Taylor Kingston wrote:
On Nov 10, 12:13 pm, "J.D. Walker" wrote:
Dear Mr. Innes,
I may not be one of the aforesaid scholars, but I am curious to know
what the Russian GMs you cited have to say about this incident... If
you have the time, the inclination and their comments are available in
English.
snip
Rev. Walker, in this matter the two most relevant GMs are Keres and
Botvinnik themselves, and you can read what I consider to be their
most relevant comments he
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles165.pdf
Thank you for the link. I gave it a quick read. I am not a scholar,
just a common everyday consumer of chess information. Part of the
audience that reads articles such as those by Mr. Parr and yourself. So
the disclaimer: my opinions on this matter have less weight than either
of yours. Even so, curiosity tends to lead me where angels fear to
tread... :^)
snip
Various Russian and/or Soviet GMs
may know various things and have various opinions, and should by all
means be heard, but it seems unlikely that anything they might say
will carry more weight than the testimony of the two principals.
My instincts suggest to me that in cases of heavily oppressive
environments that people closest to the coercion may be the last to
admit the truth due to ingrained fear. If this applies here, then I
would look for more information from people close to the events, but not
too close! And, the proximity should be measured in both time and space.
snip
So even
Soviet contemporaries of Keres and Botvinnik have expressed
conflicting views.
That is not surprising. I am curious though. Did Reshevsky ever
comment on it? He surely was an interested party. Other people I would
be curious about are Korchnoi, Karpov, and Kasparov.
Korchnoi because he has been around a long time and now has the freedom
of some temporal distance from the Soviet phenomena.
The other two may have insights simply because of their former proximity
to the Soviet chess bureaucracy.
It is an interesting incident. If anyone has information from other
Russian/Soviet GMs, I would like know.
--
Cheers,
Rev. J.D. Walker, U.C.
'Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.'
-- (Exodus 23:2)
'It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick
society.'
-- Jiddu Krishnamurti