Subject: 1956 Photo from "Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman T.
Whitaker"

On 14 June 2004 (Parrthenon) replied in
Message-id:

I think the distinction here is that John Hilbert does history or, perhaps,
more accurately, compendium-izing, and Sam Sloan has lived part of the
history
that Mr. Hilbert writes. Sloan IS history, and there will always be things
that he knows that the most careful student of the subject will not.

-snipped-



I agree with Parrthenon completely. He has made a very astute observation,
making the distinction between one writes about chess history and one who has
lived part of it.

George Mirijanian

Larry Parr wrote: "Taylor Kingston … should simply have written,
‘Sloan's right in the main. John Hilbert, who is normally pretty
careful, let down on this one.'"

Again I must respectfully disagree. IMO, Sloan may be right, but not
"in the main." If his identification of the photo is correct, well and
good. A small but definite service to chess history. However, he does
a greater disservice to factual accuracy by saying "The author
incorrectly identifies it as being from the 1957 Western Open." That
statement is misleading and false, since Hilbert plainly labeled it as
an unidentified photo, POSSIBLY from the 1957 Western. "Unidentified."
"Possibly." Very tentative words.
A more accurate and tactful Sloan might have written, say, "The
author is unable to identify the photo positively, but hazards a
guess, which turns out to be incorrect. Having been at the event in
question, I can positively identify it as …" etc.

Parr again: "I think the distinction here is that John Hilbert does
history or, perhaps, more accurately, compendium-izing, and Sam Sloan
has lived part of the history that Mr. Hilbert writes."

No, the distinction I am making is that Hilbert may have failed in
fully researching an obscure 44-year-old photo, but Sloan reported
inaccurately a sentence which, presumably, is on a printed page right
in front of him. I consider the latter the greater error.

Taylor Kingston

Subject: 1956 Photo from "Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman T.
Whitaker"

On 14 June 2004 Jud McCranie wrote in
Message-id:

On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 18:51:51 GMT, (Sam Sloan)
wrote:

In the book "Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman Tweed Whitaker"
by John S. Hilbert on page 246 there is a group photo from the 1956
Eastern States Open in Washington DC.

I have a little story about Whitaker and what is likely that photo.

I knew Whitaker in the late 60s and early 70s. A few months before
the 1972 Spassky-Fischer match, he showed me a glossy black and white
8 x 10 of him, young Fischer, and a group of chess players. It its
likely to be that photo. He said that he was going to make copies of
it and go to the match in Iceland and sell them. I don't know if he
actually did that because it was one of the last times I saw him, and
I didn't see him after Spassky-Fisher.

I don't remember much about the photo. In the same conversation he
told me about a match that he, Fischer, and others played in Mexico,
or somewhere. He said that he played board 1 and Fischer played board
2, so the photo could have been from that match.

I haven't heard of that match, except from Whitaker. Does anyone know
anything about that?

---
It's very possible that the photo you're talking about is one that was taken in
early March 1956, when Fischer went along with members of the Log Cabin Chess
Club in New Jersey for a tour of Havana, Cuba. Fischer played at the Capablanca
Chess Club in Havana, where he gave a 12-board simul, winning 10 games and
drawing 2. Whitaker might have been a member of that Log Cabin Chess Club
contingent. The driving force behind that club was E. Forry Laucks, who had
Fischer play in the Log Cabin 50-50 Tournament in February 1956, during the
Washington's Birthday weekend, in West Orange, N.J. It is unknown, I believe,
how well Fischer fared in that 50-50 event. The tournament was won by Saidy
ahead of Sherwin.

George Mirijanian

On 18 Jun 2004 03:17:19 GMT, (Miriling) wrote:

It's very possible that the photo you're talking about is one that was taken in
early March 1956, when Fischer went along with members of the Log Cabin Chess
Club in New Jersey for a tour of Havana, Cuba. Fischer played at the Capablanca
Chess Club in Havana, where he gave a 12-board simul, winning 10 games and
drawing 2. Whitaker might have been a member of that Log Cabin Chess Club
contingent. The driving force behind that club was E. Forry Laucks,

There's a good chance that you're right. Whitaker dedicates his book
"Selected Endings" it to Forry Laucks. And maybe it was Cuba instead
of Mexico.

---
Replace you know what by j to email

Subject: 1956 Photo from "Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman T.
Whitaker"

On 17 June 2004 Jud McCranie replied in
Message-id:

On 18 Jun 2004 03:17:19 GMT, (Miriling) wrote:

It's very possible that the photo you're talking about is one that was taken
in
early March 1956, when Fischer went along with members of the Log Cabin
Chess
Club in New Jersey for a tour of Havana, Cuba. Fischer played at the
Capablanca
Chess Club in Havana, where he gave a 12-board simul, winning 10 games and
drawing 2. Whitaker might have been a member of that Log Cabin Chess Club
contingent. The driving force behind that club was E. Forry Laucks,

There's a good chance that you're right. Whitaker dedicates his book
"Selected Endings" it to Forry Laucks. And maybe it was Cuba instead
of Mexico.

---
In Hilbert's book about Whitaker, the author confirms that Whitaker and Fischer
were members of the Log Cabin Chess Club team that toured Cuba in 1956. The
club's founder, Elliott Forry Laucks, was also part of the contingent. He was
one of the most controversial chess organizers in U.S. chess history. He died
on July 31, 1965, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he was competing in the U.S.
Open. He collapsed and died after the sixth round. He had just celebrated his
68th birthday nine days earlier.

George Mirijanian

On 18 Jun 2004 05:36:42 GMT, (Miriling) wrote:

In Hilbert's book about Whitaker, the author confirms that Whitaker and Fischer
were members of the Log Cabin Chess Club team that toured Cuba in 1956.

I think that is very likely where the picture I saw was from. Replace
"Mexico" with "Cuba" in my memory of a conversation from 32 years ago,
and everything fits.

---
Replace you know what by j to email

Subject: 1956 Photo from "Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman T.
Whitaker"

On 18 June 2004 Jud McCranie replied in
Message-id:

On 18 Jun 2004 05:36:42 GMT, (Miriling) wrote:

In Hilbert's book about Whitaker, the author confirms that Whitaker and
Fischer
were members of the Log Cabin Chess Club team that toured Cuba in 1956.

I think that is very likely where the picture I saw was from. Replace
"Mexico" with "Cuba" in my memory of a conversation from 32 years ago,
and everything fits.

---
If you can get your hands on a copy of the April 1956 issue of Chess Review,
there is a photograph on page 101 that shows some of the players who were
members of the Log Cabin Chess Club contingent who toured Cuba in early March
of that year. Besides Fischer, Whitaker, and E. Forry Laucks, there were
William Walbrecht (representing the New Jersey State Chess Association), Ted
Miller (from the Fool's Mate Chess Club in Newark, N.J.), Robert Houghton (from
the Public Service Chess Club, also in Newark), and E.R. Glover (president of
the Mercantile Library Chess Club). I think that there were eight players in
all who made up the Log Cabin team, but I don't know who the eighth player was.
Maybe that person is mentioned in Hilbert's book about Whitaker.

George Mirijanian