Take a look at http://gothicchess.blogspot.com/

It makes it clear that Rob Mitchell is a big time con artist:


"Wire us $30,000 and we'll be there

They called Thursday night. Mike spoke up. No hello, no pleasantries
exchanged. Just this: "So far all of our costs and research for this
has set us back as least $30,000 of that $35,000 we had budgetted for.
And we realize you are going to make millions out of this deal, so if
you want us in New York by Monday morning, we need that $30,000 wired
to us tonight or tomorrow."

I could not stop laughing.

"Yeah~~~~~ right!" was all I could say.

Rob Mitchell said: "Well what's wrong with that number?" You know, I
think he actually believed he was making a legitimate request. I said
"Rob, out of the blue, you're tagging me with this ridiculous sum? I
haven't seen ANY of your work, I have no idea you guys are even going
to be there on Monday, and you expect me to pay? We talked about
having Trump make this allocation, when did this become my
responsibility?"

Rob was more than a little defensive. "We've done all of this work..."

"What work???" I said angrily. "What have you done except filled up
most of my phone calls with bull**** and nonsense?"

Rob went into this excessive diatribe about the cost of researching a
project like this. Hello? They were doing the COST part of the COST/
BENEFIT analysis, how could they have burned through the equivalent of
$30,000? Is their research valued at $2500/day? And where is it? What
was I to be in receipt of in exchange for $30,000? Had he forgtotten
that one of the objectives of the New York visit was to get such an
allocation so we could all breath a little easier? It wasn't long
before I got to the bottom of it all.

................


I did continually say to them: "You definitely have Fischer and Karpov
on board with this, right?"

They always said "Yes" to this.

Then finally, Titus delivered the bomb.

ANATOLY KARPOV NEVER HEARD OF GOTHIC CHESS, NOR CHESS MASTERMINDS.

While I must admit I was not 100% shocked because I had a feeling this
was going on, I just could not get my mind to wrap around the
monumental level of B.S. these guys where shovelling. It made those
earth movers on The Discovery Channel with the 10 foot high tire
diameters look like Tonka trucks by comparison.

I called them. True to form, Mitchel answered, with Calger in the
background.

"Guess who I heard from today?" I said, very energetically.

"Who?" they said almost in perfect unison.

"Anatoly Karpov."

I paused for effect. Then I allowed them to remain uncomfortable in
the silence.

"I said, Anatoly Karpov."

Rob was the first one to break the eerie silence. "Well, what did he
have to say?" was all he could spit out.

I said "He never heard of Gothic Chess."

I sooooooo wanted to elaborate on it, and rub it in their faces, by
why bother when simplicty does all the work for you?

Calger tried to speak. It was hilarious.

"Well, we spoke through his secretary, who has been known not to
deliver messages."

After I stopped laughing I said:

"That's a good feature in a secretary isn't it? But I just have three
questions for you. One. How the hell could you possibly know that?
Two. If you did know that, how the hell could you assume she contacted
Karpov and then tell me Karpov wanted to play. Three. What are you
going to do after I beat the **** out of the both of you?"

I made sure they heard the dial tone first.

So, the CMM "contract" wasn't a contract at all. It didn't exist. The
whole thing was a charade to bilk me out of $30,000 which would go
towards paying off Titus.

On Sep 20, 9:06 pm, samsloan wrote:
Take a look athttp://gothicchess.blogspot.com/

It makes it clear that Rob Mitchell is a big time con artist:

"Wire us $30,000 and we'll be there

They called Thursday night. Mike spoke up. No hello, no pleasantries
exchanged. Just this: "So far all of our costs and research for this
has set us back as least $30,000 of that $35,000 we had budgetted for.
And we realize you are going to make millions out of this deal, so if
you want us in New York by Monday morning, we need that $30,000 wired
to us tonight or tomorrow."

I could not stop laughing.

"Yeah~~~~~ right!" was all I could say.

Rob Mitchell said: "Well what's wrong with that number?" You know, I
think he actually believed he was making a legitimate request. I said
"Rob, out of the blue, you're tagging me with this ridiculous sum? I
haven't seen ANY of your work, I have no idea you guys are even going
to be there on Monday, and you expect me to pay? We talked about
having Trump make this allocation, when did this become my
responsibility?"

Rob was more than a little defensive. "We've done all of this work..."

"What work???" I said angrily. "What have you done except filled up
most of my phone calls with bull**** and nonsense?"

