EVANS ON CHESS NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Reprinted courtesy of Chesstours @ all rights reserved.

WAS IT A HOAX?

"No other chess figure has had, has, or will have more autograph
imitations than Bobby Fischer GUARANTEED!" Fisching For Forgeries by
Lawrence Totaro

Bobby Fischer has kept a low profile since becoming an Icelandic
citizen, but he still make news. Another kerkuffle took place at an
auction on eBay Canada for a revised edition of his My 60 Memorable
Games called My 61 Memorable Games. A foreword was purportedly written
by Fischer himself, who is said to be in poor health and low on funds.

"I know many readers seek answers to probing questions regarding
the Bobby Fischer of 1972. That person no longer exists. I've wanted
to release an official version of my book updated in algebraic
notation with a few minor corrections. And why now? The United Bank of
Switzerland has taken almost all of the money from my 1992 rematch
with Borris Spassky -- over $3,000,000. My ongoing battle with them is
getting nowhere despite International Law clearly being on my side. So
I bring to you my previous 60 games plus one from the event that has
caused me so much trouble, in the hopes that sales of this book will
reverse that situation."

Suspicious fans promptly noted that UBS stands for the Union (not
United) Bank of Switzerland and that it's Boris (not Borris) Spassky.
And why was it signed Robert J. Fischer instead of Bobby Fischer?

The seller stated: "The cover price of this book is $24.95 but as a
collector's item of limited production run, they can obviously sell
for much more. You are bidding on THE FIRST 50 COPIES OF THIS BOOK!
The first 100 copies are marked as SPECIAL EDITION, FIRST PRINT RUN.
Another auction will be for books 51-100. All books from 101 onward
will say SECOND EDITION."

The bid reached $3050 when eBay pulled the item: "We recently
suspended this seller's trading privileges. Due to privacy concerns we
cannot share further details."

I worked on this book with Fischer and inspected the sample page
provided by the seller. Some wording was changed and the analysis was
indeed improved, possibly with the aid of a computer.

Icelandic papers reported that Fischer angrily denied writing it.
Yet in our extensive e-mails the seller insisted it was no hoax.

"So what should I do with all these books then?" she asked. "Why not
send them -- if they exist -- to Fischer in Iceland?" I replied.

Her last message: "I decided to take them to a nearby mall parking
lot when the weather gets nice and attach a sign: FREE CHESS BOOKS,
TAKE ONE, TAKE ALL."

WHODUNIT?

I worked on this book with Fischer and inspected the sample page
provided by the seller. Some wording was changed and the analysis was
indeed improved, possibly with the aid of a computer. Icelandic
papers reported that Fischer angrily denied writing it. Yet in our
extensive e-mails the seller insisted it was no hoax.

"So what should I do with all these books then?" she asked. "Why not
send them -- if they exist -- to Fischer in Iceland?" I replied.

Her last message: "I decided to take them to a nearby mall parking
lot when the weather gets nice and attach a sign: FREE CHESS BOOKS,
TAKE ONE, TAKE ALL." -- Evans On Chess newspaper column

From Mig's Daily Dirt Blog

Posted by: obsurvur at December 20, 2007 13:57

To CynicalGripe, Well if you're going to get some of these
books....like the tune McCartney wrote for Badfinger, "you'd better
hurry cause there going fast"...the seller just wrote me back today,
and said 30 of the first 100 First Edition books, were sold off. The
rest of the 65, will be sold today. So either the buyer is going to
sit on these, or we're gonna see another auction...stay tuned....

Posted by: Bruce Towell at December 21, 2007 16:18

After a few days of email chats I finally talked her into a meeting.
Real nice, cute Asian girl of some kind. Soft spoken and very polite.
Hardly what I would call a scammer. She showed me the packing slip
sent C.O.D. from "Kobenhavn" which is Copenhagen, Denmark. She said
she was asked to host the eBay auction only 2 weeks ago.

