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Main
IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
$9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly from www.cardozapub.com
The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
again!
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Date: 16 Apr 2008 20:52:27
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
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NO DRUG PROBLEM IN CHESS
<If only LE could refrain from lunatic-fringe speculative attacks,
leaps of
illogic, and grotesque lies, such as the one about no drug having ever
helped someone win a chess game, for instance. > -- help bog (aka Greg
Kennedy
Several years back Greg Kennedy, the
self-described self-deprived Indiana lad, imagined GM
Larry Evans brainwashing America into accepting
Bobby Fischer's chess match conditions vs. Anatoly
Karpov in 1975 when precisely the opposite was true.
GM Evans was virtually the only voice in Chess Life
exposing the flaws in Bobby's conditions.
Now, GM Evans and presumably this writer are on
the fringe. We can no longer brainwash an entire nation
or even be taken seriously.
.
Ah well, one does go down in life.
Concerning drugs helping to win games, we can
add Vitamin C and vast numbers of herbs to coffee
drinking and cig smoking. A proper diet is probably
more important than any of the preceding.
At which point, one enters the absurd.
As yet, there is no documented instance of a
drug helping anyone to win a chess game. There is no
drug problem in chess. Never has been. The rush to
drug testing is yet another attempt to impose a social
control over what was a free area of socio-intellectual endeavour.
Yours, Larry Parr
[email protected] wrote:
> ABSURDITY OF DRUG TESTING IN CHESS
>
> "I can't think of a better way than drug testing to drive people away
> from chess." -- GM Larry Evans
>
> <FIDE, which has over 160 member nations, could implode. Larry Evans
> exposes how they bribe delegates, rig ratings, punish dissidents and
> change rules on a whim without consulting top players. "It's hard to
> think of an international organization more corrupt than the United
> Nations; but FIDE, the world chess body, comes close," he laments.
>
> <His chapter on the absurdity of drug testing in chess is a classic. I
> think this book is timely and will reach a much larger audience than
> just dedicated fans. It's unlike any chess book ever written and will
> receive a lot of positive feedback.> -- Reviewer at amazon.com
>
> THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS (pages 82-98) presents "The Case Against
> Drug Testing in U.S. Chess" that I wrote in 2001 with GM Evans for the
> FIDE Advisory Committee of the USCF. I will not renew my membership in
> the USCF until it adopts our recommendations and obeys a delegate
> mandate to oppose drug testing here and abroad.
>
> Yours, Larry Parr
>
>
>
>
> Quadibloc wrote:
> > I noticed that "help bot" said in this thread:
> >
> > > If only that were true; if only LE could refrain from
> > >lunatic-fringe speculative attacks, leaps of illogic,
> > >and grotesque lies, such as the one about no drug
> > >having ever helped someone win a chess game,
> > >for instance.
> >
> > I remember that at one point, a U.S. government official suggested
> > that a chess club for young people in New York should start
> > instituting drug testing. This was rejected, because encouraging an
> > interest in Chess was a way to help get children *out* of destructive
> > patterns, including drug use, and something like this would have
> > turned away those who were benefiting.
> >
> > Since the drugs to be tested for were the usual things like ijuana
> > and cocaine, which don't help people play better Chess, that was
> > another reason to reject the suggestion.
> >
> > Yes, there are drugs that do help. Besides caffeine, to promote
> > wakefulness, there's nicotine, which is known to improve concentration
> > (John W. Campbell once wrote an article speculating on this; more
> > recently, a _Scientific American_ article on schizophrenia noted that
> > many schizophrenics are heavy smokers as a form of self-medication for
> > a problem with concentration associated with the condition.).
> >
> > But the situation is largely self-correcting; drugs that might help in
> > the short term hurt in the long term. It is nowhere near the point
> > reached in many athletic fields due to anabolic steroids, so
> > comparable remedies are not necessarily required.
> >
> > John Savard
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Date: 17 Apr 2008 10:54:02
From: Mike Murray
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:52:27 -0700 (PDT), "[email protected]"
<[email protected] > wrote:
>NO DRUG PROBLEM IN CHESS
> As yet, there is no documented instance of a
>drug helping anyone to win a chess game. There is no
>drug problem in chess. Never has been. The rush to
>drug testing is yet another attempt to impose a social
>control over what was a free area of socio-intellectual endeavour.
Ritalin might be worth a shot:
http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/003047.html
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Date: 17 Apr 2008 11:13:03
From: J.D. Walker
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
Mike Murray wrote:
> On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:52:27 -0700 (PDT), "[email protected]"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> NO DRUG PROBLEM IN CHESS
>
>> As yet, there is no documented instance of a
>> drug helping anyone to win a chess game. There is no
>> drug problem in chess. Never has been. The rush to
>> drug testing is yet another attempt to impose a social
>> control over what was a free area of socio-intellectual endeavour.
>
> Ritalin might be worth a shot:
> http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/003047.html
Looking back to the past, up to the present, one might not see much
cause for alarm. However, with our high rate of technological change,
the revolution in the exploration of the human genome, and improvements
in creating designer drugs, things are going to change fast.
I used to like reading scifi novels by Rudy Rucker. His vision of our
drug future is quite imaginative and interesting.
I end up agreeing with Larry for a different reason. I do not think
that FIDE drug testing will be able to handle the load of future mental
performance enhancing drugs. It is already a lost cause.
--
"Do that which is right..."
Rev. J.D. Walker
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Date: 17 Apr 2008 11:24:15
From: Mike Murray
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:13:03 -0700, "J.D. Walker"
<[email protected] > wrote:
>I end up agreeing with Larry for a different reason. I do not think
>that FIDE drug testing will be able to handle the load of future mental
>performance enhancing drugs. It is already a lost cause.
And there's the further question as to whether mental performance
enhancing drugs actually harm the user, and, if so, whether the harm
outweigh the benefits accruing from their use.
And it's not just drugs. There's a lot of work being done on brain
"reprogramming" using electrical stimulation. Crackpot? Maybe, maybe
not. If not, what if someone with the resources to undergo this
treatment gets an unfair advantage?
Further questions about adult choices versus children's choices (or
choices imposed on them by adult guardians).
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Date: 18 Apr 2008 00:47:23
From: Brian Lafferty
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
Mike Murray wrote:
> On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:13:03 -0700, "J.D. Walker"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>> I end up agreeing with Larry for a different reason. I do not think
>> that FIDE drug testing will be able to handle the load of future mental
>> performance enhancing drugs. It is already a lost cause.
>
> And there's the further question as to whether mental performance
> enhancing drugs actually harm the user, and, if so, whether the harm
> outweigh the benefits accruing from their use.
>
> And it's not just drugs. There's a lot of work being done on brain
> "reprogramming" using electrical stimulation. Crackpot? Maybe, maybe
> not. If not, what if someone with the resources to undergo this
> treatment gets an unfair advantage?
>
> Further questions about adult choices versus children's choices (or
> choices imposed on them by adult guardians).
Consider brain wave training. Take a look at Neuroprogrammer 2
http://www.transparentcorp.com/products/np/
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Date: 17 Apr 2008 08:12:50
From: Chess One
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
<[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> NO DRUG PROBLEM IN CHESS
> As yet, there is no documented instance of a
> drug helping anyone to win a chess game. There is no
> drug problem in chess. Never has been. The rush to
> drug testing is yet another attempt to impose a social
> control over what was a free area of socio-intellectual endeavour.
>
> Yours, Larry Parr
Worse and Worser!
And drug-testing seeks to voluntarily associate chess as a drug-free
activity with that of the heavily invested drug-culture of professional
sports.
I do not understand why the exact opposite stance in not taken by our
'leaders', which is to proudly declaim to the world that
*chess is a drug free activity*,
and has no wish to associate with activities which are so evidently
otherwise.
Indeed, one wise poster here said some years ago, 'the brain makes chemicals
of its own'. What needs pointing out, now as ever, is that drug-testing is
not the wish of chess players, but is the wish of chess burocrats, who can
logically be seen to be acting in a contrary way to the wishes of the chess
community in which they purportedly 'serve and represent'. And that is a
disgrace and a shame and a blight on chess.
Phil Innes
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Date: 16 Apr 2008 08:24:45
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
ABSURDITY OF DRUG TESTING IN CHESS
"I can't think of a better way than drug testing to drive people away
from chess." -- GM Larry Evans
<FIDE, which has over 160 member nations, could implode. Larry Evans
exposes how they bribe delegates, rig ratings, punish dissidents and
change rules on a whim without consulting top players. "It's hard to
think of an international organization more corrupt than the United
Nations; but FIDE, the world chess body, comes close," he laments.
<His chapter on the absurdity of drug testing in chess is a classic. I
think this book is timely and will reach a much larger audience than
just dedicated fans. It's unlike any chess book ever written and will
receive a lot of positive feedback. > -- Reviewer at amazon.com
THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS (pages 82-98) presents "The Case Against
Drug Testing in U.S. Chess" that I wrote in 2001 with GM Evans for the
FIDE Advisory Committee of the USCF. I will not renew my membership in
the USCF until it adopts our recommendations and obeys a delegate
mandate to oppose drug testing here and abroad.
Yours, Larry Parr
Quadibloc wrote:
> I noticed that "help bot" said in this thread:
>
> > If only that were true; if only LE could refrain from
> >lunatic-fringe speculative attacks, leaps of illogic,
> >and grotesque lies, such as the one about no drug
> >having ever helped someone win a chess game,
> >for instance.
>
> I remember that at one point, a U.S. government official suggested
> that a chess club for young people in New York should start
> instituting drug testing. This was rejected, because encouraging an
> interest in Chess was a way to help get children *out* of destructive
> patterns, including drug use, and something like this would have
> turned away those who were benefiting.
>
> Since the drugs to be tested for were the usual things like ijuana
> and cocaine, which don't help people play better Chess, that was
> another reason to reject the suggestion.
>
> Yes, there are drugs that do help. Besides caffeine, to promote
> wakefulness, there's nicotine, which is known to improve concentration
> (John W. Campbell once wrote an article speculating on this; more
> recently, a _Scientific American_ article on schizophrenia noted that
> many schizophrenics are heavy smokers as a form of self-medication for
> a problem with concentration associated with the condition.).
>
> But the situation is largely self-correcting; drugs that might help in
> the short term hurt in the long term. It is nowhere near the point
> reached in many athletic fields due to anabolic steroids, so
> comparable remedies are not necessarily required.
>
> John Savard
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| | |
Date: 06 May 2008 01:56:58
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
FROM IVAN
Junior Member 05/04/08 at 08:58:42
This Crazy World of Chess
I own it myself and found it very amusing at times! The book is honest
and recounts the behind-the-scene gossip and scandals from an
experienced Grandmaster.
http://tinyurl.com/6onrxx
[email protected] wrote:
> ANOTHER 5-STAR REVIEW
>
> "This Crazy World of Chess" is a winner!, April 18, 2008
>
> I grew up dining on "Evans on Chess" once a month in Chess Life.
> Grandmaster Evans would answer questions, comment on games and then
> unlike any other chess writer he'd pull away the curtain and expose us
> to the other side of chess. The politial side! The shady
> dealings,scandals, conspiracies, backroom politics and fascinating
> tidbits were revealed like no other chess writer before him! Whereas
> GM Evans once a month article is a meal "This Crazy World of Chess" is
> a banquet! 294 entertaining and intriguing pages featuring 101
> articles exposing the "other side" of the world of chess! From Fischer
> to Karpov, Kasparov to Kramnik, and Chaplin to Bogart this book will
> keep you thoroughly entertained! My only regret is that there is no
> volume 2!!!
>
>
> Mike Murray wrote:
> > On Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:09:13 -0700 (PDT), SBD <[email protected]>
> > wrote:
> >
> >
> > >Supposedly Euwe once told Bogo that he was too fat to be a chess
> > >master....
> >
> > It was probably Tartakower who told him that.
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| | |
Date: 18 Apr 2008 11:10:43
From:
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Apr 18, 1:30=A0pm, SBD <[email protected] > wrote:
> On Apr 18, 10:14 am, Mike Murray <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > On Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:09:13 -0700 (PDT), SBD <[email protected]>
> > wrote:
>
> > >Supposedly Euwe once told Bogo that he was too fat to be a chess
> > >master....
>
> > It was probably Tartakower who told him that.
>
> I found a similar quote by Bogo, who told Reti he was too fat to be
> world champion ( supposedly):
>
> Als Reti 1920 in G=F6teborg ein stark besetztes Turnier gewonnen hatte,
> klopfte ihm Bogoljubov kameradschaftlich auf die Schulter und meinte:
> =ABTrotzdem wirst du nie Weltmeister, du bist daf=FCr viel zu dick!=BB
> Der erstaunte Reti: =ABAber du bist doch viel dicker als ich!=BB
> =ABJa, aber ich bin Bogoljubow!=BB kam es bescheiden zur=FCck...
>
> Another version of the "but I am Bogo" story....
>
> You can translate with babelfish, or alternately ask Phil, our
> resident expert in the use of languages.
My German is rusty, but I'll take a whack at it, before Phil gives
us something anomalous:
After Reti won a strong tournament at G=F6teborg in 1920, Bogolyubov
tapped him jovially on the shoulder and said: "Despite this, you'll
never be World Champion, you're too fat for that!"
The astonished Reti replied "But you are much fatter than I!"
"Yes, but I am Bogolyubov," came the reply.
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Date: 18 Apr 2008 10:30:42
From: SBD
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Apr 18, 10:14 am, Mike Murray <[email protected] > wrote:
> On Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:09:13 -0700 (PDT), SBD <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >Supposedly Euwe once told Bogo that he was too fat to be a chess
> >master....
>
> It was probably Tartakower who told him that.
I found a similar quote by Bogo, who told Reti he was too fat to be
world champion ( supposedly):
Als Reti 1920 in G=F6teborg ein stark besetztes Turnier gewonnen hatte,
klopfte ihm Bogoljubov kameradschaftlich auf die Schulter und meinte:
=ABTrotzdem wirst du nie Weltmeister, du bist daf=FCr viel zu dick!=BB
Der erstaunte Reti: =ABAber du bist doch viel dicker als ich!=BB
=ABJa, aber ich bin Bogoljubow!=BB kam es bescheiden zur=FCck...
Another version of the "but I am Bogo" story....
You can translate with babelfish, or alternately ask Phil, our
resident expert in the use of languages. I wonder if there are fat
Andean chess masters?
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Date: 18 Apr 2008 10:25:27
From: SBD
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Apr 18, 10:14 am, Mike Murray <[email protected] > wrote:
> On Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:09:13 -0700 (PDT), SBD <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >Supposedly Euwe once told Bogo that he was too fat to be a chess
> >master....
>
> It was probably Tartakower who told him that.
I am pretty sure it was Euwe, but I wouldn't bet more than a few bucks
on that.
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Date: 18 Apr 2008 10:36:43
From: Mike Murray
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:25:27 -0700 (PDT), SBD <[email protected] >
wrote:
>On Apr 18, 10:14 am, Mike Murray <[email protected]> wrote:
>> On Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:09:13 -0700 (PDT), SBD <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >Supposedly Euwe once told Bogo that he was too fat to be a chess
>> >master....
>>
>> It was probably Tartakower who told him that.
>
>I am pretty sure it was Euwe, but I wouldn't bet more than a few bucks
>on that.
Sorry. It was a joke based on Tartakower also being rather rotund.
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Date: 18 Apr 2008 10:15:34
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
ANOTHER 5-STAR REVIEW
"This Crazy World of Chess" is a winner!, April 18, 2008
I grew up dining on "Evans on Chess" once a month in Chess Life.
Grandmaster Evans would answer questions, comment on games and then
unlike any other chess writer he'd pull away the curtain and expose us
to the other side of chess. The politial side! The shady
dealings,scandals, conspiracies, backroom politics and fascinating
tidbits were revealed like no other chess writer before him! Whereas
GM Evans once a month article is a meal "This Crazy World of Chess" is
a banquet! 294 entertaining and intriguing pages featuring 101
articles exposing the "other side" of the world of chess! From Fischer
to Karpov, Kasparov to Kramnik, and Chaplin to Bogart this book will
keep you thoroughly entertained! My only regret is that there is no
volume 2!!!
Mike Murray wrote:
> On Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:09:13 -0700 (PDT), SBD <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>
> >Supposedly Euwe once told Bogo that he was too fat to be a chess
> >master....
>
> It was probably Tartakower who told him that.
|
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Date: 16 Apr 2008 08:01:00
From: Quadibloc
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
I noticed that "help bot" said in this thread:
> If only that were true; if only LE could refrain from
>lunatic-fringe speculative attacks, leaps of illogic,
>and grotesque lies, such as the one about no drug
>having ever helped someone win a chess game,
>for instance.
I remember that at one point, a U.S. government official suggested
that a chess club for young people in New York should start
instituting drug testing. This was rejected, because encouraging an
interest in Chess was a way to help get children *out* of destructive
patterns, including drug use, and something like this would have
turned away those who were benefiting.
Since the drugs to be tested for were the usual things like ijuana
and cocaine, which don't help people play better Chess, that was
another reason to reject the suggestion.
Yes, there are drugs that do help. Besides caffeine, to promote
wakefulness, there's nicotine, which is known to improve concentration
(John W. Campbell once wrote an article speculating on this; more
recently, a _Scientific American_ article on schizophrenia noted that
many schizophrenics are heavy smokers as a form of self-medication for
a problem with concentration associated with the condition.).
But the situation is largely self-correcting; drugs that might help in
the short term hurt in the long term. It is nowhere near the point
reached in many athletic fields due to anabolic steroids, so
comparable remedies are not necessarily required.
John Savard
|
| | |
Date: 18 Apr 2008 06:01:52
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
FIDE AND VIAGRA
<But if the enhancement is harmless, why not allow it? > -- Mike Murray
<I am curious. Suppose that some misguided soul develops the false
notion that Viagra helps him play chess. What is the FIDE policy in
such a case? :) > -- John Walker
It is not Viagra but the next generation of multi-dimensional
drugs that might help one with randy ladies and play chess.
But to answer the Rev. Walker's question, FIDE would
ban players using a drug that helps sex and chessic
performance simultaneously. Or ban a drug that helps
chessic performance and improves longevity kedly.
Under current Draconian regulations -- which include
out-of-competition testing -- top players must submit
not only their whereabouts (for that knock on the door)
but also a list of medications they are currently taking.
"Anyone else with a material condition requiring use of
any prohibited substance, should contact the FIDE Medical
Commission Secretariat office ASAP, to obtain a waiver
from the IOC Medical Commission. Documentary evidence
provided, should include, at a minimum, records of tests taken,
affidavits from prescribing physicians, consultants' reports, etc."
-- FIDE regulations
FIDE would announce: choose between longevity
and a better sex life on the one hand or participating
in a FIDE tournament with the chance of eating
cockroaches and rice with Kirsan and Campo.
No brainer. Gotta go with roachrice and forget
women and longevity.
Yours, Larry Parr
Mike Murray wrote:
> On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:35:32 -0700 (PDT), "[email protected]"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >WHAT IF?
>
> ><There's a lot of work being done on brain
> >"reprogramming" using electrical stimulation.
> >Crackpot? Maybe, maybe not. If not, what if
> >someone with the resources to undergo this
> >>treatment gets an unfair advantage?>
>
> > Fischer once said that when he saw Geller putting
> >on a pot belly, he knew the guy was finished at the very
> >top level. Those who can afford a personal trainer will
> >probably also have to be banned from the game. To
> >play chess may require eschewing excellent physical
> >fitness beyond what can be acquired on one's own -- IF
> >such fitness helps in over-the-board performance.
>
> > The logic is basically the same as punishing those
> >who can afford some kind of exotic brain enhancement.
>
> To make a tighter analogy to the physical sports, punishment would be
> reserved for those making a trade-off of health down the road for
> competitive advantage today. As with the physical sports, this isn't
> entirely rational or consistent -- it's quite possible to damage the
> body with a completely natural training regimen.
>
> Today, we tend to allow people to trade dollars for competitive
> advantage, but often frown (*and* often wink) at trading health and
> life span for it.
>
> To me, the real question is how to handle those who would make this
> decision for their children -- an artificial growth hormone that adds
> pounds and inches now at the expense of a few years of life or some
> degenerative disease hitting a few years early. Or brain enhancement
> at the risk of mental illness.
>
> But if the enhancement is harmless, why not allow it?
|
| | | |
Date: 18 Apr 2008 15:57:52
From: Chess One
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
<[email protected] > wrote in message
news:b0393b1b-f91d-45d4-8f0c-b7827ce66c1d@f24g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
> FIDE AND VIAGRA
>
> <But if the enhancement is harmless, why not allow it?> -- Mike Murray
>
> <I am curious. Suppose that some misguided soul develops the false
> notion that Viagra helps him play chess. What is the FIDE policy in
> such a case? :)> -- John Walker
>
> It is not Viagra but the next generation of multi-dimensional
> drugs that might help one with randy ladies and play chess.
>
> But to answer the Rev. Walker's question, FIDE would
> ban players using a drug that helps sex and chessic
> performance simultaneously.
Isn't it more true to state that Fide would ban a drug based on the
self-delusion of the person who takes it, and also of the self-delusion of
the public who are suggestible enough to /perceive/ that it offers
advantage.
Hence, we depart from any true substance to that of appearances, for the
sole purpose of gaining money - which is to say that Fide is a whore. And
talking of whores, Horace said
caelum non animun mutant qui trans e currunt
which is as apt comment on chess burocrats as may be held, and as ani ful no
means; to cross the sea is to only change circumstance, not habit. Chess
players have no chess & drugs habit.
Phil Innes
|
| |
Date: 16 Apr 2008 00:13:52
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
STUCK BOBBY
From Chess Problems Forum
http://tinyurl.com/44qw4q
Posted: by mrmip Wed Apr 09, 2008 2:40 am Post subject: Stuck Bobby
The first official world champion Wilhelm Steinitz used to brag that
he can solve any 2 or 3 move chess problem in 20 minutes.
This of course was like a red cloth to Sam Loyd. So he composed a
sneaky 4 mover and gave it to Wilhelm to solve. Steinitz thought,
after half an hour think, that he had cracked the puzzle. Sam was
happy as a pig, since there was a well hidden refutation that had
escaped Wilhelm. So Sam named that puzzle "Stuck Steinitz" and was all
too eager to show it to everyone.
Well. Something similar can be said on Benko's "Stuck Bobby." This is
a problem composed by Pal Benko. Pal introduced once this problem to
Bobby Fischer and Bobby took the bet that he will solve it in half an
hour. Well, he lost. Once seeing the solution Bobby claimed that he
will find another solution (cook) overnight. He lost again -- there is
but one solution.
[Source: 'This Crazy World of Chess' by Larry Evans, page 38, Cardoza
2007]
[email protected] wrote:
> HAS THE CHESS WORLD GONE CRAZY?
>
>
> 14 ch 2008 Written by New In Chess
>
> This Crazy World of Chess is the title of Grandmaster Larry Evans' new
> book.
>
> It is a collection of 101 entertaining dispatches from the back door
> of chess: fun, intrigues, bizarre anecdotes, scandals, great games,
> and high-level gossip.
>
> Inevitably, there is a lot of Bobby Fischer in this book, as Evans was
> Fischer's best friend during a crucial period in his life.
>
> But quite a few other celebrities turn up in this swinging volume:
> Garry Kasparov, Charlie Chaplin, Anatoly Karpov, Artie Shaw, Sammy
> Reshesvky and Ray Charles.
>
> There is another intriguing aspect of this 294 pages book: it costs
> only EURO 11.50! Being a chess publisher myself, I fail to understand how
> Cardoza, Evans' publisher, manages to make any money on this.
>
> In short: an extremely entertaining read at a ridiculously low price.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/2u4u85
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [email protected] wrote:
> > IM SAIDY REVIEWS GM EVANS' NEW BOOK
> >
> > http://tinyurl.com/2mmppr
> >
> > "JUICY, FASCINATING, SPICY, CONCISE"
> >
> > Although criticizing some technical aspects (notably the diagrams)
> > IM Anthony Saidy notes:
> >
> > "Now we have THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS, a new collection of about
> > 100 columns, some augmented, plus an extended article or two,
> > exploring the whole panorama of chess off-the-board conflict,
> > elucidating the murky world of chess politics, with a few examples of
> > actual chess. Suffice to say that no office-holder, whether FIDE crook
> > Campomanes (who banned his critic R. Calvo from intl.chess with
> > American help), the grandiose Ilyumzhinov or a mediocre USCF bumbler,
> > manages to dodge Evans' barbs. Evans campaigned for one man one vote
> > (OMOV) in the USCF and succeeded in modifying the cronyism at the
> > top."
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > [email protected] wrote:
> > > NEW REVIEW
> > >
> > > PeteyDaddy's Chess Library
> > >
> > > This Crazy World of Chess
> > >
> > > Posted December 29, 2007
> > >
> > > I finished this book by Larry Evans a few days ago, but haven't gotten
> > > a chance to review it until now.
> > >
> > > Larry Evans has played a prominent role in the chess world for over
> > > half a century now, as player and journalist, so who better to dig up
> > > and expose the dirt of the international chess scene? This book is a
> > > collection of Larry's articles from the last 50 or so years, and it
> > > provides a behind-the-scenes look at the chess world, for better or
> > > worse.
> > >
> > > Evans was Bobby Fischer's second for a while, so some of the articles
> > > provide more information about the former chess champion, and his rise
> > > to the top.
> > >
> > > Evans doesn't care much for FIDE, the international chess
> > > association. After reading this book, neither do I. It sounds like an
> > > organization that is rife with scandal, and is actually harming chess
> > > in the pursuit of protecting its own interests. Reading about this was
> > > quite disheartening. Right now, chess needs an organization to boost
> > > it up and really bring it back into the public eye, and FIDE doesn't
> > > seem to be that organization. The USCF doesn't seem to be much better,
> > > but I'm hopeful that with Susan Polgar at the helm, chess will
> > > experience a renaissance of sorts in this country. I really like what
> > > she has done with her foundation, and with trying to bring more girls
> > > into the game. I think that she will help to bring more visibility to
> > > the game. But enough of my soapboxing, back to the review.
