BILE-LACED ENVY (continued)

HOW AMERICA IS BETRAYED IN WORLD CHESS
http://wcn.tentonhammer.com/modules....=News&file=art...

DECONSTRUCTING KANE

Mr. Kane's screed contains a number of outrageous claims. I disagree
with every single point he made, nor do I find GM Evans' tone
"contemptuous" as he alleges. I also find every single answer within
the allotted space of the April CL For Kids to be instructive and
right on the money.

********************


What you fail to grasp is that people don't want to read 19-year-old
articles
covering "scandals" 40 or more years old - not in Chess Life, not
anywhere.
You should consult with your pal Sloan. While his habit of
fabricating scandals
from thin air (or an active, semi- delusional imagination) cannot
be recommended, at least he knows enough to invent stuff that's
mildly interesting.

FACT: What Mr. Kane fails to grasp is that what happened then in the
USCF and FIDE isn't much diferent than what's happening now. Tbose who
fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Evans' first answer in this month's "Ask GM Larry Evans!" column
quotes
Botvinnik and refers to a book by Reuben Fine- two players about as
far away from
the modern chess world as one can imagine. Not to say that "old"
equates to "bad", but in this case it is needlessly old, and the
points could be made in a more
entertaining fashion with modern players.

FACT: The first question is what do do when someone doesn't play a
line that the book doesn't mention. Part of the answer stated: "a true
test of skill is being able to find the right move in a position you
never saw before." It then went on to quote Botvinnik to this effect
and concluded: "A book that I found helpful whend first starting was
Ideas Behind The Chess Openings by Reuben Fine."


Evans' second answer in this month's column is totally non-
responsive. A player
asks for Black's best move in a position, which Evans simply
ignores, and instead
points out that Black made two mistakes on the way to the queried
position.

FACT: This deals with hoping for a mistake. After 1 f4 e5 2 fxe5 Qh4+
3 g3 Be7 4 Nf3 the best reply given was 4...Qh5 "losing more time
because the queen must retreat." After critiquing Black's opening, the
answer concludes: "Always assume your opponent will find the best move
and plan your reply in advance instead of hoping for a cheap mistake."


The third question is about what happens when a game is started with
the wrong
color. Evans quotes the rule. Yet, his only color is the brilliant
(?) lead-in sentence "This happens occasionally." In fact, I suspect
it happens very, very rarely at the level Evans himself played, but
it's not at all uncommon in huge scholastic tournaments. But Evans
doesn't know that, or have anything interesting to say about that,
because he has no contact with that part of the chess world.

FACT: Evans answered the question by quoting the pertinent rule. Not
much space for much else.


Evans has certainly earned the right to regurgitate his dated columns
on wcn
if that's what floats his boat. But he should be ashamed of himself
for
feigning an ability to write an article for scholastic chess
players.

FACT: Perhaps Mr. Kane has better credentials to conduct a column for
children. Readers can judge this for themselves.




David Kane wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
HOW AMERICA IS BETRAYED IN WORLD CHESS

http://wcn.tentonhammer.com/modules....rder=0&thold=0


What you fail to grasp is that people
don't want to read 19-year-old articles
covering "scandals" 40 or more years
old - not in Chess Life, not anywhere.
You should consult with your pal Sloan.
While his habit of fabricating scandals
from thin air (or an active, semi-
delusional imagination) cannot be
recommended, at least he knows
enough to invent stuff that's mildly
interesting.

Evans' first answer in this month's
"Ask GM Larry Evans!" column quotes
Botvinnik and refers to a book by Reuben
Fine- two players about as far away from
the modern chess world as one can imagine.
Not to say that "old" equates to "bad",
but in this case it is needlessly old, and
the points could be made in a more
entertaining fashion with modern players.

Evans' second answer in this month's
column is totally non-responsive. A player
asks for Black's best move in a position,
which Evans simply ignores, and instead
points out that Black made two mistakes
on the way to the queried position.

The third question is about what happens
when a game is started with the wrong
color. Evans quotes the rule. Yet, his
only color is the brilliant (?) lead-in
sentence "This happens occasionally."
In fact, I suspect it happens very,
very rarely at the level Evans himself
played, but it's not at all uncommon in huge
scholastic tournaments. But Evans
doesn't know that, or have anything
interesting to say about that, because
he has no contact with that part of
the chess world.

Evans has certainly earned the right
to regurgitate his dated columns on wcn
if that's what floats his boat. But he
should be ashamed of himself for
feigning an ability to write an article
for scholastic chess players.