Anyway, the books are professionally done. I've got over 300 other
chess books myself and I have to say the diagrams in this book are the
most amazing I have ever seen. They are crisp and clear and larger
than the little diagrams in other books. The figurine notation is
unique also. The white pieces have white figurines and the black
pieces have black figurines. I've never seen that anywhere either. You
can almost play the games blindfold when you read such notation. Could
this be another Fischer innovation, simple, and yet a vast improvement
we have all overlooked for so long?

Anyway, I'm sitting tight just in case the whole thing is a mess of
some sort. I was more interested in rescuing the books from the trash
heap than anything else.

Posted by: Arthur Killington at December 22, 2007 00:15

To Arthur, Thanks for posting your experience, yea tha gal is
probably related to the mother of Bobby's child. It's a shame he got
her involved, instead of a professional. I got en email from someone
who claims they bought some of the books from her. She told me after
today's, or really yesterday's sale, the rest are going in the trash,
and her neighbor is going to help her. Such a waste.Her darn husband
put his metal drill thru 5 of the books!!.....Poor Bobby,just never
seems to do anything the right way.....

Posted by: Bruce Towell at December 22, 2007 04:42

************************************************** ************************************************

I seem to recall that Fischer doesn't own the publishing rights to his
own book (were they sold by Simon & Schuster to Faber & Faber in
England)? He angrily denies writing it, but these new notes clearly
were added by a strong player. If it turns out the book can be traced
to the Philippines, then one might speculate that his longtime aide GM
Eugenio Torre was somehow involved.

Wouldn't it be a hoot if this pirated edition became more valuable
than the original?



wrote:
EVANS ON CHESS NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Reprinted courtesy of Chesstours @ all rights reserved.

WAS IT A HOAX?

"No other chess figure has had, has, or will have more autograph
imitations than Bobby Fischer GUARANTEED!" Fisching For Forgeries by
Lawrence Totaro

Bobby Fischer has kept a low profile since becoming an Icelandic
citizen, but he still make news. Another kerkuffle took place at an
auction on eBay Canada for a revised edition of his My 60 Memorable
Games called My 61 Memorable Games. A foreword was purportedly written
by Fischer himself, who is said to be in poor health and low on funds.

"I know many readers seek answers to probing questions regarding
the Bobby Fischer of 1972. That person no longer exists. I've wanted
to release an official version of my book updated in algebraic
notation with a few minor corrections. And why now? The United Bank of
Switzerland has taken almost all of the money from my 1992 rematch
with Borris Spassky -- over $3,000,000. My ongoing battle with them is
getting nowhere despite International Law clearly being on my side. So
I bring to you my previous 60 games plus one from the event that has
caused me so much trouble, in the hopes that sales of this book will
reverse that situation."

Suspicious fans promptly noted that UBS stands for the Union (not
United) Bank of Switzerland and that it's Boris (not Borris) Spassky.
And why was it signed Robert J. Fischer instead of Bobby Fischer?

The seller stated: "The cover price of this book is $24.95 but as a
collector's item of limited production run, they can obviously sell
for much more. You are bidding on THE FIRST 50 COPIES OF THIS BOOK!
The first 100 copies are marked as SPECIAL EDITION, FIRST PRINT RUN.
Another auction will be for books 51-100. All books from 101 onward
will say SECOND EDITION."

The bid reached $3050 when eBay pulled the item: "We recently
suspended this seller's trading privileges. Due to privacy concerns we
cannot share further details."

I worked on this book with Fischer and inspected the sample page
provided by the seller. Some wording was changed and the analysis was
indeed improved, possibly with the aid of a computer.

Icelandic papers reported that Fischer angrily denied writing it.
Yet in our extensive e-mails the seller insisted it was no hoax.

"So what should I do with all these books then?" she asked. "Why not
send them -- if they exist -- to Fischer in Iceland?" I replied.

Her last message: "I decided to take them to a nearby mall parking
lot when the weather gets nice and attach a sign: FREE CHESS BOOKS,
TAKE ONE, TAKE ALL."

