"samsloan" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
On Mar 27, 5:28 am, Jürgen R. wrote:

Why don't you tell them about the report of Peter Leko's death? Or shall
I?

Peter Leko is a well known Hungarian chess player. Sam Sloan is ... well
you
have gotten a whiff of Sam Sloan recently, so you have some idea what he
is.

Sam Sloan, before he became a publisher, used to pretend that he was,
among other things, a journalist. One day he reported that Peter Leko, who
is a live and well, had died. This became a joke on the chess news groups,
because it describes Sloan's regard for the truth so well.

Not much later Sloan disappeared from his favorite news group
(rec.games.chess.politics)
which I sometimes read for entertainment, apparently because
he hadn't paid his phone bill. So I posted the spoof that he had died.

The "Peter Leko is Dead" incident was a hoax that took place on Dec 1
2002 at 11:46 pm, which is nearly six years ago.

It was first reported on ICC that Peter Leko was dead by a hoaxer who
has never been identified. I heard that Peter Leko was dead almost
simultaneously from several sources, all of whom turned out to have
seen it on ICC.

I reported it to the chess newsgroups and to readers of my email
lists. Several others did as well, including Susan Polgar who
broadcast it on WCN, the World Chess Network.

Only nine hours later, I reported that it had been a hoax. This is the
part of the story that Jürgen R. fails to mention every time he brings
this up, that not only was I one of many who fell for the hoax but
also I was among the first to report that it had been a hoax.

Jürgen R. also fails to mention that Susan Polgar who is Hungarian
like Peter Leko and had actually grown up with him in Budapest, also
reported that Peter Leko was dead.

Almost every news reporter has fallen for a hoax at one time or
another. Dan Rather still to this day refuses to admit that the
infamous "Killian Documents" were a hoax.

None of this justifies the report by Jürgen R. that I was dead, nor
his claim now that I had failed to pay my telephone bill nor his many
other false statements that Jürgen R. (who remains anonymous) has
posted about me over the years.

Sam Sloan

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Description of the Leko Death Report by the Chess Writer Jeremy Silman:

A cruel hoax originating from his native Hungary stated that Leko had died
in a tragic car crash late Sunday night in Budapest, and the news had
filtered through to former women's world champion Susan Polgar (the elder of
the three famous Hungarian chess-playing sisters) in New York, who at the
time was playing on the ICC and posted a brief note to that effect; though
prudently added she would have to check her own contacts back home to
confirm.

Unfortunately from here the rumors soon ran out of control, thanks to one
over-eager online newshound looking for a "scoop" - regardless if the
information is right or wrong. Without checking the facts, or even
confirming with the relevant authorities as any competent journalist would
do under such circumstances, the infamous Sam Sloan (who doubles as a New
York taxi driver during the day) immediately posted Leko's death as
matter-of-fact "breaking news". Incredulously, Sloan's sloppy piece of work
also went as far as to report "that Leko died in a car crash while analyzing
a game he had played against Shirov on a pocket set".
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