> > >
> > > One of my favorite articles was one in which he details a trip that
> > > he took to Russia during the 50s with the US chess team. It paints a
> > > very vivid picture of 1950s Russia, and just how large a role chess
> > > played in Russian culture. It was a source of national pride, and
> > > apparently still is. It's what baseball is to America (well, without
> > > the steroids).
> > >
> > > With all the articles collected in one book, some of Larry's tendency
> > > to repeat himself becomes more obvious. There are several points or
> > > anecdotes that are repeated in multiple essays, and I found this a bit
> > > annoying. That's really the only negative comment that I have about
> > > the book though.
> > >
> > > Overall, I enjoyed the book. The chess world truly is a crazy place,
> > > and I'm glad that Larry Evans has spent his life chronicling it.
> > >
> > > http://tinyurl.com/ynldpa
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > [email protected] wrote:
> > > > "This crazy world of chess" by GM Larry Evans, a review
> > > >
> > > > By Chess Loser
> > > >
> > > > http://chessloser.wordpress.com/
> > > >
> > > > December 15, 2007 at 7:08 pm (book review, chess, random crap)
> > > >
> > > > i'm tired. drove out to denver yesterday, in the crappy snowy weather,
> > > > to meet my daughter, who drove in from st louis. she is staying with
> > > > us over the christmas break, for a bout a month. this morning, we woke
> > > > up and drove back home, and here i am, unwashed, tired.
> > > >
> > > > i fear my chess studies will be even more interrupted, since the kid
> > > > is visiting for a month.
> > > >
> > > > i'm going over alekhine's games, having a blast doing it, what fun
> > > > games they are. in all this time, i've managed to read This crazy
> > > > world of chess, the reletively new book by GM Larry Evans. i read the
> > > > signed copy i got from him at reno a few months ago.
> > > >
> > > > what a fun book! there are 101 chapters, each about 2 pages long,
> > > > with the longest chapter being, i think, chapter 28, at 16 pages. the
> > > > book is a bunch of essays, anecdotes, stories, memories. a few games
> > > > are in there, but only at the end of the chapters about something that
> > > > had to do with the games played, for example, there is a chapter on
> > > > ray charles' interest in chess, and at the end is the game played
> > > > between ray charles and larry evans.
> > > >
> > > > the book is great for chess players and non-players alike. it should
> > > > almost be required reading for "serious" chess players, as it gives a
> > > > good "modern history and mythology" about the chess world, and we
> > > > should know where we've been. it's great for people who know nothing
> > > > about chess, as it is just interesting how much craziness and weird
> > > > crap surrounds the game. scandals, the"mystery" of alekhine's death,
> > > > stuff about bobby fischer you probably don't know, unless you are
> > > > edwin "dutch defense" meyer, who knows all about fischer.
> > > >
> > > > there will never be a "this crazy world of monopoly" or even "this
> > > > crazy world of scrabble," although the "professional" scrabble world
> > > > has it's share of weirdness.
> > > >
> > > > a super interesting "insider's" look into the chess world, all in
> > > > bite sized pieces that you don't even have to read in order.
> > > >
> > > > i would recommend it to anyone.
> > > >
> > > > http://tinyurl.com/yuqklb
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > [email protected] wrote:
> > > > > ONE FIVE STAR AMAZON REVIEW
> > > > >
> > > > > Entertainingly Informative, October 23, 2007
> > > > >
> > > > > By Clark Savage, Jr. - See all my reviews
> > > > >
> > > > > Grandmaster Larry Evans really was right in the thick of things during
> > > > > so many major chess events and scandals. With numerous jabs at the
> > > > > corrupt FIDE and many chapters about the eccentric Bobby Fischer,
> > > > > Evans covers a multitude of monumental happenings in the "Crazy World
> > > > > of Chess."
> > > > >
> > > > > There are a few chapters in the book that were uninteresting to me or
> > > > > that I thought were irrelevant, like chess memorabilia being sold on
> > > > > eBay and a bit about handwriting analysis. But overall this book has
> > > > > way too much for that to even matter. The letters and interviews are
> > > > > invaluable and fascinating. His level of involvement is enormous and
> > > > > his interest and devotion to the game are very evident. A lot of work
> > > > > and research must have been put into this book.
> > > > >
> > > > > Any chess fan out there needs to own this book. No argument about it.
> > > > > You might think you know a lot of the history and many of the
> > > > > scandals, but this covers them to a degree that only someone inside
> > > > > the circle of these famous players could expose. You think you know
> > > > > chess, but you ain't seen nothing yet!
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > [email protected] wrote:
> > > > > > On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > > > > > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
> > > > > > > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
> > > > > > > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> > > > > > > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> > > > > > > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
> > > > > > > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> > > > > > > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
> > > > > > > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> > > > > > > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
> > > > > > > again!
> > > > > >
> > > > > > What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
| |
Date: 03 Apr 2008 05:11:05
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
FROM CHESS.COM
31st ch 2008, 05:00pm #1
by Masky Spain Member Since: Aug 2007
Anything worth recommending?
So nothing to do with openings, tactics or any of that.
Just a good read. I see there is a few, like "This crazy world of
chess", "Bobby Fischer Goes to War : How A Lone American Star Defeated
the Soviet Chess Machine"...
[email protected] wrote:
> HAS THE CHESS WORLD GONE CRAZY?
>
>
> 14 ch 2008 Written by New In Chess
>
> This Crazy World of Chess is the title of Grandmaster Larry Evans' new
> book.
>
> It is a collection of 101 entertaining dispatches from the back door
> of chess: fun, intrigues, bizarre anecdotes, scandals, great games,
> and high-level gossip.
>
> Inevitably, there is a lot of Bobby Fischer in this book, as Evans was
> Fischer's best friend during a crucial period in his life.
>
> But quite a few other celebrities turn up in this swinging volume:
> Garry Kasparov, Charlie Chaplin, Anatoly Karpov, Artie Shaw, Sammy
> Reshesvky and Ray Charles.
>
> There is another intriguing aspect of this 294 pages book: it costs
> only EURO 11.50! Being a chess publisher myself, I fail to understand how
> Cardoza, Evans' publisher, manages to make any money on this.
>
> In short: an extremely entertaining read at a ridiculously low price.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/2u4u85
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [email protected] wrote:
> > IM SAIDY REVIEWS GM EVANS' NEW BOOK
> >
> > http://tinyurl.com/2mmppr
> >
> > "JUICY, FASCINATING, SPICY, CONCISE"
> >
> > Although criticizing some technical aspects (notably the diagrams)
> > IM Anthony Saidy notes:
> >
> > "Now we have THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS, a new collection of about
> > 100 columns, some augmented, plus an extended article or two,
> > exploring the whole panorama of chess off-the-board conflict,
> > elucidating the murky world of chess politics, with a few examples of
> > actual chess. Suffice to say that no office-holder, whether FIDE crook
> > Campomanes (who banned his critic R. Calvo from intl.chess with
> > American help), the grandiose Ilyumzhinov or a mediocre USCF bumbler,
> > manages to dodge Evans' barbs. Evans campaigned for one man one vote
> > (OMOV) in the USCF and succeeded in modifying the cronyism at the
> > top."
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > [email protected] wrote:
> > > NEW REVIEW
> > >
> > > PeteyDaddy's Chess Library
> > >
> > > This Crazy World of Chess
> > >
> > > Posted December 29, 2007
> > >
> > > I finished this book by Larry Evans a few days ago, but haven't gotten
> > > a chance to review it until now.
> > >
> > > Larry Evans has played a prominent role in the chess world for over
> > > half a century now, as player and journalist, so who better to dig up
> > > and expose the dirt of the international chess scene? This book is a
> > > collection of Larry's articles from the last 50 or so years, and it
> > > provides a behind-the-scenes look at the chess world, for better or
> > > worse.
> > >
> > > Evans was Bobby Fischer's second for a while, so some of the articles
> > > provide more information about the former chess champion, and his rise
> > > to the top.
> > >
> > > Evans doesn't care much for FIDE, the international chess
> > > association. After reading this book, neither do I. It sounds like an
> > > organization that is rife with scandal, and is actually harming chess
> > > in the pursuit of protecting its own interests. Reading about this was
> > > quite disheartening. Right now, chess needs an organization to boost
> > > it up and really bring it back into the public eye, and FIDE doesn't
> > > seem to be that organization. The USCF doesn't seem to be much better,
> > > but I'm hopeful that with Susan Polgar at the helm, chess will
> > > experience a renaissance of sorts in this country. I really like what
> > > she has done with her foundation, and with trying to bring more girls
> > > into the game. I think that she will help to bring more visibility to
> > > the game. But enough of my soapboxing, back to the review.
> > >
> > > One of my favorite articles was one in which he details a trip that
> > > he took to Russia during the 50s with the US chess team. It paints a
> > > very vivid picture of 1950s Russia, and just how large a role chess
> > > played in Russian culture. It was a source of national pride, and
> > > apparently still is. It's what baseball is to America (well, without
> > > the steroids).
> > >
> > > With all the articles collected in one book, some of Larry's tendency
> > > to repeat himself becomes more obvious. There are several points or
> > > anecdotes that are repeated in multiple essays, and I found this a bit
> > > annoying. That's really the only negative comment that I have about
> > > the book though.
> > >
> > > Overall, I enjoyed the book. The chess world truly is a crazy place,
> > > and I'm glad that Larry Evans has spent his life chronicling it.
> > >
> > > http://tinyurl.com/ynldpa
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > [email protected] wrote:
> > > > "This crazy world of chess" by GM Larry Evans, a review
> > > >
> > > > By Chess Loser
> > > >
> > > > http://chessloser.wordpress.com/
> > > >
> > > > December 15, 2007 at 7:08 pm (book review, chess, random crap)
> > > >
> > > > i'm tired. drove out to denver yesterday, in the crappy snowy weather,
> > > > to meet my daughter, who drove in from st louis. she is staying with
> > > > us over the christmas break, for a bout a month. this morning, we woke
> > > > up and drove back home, and here i am, unwashed, tired.
> > > >
> > > > i fear my chess studies will be even more interrupted, since the kid
> > > > is visiting for a month.
> > > >
> > > > i'm going over alekhine's games, having a blast doing it, what fun
> > > > games they are. in all this time, i've managed to read This crazy
> > > > world of chess, the reletively new book by GM Larry Evans. i read the
> > > > signed copy i got from him at reno a few months ago.
> > > >
> > > > what a fun book! there are 101 chapters, each about 2 pages long,
> > > > with the longest chapter being, i think, chapter 28, at 16 pages. the
> > > > book is a bunch of essays, anecdotes, stories, memories. a few games
> > > > are in there, but only at the end of the chapters about something that
> > > > had to do with the games played, for example, there is a chapter on
> > > > ray charles' interest in chess, and at the end is the game played
> > > > between ray charles and larry evans.
> > > >
> > > > the book is great for chess players and non-players alike. it should
> > > > almost be required reading for "serious" chess players, as it gives a
> > > > good "modern history and mythology" about the chess world, and we
> > > > should know where we've been. it's great for people who know nothing
> > > > about chess, as it is just interesting how much craziness and weird
> > > > crap surrounds the game. scandals, the"mystery" of alekhine's death,
> > > > stuff about bobby fischer you probably don't know, unless you are
> > > > edwin "dutch defense" meyer, who knows all about fischer.
> > > >
> > > > there will never be a "this crazy world of monopoly" or even "this
> > > > crazy world of scrabble," although the "professional" scrabble world
> > > > has it's share of weirdness.
> > > >
> > > > a super interesting "insider's" look into the chess world, all in
> > > > bite sized pieces that you don't even have to read in order.
> > > >
> > > > i would recommend it to anyone.
> > > >
> > > > http://tinyurl.com/yuqklb
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > [email protected] wrote:
> > > > > ONE FIVE STAR AMAZON REVIEW
> > > > >
> > > > > Entertainingly Informative, October 23, 2007
> > > > >
> > > > > By Clark Savage, Jr. - See all my reviews
> > > > >
> > > > > Grandmaster Larry Evans really was right in the thick of things during
> > > > > so many major chess events and scandals. With numerous jabs at the
> > > > > corrupt FIDE and many chapters about the eccentric Bobby Fischer,
> > > > > Evans covers a multitude of monumental happenings in the "Crazy World
> > > > > of Chess."
> > > > >
> > > > > There are a few chapters in the book that were uninteresting to me or
> > > > > that I thought were irrelevant, like chess memorabilia being sold on
> > > > > eBay and a bit about handwriting analysis. But overall this book has
> > > > > way too much for that to even matter. The letters and interviews are
> > > > > invaluable and fascinating. His level of involvement is enormous and
> > > > > his interest and devotion to the game are very evident. A lot of work
> > > > > and research must have been put into this book.
> > > > >
> > > > > Any chess fan out there needs to own this book. No argument about it.
> > > > > You might think you know a lot of the history and many of the
> > > > > scandals, but this covers them to a degree that only someone inside
> > > > > the circle of these famous players could expose. You think you know
> > > > > chess, but you ain't seen nothing yet!
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > [email protected] wrote:
> > > > > > On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > > > > > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
> > > > > > > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
> > > > > > > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> > > > > > > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> > > > > > > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
> > > > > > > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> > > > > > > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
> > > > > > > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> > > > > > > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
> > > > > > > again!
> > > > > >
> > > > > > What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
| |
Date: 16 Mar 2008 08:21:14
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
HAS THE CHESS WORLD GONE CRAZY?
14 ch 2008 Written by New In Chess
This Crazy World of Chess is the title of Grandmaster Larry Evans' new
book.
It is a collection of 101 entertaining dispatches from the back door
of chess: fun, intrigues, bizarre anecdotes, scandals, great games,
and high-level gossip.
Inevitably, there is a lot of Bobby Fischer in this book, as Evans was
Fischer's best friend during a crucial period in his life.
But quite a few other celebrities turn up in this swinging volume:
Garry Kasparov, Charlie Chaplin, Anatoly Karpov, Artie Shaw, Sammy
Reshesvky and Ray Charles.
There is another intriguing aspect of this 294 pages book: it costs
only EURO 11.50! Being a chess publisher myself, I fail to understand how
Cardoza, Evans' publisher, manages to make any money on this.
In short: an extremely entertaining read at a ridiculously low price.
http://tinyurl.com/2u4u85
[email protected] wrote:
> IM SAIDY REVIEWS GM EVANS' NEW BOOK
>
> http://tinyurl.com/2mmppr
>
> "JUICY, FASCINATING, SPICY, CONCISE"
>
> Although criticizing some technical aspects (notably the diagrams)
> IM Anthony Saidy notes:
>
> "Now we have THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS, a new collection of about
> 100 columns, some augmented, plus an extended article or two,
> exploring the whole panorama of chess off-the-board conflict,
> elucidating the murky world of chess politics, with a few examples of
> actual chess. Suffice to say that no office-holder, whether FIDE crook
> Campomanes (who banned his critic R. Calvo from intl.chess with
> American help), the grandiose Ilyumzhinov or a mediocre USCF bumbler,
> manages to dodge Evans' barbs. Evans campaigned for one man one vote
> (OMOV) in the USCF and succeeded in modifying the cronyism at the
> top."
>
>
>
>
>
> [email protected] wrote:
> > NEW REVIEW
> >
> > PeteyDaddy's Chess Library
> >
> > This Crazy World of Chess
> >
> > Posted December 29, 2007
> >
> > I finished this book by Larry Evans a few days ago, but haven't gotten
> > a chance to review it until now.
> >
> > Larry Evans has played a prominent role in the chess world for over
> > half a century now, as player and journalist, so who better to dig up
> > and expose the dirt of the international chess scene? This book is a
> > collection of Larry's articles from the last 50 or so years, and it
> > provides a behind-the-scenes look at the chess world, for better or
> > worse.
> >
> > Evans was Bobby Fischer's second for a while, so some of the articles
> > provide more information about the former chess champion, and his rise
> > to the top.
> >
> > Evans doesn't care much for FIDE, the international chess
> > association. After reading this book, neither do I. It sounds like an
> > organization that is rife with scandal, and is actually harming chess
> > in the pursuit of protecting its own interests. Reading about this was
> > quite disheartening. Right now, chess needs an organization to boost
> > it up and really bring it back into the public eye, and FIDE doesn't
> > seem to be that organization. The USCF doesn't seem to be much better,
> > but I'm hopeful that with Susan Polgar at the helm, chess will
> > experience a renaissance of sorts in this country. I really like what
> > she has done with her foundation, and with trying to bring more girls
> > into the game. I think that she will help to bring more visibility to
> > the game. But enough of my soapboxing, back to the review.
> >
> > One of my favorite articles was one in which he details a trip that
> > he took to Russia during the 50s with the US chess team. It paints a
> > very vivid picture of 1950s Russia, and just how large a role chess
> > played in Russian culture. It was a source of national pride, and
> > apparently still is. It's what baseball is to America (well, without
> > the steroids).
> >
> > With all the articles collected in one book, some of Larry's tendency
> > to repeat himself becomes more obvious. There are several points or
> > anecdotes that are repeated in multiple essays, and I found this a bit
> > annoying. That's really the only negative comment that I have about
> > the book though.
> >
> > Overall, I enjoyed the book. The chess world truly is a crazy place,
> > and I'm glad that Larry Evans has spent his life chronicling it.
> >
> > http://tinyurl.com/ynldpa
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > [email protected] wrote:
> > > "This crazy world of chess" by GM Larry Evans, a review
> > >
> > > By Chess Loser
> > >
> > > http://chessloser.wordpress.com/
> > >
> > > December 15, 2007 at 7:08 pm (book review, chess, random crap)
> > >
> > > i'm tired. drove out to denver yesterday, in the crappy snowy weather,
> > > to meet my daughter, who drove in from st louis. she is staying with
> > > us over the christmas break, for a bout a month. this morning, we woke
> > > up and drove back home, and here i am, unwashed, tired.
> > >
> > > i fear my chess studies will be even more interrupted, since the kid
> > > is visiting for a month.
> > >
> > > i'm going over alekhine's games, having a blast doing it, what fun
> > > games they are. in all this time, i've managed to read This crazy
> > > world of chess, the reletively new book by GM Larry Evans. i read the
> > > signed copy i got from him at reno a few months ago.
> > >
> > > what a fun book! there are 101 chapters, each about 2 pages long,
> > > with the longest chapter being, i think, chapter 28, at 16 pages. the
> > > book is a bunch of essays, anecdotes, stories, memories. a few games
> > > are in there, but only at the end of the chapters about something that
> > > had to do with the games played, for example, there is a chapter on
> > > ray charles' interest in chess, and at the end is the game played
> > > between ray charles and larry evans.
> > >
> > > the book is great for chess players and non-players alike. it should
> > > almost be required reading for "serious" chess players, as it gives a
> > > good "modern history and mythology" about the chess world, and we
> > > should know where we've been. it's great for people who know nothing
> > > about chess, as it is just interesting how much craziness and weird
> > > crap surrounds the game. scandals, the"mystery" of alekhine's death,
> > > stuff about bobby fischer you probably don't know, unless you are
> > > edwin "dutch defense" meyer, who knows all about fischer.
> > >
> > > there will never be a "this crazy world of monopoly" or even "this
> > > crazy world of scrabble," although the "professional" scrabble world
> > > has it's share of weirdness.
> > >
> > > a super interesting "insider's" look into the chess world, all in
> > > bite sized pieces that you don't even have to read in order.
> > >
> > > i would recommend it to anyone.
> > >
> > > http://tinyurl.com/yuqklb
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > [email protected] wrote:
> > > > ONE FIVE STAR AMAZON REVIEW
> > > >
> > > > Entertainingly Informative, October 23, 2007
> > > >
> > > > By Clark Savage, Jr. - See all my reviews
> > > >
> > > > Grandmaster Larry Evans really was right in the thick of things during
> > > > so many major chess events and scandals. With numerous jabs at the
> > > > corrupt FIDE and many chapters about the eccentric Bobby Fischer,
> > > > Evans covers a multitude of monumental happenings in the "Crazy World
> > > > of Chess."
> > > >
> > > > There are a few chapters in the book that were uninteresting to me or
> > > > that I thought were irrelevant, like chess memorabilia being sold on
> > > > eBay and a bit about handwriting analysis. But overall this book has
> > > > way too much for that to even matter. The letters and interviews are
> > > > invaluable and fascinating. His level of involvement is enormous and
> > > > his interest and devotion to the game are very evident. A lot of work
> > > > and research must have been put into this book.
> > > >
> > > > Any chess fan out there needs to own this book. No argument about it.
> > > > You might think you know a lot of the history and many of the
> > > > scandals, but this covers them to a degree that only someone inside
> > > > the circle of these famous players could expose. You think you know
> > > > chess, but you ain't seen nothing yet!
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > [email protected] wrote:
> > > > > On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > > > > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
> > > > > >
> > > > > > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> > > > > >
> > > > > > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
> > > > > >
> > > > > > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
> > > > > > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
> > > > > > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> > > > > > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> > > > > > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
> > > > > > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> > > > > > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
> > > > > > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> > > > > > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
> > > > > > again!
> > > > >
> > > > > What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
| | |
Date: 18 Apr 2008 13:30:26
From: SBD
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Apr 18, 3:01 pm, "Chess One" <[email protected] > wrote:
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> news:63c976d1-1f65-453c-8307-37f03031fa49@e67g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
>
> > WHAT IF?
>
> > <There's a lot of work being done on brain
> > "reprogramming" using electrical stimulation.
> > Crackpot? Maybe, maybe not. If not, what if
> > someone with the resources to undergo this
> >>treatment gets an unfair advantage?> -- John Walker
>
> > Fischer once said that when he saw Geller putting
> > on a pot belly, he knew the guy was finished at the very
> > top level. Those who can afford a personal trainer will
> > probably also have to be banned from the game. To
> > play chess may require eschewing excellent physical
> > fitness beyond what can be acquired on one's own -- IF
> > such fitness helps in over-the-board performance.
>
> I never heard this before. Can you tell us, Larry, when he said this? There
> is something quintessentially right about this sort of statement related to
> chess, even if it is elusive to elucidate.
You know if chess wants to promote itself......
This idea that a fit player is the better player would certainly be an
interesting academic study, and possible promotional tool for the
game.
Doubt it will happen.....
|
| | |
Date: 18 Apr 2008 10:27:45
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
FISCHER VS. GELLER
According to THE GAMES OF ROBERT J. FISCHER by Wade & O'Connell
Fischer won 4, lost 5 and drew 2 against Geller.
<When did he say that and was that correct? I seem to remember that
Fischer had a comparatively bad record versus Geller. Did Fischer
lose
to Geller after that comment? > -- John Hillery
Fischer won their last game with Black at Palma de Mallorca 1970 after
he rejected a draw offer by Geller at move 7! After the game when his
second Larry Evans asked why he turned down the draw, Bobby said
replied that Geller was fat and out of shape.
SBD wrote:
> On Apr 17, 10:35 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Fischer once said that when he saw Geller putting
> > on a pot belly, he knew the guy was finished at the very
> > top level.
>
>
>
> When did he say that and was that correct? I seem to remember that
> Fischer had a comparatively bad record versus Geller. Did Fischer lose
> to Geller after that comment?
>
> Supposedly Euwe once told Bogo that he was too fat to be a chess
> master....
|
| | |
Date: 18 Apr 2008 07:09:13
From: SBD
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Apr 17, 10:35 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected] > wrote:
> Fischer once said that when he saw Geller putting
> on a pot belly, he knew the guy was finished at the very
> top level.
When did he say that and was that correct? I seem to remember that
Fischer had a comparatively bad record versus Geller. Did Fischer lose
to Geller after that comment?
Supposedly Euwe once told Bogo that he was too fat to be a chess
master....
|
| | | |
Date: 18 Apr 2008 08:14:42
From: Mike Murray
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:09:13 -0700 (PDT), SBD <[email protected] >
wrote:
>Supposedly Euwe once told Bogo that he was too fat to be a chess
>master....
It was probably Tartakower who told him that.
|
| | |
Date: 17 Apr 2008 20:35:32
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
WHAT IF?
<There's a lot of work being done on brain
"reprogramming" using electrical stimulation.
Crackpot? Maybe, maybe not. If not, what if
someone with the resources to undergo this
>treatment gets an unfair advantage?> -- John Walker
Fischer once said that when he saw Geller putting
on a pot belly, he knew the guy was finished at the very
top level. Those who can afford a personal trainer will
probably also have to be banned from the game. To
play chess may require eschewing excellent physical
fitness beyond what can be acquired on one's own -- IF
such fitness helps in over-the-board performance.
The logic is basically the same as punishing those
who can afford some kind of exotic brain enhancement.
And Lord help us if a sex drug also proves potent
in playing chess. All men who want to perform four
times a day might have to choose between that lithe
oversexed woman or playing in a chess tournament.
Yours, Larry Parr
Brian Lafferty wrote:
> Mike Murray wrote:
> > On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:13:03 -0700, "J.D. Walker"
> > <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >
> >> I end up agreeing with Larry for a different reason. I do not think
> >> that FIDE drug testing will be able to handle the load of future mental
> >> performance enhancing drugs. It is already a lost cause.
> >
> > And there's the further question as to whether mental performance
> > enhancing drugs actually harm the user, and, if so, whether the harm
> > outweigh the benefits accruing from their use.
> >
> > And it's not just drugs. There's a lot of work being done on brain
> > "reprogramming" using electrical stimulation. Crackpot? Maybe, maybe
> > not. If not, what if someone with the resources to undergo this
> > treatment gets an unfair advantage?
> >
> > Further questions about adult choices versus children's choices (or
> > choices imposed on them by adult guardians).
> Consider brain wave training. Take a look at Neuroprogrammer 2
> http://www.transparentcorp.com/products/np/
|
| | | |
Date: 18 Apr 2008 16:01:35
From: Chess One
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
<[email protected] > wrote in message
news:63c976d1-1f65-453c-8307-37f03031fa49@e67g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
> WHAT IF?
>
> <There's a lot of work being done on brain
> "reprogramming" using electrical stimulation.
> Crackpot? Maybe, maybe not. If not, what if
> someone with the resources to undergo this
>>treatment gets an unfair advantage?> -- John Walker
>
> Fischer once said that when he saw Geller putting
> on a pot belly, he knew the guy was finished at the very
> top level. Those who can afford a personal trainer will
> probably also have to be banned from the game. To
> play chess may require eschewing excellent physical
> fitness beyond what can be acquired on one's own -- IF
> such fitness helps in over-the-board performance.