FISCHER'S ROSEBUD

"You were much more than Jedediah, my friend." -- Bobby's last words
to GM Larry Evans, who explores this cryptic sentence and unravels the
mystery of Fischer's role in updating My 60 Memorable Games, one of
the greatest books in chess literature.

http://tinyurl.com/2noyxp




wrote:
EVANS ON CHESS NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Reprinted courtesy of Chesstours @ all rights reserved.

WAS IT A HOAX?

"No other chess figure has had, has, or will have more autograph
imitations than Bobby Fischer GUARANTEED!" Fisching For Forgeries by
Lawrence Totaro

Bobby Fischer has kept a low profile since becoming an Icelandic
citizen, but he still make news. Another kerkuffle took place at an
auction on eBay Canada for a revised edition of his My 60 Memorable
Games called My 61 Memorable Games. A foreword was purportedly written
by Fischer himself, who is said to be in poor health and low on funds.

"I know many readers seek answers to probing questions regarding
the Bobby Fischer of 1972. That person no longer exists. I've wanted
to release an official version of my book updated in algebraic
notation with a few minor corrections. And why now? The United Bank of
Switzerland has taken almost all of the money from my 1992 rematch
with Borris Spassky -- over $3,000,000. My ongoing battle with them is
getting nowhere despite International Law clearly being on my side. So
I bring to you my previous 60 games plus one from the event that has
caused me so much trouble, in the hopes that sales of this book will
reverse that situation."

Suspicious fans promptly noted that UBS stands for the Union (not
United) Bank of Switzerland and that it's Boris (not Borris) Spassky.
And why was it signed Robert J. Fischer instead of Bobby Fischer?

The seller stated: "The cover price of this book is $24.95 but as a
collector's item of limited production run, they can obviously sell
for much more. You are bidding on THE FIRST 50 COPIES OF THIS BOOK!
The first 100 copies are marked as SPECIAL EDITION, FIRST PRINT RUN.
Another auction will be for books 51-100. All books from 101 onward
will say SECOND EDITION."

The bid reached $3050 when eBay pulled the item: "We recently
suspended this seller's trading privileges. Due to privacy concerns we
cannot share further details."

I worked on this book with Fischer and inspected the sample page
provided by the seller. Some wording was changed and the analysis was
indeed improved, possibly with the aid of a computer.

Icelandic papers reported that Fischer angrily denied writing it.
Yet in our extensive e-mails the seller insisted it was no hoax.

"So what should I do with all these books then?" she asked. "Why not
send them -- if they exist -- to Fischer in Iceland?" I replied.

Her last message: "I decided to take them to a nearby mall parking
lot when the weather gets nice and attach a sign: FREE CHESS BOOKS,
TAKE ONE, TAKE ALL."

BRITISH MAGAZINE CHESS

"This mystery by Larry Evans will be in our March issue. It's quite a
story! Even in death Bobby Fischer continues to generate controversy."
-- Jimmy Adams, editor




wrote:
FISCHER'S ROSEBUD

"You were much more than Jedediah, my friend." -- Bobby's last words
to GM Larry Evans, who explores this cryptic sentence and unravels the
mystery of Fischer's role in updating My 60 Memorable Games, one of
the greatest books in chess literature.

http://tinyurl.com/2noyxp




wrote:
EVANS ON CHESS NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Reprinted courtesy of Chesstours @ all rights reserved.

WAS IT A HOAX?

"No other chess figure has had, has, or will have more autograph
imitations than Bobby Fischer GUARANTEED!" Fisching For Forgeries by
Lawrence Totaro

Bobby Fischer has kept a low profile since becoming an Icelandic
citizen, but he still make news. Another kerkuffle took place at an
auction on eBay Canada for a revised edition of his My 60 Memorable
Games called My 61 Memorable Games. A foreword was purportedly written
by Fischer himself, who is said to be in poor health and low on funds.

"I know many readers seek answers to probing questions regarding
the Bobby Fischer of 1972. That person no longer exists. I've wanted
to release an official version of my book updated in algebraic
notation with a few minor corrections. And why now? The United Bank of
Switzerland has taken almost all of the money from my 1992 rematch
with Borris Spassky -- over $3,000,000. My ongoing battle with them is
getting nowhere despite International Law clearly being on my side. So
I bring to you my previous 60 games plus one from the event that has
caused me so much trouble, in the hopes that sales of this book will
reverse that situation."

