ospam (Jerome Bibuld) wrote in message ...

Dear Mr. Holsztynski,

Heil Dubya!

Dear Mr. Bibuld, when you are addressing me,
please leave that crazy political bull****
out, let's have a cultural conversation
free of brainwashionfg or whatever propaganda.

I'm sure you have great respect for Mikhail Tal,
although it does not show through your statement that
"Quite a number of great players were alcoholics
... " However, you might be interested to know that
in a long private conversation with GM Tal (Sevilla, 1987),
he demonstrated a greater knowledge of the life and work
of Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) than any other person I
have known, including professors of English (specializing
in U. S. literature) at NYU and Columbia, which I attended
as an undergraduate.

I deeply respect Tal, I admire Tal immensly.
Since Steinitz, nobody influenced chess as
much as Tal. The whole game, the whole character
of tournaments has changed since Tal had exploded
on the top Soviet and international chess scene.

And, dear Mr. Bibuld, try to avoid simplistic,
routine, common prejudices. To me an alcoholic
is simply someone who in a way is sick. Alcoholism
doesn't directly and automatically affect a person's
value, while of course statistical correlations show
that alcoholics are statistically at a disadvantage.

But we are not talking here statistics but about
one of the WOrld Chess Champions.

On the other hand I must say, with some sadness, that
there is a big difference between an alcoholic who
happens to be, say, an independent Brittish master
and an alcoholic who being a professional chess player
is dependent on the soviet regime. Tal by his nature
was colorful and had an independent character, which
by the way Soviets/communists hate, punish, kill,
discriminate, surpress... whenever they can. And
still, this colorful, wonderful Tal had signed a petition
condemning Korchnoy. Of all chess players Tal should
be the last to do it. But he did.

His "friendship" with Karpov was also too convenient.
Tal went to Bagio City to unoffcially assist Karpov
against Korchnoy. Think about it, he, Tal, himself
one of the World Champions (an exchampion) is assisting
another during the match (which was alreadyset up in
a highly unfair to Korchnoy way). That's too much
of a good thing, it was way below **the dignity**
of a former World Champion.

There is no doubt that alcoholim made Tal very
vulnerable under the Soviet system. (Of course
it was detrimental to his health, but that's
a different story).

Incidentally, it is my understanding that
Zukertort's claiming to be "everything and more"
was like Alekhine's "doctorate" from the Sorbonne,
simply not true.

Well, it was different and much more interesting
in the case of Zukertort. Zukerkot was a sympathetic,
colorful, cultural, imaginative character. Alechine's
"doctorate" was a trivial misrepresentation.

Since you open up the field, from grandmasters to masters,
you might add Deon Solomons (RSA), who has earned a Ph. D.
in cosmology, and Louis Levy (USA), the strongest bridge player
-- along with GM Van der Wiel -- among chess masters,
of my knowledge. (GM Bisguier, while not at their level,
also is a strong bridge player, certainly strong enough to
deserve a "Life Master" title in the
ACBL or "Diamond Senior Life Master" title in the ABA.)

If we talk about players older than Macieja then
we may mention grandmaster Huebner and perhaps
several others. Majority of American grandmasters
are not professional chess player hence obviously
they do some other things. BTW, I didn't mention
that Fine was a psychiatrist because I don't
think much of it. But Krogius, regardless of his
unappetizing political stand, was for real and
his monography about psychology in chess was highly
interesting (I used to have a copy which was somewhat
messed up in the print).

Although they are known only for their writings in the
field of chess, why not add Tal and Tartakower as authors?

Certainly. And you may add David Bronstein and Salo Flohr too.
Fischer's "60 Memorable Games" was great but I am not so sure
about its literary aspect, I didn't have it in my hands for
years (of course there was nothing wrong with it).


Can you name a finer epigrammist than
Tartakower (including Oscar Wilde -- Shakespear
is in a class by himself)? Offhand, I can't.

Tartakover was the most prolific, smart and funny.
However others produced great material for quotes too:
Lasker(!), Tarrash... Fischer's sayings are remarkable,
though in a different way: very direct, very precise,
minimalistic, and still in the style of an American
teenaged boy, a style which he has preserved and which
shows from underneath of all his craziness. It reminds
me of a tv show with the great boxing champions, including
Ali The greates and Sugar Ray Lenard and others. To my
surprise, it was the most primitive amopng them (or is he?)
who had impressed me with his succinct answers, straight
to the point, in 3-5 words: Mike Tyson.

As for business men, Ignatz Kolisch, although he got
his start from the Rothschild family, may have been
the outstanding businessman of chess history.

You mention the Second Great Imperialist War of the
Twentieth Century, which Europeans often refer to as WWII.

Will you stop this sick nonsense of yours?
Milions of people were murdered and you are playing
your games? Sick.

That was WORLD WAR, not European. You had virtually the
whole Europe involved (minus a few countries which were
affected anyway), Soviet Union, Japan, USA, Northern Africa...
even Australia and New Zeland were involved and many islands
on Pacific.

In this regard, let's bring back the name of
Tartakower, who was a Free French lieutenant,
commuting back and forth, between
England and France, during the Nazi occupation of France.

Thank you for the remainder.

Of this I'm sure, [...]

It is truly a well known fact.

Thank you for your comments and additions.

Heute Uhmuhrikkka, Afghanistan und Irak. Morgen die ganze Welt!

Uhmuhrikkka, Uhmuhrikkka uber Alles!

Can't you afford a few sessions with a good...?
Oh, never mind.

Fraternally,

Jerome Bibuld
gens una sumus

Eternally,

Wlod