I never heard this before. Can you tell us, Larry, when he said this? There
is something quintessentially right about this sort of statement related to
chess, even if it is elusive to elucidate.
Phil Innes
> The logic is basically the same as punishing those
> who can afford some kind of exotic brain enhancement.
>
> And Lord help us if a sex drug also proves potent
> in playing chess. All men who want to perform four
> times a day might have to choose between that lithe
> oversexed woman or playing in a chess tournament.
>
> Yours, Larry Parr
>
>
>
> Brian Lafferty wrote:
>> Mike Murray wrote:
>> > On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:13:03 -0700, "J.D. Walker"
>> > <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> >> I end up agreeing with Larry for a different reason. I do not think
>> >> that FIDE drug testing will be able to handle the load of future
>> >> mental
>> >> performance enhancing drugs. It is already a lost cause.
>> >
>> > And there's the further question as to whether mental performance
>> > enhancing drugs actually harm the user, and, if so, whether the harm
>> > outweigh the benefits accruing from their use.
>> >
>> > And it's not just drugs. There's a lot of work being done on brain
>> > "reprogramming" using electrical stimulation. Crackpot? Maybe, maybe
>> > not. If not, what if someone with the resources to undergo this
>> > treatment gets an unfair advantage?
>> >
>> > Further questions about adult choices versus children's choices (or
>> > choices imposed on them by adult guardians).
>> Consider brain wave training. Take a look at Neuroprogrammer 2
>> http://www.transparentcorp.com/products/np/
|
| | | |
Date: 17 Apr 2008 23:27:12
From: Mike Murray
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:35:32 -0700 (PDT), "[email protected]"
<[email protected] > wrote:
>WHAT IF?
><There's a lot of work being done on brain
>"reprogramming" using electrical stimulation.
>Crackpot? Maybe, maybe not. If not, what if
>someone with the resources to undergo this
>>treatment gets an unfair advantage?>
> Fischer once said that when he saw Geller putting
>on a pot belly, he knew the guy was finished at the very
>top level. Those who can afford a personal trainer will
>probably also have to be banned from the game. To
>play chess may require eschewing excellent physical
>fitness beyond what can be acquired on one's own -- IF
>such fitness helps in over-the-board performance.
> The logic is basically the same as punishing those
>who can afford some kind of exotic brain enhancement.
To make a tighter analogy to the physical sports, punishment would be
reserved for those making a trade-off of health down the road for
competitive advantage today. As with the physical sports, this isn't
entirely rational or consistent -- it's quite possible to damage the
body with a completely natural training regimen.
Today, we tend to allow people to trade dollars for competitive
advantage, but often frown (*and* often wink) at trading health and
life span for it.
To me, the real question is how to handle those who would make this
decision for their children -- an artificial growth hormone that adds
pounds and inches now at the expense of a few years of life or some
degenerative disease hitting a few years early. Or brain enhancement
at the risk of mental illness.
But if the enhancement is harmless, why not allow it?
|
| | | | |
Date: 18 Apr 2008 11:17:43
From: David Kane
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
"Mike Murray" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:35:32 -0700 (PDT), "[email protected]"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>WHAT IF?
>
>><There's a lot of work being done on brain
>>"reprogramming" using electrical stimulation.
>>Crackpot? Maybe, maybe not. If not, what if
>>someone with the resources to undergo this
>>>treatment gets an unfair advantage?>
>
>> Fischer once said that when he saw Geller putting
>>on a pot belly, he knew the guy was finished at the very
>>top level. Those who can afford a personal trainer will
>>probably also have to be banned from the game. To
>>play chess may require eschewing excellent physical
>>fitness beyond what can be acquired on one's own -- IF
>>such fitness helps in over-the-board performance.
>
>> The logic is basically the same as punishing those
>>who can afford some kind of exotic brain enhancement.
>
> To make a tighter analogy to the physical sports, punishment would be
> reserved for those making a trade-off of health down the road for
> competitive advantage today. As with the physical sports, this isn't
> entirely rational or consistent -- it's quite possible to damage the
> body with a completely natural training regimen.
>
> Today, we tend to allow people to trade dollars for competitive
> advantage, but often frown (*and* often wink) at trading health and
> life span for it.
>
> To me, the real question is how to handle those who would make this
> decision for their children -- an artificial growth hormone that adds
> pounds and inches now at the expense of a few years of life or some
> degenerative disease hitting a few years early. Or brain enhancement
> at the risk of mental illness.
>
> But if the enhancement is harmless, why not allow it?
It's much easier to defend the principle that players will
compete without artificial enhancements.
While I know that one can have a serious debate
over what "artificial" means, it's a lot easier than
defining "harmless". As a practical matter, it has
proven very difficult to reduce drug use in sports
where they confer a clear advantage and a drug
culture has developed. It's sensible for chess to
adopt the principle that artificial enhancements are
prohibited
|
| | | |
Date: 17 Apr 2008 21:23:34
From: J.D. Walker
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
[email protected] wrote:
> WHAT IF?
>
> <There's a lot of work being done on brain
> "reprogramming" using electrical stimulation.
> Crackpot? Maybe, maybe not. If not, what if
> someone with the resources to undergo this
>> treatment gets an unfair advantage?> -- John Walker
Larry, this was actually said by Mr. Murray. It is interesting, but I
know little about it. :)
> Fischer once said that when he saw Geller putting
> on a pot belly, he knew the guy was finished at the very
> top level. Those who can afford a personal trainer will
> probably also have to be banned from the game. To
> play chess may require eschewing excellent physical
> fitness beyond what can be acquired on one's own -- IF
> such fitness helps in over-the-board performance.
>
> The logic is basically the same as punishing those
> who can afford some kind of exotic brain enhancement.
>
> And Lord help us if a sex drug also proves potent
> in playing chess. All men who want to perform four
> times a day might have to choose between that lithe
> oversexed woman or playing in a chess tournament.
I am curious. Suppose that some misguided soul develops the false
notion that Viagra helps him play chess. What is the FIDE policy in
such a case? :)
> Yours, Larry Parr
>
>
>
> Brian Lafferty wrote:
>> Mike Murray wrote:
>>> On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:13:03 -0700, "J.D. Walker"
>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> I end up agreeing with Larry for a different reason. I do not think
>>>> that FIDE drug testing will be able to handle the load of future mental
>>>> performance enhancing drugs. It is already a lost cause.
>>>
>>> And there's the further question as to whether mental performance
>>> enhancing drugs actually harm the user, and, if so, whether the harm
>>> outweigh the benefits accruing from their use.
>>>
>>> And it's not just drugs. There's a lot of work being done on brain
>>> "reprogramming" using electrical stimulation. Crackpot? Maybe, maybe
>>> not. If not, what if someone with the resources to undergo this
>>> treatment gets an unfair advantage?
>>>
>>> Further questions about adult choices versus children's choices (or
>>> choices imposed on them by adult guardians).
>> Consider brain wave training. Take a look at Neuroprogrammer 2
>> http://www.transparentcorp.com/products/np/
|
| | |
Date: 17 Apr 2008 12:50:08
From: Quadibloc
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Apr 17, 12:24=A0pm, Mike Murray <[email protected] > wrote:
> And it's not just drugs. =A0There's a lot of work being done on brain
> "reprogramming" using electrical stimulation. =A0Crackpot? =A0Maybe, maybe=
> not.
I think that is beyond our current capabilities.
I am hoping that 'uploading' will become possible sooner than
currently thought. Not by scanning and duplicating the brain, but by
connecting an electronic analogue of the brain to the brain, so that
it gradually becomes a part of the brain - until people can survive
the death of the biological part of their brain without impairment.
When people have giant computers directly connected to their brains,
starting in youth, so as to improve their longevity... chess as a
competitive activity will be indeed vitiated. But it's a small price
for eternal life.
John Savard
|
| |
Date: 25 Feb 2008 21:08:25
From: help bot
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Feb 14, 12:34 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected] > wrote:
> IM SAIDY REVIEWS GM EVANS' NEW BOOK
>
> http://tinyurl.com/2mmppr
>
> "JUICY, FASCINATING, SPICY, CONCISE"
Uh-oh. When the word "concise" appears in a
generally favorable review, the likely translation
into honest-Abe plain English is that the work
lacks substance, or real heft.
I discovered this after buying a book (pamphlet)
on e-bay; instead of giving the fact that the mere
pamphlet was rather light on material, a reviewer
chose the term "concise" so he could render a
favorable review. I still learned something, but it
was not quite what it was cracked up to be, and
I wished the authors had done a lot more work
and a little less keting... .
Still, it isn't often that a chess book can be had
for so little, apart from Dover editions where the
author is long dead. The real question for many
will be "how much is new material to long-time
Chess Life readers, and how much mere
re-re-rehashing of LE's /olde stuff/?"
-- help bot
|
| |
Date: 24 Feb 2008 15:22:31
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
Kindred's Kaleidoscope: A LIBRARY MUST
Yesterday I was browsing in Barnes&Noble and finding a couple books
of interest and carrying them under arm, I decided to take a look in
the chess shelf section. Lo and Behold! Another book that caught my
eye immediately is the latest work by GM Larry Evans whose excellent
column was cut in CHESS LIFE magazine.
THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS is a must read for anyone interested in
chess covering an array of topics. On the cover, it amply sums up the
character of this book: After reading this controversial book, you'll
never look at chess the same way again! I stand to differ with such a
broad assessment; it is, however, the most revealing book covering a
host of controversial subjects that only the grand old man of chess
knowledge and behind the scenes historian, GM Evans, can reliably
report and differentiate fact, myth and fiction.
The meat of the book covers in 101 entertainingly delightful subjects
exposing the crazy world of chess blending a host of various tidbits
of fun, humor, history, bizarre stories that keep you from laying the
book aside once you open its pages. All the rumors, the Fischer that
Larry Evans knew and worked with, the escapades from Karpov, Kasparov,
and other legends of the chess world, brilliant interviews with long
forgotten Dr. Ricardo Calvo and with Lev Alburt and Averbakh which
will enrich your joy of chess. There are little known stories hidden
in the annals of history that only Evans could tap.
There are 297 pages loaded on every page with stories, games, a rich
history of events only a man with a pen like Evans could tell.
Thank you Cardoza Publishing for bringing this book to ket! Thank
you GM Evans for a truly enlightening look at chess as you experienced
it. As Stan Vaughan, founder of the American Chess Association so well
put it: "Grandmaster Evans is a national treasure."
Chess One wrote:
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > "YOU THINK YOU KNOW CHESS? YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET." -- a reviewer
> > at amazon.com
> >
> > Northshire Bookstore Review(s)
>
> Northshire, Manchester, Vermont
>
> > Reviewed By... Christopher Law
> >
> > Chess has traditionally been associated with insanity.
>
> ROFL!
>
> > Grandmaster
> > Wilhelm Steinitz was incarcerated in a Moscow asylum where he played a
> > game over an invisible telephone line with God.
>
> Bedlam twice contracted a game with Members of Parliament, and won both
> matches ~ which reflects methinks more on Parliamentary intelligence than
> the incarcerated ones, and indeed, is also a comment on the nature of
> insanity.
>
> > God Lost. But nothing
> > about the clinically insane matches the machinations of Chess'
> > politics. Grandmaster Evans' book chronicles the bad behavior of the
> > powerful; from the antics of Bobby Fisher, whom he knew intimately,
>
> causa causata! Let us think the Northshire reviewer intended, 'knew well'.
>
> > to
> > the absurd motions of FIDE (Chess' governing body),
>
> Chess's, or, if you can't manage that, 'the governing body of chess', a
> handy form of English use, normally adopted by intelligent non-speakers of
> it.
>
> > who began testing
> > players for steroids in an effort to bring the game to the Olympics.
>
> Such an odd sentence, as if its parts were connected? We got Evans's
> representation of Fischer's bad behavior and immediately following that,
> steroid use, as if Fischer was Barry Bonds.
>
> > The bid failed. Testing continues. But wait! There is more: anti-
> > semitism, bribery, blackmail, embezzlement, supression of free speech,
> > and every other kind of evil one can think of to add to this list.
> > Fascinating!
>
> Is it?
>
> It is possibly intriguing, but these days, where every form of corporate and
> govenment corruption is made very evident, is it fascinating, exactly?
>
> Isn't it people's experience that our governance of ourselves is very
> generally amiss - even governance of a game?
>
> I personally think Evans' work important in that - because chess is
> apparently such a pure or innocent pre-occupation and art-form - /even here/
> there is corruption. And without need to advance any of the normal
> geo-political and commercial interests, Evans well identifies what happens
> when good people do nothing, and a coterie of clerks take over, who thereby
> indifferently support Kirsan-Spaceman.
>
> Phil Innes
>
> >
> >
> > Chess One wrote:
> >> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> >> news:4340599f-1d58-4d99-a09d-a015c9c09d7a@d21g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> >> > IM SAIDY REVIEWS GM EVANS' NEW BOOK
> >> >
> >> > http://tinyurl.com/2mmppr
> >> >
> >> > "JUICY, FASCINATING, SPICY, CONCISE"
> >> >
> >> > Although criticizing some technical aspects (notably the diagrams)
> >> > IM Anthony Saidy notes:
> >> >
> >> > "Now we have THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS, a new collection of about
> >> > 100 columns, some augmented, plus an extended article or two,
> >> > exploring the whole panorama of chess off-the-board conflict,
> >> > elucidating the murky world of chess politics, with a few examples of
> >> > actual chess. Suffice to say that no office-holder, whether FIDE crook
> >> > Campomanes (who banned his critic R. Calvo from intl.chess with
> >> > American help), the grandiose Ilyumzhinov or a mediocre USCF bumbler,
> >> > manages to dodge Evans' barbs. Evans campaigned for one man one vote
> >> > (OMOV) in the USCF and succeeded in modifying the cronyism at the
> >> > top."
> >>
> >> You think that's crazy, Larry? Read this: [nb, its not April 1st.]
> >>
> >> The New York Times, February 14th, 2008, reports:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Like most chess clubs, the one at Public School 29 is composed of nearly
> >> all
> >> boys. lene Hochman, the coach, wants to change that and in a most
> >> unusual
> >> way: with dolls.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> At a meeting Thursday, she unveiled what may be the world's first Barbie
> >> chess set. For the white pieces, Ms. Hochman, a doll collector and author
> >> of
> >> ''The Doll Hospital Directory,'' glued the heads of Barbie dolls onto the
> >> pawns and queen, and Ken onto the king. For the opposing pieces, she used
> >> Barbies with black wigs for the pawns and the doll's ''African-American
> >> friends,'' Steven and Shani, as king and queen.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ''I believe with this Barbie set I can teach any girl how to play,'' said
> >> Ms. Hochman.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Fortunately, no picture is available. Phil Innes
> >>
> >>
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > [email protected] wrote:
> >> >> NEW REVIEW
> >> >>
> >> >> PeteyDaddy's Chess Library
> >> >>
> >> >> This Crazy World of Chess
> >> >>
> >> >> Posted December 29, 2007
> >> >>
> >> >> I finished this book by Larry Evans a few days ago, but haven't gotten
> >> >> a chance to review it until now.
> >> >>
> >> >> Larry Evans has played a prominent role in the chess world for over
> >> >> half a century now, as player and journalist, so who better to dig up
> >> >> and expose the dirt of the international chess scene? This book is a
> >> >> collection of Larry's articles from the last 50 or so years, and it
> >> >> provides a behind-the-scenes look at the chess world, for better or
> >> >> worse.
> >> >>
> >> >> Evans was Bobby Fischer's second for a while, so some of the articles
> >> >> provide more information about the former chess champion, and his rise
> >> >> to the top.
> >> >>
> >> >> Evans doesn't care much for FIDE, the international chess
> >> >> association. After reading this book, neither do I. It sounds like an
> >> >> organization that is rife with scandal, and is actually harming chess
> >> >> in the pursuit of protecting its own interests. Reading about this was
> >> >> quite disheartening. Right now, chess needs an organization to boost
> >> >> it up and really bring it back into the public eye, and FIDE doesn't
> >> >> seem to be that organization. The USCF doesn't seem to be much better,
> >> >> but I'm hopeful that with Susan Polgar at the helm, chess will
> >> >> experience a renaissance of sorts in this country. I really like what
> >> >> she has done with her foundation, and with trying to bring more girls
> >> >> into the game. I think that she will help to bring more visibility to
> >> >> the game. But enough of my soapboxing, back to the review.
> >> >>
> >> >> One of my favorite articles was one in which he details a trip that
> >> >> he took to Russia during the 50s with the US chess team. It paints a
> >> >> very vivid picture of 1950s Russia, and just how large a role chess
> >> >> played in Russian culture. It was a source of national pride, and
> >> >> apparently still is. It's what baseball is to America (well, without
> >> >> the steroids).
> >> >>
> >> >> With all the articles collected in one book, some of Larry's tendency
> >> >> to repeat himself becomes more obvious. There are several points or
> >> >> anecdotes that are repeated in multiple essays, and I found this a bit
> >> >> annoying. That's really the only negative comment that I have about
> >> >> the book though.
> >> >>
> >> >> Overall, I enjoyed the book. The chess world truly is a crazy place,
> >> >> and I'm glad that Larry Evans has spent his life chronicling it.
> >> >>
> >> >> http://tinyurl.com/ynldpa
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> [email protected] wrote:
> >> >> > "This crazy world of chess" by GM Larry Evans, a review
> >> >> >
> >> >> > By Chess Loser
> >> >> >
> >> >> > http://chessloser.wordpress.com/
> >> >> >
> >> >> > December 15, 2007 at 7:08 pm (book review, chess, random crap)
> >> >> >
> >> >> > i'm tired. drove out to denver yesterday, in the crappy snowy
> >> >> > weather,
> >> >> > to meet my daughter, who drove in from st louis. she is staying with
> >> >> > us over the christmas break, for a bout a month. this morning, we
> >> >> > woke
> >> >> > up and drove back home, and here i am, unwashed, tired.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > i fear my chess studies will be even more interrupted, since the
> >> >> > kid
> >> >> > is visiting for a month.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > i'm going over alekhine's games, having a blast doing it, what fun
> >> >> > games they are. in all this time, i've managed to read This crazy
> >> >> > world of chess, the reletively new book by GM Larry Evans. i read
> >> >> > the
> >> >> > signed copy i got from him at reno a few months ago.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > what a fun book! there are 101 chapters, each about 2 pages long,
> >> >> > with the longest chapter being, i think, chapter 28, at 16 pages.
> >> >> > the
> >> >> > book is a bunch of essays, anecdotes, stories, memories. a few games
> >> >> > are in there, but only at the end of the chapters about something
> >> >> > that
> >> >> > had to do with the games played, for example, there is a chapter on
> >> >> > ray charles' interest in chess, and at the end is the game played
> >> >> > between ray charles and larry evans.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > the book is great for chess players and non-players alike. it
> >> >> > should
> >> >> > almost be required reading for "serious" chess players, as it gives
> >> >> > a
> >> >> > good "modern history and mythology" about the chess world, and we
> >> >> > should know where we've been. it's great for people who know nothing
> >> >> > about chess, as it is just interesting how much craziness and weird
> >> >> > crap surrounds the game. scandals, the"mystery" of alekhine's death,
> >> >> > stuff about bobby fischer you probably don't know, unless you are
> >> >> > edwin "dutch defense" meyer, who knows all about fischer.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > there will never be a "this crazy world of monopoly" or even "this
> >> >> > crazy world of scrabble," although the "professional" scrabble world
> >> >> > has it's share of weirdness.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > a super interesting "insider's" look into the chess world, all in
> >> >> > bite sized pieces that you don't even have to read in order.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > i would recommend it to anyone.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > http://tinyurl.com/yuqklb
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> > [email protected] wrote:
> >> >> > > ONE FIVE STAR AMAZON REVIEW
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > Entertainingly Informative, October 23, 2007
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > By Clark Savage, Jr. - See all my reviews
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > Grandmaster Larry Evans really was right in the thick of things
> >> >> > > during
> >> >> > > so many major chess events and scandals. With numerous jabs at the
> >> >> > > corrupt FIDE and many chapters about the eccentric Bobby Fischer,
> >> >> > > Evans covers a multitude of monumental happenings in the "Crazy
> >> >> > > World
> >> >> > > of Chess."
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > There are a few chapters in the book that were uninteresting to me
> >> >> > > or
> >> >> > > that I thought were irrelevant, like chess memorabilia being sold
> >> >> > > on
> >> >> > > eBay and a bit about handwriting analysis. But overall this book
> >> >> > > has
> >> >> > > way too much for that to even matter. The letters and interviews
> >> >> > > are
> >> >> > > invaluable and fascinating. His level of involvement is enormous
> >> >> > > and
> >> >> > > his interest and devotion to the game are very evident. A lot of
> >> >> > > work
> >> >> > > and research must have been put into this book.
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > Any chess fan out there needs to own this book. No argument about
> >> >> > > it.
> >> >> > > You might think you know a lot of the history and many of the
> >> >> > > scandals, but this covers them to a degree that only someone
> >> >> > > inside
> >> >> > > the circle of these famous players could expose. You think you
> >> >> > > know
> >> >> > > chess, but you ain't seen nothing yet!
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > [email protected] wrote:
> >> >> > > > On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
> >> >> > > > wrote:
> >> >> > > > > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
> >> >> > > > >
> >> >> > > > > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> >> >> > > > >
> >> >> > > > > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly
> >> >> > > > > fromwww.cardozapub.com
> >> >> > > > >
> >> >> > > > > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the
> >> >> > > > > intrigues,
> >> >> > > > > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating
> >> >> > > > > tidbits,
> >> >> > > > > not
> >> >> > > > > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but
> >> >> > > > > also
> >> >> > > > > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and
> >> >> > > > > even
> >> >> > > > > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey
> >> >> > > > > Bogart.
> >> >> > > > > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and
> >> >> > > > > Vladimir
> >> >> > > > > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer,
> >> >> > > > > whose
> >> >> > > > > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book
> >> >> > > > > and
> >> >> > > > > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the
> >> >> > > > > same
> >> >> > > > > way
> >> >> > > > > again!
> >> >> > > >
> >> >> > > > What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
| |
Date: 15 Feb 2008 07:13:16
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
"YOU THINK YOU KNOW CHESS? YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET." -- a reviewer
at amazon.com
Northshire Bookstore Review(s)
Reviewed By... Christopher Law
Chess has traditionally been associated with insanity. Grandmaster
Wilhelm Steinitz was incarcerated in a Moscow asylum where he played a
game over an invisible telephone line with God. God Lost. But nothing
about the clinically insane matches the machinations of Chess'
politics. Grandmaster Evans' book chronicles the bad behavior of the
powerful; from the antics of Bobby Fisher, whom he knew intimately, to
the absurd motions of FIDE (Chess' governing body), who began testing
players for steroids in an effort to bring the game to the Olympics.
The bid failed. Testing continues. But wait! There is more: anti-
semitism, bribery, blackmail, embezzlement, supression of free speech,
and every other kind of evil one can think of to add to this list.
Fascinating!
Chess One wrote:
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:4340599f-1d58-4d99-a09d-a015c9c09d7a@d21g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> > IM SAIDY REVIEWS GM EVANS' NEW BOOK
> >
> > http://tinyurl.com/2mmppr
> >
> > "JUICY, FASCINATING, SPICY, CONCISE"
> >
> > Although criticizing some technical aspects (notably the diagrams)
> > IM Anthony Saidy notes:
> >
> > "Now we have THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS, a new collection of about
> > 100 columns, some augmented, plus an extended article or two,
> > exploring the whole panorama of chess off-the-board conflict,
> > elucidating the murky world of chess politics, with a few examples of
> > actual chess. Suffice to say that no office-holder, whether FIDE crook
> > Campomanes (who banned his critic R. Calvo from intl.chess with
> > American help), the grandiose Ilyumzhinov or a mediocre USCF bumbler,
> > manages to dodge Evans' barbs. Evans campaigned for one man one vote
> > (OMOV) in the USCF and succeeded in modifying the cronyism at the
> > top."
>
> You think that's crazy, Larry? Read this: [nb, its not April 1st.]
>
> The New York Times, February 14th, 2008, reports:
>
>
>
> Like most chess clubs, the one at Public School 29 is composed of nearly all
> boys. lene Hochman, the coach, wants to change that and in a most unusual
> way: with dolls.
>
>
>
> At a meeting Thursday, she unveiled what may be the world's first Barbie
> chess set. For the white pieces, Ms. Hochman, a doll collector and author of
> ''The Doll Hospital Directory,'' glued the heads of Barbie dolls onto the
> pawns and queen, and Ken onto the king. For the opposing pieces, she used
> Barbies with black wigs for the pawns and the doll's ''African-American
> friends,'' Steven and Shani, as king and queen.
>
>
>
> ''I believe with this Barbie set I can teach any girl how to play,'' said
> Ms. Hochman.
>
>
>
> Fortunately, no picture is available. Phil Innes
>
>
> >
> >
> > [email protected] wrote:
> >> NEW REVIEW
> >>
> >> PeteyDaddy's Chess Library
> >>
> >> This Crazy World of Chess
> >>
> >> Posted December 29, 2007
> >>
> >> I finished this book by Larry Evans a few days ago, but haven't gotten
> >> a chance to review it until now.
> >>
> >> Larry Evans has played a prominent role in the chess world for over
> >> half a century now, as player and journalist, so who better to dig up
> >> and expose the dirt of the international chess scene? This book is a
> >> collection of Larry's articles from the last 50 or so years, and it
> >> provides a behind-the-scenes look at the chess world, for better or
> >> worse.
> >>
> >> Evans was Bobby Fischer's second for a while, so some of the articles
> >> provide more information about the former chess champion, and his rise
> >> to the top.
> >>
> >> Evans doesn't care much for FIDE, the international chess
> >> association. After reading this book, neither do I. It sounds like an
> >> organization that is rife with scandal, and is actually harming chess
> >> in the pursuit of protecting its own interests. Reading about this was
> >> quite disheartening. Right now, chess needs an organization to boost
> >> it up and really bring it back into the public eye, and FIDE doesn't
> >> seem to be that organization. The USCF doesn't seem to be much better,
> >> but I'm hopeful that with Susan Polgar at the helm, chess will
> >> experience a renaissance of sorts in this country. I really like what
> >> she has done with her foundation, and with trying to bring more girls
> >> into the game. I think that she will help to bring more visibility to
> >> the game. But enough of my soapboxing, back to the review.