Suspicious fans promptly noted that UBS stands for the Union (not
United) Bank of Switzerland and that it's Boris (not Borris) Spassky.
And why was it signed Robert J. Fischer instead of Bobby Fischer?

The seller stated: "The cover price of this book is $24.95 but as a
collector's item of limited production run, they can obviously sell
for much more. You are bidding on THE FIRST 50 COPIES OF THIS BOOK!
The first 100 copies are marked as SPECIAL EDITION, FIRST PRINT RUN.
Another auction will be for books 51-100. All books from 101 onward
will say SECOND EDITION."

The bid reached $3050 when eBay pulled the item: "We recently
suspended this seller's trading privileges. Due to privacy concerns we
cannot share further details."

I worked on this book with Fischer and inspected the sample page
provided by the seller. Some wording was changed and the analysis was
indeed improved, possibly with the aid of a computer.

Icelandic papers reported that Fischer angrily denied writing it.
Yet in our extensive e-mails the seller insisted it was no hoax.

"So what should I do with all these books then?" she asked. "Why not
send them -- if they exist -- to Fischer in Iceland?" I replied.

Her last message: "I decided to take them to a nearby mall parking
lot when the weather gets nice and attach a sign: FREE CHESS BOOKS,
TAKE ONE, TAKE ALL."

On Dec 22 2007, 8:16 am, "
wrote:

Anyway, the books are professionally done. I've got over 300 other
chess books myself and I have to say the diagrams in this book are the
most amazing I have ever seen. They are crisp and clear and larger
than the little diagrams in other books. The figurine notation is
unique also. The white pieces have white figurines and the black
pieces have black figurines. I've never seen that anywhere either. You
can almost play the games blindfold when you read such notation. Could
this be another Fischer innovation, simple, and yet a vast improvement
we have all overlooked for so long?

Um, BF is presumed to run the printing shop?
What if there is a diagram error? What then?


"I know many readers seek answers to probing questions regarding
the Bobby Fischer of 1972. That person no longer exists. I've wanted
to release an official version of my book updated in algebraic
notation with a few minor corrections.

Already been done; see John Nunn's hack job,
which is in AN (or maybe FAN), and which has
corrections, modifications, deletions-- the whole
shebang.

What BF ought to have done is write books
covering his entire career, not just rehash his
old MSMG. The peak of BF's chess strength
came after those sixty games had already
been played, so he left it to the wannabes to
explain his best games-- and why? Because
he was afraid that some analytical errors
could eventually be publicized; that his um,
god-like persona could get shot down if he
took that risk. Gosh, Wally-- it's tough out
there in the real world.


-- help bot

EVANS LECTURE IN RENO

I heard that Larry Evans will be kicking off the Far West Open at the
Sands Regency Hotel Casino in Reno at 6pm on March 20. His lecture
deals with whether the new book attributed to Bobby Fischer is a hoax.
Apparently GM Evans has unearthed new information since his article
about this mystery in Chess Life Online.

http://tinyurl.com/2noyxp




wrote:
BRITISH MAGAZINE CHESS

"This mystery by Larry Evans will be in our March issue. It's quite a
story! Even in death Bobby Fischer continues to generate controversy."
-- Jimmy Adams, editor




wrote:
FISCHER'S ROSEBUD

"You were much more than Jedediah, my friend." -- Bobby's last words
to GM Larry Evans, who explores this cryptic sentence and unravels the
mystery of Fischer's role in updating My 60 Memorable Games, one of
the greatest books in chess literature.

http://tinyurl.com/2noyxp




wrote:
EVANS ON CHESS NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Reprinted courtesy of Chesstours @ all rights reserved.

WAS IT A HOAX?

