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Taylor Kingston · April 29th 06, 02:52 PM posted to rec.games.chess.politics,rec.games.chess.misc

wrote:

Hang on. What's this? I'm one of the worst offenders against
historical accuracy!
I trust he's going to produce some evidence for this libel.

GM Keene, as usual, is under-researched, even about himself. His
offenses against historical accuracy are many and well known. For his
elucidation, I repeat the first installment of a thread begun some time
ago, "Keene on Chessic Omniscience":

I hesitate to pit my own poor knowledge against GM Keene's vast
erudition, especially in view of the humbling omniscience he has
demonstrated on this newsgroup and in his books. A few examples of the
obscure facts GM Keene has had at his fingertips:

1. Euwe dethroned Alekhine in 1937 ("World Champion
Combinations," Cardoza 1998). Pity all the fools who have long
believed that Euwe won the title in 1935 and lost it in 1937!
2. Botvinnik won the 1954 world championship match against Smyslov
(ibid., p. 119). With deep contrition I confess that even I have always
mistakenly believed the match was drawn.
3. The 1983 Kasparov-Korchnoi match was for the World Championship.
Again, pity the illiterati who thought it was only a Candidates match.
4. New York 1927 was a de facto candidates tournament that would
determine who challenged Capablanca for the title ("Aron Nimzowitsch:
A Reappraisal," 1st edition 1974). It is a mark of Keene's dazzling
erudition that he knew this, while Capablanca and Alekhine did not.
5. Kasparov was "the first player in more than 75 years to come
from behind to win the world chess championship" (The Times, 21
December 1987). We again see Keene's amazing ability to debunk common
misconceptions. The rest of the world labored under the misapprehension
that comebacks occurred in about half of the title contests of that
period, starting with Alekhine-Capablanca 1927, and including both
Alekhine-Euwe matches, Botvinnik-Bronstein 1951, Botvinnik-Smyslov
1954, Botvinnik-Smyslov 1957, Petrosian-Botvinnik 1963,
Petrosian-Spassky 1969, and Fischer-Spassky 1972.