Last week Chessbase.Com reported on the brutal murder of an IM by his own
son, who afterward tried to commit suicide. Their headline, "The Tiger is
Slain" (evidently his nickname was "Tiger"), was accompanied by a silly Tony
the Tiger-like cartoon character with a goofy face playing chess.

Yesterday they advertised a newly found game between Fischer and Karpov,
which you could only see if you visited their PlayChess server on Monday
night. The Fischer-Karpov game was a hoax.

Are these guys stupid or what?

Simon Webb was the author of "Chess for Tigers". The book was full of
exactly those illustrations.

The Fischer-Karpov game was an early April Fool's joke (which you
totally overlooked.) Now the question is: are YOU stupid or what?

"Ken Jones" wrote in message
oups.com...
Simon Webb was the author of "Chess for Tigers". The book was full of
exactly those illustrations.

The Fischer-Karpov game was an early April Fool's joke (which you
totally overlooked.) Now the question is: are YOU stupid or what?

No I agree with Angelo. If it was an "early April fools joke" then the joke
is on nobody because it was so effing obvious that only a really bad B movie
or someone who doesn't believe we have adequate intelligence would try to
pull it off.

Second, even if it was some clever Karpov-Bellon and Saidy-Fischer game, I
don't appreciate the false advertising. People have been waiting 33 years
for Fischer to play someone OTHER than Boris Spassky. If my sense of humour
is absent, perhaps it's because I am annoyed someone would exploit the
recent appearance of Fischer to promote himself. I mean, isn't this what
Fischer has always argued people do to him? Lie and misrepresent him, or use
his name without permission such as in the case of the movie Searching for
BF?

As a journalist and writer I would never report a tragic death with a
light-hearted headline like that unless the victim was a horrible criminal.
It's called respect -- for the dead guy, his family, and friends. Such a
headline would be appropriate for Anand losing a game but not for patricide
and attempted suicide. The cartoon just reinforced Chessbase's inappropriate
treatment of a very sad event.

The April Fool joke was also inappropriate for several reasons. First, they
posted it on March 28 not April 1. Second, "getting" the joke required
signing up for their stupid service, going to the site, and suffering
through a lecture by someone who isn't even a titled player. Something that
causes you to waste 30 or 60 seconds might be classified as a joke (if it
was funny). Something that wastes half an hour or more of someone's time, no
matter how funny (and this wasn't particularly) is not a joke, it's an
imposition, an insult.

I understand that as a 12 year old you don't understand those things, Ken.
As you enter your teen years and beyond and you notice some of the horrible
things that happen to innocent people, perhaps you'll realize how
inappropriate the Webb headline was. And as you move forward, into your 30s,
and become a chief latte-maker at your local Starbucks, you'll realize your
time is too valuable to waste on ChessBase's sick idea of an April Fool
joke.



"Ken Jones" wrote in message
oups.com...
Simon Webb was the author of "Chess for Tigers". The book was full of
exactly those illustrations.

The Fischer-Karpov game was an early April Fool's joke (which you
totally overlooked.) Now the question is: are YOU stupid or what?

Adrian MacNair wrote:
(snipped)
If my sense of humour is absent, perhaps it's because I am
annoyed someone would exploit the recent appearance of Fischer
to promote himself. I mean, isn't this what Fischer has always
argued people do to him? Lie and misrepresent him,

Outside of the Usenet chess newsgroups too? :-)

or use his name without permission such as in the case of
the movie Searching for BF?

That film was not called 'Searching for Bobby Fischer' everywhere
in the world. In the United Kingdom and some other countries,
it was known as 'Innocent Moves'.

--Nick

I did not really have a problem with the use of the illustration since
my only familiarity with IM Webb is through "Chess for Tigers" and the
illustation effectively evoked that familiarity. On the other hand, I
agree that the headline was unnecessarily flippant.

Vince Hart