"No other chess figure has had, has, or will have more autograph
imitations than Bobby Fischer GUARANTEED!" Fisching For Forgeries by
Lawrence Totaro

Bobby Fischer has kept a low profile since becoming an Icelandic
citizen, but he still make news. Another kerkuffle took place at an
auction on eBay Canada for a revised edition of his My 60 Memorable
Games called My 61 Memorable Games. A foreword was purportedly written
by Fischer himself, who is said to be in poor health and low on funds.

"I know many readers seek answers to probing questions regarding
the Bobby Fischer of 1972. That person no longer exists. I've wanted
to release an official version of my book updated in algebraic
notation with a few minor corrections. And why now? The United Bank of
Switzerland has taken almost all of the money from my 1992 rematch
with Borris Spassky -- over $3,000,000. My ongoing battle with them is
getting nowhere despite International Law clearly being on my side. So
I bring to you my previous 60 games plus one from the event that has
caused me so much trouble, in the hopes that sales of this book will
reverse that situation."

Suspicious fans promptly noted that UBS stands for the Union (not
United) Bank of Switzerland and that it's Boris (not Borris) Spassky.
And why was it signed Robert J. Fischer instead of Bobby Fischer?

The seller stated: "The cover price of this book is $24.95 but as a
collector's item of limited production run, they can obviously sell
for much more. You are bidding on THE FIRST 50 COPIES OF THIS BOOK!
The first 100 copies are marked as SPECIAL EDITION, FIRST PRINT RUN.
Another auction will be for books 51-100. All books from 101 onward
will say SECOND EDITION."

The bid reached $3050 when eBay pulled the item: "We recently
suspended this seller's trading privileges. Due to privacy concerns we
cannot share further details."

I worked on this book with Fischer and inspected the sample page
provided by the seller. Some wording was changed and the analysis was
indeed improved, possibly with the aid of a computer.

Icelandic papers reported that Fischer angrily denied writing it.
Yet in our extensive e-mails the seller insisted it was no hoax.

"So what should I do with all these books then?" she asked. "Why not
send them -- if they exist -- to Fischer in Iceland?" I replied.

Her last message: "I decided to take them to a nearby mall parking
lot when the weather gets nice and attach a sign: FREE CHESS BOOKS,
TAKE ONE, TAKE ALL."

FROM CHESS LIFE ONLINE


61 Memorable Games: A Hoax
By Larry Evans
April 10, 2008

After three months of back and forth emailing, GM Larry Evans
concludes that the supposed new book authorized by Fischer, "My 61
Memorable Games", was an elaborate hoax. Read the original article for
background on this follow-up.

In extensive e-mails the Canadian seller repeatedly promised to send
me a copy of "My 61 Memorable Games" but never fulfilled this promise.
I think that the book may exist on someone's computer but it has not
yet appeared in print. Obviously a strong player with Fritz did a lot
of work updating the manuscript, but Fischer had nothing to do with
it.

The seller's story appears to be a fairy tale. "Helgi" was an invented
name who simply doesn't exist either. Ed.Note -- therefore, the guess
in the original article that Helgi may be Helgi Olafsson, a big
supporter and friend of Fischer, was obviously false.

During three months of dealing with the Canadian Scammer (which I
believe is the accurate term for the Liar who strung me along for
three months) "she"came up with excuse after excuse for not sending me
a copy of the book. The cryptic message I received from Bobby was also
bogus. After contacting several people in Iceland who knew Bobby well,
I learned that he didn't need money from a new edition. Nor did he
wish to see an algebraic version. As I stated originally, he didn't
even own the rights to My 60 Memorable Games.

I played along with the Canadian seller in order to gather more
information, then encountered one falsehood after another -- too
numerous to mention. In order to convince me the book actually exists,
the scammer sent page 79 and naively asked who this Weinstein was that
Bobby kept attacking (knowing full well that Weinstein was Kasparov
before he changed his name). Notice the clever ploy of referring to My
Great Predecessors by Kasparov as "Weinstein, Volume IV, page 233" to
imitate Bobby's brand of sarcasm.

If the book does surface one of these days, we can pretty much rest
assured that it was NOT written or authorized by Bobby Fischer.

