. Re1+ Be3 39. Rdd1 Bb3 40. Rb1 Bc2 41. Rb4 f5 42. Bf3 Be4 43. fxe3 Bxf3
44. gxf3 Qxa3 45. Nxf4 b6 46. Rd4 1-0

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