> >>
> >> One of my favorite articles was one in which he details a trip that
> >> he took to Russia during the 50s with the US chess team. It paints a
> >> very vivid picture of 1950s Russia, and just how large a role chess
> >> played in Russian culture. It was a source of national pride, and
> >> apparently still is. It's what baseball is to America (well, without
> >> the steroids).
> >>
> >> With all the articles collected in one book, some of Larry's tendency
> >> to repeat himself becomes more obvious. There are several points or
> >> anecdotes that are repeated in multiple essays, and I found this a bit
> >> annoying. That's really the only negative comment that I have about
> >> the book though.
> >>
> >> Overall, I enjoyed the book. The chess world truly is a crazy place,
> >> and I'm glad that Larry Evans has spent his life chronicling it.
> >>
> >> http://tinyurl.com/ynldpa
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> [email protected] wrote:
> >> > "This crazy world of chess" by GM Larry Evans, a review
> >> >
> >> > By Chess Loser
> >> >
> >> > http://chessloser.wordpress.com/
> >> >
> >> > December 15, 2007 at 7:08 pm (book review, chess, random crap)
> >> >
> >> > i'm tired. drove out to denver yesterday, in the crappy snowy weather,
> >> > to meet my daughter, who drove in from st louis. she is staying with
> >> > us over the christmas break, for a bout a month. this morning, we woke
> >> > up and drove back home, and here i am, unwashed, tired.
> >> >
> >> > i fear my chess studies will be even more interrupted, since the kid
> >> > is visiting for a month.
> >> >
> >> > i'm going over alekhine's games, having a blast doing it, what fun
> >> > games they are. in all this time, i've managed to read This crazy
> >> > world of chess, the reletively new book by GM Larry Evans. i read the
> >> > signed copy i got from him at reno a few months ago.
> >> >
> >> > what a fun book! there are 101 chapters, each about 2 pages long,
> >> > with the longest chapter being, i think, chapter 28, at 16 pages. the
> >> > book is a bunch of essays, anecdotes, stories, memories. a few games
> >> > are in there, but only at the end of the chapters about something that
> >> > had to do with the games played, for example, there is a chapter on
> >> > ray charles' interest in chess, and at the end is the game played
> >> > between ray charles and larry evans.
> >> >
> >> > the book is great for chess players and non-players alike. it should
> >> > almost be required reading for "serious" chess players, as it gives a
> >> > good "modern history and mythology" about the chess world, and we
> >> > should know where we've been. it's great for people who know nothing
> >> > about chess, as it is just interesting how much craziness and weird
> >> > crap surrounds the game. scandals, the"mystery" of alekhine's death,
> >> > stuff about bobby fischer you probably don't know, unless you are
> >> > edwin "dutch defense" meyer, who knows all about fischer.
> >> >
> >> > there will never be a "this crazy world of monopoly" or even "this
> >> > crazy world of scrabble," although the "professional" scrabble world
> >> > has it's share of weirdness.
> >> >
> >> > a super interesting "insider's" look into the chess world, all in
> >> > bite sized pieces that you don't even have to read in order.
> >> >
> >> > i would recommend it to anyone.
> >> >
> >> > http://tinyurl.com/yuqklb
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > [email protected] wrote:
> >> > > ONE FIVE STAR AMAZON REVIEW
> >> > >
> >> > > Entertainingly Informative, October 23, 2007
> >> > >
> >> > > By Clark Savage, Jr. - See all my reviews
> >> > >
> >> > > Grandmaster Larry Evans really was right in the thick of things
> >> > > during
> >> > > so many major chess events and scandals. With numerous jabs at the
> >> > > corrupt FIDE and many chapters about the eccentric Bobby Fischer,
> >> > > Evans covers a multitude of monumental happenings in the "Crazy World
> >> > > of Chess."
> >> > >
> >> > > There are a few chapters in the book that were uninteresting to me or
> >> > > that I thought were irrelevant, like chess memorabilia being sold on
> >> > > eBay and a bit about handwriting analysis. But overall this book has
> >> > > way too much for that to even matter. The letters and interviews are
> >> > > invaluable and fascinating. His level of involvement is enormous and
> >> > > his interest and devotion to the game are very evident. A lot of work
> >> > > and research must have been put into this book.
> >> > >
> >> > > Any chess fan out there needs to own this book. No argument about it.
> >> > > You might think you know a lot of the history and many of the
> >> > > scandals, but this covers them to a degree that only someone inside
> >> > > the circle of these famous players could expose. You think you know
> >> > > chess, but you ain't seen nothing yet!
> >> > >
> >> > >
> >> > > [email protected] wrote:
> >> > > > On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> > > > > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
> >> > > > >
> >> > > > > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> >> > > > >
> >> > > > > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
> >> > > > >
> >> > > > > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the
> >> > > > > intrigues,
> >> > > > > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits,
> >> > > > > not
> >> > > > > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> >> > > > > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> >> > > > > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey
> >> > > > > Bogart.
> >> > > > > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> >> > > > > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer,
> >> > > > > whose
> >> > > > > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> >> > > > > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same
> >> > > > > way
> >> > > > > again!
> >> > > >
> >> > > > What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
| | |
Date: 15 Feb 2008 13:46:31
From: Chess One
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
<[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "YOU THINK YOU KNOW CHESS? YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET." -- a reviewer
> at amazon.com
>
> Northshire Bookstore Review(s)
Northshire, Manchester, Vermont
> Reviewed By... Christopher Law
>
> Chess has traditionally been associated with insanity.
ROFL!
> Grandmaster
> Wilhelm Steinitz was incarcerated in a Moscow asylum where he played a
> game over an invisible telephone line with God.
Bedlam twice contracted a game with Members of Parliament, and won both
matches ~ which reflects methinks more on Parliamentary intelligence than
the incarcerated ones, and indeed, is also a comment on the nature of
insanity.
> God Lost. But nothing
> about the clinically insane matches the machinations of Chess'
> politics. Grandmaster Evans' book chronicles the bad behavior of the
> powerful; from the antics of Bobby Fisher, whom he knew intimately,
causa causata! Let us think the Northshire reviewer intended, 'knew well'.
> to
> the absurd motions of FIDE (Chess' governing body),
Chess's, or, if you can't manage that, 'the governing body of chess', a
handy form of English use, normally adopted by intelligent non-speakers of
it.
> who began testing
> players for steroids in an effort to bring the game to the Olympics.
Such an odd sentence, as if its parts were connected? We got Evans's
representation of Fischer's bad behavior and immediately following that,
steroid use, as if Fischer was Barry Bonds.
> The bid failed. Testing continues. But wait! There is more: anti-
> semitism, bribery, blackmail, embezzlement, supression of free speech,
> and every other kind of evil one can think of to add to this list.
> Fascinating!
Is it?
It is possibly intriguing, but these days, where every form of corporate and
govenment corruption is made very evident, is it fascinating, exactly?
Isn't it people's experience that our governance of ourselves is very
generally amiss - even governance of a game?
I personally think Evans' work important in that - because chess is
apparently such a pure or innocent pre-occupation and art-form - /even here/
there is corruption. And without need to advance any of the normal
geo-political and commercial interests, Evans well identifies what happens
when good people do nothing, and a coterie of clerks take over, who thereby
indifferently support Kirsan-Spaceman.
Phil Innes
>
>
> Chess One wrote:
>> <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:4340599f-1d58-4d99-a09d-a015c9c09d7a@d21g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>> > IM SAIDY REVIEWS GM EVANS' NEW BOOK
>> >
>> > http://tinyurl.com/2mmppr
>> >
>> > "JUICY, FASCINATING, SPICY, CONCISE"
>> >
>> > Although criticizing some technical aspects (notably the diagrams)
>> > IM Anthony Saidy notes:
>> >
>> > "Now we have THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS, a new collection of about
>> > 100 columns, some augmented, plus an extended article or two,
>> > exploring the whole panorama of chess off-the-board conflict,
>> > elucidating the murky world of chess politics, with a few examples of
>> > actual chess. Suffice to say that no office-holder, whether FIDE crook
>> > Campomanes (who banned his critic R. Calvo from intl.chess with
>> > American help), the grandiose Ilyumzhinov or a mediocre USCF bumbler,
>> > manages to dodge Evans' barbs. Evans campaigned for one man one vote
>> > (OMOV) in the USCF and succeeded in modifying the cronyism at the
>> > top."
>>
>> You think that's crazy, Larry? Read this: [nb, its not April 1st.]
>>
>> The New York Times, February 14th, 2008, reports:
>>
>>
>>
>> Like most chess clubs, the one at Public School 29 is composed of nearly
>> all
>> boys. lene Hochman, the coach, wants to change that and in a most
>> unusual
>> way: with dolls.
>>
>>
>>
>> At a meeting Thursday, she unveiled what may be the world's first Barbie
>> chess set. For the white pieces, Ms. Hochman, a doll collector and author
>> of
>> ''The Doll Hospital Directory,'' glued the heads of Barbie dolls onto the
>> pawns and queen, and Ken onto the king. For the opposing pieces, she used
>> Barbies with black wigs for the pawns and the doll's ''African-American
>> friends,'' Steven and Shani, as king and queen.
>>
>>
>>
>> ''I believe with this Barbie set I can teach any girl how to play,'' said
>> Ms. Hochman.
>>
>>
>>
>> Fortunately, no picture is available. Phil Innes
>>
>>
>> >
>> >
>> > [email protected] wrote:
>> >> NEW REVIEW
>> >>
>> >> PeteyDaddy's Chess Library
>> >>
>> >> This Crazy World of Chess
>> >>
>> >> Posted December 29, 2007
>> >>
>> >> I finished this book by Larry Evans a few days ago, but haven't gotten
>> >> a chance to review it until now.
>> >>
>> >> Larry Evans has played a prominent role in the chess world for over
>> >> half a century now, as player and journalist, so who better to dig up
>> >> and expose the dirt of the international chess scene? This book is a
>> >> collection of Larry's articles from the last 50 or so years, and it
>> >> provides a behind-the-scenes look at the chess world, for better or
>> >> worse.
>> >>
>> >> Evans was Bobby Fischer's second for a while, so some of the articles
>> >> provide more information about the former chess champion, and his rise
>> >> to the top.
>> >>
>> >> Evans doesn't care much for FIDE, the international chess
>> >> association. After reading this book, neither do I. It sounds like an
>> >> organization that is rife with scandal, and is actually harming chess
>> >> in the pursuit of protecting its own interests. Reading about this was
>> >> quite disheartening. Right now, chess needs an organization to boost
>> >> it up and really bring it back into the public eye, and FIDE doesn't
>> >> seem to be that organization. The USCF doesn't seem to be much better,
>> >> but I'm hopeful that with Susan Polgar at the helm, chess will
>> >> experience a renaissance of sorts in this country. I really like what
>> >> she has done with her foundation, and with trying to bring more girls
>> >> into the game. I think that she will help to bring more visibility to
>> >> the game. But enough of my soapboxing, back to the review.
>> >>
>> >> One of my favorite articles was one in which he details a trip that
>> >> he took to Russia during the 50s with the US chess team. It paints a
>> >> very vivid picture of 1950s Russia, and just how large a role chess
>> >> played in Russian culture. It was a source of national pride, and
>> >> apparently still is. It's what baseball is to America (well, without
>> >> the steroids).
>> >>
>> >> With all the articles collected in one book, some of Larry's tendency
>> >> to repeat himself becomes more obvious. There are several points or
>> >> anecdotes that are repeated in multiple essays, and I found this a bit
>> >> annoying. That's really the only negative comment that I have about
>> >> the book though.
>> >>
>> >> Overall, I enjoyed the book. The chess world truly is a crazy place,
>> >> and I'm glad that Larry Evans has spent his life chronicling it.
>> >>
>> >> http://tinyurl.com/ynldpa
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> [email protected] wrote:
>> >> > "This crazy world of chess" by GM Larry Evans, a review
>> >> >
>> >> > By Chess Loser
>> >> >
>> >> > http://chessloser.wordpress.com/
>> >> >
>> >> > December 15, 2007 at 7:08 pm (book review, chess, random crap)
>> >> >
>> >> > i'm tired. drove out to denver yesterday, in the crappy snowy
>> >> > weather,
>> >> > to meet my daughter, who drove in from st louis. she is staying with
>> >> > us over the christmas break, for a bout a month. this morning, we
>> >> > woke
>> >> > up and drove back home, and here i am, unwashed, tired.
>> >> >
>> >> > i fear my chess studies will be even more interrupted, since the
>> >> > kid
>> >> > is visiting for a month.
>> >> >
>> >> > i'm going over alekhine's games, having a blast doing it, what fun
>> >> > games they are. in all this time, i've managed to read This crazy
>> >> > world of chess, the reletively new book by GM Larry Evans. i read
>> >> > the
>> >> > signed copy i got from him at reno a few months ago.
>> >> >
>> >> > what a fun book! there are 101 chapters, each about 2 pages long,
>> >> > with the longest chapter being, i think, chapter 28, at 16 pages.
>> >> > the
>> >> > book is a bunch of essays, anecdotes, stories, memories. a few games
>> >> > are in there, but only at the end of the chapters about something
>> >> > that
>> >> > had to do with the games played, for example, there is a chapter on
>> >> > ray charles' interest in chess, and at the end is the game played
>> >> > between ray charles and larry evans.
>> >> >
>> >> > the book is great for chess players and non-players alike. it
>> >> > should
>> >> > almost be required reading for "serious" chess players, as it gives
>> >> > a
>> >> > good "modern history and mythology" about the chess world, and we
>> >> > should know where we've been. it's great for people who know nothing
>> >> > about chess, as it is just interesting how much craziness and weird
>> >> > crap surrounds the game. scandals, the"mystery" of alekhine's death,
>> >> > stuff about bobby fischer you probably don't know, unless you are
>> >> > edwin "dutch defense" meyer, who knows all about fischer.
>> >> >
>> >> > there will never be a "this crazy world of monopoly" or even "this
>> >> > crazy world of scrabble," although the "professional" scrabble world
>> >> > has it's share of weirdness.
>> >> >
>> >> > a super interesting "insider's" look into the chess world, all in
>> >> > bite sized pieces that you don't even have to read in order.
>> >> >
>> >> > i would recommend it to anyone.
>> >> >
>> >> > http://tinyurl.com/yuqklb
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > [email protected] wrote:
>> >> > > ONE FIVE STAR AMAZON REVIEW
>> >> > >
>> >> > > Entertainingly Informative, October 23, 2007
>> >> > >
>> >> > > By Clark Savage, Jr. - See all my reviews
>> >> > >
>> >> > > Grandmaster Larry Evans really was right in the thick of things
>> >> > > during
>> >> > > so many major chess events and scandals. With numerous jabs at the
>> >> > > corrupt FIDE and many chapters about the eccentric Bobby Fischer,
>> >> > > Evans covers a multitude of monumental happenings in the "Crazy
>> >> > > World
>> >> > > of Chess."
>> >> > >
>> >> > > There are a few chapters in the book that were uninteresting to me
>> >> > > or
>> >> > > that I thought were irrelevant, like chess memorabilia being sold
>> >> > > on
>> >> > > eBay and a bit about handwriting analysis. But overall this book
>> >> > > has
>> >> > > way too much for that to even matter. The letters and interviews
>> >> > > are
>> >> > > invaluable and fascinating. His level of involvement is enormous
>> >> > > and
>> >> > > his interest and devotion to the game are very evident. A lot of
>> >> > > work
>> >> > > and research must have been put into this book.
>> >> > >
>> >> > > Any chess fan out there needs to own this book. No argument about
>> >> > > it.
>> >> > > You might think you know a lot of the history and many of the
>> >> > > scandals, but this covers them to a degree that only someone
>> >> > > inside
>> >> > > the circle of these famous players could expose. You think you
>> >> > > know
>> >> > > chess, but you ain't seen nothing yet!
>> >> > >
>> >> > >
>> >> > > [email protected] wrote:
>> >> > > > On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
>> >> > > > wrote:
>> >> > > > > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
>> >> > > > >
>> >> > > > > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
>> >> > > > >
>> >> > > > > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly
>> >> > > > > fromwww.cardozapub.com
>> >> > > > >
>> >> > > > > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the
>> >> > > > > intrigues,
>> >> > > > > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating
>> >> > > > > tidbits,
>> >> > > > > not
>> >> > > > > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but
>> >> > > > > also
>> >> > > > > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and
>> >> > > > > even
>> >> > > > > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey
>> >> > > > > Bogart.
>> >> > > > > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and
>> >> > > > > Vladimir
>> >> > > > > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer,
>> >> > > > > whose
>> >> > > > > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book
>> >> > > > > and
>> >> > > > > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the
>> >> > > > > same
>> >> > > > > way
>> >> > > > > again!
>> >> > > >
>> >> > > > What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
| |
Date: 14 Feb 2008 09:34:08
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
IM SAIDY REVIEWS GM EVANS' NEW BOOK
http://tinyurl.com/2mmppr
"JUICY, FASCINATING, SPICY, CONCISE"
Although criticizing some technical aspects (notably the diagrams)
IM Anthony Saidy notes:
"Now we have THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS, a new collection of about
100 columns, some augmented, plus an extended article or two,
exploring the whole panorama of chess off-the-board conflict,
elucidating the murky world of chess politics, with a few examples of
actual chess. Suffice to say that no office-holder, whether FIDE crook
Campomanes (who banned his critic R. Calvo from intl.chess with
American help), the grandiose Ilyumzhinov or a mediocre USCF bumbler,
manages to dodge Evans' barbs. Evans campaigned for one man one vote
(OMOV) in the USCF and succeeded in modifying the cronyism at the
top."
[email protected] wrote:
> NEW REVIEW
>
> PeteyDaddy's Chess Library
>
> This Crazy World of Chess
>
> Posted December 29, 2007
>
> I finished this book by Larry Evans a few days ago, but haven't gotten
> a chance to review it until now.
>
> Larry Evans has played a prominent role in the chess world for over
> half a century now, as player and journalist, so who better to dig up
> and expose the dirt of the international chess scene? This book is a
> collection of Larry's articles from the last 50 or so years, and it
> provides a behind-the-scenes look at the chess world, for better or
> worse.
>
> Evans was Bobby Fischer's second for a while, so some of the articles
> provide more information about the former chess champion, and his rise
> to the top.
>
> Evans doesn't care much for FIDE, the international chess
> association. After reading this book, neither do I. It sounds like an
> organization that is rife with scandal, and is actually harming chess
> in the pursuit of protecting its own interests. Reading about this was
> quite disheartening. Right now, chess needs an organization to boost
> it up and really bring it back into the public eye, and FIDE doesn't
> seem to be that organization. The USCF doesn't seem to be much better,
> but I'm hopeful that with Susan Polgar at the helm, chess will
> experience a renaissance of sorts in this country. I really like what
> she has done with her foundation, and with trying to bring more girls
> into the game. I think that she will help to bring more visibility to
> the game. But enough of my soapboxing, back to the review.
>
> One of my favorite articles was one in which he details a trip that
> he took to Russia during the 50s with the US chess team. It paints a
> very vivid picture of 1950s Russia, and just how large a role chess
> played in Russian culture. It was a source of national pride, and
> apparently still is. It's what baseball is to America (well, without
> the steroids).
>
> With all the articles collected in one book, some of Larry's tendency
> to repeat himself becomes more obvious. There are several points or
> anecdotes that are repeated in multiple essays, and I found this a bit
> annoying. That's really the only negative comment that I have about
> the book though.
>
> Overall, I enjoyed the book. The chess world truly is a crazy place,
> and I'm glad that Larry Evans has spent his life chronicling it.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/ynldpa
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [email protected] wrote:
> > "This crazy world of chess" by GM Larry Evans, a review
> >
> > By Chess Loser
> >
> > http://chessloser.wordpress.com/
> >
> > December 15, 2007 at 7:08 pm (book review, chess, random crap)
> >
> > i'm tired. drove out to denver yesterday, in the crappy snowy weather,
> > to meet my daughter, who drove in from st louis. she is staying with
> > us over the christmas break, for a bout a month. this morning, we woke
> > up and drove back home, and here i am, unwashed, tired.
> >
> > i fear my chess studies will be even more interrupted, since the kid
> > is visiting for a month.
> >
> > i'm going over alekhine's games, having a blast doing it, what fun
> > games they are. in all this time, i've managed to read This crazy
> > world of chess, the reletively new book by GM Larry Evans. i read the
> > signed copy i got from him at reno a few months ago.
> >
> > what a fun book! there are 101 chapters, each about 2 pages long,
> > with the longest chapter being, i think, chapter 28, at 16 pages. the
> > book is a bunch of essays, anecdotes, stories, memories. a few games
> > are in there, but only at the end of the chapters about something that
> > had to do with the games played, for example, there is a chapter on
> > ray charles' interest in chess, and at the end is the game played
> > between ray charles and larry evans.
> >
> > the book is great for chess players and non-players alike. it should
> > almost be required reading for "serious" chess players, as it gives a
> > good "modern history and mythology" about the chess world, and we
> > should know where we've been. it's great for people who know nothing
> > about chess, as it is just interesting how much craziness and weird
> > crap surrounds the game. scandals, the"mystery" of alekhine's death,
> > stuff about bobby fischer you probably don't know, unless you are
> > edwin "dutch defense" meyer, who knows all about fischer.
> >
> > there will never be a "this crazy world of monopoly" or even "this
> > crazy world of scrabble," although the "professional" scrabble world
> > has it's share of weirdness.
> >
> > a super interesting "insider's" look into the chess world, all in
> > bite sized pieces that you don't even have to read in order.
> >
> > i would recommend it to anyone.
> >
> > http://tinyurl.com/yuqklb
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > [email protected] wrote:
> > > ONE FIVE STAR AMAZON REVIEW
> > >
> > > Entertainingly Informative, October 23, 2007
> > >
> > > By Clark Savage, Jr. - See all my reviews
> > >
> > > Grandmaster Larry Evans really was right in the thick of things during
> > > so many major chess events and scandals. With numerous jabs at the
> > > corrupt FIDE and many chapters about the eccentric Bobby Fischer,
> > > Evans covers a multitude of monumental happenings in the "Crazy World
> > > of Chess."
> > >
> > > There are a few chapters in the book that were uninteresting to me or
> > > that I thought were irrelevant, like chess memorabilia being sold on
> > > eBay and a bit about handwriting analysis. But overall this book has
> > > way too much for that to even matter. The letters and interviews are
> > > invaluable and fascinating. His level of involvement is enormous and
> > > his interest and devotion to the game are very evident. A lot of work
> > > and research must have been put into this book.
> > >
> > > Any chess fan out there needs to own this book. No argument about it.
> > > You might think you know a lot of the history and many of the
> > > scandals, but this covers them to a degree that only someone inside
> > > the circle of these famous players could expose. You think you know
> > > chess, but you ain't seen nothing yet!
> > >
> > >
> > > [email protected] wrote:
> > > > On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > > > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
> > > > >
> > > > > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> > > > >
> > > > > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
> > > > >
> > > > > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
> > > > > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
> > > > > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> > > > > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> > > > > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
> > > > > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> > > > > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
> > > > > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> > > > > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
> > > > > again!
> > > >
> > > > What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
| | |
Date: 14 Feb 2008 12:45:44
From: Chess One
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
<[email protected] > wrote in message
news:4340599f-1d58-4d99-a09d-a015c9c09d7a@d21g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> IM SAIDY REVIEWS GM EVANS' NEW BOOK
>
> http://tinyurl.com/2mmppr
>
> "JUICY, FASCINATING, SPICY, CONCISE"
>
> Although criticizing some technical aspects (notably the diagrams)
> IM Anthony Saidy notes:
>
> "Now we have THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS, a new collection of about
> 100 columns, some augmented, plus an extended article or two,
> exploring the whole panorama of chess off-the-board conflict,
> elucidating the murky world of chess politics, with a few examples of
> actual chess. Suffice to say that no office-holder, whether FIDE crook
> Campomanes (who banned his critic R. Calvo from intl.chess with
> American help), the grandiose Ilyumzhinov or a mediocre USCF bumbler,
> manages to dodge Evans' barbs. Evans campaigned for one man one vote
> (OMOV) in the USCF and succeeded in modifying the cronyism at the
> top."
You think that's crazy, Larry? Read this: [nb, its not April 1st.]
The New York Times, February 14th, 2008, reports:
Like most chess clubs, the one at Public School 29 is composed of nearly all
boys. lene Hochman, the coach, wants to change that and in a most unusual
way: with dolls.
At a meeting Thursday, she unveiled what may be the world's first Barbie
chess set. For the white pieces, Ms. Hochman, a doll collector and author of
''The Doll Hospital Directory,'' glued the heads of Barbie dolls onto the
pawns and queen, and Ken onto the king. For the opposing pieces, she used
Barbies with black wigs for the pawns and the doll's ''African-American
friends,'' Steven and Shani, as king and queen.
''I believe with this Barbie set I can teach any girl how to play,'' said
Ms. Hochman.
Fortunately, no picture is available. Phil Innes
>
>
> [email protected] wrote:
>> NEW REVIEW
>>
>> PeteyDaddy's Chess Library
>>
>> This Crazy World of Chess
>>
>> Posted December 29, 2007
>>
>> I finished this book by Larry Evans a few days ago, but haven't gotten
>> a chance to review it until now.
>>
>> Larry Evans has played a prominent role in the chess world for over
>> half a century now, as player and journalist, so who better to dig up
>> and expose the dirt of the international chess scene? This book is a
>> collection of Larry's articles from the last 50 or so years, and it
>> provides a behind-the-scenes look at the chess world, for better or
>> worse.
>>
>> Evans was Bobby Fischer's second for a while, so some of the articles
>> provide more information about the former chess champion, and his rise
>> to the top.