Here is the new sample page submitted in order to deceive me.


http://tinyurl.com/58rfx9





wrote:
EVANS LECTURE IN RENO

I heard that Larry Evans will be kicking off the Far West Open at the
Sands Regency Hotel Casino in Reno at 6pm on March 20. His lecture
deals with whether the new book attributed to Bobby Fischer is a hoax.
Apparently GM Evans has unearthed new information since his article
about this mystery in Chess Life Online.

http://tinyurl.com/2noyxp




wrote:
BRITISH MAGAZINE CHESS

"This mystery by Larry Evans will be in our March issue. It's quite a
story! Even in death Bobby Fischer continues to generate controversy."
-- Jimmy Adams, editor




wrote:
FISCHER'S ROSEBUD

"You were much more than Jedediah, my friend." -- Bobby's last words
to GM Larry Evans, who explores this cryptic sentence and unravels the
mystery of Fischer's role in updating My 60 Memorable Games, one of
the greatest books in chess literature.

http://tinyurl.com/2noyxp




wrote:
EVANS ON CHESS NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Reprinted courtesy of Chesstours @ all rights reserved.

WAS IT A HOAX?

"No other chess figure has had, has, or will have more autograph
imitations than Bobby Fischer GUARANTEED!" Fisching For Forgeries by
Lawrence Totaro

Bobby Fischer has kept a low profile since becoming an Icelandic
citizen, but he still make news. Another kerkuffle took place at an
auction on eBay Canada for a revised edition of his My 60 Memorable
Games called My 61 Memorable Games. A foreword was purportedly written
by Fischer himself, who is said to be in poor health and low on funds.

"I know many readers seek answers to probing questions regarding
the Bobby Fischer of 1972. That person no longer exists. I've wanted
to release an official version of my book updated in algebraic
notation with a few minor corrections. And why now? The United Bank of
Switzerland has taken almost all of the money from my 1992 rematch
with Borris Spassky -- over $3,000,000. My ongoing battle with them is
getting nowhere despite International Law clearly being on my side. So
I bring to you my previous 60 games plus one from the event that has
caused me so much trouble, in the hopes that sales of this book will
reverse that situation."

Suspicious fans promptly noted that UBS stands for the Union (not
United) Bank of Switzerland and that it's Boris (not Borris) Spassky.
And why was it signed Robert J. Fischer instead of Bobby Fischer?

The seller stated: "The cover price of this book is $24.95 but as a
collector's item of limited production run, they can obviously sell
for much more. You are bidding on THE FIRST 50 COPIES OF THIS BOOK!
The first 100 copies are marked as SPECIAL EDITION, FIRST PRINT RUN.
Another auction will be for books 51-100. All books from 101 onward
will say SECOND EDITION."

The bid reached $3050 when eBay pulled the item: "We recently
suspended this seller's trading privileges. Due to privacy concerns we
cannot share further details."

I worked on this book with Fischer and inspected the sample page
provided by the seller. Some wording was changed and the analysis was
indeed improved, possibly with the aid of a computer.

Icelandic papers reported that Fischer angrily denied writing it.
Yet in our extensive e-mails the seller insisted it was no hoax.

"So what should I do with all these books then?" she asked. "Why not
send them -- if they exist -- to Fischer in Iceland?" I replied.

Her last message: "I decided to take them to a nearby mall parking
lot when the weather gets nice and attach a sign: FREE CHESS BOOKS,
TAKE ONE, TAKE ALL."

On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:08:00 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

Obviously a strong player with Fritz did a lot
of work updating the manuscript, but Fischer had nothing to do with
it.

Can you hazard a guess as to who the bootleg reviser might have been?

On Apr 10, 4:58 pm, Mike Murray wrote:
On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:08:00 -0700 (PDT), "

wrote:
Obviously a strong player with Fritz did a lot
of work updating the manuscript, but Fischer had nothing to do with
it.

Can you hazard a guess as to who the bootleg reviser might have been?

For once "Paul Truong" might not be the answer to the question. How
refreshing.

On Apr 10, 4:08 pm, " wrote:

I wonder if Larry bothered to secure reprinting rights for this
article from CL Online?