Rob went into this excessive diatribe about the cost of researching a
project like this. Hello? They were doing the COST part of the COST/
BENEFIT analysis, how could they have burned through the equivalent of
$30,000? Is their research valued at $2500/day? And where is it? What
was I to be in receipt of in exchange for $30,000? Had he forgtotten
that one of the objectives of the New York visit was to get such an
allocation so we could all breath a little easier? It wasn't long
before I got to the bottom of it all.

...............

I did continually say to them: "You definitely have Fischer and Karpov
on board with this, right?"

They always said "Yes" to this.

Then finally, Titus delivered the bomb.

ANATOLY KARPOV NEVER HEARD OF GOTHIC CHESS, NOR CHESS MASTERMINDS.

While I must admit I was not 100% shocked because I had a feeling this
was going on, I just could not get my mind to wrap around the
monumental level of B.S. these guys where shovelling. It made those
earth movers on The Discovery Channel with the 10 foot high tire
diameters look like Tonka trucks by comparison.

I called them. True to form, Mitchel answered, with Calger in the
background.

"Guess who I heard from today?" I said, very energetically.

"Who?" they said almost in perfect unison.

"Anatoly Karpov."

I paused for effect. Then I allowed them to remain uncomfortable in
the silence.

"I said, Anatoly Karpov."

Rob was the first one to break the eerie silence. "Well, what did he
have to say?" was all he could spit out.

I said "He never heard of Gothic Chess."

I sooooooo wanted to elaborate on it, and rub it in their faces, by
why bother when simplicty does all the work for you?

Calger tried to speak. It was hilarious.

"Well, we spoke through his secretary, who has been known not to
deliver messages."

After I stopped laughing I said:

"That's a good feature in a secretary isn't it? But I just have three
questions for you. One. How the hell could you possibly know that?
Two. If you did know that, how the hell could you assume she contacted
Karpov and then tell me Karpov wanted to play. Three. What are you
going to do after I beat the **** out of the both of you?"

I made sure they heard the dial tone first.

So, the CMM "contract" wasn't a contract at all. It didn't exist. The
whole thing was a charade to bilk me out of $30,000 which would go
towards paying off Titus.


Titus? Hmm... wasn't he the guy with blue face-paint in
an Anthony Hopkin's movie? The kiddies loved that one.

Look, I wouldn't snub this Titus fellow if I were you; when
he gets mad, he *really* gets mad. Good thing it wasn't
real money, like say a thousand talons (Ben Hur, chariot
race bet).


-- help bot

I have no doubt that the signature of Karpov is real. Of course,
Karpov will play a match with anybody at anything for 14 million
dollars (as would you or me).

However, the whole thing was absurd, ridiculous.

The guy's plan was then to get Fischer to sign and then to go to
Donald Trump and ask him for the 14 million (as though Trump, who is
often bankrupt, would give 14 million for such a scheme).

In the middle of this was Rob Mitchell, who is undoubtedly the same
Rob Mitchell who I banned from my Yahoo group (thereby acquiring the
distinction of being the only person ever to be banned from my group).
Rob Mitchell wanted to be paid $35,000 in advance, claiming that he
already had both Fischer and Karpov on board, when it turned out that
Karpov had never heard of him and Fischer obviously had not either.

So, it was a bunch of people trying to con each other, none of whom
knew anything about chess or had any money.

Sam Sloan

On Sep 21, 3:24 am, samsloan wrote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty Miller Sam: Why do you think the F-K Gothic Chess Match was a "con"? The signature from Karpov on the website looks a lot like the autograph of his that I have. I got it when he was in Seattle now many years ago for a candidates match. The Goodwill Games people had me and several other chess people for a lunch with Karpov and his then wife. The pictures from Iceland look real enough. Of course Fischer never showed up to sign. Wonder how much Fischer got in advance to come to the meeting in Iceland that he never came to. That action as I understand is typical of Bobby over the years. It took a lot of effort to get him to Iceland to play the 1972 match. The Gothic Chess fellow probably did not have the time to wait around for Fischer. Sam, thanks for posting the website giving more details than what has appears on "the other forum". Rusty Miller, Chelan WA

I have no doubt that the signature of Karpov is real. Of course,
Karpov will play a match with anybody at anything for 14 million
dollars (as would you or me).

However, the whole thing was absurd, ridiculous.

The guy's plan was then to get Fischer to sign and then to go to
Donald Trump and ask him for the 14 million (as though Trump, who is
often bankrupt, would give 14 million for such a scheme).

Stranger things have happened.

In the middle of this was Rob Mitchell, who is undoubtedly the same
Rob Mitchell who I banned from my Yahoo group (thereby acquiring the
distinction of being the only person ever to be banned from my group).
Rob Mitchell wanted to be paid $35,000 in advance, claiming that he
already had both Fischer and Karpov on board, when it turned out that
Karpov had never heard of him and Fischer obviously had not either.