>>
>> Evans doesn't care much for FIDE, the international chess
>> association. After reading this book, neither do I. It sounds like an
>> organization that is rife with scandal, and is actually harming chess
>> in the pursuit of protecting its own interests. Reading about this was
>> quite disheartening. Right now, chess needs an organization to boost
>> it up and really bring it back into the public eye, and FIDE doesn't
>> seem to be that organization. The USCF doesn't seem to be much better,
>> but I'm hopeful that with Susan Polgar at the helm, chess will
>> experience a renaissance of sorts in this country. I really like what
>> she has done with her foundation, and with trying to bring more girls
>> into the game. I think that she will help to bring more visibility to
>> the game. But enough of my soapboxing, back to the review.
>>
>> One of my favorite articles was one in which he details a trip that
>> he took to Russia during the 50s with the US chess team. It paints a
>> very vivid picture of 1950s Russia, and just how large a role chess
>> played in Russian culture. It was a source of national pride, and
>> apparently still is. It's what baseball is to America (well, without
>> the steroids).
>>
>> With all the articles collected in one book, some of Larry's tendency
>> to repeat himself becomes more obvious. There are several points or
>> anecdotes that are repeated in multiple essays, and I found this a bit
>> annoying. That's really the only negative comment that I have about
>> the book though.
>>
>> Overall, I enjoyed the book. The chess world truly is a crazy place,
>> and I'm glad that Larry Evans has spent his life chronicling it.
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/ynldpa
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> [email protected] wrote:
>> > "This crazy world of chess" by GM Larry Evans, a review
>> >
>> > By Chess Loser
>> >
>> > http://chessloser.wordpress.com/
>> >
>> > December 15, 2007 at 7:08 pm (book review, chess, random crap)
>> >
>> > i'm tired. drove out to denver yesterday, in the crappy snowy weather,
>> > to meet my daughter, who drove in from st louis. she is staying with
>> > us over the christmas break, for a bout a month. this morning, we woke
>> > up and drove back home, and here i am, unwashed, tired.
>> >
>> > i fear my chess studies will be even more interrupted, since the kid
>> > is visiting for a month.
>> >
>> > i'm going over alekhine's games, having a blast doing it, what fun
>> > games they are. in all this time, i've managed to read This crazy
>> > world of chess, the reletively new book by GM Larry Evans. i read the
>> > signed copy i got from him at reno a few months ago.
>> >
>> > what a fun book! there are 101 chapters, each about 2 pages long,
>> > with the longest chapter being, i think, chapter 28, at 16 pages. the
>> > book is a bunch of essays, anecdotes, stories, memories. a few games
>> > are in there, but only at the end of the chapters about something that
>> > had to do with the games played, for example, there is a chapter on
>> > ray charles' interest in chess, and at the end is the game played
>> > between ray charles and larry evans.
>> >
>> > the book is great for chess players and non-players alike. it should
>> > almost be required reading for "serious" chess players, as it gives a
>> > good "modern history and mythology" about the chess world, and we
>> > should know where we've been. it's great for people who know nothing
>> > about chess, as it is just interesting how much craziness and weird
>> > crap surrounds the game. scandals, the"mystery" of alekhine's death,
>> > stuff about bobby fischer you probably don't know, unless you are
>> > edwin "dutch defense" meyer, who knows all about fischer.
>> >
>> > there will never be a "this crazy world of monopoly" or even "this
>> > crazy world of scrabble," although the "professional" scrabble world
>> > has it's share of weirdness.
>> >
>> > a super interesting "insider's" look into the chess world, all in
>> > bite sized pieces that you don't even have to read in order.
>> >
>> > i would recommend it to anyone.
>> >
>> > http://tinyurl.com/yuqklb
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > [email protected] wrote:
>> > > ONE FIVE STAR AMAZON REVIEW
>> > >
>> > > Entertainingly Informative, October 23, 2007
>> > >
>> > > By Clark Savage, Jr. - See all my reviews
>> > >
>> > > Grandmaster Larry Evans really was right in the thick of things
>> > > during
>> > > so many major chess events and scandals. With numerous jabs at the
>> > > corrupt FIDE and many chapters about the eccentric Bobby Fischer,
>> > > Evans covers a multitude of monumental happenings in the "Crazy World
>> > > of Chess."
>> > >
>> > > There are a few chapters in the book that were uninteresting to me or
>> > > that I thought were irrelevant, like chess memorabilia being sold on
>> > > eBay and a bit about handwriting analysis. But overall this book has
>> > > way too much for that to even matter. The letters and interviews are
>> > > invaluable and fascinating. His level of involvement is enormous and
>> > > his interest and devotion to the game are very evident. A lot of work
>> > > and research must have been put into this book.
>> > >
>> > > Any chess fan out there needs to own this book. No argument about it.
>> > > You might think you know a lot of the history and many of the
>> > > scandals, but this covers them to a degree that only someone inside
>> > > the circle of these famous players could expose. You think you know
>> > > chess, but you ain't seen nothing yet!
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > [email protected] wrote:
>> > > > On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
>> > > > > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
>> > > > >
>> > > > > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
>> > > > >
>> > > > > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
>> > > > >
>> > > > > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the
>> > > > > intrigues,
>> > > > > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits,
>> > > > > not
>> > > > > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
>> > > > > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
>> > > > > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey
>> > > > > Bogart.
>> > > > > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
>> > > > > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer,
>> > > > > whose
>> > > > > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
>> > > > > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same
>> > > > > way
>> > > > > again!
>> > > >
>> > > > What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
| |
Date: 13 Jan 2008 10:07:55
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
FOR THE FIRST TIME
THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans has reached number five on
Amazon's list of chess best-sellers, a notch ahead (for the nonce) of
Kasparov's HOW LIFE IMITATES CHESS.
[email protected] wrote:
> NEW REVIEW
>
> PeteyDaddy's Chess Library
>
> This Crazy World of Chess
>
> Posted December 29, 2007
>
> I finished this book by Larry Evans a few days ago, but haven't gotten
> a chance to review it until now.
>
> Larry Evans has played a prominent role in the chess world for over
> half a century now, as player and journalist, so who better to dig up
> and expose the dirt of the international chess scene? This book is a
> collection of Larry's articles from the last 50 or so years, and it
> provides a behind-the-scenes look at the chess world, for better or
> worse.
>
> Evans was Bobby Fischer's second for a while, so some of the articles
> provide more information about the former chess champion, and his rise
> to the top.
>
> Evans doesn't care much for FIDE, the international chess
> association. After reading this book, neither do I. It sounds like an
> organization that is rife with scandal, and is actually harming chess
> in the pursuit of protecting its own interests. Reading about this was
> quite disheartening. Right now, chess needs an organization to boost
> it up and really bring it back into the public eye, and FIDE doesn't
> seem to be that organization. The USCF doesn't seem to be much better,
> but I'm hopeful that with Susan Polgar at the helm, chess will
> experience a renaissance of sorts in this country. I really like what
> she has done with her foundation, and with trying to bring more girls
> into the game. I think that she will help to bring more visibility to
> the game. But enough of my soapboxing, back to the review.
>
> One of my favorite articles was one in which he details a trip that
> he took to Russia during the 50s with the US chess team. It paints a
> very vivid picture of 1950s Russia, and just how large a role chess
> played in Russian culture. It was a source of national pride, and
> apparently still is. It's what baseball is to America (well, without
> the steroids).
>
> With all the articles collected in one book, some of Larry's tendency
> to repeat himself becomes more obvious. There are several points or
> anecdotes that are repeated in multiple essays, and I found this a bit
> annoying. That's really the only negative comment that I have about
> the book though.
>
> Overall, I enjoyed the book. The chess world truly is a crazy place,
> and I'm glad that Larry Evans has spent his life chronicling it.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/ynldpa
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [email protected] wrote:
> > "This crazy world of chess" by GM Larry Evans, a review
> >
> > By Chess Loser
> >
> > http://chessloser.wordpress.com/
> >
> > December 15, 2007 at 7:08 pm (book review, chess, random crap)
> >
> > i'm tired. drove out to denver yesterday, in the crappy snowy weather,
> > to meet my daughter, who drove in from st louis. she is staying with
> > us over the christmas break, for a bout a month. this morning, we woke
> > up and drove back home, and here i am, unwashed, tired.
> >
> > i fear my chess studies will be even more interrupted, since the kid
> > is visiting for a month.
> >
> > i'm going over alekhine's games, having a blast doing it, what fun
> > games they are. in all this time, i've managed to read This crazy
> > world of chess, the reletively new book by GM Larry Evans. i read the
> > signed copy i got from him at reno a few months ago.
> >
> > what a fun book! there are 101 chapters, each about 2 pages long,
> > with the longest chapter being, i think, chapter 28, at 16 pages. the
> > book is a bunch of essays, anecdotes, stories, memories. a few games
> > are in there, but only at the end of the chapters about something that
> > had to do with the games played, for example, there is a chapter on
> > ray charles' interest in chess, and at the end is the game played
> > between ray charles and larry evans.
> >
> > the book is great for chess players and non-players alike. it should
> > almost be required reading for "serious" chess players, as it gives a
> > good "modern history and mythology" about the chess world, and we
> > should know where we've been. it's great for people who know nothing
> > about chess, as it is just interesting how much craziness and weird
> > crap surrounds the game. scandals, the"mystery" of alekhine's death,
> > stuff about bobby fischer you probably don't know, unless you are
> > edwin "dutch defense" meyer, who knows all about fischer.
> >
> > there will never be a "this crazy world of monopoly" or even "this
> > crazy world of scrabble," although the "professional" scrabble world
> > has it's share of weirdness.
> >
> > a super interesting "insider's" look into the chess world, all in
> > bite sized pieces that you don't even have to read in order.
> >
> > i would recommend it to anyone.
> >
> > http://tinyurl.com/yuqklb
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > [email protected] wrote:
> > > ONE FIVE STAR AMAZON REVIEW
> > >
> > > Entertainingly Informative, October 23, 2007
> > >
> > > By Clark Savage, Jr. - See all my reviews
> > >
> > > Grandmaster Larry Evans really was right in the thick of things during
> > > so many major chess events and scandals. With numerous jabs at the
> > > corrupt FIDE and many chapters about the eccentric Bobby Fischer,
> > > Evans covers a multitude of monumental happenings in the "Crazy World
> > > of Chess."
> > >
> > > There are a few chapters in the book that were uninteresting to me or
> > > that I thought were irrelevant, like chess memorabilia being sold on
> > > eBay and a bit about handwriting analysis. But overall this book has
> > > way too much for that to even matter. The letters and interviews are
> > > invaluable and fascinating. His level of involvement is enormous and
> > > his interest and devotion to the game are very evident. A lot of work
> > > and research must have been put into this book.
> > >
> > > Any chess fan out there needs to own this book. No argument about it.
> > > You might think you know a lot of the history and many of the
> > > scandals, but this covers them to a degree that only someone inside
> > > the circle of these famous players could expose. You think you know
> > > chess, but you ain't seen nothing yet!
> > >
> > >
> > > [email protected] wrote:
> > > > On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > > > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
> > > > >
> > > > > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> > > > >
> > > > > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
> > > > >
> > > > > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
> > > > > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
> > > > > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> > > > > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> > > > > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
> > > > > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> > > > > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
> > > > > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> > > > > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
> > > > > again!
> > > >
> > > > What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
| |
Date: 30 Dec 2007 07:55:50
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
NEW REVIEW
PeteyDaddy's Chess Library
This Crazy World of Chess
Posted December 29, 2007
I finished this book by Larry Evans a few days ago, but haven't gotten
a chance to review it until now.
Larry Evans has played a prominent role in the chess world for over
half a century now, as player and journalist, so who better to dig up
and expose the dirt of the international chess scene? This book is a
collection of Larry's articles from the last 50 or so years, and it
provides a behind-the-scenes look at the chess world, for better or
worse.
Evans was Bobby Fischer's second for a while, so some of the articles
provide more information about the former chess champion, and his rise
to the top.
Evans doesn't care much for FIDE, the international chess
association. After reading this book, neither do I. It sounds like an
organization that is rife with scandal, and is actually harming chess
in the pursuit of protecting its own interests. Reading about this was
quite disheartening. Right now, chess needs an organization to boost
it up and really bring it back into the public eye, and FIDE doesn't
seem to be that organization. The USCF doesn't seem to be much better,
but I'm hopeful that with Susan Polgar at the helm, chess will
experience a renaissance of sorts in this country. I really like what
she has done with her foundation, and with trying to bring more girls
into the game. I think that she will help to bring more visibility to
the game. But enough of my soapboxing, back to the review.
One of my favorite articles was one in which he details a trip that
he took to Russia during the 50s with the US chess team. It paints a
very vivid picture of 1950s Russia, and just how large a role chess
played in Russian culture. It was a source of national pride, and
apparently still is. It's what baseball is to America (well, without
the steroids).
With all the articles collected in one book, some of Larry's tendency
to repeat himself becomes more obvious. There are several points or
anecdotes that are repeated in multiple essays, and I found this a bit
annoying. That's really the only negative comment that I have about
the book though.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. The chess world truly is a crazy place,
and I'm glad that Larry Evans has spent his life chronicling it.
http://tinyurl.com/ynldpa
[email protected] wrote:
> "This crazy world of chess" by GM Larry Evans, a review
>
> By Chess Loser
>
> http://chessloser.wordpress.com/
>
> December 15, 2007 at 7:08 pm (book review, chess, random crap)
>
> i'm tired. drove out to denver yesterday, in the crappy snowy weather,
> to meet my daughter, who drove in from st louis. she is staying with
> us over the christmas break, for a bout a month. this morning, we woke
> up and drove back home, and here i am, unwashed, tired.
>
> i fear my chess studies will be even more interrupted, since the kid
> is visiting for a month.
>
> i'm going over alekhine's games, having a blast doing it, what fun
> games they are. in all this time, i've managed to read This crazy
> world of chess, the reletively new book by GM Larry Evans. i read the
> signed copy i got from him at reno a few months ago.
>
> what a fun book! there are 101 chapters, each about 2 pages long,
> with the longest chapter being, i think, chapter 28, at 16 pages. the
> book is a bunch of essays, anecdotes, stories, memories. a few games
> are in there, but only at the end of the chapters about something that
> had to do with the games played, for example, there is a chapter on
> ray charles' interest in chess, and at the end is the game played
> between ray charles and larry evans.
>
> the book is great for chess players and non-players alike. it should
> almost be required reading for "serious" chess players, as it gives a
> good "modern history and mythology" about the chess world, and we
> should know where we've been. it's great for people who know nothing
> about chess, as it is just interesting how much craziness and weird
> crap surrounds the game. scandals, the"mystery" of alekhine's death,
> stuff about bobby fischer you probably don't know, unless you are
> edwin "dutch defense" meyer, who knows all about fischer.
>
> there will never be a "this crazy world of monopoly" or even "this
> crazy world of scrabble," although the "professional" scrabble world
> has it's share of weirdness.
>
> a super interesting "insider's" look into the chess world, all in
> bite sized pieces that you don't even have to read in order.
>
> i would recommend it to anyone.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/yuqklb
>
>
>
>
> [email protected] wrote:
> > ONE FIVE STAR AMAZON REVIEW
> >
> > Entertainingly Informative, October 23, 2007
> >
> > By Clark Savage, Jr. - See all my reviews
> >
> > Grandmaster Larry Evans really was right in the thick of things during
> > so many major chess events and scandals. With numerous jabs at the
> > corrupt FIDE and many chapters about the eccentric Bobby Fischer,
> > Evans covers a multitude of monumental happenings in the "Crazy World
> > of Chess."
> >
> > There are a few chapters in the book that were uninteresting to me or
> > that I thought were irrelevant, like chess memorabilia being sold on
> > eBay and a bit about handwriting analysis. But overall this book has
> > way too much for that to even matter. The letters and interviews are
> > invaluable and fascinating. His level of involvement is enormous and
> > his interest and devotion to the game are very evident. A lot of work
> > and research must have been put into this book.
> >
> > Any chess fan out there needs to own this book. No argument about it.
> > You might think you know a lot of the history and many of the
> > scandals, but this covers them to a degree that only someone inside
> > the circle of these famous players could expose. You think you know
> > chess, but you ain't seen nothing yet!
> >
> >
> > [email protected] wrote:
> > > On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
> > > >
> > > > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> > > >
> > > > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
> > > >
> > > > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
> > > > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
> > > > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> > > > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> > > > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
> > > > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> > > > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
> > > > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> > > > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
> > > > again!
> > >
> > > What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
| |
Date: 19 Dec 2007 00:25:11
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
"This crazy world of chess" by GM Larry Evans, a review
By Chess Loser
http://chessloser.wordpress.com/
December 15, 2007 at 7:08 pm (book review, chess, random crap)
i'm tired. drove out to denver yesterday, in the crappy snowy weather,
to meet my daughter, who drove in from st louis. she is staying with
us over the christmas break, for a bout a month. this morning, we woke
up and drove back home, and here i am, unwashed, tired.
i fear my chess studies will be even more interrupted, since the kid
is visiting for a month.
i'm going over alekhine's games, having a blast doing it, what fun
games they are. in all this time, i've managed to read This crazy
world of chess, the reletively new book by GM Larry Evans. i read the
signed copy i got from him at reno a few months ago.
what a fun book! there are 101 chapters, each about 2 pages long,
with the longest chapter being, i think, chapter 28, at 16 pages. the
book is a bunch of essays, anecdotes, stories, memories. a few games
are in there, but only at the end of the chapters about something that
had to do with the games played, for example, there is a chapter on
ray charles' interest in chess, and at the end is the game played
between ray charles and larry evans.
the book is great for chess players and non-players alike. it should
almost be required reading for "serious" chess players, as it gives a
good "modern history and mythology" about the chess world, and we
should know where we've been. it's great for people who know nothing
about chess, as it is just interesting how much craziness and weird
crap surrounds the game. scandals, the"mystery" of alekhine's death,
stuff about bobby fischer you probably don't know, unless you are
edwin "dutch defense" meyer, who knows all about fischer.
there will never be a "this crazy world of monopoly" or even "this
crazy world of scrabble," although the "professional" scrabble world
has it's share of weirdness.
a super interesting "insider's" look into the chess world, all in
bite sized pieces that you don't even have to read in order.
i would recommend it to anyone.
http://tinyurl.com/yuqklb
[email protected] wrote:
> ONE FIVE STAR AMAZON REVIEW
>
> Entertainingly Informative, October 23, 2007
>
> By Clark Savage, Jr. - See all my reviews
>
> Grandmaster Larry Evans really was right in the thick of things during
> so many major chess events and scandals. With numerous jabs at the
> corrupt FIDE and many chapters about the eccentric Bobby Fischer,
> Evans covers a multitude of monumental happenings in the "Crazy World
> of Chess."
>
> There are a few chapters in the book that were uninteresting to me or
> that I thought were irrelevant, like chess memorabilia being sold on
> eBay and a bit about handwriting analysis. But overall this book has
> way too much for that to even matter. The letters and interviews are
> invaluable and fascinating. His level of involvement is enormous and
> his interest and devotion to the game are very evident. A lot of work
> and research must have been put into this book.
>
> Any chess fan out there needs to own this book. No argument about it.
> You might think you know a lot of the history and many of the
> scandals, but this covers them to a degree that only someone inside
> the circle of these famous players could expose. You think you know
> chess, but you ain't seen nothing yet!
>
>
> [email protected] wrote:
> > On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
> > >
> > > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> > >
> > > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
> > >
> > > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
> > > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
> > > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> > > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> > > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
> > > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> > > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
> > > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> > > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
> > > again!
> >
> > What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
| |
Date: 16 Nov 2007 08:58:53
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: Hot off the press!
|
On Nov 16, 10:54 am, The Historian <[email protected] >
wrote:
> On Nov 16, 10:11 am, samsloan <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Nov 16, 9:59 am, The Historian <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > > On Oct 30, 2:53 pm, samsloan <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > > > I got the book today in the mail from Amazon.
>
> > > > I pre-ordered it months ago. It finally arrived just now.
>
> > > > Sam Sloan
>
> > > I just ordered Evans' book, and the Ishi Press Weaver Adams tome. I
> > > wonder if Ishi has anything else of historical interest coming along?
>
> > Yes, we do.
>
> > We have a blockbuster book coming out in about ten days, a book to
> > blow away all other chess books, by one of the strongest players in
> > the world.
>
> > But I am not telling you or anybody else about it until it actually
> > comes out. You will see it when you see it.
>
> > Sam Sloan
>
> Ah, another Susan Polgar games collection!
>
> But what I had in mind were historical reprints such as Moravian puts
> out. Or your Weaver Adams, Sam Loyd, and problemist reprints.
Thank you for your suggestions.
The book I am bringing out is a reprint but updated to include the
latest stuff. It deals in part with historical chess players.
Sam Sloan
|
| |
Date: 16 Nov 2007 07:54:14
From: The Historian
Subject: Re: Hot off the press!
|
On Nov 16, 10:11 am, samsloan <[email protected] > wrote:
> On Nov 16, 9:59 am, The Historian <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > On Oct 30, 2:53 pm, samsloan <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > > I got the book today in the mail from Amazon.
>
> > > I pre-ordered it months ago. It finally arrived just now.
>
> > > Sam Sloan
>
> > I just ordered Evans' book, and the Ishi Press Weaver Adams tome. I
> > wonder if Ishi has anything else of historical interest coming along?
>
> Yes, we do.
>
> We have a blockbuster book coming out in about ten days, a book to
> blow away all other chess books, by one of the strongest players in
> the world.
>
> But I am not telling you or anybody else about it until it actually
> comes out. You will see it when you see it.
>
> Sam Sloan
Ah, another Susan Polgar games collection!
But what I had in mind were historical reprints such as Moravian puts
out. Or your Weaver Adams, Sam Loyd, and problemist reprints.
|
| |
Date: 16 Nov 2007 07:11:03
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: Hot off the press!
|
On Nov 16, 9:59 am, The Historian <[email protected] > wrote:
> On Oct 30, 2:53 pm, samsloan <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > I got the book today in the mail from Amazon.
>
> > I pre-ordered it months ago. It finally arrived just now.
>
> > Sam Sloan
>
> I just ordered Evans' book, and the Ishi Press Weaver Adams tome. I
> wonder if Ishi has anything else of historical interest coming along?
Yes, we do.
We have a blockbuster book coming out in about ten days, a book to
blow away all other chess books, by one of the strongest players in
the world.
But I am not telling you or anybody else about it until it actually
comes out. You will see it when you see it.
Sam Sloan
|
| |
Date: 16 Nov 2007 06:59:52
From: The Historian
Subject: Re: Hot off the press!
|
On Oct 30, 2:53 pm, samsloan <[email protected] > wrote:
> I got the book today in the mail from Amazon.
>
> I pre-ordered it months ago. It finally arrived just now.
>
> Sam Sloan
I just ordered Evans' book, and the Ishi Press Weaver Adams tome. I
wonder if Ishi has anything else of historical interest coming along?
|
| |
Date: 13 Nov 2007 13:50:49
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
JUDE ACERS WEIGHS IN FROM NEW ORLEANS
"A truly wonderful read. 15 copies go out to friends this weekend."
[email protected] wrote:
> REVIEW BY JAMES WEAVER
>
> THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS arrived yesterday. I was able to finish it
> (minus 20 pages about specific games) this morning. I enjoyed it very
> much, and especially liked the format that highlighted relevant
> situations and events that even non-players will find interesting and
> humorous.
>
> All things considered, from FIDE world government to computer
> domination of the game, to all the GMs that have documented their
> experiences, I think Interzonals will become not only the most
> attended chess events but "trails end" for future players who refuse
> to associate with the corruption and politics that sub$tantial prize
> money demands they condone.
>
> I think more kids will learn and play chess but not beyond high school
> with the exception of the Claude Bloodgoods of the world. And while
> chess as a profession never quite reached the intended level of a
> reasonable salary other than in Russia, and computers have completely
> erased any reasonable goal for players, I think chess will forever
> hold the distinction that no other game will ever replace it.
>
> Obviously, chess players will not suddenly use their energy to elevate
> another game, because chess is so unique and encompassing. I think the
> future player will understand the moves well enough to follow the "big
> board" at Interzonals, and occasionally play against a relative or
> neighbor.
>
> FIDE will deliberately, and likely very soon, implode during the same
> meeting where the first order of business is to divide up the "kitty"
> and, as Larry Evans points out, they will wear down any future
> claimant via silence.
>
> Chess players will still play in parks and small coffee houses and
> talk about the "old days". Maybe chess was never supposed to
> experience any "good ol' days." I also think this book is very timely
> and will reach a much larger audience than
> just dedicated fans. It will soon receive a lot of positive feedback.
>
> Good work!
>
>
>
> [email protected] wrote:
> > A FIVE STAR AMAZON REVIEW
> >
> > Entertainingly Informative, October 23, 2007
> >
> > By Clark Savage, Jr. - See all my reviews
> >
> > Grandmaster Larry Evans really was right in the thick of things during
> > so many major chess events and scandals. With numerous jabs at the
> > corrupt FIDE and many chapters about the eccentric Bobby Fischer,
> > Evans covers a multitude of monumental happenings in the "Crazy World
> > of Chess."
> >
> > There are a few chapters in the book that were uninteresting to me or
> > that I thought were irrelevant, like chess memorabilia being sold on
> > eBay and a bit about handwriting analysis. But overall this book has
> > way too much for that to even matter. The letters and interviews are
> > invaluable and fascinating. His level of involvement is enormous and
> > his interest and devotion to the game are very evident. A lot of work
> > and research must have been put into this book.
> >
> > Any chess fan out there needs to own this book. No argument about it.
> > You might think you know a lot of the history and many of the
> > scandals, but this covers them to a degree that only someone inside
> > the circle of these famous players could expose. You think you know
> > chess, but you ain't seen nothing yet!
> >
> > [email protected] wrote:
> > > On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
> > > >
> > > > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> > > >
> > > > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
> > > >
> > > > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
> > > > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
> > > > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> > > > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> > > > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
> > > > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> > > > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
> > > > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> > > > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
> > > > again!
> > >
> > > What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
| | |
Date: 05 Dec 2007 18:58:23
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
BONGO GOT IT WRONGO AGAIN
<Okay, let me make it simple for you: the Cold War betwixt the USA and
the USSR is over and done with; hence, it is pointless to saturate
commentary on the games with lies, as in war. You wanna know what's
funny? "Our" best hope at present is Gata Kamsky -- a Russian emigre.
