I met Shabalov in Philly, 93' World Open. I saw him standing there with two tennis racquets. Being a not so bad tennis player, and considering I had the wherewithall to bring my racquets, I walked up to him and said; "You play tennis?" (Silly question in hindsight) He replied yes, so that was enough for me to invite him to tennis the next morning, he agreed. My friend, (A NM was hiding in the corner much mortified)

Now, the entire evening before our morning rendezvous, I considered how I would present this to friends back home, "I beat GM Shabalov!" er, at tennis.

Lo and behold, He beat my shorts off....

End of story...