The address at the bottom of the Chess Masterminds LLC "deal memo" is
that of Mr. Mitchell's insurance agency in Nashville. While we should
be careful to note that we have only one person's word regarding the
incident, much of the story rings true based on what I've read on the
newsgroup and what I've seen of Mr. Mitchell's behavior and the
company he travels with.

So, it was a bunch of people trying to con each other, none of whom
knew anything about chess or had any money.

There's no sign that the Gothic Chess organization was trying to "con"
anyone. You as a trader banned from the securities industry should
know a con as well as anyone, but it appears you are badly mistaken.

As for not knowing anything about chess, the founder of the Gothic
Chess group was a regular player in the Philadelphia area. He knew Dan
Heisman, as the blog posting explained. I published a correspondence
game between Ed Trice and Samuel Reshevsky in one of my first articles
for Correspondence Chess News.

On Sep 21, 6:41 am, The Historian wrote:
On Sep 21, 3:24 am, samsloan wrote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty Miller Sam: Why do you think the F-K Gothic Chess Match was a "con"?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty Miller The signature from Karpov on the website looks a lot like the autograph of his that I have. I got it when he was in Seattle now many years ago for a candidates match. The Goodwill Games people had me and several other chess people for a lunch with Karpov and his then wife. The pictures from Iceland look real enough. Of course Fischer never showed up to sign. Wonder how much Fischer got in advance to come to the meeting in Iceland that he never came to. That action as I understand is typical of Bobby over the years. It took a lot of effort to get him to Iceland to play the 1972 match. The Gothic Chess fellow probably did not have the time to wait around for Fischer. Sam, thanks for posting the website giving more details than what has appears on "the other forum". Rusty Miller, Chelan WA

I have no doubt that the signature of Karpov is real. Of course,
Karpov will play a match with anybody at anything for 14 million
dollars (as would you or me).

However, the whole thing was absurd, ridiculous.

The guy's plan was then to get Fischer to sign and then to go to
Donald Trump and ask him for the 14 million (as though Trump, who is
often bankrupt, would give 14 million for such a scheme).

Stranger things have happened.

In the middle of this was Rob Mitchell, who is undoubtedly the same
Rob Mitchell who I banned from my Yahoo group (thereby acquiring the
distinction of being the only person ever to be banned from my group).
Rob Mitchell wanted to be paid $35,000 in advance, claiming that he
already had both Fischer and Karpov on board, when it turned out that
Karpov had never heard of him and Fischer obviously had not either.

The address at the bottom of the Chess Masterminds LLC "deal memo" is
that of Mr. Mitchell's insurance agency in Nashville. While we should
be careful to note that we have only one person's word regarding the
incident, much of the story rings true based on what I've read on the
newsgroup and what I've seen of Mr. Mitchell's behavior and the
company he travels with.

So, it was a bunch of people trying to con each other, none of whom
knew anything about chess or had any money.

There's no sign that the Gothic Chess organization was trying to "con"
anyone. You as a trader banned from the securities industry should
know a con as well as anyone, but it appears you are badly mistaken.

As for not knowing anything about chess, the founder of the Gothic
Chess group was a regular player in the Philadelphia area. He knew Dan
Heisman, as the blog posting explained. I published a correspondence
game between Ed Trice and Samuel Reshevsky in one of my first articles
for Correspondence Chess News.

OK. Points taken.

However, it is clear that "Rob Mitchell" was trying to con Ed Trice
out of $35,000 by claiming that he had Fischer and Karpov on board.

Sam Sloan

On Sep 21, 6:41 am, The Historian wrote:

As for not knowing anything about chess, the founder of the Gothic
Chess group was a regular player in the Philadelphia area. He knew Dan
Heisman, as the blog posting explained. I published a correspondence
game between Ed Trice and Samuel Reshevsky in one of my first articles
for Correspondence Chess News.

So, is it correct then that this Ed Trice is the 1430 player from
Philadelphia?

http://www.uschess.org/msa/MbrDtlMain.php?12495284

Sam Sloan

On Sep 21, 5:41 am, The Historian wrote:
On Sep 21, 3:24 am, samsloan wrote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty Miller Sam: Why do you think the F-K Gothic Chess Match was a "con"?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty Miller The signature from Karpov on the website looks a lot like the autograph of his that I have. I got it when he was in Seattle now many years ago for a candidates match. The Goodwill Games people had me and several other chess people for a lunch with Karpov and his then wife. The pictures from Iceland look real enough. Of course Fischer never showed up to sign. Wonder how much Fischer got in advance to come to the meeting in Iceland that he never came to. That action as I understand is typical of Bobby over the years. It took a lot of effort to get him to Iceland to play the 1972 match. The Gothic Chess fellow probably did not have the time to wait around for Fischer. Sam, thanks for posting the website giving more details than what has appears on "the other forum". Rusty Miller, Chelan WA

I have no doubt that the signature of Karpov is real. Of course,
Karpov will play a match with anybody at anything for 14 million
dollars (as would you or me).