(Even if "we" were to win, "we" would lose!) > -- help bot
How Greg Kennedy does hate Bobby Fischer!
Some readers of this forum are aware that Greg
used to claim that had he been living in Brooklyn like
Bobby, he coulda been a contendah and mebbe a champ --
rather than the pretendah and chump he himself now
admits to being. He blames Indiana and its cornfields
Readers can judge for themselves.
Bobby's moves versus Spassky receive more
exclams and praise than those of Boris because he won
both matches convincingly. He played better moves, on
average. His victory over Spassky in 1972 undermined
within the USSR important Soviet cultural propaganda.
When discussing history, Greg always betrays his
lack of reading. In what he writes, the lad claims that
Kamsky is a Russian emigre. The bongo got it wrongo, once again.
There will be many more of these gaffes if Greg
decides to continue discussing historical events. The
difficulty, however, is not so much that he is
under-read but that he reaches conclusions from his
mistaken premises derived in the first place from his
inaccurate information. What Greg calls Commie-bashing
is today accepted thinking about the nature of the Soviet
enterprise and its poisonous weeds.
Greg is becoming ever more bitter about his own
failures, and how he hates those such as Garry Kasparov,
Ray Keene, Larry Evans and Bobby Fischer who won either
fame or wealth or both from chess.
<Apparently, it is possible to look at the overall situation and note
that it was
someone called Adolf Hitler who overran the country in which PK [Paul
Keres]
lived > -- help bot
Good grief! The Nazis did not overrun Estonia.
The Soviets did. It was not "someone called Adolf
Hitler" who invaded Estonia, it was someone called
Joseph Stalin.
Notice how Greg Kennedy then disgorges a farrago
of conclusions based on a blitheringly wrong
assumption. He has begun to bluster and rave. He
even tells his correspondent to think rationally.
Any time Greg gets on a roll, he brings to mind
John Belushi in Animal House rallying his frat brothers
with the call that Germany attacked Pearl Harbor.
In an example of projection, he calls Larry
Evans, who writes popular well-known books, a member
of the lunatic fringe. And our Greg?
The Nazis attacked Estonia, just like they did
Pearl Harbor.
Our Greg still has not performed the requisite
reading to participate in discussions going back any
further than the publication dates of his favorite 60s
comic books. He still blames Indiana for his
intellectual lacunae.
Yours, Larry Parr
help bot wrote:
> On Dec 4, 3:03 am, SBD <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On Dec 4, 1:35 am, help bot <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > I see your point bot, but I would say it is flawed. If I took money
> > from the Nazis during WWII, I would have to be considered something of
> > a Nazi sympathizer, wouldn't I?
>
> No, you wouldn't.
>
> I seem to recall that the well-liked player Paul Keres
> took such monies, and I don't see people running
> around calling him a Nazi. Apparently, it is possible
> to look at the overall situation and note that it was
> someone called Adolf Hitler who overran the country
> in which PK lived; now, since PK committed no
> crime apart from being born in the path of the Nazi
> invasion, reason dictates that he cannot be held
> accountable for those things beyond his control.
>
> Try to think rationally, my boy: you need to prove
> actual "sympathizing", not just some involvement
> with Nazis. (Heck, I am involved with lunatics and
> incompetents every day, but I hardly sympathize
> with them.)
>
>
> > I know I make this point ad nauseum, but I think bowing to money
> > interests doesn't help chess - the money isn't enough and it just
> > cheapens the game.
>
> Right. But greed is hardly identical to antisemitism,
> which is why I pointed out the Larry Evans gaffe. I've
> been reading complaints for decades about FIDE's
> tendency toward greed and corruption, and this one
> fits like a glove. The involvement of Arabs and
> Zionists in no way trumps FIDE's greed; it merely
> clouds the issue and prompts lunatic fringe-rs to cry
> "antisemitism!", just as chief loon Larry Evans does
> with regard to the granting of free rating points; note
> that questions regarding how many Jewish players
> *benefited* from that action are consistently ducked
> at Lunatic Central.
>
>
> > But if chess made itself strong, money would flow
> > to it, and if chess can't be made strong, then maybe it should be
> > priily a game for us amateurs who love it.
>
> I don't know about that piece of work, but it is
> obvious that corruption should be weeded out for
> its own sake. But so long as top players cry out
> for mo' money, FIDE will heed the call. As for the
> Arabs having mo' money than countries removed
> from the conflict in question, don't hold your breath.
> China might be able to compete, but our brand of
> chess is hardly top priority there.
>
> One could discuss why it is that the USA can't
> compete with the Arabs, but this takes us right
> back to our long-time addiction to cheap oil; the
> cheapest oil is the oil found in deserts in the
> Middle East. Is FIDE therefore anti-American?
> Or are we simply outclassed when it comes to
> tossing around big money.
>
>
> -- help bot
|
| | | |
Date: 05 Dec 2007 19:18:19
From: J.D. Walker
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
Zounds Mr. Parr! Must you be so cruel... You've brutalized this fellow
as if he were a swine that has been slain, gutted, spitted and is
roasting over an open flame... Logic and education can be terrible
weapons when wielded by the ruthless. You must have picked up some of
that Genghis Khan spirit during your years in the Orient... :^)
--
Rev. J.D. Walker, MsD, U.C.
[email protected] wrote:
> BONGO GOT IT WRONGO AGAIN
>
> <Okay, let me make it simple for you: the Cold War betwixt the USA and
> the USSR is over and done with; hence, it is pointless to saturate
> commentary on the games with lies, as in war. You wanna know what's
> funny? "Our" best hope at present is Gata Kamsky -- a Russian emigre.
> (Even if "we" were to win, "we" would lose!)> -- help bot
>
> How Greg Kennedy does hate Bobby Fischer!
>
> Some readers of this forum are aware that Greg
> used to claim that had he been living in Brooklyn like
> Bobby, he coulda been a contendah and mebbe a champ --
> rather than the pretendah and chump he himself now
> admits to being. He blames Indiana and its cornfields
> Readers can judge for themselves.
>
> Bobby's moves versus Spassky receive more
> exclams and praise than those of Boris because he won
> both matches convincingly. He played better moves, on
> average. His victory over Spassky in 1972 undermined
> within the USSR important Soviet cultural propaganda.
>
> When discussing history, Greg always betrays his
> lack of reading. In what he writes, the lad claims that
> Kamsky is a Russian emigre. The bongo got it wrongo, once again.
>
> There will be many more of these gaffes if Greg
> decides to continue discussing historical events. The
> difficulty, however, is not so much that he is
> under-read but that he reaches conclusions from his
> mistaken premises derived in the first place from his
> inaccurate information. What Greg calls Commie-bashing
> is today accepted thinking about the nature of the Soviet
> enterprise and its poisonous weeds.
>
> Greg is becoming ever more bitter about his own
> failures, and how he hates those such as Garry Kasparov,
> Ray Keene, Larry Evans and Bobby Fischer who won either
> fame or wealth or both from chess.
>
> <Apparently, it is possible to look at the overall situation and note
> that it was
> someone called Adolf Hitler who overran the country in which PK [Paul
> Keres]
> lived> -- help bot
>
> Good grief! The Nazis did not overrun Estonia.
> The Soviets did. It was not "someone called Adolf
> Hitler" who invaded Estonia, it was someone called
> Joseph Stalin.
>
> Notice how Greg Kennedy then disgorges a farrago
> of conclusions based on a blitheringly wrong
> assumption. He has begun to bluster and rave. He
> even tells his correspondent to think rationally.
>
> Any time Greg gets on a roll, he brings to mind
> John Belushi in Animal House rallying his frat brothers
> with the call that Germany attacked Pearl Harbor.
>
> In an example of projection, he calls Larry
> Evans, who writes popular well-known books, a member
> of the lunatic fringe. And our Greg?
>
> The Nazis attacked Estonia, just like they did
> Pearl Harbor.
>
> Our Greg still has not performed the requisite
> reading to participate in discussions going back any
> further than the publication dates of his favorite 60s
> comic books. He still blames Indiana for his
> intellectual lacunae.
>
> Yours, Larry Parr
>
>
>
>
>
> help bot wrote:
>> On Dec 4, 3:03 am, SBD <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> On Dec 4, 1:35 am, help bot <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>> I see your point bot, but I would say it is flawed. If I took money
>>> from the Nazis during WWII, I would have to be considered something of
>>> a Nazi sympathizer, wouldn't I?
>> No, you wouldn't.
>>
>> I seem to recall that the well-liked player Paul Keres
>> took such monies, and I don't see people running
>> around calling him a Nazi. Apparently, it is possible
>> to look at the overall situation and note that it was
>> someone called Adolf Hitler who overran the country
>> in which PK lived; now, since PK committed no
>> crime apart from being born in the path of the Nazi
>> invasion, reason dictates that he cannot be held
>> accountable for those things beyond his control.
>>
>> Try to think rationally, my boy: you need to prove
>> actual "sympathizing", not just some involvement
>> with Nazis. (Heck, I am involved with lunatics and
>> incompetents every day, but I hardly sympathize
>> with them.)
>>
>>
>>> I know I make this point ad nauseum, but I think bowing to money
>>> interests doesn't help chess - the money isn't enough and it just
>>> cheapens the game.
>> Right. But greed is hardly identical to antisemitism,
>> which is why I pointed out the Larry Evans gaffe. I've
>> been reading complaints for decades about FIDE's
>> tendency toward greed and corruption, and this one
>> fits like a glove. The involvement of Arabs and
>> Zionists in no way trumps FIDE's greed; it merely
>> clouds the issue and prompts lunatic fringe-rs to cry
>> "antisemitism!", just as chief loon Larry Evans does
>> with regard to the granting of free rating points; note
>> that questions regarding how many Jewish players
>> *benefited* from that action are consistently ducked
>> at Lunatic Central.
>>
>>
>>> But if chess made itself strong, money would flow
>>> to it, and if chess can't be made strong, then maybe it should be
>>> priily a game for us amateurs who love it.
>> I don't know about that piece of work, but it is
>> obvious that corruption should be weeded out for
>> its own sake. But so long as top players cry out
>> for mo' money, FIDE will heed the call. As for the
>> Arabs having mo' money than countries removed
>> from the conflict in question, don't hold your breath.
>> China might be able to compete, but our brand of
>> chess is hardly top priority there.
>>
>> One could discuss why it is that the USA can't
>> compete with the Arabs, but this takes us right
>> back to our long-time addiction to cheap oil; the
>> cheapest oil is the oil found in deserts in the
>> Middle East. Is FIDE therefore anti-American?
>> Or are we simply outclassed when it comes to
>> tossing around big money.
>>
>>
>> -- help bot
|
| | |
Date: 05 Dec 2007 02:53:43
From: help bot
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
The Great Parrthenium bleated:
> > Here is an article that I wrote some years back
> > on the subject of whether chess is an art. Our latest
> > anonymouse unwit made some interesting, if crude
> > points on the subject of chess not being an art. He
> > missed the crucial ones, however.
How about just getting the basic quotations right?
> > Raymond Chandler spewed contempt, calling chess the
> > greatest waste of energy outside of an advertising agency.
RC did not speak of energy; rather, he talked about
wasting the *human intellect*. Instead of seeing this
as some foul, contemptuous attack, why not try to
comprehend the wisdom behind it? The shoe fits, as
was also observed by the pundit who noted that we
who shuffle wooden men around the board, thinking
ourselves very clever, are in fact just wasting our time.
It's really not that difficult to see the similarities
between playing chess and the workings of an
advertising agency... which both signify nothing.
-- help bot
|
| | |
Date: 05 Dec 2007 20:31:52
From: Harry Hemmaroid
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
[email protected] wrote:
>
> IS CHESS AN ART?
NO, IT'S NOT..
>
> <Chess-artists? -- pshaw!> -- Harry Hemoid
>
> Here is an article that I wrote some years back
> on the subject of whether chess is an art. Our latest
> anonymouse unwit made some interesting, if crude
> points on the subject of chess not being an art. He
> missed the crucial ones, however.
I missed nothing..
>
> In one of the half-dozen or so truthful entries in the
> 31-volume Great Soviet Encyclopedia, chess is defined
> as "an art in the form of a game." Which amounts,
> rather less than more, to Savielly Tartakower's
> epigram, "Chess is the art of battle for the
> victorious battle of art." Which amounts, rather more
> than less, to Larry Evans' description of the
> grandmaster's art as trying to paint the Mona Lisa
> while the opponent grabs at the brush.
A truly ridiculous description. If I was the artist, the idiot trying to
grab my brush would soon get a boot up the arse or alternatively I'd go
play by myself..
>If art is
> considered strictly in the dictionary sense of
> creating things that display form, beauty and unusual
> perception, then chess certainly qualifies.
>
> If one considers the skill and craftsmanship
> often associated with art, then chess has a further
> claim. Lenin called chess the "gymnasium of the
> mind," and Goethe crowned it "the touchstone of the
> intellect." Bonar Law, a chess-playing British prime
> minister of the early 1920s, called it "a cold bath
> for the mind." Gymnasiums, touchstones, cold baths
> and the intellect - we have here the suggestion of
> rigor and vigor, which sits well with what we know
> about the focussed habits of, say, Alexander Alekhine,
> Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov and about the
> disciplined labors of a da Vinci, a Dickens and a embrandt.
Not to mention your average SAS trooper, Olympic hopeful or any other
number of ambitious punishment freaks & since we're talking art here we
need to throw in a bit of debauchery just to balance things up..
>
> There is also, as in the eponymous work by Fred
> Reinfeld, the human side of chess. "Chess, like love,
> like music," wrote Siegbert Tarrasch, "has the power
> to make men happy."
There are many chess bon-mots. This one (above) is particularly good..
> Men react aesthetically to chess
> games finely played.
Really? so a spitting tantrum is aesthetic - eh?
>Writers bestow words such as
> "elegant" and "brilliant" on moves and games, and what
> Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has called the ancient trinity
> of "the good, the true and the beautiful" is much in
> evidence in chess writing. Especially in books
> written by Spanish speakers, where a riot of
> exclamation points and superlative adjectives manifest
> the excitement of aesthetic involvement.
Ah yes! la temperament latino!..
>
> Clearly, then, chess in an art.
Nah..
>
> Or, perhaps, not so clearly. Chess lacks two
> qualities that are often associated with art.
Uh-Oh, omg you're right..
> Our
> game is finite, a closed system, though its finitude
> may seem infinite. Painting, music, poetry and
> prosing are open-ended endeavors bounded by
> no ultimate limits.
Geez, see?..
>Too, the great arts of the ages
> can be immediately appreciated and essentially
> comprehended without requiring what is, for the
> uninitiated, arcane knowledge.
mmm..
>
> In chess, you must know the rules. In the great arts,
> knowledge of norms may deepen understanding but
> are not essential. No specialized knowledge stands
> between the observer and Velasquez's "Las Meninas "
> as it does between a spectator ignorant of chess rules
> and Fischer's Mozartian elegance in game six of the first
> match with Boris Spassky in 1972.
Mozartian? oh come now? Shostakovian surely - no?..
>
> Rules-based necessity in chess means that there
> is no final freedom of infinite variety. The fact of
> finitude is not the fact of the classic arts. Chess
> shrinks somewhat. Or even shrivels.
WHEN IT COMES TO ART CHESS RUNS A POOR SECOND BUT WAIT, WHAT IF CHESS
WAS A SCIENCE INSTEAD - EH?..
>Felix
> Mendelssohn expressed disquiet, "Chess is too earnest
> for a game; too much of a game to be earnest about."
> Raymond Chandler spewed contempt, calling chess the
> greatest waste of energy outside of an advertising agency.
>
> The most obvious objection to the chess-as-art
> idea is that an idio-savant computer chip can
> routinely produce brilliancies against humans. Chess
> seems to become a technical function rather than a
> creative pursuit.
T'was ever thus (sorry chaps)..
> But computers can now produce
> paintings and music, and there are stories about
> chimpanzees and babies
Also elephants, don't forget the elephants!..
>creating award-winning
> paintings. The issue is not whether idiot-savants -
> mechanical or animal - can produce a praiseworthy
> effort in the arts; the issue is whether human
> personality can express itself through a given
> activity. If so, then that activity has some claim to
> being called an art. Not a major art and not always
> an art - but an art at some level and at some moment.
Yeah - ok, but not really Art..
>
> I think that human personality definitely
> expresses itself through the movement of the pieces,
> and this expression can be seen in different styles of
> play and problem-composing. True, any single game by
> a top master might have been played by another top
> master. Anatoly Karpov, for example, is famous for
> his patient probing, but his brilliant endgame play
> against Andrei Sokolov in game 10 of their 1987
> candidates' match seems no more patient than the
> famously impatient Rudolf Spielmann's technical
> exploitation against Alexander Alekhine at Carlsbad 1923.
>
> One can probably find a game played by stodgy
> Adolf Schwarz (he, who could essay 1. e4 e5 2. d4
> exd4 3. c3 Qe7 4. f3? against Tarrasch) that looks
> like a Tal crescendo and a game played by Tal that
> looks like a Schwarz sedative. Yet if one plays
> through the oeuvres of, say, attack dog Rashid
> Nezhmetdinov and somnolent Ulf Andersson, one will
> see two different approaches to playing chess. These
> different approaches make me want to know more about
> the men behind the pieces, just as viewing a Van Gogh
> collection tempts me to learning more about the man who
> painted those pictures and about the places that once
> knew him and now know him no more.
>
> Of course, literature and painting move most
> people far more than do the moves of chess. The
> novels of Dickens and Dostoevsky eclipse the fireworks
> of Fischer and Alekhine; and the lives of the great
> Impressionists leave an impress that the lives of
> chess masters do not.
Ain't that the truth bro. ..
>Art, like the universe, is hierarchy.
?
>
> I, for one, think that Grandmaster Larry Evans got it just
> right when he described chess as "a minor contemplative art."
|
| | | |
Date: 05 Dec 2007 08:07:36
From: Chess One
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
"Harry Hemoid" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> [email protected] wrote:
>>
>> IS CHESS AN ART?
>
> NO, IT'S NOT..
> WHEN IT COMES TO ART CHESS RUNS A POOR SECOND BUT WAIT, WHAT IF CHESS
> WAS A SCIENCE INSTEAD - EH?..
What if chess were a performance art?
>> Of course, literature and painting move most
>> people far more than do the moves of chess. The
>> novels of Dickens and Dostoevsky eclipse the fireworks
>> of Fischer and Alekhine; and the lives of the great
>> Impressionists leave an impress that the lives of
>> chess masters do not.
>
> Ain't that the truth bro. ..
Is it? I remember a certain chess player going to Mexico City where 50,000
people showed up - and this, I suggest, is rather more than for a literary
reading by D or D.
Of course you could consider chess to be just a popular art, rather than
high art; but this simply makes it a different sort of art - an egalitarian
one, where regardless of race creed or colour, age, ambulatory abilty,
origin, social status, height education or aught else, it could be seen as
superior to any other art or science people can freely access together.
That's not nothing! In fact its a lot.
The very transient nature of the play of the game makes it a performance in
specific time, and one not nearly so susceptible to any 'arts ket', and
thereby aloof from such factors.
As a game, it thereby reaches philosophic realms; and rather than art for
arts' sake, it is partnering with others to create something for Now, and
Now's sake!
Phil Innes
>>Art, like the universe, is hierarchy.
>
> ?
>>
>> I, for one, think that Grandmaster Larry Evans got it just
>> right when he described chess as "a minor contemplative art."
|
| | | | |
Date: 06 Dec 2007 22:18:03
From: Harry Hemmaroid
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
Chess One wrote:
>
> "Harry Hemoid" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > [email protected] wrote:
> >>
> >> IS CHESS AN ART?
> >
> > NO, IT'S NOT..
>
> > WHEN IT COMES TO ART CHESS RUNS A POOR SECOND BUT WAIT, WHAT IF CHESS
> > WAS A SCIENCE INSTEAD - EH?..
>
> What if chess were a performance art?
>
> >> Of course, literature and painting move most
> >> people far more than do the moves of chess. The
> >> novels of Dickens and Dostoevsky eclipse the fireworks
> >> of Fischer and Alekhine; and the lives of the great
> >> Impressionists leave an impress that the lives of
> >> chess masters do not.
> >
> > Ain't that the truth bro. ..
>
> Is it? I remember a certain chess player going to Mexico City where 50,000
Yeah, I remember Jimi Hendrix doing his thang on the Isle of White circa
'69 but hey what's the sweat man - chookie?.. Ferkin! yeo oh got the rev
on katholik krunch but 'am cummin down wiv proddie punch.. yee! babee
does it cute wiv the doodee dah & 'am getting ma bumcheeks up thar,
kissing the stoodio lightbulbs. Ferkin witchunters! - pshaw!..
> people showed up - and this, I suggest, is rather more than for a literary
> reading by D or D.
>
> Of course you could consider chess to be just a popular art, rather than
> high art; but this simply makes it a different sort of art - an egalitarian
> one, where regardless of race creed or colour, age, ambulatory abilty,
> origin, social status, height education or aught else, it could be seen as
> superior to any other art or science people can freely access together.
>
> That's not nothing! In fact its a lot.
>
> The very transient nature of the play of the game makes it a performance in
> specific time, and one not nearly so susceptible to any 'arts ket', and
> thereby aloof from such factors.
>
> As a game, it thereby reaches philosophic realms; and rather than art for
> arts' sake, it is partnering with others to create something for Now, and
> Now's sake!
>
> Phil Innes
>
> >>Art, like the universe, is hierarchy.
> >
> > ?
> >>
> >> I, for one, think that Grandmaster Larry Evans got it just
> >> right when he described chess as "a minor contemplative art."
|
| | | | |
Date: 06 Dec 2007 19:33:35
From: Harry Hemmaroid
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
Chess One wrote:
>
> "Harry Hemoid" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > [email protected] wrote:
> >>
> >> IS CHESS AN ART?
> >
> > NO, IT'S NOT..
>
> > WHEN IT COMES TO ART CHESS RUNS A POOR SECOND BUT WAIT, WHAT IF CHESS
> > WAS A SCIENCE INSTEAD - EH?..
>
> What if chess were a performance art?
Phil, why don't you just take your little dawg out for a caper in the
snow? you & it will feel a lot better for it..
|
| | | | | |
Date: 06 Dec 2007 08:46:05
From: Chess One
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
"Harry Hemoid" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Chess One wrote:
>>
>> "Harry Hemoid" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>> > [email protected] wrote:
>> >>
>> >> IS CHESS AN ART?
>> >
>> > NO, IT'S NOT..
>>
>> > WHEN IT COMES TO ART CHESS RUNS A POOR SECOND BUT WAIT, WHAT IF CHESS
>> > WAS A SCIENCE INSTEAD - EH?..
>>
>> What if chess were a performance art?
>
> Phil, why don't you just take your little dawg out for a caper in the
> snow? you & it will feel a lot better for it..
I certainly will, though it gets 'cold-paw', and the worst thing of all is
if you get a bit of salt stuck in your pad. Do you play chess yourself?
Gotta dog? A name? [you, or the dog].
Phil
|
| | | | | | |
Date: 07 Dec 2007 12:11:48
From: Harry Hemmaroid
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
Chess One wrote:
> I certainly will, though it gets 'cold-paw', and the worst thing of all is
> if you get a bit of salt stuck in your pad. Do you play chess yourself?
> Gotta dog? A name? [you, or the dog].
Hang on a minute Phil, coarse I gotta handle, coarse I know how to
shuffle the 'pieces' coarse I'm concerned about your poor little
poochie's _salt pad_ but where I'm from we hunt from dawn to dusk & our
dawgs accompany us..
|
| | |
Date: 04 Dec 2007 22:14:50
From: help bot
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
DUCK AND WEAVE
> what evans points out is the fracturing of the chess community in the past
> 40 years by politicos who play around with such stuff for their own ends,
> and don't give a damn who is scapegoated
If only that were true; if only LE could refrain from
lunatic-fringe speculative attacks, leaps of illogic,
and grotesque lies, such as the one about no drug
having ever helped someone win a chess game,
for instance.
> that is pretty much a current condition, and on the world scene usa is
> toothless to even effect a motion of dissent. america has become a
> chess-client state, where its civil rights, customs and foundations of
> decency are simply negated
> current and ex-politicians continue this circumstance since they too are all
> at odds with each other - and no superintending vision of chess in the
> country is allowed to exist beyond mere survival and politicians self
> interest - since people in this country like it that way - then they can
> whine a lot about what is being done to them, which naturally, has nothing
> to do with them at all - they are poor victims, admitting no responsibility
> for their own state
Nonsense. Things are the way they are because
no one has managed to change them for the better,
not because everyone likes them that way.
The process is mucked up; before OMOV, attacks
were carried out and those who spent loads of dosh
for mailings generally prevailed; now the voters are
so ignorant that they have elected SS to office, not
suspecting that even if he truly were a reformist, his
single vote would render him powerless against the
Bill Goichberg clan. It all reminds me of our two
party political system, where power corrupts, and
that power struggle comes to dominate all things --
even far beyond the realms of politics.
What is required is a complete change in the
process; cut out the corrupt, self-obsessed
politicians and replace them with something else.
Instead of ducking the issues and always changing
the subject when caught in a lie, let the ratpack
show how it can do something constructive for a
change. Brandishing names like Ray Keene,
Larry Evans and Lev Alburt, the excuse "we have
no power" would come across as a cop-out.
-- help bot
|
| | |
Date: 04 Dec 2007 21:42:52
From: help bot
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Dec 4, 3:03 am, SBD <[email protected] > wrote:
> On Dec 4, 1:35 am, help bot <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> I see your point bot, but I would say it is flawed. If I took money
> from the Nazis during WWII, I would have to be considered something of
> a Nazi sympathizer, wouldn't I?
No, you wouldn't.
I seem to recall that the well-liked player Paul Keres
took such monies, and I don't see people running
around calling him a Nazi. Apparently, it is possible
to look at the overall situation and note that it was
someone called Adolf Hitler who overran the country
in which PK lived; now, since PK committed no
crime apart from being born in the path of the Nazi
invasion, reason dictates that he cannot be held
accountable for those things beyond his control.
Try to think rationally, my boy: you need to prove
actual "sympathizing", not just some involvement
with Nazis. (Heck, I am involved with lunatics and
incompetents every day, but I hardly sympathize
with them.)
