http://www.chessbase.com/index.asp
"12.07.2009 – Chess authors and publishers have a tendency to become
over-excited, to put it mildly, when trying to induce potential
customers to part with their money. But a darker side also emerges on
occasion. With some grim examples the Editor of Chess Notes shows that
there are cases where hype tips over into something far more
reprehensible. It is time for a reality check."
This leads to an article entitled "reality check" by Edward Winter in
which he points out what many others have noticed, that Susan Polgar
has a habit of greatly exaggerating her actual accomplishments.
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5578
"Regarding titles for over-the-board play, authors and publishers
often lose all sense of proportion. The following comes from the back
cover of A World Champion’s Guide to Chess by Susan Polgar and Paul
Truong (New York, 2005):
"There is much more. The front and back covers also describe
‘Grandmaster Susan Polgar’ as ‘Four-time Women’s World Chess
Champion’, ‘2004 Olympiad Gold Medalist’, ‘a living legend’ and ‘a
four-time Women’s World Champion and the top-ranked woman chess player
in the United States’. Once the reader’s toes have uncurled after that
torrent, he may feel that the boasting mainly springs from vain
indecorum rather than an attempt to deceive"
One wonders: Will Susan Polgar now sue Chess Base Magazine for
comparing her to Pinocchio? Perhaps for $26 million this time, uping
the ante?
Sam Sloan
Funny, the article does not seem to be there at the moment. The
latest entry is #5577, about Kramnik winning Dortmund. No #5578, at
least at this time.
I could see the article. It also has potshots at Keene and Schiller
and links to Kingpin reviews/satire. And then it was gone. Could it be
that Chessbase was threatened with a lawsuit?
Amazing. The article disappeared right before our very eyes. It was
there and then an instant later it was gone.
I will bet that Jim Killion, Susan Polgar's lawyer in Texas, made a
threatening telephone call to ChessBase Magazine in Germany
threatening legal action if they did not take down the article
comparing his client to Pinocchio.
Sam Sloan
Good thinking laughingstock. That way, if it was taken down because it was
libelous, Polgar can sue you for re publishing it. Which'd be quite amusing.
PS When did you stop hot saucing your wife?
PPS ARCHIVED
puff�ery \'p?-f(?-)re-\ n (1782) : exaggerated commendation esp. for
promotional purposes : hype
Being accused of hype is not the same as being accused of
untruthfulness. Just like being criticized is not the same as being
defamed. But, you understand that, Paul.
Right. The picture of Pinocchio's Nose is back up and the article by
Edward Winter is back up too except that the entire sections of the
article discussing the outrageous fabrications and exaggerations by
Susan Polgar have been deleted from the article.
Sam Sloan
My name's not Paul you fucking retard.
Quite possibly next week Chessbase will do a peep show comparing Sam
Sloan to another part of Pinocchio's anatomy? The simile need only be
suggested to be universally intuited.
They can take it down as soon as anyone notices it, for fear of
litigious Americans reaching across the ocean.
I note, BTW, that the real Pinocchio had his strings pulled.
[not to Spinrod and Kingbone, this is not a sexual allusion]
Phil Innes
Just noticed that this issue is also being discussed in Mig's blog.
I would not make it available without getting the permission of Winter
first, as a proprietary issue as opposed to any libel issue.
It is barely possible that Chessbase was only asked to remove this
portion of the article until after the election, and consented to do
so. If, as seems far more likely, they were threatened with a lawsuit,
that would be an example of boorish (though not illegal) behavior,
which would be appropriate for discussion in a political campaign. Can
any supporters of Polgar and Truong find out whether they had this
article taken down with threats of a lawsuit? I hope we can all agree
that Winter's statements were well within the bounds of acceptable
general discussion, and do not deserve threats of legal action.
Jerry Spinrad
Puffery is quite acceptable pursuant to article 2 of the Uniform
Commercial Code.
I wouldn't say "downmarket" for that one. Wiswell was the real world
champion for many years, of checkers. I dunno about Grover, but
Wiswell was the real thing.[/quote]
I knew Ken Grover. He was at one point America's Number One Checker
Player.
He was a chess master too. He won the 1964 Koltanowski Chess Friends
Money Tournament in Oakland California, defeating Peter Cleghorn,
rated 2350, in the last round.
Last I knew him was in 1967 when he was a professional Poker Player
playing every day at the Oakes Club in Emeryville, California.
Sam Sloan
How do you find CHess LIfe except as a subscriber through the mails?
I remember the days when it was buried at the back of the magazine
stand at Barnes and Noble bookstores.
RL
Eric Osbun has corrected me.
Ken Grover won the Chess Friend's Money Tournament, defeating Peter
Cleghorn in the last round, in 1963, not in 1964.
Nobody knew who he was at the time, as he had just arrived in the Bay
Area. It was a real shock.
Sam Sloan