However, the whole thing was absurd, ridiculous.

The guy's plan was then to get Fischer to sign and then to go to
Donald Trump and ask him for the 14 million (as though Trump, who is
often bankrupt, would give 14 million for such a scheme).

Stranger things have happened.

In the middle of this was Rob Mitchell, who is undoubtedly the same
Rob Mitchell who I banned from my Yahoo group (thereby acquiring the
distinction of being the only person ever to be banned from my group).
Rob Mitchell wanted to be paid $35,000 in advance, claiming that he
already had both Fischer and Karpov on board, when it turned out that
Karpov had never heard of him and Fischer obviously had not either.

The address at the bottom of the Chess Masterminds LLC "deal memo" is
that of Mr. Mitchell's insurance agency in Nashville. While we should
be careful to note that we have only one person's word regarding the
incident, much of the story rings true based on what I've read on the
newsgroup and what I've seen of Mr. Mitchell's behavior and the
company he travels with.

So, it was a bunch of people trying to con each other, none of whom
knew anything about chess or had any money.

There's no sign that the Gothic Chess organization was trying to "con"
anyone. You as a trader banned from the securities industry should
know a con as well as anyone, but it appears you are badly mistaken.

As for not knowing anything about chess, the founder of the Gothic
Chess group was a regular player in the Philadelphia area. He knew Dan
Heisman, as the blog posting explained. I published a correspondence
game between Ed Trice and Samuel Reshevsky in one of my first articles
for Correspondence Chess News.

I have communicated to the poster about correcting the errors in his
post. Commenting on something in public further on the details on
things of a private contractual nature is not prudent.

On Sep 21, 6:33 am, samsloan wrote:
On Sep 21, 6:41 am, The Historian wrote:



On Sep 21, 3:24 am, samsloan wrote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty Miller Sam: Why do you think the F-K Gothic Chess Match was a "con"?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty Miller The signature from Karpov on the website looks a lot like the autograph of his that I have. I got it when he was in Seattle now many years ago for a candidates match. The Goodwill Games people had me and several other chess people for a lunch with Karpov and his then wife. The pictures from Iceland look real enough. Of course Fischer never showed up to sign. Wonder how much Fischer got in advance to come to the meeting in Iceland that he never came to. That action as I understand is typical of Bobby over the years. It took a lot of effort to get him to Iceland to play the 1972 match. The Gothic Chess fellow probably did not have the time to wait around for Fischer. Sam, thanks for posting the website giving more details than what has appears on "the other forum". Rusty Miller, Chelan WA

I have no doubt that the signature of Karpov is real. Of course,
Karpov will play a match with anybody at anything for 14 million
dollars (as would you or me).

However, the whole thing was absurd, ridiculous.

The guy's plan was then to get Fischer to sign and then to go to
Donald Trump and ask him for the 14 million (as though Trump, who is
often bankrupt, would give 14 million for such a scheme).

Stranger things have happened.

In the middle of this was Rob Mitchell, who is undoubtedly the same
Rob Mitchell who I banned from my Yahoo group (thereby acquiring the
distinction of being the only person ever to be banned from my group).
Rob Mitchell wanted to be paid $35,000 in advance, claiming that he
already had both Fischer and Karpov on board, when it turned out that
Karpov had never heard of him and Fischer obviously had not either.

The address at the bottom of the Chess Masterminds LLC "deal memo" is
that of Mr. Mitchell's insurance agency in Nashville. While we should
be careful to note that we have only one person's word regarding the
incident, much of the story rings true based on what I've read on the
newsgroup and what I've seen of Mr. Mitchell's behavior and the
company he travels with.

So, it was a bunch of people trying to con each other, none of whom
knew anything about chess or had any money.

There's no sign that the Gothic Chess organization was trying to "con"
anyone. You as a trader banned from the securities industry should
know a con as well as anyone, but it appears you are badly mistaken.

As for not knowing anything about chess, the founder of the Gothic
Chess group was a regular player in the Philadelphia area. He knew Dan
Heisman, as the blog posting explained. I published a correspondence
game between Ed Trice and Samuel Reshevsky in one of my first articles
for Correspondence Chess News.