> I know I make this point ad nauseum, but I think bowing to money
> interests doesn't help chess - the money isn't enough and it just
> cheapens the game.
Right. But greed is hardly identical to antisemitism,
which is why I pointed out the Larry Evans gaffe. I've
been reading complaints for decades about FIDE's
tendency toward greed and corruption, and this one
fits like a glove. The involvement of Arabs and
Zionists in no way trumps FIDE's greed; it merely
clouds the issue and prompts lunatic fringe-rs to cry
"antisemitism!", just as chief loon Larry Evans does
with regard to the granting of free rating points; note
that questions regarding how many Jewish players
*benefited* from that action are consistently ducked
at Lunatic Central.
> But if chess made itself strong, money would flow
> to it, and if chess can't be made strong, then maybe it should be
> priily a game for us amateurs who love it.
I don't know about that piece of work, but it is
obvious that corruption should be weeded out for
its own sake. But so long as top players cry out
for mo' money, FIDE will heed the call. As for the
Arabs having mo' money than countries removed
from the conflict in question, don't hold your breath.
China might be able to compete, but our brand of
chess is hardly top priority there.
One could discuss why it is that the USA can't
compete with the Arabs, but this takes us right
back to our long-time addiction to cheap oil; the
cheapest oil is the oil found in deserts in the
Middle East. Is FIDE therefore anti-American?
Or are we simply outclassed when it comes to
tossing around big money.
-- help bot
|
| | |
Date: 04 Dec 2007 19:23:52
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
IS CHESS AN ART?
<Chess-artists? -- pshaw! > -- Harry Hemoid
Here is an article that I wrote some years back
on the subject of whether chess is an art. Our latest
anonymouse unwit made some interesting, if crude
points on the subject of chess not being an art. He
missed the crucial ones, however.
In one of the half-dozen or so truthful entries in the
31-volume Great Soviet Encyclopedia, chess is defined
as "an art in the form of a game." Which amounts,
rather less than more, to Savielly Tartakower's
epigram, "Chess is the art of battle for the
victorious battle of art." Which amounts, rather more
than less, to Larry Evans' description of the
grandmaster's art as trying to paint the Mona Lisa
while the opponent grabs at the brush. If art is
considered strictly in the dictionary sense of
creating things that display form, beauty and unusual
perception, then chess certainly qualifies.
If one considers the skill and craftsmanship
often associated with art, then chess has a further
claim. Lenin called chess the "gymnasium of the
mind," and Goethe crowned it "the touchstone of the
intellect." Bonar Law, a chess-playing British prime
minister of the early 1920s, called it "a cold bath
for the mind." Gymnasiums, touchstones, cold baths
and the intellect - we have here the suggestion of
rigor and vigor, which sits well with what we know
about the focussed habits of, say, Alexander Alekhine,
Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov and about the
disciplined labors of a da Vinci, a Dickens and a embrandt.
There is also, as in the eponymous work by Fred
Reinfeld, the human side of chess. "Chess, like love,
like music," wrote Siegbert Tarrasch, "has the power
to make men happy." Men react aesthetically to chess
games finely played. Writers bestow words such as
"elegant" and "brilliant" on moves and games, and what
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has called the ancient trinity
of "the good, the true and the beautiful" is much in
evidence in chess writing. Especially in books
written by Spanish speakers, where a riot of
exclamation points and superlative adjectives manifest
the excitement of aesthetic involvement.
Clearly, then, chess in an art.
Or, perhaps, not so clearly. Chess lacks two
qualities that are often associated with art. Our
game is finite, a closed system, though its finitude
may seem infinite. Painting, music, poetry and
prosing are open-ended endeavors bounded by
no ultimate limits. Too, the great arts of the ages
can be immediately appreciated and essentially
comprehended without requiring what is, for the
uninitiated, arcane knowledge.
In chess, you must know the rules. In the great arts,
knowledge of norms may deepen understanding but
are not essential. No specialized knowledge stands
between the observer and Velasquez's "Las Meninas "
as it does between a spectator ignorant of chess rules
and Fischer's Mozartian elegance in game six of the first
match with Boris Spassky in 1972.
Rules-based necessity in chess means that there
is no final freedom of infinite variety. The fact of
finitude is not the fact of the classic arts. Chess
shrinks somewhat. Or even shrivels. Felix
Mendelssohn expressed disquiet, "Chess is too earnest
for a game; too much of a game to be earnest about."
Raymond Chandler spewed contempt, calling chess the
greatest waste of energy outside of an advertising agency.
The most obvious objection to the chess-as-art
idea is that an idio-savant computer chip can
routinely produce brilliancies against humans. Chess
seems to become a technical function rather than a
creative pursuit. But computers can now produce
paintings and music, and there are stories about
chimpanzees and babies creating award-winning
paintings. The issue is not whether idiot-savants -
mechanical or animal - can produce a praiseworthy
effort in the arts; the issue is whether human
personality can express itself through a given
activity. If so, then that activity has some claim to
being called an art. Not a major art and not always
an art - but an art at some level and at some moment.
I think that human personality definitely
expresses itself through the movement of the pieces,
and this expression can be seen in different styles of
play and problem-composing. True, any single game by
a top master might have been played by another top
master. Anatoly Karpov, for example, is famous for
his patient probing, but his brilliant endgame play
against Andrei Sokolov in game 10 of their 1987
candidates' match seems no more patient than the
famously impatient Rudolf Spielmann's technical
exploitation against Alexander Alekhine at Carlsbad 1923.
One can probably find a game played by stodgy
Adolf Schwarz (he, who could essay 1. e4 e5 2. d4
exd4 3. c3 Qe7 4. f3? against Tarrasch) that looks
like a Tal crescendo and a game played by Tal that
looks like a Schwarz sedative. Yet if one plays
through the oeuvres of, say, attack dog Rashid
Nezhmetdinov and somnolent Ulf Andersson, one will
see two different approaches to playing chess. These
different approaches make me want to know more about
the men behind the pieces, just as viewing a Van Gogh
collection tempts me to learning more about the man who
painted those pictures and about the places that once
knew him and now know him no more.
Of course, literature and painting move most
people far more than do the moves of chess. The
novels of Dickens and Dostoevsky eclipse the fireworks
of Fischer and Alekhine; and the lives of the great
Impressionists leave an impress that the lives of
chess masters do not. Art, like the universe, is hierarchy.
I, for one, think that Grandmaster Larry Evans got it just
right when he described chess as "a minor contemplative art."
> SPEAKING OUT HIS ARSE
>
>
> > In the case of world title matches, adjournments have often
> > aided in the slow growth of dramatic tension and a similar growth in
> > press coverage as the conflict between two players builds.
> >
> > Yours, Larry Parr
>
> Not here it doesn't. It's just downright boring - all those tedious
> draws punctuated by an occasional unadventurous win. Well, I suppose on
> a quiet news day it keeps the hacks occupied & waffling on about the Art
> inherent in the game of chess is just so much waffle - really. That was
> a real Rembrandt or a real Mona Lisa or a nice bit of Mozart of a game
> there Cedric! ridiculous. Sure, you sometimes see something termed
> 'brilliant' on the chessboard but it's still not a Chagall. This 'art'
> logic would make every chessplayer an artist when they very clearly
> aren't - in fact they mostly seem a staid & unimaginative lot (witness
> their obsession with rules) & that's being kind. Besides, who in their
> right mind wants to end like Alekhine (death-photo) or be anything like
> GM Gormley when they grow up? Chess-artists? - pshaw!..
|
| | |
Date: 05 Dec 2007 12:15:58
From: Harry Hemmaroid
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
[email protected] wrote:
SPEAKING OUT HIS ARSE
> In the case of world title matches, adjournments have often
> aided in the slow growth of dramatic tension and a similar growth in
> press coverage as the conflict between two players builds.
>
> Yours, Larry Parr
Not here it doesn't. It's just downright boring - all those tedious
draws punctuated by an occasional unadventurous win. Well, I suppose on
a quiet news day it keeps the hacks occupied & waffling on about the Art
inherent in the game of chess is just so much waffle - really. That was
a real Rembrandt or a real Mona Lisa or a nice bit of Mozart of a game
there Cedric! ridiculous. Sure, you sometimes see something termed
'brilliant' on the chessboard but it's still not a Chagall. This 'art'
logic would make every chessplayer an artist when they very clearly
aren't - in fact they mostly seem a staid & unimaginative lot (witness
their obsession with rules) & that's being kind. Besides, who in their
right mind wants to end like Alekhine (death-photo) or be anything like
GM Gormley when they grow up? Chess-artists? - pshaw!..
|
| | |
Date: 04 Dec 2007 10:49:56
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
FIGHTING CRIME
Orrin Hudson is on the cover of the December 2007 CHESS LIFE FOR KIDS.
He is also cited in THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans (page
195).
A BLACKBOARD JUNGLE
(October 10, 2005)
Much the same story is told around the country. We know that chess
reaches autistic patients and reduces the rate of recidivism for
inmates. But can this ancient pastime also be useful in rescuing
troubled teens?
A full page in USA Today (June 16, 2004) featured Orrin Hudson, 41, an
ex-Alabama state trooper who is ried with five children. He won a
tin Luther King Award as well as one for education from the TBS
Superstation for teaching chess to intractable black youths in
Atlanta. Out of some 100,000 students in DeKalb County, Georgia, a few
dozen expelled for crimes ranging from guns to drugs attend Project
Destiny
School. Standing in front of a large chess wallboard, Hudson says, "If
you lose, you only have yourself to blame. As in life, you may never
recover from just one bad move."
Often the message falls on deaf ears. Half the students ignore him.
"I'm teaching them to think on their own, because the only thing that
can save you is yourself."
Hudson's crusade began after five employees were slain in 2000 at
Wendy's for $2,400. He knew the two gunmen and decided to take a hard
look at himself. "What do I know how to do? What has made a difference
in my life?"
The answer was chess. As the seventh of 13 kids, he learned from his
brother and became the first black Birmingham champion in 1999 despite
entering with the lowest rating. He figured that what worked for him
would work for others.
Since then he has taught chess to 15,000 kids in several states. A
motivational speaker, he also founded Be Someone Inc. which has income
and expenses of about $50,000 a year. His students have won prizes in
regional and national tournaments.
Philadelphia plans to establish chess clubs in all 264 public schools.
Many other cities are also discovering it can be an effective antidote
to juvenile delinquency. What have they got to lose?
Presidential hopeful Barack Obama also credits chess as a boon for
poor blacks. He told The Chicago Sun (July 2007): "And it's working.
Parents in Harlem are actually reading more to their children who are
staying in school and passing statewide tests at higher rates than
other children in New York City. These kids are going to college in a
place where it was once unheard of, and some even placed third at a
national chess championship."
[email protected] wrote:
> DUMBING DOWN CHESS
>
> I can't agree with what is possibly a tacit premise here: that
> dumbing down chess leads to more money and more popularity (three-
> second games on national
> TV) for the game.
>
> The truth appears to be the precise opposite. If one looks at
> the value of the world title and, indeed, coverage of major chess
> events, there is an interest when chess people take themselves veddy,
> veddy seriously. The bigger, longer and slower the matches -- the
> more the outrage, the coverage and interest.
>
> Our immense bad luck was to fall into the hands of people who
> used the NBA as their model for chess promotion. Speed up the game
> and there would suddenly
> be some interest. Yet the history of press coverage of chess events
> shows that the successful ones have a dramatic arc very much like that
> described by
> Aristotle. Chess, like baseball, thrives on slow dramatic buildup,
> leading to a climax and then possibly falling action or denouement.
>
> How one wishes that the damage done by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and
> the "chess is a sport" claque could be undone. Not just because chess
> is not a sport, but
> also for purely practical, money-grubbing reasons.
>
> Chess as "an art in the form of a game" (one of the half dozen or
> so truthful observations in the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia) is the
> approach to the royal
> game that works in gold-ridden, greedy, gross promotional terms.
>
> Grandmaster Lev Alburt has reversed himself in recent years
> regarding adjournments. For a long time he favored eliminating them
> when such a view was a minority one in the pre-computer days. He now
> favors bringing them back in the belief that chess art itself is being
> lost, which will also ultimately negatively affect chess promotion.
> The fundamental integrity of the game -- its vital intellectual cachet
> -- must be preserved. (It should be noted that Larry Evans disagrees
> with him and believes all games should be played to a finish in one
> session.)
>
> As for the idea that computers can analyze a position to death,
> Alburt notes that such is not, in truth, often the case for many
> adjourned positions, and there are also positions that are so
> complicated that even if an ultimate answer is provided overnight, the
> human player will not remember all of the sidelines. Rather soon, a
> struggle will commence after the first error. Grandmasters can forget
> their
> own analysis, let alone reams of moves generated by a machine.
>
> In the case of world title matches, adjournments have often
> aided in the slow growth of dramatic tension and a similar growth in
> press coverage as the conflict between two players builds.
>
> Yours, Larry Parr
>
>
>
>
> The Historian wrote:
> > On Dec 4, 3:03 am, SBD <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > On Dec 4, 1:35 am, help bot <[email protected]> wrote:
> > >
> > > I see your point bot, but I would say it is flawed. If I took money
> > > from the Nazis during WWII, I would have to be considered something of
> > > a Nazi sympathizer, wouldn't I?
> > >
> > > I know I make this point ad nauseum, but I think bowing to money
> > > interests doesn't help chess - the money isn't enough and it just
> > > cheapens the game. But if chess made itself strong, money would flow
> > > to it, and if chess can't be made strong, then maybe it should be
> > > priily a game for us amateurs who love it.
> >
> > YES! YES! YES!
> >
> > Someone here gets the idea. The mindset of many posters here and USCF
> > itself is if they only get the money, they can do so many wonderful
> > things for chess. They have the cart before the knight. If they do
> > good things for chess, money will come their way.USCF doesn't lack
> > sponsorship because chess is unpopular; USCF lacks sponsorship because
> > they can't. and won't, get their house in order and DO something. The
> > same criticism applies to folks who dumb down the game in pursuit of a
> > buck - need I name the posters in question?
|
| | |
Date: 04 Dec 2007 08:24:19
From: The Historian
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Dec 4, 10:32 am, "[email protected]" <[email protected] > wrote:
> DUMBING DOWN CHESS
>
> I can't agree with what is possibly a tacit premise here: that
> dumbing down chess leads to more money and more popularity (three-
> second games on national
> TV) for the game.
I agree with you, Larry. But some folks seem to THINK dumbed down
chess leads to riches. I've compared dumbed down chess to so-called
"crossover" music that allegedly attempts to draw new audiences for
classical. Going downket doesn't work. You only damage your
reputation and create an audience for the watered-down product you
serve up. These women didn't win any friends for string quartets, for
instance:
http://www.bondmusic.net/home.html
> The truth appears to be the precise opposite. If one looks at
> the value of the world title and, indeed, coverage of major chess
> events, there is an interest when chess people take themselves veddy,
> veddy seriously. The bigger, longer and slower the matches -- the
> more the outrage, the coverage and interest.
>
> Our immense bad luck was to fall into the hands of people who
> used the NBA as their model for chess promotion. Speed up the game
> and there would suddenly
> be some interest. Yet the history of press coverage of chess events
> shows that the successful ones have a dramatic arc very much like that
> described by
> Aristotle. Chess, like baseball, thrives on slow dramatic buildup,
> leading to a climax and then possibly falling action or denouement.
>
> How one wishes that the damage done by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and
> the "chess is a sport" claque could be undone. Not just because chess
> is not a sport, but
> also for purely practical, money-grubbing reasons.
>
> Chess as "an art in the form of a game" (one of the half dozen or
> so truthful observations in the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia) is the
> approach to the royal
> game that works in gold-ridden, greedy, gross promotional terms.
>
> Grandmaster Lev Alburt has reversed himself in recent years
> regarding adjournments. For a long time he favored eliminating them
> when such a view was a minority one in the pre-computer days. He now
> favors bringing them back in the belief that chess art itself is being
> lost, which will also ultimately negatively affect chess promotion.
> The fundamental integrity of the game -- its vital intellectual cachet
> -- must be preserved. (It should be noted that Larry Evans disagrees
> with him and believes all games should be played to a finish in one
> session.)
>
> As for the idea that computers can analyze a position to death,
> Alburt notes that such is not, in truth, often the case for many
> adjourned positions, and there are also positions that are so
> complicated that even if an ultimate answer is provided overnight, the
> human player will not remember all of the sidelines. Rather soon, a
> struggle will commence after the first error. Grandmasters can forget
> their
> own analysis, let alone reams of moves generated by a machine.
>
> In the case of world title matches, adjournments have often
> aided in the slow growth of dramatic tension and a similar growth in
> press coverage as the conflict between two players builds.
>
> Yours, Larry Parr
>
> The Historian wrote:
> > On Dec 4, 3:03 am, SBD <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > On Dec 4, 1:35 am, help bot <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > > I see your point bot, but I would say it is flawed. If I took money
> > > from the Nazis during WWII, I would have to be considered something of
> > > a Nazi sympathizer, wouldn't I?
>
> > > I know I make this point ad nauseum, but I think bowing to money
> > > interests doesn't help chess - the money isn't enough and it just
> > > cheapens the game. But if chess made itself strong, money would flow
> > > to it, and if chess can't be made strong, then maybe it should be
> > > priily a game for us amateurs who love it.
>
> > YES! YES! YES!
>
> > Someone here gets the idea. The mindset of many posters here and USCF
> > itself is if they only get the money, they can do so many wonderful
> > things for chess. They have the cart before the knight. If they do
> > good things for chess, money will come their way.USCF doesn't lack
> > sponsorship because chess is unpopular; USCF lacks sponsorship because
> > they can't. and won't, get their house in order and DO something. The
> > same criticism applies to folks who dumb down the game in pursuit of a
> > buck - need I name the posters in question?
|
| | |
Date: 04 Dec 2007 07:32:40
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
DUMBING DOWN CHESS
I can't agree with what is possibly a tacit premise here: that
dumbing down chess leads to more money and more popularity (three-
second games on national
TV) for the game.
The truth appears to be the precise opposite. If one looks at
the value of the world title and, indeed, coverage of major chess
events, there is an interest when chess people take themselves veddy,
veddy seriously. The bigger, longer and slower the matches -- the
more the outrage, the coverage and interest.
Our immense bad luck was to fall into the hands of people who
used the NBA as their model for chess promotion. Speed up the game
and there would suddenly
be some interest. Yet the history of press coverage of chess events
shows that the successful ones have a dramatic arc very much like that
described by
Aristotle. Chess, like baseball, thrives on slow dramatic buildup,
leading to a climax and then possibly falling action or denouement.
How one wishes that the damage done by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and
the "chess is a sport" claque could be undone. Not just because chess
is not a sport, but
also for purely practical, money-grubbing reasons.
Chess as "an art in the form of a game" (one of the half dozen or
so truthful observations in the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia) is the
approach to the royal
game that works in gold-ridden, greedy, gross promotional terms.
Grandmaster Lev Alburt has reversed himself in recent years
regarding adjournments. For a long time he favored eliminating them
when such a view was a minority one in the pre-computer days. He now
favors bringing them back in the belief that chess art itself is being
lost, which will also ultimately negatively affect chess promotion.
The fundamental integrity of the game -- its vital intellectual cachet
-- must be preserved. (It should be noted that Larry Evans disagrees
with him and believes all games should be played to a finish in one
session.)
As for the idea that computers can analyze a position to death,
Alburt notes that such is not, in truth, often the case for many
adjourned positions, and there are also positions that are so
complicated that even if an ultimate answer is provided overnight, the
human player will not remember all of the sidelines. Rather soon, a
struggle will commence after the first error. Grandmasters can forget
their
own analysis, let alone reams of moves generated by a machine.
In the case of world title matches, adjournments have often
aided in the slow growth of dramatic tension and a similar growth in
press coverage as the conflict between two players builds.
Yours, Larry Parr
The Historian wrote:
> On Dec 4, 3:03 am, SBD <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On Dec 4, 1:35 am, help bot <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > I see your point bot, but I would say it is flawed. If I took money
> > from the Nazis during WWII, I would have to be considered something of
> > a Nazi sympathizer, wouldn't I?
> >
> > I know I make this point ad nauseum, but I think bowing to money
> > interests doesn't help chess - the money isn't enough and it just
> > cheapens the game. But if chess made itself strong, money would flow
> > to it, and if chess can't be made strong, then maybe it should be
> > priily a game for us amateurs who love it.
>
> YES! YES! YES!
>
> Someone here gets the idea. The mindset of many posters here and USCF
> itself is if they only get the money, they can do so many wonderful
> things for chess. They have the cart before the knight. If they do
> good things for chess, money will come their way.USCF doesn't lack
> sponsorship because chess is unpopular; USCF lacks sponsorship because
> they can't. and won't, get their house in order and DO something. The
> same criticism applies to folks who dumb down the game in pursuit of a
> buck - need I name the posters in question?
|
| | |
Date: 04 Dec 2007 06:48:35
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
FROM THE USCF FORUM
Post: #80937 by jfrendek on Fri Nov 30, 2007 4:44 pm
Mr. Evans, I just finished "This Crazy World of Chess" and immensely
enjoyed it. It was quite interesting, readable and a fantastic change
from the run of the mill chess books on the ket. Not to mention one
of the better values. I just wanted to take the time to thank you. I
generally do not bother to comment on publications but this book
deserves it.
Sincerely,
Jim Rendek
The Historian wrote:
> On Dec 4, 3:03 am, SBD <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On Dec 4, 1:35 am, help bot <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > I see your point bot, but I would say it is flawed. If I took money
> > from the Nazis during WWII, I would have to be considered something of
> > a Nazi sympathizer, wouldn't I?
> >
> > I know I make this point ad nauseum, but I think bowing to money
> > interests doesn't help chess - the money isn't enough and it just
> > cheapens the game. But if chess made itself strong, money would flow
> > to it, and if chess can't be made strong, then maybe it should be
> > priily a game for us amateurs who love it.
>
> YES! YES! YES!
>
> Someone here gets the idea. The mindset of many posters here and USCF
> itself is if they only get the money, they can do so many wonderful
> things for chess. They have the cart before the knight. If they do
> good things for chess, money will come their way.USCF doesn't lack
> sponsorship because chess is unpopular; USCF lacks sponsorship because
> they can't. and won't, get their house in order and DO something. The
> same criticism applies to folks who dumb down the game in pursuit of a
> buck - need I name the posters in question?
|
| | |
Date: 04 Dec 2007 05:09:51
From: The Historian
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Dec 4, 3:03 am, SBD <[email protected] > wrote:
> On Dec 4, 1:35 am, help bot <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> I see your point bot, but I would say it is flawed. If I took money
> from the Nazis during WWII, I would have to be considered something of
> a Nazi sympathizer, wouldn't I?
>
> I know I make this point ad nauseum, but I think bowing to money
> interests doesn't help chess - the money isn't enough and it just
> cheapens the game. But if chess made itself strong, money would flow
> to it, and if chess can't be made strong, then maybe it should be
> priily a game for us amateurs who love it.
YES! YES! YES!
Someone here gets the idea. The mindset of many posters here and USCF
itself is if they only get the money, they can do so many wonderful
things for chess. They have the cart before the knight. If they do
good things for chess, money will come their way.USCF doesn't lack
sponsorship because chess is unpopular; USCF lacks sponsorship because
they can't. and won't, get their house in order and DO something. The
same criticism applies to folks who dumb down the game in pursuit of a
buck - need I name the posters in question?
|
| | |
Date: 04 Dec 2007 00:03:57
From: SBD
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Dec 4, 1:35 am, help bot <[email protected] > wrote:
I see your point bot, but I would say it is flawed. If I took money
from the Nazis during WWII, I would have to be considered something of
a Nazi sympathizer, wouldn't I?
I know I make this point ad nauseum, but I think bowing to money
interests doesn't help chess - the money isn't enough and it just
cheapens the game. But if chess made itself strong, money would flow
to it, and if chess can't be made strong, then maybe it should be
priily a game for us amateurs who love it.
|
| | |
Date: 03 Dec 2007 23:35:57
From: help bot
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Dec 3, 2:43 pm, SBD <[email protected] > wrote:
> > It's not the first time FIDE has bowed to Arab money.
> > In 1986 the Chess Olympiad was held in
> > the United Arab Emirates where an Israeli
> > team was banned.
> OK, I see the further nail in the coffin. This looks like just more
> bad decision-making to me though. I would expect Jewish players being
> excluded from tournaments (other than the above), Jewish players being
> denied titles where they are given to others (say a Jewish player
> makes 2499 with the requisite GM norms, doesn't get the title, but a
> non-Jew with the same or less does), being denied committee
> appointments, negative press for Jewish players. and so on.
A smoking gun, as it is called, would be where
an offer of two million dollars by an Arab country is
trumped by an offer of two million euros by a
predominantly Jewish country, which states that
it will exclude Muslims; if such an offer were to be
refused and a lower bid accepted, then you could
talk of smoke and guns.
As it is, Larry Evans himself let slip the real
answer when he wrote about bowing to "Arab money",
not bowing to anti-Zionist prejudice. This money-
grubbing affects a lot of strong players, and it is very
unfortunate that more-neutral countries seem unable
to out-bid the Midas-touched Arabs. All the whining
about FIDE and its president reminds me of the good
old USA, with its Bill Goichbergs and Sam Sloans...
and unchanging, never-ending battles over power and
money.
-- help bot
|
| | | |
Date: 04 Dec 2007 14:28:54
From: Chess One
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
anyone wanting to see anti-Semitism //de-jour// in either English or
Hungarian, and active in current chess circles, speak up. but you don't,
since it is extremely offensive stuff, will put you off your cornflakes
su polgar is the sacrifice to this nonsense since she is perceived to be
/successful/, so she gets to be the goat
what will progress chess is none of the above.
what evans points out is the fracturing of the chess community in the past
40 years by politicos who play around with such stuff for their own ends,
and don't give a damn who is scapegoated
that is pretty much a current condition, and on the world scene usa is
toothless to even effect a motion of dissent. america has become a
chess-client state, where its civil rights, customs and foundations of
decency are simply negated
current and ex-politicians continue this circumstance since they too are all
at odds with each other - and no superintending vision of chess in the
country is allowed to exist beyond mere survival and politicians self
interest - since people in this country like it that way - then they can
whine a lot about what is being done to them, which naturally, has nothing
to do with them at all - they are poor victims, admitting no responsibility
for their own state
phil innes
"help bot" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:90867c6c-cffc-4d08-a51e-5a143431cc9e@e25g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> On Dec 3, 2:43 pm, SBD <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>> > It's not the first time FIDE has bowed to Arab money.
