MS SQL - Dynamic SQL for OPENQUERY()

May be it is a bug, SQL Server 2000 does not allow the use of a string variable as an input for SQL statement on OPENQUERY():

Not work:

declare @sql  nvarchar(1000)

set @sql = N'SELECT * FROM hvdn WHERE row_date = ''' + convert(varchar(8),getdate(),1) + ''''

print @sql

select * from OPENQUERY ( CMSSERVER,   @sql )

order by row_date, starttime

We need to convert all the command line into string and use sp_executesql to run it:
Work:

declare @sql  nvarchar(1000)

set @sql = N'SELECT * FROM hsplit WHERE row_date = TODAY'

set @sql1 = 'select * from OPENQUERY ( CMSSERVER  ''' + @sql + ''') order by row_date, starttime'

print @sql1

exec sp_executesql @sql1