OK. Points taken.

However, it is clear that "Rob Mitchell" was trying to con Ed Trice
out of $35,000 by claiming that he had Fischer and Karpov on board.

Sam Sloan

Chess Masterminds LLC appears to be an "active" company. Anyone care
to obtain their annual report? The information below comes from
http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/soscorp/index.html

Name

I.D. Number
CHESS MASTERMINDS, LLC

0497154

Business Type*: LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY
Profit/Nonprofit: FOR PROFIT
Status*: ACTIVE
Date of Formation/Qualification: 06/30/2005
Domestic/Foreign: DOMESTIC
Place of Incorporation/Organization: DAVIDSON
Duration: PERPETUAL
FYC(Fiscal Year Closing) Month: DECEMBER

Principal Office:
Address Line 1: 220 DOCKSIDE CT
Address Line 2:
City: HERMITAGE
State: TN
Zip: 37076
Other than USA:

Registered Agent:
Name: MICHAEL H ELLEY
Address Line 1: 220 DOCKSIDE CT
Address Line 2:
City: HERMITAGE
State: TN
Zip: 37076

Business Name

I.D. Number

Status
CHESS MASTERMINDS, LLC

0497154

ACTIVE

Document
Reference

Date

Filing
Type

Filing
Action
5490-1871

06/30/2005

ARTICLES OF ORGANIZATION

5844-1492

04/01/2006

ANNUAL RPT FILED

08/14/2006
ROLL 5809

06/14/2006

NOTICE OF DETERMINATION

5971-0978

04/01/2007

ANNUAL RPT FILED

03/05/2007

On Sep 21, 6:33 am, samsloan wrote:
On Sep 21, 6:41 am, The Historian wrote:



On Sep 21, 3:24 am, samsloan wrote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty Miller Sam: Why do you think the F-K Gothic Chess Match was a "con"?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty Miller The signature from Karpov on the website looks a lot like the autograph of his that I have. I got it when he was in Seattle now many years ago for a candidates match. The Goodwill Games people had me and several other chess people for a lunch with Karpov and his then wife. The pictures from Iceland look real enough. Of course Fischer never showed up to sign. Wonder how much Fischer got in advance to come to the meeting in Iceland that he never came to. That action as I understand is typical of Bobby over the years. It took a lot of effort to get him to Iceland to play the 1972 match. The Gothic Chess fellow probably did not have the time to wait around for Fischer. Sam, thanks for posting the website giving more details than what has appears on "the other forum". Rusty Miller, Chelan WA

I have no doubt that the signature of Karpov is real. Of course,
Karpov will play a match with anybody at anything for 14 million
dollars (as would you or me).

However, the whole thing was absurd, ridiculous.

The guy's plan was then to get Fischer to sign and then to go to
Donald Trump and ask him for the 14 million (as though Trump, who is
often bankrupt, would give 14 million for such a scheme).

Stranger things have happened.

In the middle of this was Rob Mitchell, who is undoubtedly the same
Rob Mitchell who I banned from my Yahoo group (thereby acquiring the
distinction of being the only person ever to be banned from my group).
Rob Mitchell wanted to be paid $35,000 in advance, claiming that he
already had both Fischer and Karpov on board, when it turned out that
Karpov had never heard of him and Fischer obviously had not either.

The address at the bottom of the Chess Masterminds LLC "deal memo" is
that of Mr. Mitchell's insurance agency in Nashville. While we should
be careful to note that we have only one person's word regarding the
incident, much of the story rings true based on what I've read on the
newsgroup and what I've seen of Mr. Mitchell's behavior and the
company he travels with.

So, it was a bunch of people trying to con each other, none of whom
knew anything about chess or had any money.

There's no sign that the Gothic Chess organization was trying to "con"
anyone. You as a trader banned from the securities industry should
know a con as well as anyone, but it appears you are badly mistaken.

As for not knowing anything about chess, the founder of the Gothic
Chess group was a regular player in the Philadelphia area. He knew Dan
Heisman, as the blog posting explained. I published a correspondence
game between Ed Trice and Samuel Reshevsky in one of my first articles
for Correspondence Chess News.

OK. Points taken.

However, it is clear that "Rob Mitchell" was trying to con Ed Trice
out of $35,000 by claiming that he had Fischer and Karpov on board.

Sam Sloan

I neither agree nor disagree with that statement.

A personal attack of who?

If you are referring to Rob Mitchell, he is not a USCF member.

Do you mean to suggest that I am not allowed to say anything negative
about George W. Bush, for example?

Sam Sloan