>> > In 1986 the Chess Olympiad was held in
>> > the United Arab Emirates where an Israeli
>> > team was banned.
>
>
>> OK, I see the further nail in the coffin. This looks like just more
>> bad decision-making to me though. I would expect Jewish players being
>> excluded from tournaments (other than the above), Jewish players being
>> denied titles where they are given to others (say a Jewish player
>> makes 2499 with the requisite GM norms, doesn't get the title, but a
>> non-Jew with the same or less does), being denied committee
>> appointments, negative press for Jewish players. and so on.
>
>
> A smoking gun, as it is called, would be where
> an offer of two million dollars by an Arab country is
> trumped by an offer of two million euros by a
> predominantly Jewish country, which states that
> it will exclude Muslims; if such an offer were to be
> refused and a lower bid accepted, then you could
> talk of smoke and guns.
>
> As it is, Larry Evans himself let slip the real
> answer when he wrote about bowing to "Arab money",
> not bowing to anti-Zionist prejudice. This money-
> grubbing affects a lot of strong players, and it is very
> unfortunate that more-neutral countries seem unable
> to out-bid the Midas-touched Arabs. All the whining
> about FIDE and its president reminds me of the good
> old USA, with its Bill Goichbergs and Sam Sloans...
> and unchanging, never-ending battles over power and
> money.
>
>
> -- help bot
>
>
>
>
|
| | |
Date: 03 Dec 2007 11:43:47
From: SBD
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Dec 3, 8:57 am, "[email protected]" <[email protected] > wrote:
> LIBYAN FIASCO 2004
>
> <Hello Larry, not to argue just a question....So to my question --
> What about modern day FIDE (say post 1972) makes it so anti-semitic?>
> -- Steven Dowd
>
> Asked and answered.
>
> We already quoted an excerpt from THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM
> Larry Evans (page 115):
>
> Libyan Fiasco
> May 31, 2004
>
> FIDE, a 163-nation world chess body, has awarded its next 128-player
> world championship to Libya. Jews are excluded.
>
> This decision violates the spirit and charter of FIDE which says no
> event will be held anywhere that bars entry to eligible players. The
> announcement came with pictures of FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
> playing chess with Moam Al Qaddafi, who is offering about $2
> million in prizes. Qaddafi's son, who heads the organizing committee,
> stated: "We did not invite nor will we invite the Zionist enemy to the
> competition."
>
> Boris Gulko, former champion of both the USSR and USA, is boycotting
> the event along with most top players: "Our magnificent and noble game
> does not deserve such a disgrace," he said. It's not the first time
> FIDE has bowed to Arab money. In 1986 the Chess Olympiad was held in
> the United Arab Emirates where an Israeli
> team was banned.
OK, I see the further nail in the coffin. This looks like just more
bad decision-making to me though. I would expect Jewish players being
excluded from tournaments (other than the above), Jewish players being
denied titles where they are given to others (say a Jewish player
makes 2499 with the requisite GM norms, doesn't get the title, but a
non-Jew with the same or less does), being denied committee
appointments, negative press for Jewish players. and so on.
It seems to me you have a barely smoking gun here but little evidence
otherwise. Since the Jewish people are so well-known as good
chessplayers why hasn't one of the many groups devoted to promoting
them stepped forward? Or have they?
|
| | |
Date: 03 Dec 2007 06:57:21
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
LIBYAN FIASCO 2004
<Hello Larry, not to argue just a question....So to my question --
What about modern day FIDE (say post 1972) makes it so anti-semitic? >
-- Steven Dowd
Asked and answered.
We already quoted an excerpt from THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM
Larry Evans (page 115):
Libyan Fiasco
May 31, 2004
FIDE, a 163-nation world chess body, has awarded its next 128-player
world championship to Libya. Jews are excluded.
This decision violates the spirit and charter of FIDE which says no
event will be held anywhere that bars entry to eligible players. The
announcement came with pictures of FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
playing chess with Moam Al Qaddafi, who is offering about $2
million in prizes. Qaddafi's son, who heads the organizing committee,
stated: "We did not invite nor will we invite the Zionist enemy to the
competition."
Boris Gulko, former champion of both the USSR and USA, is boycotting
the event along with most top players: "Our magnificent and noble game
does not deserve such a disgrace," he said. It's not the first time
FIDE has bowed to Arab money. In 1986 the Chess Olympiad was held in
the United Arab Emirates where an Israeli
team was banned.
SBD wrote:
> On Dec 2, 1:32 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > FROM SUSAN POLGAR'S BLOG
> >
> > Excerpt from THE CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> >
>
> > The Polgar sisters, who are Jewish, have long been a thorn in the side
> > of FIDE, which is clearly an anti-Semitic organization.
>
> Hello Larry, not to argue just a question....
>
> I would agree that certainly FIDE is a dysfunctional organization. but
> that is sort of like saying John Wayne Gacy really wasn't a nice
> guy...
>
> But with all I see wrong with FIDE, I don't see it as any more anti-
> semitic than one would expect from an international organization with
> individuals with personal, social, and national prejduices against the
> Jewish people. I see the stupidity of the Dubai Olympiad, and the
> stupidity of not giving GM Polgar the same 100 points, but I don't see
> a connection between the two. Surely many Jewish women chess players
> did receive the 100 points, or were "all Jewish females" denied 100
> points (obviously not, since you noted Polgar was the only one who
> didn't).
>
> So to my question - What about modern day FIDE (say post 1972) makes
> it so anti-semitic?
|
| | |
Date: 02 Dec 2007 23:18:18
From: help bot
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Dec 2, 11:14 pm, SBD <[email protected] > wrote:
> > The Polgar sisters, who are Jewish, have long been a thorn in the side
> > of FIDE, which is clearly an anti-Semitic organization.
>
> Hello Larry, not to argue just a question....
>
> I would agree that certainly FIDE is a dysfunctional organization. but
> that is sort of like saying John Wayne Gacy really wasn't a nice
> guy...
>
> But with all I see wrong with FIDE, I don't see it as any more anti-
> semitic than one would expect from an international organization with
> individuals with personal, social, and national prejduices against the
> Jewish people. I see the stupidity of the Dubai Olympiad, and the
> stupidity of not giving GM Polgar the same 100 points, but I don't see
> a connection between the two. Surely many Jewish women chess players
> did receive the 100 points, or were "all Jewish females" denied 100
> points (obviously not, since you noted Polgar was the only one who
> didn't).
>
> So to my question - What about modern day FIDE (say post 1972) makes
> it so anti-semitic?
That question has been posed before, and the response
was typical bluster mixed with pure ad hominem plus a
quart of pomposity and arrogance.
----
It often happens that a writer is lightning quick to point
out that someone is or was Jewish. For instance, at
Wikipedia we are told that Albert Einstein was Jewish
long before we learn many other things. Yet a tad
further down that same page we are informed that his
family "did not observe Jewish practices", and that in
fact he went to a Catholic school. Such inconsistencies
reveal a good deal about the authors, but leave much to
be desired in terms of relevant facts, and for that matter,
the "why", as in why are we supposed to be concerned
with a scientist's or chess player's religion?
The answers can only be found by reading between
the lines. In this case, the author seems to think that
Jewish chess players are being persecuted, and any
logical inconsistencies in his purported examples are
dismissed out of hand. There really is no other choice,
since dealing with the countless inconsistencies
would entail a radical re-examination of the underlying
biases and cracked foundations of the whole edifice
which makes up the Larry Evans fantasy world.
---
Here are some facts:
Because of America's long-time addiction to foreign
oil, the Arabs of the OPEC nations have accumulated
vast wealth, and lately they have taken to doing odd
things, like building the world's tallest skyscraper in
the middle of a desert, etc.
One pet project seems to be funding chess olypiads;
why? it doesn't matter, because they have *money* to
burn. As a result, FIDE honchos will accept a
generous bid by the Arabs in spite of the serious
problems this will entail. This greedy grab for money
is in turn attributed to "antisemitism" by the lunatic
fringe, who wish to elevate the Israeli/Palestinian
conflict above all other things -- even greed.
The effect has been a lot of moaning and gnashing
of teeth on behalf of those who were excluded, but
not enough to overpower the lust-for-money which
apparently is decisive; those participants who do
play get loads of dosh, while those who are excluded
get irate. The FIDE honchos /go for the money/ every
time, not unlike Sam Sloan's adventures with grudge
matches.
Another example of the countless lapses of logic
by GM Evans and his ratpack, would be where the
poor man left readers hanging by a thread, hoping
that some future commentary by a Russian writer
would confirm his shaky conjectures. As we have
seen, the reverse was true; in fact, that particular
writer opined that Vassily Smyslov was the Kremlin's
favorite -- over both the other candidates; he went on
to say that GM Botvinnik was undesirable, listing
reasons Larry Evans and his drones probably
deliberately omitted, or perhaps, missed due to
their incompetence.
Now, what readers would like to see is not a bunch
of unsupported conjecture, twisted upon a vine of
personal bias; what we would like to see is each
assertion being supported by relevant facts, and
iron-clad logic.
For instance, instead of merely blustering that the
three Polgar sisters have long been a thorn in the
side of FIDE, give us examples. And instead of
just bleating about antisemitism, demonstrate that
greed and kickbacks alone cannot account for the
behavior of FIDE's honchos. Unfortunately, LE is
well past his prime, and I suspect his days of
logic and reasoning are over and done with; as for
bluster -- well, he still has that... .
-- help bot
|
| | |
Date: 02 Dec 2007 20:14:19
From: SBD
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
On Dec 2, 1:32 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected] > wrote:
> FROM SUSAN POLGAR'S BLOG
>
> Excerpt from THE CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
>
> The Polgar sisters, who are Jewish, have long been a thorn in the side
> of FIDE, which is clearly an anti-Semitic organization.
Hello Larry, not to argue just a question....
I would agree that certainly FIDE is a dysfunctional organization. but
that is sort of like saying John Wayne Gacy really wasn't a nice
guy...
But with all I see wrong with FIDE, I don't see it as any more anti-
semitic than one would expect from an international organization with
individuals with personal, social, and national prejduices against the
Jewish people. I see the stupidity of the Dubai Olympiad, and the
stupidity of not giving GM Polgar the same 100 points, but I don't see
a connection between the two. Surely many Jewish women chess players
did receive the 100 points, or were "all Jewish females" denied 100
points (obviously not, since you noted Polgar was the only one who
didn't).
So to my question - What about modern day FIDE (say post 1972) makes
it so anti-semitic?
|
| | |
Date: 02 Dec 2007 11:32:20
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
FROM SUSAN POLGAR'S BLOG
Excerpt from THE CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
SUSAN POLGAR VS. FIDE
Nowadays lawyers seem to be replacing good moves over the board. FIDE,
at war with several top players who refuse to submit to vacuous drug
testing, is being sued by a Jewish grandmaster who was prevented from
competing at the "judenfrei" knockout championship held in Libya last
year.
History repeats itself. In 1999 FIDE stripped Anatoly Karpov and Susan
Polgar of their men's and women's crowns respectively. They both sued
FIDE at the International Court of Sports in Switzerland. Karpov was
awarded $50,000 and Polgar $25,000, but their crowns were not
restored.
In ch 2001 the court found that FIDE erred by precluding Susan from
defending her title because there was no compelling reason not to
accommodate a new date after she had a baby.
Her Website reported: "Polgar agreed to accept a lesser amount in a
spirit of goodwill. In order to lessen the damages, FIDE claimed it's
a non-profit organization without any money at all! Another
unfortunate revelation to the court was FIDE's claim that it had to
spend 'several hundreds of thousands of dollars for its legal
defense.' It is strange that FIDE can plead poverty and ask for mercy
in one breath and then justify these pleadings by explaining the
immense costs of its legal defense with its next. One of the main
reasons Polgar did not play was because FIDE failed to find a sponsor
for her match with Xie Jun. In hindsight, it would have been cheaper
for FIDE to sponsor that match to begin with."
An editorial in Inside Chess noted why FIDE has lost so much
credibility:
"All players should be able to make the leap of logic that if women's
world champ Susan Polgar can be treated so callously, anyone's rights
as a player are similarly worthless. The USCF should call for the
collective resignation of FIDE's executive body and work toward the
creation of a new governing body for chess. It has become abundantly
clear that men and women of good conscience can no longer support FIDE
in the face of its hapless bungling and callous destruction of
professional careers."
The Polgar sisters, who are Jewish, have long been a thorn in the side
of FIDE, which is clearly an anti-Semitic organization. For an account
of how every woman in the world except Susan Polgar got 100 free
rating points, see "Rigging Ratings." This scandal took place at the
Chess Olympiad in the United Arab Emirates in 1986 where a team from
Israel was banned.
In 2004 Susan led the USA women's team to a silver medal. She was the
individual high-scorer on board one, and then was singled out for a
humiliating "random" dope test, which she dared not refuse on pain of
having her team's result erased. Thus FIDE made the USCF eat crow for
publicly taking a stand against dope testing.
Susan and her sister Judit, who just had a baby (August 2004), are
currently the two highest-ranked women in the world.
Winning is the best revenge.
[email protected] wrote:
> JUDE ACERS WEIGHS IN FROM NEW ORLEANS
>
> "A truly wonderful read. 15 copies go out to friends this weekend."
>
> [email protected] wrote:
> > REVIEW BY JAMES WEAVER
> >
> > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS arrived yesterday. I was able to finish it
> > (minus 20 pages about specific games) this morning. I enjoyed it very
> > much, and especially liked the format that highlighted relevant
> > situations and events that even non-players will find interesting and
> > humorous.
> >
> > All things considered, from FIDE world government to computer
> > domination of the game, to all the GMs that have documented their
> > experiences, I think Interzonals will become not only the most
> > attended chess events but "trails end" for future players who refuse
> > to associate with the corruption and politics that sub$tantial prize
> > money demands they condone.
> >
> > I think more kids will learn and play chess but not beyond high school
> > with the exception of the Claude Bloodgoods of the world. And while
> > chess as a profession never quite reached the intended level of a
> > reasonable salary other than in Russia, and computers have completely
> > erased any reasonable goal for players, I think chess will forever
> > hold the distinction that no other game will ever replace it.
> >
> > Obviously, chess players will not suddenly use their energy to elevate
> > another game, because chess is so unique and encompassing. I think the
> > future player will understand the moves well enough to follow the "big
> > board" at Interzonals, and occasionally play against a relative or
> > neighbor.
> >
> > FIDE will deliberately, and likely very soon, implode during the same
> > meeting where the first order of business is to divide up the "kitty"
> > and, as Larry Evans points out, they will wear down any future
> > claimant via silence.
> >
> > Chess players will still play in parks and small coffee houses and
> > talk about the "old days". Maybe chess was never supposed to
> > experience any "good ol' days." I also think this book is very timely
> > and will reach a much larger audience than
> > just dedicated fans. It will soon receive a lot of positive feedback.
> >
> > Good work!
> >
> >
> >
> > [email protected] wrote:
> > > A FIVE STAR AMAZON REVIEW
> > >
> > > Entertainingly Informative, October 23, 2007
> > >
> > > By Clark Savage, Jr. - See all my reviews
> > >
> > > Grandmaster Larry Evans really was right in the thick of things during
> > > so many major chess events and scandals. With numerous jabs at the
> > > corrupt FIDE and many chapters about the eccentric Bobby Fischer,
> > > Evans covers a multitude of monumental happenings in the "Crazy World
> > > of Chess."
> > >
> > > There are a few chapters in the book that were uninteresting to me or
> > > that I thought were irrelevant, like chess memorabilia being sold on
> > > eBay and a bit about handwriting analysis. But overall this book has
> > > way too much for that to even matter. The letters and interviews are
> > > invaluable and fascinating. His level of involvement is enormous and
> > > his interest and devotion to the game are very evident. A lot of work
> > > and research must have been put into this book.
> > >
> > > Any chess fan out there needs to own this book. No argument about it.
> > > You might think you know a lot of the history and many of the
> > > scandals, but this covers them to a degree that only someone inside
> > > the circle of these famous players could expose. You think you know
> > > chess, but you ain't seen nothing yet!
> > >
> > > [email protected] wrote:
> > > > On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > > > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
> > > > >
> > > > > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> > > > >
> > > > > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
> > > > >
> > > > > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
> > > > > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
> > > > > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> > > > > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> > > > > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
> > > > > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> > > > > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
> > > > > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> > > > > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
> > > > > again!
> > > >
> > > > What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
| |
Date: 07 Nov 2007 00:05:06
From: [email protected]
Subject: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
REVIEW BY JAMES WEAVER
THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS arrived yesterday. I was able to finish it
(minus 20 pages about specific games) this morning. I enjoyed it very
much, and especially liked the format that highlighted relevant
situations and events that even non-players will find interesting and
humorous.
All things considered, from FIDE world government to computer
domination of the game, to all the GMs that have documented their
experiences, I think Interzonals will become not only the most
attended chess events but "trails end" for future players who refuse
to associate with the corruption and politics that sub$tantial prize
money demands they condone.
I think more kids will learn and play chess but not beyond high school
with the exception of the Claude Bloodgoods of the world. And while
chess as a profession never quite reached the intended level of a
reasonable salary other than in Russia, and computers have completely
erased any reasonable goal for players, I think chess will forever
hold the distinction that no other game will ever replace it.
Obviously, chess players will not suddenly use their energy to elevate
another game, because chess is so unique and encompassing. I think the
future player will understand the moves well enough to follow the "big
board" at Interzonals, and occasionally play against a relative or
neighbor.
FIDE will deliberately, and likely very soon, implode during the same
meeting where the first order of business is to divide up the "kitty"
and, as Larry Evans points out, they will wear down any future
claimant via silence.
Chess players will still play in parks and small coffee houses and
talk about the "old days". Maybe chess was never supposed to
experience any "good ol' days." I also think this book is very timely
and will reach a much larger audience than
just dedicated fans. It will soon receive a lot of positive feedback.
Good work!
[email protected] wrote:
> A FIVE STAR AMAZON REVIEW
>
> Entertainingly Informative, October 23, 2007
>
> By Clark Savage, Jr. - See all my reviews
>
> Grandmaster Larry Evans really was right in the thick of things during
> so many major chess events and scandals. With numerous jabs at the
> corrupt FIDE and many chapters about the eccentric Bobby Fischer,
> Evans covers a multitude of monumental happenings in the "Crazy World
> of Chess."
>
> There are a few chapters in the book that were uninteresting to me or
> that I thought were irrelevant, like chess memorabilia being sold on
> eBay and a bit about handwriting analysis. But overall this book has
> way too much for that to even matter. The letters and interviews are
> invaluable and fascinating. His level of involvement is enormous and
> his interest and devotion to the game are very evident. A lot of work
> and research must have been put into this book.
>
> Any chess fan out there needs to own this book. No argument about it.
> You might think you know a lot of the history and many of the
> scandals, but this covers them to a degree that only someone inside
> the circle of these famous players could expose. You think you know
> chess, but you ain't seen nothing yet!
>
> [email protected] wrote:
> > On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
> > >
> > > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> > >
> > > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
> > >
> > > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
> > > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
> > > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> > > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> > > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
> > > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> > > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
> > > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> > > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
> > > again!
> >
> > What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
| |
A FIVE STAR AMAZON REVIEW
Entertainingly Informative, October 23, 2007
By Clark Savage, Jr. - See all my reviews
Grandmaster Larry Evans really was right in the thick of things during
so many major chess events and scandals. With numerous jabs at the
corrupt FIDE and many chapters about the eccentric Bobby Fischer,
Evans covers a multitude of monumental happenings in the "Crazy World
of Chess."
There are a few chapters in the book that were uninteresting to me or
that I thought were irrelevant, like chess memorabilia being sold on
eBay and a bit about handwriting analysis. But overall this book has
way too much for that to even matter. The letters and interviews are
invaluable and fascinating. His level of involvement is enormous and
his interest and devotion to the game are very evident. A lot of work
and research must have been put into this book.
Any chess fan out there needs to own this book. No argument about it.
You might think you know a lot of the history and many of the
scandals, but this covers them to a degree that only someone inside
the circle of these famous players could expose. You think you know
chess, but you ain't seen nothing yet!
[email protected] wrote:
> On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
> >
> > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> >
> > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
> >
> > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
> > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
> > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
> > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
> > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
> > again!
>
> What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
| |
Date: 30 Oct 2007 23:26:59
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: This Crazy World Of Chess
|
ONE FIVE STAR AMAZON REVIEW
Entertainingly Informative, October 23, 2007
By Clark Savage, Jr. - See all my reviews
Grandmaster Larry Evans really was right in the thick of things during
so many major chess events and scandals. With numerous jabs at the
corrupt FIDE and many chapters about the eccentric Bobby Fischer,
Evans covers a multitude of monumental happenings in the "Crazy World
of Chess."
There are a few chapters in the book that were uninteresting to me or
that I thought were irrelevant, like chess memorabilia being sold on
eBay and a bit about handwriting analysis. But overall this book has
way too much for that to even matter. The letters and interviews are
invaluable and fascinating. His level of involvement is enormous and
his interest and devotion to the game are very evident. A lot of work
and research must have been put into this book.
Any chess fan out there needs to own this book. No argument about it.
You might think you know a lot of the history and many of the
scandals, but this covers them to a degree that only someone inside
the circle of these famous players could expose. You think you know
chess, but you ain't seen nothing yet!
[email protected] wrote:
> On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
> >
> > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> >
> > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
> >
> > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
> > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
> > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
> > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
> > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
> > again!
>
> What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
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Date: 30 Oct 2007 12:53:51
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: Hot off the press!
|
I got the book today in the mail from Amazon.
I pre-ordered it months ago. It finally arrived just now.
Sam Sloan
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SINE IF MY FAVORITE CHAPTERS
Chapter 31 HOW AMERICA WAS BETRAYED IN WORLD CHESS caused our FIDE
delegate Don Schultz to launch a mindless $21 million lawsuit against
GM Evans which was tossed out of court. GM Evans said he was targeted
for writing the truth.
Chapter 35 BEHIND CLOSED DOORS contains an interview with GM Lev
Alburt, the first grandmaster ever elected to the USCF policy board.
He names names and tells what really happens during these "closed
sessions."
[email protected] wrote:
> On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
> >
> > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> >
> > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
> >
> > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
> > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
> > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
> > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
> > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
> > again!
>
> What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
| |
Date: 16 Oct 2007 01:12:32
From:
Subject: Re: Hot off the press!
|
On Oct 5, 4:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected] > wrote:
> IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
>
> THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
>
> $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
>
> The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
> scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
> just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
> Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
> outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
> again!
What a great idea! I'm in line for at least one-half dozen!
|
| |
FROM WWW.CHESSLOSER.WORDPRESS.COM
" i dropped my bags, winded my way through the ringing and pinging of
slot machines to the room where GM Larry Evans was giving a lecture.
the room was filled with slavs, chess freaks, free champagne and a
cheese plate. i availed myself of a few glasses of free champagne and
listened to GM Evans speak. you may expect a GM to be lecturing on
chess, but instead, he was talking about the politics of chess,
Kasparov, Truong, Polgar, etc. he also had his new book this crazy
world of chess for sale, which i snapped up at the low low price of 10
bucks and he gladly signed the book after his talk. i gave him a
hardcore pawnography sticker and asked him if he would give me 5
minutes for an interview, he said he would during the time he had to
analyze games.
(later i get the interview which i will post wednesday) [10/17]."
[email protected] wrote:
> <I ordered and paid for my copy in advance weeks ago. When will it
> come?> -- Sam Sloan
>
> I'm told that copies just arrived to the publisher from the printer.
> Presumably orders will be filled as soon as possible.
>
> Those attending Larry Evans' lecture on October 11 (5:30 pm) at the
> 25th Western States Open in the Sands Regency Hotel-Casino in
> Reno will be able to obtain autographed copies. I'm told he will be
> discussing new scandals that occurred after the book went to press.
>
>
>
> samsloan wrote:
> > On Oct 5, 7:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
> > >
> > > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> > >
> > > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
> > >
> > > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
> > > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
> > > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> > > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> > > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
> > > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> > > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
> > > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> > > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
> > > again!
> >
> > I ordered and paid for my copy in advance weeks ago. When will it
> > come?
> >
> > Sam Sloan
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| |
<I ordered and paid for my copy in advance weeks ago. When will it
come? > -- Sam Sloan
I'm told that copies just arrived to the publisher from the printer.
Presumably orders will be filled as soon as possible.
Those attending Larry Evans' lecture on October 11 (5:30 pm) at the
25th Western States Open in the Sands Regency Hotel-Casino in
Reno will be able to obtain autographed copies. I'm told he will be
discussing new scandals that occurred after the book went to press.
samsloan wrote:
> On Oct 5, 7:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
> >
> > THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
> >
> > $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
> >
> > The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
> > scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
> > just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> > killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> > legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
> > Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> > Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
> > outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> > learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
> > again!
>
> I ordered and paid for my copy in advance weeks ago. When will it
> come?
>
> Sam Sloan
|
| |
Date: 05 Oct 2007 16:40:06
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: Hot off the press!
|
On Oct 5, 7:02 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected] > wrote:
> IT'S FINALLY AVAILABLE
>
> THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
>
> $9.95 -- 20% discount if ordered directly fromwww.cardozapub.com
>
> The most controversial chess book ever written exposes the intrigues,
> scandals, conspiracies, dirty dealings and fascinating tidbits, not
> just with famous players and corrupt chess federations, but also
> killers, bloodthirsty tyrants, 12-year-old grandmasters and even
> legendary movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
> Chess giants include Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir
> Kramnik, and of course, the enigmatic legend, Bobby Fischer, whose
> outrageous antics are revealed here. After reading this book and
> learning what really goes on, you'll never look at chess the same way
> again!
I ordered and paid for my copy in advance weeks ago. When will it
come?
Sam Sloan
|
|
